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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: The King's Ring

-       Being a Romance of the Days of Gustavus Adolphus and the

-       Thirty Years' War

-

-Author: Zacharias Topelius

-

-Translator: Sophie Öhrwall

-            Herbert Arnold

-

-Release Date: February 7, 2019 [EBook #58838]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S RING ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Al Haines

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-THE KING'S RING

-

-BEING A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF

-

-GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS

-

-AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR

-

-

-TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH OF

-

-ZACHARIAS TOPELIUS

-

-BY

-

-SOPHIE ÖHRWALL AND HERBERT ARNOLD

-

-

-

-  _With a Photogravure Portrait of Topelius_

-  (missing from source book)

-

-

-

-LONDON

-

-JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.

-

-[_All Rights Reserved_]

-

-

-

-

-  _Copyright

-  London: Jarrold & Sons

-  Boston: L. C. Page & Company_

-

-

-

-

-  CONTENTS.

-

-

-  INTRODUCTION--WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE

-

-

-  I.--THE KING'S RING.

-

-  CHAPTER

-

-  I. THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD

-  II. THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME

-  III. LADY REGINA

-  IV. LADY REGINA'S OATH

-  V. JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES

-  VI. THE FINNS AT LECH

-  VII. NEW ADVENTURES

-  VIII. NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN

-

-

-  II.--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.

-

-  I. A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR

-  II. ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME

-  III. THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH

-  IV. THE PEASANT--THE BURGHERS--AND THE SOLDIER

-  V. LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM

-  VI. THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH

-  VII. THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM

-

-

-  III.--FIRE AND WATER.

-

-  I. THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

-  II. TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES

-  III. THE TREASURY

-  IV. DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL

-  V. LOVE AND HATE AGREE

-  VI. THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN

-  VII. THE LOST SON

-  VIII. THE FUGITIVE LADY

-  IX. DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA

-  X. KAJANEBORG

-  XI. THE PRISONER OF STATE

-  XII. THE TEMPTER

-  XIII. AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT

-  XIV. THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS

-  XV. BERTEL AND REGINA

-  XVI. THE KING'S RING--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH--FIRE AND WATER

-

-

-

-

-INTRODUCTION.

-

-WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE.

-

-The surgeon was born in a small town of East Bothnia, the same day as

-Napoleon I., August 15th, 1769.  I well remember the day, as he always

-used to celebrate it with a little party of relatives and a dozen

-children; and as he was very fond of the latter, we were allowed to

-make as much noise as we pleased, and throw everything into absolute

-confusion on this anniversary.

-

-It was the pride of the surgeon's life that he was born on the same day

-as the Great Conqueror, and this coincidence was also the cause of

-several of his important experiences.  But his pride and ambition were

-of a mild and good-tempered kind, and quite different from the powerful

-desires which can force their way through a thousand obstacles to

-attain an exalted position.  How often does the famous one count all

-the victims who have bled for his glory on the battlefield, all the

-tears, all the human misery through which his way leads to an

-illusionary greatness, perhaps, doomed to last a few centuries at most?

-

-The surgeon used to say that he was a great rogue in his childhood; but

-exhibiting good intelligence, he was sent by a wealthy uncle to a

-school in Vasa.

-

-At eighteen, with a firkin of butter in a wagon, and seventeen thalers

-in his purse, he went to Abo to pass his examination.  This well

-accomplished, he was at liberty to strive for the gown and surplice of

-an ecclesiastic.  But his thoughts wandered far too often from his

-Hebrew Codex to the square where the troops frequently assembled.

-

-"Oh!" thought he, "if I were only a soldier, standing there in the

-ranks, and ready to fight like my father, for king and country."

-

-But his mother had placed an emphatic veto on the matter, and exacted a

-solemn promise from him that he would never become a warrior.

-

-Before, however, he was through Genesis, an incident suddenly occurred

-which completely altered his good intentions.  This was an announcement

-in the daily paper from the Medical Faculty, which stated that students

-who wished to take service as surgeons during the war could present

-themselves for private medical instruction, after which they could

-reckon upon being ordered out with five or six thalers per month to

-begin with, as the war was at its height.

-

-Now, young Bäck would no longer be denied; he wrote home that as a

-surgeon's duty is to take off the limbs of others, without losing his

-own, he wished to volunteer.  After some trouble he received the

-desired permission.  In a moment the Codex was thrown away.  He did not

-learn, he devoured surgery, and in a few months was as capable a

-chirurgeon as most others; for in those times they were not very

-particular.

-

-Our youthful surgeon was in the land campaigns of 1788 and 1789; but in

-1790 at sea; was in many a hard battle, drank prodigiously (according

-to his own account), and cut off legs and arms wholesale in a most

-skilful way.  He then knew nothing about the coincidence of his birth

-with Napoleon's, and therefore did not yet consider himself as under a

-lucky star.  He often told the story of the eventful 3rd of July in

-Wiborg Bay, when on board the "Styrbjörn" with Stedingk, at the head of

-the fleet, they passed the enemy's battery at Krosserort's Point, and

-he was struck by a splinter on the right cheek, and carried the mark to

-his grave.  The same shot which caused this wound wrought great havoc

-in the ship, and whizzing by the admiral's ear, made him stone-deaf for

-a time; Bäck with his lancet and palsy drops restored Stedingk's

-hearing in three minutes.  Just then the danger was greatest and the

-balls flew thick as hail.

-

-The vessel ran aground.

-

-"Boys, we are lost," cried a voice.

-

-"Not so!" answered Henrik Fagel, from Ahlais village, in Ulfsby, "send

-all the men to the bow; it is the stern that has stuck."

-

-"All men to the prow," shouted the commander.  Then the "Styrbjörn" was

-again afloat, and all the Swedish fleet followed in her wake.  Bäck

-used to say:

-

-"What the deuce would have become of the fleet if Stedingk had remained

-deaf?"

-

-Everyone understood the old man; he had saved the entire squadron.

-Then he used to laugh and add,

-

-"Yes, yes!  You see, brother, I was born on the 15th of August; that is

-the whole secret; I am not to be blamed for it."

-

-After the war was over, Bäck went to Stockholm, and became devoted to

-the king.  He was young, and needed no reason for his attachment.

-

-"Such a stately monarch," was his only idea.

-

-One day, in the beginning of March, 1792, the surgeon, a handsome

-youth--to use his own expression--had through a chamber-maid at

-Countess Lantingshausen's, who in her turn stood on a confidential

-footing with Count Horn's favourite lackey, obtained a vague inkling of

-a conspiracy against the king's life.  The surgeon resolved to act

-Providence in Sweden's destiny, and reveal to the monarch all that he

-knew, and perhaps a little more.  He tried to obtain an audience of the

-king, but was denied by the chamberlain, De Besche.  A second attempt

-had the same result.  The third time, he stood in the road before the

-royal carriage, waving his written statement in the air.

-

-"What does this man want?" asked Gustave III. of the chamberlain.

-

-"He is an unemployed surgeon," replied De Besche, "and begs your

-Majesty to begin another war, that he may go on lopping off legs and

-arms."

-

-The king laughed, and the forlorn surgeon was left behind.

-

-A few days afterwards the king was shot.

-

-"I was blameless," the surgeon used to say when speaking of this

-matter.  "Had not that damned De Besche been there--yes, I won't say

-anything more."

-

-Everyone understood what he meant.  The "if" in the way was also due to

-his birthday on the 15th of August.

-

-Shortly afterwards Bäck represented his profession at a state

-execution.  Here his free tongue got him into trouble, and he fled on

-board a Pomeranian yacht.  Next we find him tramping like a wandering

-quack to Paris.  He arrived at an opportune moment, and received a

-humble appointment in the army of Italy.  One night, under the

-influence of his birthday, he left his hospital at Nissa, and hurried

-to Mantua to see Bonaparte; he wished to make of the 15th of August a

-ladder to eminence.  He managed to see the General, and presented a

-petition for an appointment as army physician.

-

-"But," sighed the surgeon, every time he spoke of this remarkable

-incident, "the General was very busy, and asked one of his staff what I

-wanted."

-

-"Citizen General," answered the adjutant, "it is a surgeon, who

-requests the honour of sawing off your leg at the first opportunity."

-

-"Just then," added the surgeon, "the Austrian cannon began to thunder,

-and General Bonaparte told me to go to the devil."

-

-Thus the surgeon, who had preserved so many eminent personages, was

-deprived of the honour of saving Napoleon.  He got camp fever instead,

-and lay sick for some time at Brescia.

-

-When well he travelled to Zurich, and here fell in love with a

-rosy-cheeked Swiss girl; but before he could marry her, the city was

-overrun, first by the Russians, then French, and finally by Suvaroff.

-The surgeon's betrothed ran away, and never returned.

-

-One day he sat sorrowfully at his window, when two Cossacks came up,

-dismounted, seized him, and hurried him off at full speed.  The surgeon

-thought his last hour had arrived.  But the Cossacks brought him safely

-to a hut.  There sat some officers round a punch bowl, and among them a

-stern man in large boots.

-

-"Surgeon," said the latter, short and sharp, "out with your forceps; I

-have toothache."

-

-Bäck ventured to ask which tooth it was that ached.

-

-"You argue," said the man impatiently.

-

-"No, I don't," replied the surgeon, and pulled out the first tooth he

-got hold of.

-

-"Good, my boy!  March," said the other, and the surgeon was dismissed

-with ten ducats.

-

-He had acquired another important merit by pulling out the tooth of the

-hero Suvaroff.

-

-The surgeon's next considerable journey was to St. Petersburg, where he

-obtained an appointment in a hospital, and made a little fortune.

-

-Thus passed four or five years.  The surgeon was now thirty-five.  He

-said to himself,

-

-"It is not sufficient to have preserved the Swedish fleet, Gustave

-III., and Armfelt; to have had an interview with Napoleon, and pulled

-out a tooth for Suvaroff.  One must also have an aim in life."  And he

-began to realise that he had a Fatherland.

-

-When the war of 1808 broke out, the surgeon became an assistant

-physician in one of the Finnish regiments; he no longer fought for

-glory and the 15th of August.  He took part in the campaigns of 1808

-and 1809.  Then he fought manfully with misery, disease, and death; cut

-off arms and legs, dressed wounds, applied plasters, solaced the

-wounded, with whom he shared his flask, bread, purse, and what was much

-more, his unalterable good humour, and told a thousand funny stories

-gathered in his travels.  He was called the "tobacco doctor," because

-he was always ready to share his pipe and quid.  One can be a Christian

-even with tobacco.  The surgeon was not so stuck up that he, like

-Konow's corporal, went about

-

-  "With two quids from sheer pride."

-

-On the contrary, he went without himself when the need was great, and a

-wounded comrade had got the last bit of the roll in the pocket of his

-yellow nankeen vest.  Hence the soldiers loved the tobacco doctor.

-

-When peace was concluded between Russia and Sweden in 1809, the latter

-having lost Finland through a foreign traitor, who gave up Sveaborg to

-the enemy, and so many Finns went over to Sweden, the surgeon thought

-it more honourable to remain and share the fortunes of his native land.

-He travelled round the country and practised amongst the peasantry.

-But the Medical Faculty of Abo finally forbade him to continue, and he

-therefore settled down at Jacobstad, his native place, and took to

-fishing.  In the days of his prosperity the surgeon had been too

-liberal; he now only owned his old brown cloak, yellow nankeen vest, a

-hundred fish hooks, and his cheerful disposition.  But he now obtained

-the appointment of public vaccinator, which allowed him to roam about

-the country twice a year, like old times.  No one knew better than he

-how to lull the little children to rest, whilst he pricked the fine

-soft flesh of their arms; almost before they knew it the pain was over.

-

-This gained for him the goodwill of all the mothers; they even forgave

-him the ugly habit of chewing tobacco--it was too late to cure it now.

-

-Then the snow of old age stole gently o'er the surgeon's head.  He had

-gone through the storms of life without losing faith in humanity; never

-hardening under adversity, nor unduly puffed up when fortune smiled.

-He was throughout a good soul.

-

-Often in our childhood and first youth we sat up there in the old

-garret chamber around his leather-covered arm-chair, by the light of

-the crackling fire, listening to his tales from the world of fiction

-and from life.  His memory was inexhaustible, and as the old _runa_

-says, that even the wild stream does not let its waves flow by all at

-once, so had the surgeon continually new stories of his own time, and

-still more from periods which had long passed away.

-

-It sometimes happened after we had been listening to the old man, that

-he took out an electric battery, and drew from it a succession of

-sparks.

-

-"In that way the world sparkled when I was young," he said smiling;

-"one had only to apply a finger, and click it flashed in all

-directions.  But then it was our Lord who turned the machine."

-

-But rarely had he a story written like that of the Duchess of Finland.

-Most of them were given orally.  Many years have since passed; part I

-have forgotten, and some I have compared with traditions and books.  If

-the reader finds a pleasure in them, then the surgeon will not have

-told his tales in vain during the long winter evenings.

-

-

-

-

-I.--THE KING'S RING.

-

-Reader, as you sit in your peaceful home, surrounded by the calm of

-civilisation, can you recall the grand heroic memories of the past,

-which after centuries remain illuminated with a bright glow, and are

-also often darkened with blood and tragedy?  Can you transport yourself

-back to the joys and terrors of the past, and take a vital interest in

-those struggles and battles long since fought out, and become full of

-hopes or fears as fortune smiled or betrayed?

-

-Stand with me on the heights of History, and looking far around on the

-wild arena of human destiny, can you transfer yourself to the vale of

-the past, the physically dead and buried, but spiritually immortal

-life, which forms the being and substance of all History?

-

-Reader, have you ever seen History depicted as an aged man with a

-frozen heart and wise brow, trying all things in the balance of reason?

-But is not the Genius of History like an ever youthful virgin, full of

-fire, with a living heart and a flaming soul--human, warm, and

-beautiful?

-

-If then you have the capacity to suffer or rejoice with the generations

-that have passed away, to love, and hate with them, to admire, despise,

-and curse as they have done; in a word, to live amongst them with your

-whole heart, and not merely with your cold reflecting mentality, then

-follow me.  I will lead down the valley; but your heart will guide you

-better that I; upon that I rely--and begin.

-

-

-

-

-THE KING'S RING.

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I.

-

-THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD.

-

-Through the histories of Germany and Sweden the fame of mighty names

-has resounded for centuries; at their mention the Swede raises his head

-aloft, and the free German uncovers his with admiration.  These are

-Leipzig, Breitenfeld, and the 7th of September, 1631.

-

-King Gustaf Adolf, with his army of Swedes and Finns, stood on German

-soil to protect the holiest and highest things in life--Liberty and

-Faith.

-

-Tilly, the terrible old corporal, had invaded Saxony, and the king

-pursued him.  Twice had they met; the tiger had challenged the lion to

-the combat, but the latter would not move.  Now for the third time they

-faced each other; the crushing blow must fall, and the fate of Germany

-trembled in the balance.

-

-At dawn the Swedes and Saxons crossed the Loder, and placed themselves

-in battle array at the village of Breitenfeld.

-

-The king rode along the lines, and inspected everything.  His eye

-beamed with delight on these brave men; the left wing was composed of

-Gustave Horn's cavalry, Teuffel was in the centre, and Torstensson with

-his leathern cannon in front.  The Livonians and Hepburn's Scots were

-both in the second line.

-

-The king commanded the right wing, composed of several regiments of

-cavalry and the Finns.

-

-"Stälhandske," said he, checking his large steed at the last Finnish

-division, "I suppose you understand why you are here.  Pappenheim is

-opposite, and longs to make your acquaintance," he added smiling, "and

-I expect a vigorous attack from that quarter.  I rely upon you Finns to

-receive him right royally."

-

-The king then raised his voice and said,

-

-"Boys, do not blunt your swords upon those iron-clad fellows, but first

-tackle the horses, and then you will have light work with the riders."

-

-The Finns were proud of their danger and the honour of their position.

-The king inspired all with courage and self-reliance.  But these short,

-sturdy fellows on their small horses seemed unequal to the onset of the

-big Wallachians upon their strong and heavy chargers.  Tilly held the

-same opinion.

-

-"Ride them down," he said, "and horse and man will fall powerless under

-the heels of your steeds."  But Tilly did not know his foes.  The outer

-bearing of the Finns was deceptive.  Their iron muscles and calm

-courage, with the hardihood of their horses, gave them a decided

-advantage over their enemies.

-

-"Well, Bertila," said Stälhandske, turning to a young man who in the

-first rank rode a handsome black horse, and was noticeable from his

-height and bearing, "do you feel inclined to win the knight's spur

-to-day?"

-

-The one addressed seemed astonished, and coloured up to the brim of his

-helmet.

-

-"I have never dared to aspire so high," he answered.  "I--a peasant's

-son!" he added with hesitation.

-

-"Thunder and lightning, the boy blushes like a bride at the altar!  A

-peasant's son?  What the devil, then, have we all come from in the

-beginning?  Did you not provide four fully equipped horsemen?  Has not

-our Lord placed a heart in your breast, and the king a weapon in your

-hand?  That is in itself a coat of arms; you must attend to the rest."

-

-A multitude of thoughts passed quickly through the young man's mind.

-He thought of the days of his childhood in far-off Finland.  He

-remembered his old father, whose name was also Bertila, and who during

-the peasant war was one of Duke Carl's best men.  When the latter

-became King Carl the Ninth, he gave his follower four large farms; each

-of these had to provide a man and horse for military service.  Owing to

-this, old Bertila became one of the richest peasants in the country.

-He thought of the time when his father first sent him to Stockholm, in

-the hope that he would some day attain honour and distinction by the

-king's side; then of his own ambition which had induced him to neglect

-study and take private lessons in riding and fencing.  At last his

-father gave him permission to join the king's Finnish cavalry.  Now he,

-a peasant's son, was about to strive to raise himself to the level of

-the haughty nobility.  It was this thought that made him blush, and

-under its influence he felt he could face any danger.

-

-Moreover, he was about to fight under the king's eye, for his faith and

-the honour of his country.  The whole army was animated by the same

-high principles, which rendered them invincible, and made them realise

-the victory before the battle had begun.

-

-Before the young horseman had time to reply to his generous leader, the

-king's high voice was heard in the distance calling to prayer.  The

-hero took off his helmet and lowered the point of his sword, and all

-the troops did the same.  The king prayed:

-

-"Thou all-merciful God, Who bearest victory and defeat in Thy hand,

-turn Thy beneficent countenance to us, Thy servants.  From distant

-lands and peaceful homes have we come, to fight for freedom, and Thy

-Gospel.  Give us victory for Thy Holy Name's sake.  Amen."

-

-A deep trust at these words filled every heart.

-

-At noon the attacking Swedish army came within range of the Imperial

-cannon.  The Swedish artillery answered, and the conflict began.  As

-the sun shone right in the assailants' eyes, the king made his army

-wheel to the right, so as to get the wind and sun on the side.

-Pappenheim tried to prevent this.  He rushed forward with the speed of

-lightning, and took the Swedish right in flank.  At once the king threw

-the Rhine Count's regiment and Baner's cavalry upon him.  The shock was

-terrific; horses and riders fell over each other in utter confusion.

-Pappenheim drew back, but only to throw himself the next instant on the

-Finns.  But the furious charge of the Wallachians was in vain; they met

-a wall of steel; their front rank was crushed, and the next turned

-back.  The second attack was no better, and Pappenheim raged; for the

-third time he rushed to the assault; the Livonians and Courlanders now

-assisted the Finns.  The latter received the enemy with calm courage;

-nothing could break through that living wall.

-

-The heat of the conflict had gradually excited the Finns, and it was

-now scarcely possible to hold them in.  Stälhandske's mighty voice

-sounded high above the roar and din of the conflict; and once more the

-foe was thrown back.  Now the Finnish lines broke, but only to enclose

-the enemy.  Then it became a hand-to-hand struggle.  Twice more the

-Wallachians charged and were repulsed.  The seventh time Pappenheim was

-followed only by a few of the most determined of his followers, and

-when this last desperate effort failed all was over.  The remaining

-Wallachians scattered themselves in the wildest flight toward

-Breitenfeld.

-

-Covered with blood and dust the Finns took breath.  But as soon as the

-smoke cleared off, they saw other foes in front.  These were the

-Holsteiners, who had supported Pappenheim.  The Finns could not be

-checked.  With the East Goths they surrounded the Holsteiners and

-annihilated them; these brave fellows died in their ranks to a man.

-

-Whilst this happened on the right, the left was in great danger.

-Furstenberg's Croats had made the Saxons give ground, and Tilly then

-advanced his powerful centre.  Torstensson's cannon played havoc in the

-ranks; Tilly moved aside and charged the Saxons.  The ranks of the

-latter were immediately broken, and they fled in the greatest disorder.

-Tilly now turned his victorious troops against the Swedish left wing.

-The latter were slowly pressed back.  The king then hastened up and

-ordered Callenbach's reserve to the rescue.  Almost immediately both

-Callenbach and Teuffel fell.  Then Hepburn's Scots and the Smälanders

-came up; the Croats fell upon them, but the Scots opened their ranks,

-and several masked batteries played with terrible effect on the former.

-Under the fire of the Scots whole ranks were shattered, and amidst the

-dense smoke and dust the combatants were mingled together in utter

-confusion.

-

-Victory still hung in the balance.

-

-But now a diversion occurred which decided the battle.  The king with

-his cavalry and the Finns had captured the Imperial artillery on the

-heights, and now turned it against the latter.  In vain Pappenheim

-tried to recapture the guns; he was repulsed in disorder.  Then the

-king, with his invincible right wing, charged the enemy in flank; the

-Imperialists were lost.  Tilly wept with rage: Pappenheim, who had

-hewed down fourteen men with his own hand, was mad with fury.  No one,

-however, could rally the Imperial troops, and Tilly, whose horse was

-shot under him, barely escaped being taken prisoner.  The king's

-victory was decisive.

-

-But a terrible sequel remained.  Four regiments of Tilly's veteran

-infantry had reformed, and now sought to check the pursuit.  The king

-charged them with Tott's cavalry, the Smälanders, and Finns.  It was a

-terrific combat; the Wallachians fought with the fury of despair; no

-quarter was asked or given.  At last darkness saved the remnant of

-these brave men, who retreated on Leipzig.

-

-The battle was over.

-

-Great results followed this victory; and in the evening the king rode

-from rank to rank, to thank his brave troops.

-

-"Stälhandske," said he, when he came to the Finns, "you and your men

-have fought like heroes, as I expected.  I thank you, my children!  I

-am proud of you."

-

-The troops responded with a joyous cheer.

-

-"But," continued the king, "there was one among you who sprang from his

-horse, and first of all scaled the heights to seize the Imperial guns.

-Where is he?"

-

-A young horseman rode from the ranks.

-

-"Pardon, your Majesty!" he stammered.  "I did it without orders, and

-therefore merit death."

-

-The king smiled.  "Your name?"

-

-"Bertila."

-

-"From East Bothnia?"

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"Good.  To-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, you may present yourself,

-to hear your doom."

-

-The king rode on, and the horseman returned to the ranks.

-

-Night broke over the awful field, covered with 9,000 dead.  The Finnish

-cavalry encamped on the heights, where Tilly's guns were captured.  The

-dead were taken away, and fires of broken gun-carriages and

-musket-stocks spread their light in the September night; through a

-clear sky the eternal stars looked down upon the battlefield.

-

-The cavalry gave their horses fodder, and watered them at the muddy

-Loder.  Then they bivouacked, each in his division, around the fires,

-armed and ready to jump at the first call The ground was damp with dew,

-and slippery with blood, but many were so fatigued that they fell

-asleep as they sat around the fires.  Others kept themselves in good

-spirits by passing round cups of ale, of which they had a good stock.

-They drank in jesting fashion to the health of the Imperialists.

-

-  "And that they to-night may die of thirst

-  Or drink to their own funeral

-  Eläköön kuningas!"

-

-

-At this moment a woeful voice was heard quite near, earnestly calling

-for help.  The soldiers, accustomed to such things, knew by the accent

-that the man was a foreigner, and did not trouble.  But the cries

-continued without ceasing.

-

-"Pekka, go and give the Austrian dog a final thrust," cried some of the

-men, who were irritated by these wailing sounds.

-

-Pekka, one of Bertila's four dragoons, short, but strong as a lion,

-went unwillingly to silence the offender's voice.  Superstitious, like

-all these soldiers, he was not at home amidst the dead on a dark night.

-Bertila, absorbed in thinking of the next morning, did not hear it.

-

-In a few minutes Pekka returned, dragging after him a dark body, which,

-to everyone's surprise, was found to be a monk, easily recognised by

-his tonsure.  Around his common gown he wore a hempen rope, and to this

-hung the scabbard of a sword.

-

-"A monk!  A Jesuit!" exclaimed the soldiers.

-

-"Yes, but what could I do," said Pekka, "he parried my thrust with a

-crucifix."

-

-"Kill him!  It is one of the devil's allies who prowl around to murder

-kings and burn faithful Christians at the stake.

-

-"Away with him!  When we carried the heights, this same man stood with

-his crucifix among the Imperialists and fired off a cannon."

-

-"Let's find out if the precious object is of silver," said one of the

-men, and pulling aside the monk's gown he drew forth, in spite of his

-struggles, a crucifix of silver, richly gilded.

-

-"Just as I thought, the devil has plenty of gold."

-

-"Let me see it," said an old veteran.  "I know something about monks'

-tricks."

-

-As he pressed a little spring in the image's breast, a keen dagger

-sprang from it.  As if bitten by an adder, he threw the crucifix from

-him.  Rage and horror seized the bystanders.

-

-"Hang the serpent by his own rope," shouted the men.

-

-"There is no tree," said one, "and no one is allowed to leave the

-lines."

-

-"Drown him!"

-

-"There is no water."

-

-"Stab him!"

-

-No one was willing, from aversion, to touch the monk.

-

-"What shall we do with him?"

-

-"Misericordia!  Gnade!" said the prisoner, who now began to recover his

-speech and strength.

-

-"Give him a kick and let him go," said one.  "We are Christians, and

-fear no devilry."

-

-"At least I will mark you first, so that we may know you if we meet

-again," cried one of the soldiers named Vitikka, renowned for his

-strength and brutality.  He flourished his sword several times round

-the monk's head, and then with two dexterous strokes cut off both the

-prisoner's ears, before he could be prevented by his comrades.  It was

-most skilfully accomplished.

-

-"St. Peter could not have done it better," said Vitikka laughing.

-

-Those who were standing around turned away.  Although they were

-accustomed to the cruelties of war, this was too savage even for them.

-

-Bleeding, the Jesuit crawled away on his hands and feet.  But long

-afterwards his voice was heard from the darkness:

-

-"Accursed Finns!  May the eternal fires consume you!"

-

-"Our Father, which art in Heaven," a voice exclaimed from the group of

-soldiers.  And all uttered the prayer with devotion.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II.

-

-THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME.

-

-At dawn on the 8th of September, the Swedish army was exercised.  They

-felt sure of complete victory.  From all parts news arrived that the

-enemy's army was almost destroyed.  The king left one division of his

-troops to follow the Imperialists; whilst the rest received the

-agreeable order to loot Tilly's camp: the spoil was divided into lots.

-The treasures were enormous, and many a man was enriched for life.  The

-whole army wore a joyous look; the dead were quickly buried, and the

-wounded forgot their pains.  In the bright September morning, the

-battlefield was covered with groups of delighted soldiers, and here, if

-ever, Beskow's words could be used, "The air was cooled with the waving

-of the flags gained in the victory."

-

-The king had passed the night in a carriage.  After he had read the

-army prayers, and given orders for the first part of the day, he called

-for those who had most distinguished themselves in the battle.  And now

-many a brave deed was recognised with honours and promotion.  But

-higher than any other reward, was the inner satisfaction, and the

-praise they received from this hero, whom the whole of Europe had now

-learnt to admire.

-

-Amongst those who were specially called was a young man, who plays a

-great part in this history.  Gustaf Bertila was only twenty years old,

-and his heart was beating at this time more rapidly than it had ever

-done in the most terrible moments of the conflict.  He knew well that

-the noble king would not take any account of his crime, which was that

-he had disobeyed orders in battle; he blushed and grew pale by turns,

-as he thought of what the king might mean by this special summons,

-which was in itself a great honour.

-

-The king had erected his tent under one of the great elms, at Gross

-Wetteritz, because all the buildings in the neighbourhood were burnt or

-destroyed by friends or enemies.

-

-After waiting for half an hour, Bertila was introduced into the royal

-presence.  Gustaf Adolf was sitting on a low chair, and his arm was

-resting on a table, covered with maps and papers.  The king was tall

-and portly, and his tight-fitting buff coat made him look still more

-corpulent.

-

-When Bertila entered, the king lifted up his mild and beautiful blue

-eyes; he had just signed an order, and looked sharply at the young man.

-

-Gustaf Adolf was short sighted, and therefore had a difficulty in

-recognising persons, and when he met individuals only slightly known to

-him, it gave his look a peculiar sharpness, which, however, disappeared

-immediately.

-

-"Your name is Bertila," said the king, as if he wished to assure

-himself that he had heard it correctly the day before.

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"Aged twenty years," said the king, watching him closely with a strange

-look.

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"His son did you say?"

-

-The young man bowed his head and blushed.

-

-"How strange!" the king muttered this to himself, and seemed for a

-moment to be in deep thought.  He then said,

-

-"Why have you not announced yourself to me before?  Your father has

-done my father and the country great service.  He is then still alive."

-

-"He is alive, and thankful for your Majesty's goodness."

-

-"Really so."

-

-The king said this more as if a secret thought had escaped him, than as

-a remark to the listener.  The young man felt the colour mount to his

-cheeks, and the king noticed it.

-

-"Your father and I once had a quarrel," continued the king, and he

-smiled, but a cloud was seen on his brow.  "But this was all forgotten

-long ago, and I am glad that such a good man has such a brave son.  You

-were amongst the seventy Finns at Demmin."

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"And no one has mentioned you for promotion?"

-

-"My colonel has promised to remember me."

-

-"Your king never forgets a real service.  Gustaf Bertila, I have just

-signed your commission as sub-lieutenant.  Take it, and continue to

-serve with honour."

-

-"Your Majesty," said the young man.

-

-"I have something more to say to you.  Your action yesterday was

-against orders."

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"I want my soldiers to obey implicitly.  I have been told that you

-dismounted at the foot of the steepest hill, so that you could get up

-quicker."

-

-"It is true your Majesty."

-

-"And that you reached the top of the hill first, whilst the others had

-to ride round; and that you killed two of the enemy, and took the first

-cannon."

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"It is good, sub-lieutenant Bertila; I forgive you, and promote you to

-the rank of lieutenant in my Finnish cavalry."

-

-The young man could not speak.  The king himself laboured under

-considerable emotion.

-

-"Come nearer, young man," said the king.  "You ought to know that once,

-in my youth, I did your father a considerable injury.  Heaven knows

-that I repent, and has at last given me an opportunity to repair to the

-son the injustice done to the father.

-

-"Lieutenant Bertila, you are brave and noble, and you have received a

-military education.  You have also brought into my service four

-soldiers.  In your position as officer in my army you are already

-considered a nobleman.  That none of my officers shall look down upon

-you as a peasant's son, I will give you a name, and the knight's spur."

-

-"Go, young man.  Go, my son," repeated the king with great emotion,

-"and show that you are worth the king's favour."

-

-"Until death."  And the young man bent his knee to the king.  The

-latter stood up.  The emotion which had for a moment passed over his

-fine face now disappeared, and he was again the royal leader.

-

-The young Bertila understood that the time had come to retire.  But he

-still remained in his kneeling position, and gave the king a letter,

-which he, until this day, had carried sewed in his coat.

-

-"May I ask your Majesty to read this letter.  When I said farewell to

-my old father he gave me this letter, and said, 'My son, go and try to

-win your king's favour, through your faithfulness and valour.  And if

-some day you can obtain it for your own sake, and not only for the sake

-of your father's name, then give him this letter, and tell him that it

-is my last will.  His great heart will understand what I mean.'"

-

-The king opened the letter and read it, and on his face was seen that

-deep flush, which in his later years was the only sign of the struggles

-of a soul, able to control itself.  It came as a light cloud on the

-king's forehead, deepened for a moment, and then passed away without

-leaving any trace.  When he had finished reading, his eyes rested for a

-moment on the handsome youth who was still kneeling at his feet.

-

-"Stand up," said the king at last.

-

-Bertila obeyed.

-

-"Do you know what this letter contains?"

-

-"No, your Majesty."

-

-The king watched him closely, but was satisfied with the honest and

-truthful expression of his face.

-

-"Your father is a strange man.  He hates all noblemen since the days of

-the Peasants' War.  He fought many tough battles as their leader; and

-Fleming's troops took possession of his farm.  He forbids you ever to

-bear a noble name, if you wish to avoid his curse."

-

-Bertila did not reply.  A thunder-bolt from a clear sky had come down

-upon his happiness, and all his dreams of a noble and knightly name had

-been destroyed at one blow.

-

-"A father's will must be obeyed," continued the king with great

-seriousness.

-

-"The noble name which I had intended for you, you cannot accept.  Do

-not feel sad, my young friend, you shall keep your sword and your

-lieutenant's commission; with them, and your brave arm, the path to

-honour will always be open to you."

-

-The king now dismissed him, and the young man left the tent with mixed

-feelings.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III.

-

-LADY REGINA.

-

-In the beginning of October, 1631, it was a dull autumn day, about

-three or four weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld, and in one of the

-rooms of the tower of the castle of Würzburg the beautiful Regina von

-Emmeritz was sitting with several of her attendants; they were all

-working on a banner of white silk with the image of the Holy Virgin on

-it.  It was intended for a standard of victory to stimulate the troops

-defending the castle.  The young maidens indulged in an animated

-conversation, for the terror of the castle, the old, selfish bishop,

-had just started off, as he alleged, on a journey through the diocese,

-but in reality to escape Gustaf Adolf's approaching warriors.

-Trembling for his treasures, he had previously entrusted the defence of

-the town and castle to the valiant and trustworthy captain of horse,

-Keller, with fifteen hundred men; and this commander, relying upon the

-impregnable position of the fortress on the banks of the Main, had

-assured his reverence that the heretic king should crush his head

-against the walls, before any of his godless host obtained an entrance.

-

-The lovely Regina was scarcely sixteen, and her curls were dark as the

-night, cheeks rosy as the dawn, and black eyes shining like two stars

-which at midnight mirror themselves in a mountain lake.  She was the

-pet and idol of the aged bishop; he had therefore unwillingly left her

-with his other treasures in the castle, depending, however, upon

-Keller's assurance that the thick walls well mounted with heavy guns,

-were, in such uncertain times, the best harbour for beauty and gold;

-and Keller was a commander of fidelity and honour; with such a precious

-trust he would sooner bury himself underneath the ruins of the fortress

-than surrender.

-

-Lady Regina raised her brilliant eyes from the embroidery and glanced

-through the little turret window over the river, where at that moment a

-carriage, escorted by some troopers, was crossing the bridge from the

-town to the castle.

-

-"Who is this traveller?" she said, with the concentrated gaze which

-rarely fixed itself upon any object except the large and beautiful

-marble image of the Madonna in her sanctuary.

-

-"Ah!" exclaimed Ketchen, the youngest and most talkative of the

-maidens, "ah, Holy Virgin, how charming it is to live in such times as

-these!  Every day, new faces, stately cavaliers, brave young knights,

-and now and then a little feast in town.  It is quite a different thing

-from sitting shut up in a cloister, and hearing the monks chant De

-Profundis from morn till eve.  Yes," continued she saucily, "may his

-grace, the bishop, only stay away a good long time!"

-

-"Ketchen," admonished Regina, "take care not to speak ill of the

-services and masses of the monks!  Remember that our confessor, Father

-Hieronymus, is a member of the Holy Inquisition, and that the castle

-dungeons are deep and dark."

-

-Ketchen remained silent for a moment.  But directly afterwards she

-boldly said,

-

-"If I were in your place, lady, I would rather think of the handsome

-Count of Lichtenstein, than of that terrible Father Hieronymus.  He is

-a valiant knight; God grant that he may return victorious from the war

-against the heretics!"

-

-"May they all be exterminated by fire and sword!" interjected one of

-the girls in a devout manner.

-

-"Poor heretics!" said Ketchen smiling.

-

-"Beware!" repeated Lady Regina, with naïve earnestness.  "A heretic

-deserves no mercy.  Anyone who kills a heretic has pardon for seven

-sins; Father Hieronymus has often thus instructed me.  To hate the

-heretics is the eighth sacrament, and to love a single one of them is

-to consign your soul to eternal torment."

-

-Regina's black eyes emitted fire with these words.  One could easily

-see that the worthy father's teachings had taken deep root in her soul.

-

-Still Ketchen did not refrain.

-

-"It is said that their king is good and noble, and that he shelters all

-the weak, and does not allow his soldiers to plunder and outrage their

-enemies."

-

-"Satan often assumes the disguise of an angel."

-

-"They also say that his men are brave and humane.  I myself heard an

-old Italian soldier tell the knights in the armoury how seventy men

-belonging to a heretic people called Finns, defended their king for

-more than an hour against fifteen hundred Neapolitans.  And when most

-of these Finns had fallen, the rest were succoured and finally

-triumphed; afterwards they bound up the wounds of their enemies as well

-as their own."

-

-Lady Regina rose, and was about to return a quick answer to this

-unpalatable speech, but at that moment a servant appeared at the door,

-and announced that the Count of Lichtenstein, sick and wounded, had

-arrived at the castle, and craved shelter.  The young lady, who, as the

-niece of the old bishop, took the part of hostess of the castle in his

-absence, immediately hastened down to welcome the new arrival, who was

-a distant relative of the family.

-

-The maidens now exchanged significant glances, as if they considered

-this event especially opportune.  It had long been gossiped amongst

-them that the old bishop had chosen the count as the future husband of

-the young lady.  But in vain had they endeavoured to discover any signs

-of emotion on the part of their young mistress at the intelligence of

-his arrival.  If Lady Regina entertained any tender passion, she well

-knew how to conceal it.

-

-"Is it true," asked one of the girls, "that the king of the heretics

-has won a great victory over the soldiers of the true faith, and is now

-approaching this castle with his godless army?"

-

-"So it is said," answered another.  "But he is unable to come here.

-Our people have erected the image of the Swedish saint, Brigitta, in

-his path, in Thüringer forest, and she will stop his progress."

-

-In the meanwhile, Lady Regina had ordered one of the bishop's own

-apartments to be put in order for the guest, and provided in every way

-for his comfort.  The young Count of Lichtenstein was a proud and

-stately youth, dark as a Spaniard, and with eyes almost as bright as

-Regina's.  He approached the beautiful hostess with faltering steps,

-and with an ardent glance, before which Regina cast down her eyes.

-

-"How grateful I should be to heaven," he said, "for these wounds, which

-have procured me the happiness of having such a beautiful hostess!"

-

-The count's wounds were numerous, but not dangerous.  Taken captive at

-Breitenfeld, he had shortly afterwards, still weak from his wounds,

-been exchanged, and immediately hastened here, to regain health and

-strength in the neighbourhood of his heart's mistress.

-

-"But," he added, "I heard with great alarm that the enemy, seeking whom

-they may devour, were on their march hither to the rich vales of

-Franconia.  Then I hurried, quickly as I could, to share with you,

-beautiful Regina, all these dangers and terrors.  Be calm!  Königshofen

-will make a stand against them, and Father Hieronymus, who, also

-wounded, escaped from the disastrous field of Breitenfeld, is busy

-inciting the country people to resistance all along the enemy's advance.

-

-"And so you think," anxiously asked Regina, "that these terrible

-heretics will venture as far as this place?"

-

-"The protection of the saints will be with beauty and faith," answered

-the count evasively.  "Besides, we shall soon receive more reliable

-news."

-

-As he spoke, Regina looked out of the window, and perceived a troop of

-horsemen, who were hurrying at full speed towards the fortress.

-

-"I cannot be mistaken," she exclaimed; "it is Father Hieronymus himself

-who returns here."

-

-"A bad omen," muttered the count between his teeth.

-

-Lady Regina was right; it was Father Hieronymus who at that moment rode

-over the drawbridge.  In appearance, the father was a little

-insignificant man, thin and pallid, with sharp features, and deeply

-sunk, hollow eyes, whose quick glance fled inquiringly from one object

-to another.  He still wore the long sword suspended from the rope round

-his waist.  But the bald spot no longer shone on the crown of his head;

-wounded at that place, he wore over it a sort of skull-cap or calotte

-of leather, the black colour of which made a ghastly contrast with his

-cadaverous-looking face.  Never had the dreaded Jesuit showed himself

-in so forbidding a form.  The men-at-arms stood at attention, and all

-the servants in the castle hastened to receive his commands.  A secret

-anxiety took possession of all the bystanders.  It looked as if terror

-and death had ridden in his train through the gates of Würzburg Castle.

-

-The monk hastily surveyed the garrison drawn up in the courtyard, and

-then greeted Lady Regina with a smile, which was probably intended to

-make him look more agreeable, but which had exactly the opposite effect.

-

-"St. Petrus and all the saints protect you, gracious lady!  The times

-are very awful, very bad.  The Holy Virgin has allowed the vile

-heretics to penetrate to our very gates--on account of our sins!" he

-added, crossing himself devoutly.

-

-"And Königshofen?" inquired Count Fritz, who anticipated the answer.

-

-"The treacherous commander has capitulated."

-

-"But did not the peasants oppose the enemy's march through the forest?"

-

-"All scattered like chaff--on account of our sins."

-

-"And the holy Brigitta's image?"

-

-"The vile heretics have placed it as a scarecrow in a wheat-field.

-But," continued the Jesuit, his voice acquiring suddenly a commanding

-tone, "what is this I see, my daughter?  Why are you still here, and

-the castle filled with women and children, while the enemy may arrive

-at any moment at your gates?"

-

-"Lady Regina shall never need a protector as long as I am alive,"

-exclaimed Count Fritz.

-

-"The castle is provisioned for a whole year," said Regina timidly.

-"But, worthy father, you are fatigued, you are wounded, and need rest.

-Allow me to dress your wounds; you are hurt in the head."

-

-"It is nothing, my daughter.  Do not think of me.  You must fly

-instantly to the impregnable fortress of Aschaffenburg."

-

-"Ha!  I fear it is too late," exclaimed Count Fritz, who was looking

-out upon the river and town.

-

-"Holy Virgin, are they already here?"

-

-The Jesuit and Lady Regina rushed to the window.  The afternoon sun was

-shedding its rays over Würzburg and the surrounding country.  Horsemen

-could be seen riding at full gallop through the streets, and a whole

-host of panic-stricken people were rapidly moving towards the

-castle--monks and nuns, women and children, dragging after them a

-number of hand-carts containing the best of their household effects.

-Beyond the town, in the direction of Schweinfurter, on the east bank of

-the river, appeared a troop of cavalry, from whose threatening but

-cautious advance one could easily recognise the vanguard of the Swedish

-army.

-

-"Accursed devils!" burst out the Jesuit, with an indescribable

-expression of hatred on his pallid face.  "These heretics can fly.  May

-the earth open and devour them!"  And he ran out with frantic zeal to

-place himself at the head of the garrison.

-

-The bishop's castle, also called Marienburg, raises its old walls high

-above the right bank of the Main.  On the river side of the town the

-rock is high and precipitous, but on the other side sloping and easily

-ascended.  A rampart in the shape of a half moon formed a formidable

-outwork before the gates; and if the enemy surmounted this obstacle, a

-deep moat, cut in the solid rock, awaited him on the other side; and

-even if he crossed this successfully, the inner and higher castle wall

-blocked his way, lined with steel-clad defenders, prepared to receive

-him with a devastating fire, and crush him with the large stones

-collected on the walls.  The only passage over the river was a narrow

-bridge, and the forty-eight guns of the fortress commanded and swept

-the whole town and neighbourhood.  From this it will be seen that

-Keller at the head of 1,500 valiant troops, and well provided with all

-necessaries, had good reason in bidding the departing bishop to be of

-good heart.

-

-But Gustaf Adolf had an overwhelming reason for becoming master of this

-castle, cost what it would.  Tilly had now drawn to himself large

-reinforcements, and stood, a few weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld,

-fully equipped and eager for revenge, with 30,000 men on the march from

-Hessen, to assist Würzburg.

-

-The king summoned the town, and forced his way into the suburbs, but it

-was already late in the day, and the attack had to be postponed.  The

-next morning the town surrendered.  But Keller had profited by the

-darkness of the night to transfer his whole force, a large number of

-fugitives, and the portable property of the town, to the castle, after

-which he blew up two arches of the bridge, and thus blockaded the

-enemy's way.

-

-But to return to the fortress.

-

-That night none but the little children could sleep in the bishop's

-castle.  Crowds of soldiers, monks, and women, were constantly

-arriving; one baggage-wagon after the other rattled in through the

-castle gates; the vaults echoed with the cries of the watch, the orders

-of the officers, and the children's crying, and above all this noise

-and confusion one could plainly hear the masses of the monks, who were

-invoking in the chapel the protection of the Holy Virgin and all the

-saints, on behalf of the threatened fortress, the strongest castle of

-the Catholics in all Franconia.

-

-In order to provide for this human host, Lady Regina had not only

-opened the bishop's private rooms, but also the two spacious

-drawing-rooms set aside for her own use in the interior of the castle,

-and with her maids moved up to the small chambers in the east turret.

-In vain it was represented to her that this point was exposed to the

-fire of the enemy.  She here had the best and most extensive prospect

-in the whole fortress, and was not willing to forego it.  "Do not

-interfere with me," she said to the cautious Jesuit; "I wish to see the

-heretics mown down by our guns.  It will be a fine spectacle."

-

-"Amen," answered Father Hieronymus.  "You remember, my daughter, that

-this castle is protected by two miraculous images of the Virgin, one of

-pure gold, the other of gilded wood.  I will hang up the latter in your

-apartment; it will avert the enemy's shot like so many puff-balls from

-your turret."

-

-At daybreak, Lady Regina was on the look-out at her little turret

-window.  It was a glorious sight, when the sun rose over the autumn

-hills with their still verdant vineyards, through which the River Main

-wound like a glittering serpent of gold and silver in the morning

-light.  In the town all was activity; four Swedish regiments marched in

-with flags flying and drums beating, their armour shining in the bright

-sunlight, and the plumes of their officers waving in the wind.  At this

-sight, fear and curiosity came into conflict in the minds of the

-maidens.

-

-"Do you see," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, "the two cavaliers in their

-yellow waistcoats, who ride at the head of the heretics?"

-

-"How handsome they are!  Now they turn round the street corner--there

-they are again.  Just see how everyone makes way for them!"

-

-"Send for Count Fritz.  He was in the Swedish camp for more than a

-fortnight, and knows their leaders."

-

-The count, who was prevented by his wounds from taking part in the

-defence of the castle, immediately obeyed the Lady Regina's summons.

-

-In the meantime the Swedes had taken full possession of the town, and

-began to show themselves in scattered groups on the river banks.  At

-that moment the castle guns opened fire, and here and there a ball fell

-among the Swedes, who immediately sought shelter behind the houses by

-the river.

-

-"Holy Mary, a man was struck over there and does not move again!" cried

-Ketchen, who could not conceal her sympathy.

-

-"St. Francis be praised, there is one heretic less in the world!"

-rejoined old Dorthe, Lady Regina's duenna, who had been appointed by

-Father Hieronymus to guard all her steps.

-

-"But it is terrible to shoot a man."

-

-Count Fritz smiled.

-

-"Fräulein Ketchen, you should have been on the field of Breitenfeld.

-Nine thousand corpses!"

-

-"It is horrible!"

-

-"Count, can you inform me who those horsemen are, who, in spite of the

-storm of cannon-shot, keep on the river bank and seem to be closely

-examining the defences of our castle?"

-

-"Pardon me, charming cousin, the smoke blocks my sight.  Those

-cavaliers--upon my honour, it is the king himself, and Count Pehr

-Brahe.  I would not be in their shoes if Father Hieronymus sees them.

-He would undoubtedly bring all the guns of the fortress to bear upon

-them."

-

-At these words old Dorthe crept silently from the room.

-

-"My cousin, why do you thus regard the heretic leader?"

-

-"Beautiful Regina, why do your eyes flash fire at the thought.  You

-are, yourself, so generous and noble, can you not understand my

-sympathy for a brave and chivalrous foe?  The king of Sweden is a hero,

-well worthy of our supreme admiration, as well as of our great enmity."

-

-"I fail to comprehend you.  A heretic!"

-

-"God preserve you from some day seeing him within these walls; you will

-then understand me much better.  Ha! they are now preparing to assault

-the bridge; they are throwing planks over the destroyed arches.  By

-Heaven, that is courageous!"

-

-"Now, four fell at once!" exclaimed the excited Ketchen.

-

-"I know them well," said Count Fritz, growing more and more agitated by

-the sounds of the battle and the loud thunder of the cannonade, which

-made the fortress walls shake.  "They are the Scots.  There are no

-finer soldiers in the whole Swedish army; the Scots and Finns are

-always in the front of the battle."

-

-"Ah! see there, my cousin, the Scots recoil; they dare not try to leap

-the abyss.  That truly requires superhuman courage.  Twenty-four feet

-underneath the planks rushes the flood."

-

-"Two young officers dash out on the planks."

-

-"They are the youthful brothers Ramsay.  I recognise them by their blue

-scarves.  They love the same lady, and both sport her colours, without

-loving each other any the less."

-

-"Oh God, guard them!  Ah, Holy Virgin, this is fearful!" and Ketchen

-hid her face in her apron.

-

-Before the brave and intrepid Scots could reach the centre of the

-planks, they lost their balance, reeled, and then fell headlong into

-the river.  For a short time they struggled with the flood, but wounded

-by bullets from the castle, their strength soon failed them, and their

-heavy armour made them sink in the waters; another moment, and these

-gallant youths sank to rise no more.

-

-"You rejoiced at war not long ago," said Lady Regina to Ketchen,

-assuming a calmness which she did not feel in her agitated heart.

-

-"Oh, yes, at the handsome young knights; the feasts and music, but not

-at this!" exclaimed the crying Ketchen.

-

-"The Scots retreat!" exclaimed another of the girls.

-

-"Yes," replied the reflecting count, "but the Swedes have begun to

-cross the river in boats."

-

-"The Scots are returning to the attack."

-

-"Just as I imagined," said the count calmly.

-

-"God preserve us! they have succeeded; they are now on this side.  Our

-troops attack them."

-

-"Lady Regina, do not expose yourself so much at the window.  The Swedes

-may aim their cannon at the turret."

-

-"Count, do you fear?" Regina smiled as she said this.

-

-Lichtenstein coloured up.

-

-"I have satisfied myself that I have courage enough," he answered.

-"Hearken, and you will every now and then distinguish a peculiar

-whizzing, and a rattling like the fall of stones; you do not know what

-this is.  I will tell you.  These are cannon-shot, Lady Regina; you

-would know this better if the noise outside was not so deafening.  For

-some time the balls have been shattering the walls of the turret, and

-almost always at the same place.  Fair cousin, these are no

-sugar-plums.  The Swedes must have been taught to shoot by the Wild

-Huntsman."

-

-"Do you really think----"

-

-"That the enemy intend to destroy this turret, and will fill the castle

-moat with the debris?  Yes, cousin, and I believe they will do it very

-soon.  You are in danger here, every moment, and must go somewhere

-else."

-

-"Immediately, good count, at once!  Come, lady!" cried Ketchen, trying

-with friendly violence to take her young mistress away with her.  But

-Regina was in an exalted mood.  In the habit of ruling, and perhaps

-from the defiant nature of her character, full of strange contrasts,

-joined to the burning fanaticism which the Jesuit had implanted in her

-mind from childhood ... she stepped backwards, grasped the gilded image

-of the Virgin, which Father Hieronymus had sent to guard her, and

-placed it in front of herself on the window-sill.

-

-"Go," she exclaimed; "you are weak in the faith; you doubt the

-protection of the holy saints.  I shall remain, and the efforts of the

-heretics will avail nothing against----"

-

-Lady Regina's speech was not finished, when a ball struck the turret at

-an oblique angle, knocking away a piece of the facing.  A shower of

-stone fragments hurtled through the window, demolishing the image of

-the Holy Virgin, and enveloping Lady Regina in dust and dirt.

-

-"You must away!  Now you see for yourself!" cried the count.

-

-"Let us go!" exclaimed all the girls nearly paralyzed with fear.

-

-But Regina, nearly overwhelmed for a moment, recovered her

-self-confidence, and stooped down to pick up the image, saying with

-faith,

-

-"They cannot triumph over the Holy Mother."

-

-She was deceived.  The wooden virgin had broken into several fragments.

-A sceptical smile played around the count's lips, and he now led

-without any opposition his terror-stricken relative from the turret.

-

-While this was happening, Keller, with the quickness and perception of

-a thorough soldier, had made every arrangement for a vigorous defence.

-He was unable to stop the Swedes from crossing the river, but the

-nearer they came, the more destructive was the fire of his artillery.

-The enemy's ranks were decimated by his shot; and the whole day they

-could do nothing.

-

-Father Hieronymus and his monks ran around the walls, deluging the guns

-with holy water, and making the sign of the cross over every touch-hole.

-

-Old Dorthe had whispered in his ear, and the Jesuit's gaze was directed

-towards the place where someone had just seen the Swedish king and his

-companion.  The worthy priest now wished to aim, himself, one of the

-heavy guns towards the spot; but before firing he fell on his knees and

-repeated four _pater nosters_ and _ave Marias_.  Then followed the

-shot; but in vain did the anxious Jesuit look for the effect.  Unhurt,

-as before, the forms of the two horsemen were seen through the

-vanishing smoke.  The monk now thought that four _paters_ and four

-_aves_ were too little, and accordingly repeated eight of each sort,

-and then fired again.  Disgusting!  The balls would not touch the

-selected objects.  Providence had not yet rung the death-knell of

-Gustaf Adolf, and Pehr Brahe it wished to spare for the sake of

-Finland.  Who can estimate what would have succeeded Sweden's

-victories, and Finland's learning, if the Jesuit's shots had reached

-their mark?

-

-Father Hieronymus fumed.  Once more he resolved to try with twelve

-_paters_ and twelve _aves_, when someone touched him on the back; he

-turned round and saw an old soldier, who had been exchanged with Count

-Lichtenstein.

-

-"Cease your efforts," said the veteran in a firm tone, "it is a

-needless waste of powder; you are trying to kill a man with a charmed

-life; he is invulnerable."

-

-The superstitious Jesuit muttered something with a low breath.

-

-"I should have divined as much.  But how do you know this, my son?" he

-added.

-

-"I was told of it in the Swedish camp.  On the forefinger of his right

-hand the king wears a little copper ring, inscribed all over with

-magical signs.  This was given to him in his youth by a Finnish witch,

-and as long as he wears this ring, neither fire, water, iron, or lead

-can injure him."

-

-"Nothing affects him, you believe?  Oh, _maledicti Fennones_, why do

-you follow me everywhere?"

-

-"No iron or lead," whispered the veteran, "but I can tell you of

-something else."

-

-"Say on, my son; you are absolved beforehand."

-

-"But, good father, it is a sinful method."

-

-"All means are justified for the benefit of our Holy Faith.  Speak, my

-son."

-

-"Gold from a holy image."

-

-"Never, my son, no; we dare not do that.  Had it been a dagger of

-glass, or an occult poison, it would do; but gold from a saint's image,

-no, my son, let us forget the unholy idea."

-

-Meanwhile the cloak of night had descended, and death's work for the

-time was finished.  The worn-out soldiers refreshed themselves with

-food and drink, and Keller passed around some fine liquors to sustain

-their courage.

-

-Lady Regina had moved down to one of the inner apartments; Count Fritz

-had gone to bed.  Soon all was silent, except the call of the

-sentinels, the songs of drunken soldiers, and the murmur of the feast

-which Keller gave to his officers in the armoury.  But in the fine

-chapel, where stood the pure golden statues of Christ and the Virgin

-Mary, the midnight mass was over, and all the monks except one had gone

-to rest, or--the wine-cup.  This lonely figure was still kneeling

-before the altar, and the perpetually burning lamp shed its dim rays

-over the praying pallid Jesuit.

-

-"Holy Virgin," prayed he, "forgive thy humble servant for daring to

-take from thee a small piece of thy golden robe.  Thou knowest, oh

-sanctissima, that it is for a holy and sacred end, in order to kill the

-sworn enemy of the holy church, the heretic king, whom the heathen

-Finns with their devilish arts have rendered invulnerable to the steel

-and lead of the true believers.  Grant that the gold, which I, in thy

-honour, take from thy glorious mantle, may pierce the wicked heart of

-the godless king, and I promise thee, holy mother, to replace what thou

-hast lost by a costly robe of velvet and pearls.  Three gilded candles

-will I cause to burn also, night and day, before thy image.  Amen."

-

-When Father Hieronymus had finished his devotions, he looked up, and it

-appeared to him as if the image in the light of the eternal lamp smiled

-its approval to the fanatical petition.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV.

-

-LADY REGINA'S OATH.

-

-The next day was one of hot and furious battle.  The Swedes bombarded

-the castle with a heavy fire, and drew near to the walls under the

-cover of earthworks.  The Imperial troops fought well.  Time was

-precious for both sides; in a few days Tilly would be in the rear of

-Gustaf Adolf; a possible thunder-bolt to the Swedes; a certain relief

-for the garrison.

-

-Lady Regina and her attendants were now shut up in the inner rooms, and

-could no longer view the extraordinary spectacle of the siege.  But

-there was much to do within.  Large numbers of wounded had to be

-nursed; the young lady moved like a spirit of light from couch to couch

-in the armoury, where the wounded had been placed; her healing hands

-poured balm on their wounds; her compassionate voice poured consolation

-into their hearts.  She spoke of the Holy Faith for which they

-suffered; promised honours and rewards to those who recovered, and

-eternal salvation to the dying.

-

-The heavy artillery thunder made the walls tremble.  Lady Regina

-suddenly remembered that she had left her rosary up in the little

-turret, and it was now needed for the prayers of the dying.  She had

-already reached the threshold of the armoury, when a terrific crash

-shook the castle to its very base.  Pale with fear, she hesitated, and

-at the same moment the Count of Lichtenstein rushed in.

-

-"What has happened?" exclaimed the young lady.

-

-"Thank the saints, my fair cousin, that you took my advice yesterday.

-The turret has fallen."

-

-"Then we are lost."

-

-"Not yet.  The Swedes thought it would fall into the moat, but it has

-fallen inside.  The enemy will soon try an assault.  Come to this

-window which overlooks the walls.  Can you see?  Father Hieronymus is

-on his knees by the large gun.  I will wager that he sees the Swedish

-king."

-

-The count was right.  The Jesuit's keen glance was fixed on one spot,

-and his lips hastily muttered prayer after prayer.  He had discovered

-Gustaf Adolf on horseback with Pehr Brahe.  The two kept near the

-outworks, sheltered somewhat by a heap of debris.  Father Hieronymus

-relied upon the heavy shot, into which, with prayers and fasting, he

-had run the gold from the Holy Mother's mantle.  He stooped to direct

-the cannon, and the pupils of his eyes contracted, his nostrils

-expanded, while Latin prayers continued to flow from his lips.  Then he

-rose quickly, and after swinging the lighted match in the form of a

-cross, fired.

-

-The gun belched forth flame and smoke.  Oh, hate and fury!  When the

-smoke cleared off, the two horsemen still rode unharmed side by side.

-But this time Gustaf Adolf had a narrow escape, for the ball had struck

-the debris, and covered both with dust.

-

-Tired, weary, and quite exasperated, the Jesuit left the ramparts.

-

-"Wait, ruler of Belial, until I succeed in taking your ring from you,

-and then you shalt be destroyed!"

-

-The king now commanded an assault on the outworks.  Axel Lilje, Jacob

-Ramsay, and Hamilton, pressed on with their men.  Frightful

-difficulties were here encountered.  They were obliged to climb up the

-steep rocks under a heavy fire, and then cross the moat and scale the

-walls.  The irresistible Scots and Finns led the way.  Those who fell

-were immediately replaced by others, with their swords between their

-teeth.  The king himself rode as near as possible in order to encourage

-his troops.  A bullet tore away a piece of his glove, without wounding

-him.  It was now a common belief that Gustaf Adolf was invulnerable.

-

-At last, after two hours desperate conflict, the Scots and the Finns

-triumphed.  The outworks were captured, and the defenders driven back

-into the castle.  It was then four in the afternoon.

-

-A few hours rest ensued.  At a council of war it was resolved to storm

-the castle at daybreak, and the Finns were to lead the forlorn hope.

-

-The position of the garrison was far from hopeless.  They could still

-concentrate 1,000 men at any threatened point.  But they had lost their

-moral courage.  In vain did Keller try to restore their spirits; in

-vain did the monks carry the golden image of the Virgin around the

-ramparts.  At nightfall disorder reigned; the troops refused to obey

-orders, and some wished to escape in the darkness.

-

-At midnight, Lady Regina was praying before the altar in the chapel to

-the mother of God.

-

-"Holy Mary," she whispered, "guard this castle against the heretics.

-But if it be thy will that the fortress shall fall, then also bury in

-its ruins all thy enemies: the godless king, and his heathen Finns who

-have fought the most to-day against thy Holy Cause."

-

-"Amen!" said the voice of Father Hieronymus behind her.  A dark smile

-played over his pale countenance.

-

-"Do you realise what you are asking for, my daughter?"

-

-"Victory for the Catholic faith.  Death to the heretics."

-

-"The youthful mind is subject to change.  Have you sufficient devotion

-to hate the enemies of the faith, even if ever, as a woman, you felt

-tempted to love one of them?"

-

-"I have, my father; yes, I declare it!"

-

-"You are my penitent, and I would save your soul from eternal

-damnation.  Have you courage to sacrifice yourself for the holy faith,

-and thereby secure the eternal crown of a martyr?"

-

-"Yes, my father!"

-

-"Very well; then know that the fortress will be taken in a short time.

-You will be a prisoner; you are young and beautiful, and may easily win

-the king's favour.  When you can approach his person, and the Holy

-Virgin grants an opportunity, you must----"

-

-The Jesuit now took out a crucifix of silver, and when he pressed a

-spring in the breast of the image, a keen dagger flew out.

-

-"Grace, my father; this task is terrible.

-

-"No respite.  The Holy Church demands a blind obedience.  _Perinde ac

-cadaver_.  As a corpse which has no will of its own.  Do you love the

-Holy Virgin?"

-

-"You know that I do."

-

-"Look at her golden robe.  She has lost a part of it during the night.

-It is a bad omen, and indicates her anger.  Do you love me also, my

-daughter?"

-

-"I revere you more than anyone else, my father."

-

-"Then look at this mutilated head."

-

-The Jesuit removed his black leather cap, and exposed the horrible

-stumps of two severed ears.

-

-"Thus have the blasphemous king's Finns treated your confessor and

-friend.  Do you still hesitate to avenge the mother of God and myself?"

-

-"What must I do, my father?"

-

-"Listen!  The heretic king wears on his right forefinger a ring of

-copper; this is a talisman against death and injury.  You must gain

-possession of this ring by some artifice, and then if your arm is too

-weak to deal the blow, call upon me.  We will reach his heart, even if

-it was guarded by a dragon's scales."

-

-"If it is the will of the saints ... so be it."

-

-"Place two fingers on this crucifix, and repeat this oath.  I swear by

-this cross, and by all the saints, to accomplish what I now vow before

-the image of the Holy Virgin.  If I ever break this oath, may a curse

-rest upon me and my posterity to the seventh generation.

-

-"Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.  Amen!"

-

-Lady Regina faithfully repeated these words after the monk.

-

-The night's silence sealed this terrible oath, which, with iron

-fetters, chained the coming generations to the hesitating decision of a

-girl of sixteen.

-

-While this passed, the troops of stormers assembled in the outworks.  A

-number of volunteers had obtained permission to join them.  All relied

-upon victory.

-

-Among the volunteers appeared Lieutenant Bertel.

-

-"Thunder and lightning! is that you, Bertel?" exclaimed Lieutenant

-Larsson.

-

-"As you see," said the youth, shaking his hand cordially.

-

-"Well, I declare, the good boy wishes to sport his new commission.

-There's not a single drop left in my flask.  But say, why have you

-changed your name, Bertel?  What sort of a mixture is it? neither

-Swedish or Finnish."

-

-"It was done at Breitenfeld," said Bertel, slightly blushing.  "The

-comrades have long called me so, and--it is shorter."

-

-"Well, I hope you are not too proud to bear a peasant's name, now you

-are an officer?"

-

-"Have the lots already been drawn?" said Bertel.

-

-"No.  You are just in time to try your luck."

-

-As all the younger officers desired the honour of leading the forlorn

-hope, the difficulty was settled by drawing lots.  After these were

-shaken up in a helmet, Bertel was the successful competitor.

-

-"Look out for yourself, my boy!" cried little Larsson.  "Thunder and

-lightning, remember that the castle is full of Jesuits.  Trap-doors

-everywhere, a dagger in every crucifix, and at the moment of victory

-the castle will be blown up."

-

-It was half an hour to the dawn.  Bertel with seven men was ordered to

-closely reconnoitre the fortress.  The rest of the troops were held in

-readiness.

-

-The night was pitch dark.  Bertel's men approached the drawbridge

-without being challenged: To their complete astonishment they found it

-down.*

-

-

-* Some authors say that the drawbridge could not be drawn up on account

-of the weight of the many dead who were left there after the strife.

-

-

-Bertel stopped for an instant, remembering Larsson's warnings.  Was

-this a trap?  All was silent.  Then Bertel and his men stepped softly

-over the bridge.

-

-"Who goes there?" thundered a German sentinel through the darkness.

-

-"Swede!" cried Bertel, cleaving his head.  "Comrades, the castle is

-ours!"

-

-And the seven pushed on resolutely after him.

-

-Inside the drawbridge stood two hundred Imperialists on guard.  These

-became panic-stricken and thought the whole Swedish army was upon them.

-They tried to regain the sally-port, but the bold lieutenant and his

-seven men opposed them.  The darkness in the arched gateway was

-impenetrable; friend could not be distinguished from foe.  The press

-soon became so great that no sword could be used, and the rash

-assailants were in danger of being crushed to death by the rushing host

-of mailed warriors.

-

-But those in the outworks had heard Bertel's cry, and the whole Swedish

-force now rushed against the castle; the rest of the garrison seized

-their weapons and hastened to defend the entrance.  But the Finns had

-obtained a footing, and in a short time stood inside the castle yard.

-Keller and his men fought desperately, and many Swedes and Finns fell

-here, at the very moment of victory.  Their fall excited their

-countrymen to revenge.  They began to cry, "Magdeburger pardon," and

-this shout meant death without quarter to all the Imperialists.  The

-carnage became awful.  Many monks threw themselves into the mêlée, some

-with torches, some sword in hand.  Most were cut down, others cast

-themselves on the ground feigning death.  Day had broken over the

-sanguinary scene.

-

-Then Lennart Torstensson started forward, seized the madly struggling

-Keller round the waist, and took him prisoner.  The remainder of the

-Imperialists laid down their arms, and all was over.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V.

-

-JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES.

-

-When the first rays of the sun glittered in the waves of the River

-Main, the castle of Marienburg was in the hands of the Swedes.  The

-king rode up to the courtyard, which was covered with killed and

-wounded enemies, and amongst these were more than a score of monks.

-Some of these appeared to the king to be shamming death.

-

-"Stand up," he said to them, "and no evil shall befall you."

-

-Immediately many of those who were pretending to be dead stood on their

-feet sound and well, and bowed low, full of joy and gratitude to the

-king.

-

-The castle had been taken by storm, and the soldiers were allowed to

-plunder.  The quantity of silver, and gold, and weapons, and other

-valuable things was enormous.  The king reserved the armoury, with its

-complete equipments for 7,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, 48 guns and 4

-mortars, the stables with fine and valuable horses, and the wine cellar

-filled with the very best wines.  The library was sent to Upsala, and

-donated to the university.  The sacred statues of gold and silver found

-their way to the Treasury.  Although many of the inhabitants of the

-town were allowed to take away their property, the booty was so great

-that when the soldiers divided it, the money was measured in helmets.

-At last Keller had to lead the way to the concealed treasure vault.

-This was deep down in the rock underneath the cellar of the castle;

-here the bishop kept his treasures.  Fryxell relates, that when the

-soldiers carried up the heavy chests, the bottom fell out of one of

-them, and the gold rolled over the courtyard.  The soldiers hurried to

-pick it up.  Some they gave to the king, but most of it went into their

-own pockets.  Gustaf Adolf saw this, and said, laughing, "Never mind,

-boys; now that it has once come into your hands, you may as well keep

-it."  The spoil was so great that after that day there was scarcely a

-soldier in the whole army who did not have a new suit of clothes.  In

-the camp a cow was sold for a riks thaler, a sheep for a few stivers,

-and the learned Salvius writes, "Our Finnish boys, who are now

-accustomed to the winelands down here, are not likely to wish to return

-to Savolax.  In the Livonian war they often had to put up with water

-and mouldy bread, now the Finns can concoct a beverage in their helmets

-with wine and spices."

-

-Amongst the prisoners was the Count of Lichtenstein and Lady Regina.

-The king ordered that they should both be treated with the greatest

-respect.  He offered the young lady a safe conduct to go to the bishop,

-her uncle.  Lady Regina rejected this on account of the insecurity of

-the times, and asked as a favour to be allowed to remain under the

-king's protection for the present.  Gustaf Adolf agreed to this.

-

-"I do this unwillingly," said the king, smiling, to the Margrave of

-Baden Durlach, who was riding by his side.  "Young ladies are a luxury

-in the camp, and they turn the heads of my attendants; but she may come

-with me to Frankfurt, as a hostage; it will bind the hands of the

-bishop."

-

-"Your Majesty knows how to attract everybody through your generosity,"

-replied the Margrave with the politeness of a courtier.

-

-"Lieutenant Bertel," said the king, turning to the officer close to

-him, who had the command of a troop of Finnish cavalry, "I give Lady

-Regina von Emmeritz into your charge.  She has my permission to bring

-with her an elderly lady, a young girl, and her father confessor.  See

-to it, that you are not smitten, lieutenant, and above all give close

-heed to the monk; that set is not to be relied upon."

-

-Bertel saluted with his sword, and remained silent.

-

-"One thing more," continued the king.  "I have not forgotten that you

-were the first one who entered the sally-port.  When you have brought

-the young lady to safety, you must appear on duty in my life-guards.

-Have you understood me?"

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"Good."  And the king then said to the Margrave with a smile, "Believe

-me, it would have been serious to leave this beautiful dark-eyed girl

-in the charge of one of my susceptible Swedes.  This boy is a Finn;

-they are the most phlegmatic people I know of.  They are poor gallants;

-they need a year to catch fire.  A girl can drive twenty of them out of

-a ball-room; but if it comes to a battle with Pappenheim, then your

-grace knows what they can do."

-

-Gustaf Adolf gained victory after victory in the late autumn.  Tilly,

-who had come too late to save Würzburg, did not dare to attack him, and

-irritated by his bad luck and constant defeats, drew back to the

-Bavarian frontier.  Gustaf Adolf marched down the Main, entered

-Aschaffenburg, and compelled the cautious Frankfurters to open their

-gates.  On December the 6th the king forced a march over the Rhine near

-Oppenheim, and entered Mainz on the 9th, which the Spaniard de Sylva

-had so proudly thought that he could defend against three Swedish

-kings.  The victorious Swedish army was now spread over the north and

-west part of Germany, and the conqueror had chosen his winter quarters

-in Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  A splendid court here assembled around the

-hero; it was here that flattery had previously adorned his head with

-the crown of the German Empire.  It was here that Maria Elenora came

-flying on longing wings to embrace her husband; in Henau, where he had

-come to meet her, she clasped him in her arms and said,

-

-"At last the great Gustaf Adolf is captured."

-

-One day at the end of December, 1631, the king gave a splendid banquet

-in Frankfurt on account of the queen's arrival.  Great crowds of people

-filled the place outside the castle, the high Gothic windows at night

-shone bright as day.  Ale and wines flowed constantly from big casks

-for the people's entertainment; around the tap-holes workmen and

-soldiers jostled each other, holding out tankards and goblets, which

-were quickly filled and as suddenly empty again.  The good citizens of

-Frankfurt were beside themselves with admiration for the great king.

-From man to man, the famous tales of his justice and mildness

-circulated: now he had ordered a soldier to be hanged because he had

-taken with force a burgher's hen; now he had stopped in the streets and

-spoken familiarly with those whom he met.  They imagined that they saw

-his shadow reflected by the small window-panes and wondered whether the

-German crown would not be placed upon that mighty head that very

-evening.

-

-In the saloon of the castle a royal magnificence prevailed.  Gustaf

-Adolf knew his consort's weakness for display, and probably wished to

-produce an effect on the assembled German nobility.  The floor was

-covered with rich Flemish carpets, and over the windows were draperies

-of crimson velvet with tassels of gold; costly chandeliers, heavy with

-a thousand wax-lights, hung from the ceiling, which was adorned with

-arabesques.

-

-They had just finished one of those measured and stately Spanish

-dances, which were at that time in vogue, and the heavy-footed Northmen

-had tried in vain to compete with the German and French aristocracy.

-

-The king had offered his arm to the queen, and they made a promenade

-through the magnificent saloons.  His tall and corpulent figure, and

-simple dignity of manner, which at once inspired reverence and love,

-seemed still more majestic by the side of the slender and delicate

-queen, who with sincere devotion leaned on his arm.  Maria Elenora was

-then thirty-two years of age, and had retained a great portion of her

-beauty, which had gained her so many admirers in her youth.  On her

-black hair, which was arranged in small curls about her snow-white

-temples, flashed a diadem of fabulous value, which was a recent gift

-from the king; her expressive blue eyes rested with indescribable

-affection upon her royal spouse; she seemed to forget herself, absorbed

-in the admiration which the king excited.

-

-In the wake of the royal couple followed a crowd of all the illustrious

-personages of whom Protestant Germany could boast at that time.

-

-One saw here the deposed King Frederick of Bohemia, the Duke of Weimar

-and Würtemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Margrave of Baden Durlach,

-the Count of Wetterau, as well as other distinguished chevaliers; not

-less than twelve ambassadors from foreign courts had assembled here

-round the hero feared by all Europe.  Of the king's own, Tott, Baner,

-and Gustaf Horn were occupied in other directions with affairs of war;

-but here at Gustaf Adolf's side, great as himself, even in outer form,

-was the gifted Oxenstjerna, and behind him the man with the pale,

-unpretending aspect, the calm, penetrating, and commanding look,

-Lennart Torstensson, as well as the proud Finn, Wittenberg, then

-colonel.  Many of the Swedish generals, and almost all the Finns,

-Stälhandske, Ruuth, Forbus, and others, did not thrive well amidst the

-ceremonial of the royal saloon and amongst this haughty nobility whose

-court etiquette appeared to the stern warriors unbearably tedious, and

-had therefore withdrawn in good time to one of the smaller saloons,

-where pages in gold-embroidered velvet suits profusely poured the

-choicest Rhine wines into silver goblets.

-

-Among this brilliant assemblage ought to be included the members of the

-common council of the city of Frankfurt, and many of its most prominent

-citizens, with their wives and daughters, as well as a large number of

-ladies, from the high-born duchess down to the scarcely less proud

-councillor's wife.  Yes, and one saw here even a small number of

-Catholic prelates, easily recognisable by their bald heads; for the

-king wished to proclaim religious freedom by word and deed; the

-prelates, although in their hearts cursing the paltry _rôle_ they

-played here, once invited, did not dare to stay away.

-

-This scene was doubly gorgeous from the splendour of the attire.  The

-king, however, wore a tight-fitting suit of black velvet stitched with

-silver, a Spanish cape of white satin, embroidered by the queen's

-hands, short yellow leather top-boots, and the broad lace collar which

-one sees in all his portraits, with the short hair and long goatee.

-The luxury-loving queen wore a richly jewelled dress of silver brocade

-with a short waist and half-bare arms; even the little white satin

-slippers glittered with brilliants.

-

-The ladies of the aristocracy and the rich burghers' wives vied with

-each other in display; silver and gold fabrics, velvet, satin, and

-costly Brabant laces; also ribbons of all sorts of colours, buckles,

-rosettes, and long sashes, which, fluttering in the air, gave a

-picturesque effect.  Princes and knights, some in wide German, others

-in close-fitting Spanish costumes, with their plumed hats under their

-arms, and attendant pages in silver and velvet, completed this bright

-scene in a time when uniforms were unknown.  Flattery and admiration

-followed the king.

-

-"Sire," said the artful king of Bohemia to him, "your Majesty can only

-be compared to Alexander of Macedon."

-

-"My cousin," answered Gustaf Adolf, smiling, "you do not mean to liken

-the good city of Frankfurt to Babylon?"

-

-"No, sire," joined in the French ambassador, Breze, who walked by their

-side; "his Bohemian Majesty only wishes to liken the Rhine to Granicus,

-and hopes that the new Alexander's Hyphasis may lie beyond the

-frontiers of Bohemia."

-

-"You must confess, Count Breze," said the king, changing the

-conversation, "that our Northern beauties and your French beauties have

-been conquered to-day by a German."

-

-"Sire, I am of your opinion, that her Majesty the Queen does not need

-the enviable position by your side to be truly victorious," replied the

-courteous Frenchman.

-

-"My consort will be grateful for your politeness, minister, but she

-resigns to Lady von Emmentz the preference that belongs to youth."

-

-"Your Majesty flatters to a great extent our national German pride,"

-said the Duke of Würtemberg bowing.

-

-"Beauty is cosmopolitan, your grace.  It was truly a great booty my

-soldiers took at Würzburg."

-

-The king then approached Lady Regina.  Her radiant beauty was still

-more charming through the tight-fitting black velvet dress strewed with

-silver stars in which she was robed.

-

-"My lady," he said courteously.  "I should be happy if the mourning you

-wear covered a heart that could forget all sad memories and only live

-in the hope of a brighter future, when war and battles no longer

-frighten the colour away from your beautiful cheeks.  Believe me, lady,

-the time will come, and I am wishing for it with all my heart as much

-as you are, and let this hope bring joy to these lips where it always

-ought to remain."

-

-"By your Majesty's side one forgets everything," replied Lady Regina,

-and rose respectfully from her high crimson-covered chair.  But her

-cheeks grew still paler while she spoke, which showed that she could

-not forget the past and her present captivity.

-

-"Are you not well, lady?"

-

-"Very well, your Majesty."

-

-"Perhaps you have something to complain of?  Have confidence in me--as

-a friend!"

-

-"Your Majesty is very kind----"

-

-Regina struggled with herself.  At last she said, with her eyes on the

-floor,

-

-"Your Majesty's goodness leaves nothing to wish for."

-

-"We shall meet again."

-

-The king continued his walk through the saloon.

-

-Lady Regina withdrew to a deep window recess in one of the other rooms

-and wept.

-

-"Holy Virgin," she prayed, "forgive me, that my heart does not belong

-to you alone.  You who can see into my inmost being, you know that I

-have not enough strength to hate this heretic king as you demand of me.

-He is so great, so noble.  Woe unto me, I shudder to think of the holy

-charge you have given me!"

-

-"Courage, my daughter," whispered a voice close by, and Lady Regina's

-evil spirit, the pale Jesuit, stood behind her.

-

-"The hour is approaching," he said in a low tone.  "The godless king

-has been taken by your beauty; rejoice, my child.  The Holy Virgin has

-decided his destruction.  This night he shall die."

-

-"Oh, my father, my father, what do you demand of me?"

-

-"Listen to me, my daughter.  When Holofernes, the King of Assyria,

-besieged Bethulia, there was a widow, Judith, the daughter of Merari,

-beautiful as you, my child, devoted as you.  She fasted three times,

-and then she walked out and gained the favour of the enemy of her faith

-and people.  The saints gave his life into her hands, she drew his

-sword and cut off his head, and delivered her people."

-

-"Mercy, my father!"

-

-"It was counted unto her great honour and ever-lasting salvation, and

-her name was mentioned among the greatest in Israel.  You will some day

-be mentioned like that, my daughter, amongst the saints of the Holy

-Catholic Church.  Last night the Holy Franciscus was visible by my

-bedside.  He said, the time has come, go to Judith, tell her that I

-will give Holofernes' head into her hands."

-

-"What shall I do, my father?"

-

-"Mark closely how you ought to deport yourself.  This very evening you

-must request a private audience of the king."

-

-"Impossible!"

-

-"You shall reveal to him a fictitious plot against his life.  He will

-listen to you.  You shall entice the ring from him.  Once in possession

-of it, I will be ready to assist you.  But if he refuses you the ring,

-then take this paper, it contains a deadly poison; St. Franciscus has

-given it himself to me.  You shall mix it in the beverage which the

-king drinks at night."

-

-Lady Regina took the paper, and leaned her curly head against the

-window-frame, and she hardly seemed to have taken any notice of the

-Jesuits terrible injunction.  An entirely new thought had seized this

-ardent soul, and was working itself to clearness.  The Jesuit

-misunderstood her; he supposed that her silence proceeded from

-submission to his despotism, from fanatic ecstasy over the martyr-crown

-he had held up to her.

-

-"Have you understood me, my daughter?" asked he.

-

-"Yes, my father."

-

-"You will, then, this evening, ask the king for a private audience?

-You will..."

-

-"Yes, my father."

-

-"Benedicta, ten benedicta, thou thrice-blessed instrument, go to thy

-heavenly glory!"  And the Jesuit disappeared in the throng.

-

-The large clock in the coronation chamber pointed to midnight.  Through

-an ingenious mechanism, invented by a Nuremberger, two immense tables,

-set with elegant silver service, rolled out from an adjoining room at

-the twelfth stroke, and stood at once, as if risen from the floor, in

-the centre of the saloon.  Upon a given sign from the master of the

-ceremonies, the king and queen placed themselves before two crimson

-chairs at the middle of the upper table, and all the guests in rows,

-according to rank and dignity, around the festive boards.  One of the

-prelates present said grace in a loud voice, after which the king

-himself recited a short psalm, and the rest with practised voices

-joined in.  They now seated themselves with considerable bustle, and

-once arrived so far, they did not allow themselves to be too much

-incommoded by ceremony.  The courses were both many and savoury.

-Richelieu had sent Gustaf Adolf a French cook; but the king, far from

-spoiled by good living, only employed the fine Frenchman for ornamental

-dishes on occasions like this; perhaps he did not rely fully upon the

-cardinal's gift, for it was said that Richelieu's dinners were scarcely

-less dangerous than those of the former Borgias.  And besides, the

-Netherland and German cooking was at that time more praised than the

-French.  The tables' greatest ornaments at this banquet were a wild

-boar roasted whole, decorated with flowers and laurel leaves, and a

-piece of pastry, presented by a baker of Frankfurt, and representing

-the triumphant march of a Roman Emperor.  Everyone believed that they

-recognised in this small hero, Gustaf Adolf's features, and many

-jesting words were exchanged, when each found a resemblance between the

-attending Romans and his neighbour.  The queen, whose delicate hand was

-destined to break this masterpiece of culinary art, with a smile put

-one of the last slaves in the triumphal march on her silver plate; but

-Gustaf Adolf, generally endowed with a good appetite, seized the great

-pastry hero rather ungently with his warrior hand, and placed a

-considerable portion of his person upon his plate.

-

-In the meantime the goblets were filled with the best Rhenish and

-Spanish wines, and the king drank the queen's health in a plain simple

-manner, and all the other guests followed his example.  At the top of

-the table stood the royal pages in glittering uniforms, one behind each

-chair, and at the lower end one stood behind every other chair.  They

-refilled the goblets, and the king then drank to Frankfurt's welfare;

-immediately afterwards he rose from the table and left the room with

-the queen on his arm, and they retired to their own apartments.  Gustaf

-Adolf always lived as a plain soldier ought to do, and was generally

-quick at his meals, but under favourable circumstances would stay an

-hour at the table.  The king, however, did not ask the others to follow

-his example, and left in his place as host a high officer of the court.

-

-This time it was the old Scotchman, Patrick Ruthwen, who was a good

-boon companion, and he filled his post with great credit.  Oxenstjerna

-left the room with the king.  The ladies also left the hall, but the

-gentlemen remained behind enjoying themselves over their wine and the

-nuts which had been handed round on silver dishes; amongst the latter

-were artificial ones made of stone, which looked so natural that they

-were constantly mistaken for real From this joke came the saying, "it

-is a hard nut to crack."  The heroes of the Thirty Years' War were

-nearly all great topers; to empty at a draught one of the large beakers

-of Rhenish wine was a small matter to them.  But on this occasion they

-had to restrain themselves, because they all knew the high moral

-principles of the king, and hence did not dare to turn their goblets

-upside down too often.  They did not break up until a late hour, and

-some of the commanders treated each other to a rare product just

-imported from the Low Countries, and it was passed from hand to hand in

-small boxes; each man bit off a piece, and some with frightful grimaces

-spat it out again, whilst others kept it in their mouths with evident

-enjoyment.  Doubtless, the reader has already guessed, this was tobacco.

-

-While this feasting was going on in the hall, the queen had gone to

-rest with her ladies in waiting, but the king was still talking to Axel

-Oxenstjerna.  What these two great men were conversing about is easier

-to guess than to tell.  Perhaps it was about Sweden's poverty, or the

-Emperor's power, or the power of God, which is still greater, or the

-victory of the Light, or the crown of the Roman kingdom, or a German

-Protestant empire in the future.  No one knows this for certain; for

-after the king's death all his secrets followed Oxenstjerna to the

-grave.

-

-It was very late, and Oxenstjerna was about to leave, when Bertel, the

-officer on duty, announced that a closely veiled lady requested an

-audience of the king.  It was a strange favour to ask at this time of

-the night, and both Gustaf Adolf and his minister were greatly

-surprised; but that there must be an important reason for such a secret

-visit was obvious to them both, and the king ordered Bertel to bring

-the lady in, and told Oxenstjerna to remain.

-

-Bertel left the room, and returned in a few moments with a tall lady

-thickly veiled, and dressed in black.  She seemed greatly agitated and

-surprised not to find the king alone; she was unable to utter a word.

-

-"Madam," said the king in a somewhat irritable tone--he did not like

-such a visit at this late hour; for if it was known it would tend to

-excite gossip amongst the courtiers, and perhaps awaken the jealousy of

-his sensitive wife--"a visit at this hour of the night must have some

-important object in order to justify it.  I should first of all like to

-know who you are."

-

-The lady was still silent.

-

-The king thought he could guess the cause of her silence, and

-continued, pointing to his companion:

-

-"This is minister Oxenstjerna, my friend, and I have no secrets from

-him."

-

-The lady dressed in black then threw herself at the king's feet and

-drew back her veil.  The king retreated several paces when he

-recognised Lady Regina von Emmeritz; her dark eyes flashed with an

-enthusiastic fire, but her face was as pale as that of a marble statue.

-

-"Stand up, lady," said Gustaf Adolf in a kind tone, and stretched out

-his hand to lift her up.  "What now leads you to seek an audience with

-me?  Speak, I beg of you; tell me without fear what troubles you have

-in your heart; will you not comply with my wish?"

-

-Lady Regina sighed deeply, and began to speak in a low voice almost

-impossible to hear, but she gradually assumed a louder tone, supported

-by her enthusiasm.

-

-"Your Majesty, I have come to you because you asked me to come.  I come

-to you because I have hated you, sire; for a long time I have prayed

-daily to the Holy Virgin, that she would destroy you, and your whole

-army.  Your Majesty, I am only a weak girl, but an honest Catholic; you

-have pursued our Church with war, and plundered our convents; driven

-away our holy fathers, and melted down our holy golden images; you have

-slain our soldiers, and dealt our cause deadly blows that can never be

-repaired.  Therefore I have taken a Holy Oath to bring about your

-destruction, and relying upon the Holy Virgin's help I have followed

-your steps from Würzburg in order to kill you."

-

-The king and Oxenstjerna looked at each other as if they doubted the

-young girl's sanity.  Lady Regina saw this, and continued to speak with

-more vehemence than before.

-

-"Sire, you think me mad, because I speak thus to the conqueror of

-Germany.  But listen to me further.  When I saw you for the first time

-in the castle of Würzburg, and how kindly and generously you sheltered

-the weak, and spared those who had been captured, I then said to

-myself, 'This conduct seems to be inspired from Heaven, but

-nevertheless it must come from hell.'  But when I followed you here,

-and saw your greatness as a man combined with your heroic qualities,

-sire, I hesitated to carry out my vow, and my hatred became a burden to

-me.  I struggled with myself, and your kindness to-night has conquered

-my resolve.  Sire, now I love you as much as I have hated you before.

-I admire you, and am devoted to you----"

-

-The beautiful girl let her eyes sink to the floor.

-

-"Well," said the king, hesitating with great emotion.

-

-"Your Majesty, I have made this confession because you are great and

-noble enough not to misunderstand me.  But I have not come to you at

-this late hour only to confess an unhappy girl's feelings.  I have come

-here to save you, sire."

-

-"Explain yourself."

-

-"Hear me, your Majesty.  I am disarmed, but others much more dangerous

-remain.  Some of our body, men without mercy, have sworn to kill you.

-Oh! you do not know what these men are capable of doing.  They have

-drawn lots in order to decide who shall kill you, and the most

-dangerous of them is near you in disguise daily.  Your Majesty cannot

-escape from them.  To-day or to-morrow, perhaps, you may be

-assassinated or poisoned.  Your death is sure."

-

-"My life is in the hand of God, and not at the mercy of a murderous

-fanatic," said Gustaf Adolf in a very calm voice.  "The evil have not

-as much power as Will.  Be assured, Lady von Emmeritz, I do not fear

-them."

-

-"No, sire, the saints have decided your death.  I know that you rely

-upon this ring"--and Regina grasped the king's hand--"but it will not

-help you.  Sire, I say to you that your death is certain, and I have

-not come here to save your life and thus betray the cause of our Holy

-Church."

-

-"Then why, lady, did you come here now?"

-

-Lady Regina again threw herself at the king's feet with almost

-adoration.

-

-"Sire, I have come to save your soul.  I cannot bear to think that a

-hero like yourself, so noble, so great, should be lost for ever.  Hear

-me, I beg, I implore you by your eternal salvation, with certain death

-staring you in the face, do not continue in your heretical faith, whose

-fruit is eternal damnation.  I pray you, abjure these evil doctrines

-while there is still time, and come back to the only way of redemption,

-the Holy Catholic Church; give up your faith and go to the Holy Father

-in Rome; confess your sins to him, and use your victorious sword in the

-service of the true Church, instead of using it for her destruction.

-She will receive you with open arms, and whether your Majesty lives or

-dies, your Majesty can always depend upon being placed among the chosen

-saints in Heaven."

-

-The king for the second time raised the young girl from the ground, and

-looked straight into her burning eyes, and said in an impressive voice:

-

-"When I was as young as you are, Lady von Emmeritz, my teacher, old

-Skytte, brought me up with the same enthusiastic devotion to the

-Protestant faith that you have for the Catholic.  At that time I hated

-the Pope with all my soul, as you now hate Luther, and I prayed to God

-that the time might come when I could destroy Antichrist and convert

-all those that believed in him to the true light.  Since then I have

-not altered my principles, but I have learned through experience that

-the paths are many, although the goal is One.  I stand steadily by my

-faith, and am prepared to die for it, if God so decides.  But I respect

-the faith of a Christian, even if it is quite different from my own,

-and I know that God's mercy can bring a soul to salvation, even if its

-way is obscured by dark mists and illusions.  Go, Lady von Emmeritz, I

-forgive you; although deluded by the fanatical teachings of the monks,

-you have tried to draw me from the battle for the Light.  Go, poor

-child, and let the Word of God, and the lessons of Life, teach you not

-to rely upon saints, who are no better than we are, or images, or

-rings, as they cannot alter the highest law.  I thank you because your

-intentions are good, although you are inexperienced.  Be without fear

-for my life, which is in the hand of Him who knows how to use it."

-

-King Gustaf Adolf was truly great when he spoke these words.

-

-Lady Regina stood there, at the same time crushed and uplifted by the

-king's magnanimous spirit.  Perhaps she remembered his answer to the

-burghers of Frankfurt, when they asked him to be allowed to remain

-neutral; "neutrality is a word which I cannot bear to hear, least of

-all amidst the battle between light and darkness, betwixt liberty and

-slavery."  Brought up to hate the Protestant faith, she could not

-understand how it was possible for the sword which had destroyed the

-worldly power of the church to be laid aside in the presence of its

-spiritual power over the hearts and minds of men.

-

-The fanatical young girl raised her tear-stained eyes towards the king.

-Her cheeks turned pale, on which had before burned the fire of

-enthusiasm, and her eyes were fixed with terror on the scarlet-coloured

-hangings which surrounded the king's bed.

-

-Oxenstjerna, who was more suspicious than Gustaf Adolf, had closely

-watched the young lady the whole time, and at once noticed her

-agitation.

-

-"Your Majesty," said he in Swedish to the king, "be on your guard,

-there are owls in the marshes."

-

-Then without waiting for an answer he drew his sword and walked

-steadily towards the magnificent bed, which was a gift from the

-burghers of Frankfurt; the royal hero had exchanged the eider-down

-pillows for a simple mattress, and a coarse blanket of Saxon wool, the

-same as his soldiers used in their winter camps.

-

-"Stop!" cried Regina with evident reluctance.  But it was too late.

-Oxenstjerna had with a sudden movement pulled back the hangings, and

-revealed a pale face with dark burning eyes, surmounted by a black

-leather skull-cap.  The hangings were still further drawn back, and the

-whole features of the monk became visible; his hands were clasped round

-a crucifix of silver.

-

-"Step forward, devoted father," said Oxenstjerna in a satirical tone.

-"A man of your merits should not remain in concealment.  Your reverence

-has chosen a peculiar place for your evening devotions.  With his

-Majesty's permission I will furnish you with a larger audience."

-

-At the sound of the bell, Lieutenant Bertel with two men from the

-life-guards entered, and placed themselves on both sides of the exit

-with their long halberts.

-

-The king looked at Lady Regina, but more sadness than anger was to be

-seen in his eyes.  It pained him that so young and beautiful a girl

-could take part in such a detestable plot.

-

-"Mercy, your Majesty! mercy for my father confessor!  He is innocent!"

-cried the unhappy girl.

-

-"Will your Majesty allow me to ask a few questions in your place?" said

-Oxenstjerna.

-

-"Do as you think best, minister," said the king.

-

-"Very well.  What did your reverence come here for?"

-

-"To bring back a great sinner to the true fold," said the monk

-hypocritically, with his eyes turned upwards.

-

-"Really, one must say that you are very zealous.  And for such a holy

-purpose you carry with you the image of the crucified Saviour?"

-

-The monk bowed whilst devoutly making the sign of the cross.

-

-"Your reverence is very humble.  Give me the crucifix, that I may

-admire this work of art."

-

-The monk unwillingly handed it to him.

-

-"A beautiful object.  It required a clever artist to design this holy

-image."

-

-The minister passed his hands over all parts of the crucifix.  At last,

-when he touched the breast of the image, a sharp dagger sprang forth.

-

-"See, your reverence carries a very innocent-looking toy.  A keen

-dagger, just suitable to thrust through a noble king's heart!

-Miserable monk," said Oxenstjerna in a terrible voice, "do you know

-that your horrible crime becomes a hundred times more detestable

-through the blasphemous method you wish to employ?"

-

-Like all the kings of the Vasa line, Gustaf Adolf had a hasty temper in

-his youth, which more than once brought him into trouble.  But the

-experience of manhood had cooled his blood; still one could sometimes

-see the quick Vasa disposition get beyond control.  This now happened.

-He was quite great enough, however, to look calmly upon this

-treacherous attempt against his life, although the preservation of

-Germany depended upon it, and he looked down with great disgust upon

-the discovered traitor, who now stood trembling before his indignant

-judge.  But the horrible misuse of the Saviour's holy image as a weapon

-against his life--he who was prepared to sacrifice himself for the pure

-teachings of Jesus Christ--appeared to him to be such a terrible

-blasphemy against all in life that he considered holy and right, that

-his calmness was instantly changed to the most terrible anger.

-

-Noble and great as a lion in his wrath, he stood in front of the

-cringing Jesuit, who was unable to bear the glance of his eyes.

-

-"On your knees," said the king in a thunderous voice, stamping

-violently with his foot on the floor.

-

-The Jesuit fell down as if struck by lightning, and crawled in mortal

-terror to the king's feet, like a poisonous reptile, spell-bound by the

-king's look: powerless at the conqueror's feet.

-

-"Ye serpent's brood," continued the king beside himself with anger,

-"how long do ye think that the Almighty will endure your iniquities?

-By God!  I have seen much; I have seen your Antichrist and Romish rule

-cover the world with all the deeds of darkness; I have seen ye, monks

-and Jesuits, poison frightened consciences with your devil's teachings

-about murder and crimes committed for the glory of Heaven; but a deed

-so black as this, a blasphemy against everything that is holy in Heaven

-and upon earth, I have never before dreamed of.  I have forgiven ye

-all; ye have plotted against my life at Demmin and other places; I have

-not taken revenge; ye have acted worse than Turks and barbarians

-towards the innocent Lutherans; wherever ye have had the power ye have

-destroyed their churches, and burned them at the stake, driven them

-away from house and home; and what is worse, ye have tried to draw them

-from their faith with arguments and force to your idolatrous religion,

-which worships deeds and miserable images instead of the living God and

-His only Son.  For all this, I have not retaliated upon your cloisters

-and churches and consciences; ye have gone free in your faith, and no

-one has touched a hair of your heads.  But now I know you, servants of

-the devil; the Almighty God has delivered ye into my hand; I shall

-scatter ye like chaff; I shall punish you, ye desecrators of the

-temple; I shall follow you to the end of the world, as long as this arm

-is able to wield the Lord's sword.  Ye have hitherto seen me mild and

-merciful, ye will now see me hard and terrible; I will destroy you and

-your accursed faith on earth; it will be such a judgment as the world

-has not seen since the destruction of Rome."

-

-The king walked up and down the room with hasty steps, without deigning

-to bestow a glance on the prostrate Jesuit or the trembling Regina, who

-was standing by the window covering her face with her hands.

-Oxenstjerna, always calm and collected, was alarmed at the king's

-anger, and feared that he would go too far, and now tried to modify it.

-

-"Will your Majesty deign to order Lieutenant Bertel to take the monk

-into safe custody, and let a court-martial make a terrible example of

-him?"

-

-"Mercy, your Majesty!" cried Regina, who was blindly devoted to her

-father confessor.  "Mercy!  I am the guilty one.  I have advised him to

-take this terrible step.  I alone deserve to be punished for it."

-

-At this noble self-sacrifice a faint ray of hope illumined the Jesuit's

-pale features, but he did not dare to rise up.  The king took no notice

-of this appeal.  Instead, he turned all his wrath upon the guard.

-

-"Lieutenant Bertel," he said sharply, "you have commanded my life-guard

-to-night; through your neglect this wretch has slipped into the room.

-Take him at once to prison, and you shall answer for his safety with

-your head.  Then you can go and take your place in the ranks.  From

-this moment you are degraded to the position of a private soldier."

-

-Bertel saluted, but did not speak.  What pained him more than the loss

-of his commission was the sacrifice of the king's favour, especially as

-he knew that he had kept a ceaseless watch.  It was a complete mystery

-to him how the Jesuit had got in.  The latter had now grasped the

-king's knees and prayed for mercy.  But in vain.  The king pushed him

-backwards, and he was taken away gnashing his teeth and his heart full

-of revenge.

-

-Gustaf Adolf then turned to the trembling girl at the window, took her

-hand and looked straight into her eyes.

-

-"Lady," he said with asperity, "it is said that when the king of the

-darkness wishes to do a terrible evil deed on earth, he sends his

-instruments dressed as angels of light.  What do you wish me to think

-of you?"

-

-Lady Regina had courage enough to lift up her eyes once more to the

-great king.

-

-"I have nothing more to say.  Kill me, sire, but save my father

-confessor!" she said with fanatical resolution.

-

-The king, still looking angrily into her eyes, could not yet control

-himself.

-

-"If your father, lady, had been an honest man, he would have taught his

-daughter to fear God, honour the king, and speak the truth to every

-man.  You wished to convert me; I will instead educate you, you seem to

-be in great want of it.  Go, you remain my prisoner until you have

-learned to speak the truth.  Oxenstjerna, is the severe old Lady Marta

-at Korsholm still alive?"

-

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-

-"She will have a pupil to educate.  At the first opportunity this girl

-is to be sent to Finland."

-

-Lady Regina, proud and silent, left the room.

-

-"Your Majesty!" said Oxenstjerna reproachfully.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI.

-

-THE FINNS AT LECH.

-

-Before our story proceeds further, it is necessary to bestow one more

-look on Frankfurt.

-

-Lady Regina was closely guarded after her midnight visit to the king;

-and later in the spring, when the waters were released from their icy

-fetters, she was sent to Finland, where we may find her again.  No

-religious hatred, still less revenge, prompted the anger of the usually

-generous Gustaf Adolf towards the young girl; abused confidence deeply

-stabs a noble heart, and Regina said nothing to remove the idea of her

-guilt from the king's mind; in fact, she strengthened it more and more

-by her fanaticism, and hatred still possessed her young heart, which

-ought to have been given to love alone.

-

-An extraordinary incident increased the king's resentment.  On the

-night that the Jesuit was taken to prison, to be executed next day, the

-terrible monk escaped; no one knew how.  These fearful men had allies

-and secret emissaries and passages everywhere; that very night a

-hitherto concealed door was discovered in the king's bed-chamber.

-Bertel's innocence came to light through this, but the mysterious

-escape of the monk again excited the king's wrath, and the late

-lieutenant had still to remain a private soldier.

-

-By the middle of February, 1632, the king was ready for departure; he

-then took the stronghold at Kreutznach in March, after a short siege,

-and left the queen, as well as Axel Oxenstjerna, in Mayence.  But Tilly

-had in the meantime surprised Gustaf Horn at Bamberg, and done great

-mischief.  The king pursued him down the Danube, and wished to invade

-Bavaria by crossing the Lech.  In vain did his generals object that the

-river was too deep and rapid, and that the Elector, with Tilly,

-Altringer, and 22,000 men, stood on the opposite side.  The king spoke

-like Alexander at the passage of the Granicus.

-

-"Shall we, who have crossed the Elbe, Oder, and Rhine, nay, even the

-Baltic, stop alarmed at the River Lech?"

-

-The passage was decided upon.

-

-The king tried for some time to find a suitable crossing.  At last he

-discovered it near a bend in the stream; a dragoon disguised as a

-peasant heard that the Lech was twenty-two feet deep.  Trestles were

-made of timber torn from cabins; four batteries of seventy cannon in

-all, were erected on the bank, and breastworks thrown up for the

-skirmishers, while fires of damp straw and green wood enveloped the

-neighbourhood in thick smoke.  Still, Tilly was old and experienced; he

-soon occupied the wood on the other side with his force; dug trenches

-and made fortifications, from which he directed a heavy fire.  On the

-3rd of April the Swedish cannon replied with terrific effect.  On April

-5th the trestles for a bridge were laid in spite of the fire of the

-enemy; planks were then thrown across, and, as usual, the Finns led the

-attack.  Three hundred infantry, headed by little Larsson, and the

-brave Savolaxen Paavo Lyydikain, were ordered to cross the planks, and

-defend the bridge on the opposite shore; each was promised a reward of

-ten riks thalers.  In a few moments the fate of Bavaria would be

-decided.

-

-The Finns carried spades and trenching tools, and cheering as they

-advanced, rushed at the double over the bridge.  Immediately a

-tremendous cross-fire from all Tilly's batteries was directed upon

-them; every moment balls dropped splashing into the foaming waters, or

-flew over the charging Finns, and now and then fell amongst them,

-scattering death on every side.  Those who got over worked vigorously

-at throwing up earthworks, which soon protected their front, although

-their flanks were still exposed to the enemy's fire.

-

-Tilly realised the importance of this position, and his fire redoubled.

-The Swedes riddled the opposite wood with a storm of shot, which struck

-the stones and tree-tops, scattering fragments and branches far and

-wide upon the Bavarians, who stood underneath awaiting the order to

-charge.  The king, in order to encourage his men, hastened to the

-front, and himself fired sixty shots.  The cannon thunder was heard for

-miles.

-

-More than half of the Finns had now been killed, wounded, or drowned,

-but the entrenchments were completed.  And at that instant the king

-ordered the afterwards celebrated Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel to go to

-their assistance.  The Finns, exalted with pride by their countrymen's

-success, and also anxious for the safety of their comrades, begged

-eagerly to be led into the midst of the fight, and in a moment Wrangel

-was surrounded by 300 Finnish volunteers, with whom he heroically

-charged across the shaking planks.  The gallant Duke Bernhard, who,

-like the king, had a certain partiality for the Finns, received

-permission to make a diversion in their favour.  Followed by a troop of

-Finnish cavalry, he found and passed over a ford, and fell upon the

-enemy's right flank.  The surprised Bavarians fell into disorder, and

-in spite of their numerical superiority, gave ground before the attack.

-Duke Bernhard's troop played havoc with the enemy, and soon cut their

-way through to their comrades at the end of the bridge.  Through this

-daring exploit the Finns obtained the dreaded name, "Hackapeliter,"

-from the words "hakkaa päälle!"  Go Ahead! which they shouted as they

-charged.

-

-Stimulated by the Finns' success, the Swedish and German infantry now

-began to cross the bridge.  Tilly, avoiding exposing his troops to the

-murderous Swedish fire till the last moment, now sent Altringer's

-infantry to take the fortifications, and drive the enemy into the

-river.  The Bavarians advanced at the double, and although decimated by

-the hail of bullets, threw themselves furiously on the earthworks.

-

-Wrangel's men stood firm.  Almost enveloped by the enemy's massive

-column, the Finns gave them a hot reception.  Pouring in a deadly

-volley at fifty yards, every bullet told.  The Bavarians wavered for a

-moment; most of them were new recruits; they faltered.  The Finns got

-time to reload; another volley; and the assailants fled in disorder

-along the bank.  Altringer rallied them with great difficulty, and

-again led them to the onset; at that moment a cannon-shot whizzed so

-close to his head that he fell senseless to the ground.  Again the

-Bavarians gave way.  Tilly saw this, and sent his favourite Wallachians

-to their assistance.  But even these veterans had to retreat, so

-terrific was the fire.  Then Tilly seized a banner, and led the attack

-in person.  Before, however, he had taken many steps, he fell, struck

-down by a falconet ball, which had smashed one leg.  The old general

-was carried from the field, and died a fortnight afterwards at

-Ingolstadt.

-

-The Bavarian army now became utterly demoralised.  The Elector

-retreated under cover of the darkness, leaving 2,000 dead on the field,

-and the way open to the heart of Bavaria.

-

-Next day the entire Swedish army crossed the Lech.  The king with a

-liberal hand distributed rewards to his brave troops.  Amongst these

-was a horseman who had accompanied Duke Bernhard, who praised him in

-the highest terms.  This was Bertel; three slight wounds attested the

-duke's account.  Bertel regained his rank, but not the king's

-confidence, which he valued above everything.  But he resolved to win

-this back at all costs.

-

-Gustaf Adolf then marched to Augsburg, which took the oath of

-allegiance, and gave brilliant festivals in his honour.  Here report,

-which joined the names Gustafva Augusta, whispered that the king had

-abandoned himself, like another Hannibal in Capua, to effeminacy and

-pleasure.  Rumour was wrong.  Gustaf Adolf was merely resting, and

-revolving still more daring enterprises in his mind.  But from this

-time the king's pathway began to darken.  The death angel went before

-him with drawn sword, and aimed now here, now there, a blow at his

-life, as if to cry constantly in his ear, "Mortal, thou art not a god."

-

-One could almost think that the powers of darkness had obtained more

-power over him; now ambition began to gain ground in his mind, and he

-was no longer solely animated by the sacred cause of Liberty and Faith.

-A secret and terrible enemy seemed everywhere in his path, dealing

-deadly blows which could not as yet reach their mark.  At the bold but

-unsuccessful attack on Ingolstadt there was, relates Fryxell, a cannon

-on the ramparts called a "Fikonet," and celebrated for shooting both

-far and true.  The gunner on the ramparts saw out on the field a man

-with a waving plume riding a fine charger, and surrounded by attentive

-followers.  "There," he said, "rides a great lord, but this will stop

-his career;" then he aimed and fired the "Fikonet."  The ball brought

-down horse and rider, and the others hastened to the place in great

-dread; but the king, for it was he, raised himself up, covered with

-blood and dust, but unharmed, from underneath the dead horse,

-exclaiming,

-

-"The apple is not yet ripe."

-

-The citizens of Ingolstadt buried the horse, and stuffed his skin as a

-remembrance.  Shortly afterwards the king was riding at the side of the

-young Margrave of Baden Durlach, who had just before been one of the

-most brilliant figures at the Augsburg balls.  A cannon-shot passed

-very near the king, and as he looked round, a headless horseman rode by

-his side and then sank to the ground.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII.

-

-NEW ADVENTURES.

-

-From Ingolstadt the king turned to Landshut, in the centre of Bavaria.

-The farther he advanced into this country, where they had never seen an

-army of heretics before, the people became more fanatical, wild, and

-bloodthirsty.  Large bands of peasants assembled, commanded by the

-monks, lying in ambush everywhere for the Swedes, and cutting off every

-straggler; they also tortured their prisoners in the most horrible

-manner.  The king's army on their side, inebriated by their successes,

-were infuriated by this cruel guerilla warfare, and began to burn and

-destroy all the places they passed through.  Hitherto the Swedish army

-had been remarkable for its good conduct in the field, but now they

-left in their rear a broad track of murder and crime; and woe to those

-troops who in insufficient numbers wandered far from the main body.

-

-The king had now marched far into the country, and wished to send some

-new important orders to Baner, who followed slowly in his steps from

-Ingolstadt.  On account of the lawless state of the country this was

-attended with great risk, and the king would not order a large body to

-go.  A young officer, a Finn, volunteered to try, accompanied by two

-horsemen.  The king agreed to this, and the three horsemen set out one

-evening in May on this dangerous journey.

-

-The young officer was no other than our friend Bertel, and his

-companions were Pekka from East Bothnia, and Vitikka from Tavastland.

-The night was dark and gloomy, and the three horsemen rode carefully in

-the middle of the road, much afraid of missing their way in this

-strange country, and dreading an ambush from their enemies.  It began

-to rain, which made the roads still worse; these had already been much

-damaged by the passage of the heavy baggage-wagons, and at every step

-they risked an accident.

-

-"Here," said Vitikka ironically to his companion, "you are a northern

-Finn, and ought to be able to practise witchcraft."

-

-"I should not be worth much if I could not do it," responded Pekka in

-the same bantering tone.

-

-"Try, then, and take us in a minute to Hattelmala mountain and let us

-see the light shining from Hämeenlinna's castle.  There is a little

-gipsy girl whom I once loved, and I would rather be by her side

-to-night, than here in the ruts of this damned forest."

-

-"That will be easy for me to do," said Pekka; "see, you can already see

-the lights shining from Hämeenlinna."

-

-His comrade looked sharply around, uncertain if Pekka was joking or in

-earnest; he thought the latter quite as likely as the former.  And

-truly, in the brushwood underneath, a light appeared, but he soon

-understood that he was still hundreds of miles away from his home.

-Suddenly their horses stopped, and would not move.  A barrier of tree

-trunks was stretched across the road.

-

-"Hush!" whispered Bertel, "I hear a noise in the wood."

-

-The horsemen leaned forward and listened attentively.  On the opposite

-side of the wood they heard footsteps and the breaking of branches.

-

-"They must be here in a quarter of an hour," said a voice in the

-well-known Bavarian dialect.

-

-"How many of them are there?"

-

-"Thirty horsemen, and ten or twelve baggage animals.  They left

-Geisenfeld at dusk, and they have a young girl with them as a prisoner."

-

-"How many are we?"

-

-"About fifty musketeers, and seventy or eighty armed with pitchforks

-and axes."

-

-"Good.  No firing is allowed until they are within three paces."

-

-At this moment Bertel's horse neighed, whose name was Lapp; he was

-small but strong and active.

-

-"Who is there?" sounded from the road.

-

-"Swedes!" cried Bertel boldly, just as he did at the Würzburg

-sally-port, and fired off a pistol in the direction of the voice, and

-saw by the flash a large band of peasants, who had encamped by the

-barricade.  He then turned his horse, and, calling upon his companions

-to follow him, rode at full gallop on the road back to Landshut.

-

-But the peasants had by the flash also seen the three horsemen, and now

-hurried to cut off their retreat.  Bertel's horse easily distanced the

-pursuers, but Vitikka's fell over the stump of a tree, and Pekka's

-clumsy animal was hurt by the thrust of a pitchfork in his neck as he

-tried to get out of the marsh.  Bertel saw his followers' danger, and

-would not leave them; he turned back and killed the nearest peasants,

-and caught Pekka's horse by the bridle and tried to pull him up,

-calling also to Vitikka to leave his horse and jump on the back of

-Lapp.  This brave effort was successful, and the three were on their

-way to safety, when suddenly a whizzing noise was heard, and a lasso

-settled upon Bertel's shoulders, tightened, and jerked him from his

-saddle.  Vitikka fell at the same moment, and Lapp, thus delivered from

-his heavy burden, galloped off, and Pekka followed with or without his

-will.  Bertel and Vitikka were taken prisoners and bound with their

-hands behind their backs.

-

-"Hang the dogs before the others arrive!" cried one.

-

-"Hang them by the heels!" suggested another.

-

-"With a little fire underneath!" said a third.

-

-"No fire! no noise!" ordered a fourth, who appeared to be in command.

-"Listen, comrades," whispered he Ito the prisoners lying on the ground,

-"was it Finnish you spoke?"

-

-"Go to the devil!" said Vitikka in a rage.

-

-"_Maledicti, maledicti Fennones!_" said the former speaker in the

-darkness.  "You are mine!"

-

-"Now they are coming!" cried one of the band, and the trampling of

-horses was heard on the road to Ingolstadt.  The peasants remained

-still, and for greater safety gagged the prisoners.  The approaching

-troop were provided with torches, and seemed to be Germans, who were

-returning from a marauding expedition.  They were riding so quickly

-that they did not notice the barricade until they were close upon it;

-at the same moment a murderous fire opened upon them from behind this

-obstruction.  Ten or twelve of the foremost fell to the ground, and

-their riderless horses reared and dragged them along by the stirrups;

-the greatest confusion prevailed amongst them, some turned back, riding

-over their comrades and the pack-horses; others fired off their pistols

-towards the enemy behind the barricade.  The peasants rushed from their

-ambush and furiously attacked those that remained, and pulled them off

-their horses with lassos.  In vain the horsemen endeavoured to defend

-themselves; in less than ten minutes the whole troop was scattered;

-eight or ten had escaped, fifteen were lying wounded on the road, and

-six or seven were made prisoners.  Only four of the peasants had

-fallen.  The revenge of the Bavarians was inhuman.  They fired blank

-charges in the prisoners' faces, which burnt them black, and partially

-buried some of them in the ground and stoned them slowly to death.

-

-When this terrible work was finished, they carried away the booty to a

-place of safety.  Bertel and his companion were thrown across one of

-the horses, and they marched deep into the forest.  After some time

-they stopped at a lonely farm, and the prisoners were dragged in and

-thrown on the floor in a separate room, while the peasants in the next

-room rejoiced over their victory, and drank captured wine.  A deathly

-pale monk now entered the room, carrying a sword by his side with a

-rope.  He held up a torch to the prisoners' faces, took away their

-gags, and looked at them in silence.

-

-"Am I right," said he at last, sarcastically; "this is Lieutenant

-Bertel, of the king's life-guards."

-

-Bertel looked up and recognised the Jesuit Hieronymus.

-

-"You are welcome to me, lieutenant, and thank you for our last meeting.

-Such an important guest must be well entertained.  I fancy I have seen

-this comrade before, also," he said, pointing to Vitikka.

-

-The wild Finn looked him straight in the eyes and opened his mouth with

-an obstinate grin.

-

-"What have you done with your ears, monk?" he said tauntingly.  "Take

-away your skull-cap, foul thief, and let us see if you have grown any

-ass's ears in their place."

-

-At this daring remark about the incident at Breitenfeld a dark frown

-contracted the Jesuit's eyebrows, and a blush arose on his pale

-features; he bit his lips with rage.

-

-"Think of your own ears, comrade," said he.  "_Anathema maranatha_!

-They will soon have heard enough in this world."

-

-With these words the Jesuit clapped his hands twice, and a blacksmith

-with his leather apron entered, carrying a pair of red-hot pincers.

-

-"Well, comrade, do your ears begin to burn?" said the monk cruelly.

-

-Vitikka replied stubbornly, "Now you think you are clever, but you are

-only a fumbler in comparison with the devil.  Your lord and master does

-not need any pincers, he uses his claws."

-

-"The right ear," said the Jesuit.  The smith approached the Finn and

-put the pincers to his head.  Vitikka smiled disdainfully.  A sudden

-blush coloured his brown cheeks, but only for a moment.  He had now

-only one ear.

-

-"Will you now abjure your faith, and believe in the Holy Father and

-damn Luther, and you shall keep your other ear?"

-

-"Niggard!" cried the Finn.  "Your lord and master generally offers

-countries and kingdoms, and you only offer me a wretched ear!"

-

-"The left ear," continued the Jesuit coldly.  The smith carried out the

-order.  The mutilated soldier smiled.

-

-"Monk, it is shameful!" said Bertel, who was lying close by.  "Kill us,

-if you like, but do it quickly!"

-

-"Who has said that I intend to kill you?" replied the Jesuit, smirking.

-"Never; it entirely depends upon yourself whether you regain your

-freedom this very night."

-

-"What do you ask of me?"

-

-"You are a brave young man, Lieutenant Bertel!  I am sorry that the

-king so shamefully and unjustly deprived you of your rank, which you

-had gained with your blood."

-

-"Are you really sorry?  And what then?"

-

-"If I was in your place I should take revenge."

-

-"Take revenge?  Oh yes, I have thought of it."

-

-"You belong to Gustaf Adolf's life-guards.  Do you know, young friend,

-what the Catholic princes would give to anyone who brought the king,

-dead or alive, into their power?"

-

-"How could I know that, holy father?"

-

-"A kingdom if he was a nobleman; 50,000 ducats if he was a man of the

-people."

-

-"Holy father, it is a small reward for such a great service."

-

-"You have your choice between death and a royal reward!"

-

-"This is the point you were trying to reach, holy father?"

-

-"Do as you please; think it over, and we will talk about it again.

-This time you can buy your life and freedom for a less price; yes, a

-very small service."

-

-"What would that be, holy father?"

-

-"Listen to me.  I wish you to swear that you will do me a very small

-favour.  King Gustaf Adolf wears on the forefinger of his right hand a

-small copper ring.  It is of no value to him, but it is of great

-importance to me, young friend; as I am an antiquary, I should like to

-have a remembrance of a king, whom I must hate as an enemy, but admire

-as a man."

-

-"And the ring?"

-

-"The ring; you must swear to deliver it into my hands before the next

-new moon.  Do this, and you are free!"

-

-"Oh, only a small sin against the seventh commandment?  And you have

-the absolution ready before-hand; is it not so?  Go, miserable thief,

-and thank your stars that my arm is bound; or by Heaven, it would teach

-you to have respect for a Christian's honour!"

-

-"Be still, young man, remember that your life is in my hands.  When I

-have finished with your comrade I shall begin with you."

-

-Bertel looked at him with contempt.

-

-"Smith, go on with your work!" said the Jesuit.

-

-And the smith again took the pincers from the fire.

-

-At the same instant a great confusion and noise arose in the next room.

-They shouted:

-

-"To arms!  The Swedes are upon us!"

-

-The door flew open.  Some of the peasants seized their guns, others

-were lying in a drunken sleep on the floor.  Outside one could plainly

-hear the Swedish officer's commands.

-

-"Set the house on fire, boys, we have them all in a trap!"

-

-At these words the Jesuit jumped out of the window.

-

-A hot but short skirmish began by the door.  The peasants were

-overpowered in a few moments and begged for mercy.  In reply to this

-appeal, the foremost were killed, and the rest taken prisoners and

-bound; the house and booty were taken, and Bertel and his mutilated

-comrade were released.

-

-"Is it you, Larsson?" cried Bertel.

-

-"Thunder and lightning, is it you, Bertel?  Is it here you intend to

-leave the king's orders?"

-

-"And yourself?"

-

-"Yes, damn it, you know that I am always a lucky child!  I was sent to

-guard a convoy, and met on the road some rascally marauders, who told

-me that there was an ambush in the forest.  I hurried after them, and

-delivered a brave boy and a beautiful girl.  Look at her: cheeks like a

-poppy, and eyes to buy fish with!"

-

-Bertel turned round, and by his side stood a trembling girl, paralyzed

-with fear.

-

-"This is Ketchen, Lady Regina's maid!" cried Bertel, who had often seen

-the bright girl in the company of her dull mistress.

-

-"Save me, lieutenant, save me!" cried the girl, and caught hold of his

-arm.  "They have taken me by force from my aunt's house."

-

-"Larsson, I beg you to give me the girl!"

-

-"What the devil are you thinking of?  Do you want to take the girl from

-me?"

-

-"Let her go free, I beg of you!"

-

-"Later on, perhaps, yes.  Let her go, I say, or..."

-

-The hot-tempered Finn drew his sword again, with which he had just

-before killed a peasant.

-

-"The cottage is on fire!" was heard from all directions, and a thick

-smoke proved that it was true.  Bertel rushed out with the girl, and

-Larsson followed, and the heat of his temper gave way before the heat

-of the fire.  When Bertel got outside and saw the flames, he remembered

-that the cottage was filled with people; about thirty peasants were

-bound inside.

-

-"Come, hurry, let us save the unfortunate prisoners!" he cried.

-

-"Are you mad?" said Larsson, laughing; "it is only a few of the rascals

-who have killed so many of our brave comrades.  Let it burn, boys!"

-

-It was now too late to help.  The unfortunate Bavarians were sacrificed

-to the barbarities with which wars were then carried on; too often one

-terrible deed was followed by another.

-

-We turn with disgust from these wild scenes, which essentially belong

-to the times in which they occurred, and hasten to the grand picture of

-the Swedish lion's last struggle.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VIII.

-

-NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN.

-

-The incidents of the campaign followed each other quickly, like wave

-after wave on a stormy sea, and history compressed into a narrow frame

-is obliged to pursue the same course.  Hence we must hurry over these

-marvellous occurrences and into a still more extraordinary period, to

-find the thread of our story, "The King's Ring," which passes through

-ages and the destinies of great characters.

-

-The terrible Wallenstein had become reconciled to the emperor, and

-gathering a formidable army, turned like a dark cloud upon the rich

-city of Nürnberg.  Gustaf Adolf cut short his victorious career in

-Bavaria, and hurried to meet him; and here the two armies remained in

-entrenched camps facing each other for eleven weeks--the panther and

-the lion, ready to spring, sharply watched each other's movements.  The

-surrounding country was stripped bare to provide for the wants of the

-two hosts, and foraging parties were constantly dispatched to more

-remote places to get supplies.  Among the Imperialists those mostly

-employed in this task were Isolani's Croats; the Swedes generally sent

-Taupadel's dragoons and Stälhandske's Finnish cavalry.

-

-Famine, heat, and plague, and the plundering German soldiers, spread

-want and misery everywhere.  Gustaf Adolf, having united himself with

-Oxenstjerna's and Baner's forces, could now muster 50,000 men.  On the

-24th of August, 1632, he marched against Wallenstein, who stood behind

-impregnable entrenchments.  Long before daylight the thunder of

-Torstensson's guns was heard against Alte Veste.  In the darkness of

-the night 500 musketeers of the white brigade were climbing up the

-steep redoubts, and reached the tops under a terrible fire.  For a

-moment victory seemed to reward their strenuous efforts; confusion

-reigned amongst the half-awakened enemy; the cries of the women, and

-the fire from the Swedes, added to the disorder, and made the attack

-easy.  But Wallenstein, calm and unmoved, sent away the women, and

-directed a murderous fire on the assailants.  The brave brigade was

-driven back with heavy losses.  The king, however, would not give way;

-once more the white brigade renewed the attack; but in vain.  Gustaf

-Adolf then called his Finns, for, as Schiller relates, "the courage of

-the Northmen puts the Germans to shame."  It was the East Bothnians in

-the ranks of the Swedish brigade.  Death stared them in the face in the

-form of hundreds of guns; with unsurpassed courage and determination

-they climbed up the entrenchments, slippery with rain and blood.  But

-against these strong works and the deadly fire, nothing could prevail;

-in the midst of death and destruction they tried again to reach the top

-of the redoubts, but in vain; those who escaped the shot and pikes were

-hurled back; for the first time one saw Gustaf Adolf's Finns retreat;

-and the attempts made by the other troops were also in vain.  The

-Imperialists hastened out in pursuit, but were driven back; again they

-sallied forth with the same result.  With heavy losses on both sides

-the battle continued all day, and many of the bravest commanders were

-killed.  The angel of death again sent a bullet towards the king, but

-it only touched the sole of his boot.

-

-The Imperial cavalry fought with the Swedish on the left flank.

-Cronenberg, with his cuirassiers, clad in iron mail from head to feet,

-who were called "the invincibles," overthrew the Hessians.  The

-Landgrave of Hessen remarked with anger that the king by the sacrifice

-of the German troops tried to save his own.

-

-"Very well," said Gustaf Adolf, "I will send my Finns, and hope that

-the change of troops will bring a change of fortune."

-

-Stälhandske, with the Finns, was now sent against Cronenberg and his

-invincibles.  A grand contest, which will never be forgotten, then

-started between these two powerful forces; on the shore of the River

-Regnitz, which was covered with bushes, these troops met in conflict,

-man to man, horse to horse; swords were blunted on helmets, long

-pistols flashed, and many a brave horseman was driven into the river.

-The Finns' horses were hardier than the beautiful Hungarian chargers,

-and thus they shared in the victory.  The brave Cronenberg fell, and

-his invincibles then fled from the Finns.  In his place, Fugger

-appeared with a great force, and drew the Finns in continuous battle

-slowly towards the enemy in the forest.  But here the Imperialists were

-met with the fire from the Swedish infantry.  Fugger fell, and his

-horsemen were again routed by the exhausted Finns.

-

-At the close of the day more than three thousand killed covered the

-hills and the fields.  "In the battle at Alte Veste, Gustaf Adolf was

-considered worsted, because the attack failed," says Schiller.  The

-following day he altered his position, and on the 8th of September he

-marched away to Bavaria.  Forty-four thousand men, both friends and

-foes, had been destroyed by plague and war during these terrible weeks

-in and around Nürnberg.

-

-* * * * *

-

-The darkness of the autumn increased, and its fogs covered the

-blood-stained fields of Germany, and still the battles did not cease.

-Here it was ordained that only one great spirit should find everlasting

-rest, after many storms, and pass from life's dark night to eternal

-light.  The angel of death came closer over Gustaf Adolf's noble head,

-and threw over him a gleam of light from a higher world, which is

-sometimes seen shining around the great souls of the earth in their

-last moments.  The bystanders do not understand it, but the departing

-ones know what it means.  Two days before his death, Gustaf Adolf

-received the homage of a god from the people of Naumburg, but through

-his soul fled the shadow of the coming change, and he said to the royal

-chaplain, Fabricius:

-

-"Perhaps God will soon punish them for their foolishness, and myself

-also, the object of it; and show that I am only a weak mortal."

-

-The king had marched into Saxony to follow the traces of the

-destructive Wallenstein.  At Arnstadt he bade farewell to Axel

-Oxenstjerna; in Erfurt he said good-bye to the queen.  There, and in

-Naumburg, one could see by his arrangements that he was prepared for

-what would come.  Wallenstein, who thought he had gone into winter

-quarters, sent Pappenheim away to Halle with 12,000 men; he himself

-stood at Lützen with 28,000, and the king was in Naumburg with 20,000

-men.

-

-But on the 4th of November, when Gustaf Adolf heard of Pappenheim's

-departure, he broke up his camp and hurried to surprise his weakened

-enemy, in which he would have succeeded if he had made his attack on

-the 5th.  But Providence had thrown in the way of his victorious career

-a small obstacle, the brook Rippach, which with many newly ploughed

-fields delayed his march.  It was late in the evening on the 5th of

-November when the king approached Lützen; thus Wallenstein had time,

-and he knew how to make use of it.  Along the broad road to Leipzig he

-deepened the ditches, and made redoubts on both sides, which he filled

-with his best sharpshooters, and it was decided that with their

-cross-fire they could destroy the attacking Swedes.

-

-The king's war council advised him not to make the attack; Duke

-Bernhard was the only one who advised him to the contrary, and the king

-shared his opinion, "because," he said, "it is necessary to wash one's

-self perfectly clean once you are in the bath."

-

-The night was dull and dark.  The king spent it in an old carriage with

-Kniephausen and Duke Bernhard.  His restless soul had time to think of

-everything, and then history says, he drew from the forefinger of his

-right hand a small copper ring, and gave it to Duke Bernhard, and asked

-him to give it to a young officer in his Finnish cavalry, in case

-anything should happen to himself.

-

-Early in the morning Gustaf Adolf rode out to inspect the positions of

-his troops.  He was dressed in a buff waistcoat made of elk's skin, and

-wore a grey great coat over it; when he was told to wear harness on a

-day like this, he replied:

-

-"God is my armour."

-

-A heavy mist delayed the attack.  At dawn the whole army sang a hymn.

-The fog continued, and the king began another hymn, which he had

-written himself just before.  He then rode along the lines, calling out:

-

-"To-day, boys, we shall put an end to all our trouble;" and his horse

-stumbled twice as he said this.

-

-The fog did not clear off till eleven o'clock through a strong breeze.

-The Swedish army at once advanced to the attack; under the king in the

-right wing was Stälhandske and the Finns, next came the Swedish troops;

-in the centre were the Swedish yellow and green brigades, commanded by

-Nils Brahe; on the left wing the German cavalry, under Duke Bernhard.

-Against the duke was Colloredo, with his strong cavalry, while in the

-centre was Wallenstein, with four heavy columns of infantry and seven

-cannon in front; against Stälhandske stood Isolani, with his wild but

-brave Croats.  The war-cries on both sides were the same as at

-Breitenfeld.  When the king ordered the attack he clasped his hands,

-and cried out:

-

-"Jesus, help me to-day to fight for the glory of Thy Holy Name!"

-

-The Imperialists started firing, and the Swedish army advanced and

-suffered heavy losses from the beginning.  At last the Swedish centre

-passed the redoubts, took the seven guns, and routed the two first

-brigades of the enemy.  The third was preparing for flight when

-Wallenstein rallied them.  The Swedish left wing was attacked by the

-cavalry, and the Finns, who had sent the Croats and the Polacks flying,

-had not yet reached the redoubts.  The king then rushed to the front

-with the troops from Smaländ; but only a few were well-mounted enough

-to follow him.  It is said that an Imperial musketeer fired at him with

-a silver bullet; it is true that the king's left arm was smashed, and

-that he tried to conceal his wound; but soon he became so weak from

-loss of blood, that he asked the Duke of Lauenburg, who was riding by

-his side, to bring him unseen out of the battle.

-

-In the midst of the conflict Gotz's cuirassiers rushed forward, and at

-the head of them was Moritz von Falkenberg, who recognised the king and

-fired point-blank at him, crying out:

-

-"I have long sought for you!"

-

-Soon afterwards Falkenberg himself fell from a bullet.  The king was

-shot underneath the heart, and reeled in his saddle; he told the duke

-to save his own life; the latter had placed his arm around the king's

-waist to support him, but the next moment the rush of the enemy had

-separated them.  The duke's hair was singed by the close discharge of a

-pistol, and the king's horse was wounded in the throat and staggered.

-The king sunk from the saddle, and was dragged a short distance along

-the ground; his foot caught in the stirrup.  The young page,

-Leubelfingen, from Nürnberg, offered him his horse, but could not raise

-him up.  Some of the Imperialists now came to the spot, and inquired

-who the wounded man was, and when Leubelfingen would not reply, one of

-them ran him through with a sword-thrust, while another shot the king

-through the head; others then shot at them, and both remained on the

-field.  But Leubelfingen lived for a few days afterwards, to relate for

-the benefit of future generations the never-to-be-forgotten sad death

-of the great hero, Gustaf Adolf.

-

-In the meantime the Swedish centre was driven back, the battlefield was

-covered with thousands of mutilated corpses, and they had not yet

-gained a foot of ground.  Both the armies occupied nearly the same

-positions as before the battle.  The king's wounded horse was then seen

-galloping between the lines, with an empty saddle, covered with blood.

-

-"The king has fallen!"

-

-As Schiller has so beautifully put it, "Life was not worth anything,

-when the most holy of all lives had ceased to exist; death no longer

-had any terror for the lowliest, since it had not spared this royal

-head."

-

-Duke Bernhard flew from line to line, saying, "Swedes, Finns, and

-Germans, yours, ours, and Freedom's protector has fallen.  Well then,

-those who love the king will rush forward to avenge his death."

-

-The first to obey this order was Stälhandske, with the Finns; with

-great difficulty they crossed the ditches and drove the enemy in front

-of them; before their terrific onslaught all fell or fled.  Isolani

-turned back and attacked the baggage train, but was again routed.  The

-centre of the Swedish army advanced under Brahe, and Duke Bernhard,

-disregarding his wounded arm, took one of the enemy's batteries.  The

-whole of the Imperial army was broken by this terrible attack; its

-ammunition wagons exploded; Wallenstein's orders, and brave

-Piccolomini's efforts, could not stay the rout.  Just then a joyful cry

-arose from the battlefield: "Pappenheim is here!" and this leader, the

-bravest of the brave, appeared with his horsemen; his first question

-was, "Where is the King of Sweden?"  Someone pointed to the Finns, and

-Pappenheim rushed to the spot.  Here began a terrible battle.  The

-Imperialists, filled with new courage, turned back and attacked on

-three sides at once.  Not a man of the Swedes gave ground.  Brahe died

-with the yellow brigade, who fell nearly to the last man; Winckel with

-the blue, died in the same order, man for man, as they stood in the

-ranks.  The rest of the Swedish infantry slowly retreated, and victory

-seemed to smile on the destructive Pappenheim.

-

-But he, the Ajax of his time, the man of a hundred scars, did not live

-to see success.  In the first attack on the Finns, a falconet bullet

-smashed his hip; and two musket balls pierced his chest; it was also

-said that Stälhandske wounded him with his own hand.  He fell, but

-still in death rejoiced over Gustaf Adolf's fall, and the news of his

-loss spread consternation amongst the Imperialists.

-

-"Pappenheim is dead; everything is lost!"

-

-Once more the Swedes advanced; Duke Bernhard, Kniephausen, and

-Stälhandske, performed prodigies of valour.  But Piccolomini, with six

-wounds, mounted his seventh horse, and fought with more than mortal

-valour; the Imperialist centre held its ground, and only the darkness

-stopped the battle.  Wallenstein retired, and the exhausted Swedish

-army encamped on the battlefield.  Nine thousand slain covered the

-field of Lützen.

-

-The result of this battle was disastrous to the Imperialists.  They had

-lost all their artillery; Pappenheim and Wallenstein had lost their

-invincible names.  The latter raged with anger; he executed the cowards

-with the same facility as he bestowed gold on the brave.  Ill and

-disheartened he retired with the rest of his army to Bohemia, where the

-stars were his nightly companions, and treacherous plans his only

-solace; and his death from Buttler's hand was the end of his glorious

-life.

-

-A thrill of joy passed over the whole Catholic world, because the faith

-of Luther and the Swedes had lost a great deal more than their enemies.

-

-The arm was paralyzed which had so powerfully wielded the victorious

-sword of light and freedom; the grief of the Protestants was deep and

-universal, mixed with fear for the future.  It was not for nothing that

-the Te Deum was sung in the churches of Vienna, Brussels, and Madrid;

-twelve days' bull-fighting gratified Madrid on account of the dreaded

-hero's fall.  But it is said that the Emperor Ferdinand, who was

-greater than the men of his time, shed bitter tears at the sight of his

-slain enemy's bloody buff waistcoat.

-

-Many stories circulated about the great Gustaf Adolf's death.  Duke

-Franz Albert of Lauenburg, Richelieu, and Duke Bernhard, were all said

-to have had a share in his fall; but none of these surmises have been

-verified by history.  A later German author tells the following popular

-story:

-

-"Gustaf Adolf, King of Sweden, received in his youth, from a young

-woman whom he loved, a ring of iron, which he ever afterwards wore.

-The ring was composed of seven circles, which formed the letters Gustaf

-Adolf.  Seven days before his death he missed the ring."

-

-The reader knows that the threads of this story are tied to the same

-ring, but we have several reasons for saying that this ring was made of

-copper.

-

-On the evening after the battle, Duke Bernhard sent his soldiers with

-torches to find the king's body; and they found it plundered and hardly

-recognisable under heaps of slain.  It was taken to the village of

-Meuchen, and there embalmed.  The soldiers were all allowed to see the

-dead body of their king and leader.  Bitter tears were here shed, but

-tears full of pride, for even the lowest considered it an honour to

-have fought by the side of such a hero.

-

-"See," said one of Stälhandske's old Finns, loudly sniffing, "they have

-stolen his golden chain and his copper ring; I still see the white mark

-on his forefinger."

-

-"Why should they care about a copper ring?" asked a Scotchman, who had

-lately joined the army, and had not heard the stories which passed from

-man to man.

-

-"His ring!" said a Pomeranian.  "Be sure that the Jesuits knew what is

-was good for.  The ring was charmed by a Finnish witch, and as long as

-the king wore it, he could not be hurt by steel or lead."

-

-"But see to-day he has lost it, and therefore--you understand."

-

-"What is that fruit-eating Pomeranian saying?" said the Finn angrily.

-"The power of the Almighty, and nothing else, has protected our great

-king, but the ring was given to him long ago by a young Finnish girl,

-whom he loved in his youth; I know more about this than you do."

-

-Duke Bernhard, who, sad and sorrowful, was watching the king's pale

-features, turned round at these words; he put his sound hand underneath

-his open buff waistcoat, and said to the Finn:

-

-"Comrade, do you know one of Stälhandske's officers named Bertel?"

-

-"Yes, your grace."

-

-"Is he alive?"

-

-"No, your grace."

-

-The duke turned to another and gave several orders abstractedly.  A few

-moments later, when he again looked at the king, he seemed to remember

-something.

-

-"Was he a brave man?" he asked.

-

-"He was one of Stälhandske's horsemen!" said the Finn with great pride.

-

-"When did he fall, and where?"

-

-"In the last struggle with the Pappenheimers."

-

-"Go and search for him."

-

-The duke's order was promptly obeyed by these exhausted soldiers, who

-had reason to wonder why one of the youngest officers should be

-searched for this night, when Nils Brahe, Winckel, and many other old

-leaders were lying uncared for in their blood on the battlefield.  It

-was nearly morning when the searchers returned and reported that

-Bertel's dead body could not be found anywhere.

-

-"Hum!" said the duke discontentedly; "great men have sometimes funny

-ideas.  What shall I now do with the king's ring?"

-

-The November sun rose blood-red over the field of Lützen.  A new time

-had come; the Master had left, and the disciples had now to carry out

-his work alone.

-

-

-

-

-II.--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.

-

-Silence reigned after the conclusion of the narrative; everyone was

-thinking of the great hero's fall, and not realising that the tale was

-ended.  The old grandmother sat on the stuffed sofa in her brown

-woollen shawl, and near her the schoolmaster, Svenonius, with his blue

-handkerchief and brass spectacles.  Captain Svanholm, the postmaster,

-who had lost a finger in the last war, was on the right; on the left

-pretty Anne Sophie, eighteen years old, with a high tortoise-shell comb

-in her long brown hair; and around them, on the floor or on stools, sat

-six or seven playful children, with mouths now wide open, as if they

-had heard a ghost story.

-

-The first to disturb the silence was Anne Sophie, who sprang with a cry

-from her chair, stumbled, and fell into the schoolmaster's arms.

-

-The entranced company, who were still at Lützen, were as much disturbed

-by this interruption as if Isolani's Croats had suddenly broken into

-the room.  The postmaster, still in the midst of the battle, sprang up

-and trod heavily upon old grandma's sore foot with his iron heel.  The

-schoolmaster was quite upset, not at all realising the value of the

-burden in his arms--perhaps the first and also the prettiest in his

-whole life; the children fled in all directions, and some crept behind

-the surgeon's high chair.  But Andreas, who had just followed the

-Finnish cavalry in their charge over the trenches, seized the surgeon's

-silver-headed Spanish cane, and prepared to receive the Croats at the

-point of the bayonet.  Old Bäck was undisturbed; he produced his

-tobacco box, bit off a piece, and mildly said, "What is the matter with

-you, Anne Sophie?"  The latter freed herself, blushing and embarrassed,

-from the schoolmaster's arms, and declaring that someone had pricked

-her with a pin, looked around for the culprit.

-

-Old grandma, always quick to scent out mischief, immediately practised

-a method, and discovered that Jonathan had inserted a pin at the top of

-his rattan, and therewith upset his eldest sister, with the results

-just indicated.  The punishment, like that under martial law, was quick

-and short, and Jonathan had then to retire to the nursery, and learn an

-extra lesson for the next day.

-

-When the principal power had thus restored order without bloodshed, the

-company began to talk of the surgeon's story.

-

-"It is too violent a tale, my dear cousin," said the old grandmother,

-whilst looking at the teller with one of those mild and speaking

-glances, which captured all hearts with their expression of

-intelligence and sympathy; "altogether too turbulent.  It seems to me

-that I still hear the noise of the cannon.  War is frightful and

-detestable, when we consider all the blood shed on the battlefield, and

-all the tears at home.  When will the day arrive when men, instead of

-destroying each other, will share the earth and our Lord's good gifts

-together in Harmony and Universal Brotherhood?"

-

-Now the postmaster's martial spirit rose in arms.

-

-"Peace?  Share?  No war?  Pshaw! cousin, pshaw! would you make an ant's

-nest of the world?  What a state of things!  Scribblers would smother

-everything with ink; cowards and petty tyrants would sit on honest men;

-and when one nation domineered over another, people would lowly bow,

-thank them, and act like sheep.  No; the devil take me! men like Gustaf

-Adolf and Napoleon move nations and things; they tap a little blood

-which has been spoilt by gross living, and then the world improves.  I

-still remember the 21st of August, at Karstula; Fieandt stood on the

-left, and I at the right----"

-

-"If I may interrupt the speech of my honoured brother," said the

-schoolmaster, who had heard this story one hundred and seventy times

-before, "I would prove that the world would progress much better

-through spilling ink than blood.  _Inter arma silent leges_.  In war

-times we could not sit here by the fire, and drink our toddy in Bäck's

-room; we should be serving a cannon on the ramparts; linstock in hand,

-instead of a glass; powder in our pouches, and not even a pinch of

-snuff.  Ink has made you, brother, a postmaster; in ink you live and

-have your being; ink brings your daily bread, and what would you be

-with blood alone, and no ink, may I ask?

-

-"What should I be?  Devils and heretics ... I?"

-

-"Cousin Svanholm!" said the old grandmother, with a warning glance at

-the children.

-

-The postmaster stopped at once.  The surgeon saw the necessity of

-re-establishing peace and concord.

-

-"I think," he said, "that nations go through the world like the

-individuals of which they are composed.  In youth they are wild and

-passionate, fight, rage, and tear each other to pieces.  When older and

-wiser, they invent gunpowder, place host against host, and let them

-destroy each other in cold blood at long distances.  Finally the world

-comes to reason, and seizes the pen which is very sharp when necessary.

-And then begins the reign of universal knowledge, which is certainly

-the best, according to my mind."

-

-"It would be ... seven devils ... all right, cousin, I will be as quiet

-as a wall," said the postmaster.  "I only ask what kind of a man was

-Gustaf Adolf?  What kind of a man was Napoleon?  Were they only

-birthday eaters of sweetmeats?  What do you think?  Were they fools or

-savages?  I pray you.  Do you hear, cousin?  I do not swear, cousin;

-you should have heard Fieandt, how devilishly he swore at Karstula."

-

-The surgeon continued, without paying any attention to the postmaster.

-

-"Therefore, the youthful history of all nations begins with war, and

-the first soldier in the world's company was called Cain.  But as war

-is as old as the world, it is likely to exist as long as it lasts.  I

-do not believe in the new ideas about a perpetual peace.  I believe

-that as long as human hearts retain selfish desires, the curse of war

-will prevail.  Eternal peace consists in no longer fighting blindly,

-slavishly, as before, but with glad courage comprehending the reason

-why, and for a righteous cause; then one can hack away with right

-goodwill."

-

-"Then we should always fight for an idea," said the schoolmaster

-thoughtfully.

-

-"That's it, for an idea.  It is to the honour of the Finnish soldier

-that with one exception he has always fought for the defence of his

-fatherland.  Then he has gone out to fight on foreign soil; and our

-Lord has mercifully chosen that this should be for the greatest and

-most righteous cause of all, namely, to defend the pure Protestant

-faith and freedom of conscience for the whole world.  The Finn was

-proud to know this in the Thirty Years' War.  He felt within himself

-that his heart was the same as Gustaf Adolf's, who, I think, was the

-greatest general who ever lived, whilst he fought and won victories for

-one of the few causes that are worth bleeding for."

-

-"Tell us more about Gustaf Adolf!" exclaimed Andreas, who could think

-only of that one name.

-

-"Dear uncle, a little more about Gustaf Adolf," chimed in the rest of

-the children, who, with the greatest trouble, had been held in check by

-grandma's admonitions and sister Anne Sophie.

-

-"Thank you.  No.  The great king is dead, and we will allow him to

-peacefully slumber in the royal vault of the church at Riddarholm,

-Stockholm.  And if the story in future loses something from this, it

-will also gain something, namely, that the other characters will become

-more prominent.  Hitherto, we have been compelled to almost exclusively

-fix our eyes on the heroic king, and grandmother was right in saying

-that we have been deafened by the thunder of the cannon.  Thus, Lady

-Regina, and the Jesuit, and especially Bertel, who is the real hero,

-have all been kept in the background."

-

-"And Ketchen," said the grandmother; "for my part, I would like much to

-know more of the good, charming child.  I will leave Regina alone, but

-this I will maintain that such a black-eyed wild cat, who would tear

-one's eyes out at any moment, cannot come to any good."

-

-"And the lordly Count of Lichtenstein, whom we have not heard of

-lately," added Sophie.  "I am certain he will become Regina's

-betrothed."

-

-"Aha! little cousin listens with delight to that part of it," said the

-postmaster with a sly smile.  "But say, brother Bäck, do not busy

-yourself with sentimentalities; let us hear more about Stälhandske, the

-stout little Larsson, and the Tavastlander Vitikka.  How the d----l did

-the man get along without ears?  I remember to this day, that on the

-21st of August, there was a corporal at Karstula----"

-

-"Brother Bäck," interrupted the schoolmaster, "who has _justitia

-mundi_, the sword of justice in his hand, will not fail to hoist the

-Jesuit Hieronymus up to the top of the highest pine on the Hartz

-mountains."

-

-"Take care, brother Svenonius," retorted the post-master maliciously,

-"the Jesuit was very learned, and knew a heap of Latin."

-

-"I will tell you what I know about the Finns," said the surgeon; "but I

-assure you beforehand that it is altogether too little.  Wait ten or

-twenty years longer, when some industrious man will take the trouble to

-glean from the old chronicles our brave countrymen's exploits."

-

-"And what became of the king's ring?"

-

-"Why, that we shall hear to-morrow evening."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I.

-

-A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR.

-

-Beyond the fertile plains of Germany a wild sea extends itself towards

-the north, whose shores are annually covered with the ice of winter,

-and whose straits have sometimes borne entire armies on their

-ice-bridges.  For ages the surrounding nations have fought for the

-possession of this sea; but at the time of our story the greatest power

-in the north triumphed over nine-tenths of its wide shores, the Baltic

-had almost become a Swedish lake; stretching its mighty blue arms north

-and east, it folded in its embrace a daughter of the sea, a land which

-had arisen from its bosom, and elevated its granite rocks high above

-its mother's heart.  _Finland_ is the most favoured child of the

-Baltic; she empties her treasures into the lap of her mother, and the

-great sea does not disdain the offering, but withdraws lovingly and

-tenderly like an indulgent mother, that her daughter may develop, and

-every season clothes the shores with grass and flowers.  Fortunate the

-land which lulls to sleep in its bosom the waters of a thousand lakes,

-and stretches one hundred and forty Swedish miles along the shore.  The

-sea bears power, freedom, and enlightenment; the ocean is an active

-civilising element in the world; and a sea communicating nation can

-never stagnate in need and under oppression except by its own fault.

-

-Far away in the north of Finland a region exists which more than any

-other is the fostered child of the sea, for from time unknown it has

-risen with a gentle slope from the waters.  Numerous green isles rise

-along this coast.  "In my youth," says the grey-haired old salt, "fine

-ships floated where now the water is quite shallow, and in a few years

-the cattle will graze on the former sea-bottom.  The playing child

-launches its little boat from the beach; look around you, little one,

-and see well the point where the waters trace their edges; when you

-become a man, you will look in vain for your present strand--beyond the

-green fields you will hear their distant murmur; and when you are an

-old man, a village may appear on the spot once occupied by the waves."

-A strange region, where the towns built hard by deep sounds and

-tributaries, are twelve miles from the waters in two hundred years,

-while the keels and anchors of vessels are drawn up from the bogs fifty

-miles inland.

-

-This region is East Bothnia; greater than many kingdoms, and extending

-to the verge of Lapland in the north, where the sun never sets at

-midsummer, and never rises during the Christmas darkness.

-

-Nature is awake for three months of the year in an unbroken day, and

-then at midnight you can read the finest print; three months of night,

-but a night of moonlight and glittering snow--clear, cold, and solemn.

-The flower's beauty perishes sooner there than human joy; for seven

-months the plains are covered with snow and the lakes with solid ice;

-but never is spring more delightful than such a winter; still a

-melancholy mingles with this joy, which the heart well understands.

-

-Two races live on the coasts of this land, unmixed and unlike; a

-variegated picture of national and local peculiarities of language and

-habits; one parish sharply contrasting with another.  Certain common

-traits exist, however, which all present.  It is not a historical

-accident that the greatest and bloodiest battles of Finland have been

-fought on the soil of East Bothnia.

-

-Twenty-five miles east of Vasa, on the banks of Kyro River, is the rich

-Storkyro parish--the granary of East Bothnia.  Here grows the

-well-known rye-seed, which is exported in large quantities to Sweden.

-The parish presents a plain of waving grain-fields, from which arose

-the saying, "that Storkyro fields and Limingo meadows have no equals in

-length and breadth."  The people are Finns, of Tavastlandish origin in

-remote times.  Their old church, built in 1304, is one of the oldest in

-the country.

-

-We now ask our reader to follow us there.  At the time of our story

-this region was badly cultivated, compared with later times.  The

-ravages of the Peasants' War had retarded its growth, so that for a

-generation traces of this disastrous struggle were visible, whilst

-other wars, with heavy conscriptions, prevented time from healing these

-wounds.  Hence, in the summer of 1632, many farmhouses still stood

-empty; the grain-fields did not spread far from the river banks, and

-unhealthy fogs covered the country when the nights were cool.  The

-forests, then already thinned, still yielded fuel for the tar pits;

-part of the peasantry fished among the Michel Islands, and the worthy

-pastor, Herr Georgius Thomoe Patur, had not then, like his present

-successor, a yearly income of 4,000 silver roubles.  Therefore the eye

-lingered with delight on Bertila's farmhouse close to the church, finer

-and better built than any of the others, and surrounded by the most

-fertile fields.

-

-The summer had advanced to the middle of August, and the harvesting had

-just begun.  More than sixty persons, men, women, and children--for the

-East Bothnian peasant women work the whole summer out of doors--were

-busily cutting the golden rye, which they gathered into sheaves and

-placed with skilful hands in high, handsome ricks.  The day was hot,

-and the stooping posture of the work wearisome; so it often happened

-that the petted boys amongst the reapers threw longing glances at the

-soft grass round the edge of the field, which evidently seemed intended

-for a resting-place.  At the same time they did not forget to look for

-the overseer, an old man in a loose, grey homespun jacket.  Whenever

-anyone stopped, he heard his neighbour whisper, "Larsson is coming!"

-which had an instantaneous effect, like the stroke of a whip.

-

-But Larsson, a small man, between whose bushy head and eyebrows a

-good-hearted look glanced forth, was now concerned with one of the

-women, who, on account of the heat and work, had sunk to the ground.

-

-Judging from her features this woman was no longer young; perhaps about

-thirty-six; but to look at her slender figure, and the mild sympathetic

-expression of her blue eyes, she seemed no more than twenty.  She

-exhibited a rare but prematurely faded beauty, with much suffering and

-resignation.  She wore a fine white flannel jacket, which being thrown

-aside on account of the sun, showed sleeves of the finest linen, a red

-bodice, like the peasantry wore, with a short striped woollen skirt,

-and a little plaid handkerchief tied around her head, to support her

-long flaxen hair.  She had worked hard, but her strength was

-insufficient; she had fallen with her scythe in her hand, and those

-nearest to her, with respect and love, had carried her to the soft

-turf, and tried with fresh water from the spring to bring her back to

-life.

-

-"There now, Meri!" said old Larsson with fatherly sympathy, as he held

-the fainting woman's head on his knees and bathed her forehead with

-cold water; "there, my child, don't be foolish enough to die and leave

-your old friend; what joy would he then have on earth? ... She cannot

-hear me, poor child!  Who ever had such a father as hers?  To compel

-this delicate thing to work in such heat! ... Drink a little--that's

-right ... it is very good of you; now open your lovely eyes once more.

-Do not trouble, Meri; we will go to the house, and you shall not work

-any more to-day."

-

-The pale and delicate creature endeavoured to rise and seize her sickle.

-

-"Thank you, Larsson," she said in a low but melodious voice, "I am

-better now.  I will work; father washes it."

-

-"Father wishes it!" exclaimed the old man testily.  "You see, I do not;

-I forbid you to work.  Even if your father turned me out of doors, and

-I had to beg my bread, you should not work any more to-day.  Well,

-well, my child, don't take it so hard; your father is not so foolish.

-He knows that you are not strong; you are like your dead mother, who

-was a lady by birth, and from your education in Stockholm ... There,

-there; let us go home; don't be obstinate now, Meri!"

-

-"Let me go, Larsson; see, he comes himself!" cried Meri, tearing

-herself free and grasping the scythe, with which she again tried to mow

-the golden rye.  But as she stooped down, it grew dark before her eyes,

-and for the second time she sank fainting between the waving stalks.

-

-At that instant the efforts of all the workers redoubled; he approached

-in person, the severe and dreaded owner of Bertila farm.  Like a gloomy

-shadow he came slowly along the path--a tall old man of seventy, but

-little bent by age.  His costume was the same as that of the peasants

-in summer: wide shirt-sleeves, a long red-striped vest, short linen

-pantaloons, blue stockings, and bark-shoes.  He wore a high pointed cap

-of red yarn on his white head, which made his tall figure still more

-imposing.  In spite of his simple costume, his whole bearing was

-commanding.  The decided carriage, sharp penetrating look, resolute

-expression, love of authority around the tightly drawn upper lip,

-indicated the former political leader and the rich and powerful

-land-owner, accustomed to rule over many hundreds of subordinates.

-Seeing this old man, one understood why he was known in many

-neighbouring parishes as the _Peasant King_.

-

-Cold and calm, old Aron Bertila approached the spot where his only

-daughter lay in a dead faint.

-

-"Put her in the hay-wagon and take her up to the house," he said.  "In

-two hours she will be back to her work."

-

-"But, Bertila!" exclaimed Larsson excitedly.

-

-Bertila looked round with a glance before which the other quailed; then

-he stalked on through the field as if nothing had occurred, observing

-with a keen eye the labours of the reapers; here and there breaking off

-an ear and closely examining the number and weight of the seeds.  From

-the barn the whole harvest-field was visible; it was new, and more than

-a hundred acres in extent.  The old man looked with great pride on the

-waving sea of golden ears; his carriage became more erect, his breast

-expanded, as he beckoned Larsson to him.

-

-"Do you remember this tract thirty-four years ago, when Fleming's

-cavalry scoured the country like savages, the village lay in ruins, and

-the fields were trampled down by the horses' hoofs.  Here, close to the

-village, was the desert; naked, charred stumps stood between mud

-puddles and quagmires; no road or path led here, and even the forest

-wolves avoided the desolate spot."

-

-"I remember it well," said Larsson in a monotonous tone.

-

-"Look now around, old friend, and say.  Who rebuilt this village, more

-lovely than ever before?  Who tilled this wilderness, made roads and

-paths, measured the land, drained the morass, ploughed this fertile

-soil, and sowed this great field which now waves in the breeze, and

-will soon supply hundreds of human beings with its harvest?  Say,

-Larsson, who is the man who did this mighty work?" and the old man's

-eyes flamed with enthusiasm.

-

-But the little, plump person at his side seemed to be possessed with

-quite another feeling.  He humbly took off his old hat, clasped his

-hands, and earnestly said,

-

-"Nothing is he who sows; nothing is he who waters; God alone gives the

-growth!"

-

-Bertila, absorbed in thought, heeded him not, and continued,

-

-"Yes, by God!  I have seen evil times, days of want, misery, and

-despair, which the sword brought upon earth, and I have myself drawn

-the weapon to destroy my enemies.  I have had victory and defeat, both

-to my injury.  Hence I can rejoice in the work of peace.  I know the

-fruit of the sword, and what the plough produces.  In the sword lurks a

-spirit of evil, which revels in blood and tears; the sword kills and

-destroys, but the plough gives life and happiness.  You see, Larsson,

-the plough has made this field.  Over at Korsholm is the Finnish coat

-of arms, a lion with a naked sword.  Were I king, I would say, Away

-with the sword and take the plough.  The latter is the true weapon of

-Finland; if we possess bread we have plenty of arms; with arms we can

-drive our enemies from our homes.  But without bread, Larsson, what use

-is steel and powder to us?"

-

-"Bertila," said Larsson, "you are a singular man.  You hate war, but

-that I understand; in war they burnt your farm, and drove your first

-wife and her little children into the woods to perish.  You yourself

-have fought at the head of the peasantry, and barely escaped _the blood

-bath on Ilmola's ice_.  Such things are not easily forgotten; but what

-I cannot comprehend is, that you, a friend of the peasants, a soldier

-hater, first took me, an old starving soldier, as overseer on your

-farm, then equipped my Lasse--God bless the boy--for the war, and

-finally sent your own grandson, Meri's child, little Gösta,* yet

-beardless, to the field among the king's cavalry."

-

-

-* From Gustaf.

-

-

-Old Bertila's look darkened.  Some sensitive chord had been touched,

-and he glanced around as if he feared a listener behind the barn walls.

-

-"Who dares to speak to me of Meri's child?" he said in a low tone.  "I

-know none other than my son Gösta, born of my second wife during the

-journey to Stockholm; and God be merciful unto you if ever ... Let us

-forget that matter.  Why I took you?  Why I sent your boy into the

-field?  H'm! it does not concern anyone."

-

-"Well, keep it to yourself; I know too much already."

-

-"Tell me, if you can, Larsson, what constituents are required for an

-honest Christian Government?"

-

-Larsson looked at him with surprise.

-

-"I will tell you.  The sword has two parts, the blade and the handle.

-Two forces are likewise necessary for the plough: one that draws and

-one that drives.  And two forces united form a Christian Government,

-namely, the people and the king.  But that which comes between brings

-discord and ruin; it arrogates to itself the king's power and the

-people's property.  It is a monster."

-

-"I know you hate the nobles."

-

-"And therefore," Bertila laid an emphasis on his words, and uttered

-them with an almost ironical smile, which seemed to turn his meaning

-into a jest, "you see, _my_ son must either be _peasant or king_;

-nothing more or less!"

-

-Larsson looked at him with dismay.  He had not imagined the depth of

-ambition which had hitherto glowed concealed in the old peasant's

-heart.  He thought it the extreme of crazy presumption.

-

-"You can certainly never hope," he timidly said, "that Meri's son, with

-his birth----"

-

-The old man's eyes flashed, but the words were inaudible that came from

-his lips, as if he tried to struggle against an inner impulse, to

-express for the first and perhaps for the last time, the bold idea

-which had already for many years grown in his tempestuous soul.

-

-"King Gustaf Adolf has only a daughter," he said finally, with a

-peculiar look.

-

-"Princess Christina ... Yes."

-

-"But the kingdom at war with half the world, after his death, needs a

-man upon the throne."

-

-"Bertila, what do you mean?"

-

-"I mean that in my childhood I heard King Erik's son, in spite of his

-peasant wife, Karin, declared the successor to the crown."

-

-"Are you in your senses?"

-

-Again an ironical smile played around the old man's lips.

-

-"Do you not understand," he coldly said, "how it is possible to hate

-soldiers and aristocrats, and yet send one's son to war as the nearest

-road to distinction, under a king's eyes?"

-

-"I beg of you, Bertila, put aside such wild fancies; you are a

-reasonable man when the demon of pride does not get possession of your

-restless mind.  Your plan will fail; it must fail."

-

-"It cannot fail."

-

-"What!  Not fail!"

-

-"No!  Have I not told you that Gösta must be either king or peasant?

-Either.  I do not care.  If he wishes to remain a peasant, so be it."

-

-"But if he will not remain a peasant?  Supposing he wishes to fight for

-a coat of arms, and becomes a nobleman?  Remember, you have started him

-on the right road for that end; as an officer he is already an equal of

-the nobility."

-

-Bertila seemed to be cogitating.

-

-"No!" he cried, "it is impossible.  His blood ... his education ... my

-will."

-

-"His blood!  Then you no longer remember that nobility is in it from

-both sides?  His education! and you sent him to Stockholm at twelve,

-and allowed him to grow up amongst young aristocrats, whom he has

-constantly heard express themselves with contempt about the peasantry.

-Your will! foolish father to think that you can bend a youth's desires

-from the direction given to them by such powerful influences."

-

-The old man remained silent for a time, then he said, coldly,

-

-"Larsson, you are a credulous fool; I joke, and you take it seriously.

-I will answer for the youth.  Let us say no more about it; but take

-care, not a word of what has passed!  Do you understand?"

-

-"I am your old friend, Bertila.  Since the time when I, a horseman with

-Svidje Klas, helped you to escape from Ilmola, you have repaid me the

-service many times over; I shall never betray you.  But, you see, I

-love your children as my own, and cannot bear to see you make the boy

-unhappy; and Meri ... are you a father, Bertila?  How do you treat your

-child, your only daughter, who attends to your lightest wish, and does

-everything to atone for the fault of her youth?  You treat her worse

-than any of your servants; you allow her frail and weak body to perform

-the hardest work; she sinks to the ground, and you do not raise her.

-You are cruel, Bertila; you are an inhuman father."

-

-"You do not understand the matter," answered the morose old man.  "You

-are too tender-hearted to comprehend what it means to go straight ahead

-without compunction.  Meri, like her mother, has the fine lady in her,

-and that must be uprooted.  She cannot become a queen; well, then, she

-shall be a thorough peasant.  I have said what I think about the

-intermediate class, and now you know the reason for my actions.  Come,

-let us return to the labourers."

-

-"And Meri ... spare her to-day, at least."

-

-"She shall work with the rest this afternoon."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II.

-

-ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME.

-

-The log-house of the East Bothnian peasant is now always more roomy,

-lighter, and more pretentious in its whole appearance than in any other

-part of Finland.  It sometimes consists of two storeys, or has at least

-a garret; the windows are of good size; it it almost always painted red

-or yellow, with white corners, and occasionally possesses window

-shutters.  The whole bears evidence of mechanical skill and comfort.

-The East Bothnian never builds such large and fine villages as the

-Tavastlander and the Abo peasants do, but in cases of necessity

-constructs good solitary farmhouses.  At the time of our story the

-smoke-huts were in use by nearly the whole Finnish population; only

-peasants of Swedish origin used fire-places and regular chimneys.  But

-even then one could see in East Bothnia, close to the coast, some

-buildings constructed in a more modern style, copied from their Swedish

-neighbours.

-

-The newly settled towns had attracted the country people to the coast,

-and they had already begun to be accustomed to greater comfort; and the

-wealthier the peasant, the quicker his house and person assumed a more

-civilised aspect.  It is true that the luxury, against which the laws

-of the sixteenth century so severely protested, was found only on the

-estates of the nobility and among the wealthy Abo burghers--but the

-home-brewed ale foamed over in the tankards of the peasants, and the

-Holland spices were produced from his cupboards for festive occasions.

-

-Since the fires of the Peasants' War had destroyed the huts of Storkyro

-village, one could often see the Swedish and Finnish styles of building

-side by side.  Bertila's farm was the largest and the richest in the

-village, and was built in the new style, with steps and a small

-verandah, and two small chambers beside the large room; one for the

-master of the family and one for his daughter.  The rest of the people

-on the farm lived together in the large room, but in summertime the

-younger ones slept out of doors in the sheds and some in the lofts.

-

-At this time one would not see the large clock, with its red and blue

-painted cover, which to-day is the chief ornament in every peasant's

-cottage.  The long plain table with its high seat for the master, stood

-surrounded by benches on the sides towards the door.  It was close to

-dinner-time, and in the big fire-place the porridge-kettle was boiling.

-The room was nearly empty, only a large cat purred on a bench, and a

-girl of fourteen stirred the porridge; and Meri was sitting by the fire

-with her work.  Poor Meri had just recovered from her fainting attack,

-but she was still very pale.  Her long golden hair fell down over her

-almost bare shoulders; her eyes were often shyly turned towards the

-door, as if she feared the sudden entrance of her father.  She was

-knitting a girdle of the most beautiful colours, and sang at the same

-time an old Swedish song.

-

-  "This girdle with roses fair

-  Shall only my loved one wear,

-  When he from the perils of war

-  Returns to us from afar."

-

-

-It has been said that Meri was no longer young.  The traces which

-suffering had left on her finely formed features told of many a year of

-sorrow and pain; but at this moment as she watched the girdle, her face

-assumed an almost childish expression of delight.  One could see that

-her work was a joy to her, and that she sang of someone much beloved

-and far away.

-

-Her life with her severe father was full of hardship, and when she

-looked at the girdle she semed to read in its bright-coloured loops of

-a future full of joy and peace.  In this girdle she lived, it was the

-same to her as the thought of her only joy--her idolized son.

-

-Again she sang:

-

-  "I weave in beads so fine

-  For this dear beloved of mine,

-  And no king upon his throne

-  Shall the like of this girdle own."

-

-

-Just then Bertila, her father, entered, followed by Larsson and all the

-rest of the working people.  Old Bertila's looks were dark; he could

-not deny to himself that Larsson's predictions were only too likely to

-be true.  His son a nobleman.  This possibility was in his eyes a

-disgrace, and up to this time had not troubled his mind.

-

-The last words of Meri's song had just died away.  At her father's

-entrance she quickly concealed the girdle under her apron; but the

-suspicious eyes of the old man fathomed her secret.

-

-"You are again sitting with your dreams, lazy thing, instead of serving

-out the porridge," he said in a sharp tone.  "What have you underneath

-your apron?  Out with it."

-

-And Meri was obliged in the presence of them all to reveal the

-unfinished girdle--her dearest secret.  Her father snatched it from

-her, looked at it for a moment with contempt, then tore it in two, and

-threw the pieces behind the oven.

-

-"I have told you many a time," he said severely, "that an honest

-peasant woman has nothing to do with fancy work.  Let us say grace."

-

-The old man then clasped his hands in the usual way, and the rest

-followed suit.  But before the prayer could be uttered, Larsson stepped

-to the middle of the floor, his naturally good-humoured face purple

-with rage.

-

-"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bertila," he said, "to insult

-your own daughter in front of all the people!  She works like a slave

-night and day, more than anyone of us, yet you call her a lazy thing!

-I tell you this straight in the face, that although you are my master,

-and I eat your bread, and without you I have nothing but the beggar's

-staff, that such an unrighteous father does not deserve to have such a

-good daughter; and rather than see this misery day after day, I will

-beg my bread.  But you will have to answer before the Almighty for your

-children.  And may you now say your grace, and let the food taste well

-to you if you can.  Farewell, Bertila, I cannot stand this life any

-longer."

-

-"Cast out the rascal who dares to speak against the master of the

-house," said Bertila with more than usual violence.  No one moved.  For

-the first time the peasant king saw his orders disobeyed.

-

-"Dear master," began the oldest of the labourers, "we all think the

-same----"

-

-A terrible blow from the master struck the speaker to the ground before

-he finished his remarks.  In vain Larsson offered to go of his own

-accord; in vain Meri tried to mediate between the disputants.  So

-strong were the principles of right in these people, that without

-consulting anything but their own convictions, they arrayed themselves

-as one man against the master's tyranny.  Fourteen muscular men stood

-erect and resolute before the enraged Bertila, whose tall figure stood

-threateningly in the midst of the throng.  One more blow, and they

-would all have left his service, and perhaps shut him up in his own

-little chamber until his anger had subsided; for the farther towards

-the north one goes, the more sensitive is the Finnish peasant to blows.

-Bertila, however, knew his people, and saw as a wise man that his anger

-had led him too far.  He sought a means of getting out of the dilemma

-without too great a humiliation.

-

-"What is it you want?" he asked with regained self-possession.

-

-The workers looked at each other in silence for a moment.

-

-"You are wrong, master," said one of the boldest at last.  "You have

-insulted Meri for nothing.  You wished to turn Larsson out of the

-house, and struck Simeon; you have done wrong."

-

-"Meri, come here."

-

-She did so.

-

-"You are no longer a child, Meri.  If you cannot endure to live with

-your aged father, then you are at liberty to stay on my farm at Ilmola.

-You are free--go, my child."

-

-Bertila knew his daughter.  These few words, "go, my child," pronounced

-in a milder tone than she was accustomed to hear, were sufficient to

-melt his daughter's heart.

-

-"Do not reject me, father," she said, "I will never desert you."

-

-These words made her defenders waver, and the old man saw his

-opportunity.

-

-"Bring hither the catechism," he said in a commanding voice.

-

-The fourteen-year-old Greta stepped forward as was the custom on sacred

-days, and read aloud:

-

-"Ye servants obey your temporal masters with fear and trembling, in the

-simplicity of your hearts!  Ye servants be submissive to your masters

-in all fear, not only the mild and good, but also the unworthy!"

-

-These words, thus uttered at the right time, did not fail in their

-effect.

-

-In these times the power and authority of father and master were at

-their zenith, and were not only by word, but in deed, a power by "God's

-mercy."  The words of obedience heard from childhood, the old man's

-commanding tone, and Meri's example of ready submission to her father's

-authority, all combined to tone down the hot tempers of the rebels.

-They took their places at the table without another word.  Only old

-Larsson stood sad and hesitating with his hand on the door-latch.

-

-Suddenly the door was opened, and a stranger entered.

-

-The new-comer was a soldier, in a broad-brimmed hat, decorated with a

-gracefully fastened eagle's plume.  He wore a waistcoat of yellow wool,

-short top-boots, bore a cudgel in his hand, and a long sword hung at

-his side.

-

-"By St. Lucifer," he said joyfully, "I have come at the right time.

-God's peace, peasants, make room at the table; I am as hungry as a monk

-during mass, and I am not able to go to the vicarage on this damned

-heath.  Have you any ale?"

-

-The old man in the high seat, who had not yet quite overcome his

-temper, although he appeared to be calm, rose from his chair, but at

-once sat down again.

-

-"Sit down, countryman," said the old man softly; "Aron Bertila has room

-at his table for self-invited guests also."

-

-"Very well," continued the new-comer, helping himself freely to the

-food, which seemed to be a familiar habit with him.  "You are Bertila,

-then.  I am glad to hear it, comrade.  Confidence for confidence, I

-will now tell you that I am Bengt Kristerson, from Limingo, sergeant in

-his Majesty's brave East Bothnians.  I am sent here to look after the

-conscripts.  Some more ale in the tankard, peasants ... well, do not be

-afraid, girls, I will not bite you.  Bertila," added the soldier with

-his mouth full, "what the deuce is this?  Are you Lieutenant Bertel's

-father, peasant?"

-

-"I do not know that name," replied the old man, who was nettled by the

-soldier's impudent remarks.

-

-"Are you mad, old man?  You do not know Gustaf Bertel, who six months

-ago called himself Bertila?"

-

-"My son! my son!" cried the old man in a voice of anguish.  "I am an

-unfortunate father!  He is ashamed of a peasant's name!"

-

-"Peasant's name," said the soldier laughing, and striking the table

-violently, so that the tankards and dishes jumped.  "Do ye peasants

-also have names?  I think I will go without mine.  You are a fine

-fellow, old man; tell me what the d----l you want with a name?"

-

-He then looked at his host with such an air of naïve impudence, that

-the insulting words were somewhat modified in effect.

-

-Old Bertila, however, scarcely honoured him with a glance.

-

-"Fool that I was!  I sent out a beardless boy and thought that I sent a

-man," he gloomily said to himself.

-

-But the sergeant, who had indulged in many drinks before, and had now

-seen the bottom of the jug, did not seem inclined to drop the subject.

-

-"Do not look so fierce, old boy," he said in the same aggravating tone.

-"You peasants associate so much with oxen and sheep, that you become

-just like them yourselves.  If you were a bit civil you would send a

-pretty girl to fill my jug.  It is now empty, you see; as empty as your

-cranium.  But you turnip-peelers do not appreciate the honour which is

-conferred upon you, of having a royal sergeant for guest.  You see, old

-fellow, a soldier in these times is everything; he has a name that

-rings because he has a sword that rings.  But you, old ploughshare,

-have nothing but porridge in your head and a turnip in your breast;

-fill your mug, old fellow; here's to Lieutenant Bertel's success!  So

-you refuse to drink the health of an honest cavalier?  Out upon you,

-peasant."

-

-And the sergeant, in the consciousness of his dignity, struck the table

-with his fist, so that the wooden bowls jumped and seemed disposed to

-make for the floor with all their contents.

-

-The first effect of this martial joke was to induce six or seven of the

-men to rise from their benches, with the object of giving the uninvited

-guest a salutary lesson in politeness.  But old Bertila stopped them.

-He rose composedly from his seat, approached the rowdy sergeant with a

-firm step, and without saying a word, grasped him by the neck with his

-left hand, and with his right on his back, he lifted the soldier from

-the bench, carried him to the door and threw him out on a heap of chips

-outside the steps.  The funny sergeant was so surprised at this

-unexpected attack, that he did not move a muscle to defend himself.  If

-he had, it was not likely that the seventy-year-old man would have

-gained the victory in the struggle.

-

-"Go," cried Bertila after him, "and keep your treatment as a

-remembrance of the peasants in Storkyro."

-

-Nothing impresses the multitude so much as resolute courage combined

-with a strong arm.  When the old man entered the room again he was

-surrounded by his people, who now greatly admired him; and this feat

-destroyed the difference which had existed a few moments before between

-them.

-

-The conflict between the sword and the plough is as old as the world.

-The Peasants' War was based on this rivalry, and served to keep it

-fresh and alive in the minds of all.  These independent peasants had

-not been subjected to the tyranny of the landed proprietors.  They

-witnessed with delight their honour defended against the soldier's

-outrageous insults; they forgot at the moment that they might shortly

-be compelled themselves to don the soldier's jacket, and fight for

-their country.  Even the old peasant chief, elated at his exploit, had

-surmounted his bad temper.

-

-For the first time in a long while they saw a smile on his lips; and

-when the meal was over, he began to relate to them some of his former

-adventures.

-

-"Never shall I forget how we cudgelled the rascal Abraham Melchiorson,

-the man who, here in Kyro, seized our best peasants, and had them

-broken on the wheel like malefactors.  With fifty men he had gone up

-north.  It was winter time.  He was a fine gentleman, muffled up from

-the cold, and rode so grandly in a splendid wolf-skin cloak.  But when

-he approached Karleby church we placed ourselves in ambush, and rushing

-upon him like Jehu, beat twenty-two of his men to death, and pommelled

-him black and blue; but every time he expected a rap he drew the

-wolf-skin cloak over his ears, so that no club could disable the

-traitor.  'Wait,' said Hans Krank, from Limingo, who led us on that

-wolf hunt, 'we will whip him out of his skin yet'; with this he drubbed

-Abraham so soundly that he was obliged to let go of his fine fur.

-Krank had nothing on but a jacket, and it was cold enough, God knows;

-he thought the fur cloak a good thing, and drew it unobserved over his

-own shoulders.  But, as all this occurred in the twilight, we others

-did not notice who was now in the wolf-skin, and we kept on belabouring

-the cloak; it is very certain that Krank had a very warm time of it

-that evening.  But Abraham Melchiorson became so light and nimble after

-getting rid of his cloak, that he ran off to Huso farm; but there he

-was taken by Saka Jacob from Karleby, and the rascal was taken to

-Stockholm; but he did not get much time to mourn over the loss of his

-cloak, for the duke soon made him a head shorter."

-

-"Yes," said Larsson, who always tried to defend Fleming and his people,

-"that time you had the best of it.  Eleven soldiers remained alive, but

-seeming to be dead, you took all their clothes.  And at midnight they

-crept half dead with cold to the vicarage, and were there taken in; but

-in the morning you wanted to put them in the water underneath the ice,

-alive, as you had done in Lappfjard's River.  You were wolves and not

-human beings.  The water was so low in the river that you had to push

-the men down with poles to keep them there; and when they tried to get

-up, the women knocked them on their heads with buckets."

-

-"Keep quiet, Larsson, you do not know all that Svidje Klas did," said

-Bertila angrily; "I say nothing about all the men that he and his

-people have killed and broken on the wheel.  Do you remember Severin

-Sigfridson at Sorsankoski?  He surrounded the peasants, and ordered his

-subaltern to behead them one by one; but he was not able to kill more

-than twenty-four, and asked the nobleman to finish the rest himself.

-The gentleman got angry, and ordered the peasants to cut the subaltern

-into five parts, and then do the same to each other as long as one

-remained alive."

-

-"But what did you do, you mad brutes, on Peter Gumse's farm?  Your men

-destroyed the place, broke the windows, slaughtered all the cattle, and

-set their severed heads with wide open mouths in the windows as a

-scare.  Then the beams of the house were cut three parts through, so

-that when the folk came home it would fall upon their heads; and when

-you caught a horseman you used him as a target for your arrows."

-

-"It is not worth while, Larsson, to try to take Svidje Klas' part.  Do

-you remember when Axel Kurk's men came and killed a woman's children

-before her eyes?  The poor mother could not stand this, she and her

-half-grown daughter seized the brute by the waist, hit him on the head

-with a pole, and pushed him fainting in the water.  Svidje Klas then

-came and had that same woman cut in two."

-

-"Loose talk, which has never been proven," replied Larsson gruffly.

-

-"The dead keep silent like good children.  The 5,000 killed at Ilmola

-do not speak."

-

-"Instead of molesting the sergeant, you should have asked him for news

-about your son and mine," said Larsson, to get away from their usual

-contentious subject--the fatal Peasant War.

-

-"Yes, you are right.  I must hear more about the boys and the war.  I

-am going to Vasa to-morrow."

-

-"Will he soon return?" asked Meri in a shy voice.

-

-"Gösta.  He will take his own time," said the father angrily.  "He has

-now became a nobleman; he is ashamed of his old father .... he blushes

-for a peasant's name."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III.

-

-THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH.

-

-Some miles south of Vasa, on the sixty-third degree of latitude, the

-Bay of Finland, which has hitherto gone straight north and south, makes

-a perceptible bend towards the north-east.  The great blue Baltic

-following the same direction, narrows for a moment in the "Qvark,"

-widens again, and leans its bright brow against Finland's breast.

-Freer there than anywhere else, the winds from the Arctic Ocean sweep

-over these coasts and drive the waves with terrible violence against

-the rocks.  In the midst of this stormy sea, lie Gadden's bare flat

-ledges, with their warning lighthouse and far projecting reefs.  When

-the mountain winds shake their wings over these breakers, then woe unto

-the vessel which, without a sure rudder and lightly furled sails,

-ventures through the narrow passage at "Understen"--its destruction is

-certain.  But in the middle of summer it often happens that a slightly

-northern wind is the most welcome, and promises clear skies and fine

-weather.  Then fly many hundreds of sails from the coast out towards

-"Qvark's" islands and reefs, to cast their nets for shoals of herrings;

-and the restless, murmuring sea dances like a loving mother, with her

-daughters, the green islands, resting upon her bosom.

-

-With the exception of Aland and Ekenäs there is no part of Finland's

-coast so rich with luxuriant vegetation as "Qvark" and its neighbouring

-east shore.  These innumerable islets, of which the largest are

-Wallgrund and Björkö, are here sprinkled about like drops of green in

-the blue expanse, and formed a parish by themselves called

-"Replotchapel," inhabited only by fishermen.  So numerous are these

-groups, so infinitely varied the sounds, so intricate the channels,

-that a strange vessel could not find its way out without a native pilot

-at the helm.  Thirty cruisers here would be insufficient to prevent

-smuggling; there is only one means of putting a stop to this inherited

-sin of the coast, and this method is a light tariff with but few

-prohibitions; Finland during later years has tried it with success and

-to her own advantage.

-

-At the same period as described in the preceding chapter, therefore in

-the middle of August, 1632, the waters of the Baltic were divided by

-the royal man-of-war "Maria Eleonora," bound from Stockholm to Vasa to

-transport the recruits for the German War.  It was a bright fine summer

-morning.  Over the wide sea played an indescribable glitter, which was

-at the same time grand and enchantingry beautiful.  A boundless field

-of snow, illumined by the spring sun, can rival it in splendour, but

-the snow is stillness and death, the shimmering waves are motion and

-life.

-

-A slumbering sea in its resplendency, is grandeur clothed in the smile

-of delight; he is a sleeping giant, who dreams of sunbeams and flowers.

-Gently heaves his breast; then the plank rocks underneath thy feet, and

-thou tremblest not; he could swallow thee up in his abyss, but he

-mildly spreads his golden carpet under the keel, and he, the strong,

-bears the frail bark like a child in his arms.

-

-It was immediately after sunrise.  The monotonous silence of sea-life

-prevailed on board the vessel during the morning watch, as when no

-danger is feared.  Part of the crew were still asleep below the deck,

-only the mate, wrapped in a jacket of frieze, walked to and fro on the

-aft deck.  The helmsman stood motionless at the rudder, the man in the

-round top peered ahead, and here and there on the fore deck stood a

-sailor, fastening a loose rope end, carrying wood to the caboose, or

-polishing the guns which were to salute Korsholm when they entered that

-port.

-

-The stern discipline of a modern man-of-war was at that time almost

-unknown.  There were no uniforms or steam whistles, nor any of the

-complex signals and commands which are now carried to such perfection.

-Then a man-of-war scarcely differed from a merchant vessel, excepting

-in size, armament, and the number of officers and men she carried.

-When one remembers that at that time there was neither whisky or coffee

-on board to protect against the chill morning air--they had, however,

-already learned from the Dutch to use an occasional quid of tobacco for

-this purpose--then it is readily perceived that life on the "Maria

-Eleonora" bore very little resemblance to that on board one of our

-modern men-of-war.

-

-By the green gunwale of the deck stood two female figures, with wide

-travelling hoods of black wool on their heads.  One of these passengers

-was small in atature, and showed under her hood an old wrinkled face,

-with a pair of peering grey eyes; she had wrapped herself up in a thick

-wadded cloak of Nurberg cloth.  The other figure was tall and slender,

-and wore a tight-fitting capote of black velvet lined with ermine.

-Leaning against the gunwale, she regarded with a gloomy air the fast

-receding waves left in the vessel's wake.  Her features could not be

-seen from the deck; but if one could have caught her countenance from

-the mirroring waves, it would have exhibited a classically beautiful

-pale face, illuminated by two black eyes, which surpassed in lustre the

-shining wave-mirrors themselves.

-

-"Holy Mary!" cried the old woman in strongly pronounced Low German,

-"when will this misery come to an end, that the saints have imposed

-upon us on account of our sins?  Tell me, my little lady, in what part

-of the world we are now?  It appears to me as if a whole year had

-passed since we sailed from Stralsund; for since we left the heretic's

-Stockholm I have not kept account of the days.  Every morning when I

-rise, I say seven _aves_ and seven _pater nosters_, as the revered

-Father Hieronymus taught us, as a protection against witchcraft and

-evil.  One can never know; the world might end here, and we have now

-come far away from the rule of the true believing Church and Christian

-people.  This sea has no end.  Oh, this horrible sea!  I now praise the

-River Main, which flows so peacefully underneath our turret windows in

-Würzburg.  Say, lady, what if over there, on the horizon, the earth

-ends, and that we are sailing straight into purgatory?"

-

-The tall slender girl did not seem to listen to her loquacious duenna.

-Her dark brilliant eyes under the black eyelashes were resting

-pensively on the water, as if in the waves she could read an

-interpretation of the dream of her heart.  And when at times a long

-swell from former storms rolled forth under the smaller waves, and the

-ship gently careened, so that the gunwale dipped close to the water,

-and the image in the sea approached the girl on board, then a smile

-could be seen on her beautiful features, at once proud and melancholy,

-and her lips moved inaudibly, as if to confide her inmost thoughts to

-the waves.

-

-"It is only the great and majestic in life that deserve to be loved."

-

-Then she added, transported by this thought:

-

-"Why should I not love a great man?"

-

-And she whispered these words with unbounded enthusiasm.  But instantly

-a shiver ran through her delicate frame, a bright flash shot from her

-dark eyes, and she said, almost trembling at the thought:

-

-"It is only the great and majestic in life that deserve to be hated!

-Why should I not hate----?"

-

-She did not finish the sentence.  She bent her head towards the ground,

-the fire in her eyes disappeared, and in its place a tear was seen.

-Two mighty opposing spirits fought with each other in this passionate

-soul.  One said to her "Love!" the other said to her "Hate!"  And her

-heart bled under this terrible struggle between the angel and the demon.

-

-It is unnecessary to mention what the reader has already divined, that

-the slender girl on board the "Maria Eleonora" was no other than Lady

-Regina von Emmeritz, the beautiful fanatical girl who tried to convert

-King Gustaf Adolf to the Catholic faith at Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  The

-king who knew the human heart, considered with reason, that this

-religious enthusiast was capable of anything if left a prey to the

-Jesuit's influence.  It was, therefore, not from revenge, which was

-unknown to this great heart, but, on the contrary, from noble

-compassion for a young and richly endowed nature, that he had sent her

-away for a time to a far-off country, where the black monk's influence

-could not reach her.  The reader will remember that the king, on the

-night of the feast at Frankfurt, ordered the Lady Regina to be sent by

-Stralsund and Stockholm to the strict old lady Marta at Korsholm.  The

-noble king did not know that the dark power, from whom he was trying to

-save his beautiful prisoner, followed her even to the far-off coast of

-Finland.  Lady Regina had permission to choose one of her maids to

-accompany her; accordingly she selected the one in whom she had the

-greatest confidence; unfortunately this was not the bright and fair

-Ketchen--she had been sent back to her relations in Bavaria--but old

-Dorthe, who had been her nurse, and who was controlled by the Jesuit;

-for a long time this old woman had nourished the fanatical fire in the

-young girl's soul.  So the poor unprotected maiden was still given up

-to the dark powers that had warped her mind since childhood, and

-perverted her rich, sensitive heart with their terrible teachings.  And

-against this influence she could only place a single but mighty

-feeling: her admiration, her enthusiastic attachment to Gustaf Adolf,

-whom she loved and hated at the same time--whom she would have been

-able to kill, yet for whom she would herself have suffered death.

-

-The shrewd Dorthe seemed to guess her mistress' thoughts; she leaned

-forward, and peering with her small eyes, said in the familiar tone

-which a subordinate in her position so easily assumes:

-

-"Aye, aye....  Is that the way it stands; do they come up again, the

-sinful thoughts about the heretic king and all his followers?  Yes,

-yes, the devil is cunning; he knows what he is about.  When he wishes

-to catch a little frivolous girl of the usual kind, he puts before her

-eyes a young handsome cavalier, with long silken curls.  But when he

-wishes to entangle a poor forsaken girl, with great proud thoughts and

-noble aspirations, he brings forward a great king, who gains castles

-and battles; and little does the poor child care that the stately

-conqueror is a sworn enemy to her Church and faith, and is working for

-the ruin of both."

-

-Regina turned her tearful and glistening eyes away from the sea, and

-looked for a moment with indescribable doubt at her old counsellor.

-

-"Say," said she, almost vehemently, "is it possible to be at once the

-greatest and the most hateful of human beings?"

-

-Regina looked again towards the sea.  The peaceful tranquility of the

-mornine lay over the glittering waters, and stilled the tempest within.

-The young girl remained silent.  Dorthe continued:

-

-"By their fruits ye shall know them.  Just think, what evil has not the

-godless king done to our Church and us?  He has slain many thousands of

-our warriors; he has plundered our cloisters and castles; he has driven

-out our nuns and holy fathers from their godly habitations, and the

-devout pater, Hieronymus, has been frightfully abused by his people,

-the heretic Finns; ourselves he has sent away to the ends of the

-earth..."

-

-Again Regina looked over at the islands and the inlets bathed in the

-mild morning effulgence.  While the dark demon whispered hatred in her

-ears, beaming nature seemed to preach only love.  On her lips hovered

-already the ravishing thought:

-

-"What matters it if he has slain thousands; if he has driven away monks

-and nuns; if he has forced us into exile!  What matters all this, if he

-is great as an individual, and acts according to the dictates of his

-faith!"

-

-But she kept silent from fear; she dared not break from all her

-preceding life.  She caught up, instead, one of Dorthe's words, as if

-to dispel the thunder-cloud of hatred and malice, which enveloped her

-heart in its dark mist, in the midst of this calm and lovely scene.

-

-"Do you know, Dorthe," she said, "that the Finns whom you hate live on

-the coast of this sea?  Do you see that strip of land over there in the

-east?  It is Finland.  I have not yet seen its shores, and yet I cannot

-detest a country which is bathed by so glorious a sea.  I cannot think

-that evil people can grow up in the heart of such a land."

-

-"All saints protect us!" exclaimed the old woman, and her lenn hand

-hastily made the sign of the cross.  "Is that Finland?  St. Patrick

-preserve us from ever setting foot upon its cursed soil; my dear lady,

-you have then never heard what is said of this land and its heathen

-people?  There prevails an eternal night; there the snow never melts;

-there the wild beasts and the still wilder men lie together in dens and

-caves.  The woods are so thick with hobgoblins and imps, that when one

-of them is called by name, a hundred monsters immediately come forth

-from the leaves and branches.  And among themselves, these people

-bewitch each other with all kinds of evils, so that when anyone carries

-food to another person, he changes his enemy into a wolf; and every

-word they speak takes life, so that when they wish to make a boat or an

-axe, they say it, and directly they have what they wish."

-

-"You are drawing a fine picture," said Regina, smiling for the first

-time in a long period, for the freshness of the sea had a good

-influence on her dreamy soul.  "Happy is the land where the people can

-create all they wish for with a word.  If I am hungry, and desire a

-beautiful fruit, I have but to say, _peach_, and right away I have it.

-If I feel thirsty, I say, _spring_, and instantly a spring gurgles at

-my feet.  If I have sorrow in my heart, I say, _hope_, and hope

-returns.  And if I long for a beloved friend, I mention his name, and

-he stands by my side.  A glorious land is Finland, were it such as you

-represent it to me.  Even if we lived with wild beasts in a cave under

-the eternal snows, we would look at each other and say, Fatherland, and

-at the same moment we would sit hand in hand on the banks of the Main,

-beneath the shadows of the lindens, where we often sat when I was a

-child, and the nightingales of our native land would sing to us as

-before."

-

-Dorthe turned angrily away.  The vessel steered between the rocks and

-islands, and moved with gentle speed past the outermost cliffs, many of

-which now stand high above the surface of the water, but at that time

-these were washed by the briny waves.

-

-"What is the name of the long, richly wooded stretch of land to the

-left?" asked Regina of the helmsman standing near.

-

-"Wolf's Island," answered the man.

-

-"There you have it yourself, dear lady ... Wolf's Island!  That is the

-first name we hear on Finland's coast, and shows us what we have to

-expect."

-

-The vessel now turned to the north, and sailed between Langskär and

-Sundomland, again veered towards the east, passed Brändö, went safely

-over the shoals, which now exclude large vessels from its waters, into

-Vasa's at that time superb harbour, and then saluted with sixteen

-cannon the castle of Korsholm.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV.

-

-THE PEASANT--THE BURGHERS--AND THE SOLDIER.

-

-When the rich Aron Bertila seated himself in his nice chaise to take a

-short journey to Vasa, it was decided, as a pledge of the restored good

-feeling between father and daughter, that Meri should take the seat by

-his side, and purchase in town some salt fish, hops, and certain

-spices, ginger and cinnamon, which already began to be seen in the

-houses of the wealthiest peasants.  Both father and daughter had their

-private interests in the journey; but neither would confess that it was

-news from Germany which each sought.  Larsson had charge in the

-meantime of the home work.

-

-It was just when Gustaf Adolf and Wallenstein stood opposed at

-Nürnberg.  Soldiers were badly wanted, and Oxenstjerna wrote constantly

-from Saxony to hasten the arrival of additional reinforcements.  The

-harvesting at its height, clashed with the harvesting of war, also at

-its greatest altitude.  A large number of conscripts were compelled to

-go down to Vasa from the neighbouring villages, then they were taken to

-Stockholm, and thence to the scene of war in Germany.

-

-At that epoch military drill was not nearly so complicated as it is

-now; to stand fairly in the ranks, rush straight at the enemy on

-command, to aim well--as the East Bothnians had learned beforehand in

-the seal-hunts--and to hew away manfully, these were the chief things.

-Thus one can understand why many of these peasant boys, just taken from

-the plough, were able to fall with honour by the side of their king at

-Lützen.

-

-The town of Vasa was then only twenty years old, and much smaller than

-now, not merely on account of its youth, but because all expansion was

-stopped on the south side by the crown fields of Korsholm.  Around the

-old Mustasaari church, on the northern side of "Kopmans" and "Stora"

-streets, were a few rows of newly built one-storey houses, with six or

-eight small shops.  Near the harbour stood storehouses, and that

-neighbourhood was also filled with fishermen's and sailors' huts in

-groups, for regular streets were considered superfluous by the

-architects of that time, and the closer the houses stood together, the

-greater the mutual protection in stormy periods.

-

-A borough, like Vasa, held one common family, and the inhabitants

-looked with pride on the high green battlements of Korsholm.

-

-The long-credited story, confirmed by Messenius, that Korsholm was

-built by Birger Jarl, and received its name from a large wooden cross

-raised as a symbol, refuge, and sign of victory, was founded on the old

-tradition that the great "Jarl," on his expedition to Finland, landed

-on this very coast.  Later researches have thrown some doubt on this

-story of Korsholm's origin; but it is certain that the fortress is very

-old, so old that it is beyond calculation.  It has never been besieged;

-its situation renders it of no importance to Finland; and after Uleä

-and Kajana castles were built, shortly before the time of our story, it

-had ceased to be considered a military position.  It now served as the

-residence of the Governor of the Northern districts, to lodge other

-crown officials, and serve as a prison; and its so-called "dairy"

-yielded a nice income to the Governor.  The Stadtholder of Northern

-Finland, Johan Mansson Ulfsparre of Tusenhult, lived only at intervals

-at Korsholm, and it is said that his seventy-year-old mother, Mistress

-Marta, ruled with a stern hand over both castle and dairy in his

-absence.  Between the peasants and burghers an unnatural and injurious

-rivalry prevailed at that time, owing to the efforts of the Government

-to suppress the country trade for the benefit of the towns, and in a

-very ignorant way to regulate the exchange of commodities.  Therefore,

-when the rich old peasant with his daughter drove in through the

-country toll-gate on the Lillkyro side, a few of the citizens, it is

-true, nodded a greeting to the well-known old man for the sake of his

-wealth; but the proudest amongst the merchants, who feared his

-influence with the king, gazed on him with hostile eyes, and gave vent

-to their ill-feelings in sarcastic words, uttered loud enough to reach

-the old man's ears.

-

-"Here comes the peasant king of Storkyro!" they said, "and Vasa has no

-triumphal arch!  He considers himself too good to thrash in the barn;

-he means to enter the army and become commander at once.  Take care!

-Do you not see how angry he looks, the log-house king?  If he had his

-way, he would plough up the whole town and make it into a rye-field!"

-

-The hot-tempered Bertila concealed his resentment, and hurried up the

-horse, so as to arrive quickly at the widow's house, where he generally

-resided when in town.  He had not gone far, however, up Kopman Street,

-which was not one of the widest, before it was blocked by a crowd of

-drunken recruits, who, in an ale-house near by, had inaugurated their

-new comradeship and strengthened themselves for the long journey ahead.

-Two sub-officers had joined the crowd as its self-appointed leaders,

-and rushed with a bold "out of the way, peasant!" towards the new-comer.

-

-Bertila, already irritated and unable to control himself, answered the

-summons with a cut of the whip, which knocked off the foremost

-sub-officer's broad-brimmed hat with an eagle's feather.  At once the

-affray began.  The man struck rushed upon the chaise, and the whole

-crowd followed him.

-

-"Aha, old fellow!" exclaimed the jovial serjeant, Bengt Kristerson,

-whom Bertila had so ignominiously expelled from his house, "now we have

-got you, and I will recompense you for your gracious treatment

-yesterday.  Make way, boys; the old fellow is mine; this fish I will

-scale myself."

-

-Bertila was too old to rely upon the power of his fists, and he looked

-around for a place of refuge.  Whip in hand, he leaped from the chaise,

-which had stopped close to the entrance of a shop, and gave the horse a

-lash, so that the latter, chaise and daughter, rushed through the

-yielding crowd and galloped up the street.  But before Bertila could

-find a refuge in the shop, the door was slammed in his face by the

-timorous owner.  The old champion, seeing escape cut off, placed his

-back to the door, and menaced the assailants with his long whip.

-

-"Let us thrash the proud Storkyro peasant," cried a young Laihela boy,

-who, by carrying a musket for a week, had forgotten his peasant origin,

-but not his rustic language.

-

-"Your father was a better man, Matts Hindrickson," said Bertila

-contemptuously, "instead of assailing his own people, he helped us,

-like an honest peasant, to pommel Peder Gumse's cavalry in former days."

-

-"Do you hear that, boys?" cried one of the subalterns; "the dog boasts

-of thrashing brave soldiers."

-

-"We will not allow anyone to lord it over us!"

-

-"The peasant shall dance to our tune!"

-

-"And not we to his."

-

-And five or six of the most excited, who had lately worn the jacket of

-the peasants themselves, rushed to drag Bertila down the steps.  The

-old man would have got the worst of it, had not the aforesaid jolly

-sergeant thrown himself between him and the assailants.

-

-"Hold on, boys!" cried Bengt Kristerson in a stentorian voice.  "What

-the devil are you about?  Are you honest soldiers?  Do you not see that

-the old man is seventy years old, and yet you go six to one at him!

-Blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim (the sergeant had learned this potent

-oath in the proper school, and it never failed in its effect), is that

-warlike?  What would the king say about it?  Out of the way, boys; the

-old man is mine; I alone have the right to wash him clean.  You should

-have seen how he threw me down the steps yesterday like an old glove.

-It was a fine stroke, and now it has to be repaid."

-

-Courage and magnanimity seldom fail.  The nearest willingly gave way.

-The sergeant advanced to the steps.  Bertila could reach him with his

-whip, but he did not strike.  He knew his people.

-

-"Do you know what it means, peasant," cried the sergeant with an

-authoritative air, which would have become General Stälhandske himself,

-"to throw a soldier of the great king down the steps?  Do you know what

-it means to knock off the hat of a defender of the evangelical faith,

-and a conqueror who has gained fourteen battles and run his sword

-through sixteen or seventeen living generals?  Do you know, peasant, if

-I were in your place----?"

-

-"If I stood in the place of a soldier of his Majesty," coolly answered

-Bertila, "I would respect an honest man in his own house, and a

-grandsire's old age.  And if I stood in the shoes of Bengt Kristerson,

-and had conquered the Roman Emperor, and run my sword through seventeen

-living commanders, still I would not forget that Bengt Kristerson's

-father, Krister Nilsson, was a Limingo peasant, and fell on Ilmola's

-ice like an honest fighter against Fleming's tyranny."

-

-The sergeant was abashed for a moment.  Then he stepped close up to his

-opponent, and said in a bragging manner:

-

-"Do you know, peasant, that I could impale you on this?" and so saying,

-he drew his long sword half-way from its sheath.

-

-Bertila looked calmly at him with folded arms.

-

-"Are you not afraid, old man?" resumed the hero of fourteen battles,

-evidently taken aback by the peasant's firm attitude.

-

-"Did you ever see an honest Finn afraid?" said the old man, almost

-smiling.

-

-The sergeant was not malicious.  He suddenly felt much inclined to be

-generous; his fierce mien changed into the blustering, jovial air which

-became him so well.

-

-"Do you know, boys," he said, with a look at his companions, "that the

-old ox has got both horns and hoofs?  He might have become something in

-the world if he had been in good society.  Yesterday, when they were

-fourteen to one--for you should know, boys, that all fourteen of the

-hands helped to lift me on the clodhopper's back, and then I gave

-everyone of them a remembrance of it--yes, as I say, yesterday I would

-have beaten the old fellow black and blue, had it not been for the

-presence of ladies at the table.  But to-day we are fifteen against

-one, and so I propose that we let the old fellow go."

-

-"He is as rich as Beelzebub," shouted some of the conscripts; "he shall

-treat us to a cask of ale."

-

-Bertila produced a little purse, and threw some Carl IX. silver coins

-contemptuously among the crowd.  This irritated the soldiers afresh;

-and again the storm threatened to burst forth, when suddenly

-cannon-shots were heard, and the whole crowd rushed down to the

-harbour.  It was the Swedish man-of-war, "Maria Eleonora," saluting

-Korsholm.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V.

-

-LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM.

-

-All who had life and sound limbs in Vasa had gone down to the shore, to

-see the uncommon sight of a man-of-war.  Five or six hundred people

-lined the shore--rowed out in boats, climbed the masts of the vessels,

-or got on the roofs of the warehouses to get a better view.

-

-Two hundred recruits regarded with mixed feelings the vessel which was

-perhaps destined to take them from their Fatherland for ever.  Behind

-them stood a large crowd of mothers, sisters, and sweethearts, crying

-bitterly at the thought of the approaching separation.

-

-The Commissary-General, Ulfsparre, was away in Sweden.  The next

-authority, Steward Peder Thun, as well as the military commander,

-received the new-comers; the recruits formed in ranks, and the captain

-of the "Maria Eleonora" offered his arm courteously to Lady Regina, to

-escort her to Korsholm.  But at this moment the proud young girl felt

-that she was a prisoner; she declined the officer's arm, and walked

-alone with a royal bearing between the ranks of the recruits and the

-gaping crowd.

-

-Such a strange sight put the whole town in a great commotion.  In a

-moment the strangest rumours about her arose and spread.

-

-"She is an Austrian princess," said some; "the Emperor's daughter,

-taken prisoner during the war, and sent here for safety."

-

-Others pretended she was the Queen Maria Eleonora; but why did she come

-to Korsholm?

-

-"I will tell you," said one, whispering with an important air to

-another.  "She is in league with her German countrymen against the

-king, and therefore she is to be confined in remote Korsholm."

-

-"That is not true," rejoined another, who had heard some vague stories

-of the conspiracies against the king's life.  "It is," added he in a

-low voice, as if fearing to be heard by the object of his remarks, "a

-nun from Walskland, hired by the Jesuits to make away with the king.

-Six times she has given him deadly poison, and six times he has been

-warned in dreams not to drink.  When she offered him the draught for

-the seventh time, the king drew his sword and forced her to swallow her

-own poison."

-

-"Then how can she be here alive?" said an old lady very innocently.

-

-"Alive!" repeated the story-teller, without being put out in any

-degree; "oh, that is another matter.  These creatures can dissemble to

-such an extent...  Yes, indeed; do you remember the Hollanders last

-year, how they bolted molten lead?  I do not wish to say anything, but

-just look--the black-haired nun is as pale as death!"

-

-"Has she given the king poison?" cried a trembling female voice close

-behind.

-

-It was Meri, who with bated breath had listened to every word.

-

-"What rubbish!" said a sea-captain with a mysterious knowing air.

-"When I was at Stralsund, last spring, I saw those eyes, which one

-cannot easily forget.  The girl was then taken to Stockholm, and one of

-the guards told me the entire story.  She is a Spanish witch, who has

-sold herself to the evil one, in order to be the most beautiful woman

-on earth for seven years.  Look at her: do you not see that the devil

-has kept his word?  Take care; in those eyes there is something that

-charms and bewitches.  When she became as beautiful as she is now, she

-entered the Swedish camp, and gave the king a love-potion, so that he

-could neither see or hear anyone else but herself for seven whole

-weeks.  His generals thought this a sin and shame, and the enemy

-pressed them sorely; so one night they took her secretly and sent her

-to spend the seven enchanted years at Korsholm."

-

-"Did the king love her?" asked Meri with emotion.

-

-"Of course he did," answered the blunt sea-captain.

-

-"Did she also love the king?"

-

-"What is there more curious than a woman?  How the deuce do you expect

-me to know all about it?  The foul-fiend is wiser than other folks,

-that is certain.  She gave the king a copper ring..."

-

-"With seven circles inside each other, and three letters engraved on

-the plate..."

-

-"What the devil do you know about that?  I have heard of the seven

-circles, but not of the plate."

-

-Meri took a deep breath.  "He wears it still!" she said to herself with

-a great joy.

-

-Meri was superstitious, like all the people of that period.  She never

-doubted the existence of witches, enchantments, and love potions; but

-this strange dark girl, who loved the king and was beloved by him in

-return ... was she really guilty of the horrible things they said about

-her?  The poor forgotten one was seized with the most violent wish to

-approach this extraordinary being, who had been so near the great

-monarch.  Each moment was precious.  In a few hours she must return to

-Storkyro.  She took heart and followed the stranger to Korsholm.

-

-The old residence inside the ramparts, in spite of its fine outlook,

-was more sombre than magnificent.  Frequent changes of Stadtholders,

-who only lived there a little while at a time, had given to the

-double-storied granite building, with its side wings for prisoners, a

-terribly deserted appearance.  It certainly more resembled a jail than

-a great governor's residence.  The dreariness was increased by its

-present inhabitants, stern Fru Marta, with her aged maid-servants, some

-invalid soldiers, and gruff jailors.  Had Gustaf Adolf recollected the

-condition of the place, he would probably not have sent his young

-prisoner to such a depressing abode.

-

-Fru Marta expected her guest, who had been described to her as a

-dangerous and depraved young person, of superhuman cunning.  She had,

-therefore, prepared a little dark chamber within her own for Lady

-Regina and her attendant, and made up her mind to keep the closest

-watch on the wild young lady.  Fru Marta was a good, honest soul, but

-sharp and severe like a lady of the old school, who had brought up all

-her children with the rod.  It never entered her mind that a lonely,

-defenceless, and forsaken young girl, isolated in a strange land,

-needed a comforting, sympathetic hand and motherly kindness; Fru Marta

-felt that discipline ought to tame a spoilt child, and then milder

-treatment could be introduced.

-

-When Lady Regina, accustomed to the freedom of the sea, entered this

-gloomy dwelling, an involuntary shudder passed through her slight

-frame.  This feeling remained when she was received on the threshold by

-the old lady, in a close linen cap and a long dark woollen cloak.

-

-No doubt Lady Regina's inclination of the head was somewhat stiff, and

-her whole bearing somewhat reserved, when she greeted Fru Marta on the

-castle steps.  But Fru Marta was not intimidated by it.  She took the

-young girl by both hands, shook them vigorously, and nodded a greeting,

-about half-way between a welcome and a menace.  Then she surveyed her

-guest from head to foot, and the result of the examination was muttered

-aloud:

-

-"Figure like a princess ... no harm; eyes black as a gipsy's ... no

-evil; skin as white as milk ... no mischief; proud ... ah, ah, that is

-bad; we shall be two about that, my young friend."

-

-Regina impatiently made a motion to proceed, but Fru Marta did not let

-go her hold.

-

-"Wait a bit, my dear," said the stern dame, as she endeavoured to

-recollect her ancient stock of German words; "it takes time to go a

-long way.  One who crosses my threshold must not be taller than the

-door-post.  Better to bend in youth than creep in old age.  There ...

-that's the way for a young girl to greet one who is older and wiser..."

-

-And before Lady Regina knew it, the strong old lady had put her right

-hand on her neck, her left against her waist, and with a sudden

-pressure, forced her proud guest to bow as deeply as one could desire.

-

-Lady Regina's pale cheeks were covered with a flush as red as the

-sunset sky before a storm.  More erect and prouder than before rose the

-girl's slender figure, and her dark eyes flashed fire.  She said

-nothing, but old Dorthe was determined to give Fru Marta a lesson in

-politeness on her mistress' behalf.  She advanced with lively southern

-gesticulations, and screamed, beside herself with anger:

-

-"Miserable Finnish witch, how dare you treat a high-born lady in such a

-manner?  Do you know, vile jailor, whom you have the honour of

-receiving in your house?  You do not!  Then I will tell you.  This is

-the exalted Lady Regina von Emmeritz, _née_ Princess of Emmeritz,

-Hohenloe, and Saalfield, Countess of Wertheim and Bischoffshöhe,

-heiress of Dettelsbach and Kissingen, &c.  Her father was the Prince of

-Emmeritz, who owned more castles than you, miserable wretch, have huts

-in your town.  Her mother was Princess Würtemberg, related to the

-Electoral House of Bavaria, and her still living uncle, the Right

-Reverend Bishop of Würzburg, is lord of Marienburg, and the town of

-Würzburg, with all the lands belonging to it.  You take advantage of us

-because your heretic king has taken our land and town, and made us

-prisoners; but the day will come when St. George and the Holy Virgin

-will descend and destroy you, you heathen; and if you harm a hair of

-our heads, this castle shall be levelled to the ground, and you,

-miserable witch, and your whole town, annihilated ..."

-

-It is probable that old Dorthe's outpourings would not have come to an

-end for some time, had not Fru Marta made a sign to her servants, at

-which they carried off the old woman without any ceremony, and in spite

-of her strenuous resistance, to one of the small rooms on the lower

-floor, where she was left to herself to further reflect upon the high

-lineage of her young lady.

-

-But Fru Marta took the astonished Regina, half by force, half

-voluntarily, by the arm, and led her to the allotted room near her own,

-with a view over the town.  Here the stern old lady left her for the

-present, yet not without adding the following admonitions at the door:

-

-"I can tell you, my young friend, to obey is better than to weep; the

-bird that sings too early in the morning is in the claws of the hawk

-before evening.  Follow the laws of the country you are in.  It is now

-seven o'clock.  At eight supper is served, at nine you go to bed, and

-at four in the morning you get up, and if you don't know how to card

-and spin, I will give you some sewing, so that time shall not hang

-heavy on your hands.  Then we will talk together, and when your waiting

-woman learns to hold her tongue you may have her back again.  Good

-night; don't forget to say your prayers; a psalm Prayer Book lies on

-the dressing-table."

-

-With these words Fru Marta shut the door, and Lady Regina was alone.

-Solitary, imprisoned, in a foreign land, left to the mercy of a hard

-keeper ... her thoughts were of the most depressing kind.  Lady Regina

-fell on her knees, and prayed to the saints, not from the heretic

-Prayer Book, but with the rosary of rubies which her uncle, the bishop,

-had formerly given her as sponsor.  What did she pray for?  Only Heaven

-and the black walls of Korsholm know that; but a sympathetic heart can

-imagine her petitions.  She prayed for the saints' assistance; for the

-victory of her faith and the downfall of the heretics; she prayed also

-that the saints might convert King Gustaf Adolf to the only saving

-Church; that he, another Saul, might become another Paul.  Finally she

-prayed for freedom and protection ... the hours fled; her supper was

-brought in, and still she continued her supplications.

-

-At last Lady Regina arose and looked out of the little window.  There

-lay a landscape in the sunset glow; it was not Franconia, with its

-luxuriant vineyards; it was not the rushing Main; the town yonder was

-not rich Würzburg, with its rows of cloisters and high turret spires.

-It was poor, pale Finland, with an arm of its sea; it was young little

-Vasa, with its church, Mustasaari, the oldest in East Bothnia; one

-could plainly see the reflection of the sun on the small Gothic

-windows, of stained glass belonging to Catholic times, and it seemed to

-Regina as if she saw the transfigured saints looking out from their

-former temple.  And at this moment, had not the eye of the setting sun

-itself such a beatific look, as it serenely gazed down upon the world's

-strife!  All was silent and still--the evening glow, the landscape's

-pretty verdure, the newly mown fields with their rows of sheaves, the

-small red houses with their shining windows--all conduced to devotion

-and peace.

-

-Suddenly, Lady Regina heard in the distance a mild, plaintive song,

-simple and unaffected, as if proceeding from nature's own heart, on a

-lonely evening, with a setting sun on the shore of a silent sea, when

-all sweet memories awaken in a longing breast.  At first she did not

-listen, but it came nearer ... now it was obstructed by a cottage wall,

-now by a group of hanging birches; now it was heard again, high, clear,

-and free; and finally one could distinguish the words.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI.

-

-THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.

-

-When the lonely singer approached one could gradually understand the

-import of the song.  It was a gentle heart, which sang in uneven but

-impressive numbers, its longings and its sorrows on the shore in the

-glow of a beautiful August evening far off in the north country.

-

-  "The sun shines bright and clear

-    O'er the waters far and near,

-  And the moon wanders in the night

-    Above in the heavenly sphere.

-  But never again will the sun supreme

-    Shine down on the forgotten troth,

-  And never again shall the gentle moon's beam

-    Illumine the brave knight's holy oath.

-

-  "The only one I loved so dear

-    Lives far away in a palace fine,

-  Surrounded by splendour he leaves me here

-    Alone with grief and sorrow mine.

-  He is served by many, I have but one knight,

-    He has castles, towns, and land.

-  I spread my pearls in the evening light

-    And sing to the waves on the strand.

-

-  "The bird flies to the south so fair,

-    Far away to the castle grand,

-  And sings on the tree a sorrowful air,

-    As I in my lonely land.

-  The brave knight listens to the song,

-    How strangely his heart doth beat,

-  And before one knows the evening long

-    Hath gone like the joys that never repeat."

-

-

-The more Lady Regina listened to the simple strains, which to her were

-foreign and strange, and yet appealing through their deep melancholy,

-the more she was affected by this sorrow so like her own.  She wished

-to breathe the fresh evening air; the little window, however, long

-resisted her attempts to open it, but all Lady Marta's prudence could

-not prevent the hinges from being old and rusty, and at last they

-yielded to the young girl's persistent efforts.  She had only been a

-guest in this castle for a few hours, and yet she inhaled the evening

-fragrance as a prisoner for long years finally breathes the air of his

-freedom.  Her heart expanded and her eyes regained their fire; her mind

-became filled with a dreamy ecstasy, and she sang softly, so as not to

-be heard by her custodian, but clearly and melodiously.

-

-

-  REGINA'S SONG.

-

-  "Great as my sufferings are

-  Still to thee I will repair.

-  Holy Virgin, wilt thou bless

-  What to thee I now confess,

-  My soul's desire sincere

-  To die without fear.

-

-  "Amongst the kings of the earth

-  My loved one hath his birth,

-  Far flash his dread strokes

-  As the Almighty's lightnings rend the oaks.

-  But victor and conqueror tho' he be

-  Yet mild and merciful is he.

-

-  "I'll all forget, and firmly stand,

-  If you give me the dread command

-  To stop the hero's great career.

-  O holy Virgin, bright and dear,

-  God's mother, thou me hear,

-  Spare the noble heart that knows no fear.

-

-  "Make the heretic king his faults forswear,

-  And that he will our glorious faith declare.

-  Then my weary heart will gain its rest.

-  O Mary, grant me this request,

-  Spare his life, his throne,

-  Let me with my death for his crime atone."

-

-

-The solitary figure which had sung the first song now slowly approached

-the castle walls; it was a woman of the people, with once beautiful

-features, now pale and expressing a winning and sympathetic heart.  She

-tried to listen to the strange girl's song, but could not succeed on

-account of the foreign language and suppressed tones.  She then seated

-herself on a stone a short distance from the castle, and fixed her mild

-gaze on the prisoner at the window.  In her turn, Regina also fastened

-her dark penetrating eyes on the visitor.  One would think that they

-perfectly understood each other, for the language of songs needs no

-other lexicon than the heart.  Or did a presentiment tell them, the

-girl of seventeen and the woman of thirty-six, that their loves were

-concentrated on the same object, and that both sang their shipwrecked

-hopes on the lonely shore, but in an infinitely differing way?

-

-Up in the north the summer nights are clear until the beginning of

-August, then a light veil spreads itself over land and sea as soon as

-the sun goes down.  By the middle of August this veil has already

-become thicker, and casts a mild soft shade over the summer leaves and

-grass.  When the moon rises upon this world of vanishing green, then

-there is nothing more sadly beautiful to be found in all nature than

-one of these lovely evenings in August.  Then the eye accustomed to

-three months unbroken day, shrinks from the darkness and yet sees this

-darkness in its loveliest aspect, like a mild sorrow softened by a ray

-of heavenly glory.  This impression would return every year even if one

-lived for centuries; it is light and darkness which at the same moment

-are struggling in the world and in the human heart.

-

-The two lonely singers felt the power of this impression; they both sat

-fixed and mute, quietly regarding each other in the twilight; neither

-of them spoke, and yet they understood each other's inmost thoughts.

-

-Then the pale woman suddenly rose and turned her face towards the town.

-She seemed to be listening to a noise which disturbed the holy peace of

-the evening.

-

-Lady Regina followed every movement of the stranger, and leaned out of

-the window so as to be able to see better.  All nature was calm and

-silent, only the strokes of oars were heard from the sea, or the

-melancholy prolonged note from some shepherd's horn.  This stillness

-increased by the first darkness of the autumn, had something solemn and

-inviting to worship about it, and made the noise which now came from

-the distant town still more singular.  It was not the surges of the

-sea, or the roar of the fors,* or the crackling of a fire in the wood.

-Although it resembled all these.  It was more like the murmur of an

-enraged populace, at once actuated by rage and want.  Directly

-afterwards the reflection of a fire was seen afar off in the northern

-portion of the town.

-

-

-* Fors, a stream peculiar to the north, like rapids.

-

-

-With the speed of the wind the lonely woman outside the wall hurried

-away in the direction of the sounds and light .... We will now precede

-her for a moment.

-

-The arrival of the man-of-war, which was destined to transport the

-conscripts, had placed the latter in a state of excitement much

-augmented by sorrow, pride, and ale.  With their under officers at

-their head, they had thronged around the ale-shops, and at this time,

-when the soldier was all important, one was often obliged to overlook

-his irregularities and keep him in a good humour.  The superior

-officers consequently pretended not to notice that 200 young men, with

-the combative temperament of East Bothnia, were in a state of

-intoxication more or less; and it is possible that this policy might

-have been the right one at the time, had not a special circumstance

-detrimental to peace brought their unrestrained passions into full play.

-

-The brave sergeant, Bengt Kristerson, did not neglect this opportunity

-to do himself every possible justice.  Filled with a sense of his own

-great importance, he had jumped on a table and easily demonstrated to

-the crowd of conscripts: first, that he especially had conquered

-Germany; secondly, that long before this he would have driven the

-Emperor Ferdinand into the River Danube, had not the latter been in

-league with Satan and bewitched the whole Swedish army, and the king

-himself first of all; thirdly, that Bengt, on the night of the

-Frankfurt ball, was on guard outside the king's bed-chamber, and there

-he had plainly seen Beelzebub in the form of a young girl, who then

-made a terrible commotion; fourthly--this thought naturally struck him

-during his inspired address--that the weal or woe of the country, yes,

-of the whole world, depended upon the witch, who was a prisoner at

-Korsholm...

-

-"You will see that the black-haired witch will bring the plague to the

-town," observed thoughtfully a Malax peasant, with very fair hair and

-shabby appearance.

-

-"The wolf-cub!"

-

-"The king's murderess!"

-

-"Shall we allow her to sit in peace and destroy both king and country

-with her witch-shots?" cried a drunken clerk of assizes, who had just

-joined the company.

-

-"Let us duck her in the sea!" shrieked a Nerpes peasant.

-

-"Let us club her on the spot!" yelled a Lappo cottager, with an eagle

-nose and dark bushy eyebrows.

-

-"And if they do not give her into our hands, we will set fire to

-Korsholm and burn the owl and the nest at the same time," said a

-ferocious Laihela peasant.

-

-"Better that, than to have the kingdom ruined," remarked a

-grave-looking seal-hunter from Replot.

-

-"Here, take brands!" shouted a Worä peasant.

-

-"To Korsholm!" cried the whole crowd. And stimulated as usual by their

-own clamour, they rushed to the big open fire-place in the large room,

-and pulled out all the brands from it.  But, unfortunately, there was a

-lot of hemp hanging in bundles on the wall in the room.  One of the

-conscripts in the scramble swung his brand too high, and the hemp

-caught fire; the strong draught from the open door fanned the flame,

-and in a few minutes the ale-house was in full blaze.

-

-All inside rushed out, and no one had time to realise how it happened.

-

-"It is a witch-shot!" cried some of them.

-

-"The witch at Korsholm will have to pay for all this!" shouted the

-others.

-

-And the whole raging mass rushed off at full speed towards the old

-castle.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII.

-

-THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM.

-

-As soon as Meri--for she was the lonely singer--understood the wild

-crowd's intention, she flew back to Korsholm.  By the silver rays of

-the moonlight, which shone over the landscape, she plainly

-distinguished Regina's dark locks, which, blacker than the night, stood

-in relief from the room in the background, like a shadow in the midst

-of the shade.  Under these locks shone two eyes, dreamy, deep, like the

-glimmer of the stars in the dusky mirror of a lake.  The words died on

-Meri's lips; all the strange rumours rose like spectres in her mind.

-She who sat up there alone at the window, was she not, after all, a

-southern witch, weeping over her fate in being compelled to spend the

-seven years of her wondrous beauty within these walls, and then

-reassume her normal shape; a terrible monster, half-woman and

-half-serpent?

-

-Meri stood as if petrified at the foot of the wall.

-

-But nearer and nearer was heard the murmur of the wild crowd, and the

-light of the torches began to be reflected on the castle.  Then the

-superstitious countrywoman gathered courage, and raised her voice to

-the window.

-

-"Fly, your grace," she said rapidly in Swedish; "fly, a great danger

-threatens you; the soldiers are intoxicated and frantic; they say that

-you have tried to kill the king, and they demand your life."

-

-Regina saw the pale form in the moonlight, and before her imagination

-rose all the stories she had heard about this land of witchcraft.

-During her ten months' stay in Sweden she had in some degree learned to

-understand the language; she did not immediately comprehend the other's

-meaning, but a single word sufficed to attract all her attention.

-

-"The king?" she repeated in broken Swedish.  "Who are you, and what can

-you tell me about the great Gustaf Adolf?"

-

-"Lose not a moment, your grace," continued Meri, ignoring Regina's

-question.  "They are already at the gates, and Fru Marta, with six

-soldiers, will not be able to protect you against two hundred.  Quick!

-don't come out by the door, but tie together sheets and shawls, and let

-yourself down through the window; I will receive you."

-

-Regina saw that a danger threatened, but far from being terrified by

-it, she heard it with a secret joy.  Was she not a martyr to her faith,

-transported to this wild land for her zeal in trying to convert the

-mightiest enemy of her Church?  Perhaps the moment was at hand when the

-saints would grant her a martyr's-crown, richly earned by her devotion.

-Was it not the tempter himself, who in this pale woman's form, tried to

-lure her from an imperishable glory?

-

-And Regina answered:

-

-"And Satan saith unto Him: 'Cast Thyself down: for it is written, He

-shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, that they may preserve

-Thee, so that no harm may befall Thee...'"*

-

-

-* Compare Matthew iv. 6, where the Lutheran text differs from the

-Catholic.

-

-

-At these words the moon appeared round a corner of the wall and threw

-its pale beams on the beautiful girl's face.  Her cheeks glowed, and

-her eyes burned with an ecstatic fire.  Meri looked at her with wonder

-and dread ... and again it seemed to her that it was not well with a

-being, who possessed such a singular appearance, and uttered such

-strange sounds from her lips.  An overwhelming fear seized her, and she

-fled, without knowing why, back to the town.

-

-In the meantime Regina heard the murmur from the castle yard up in her

-chamber.  The drunken horde had been checked by a stout gate, and stood

-clamouring outside, threatening to burn down the fortress, unless the

-witch was immediately given up to them.  But Fru Marta, just awakened

-from a sound sleep, was not one easily scared.  She had been in more

-than one siege in her younger days, and understood like a wise

-commander, that a fortress does not fall at big words.

-

-"One who gains time, gains all," she thought, and therefore began to

-negotiate about the capitulation, wishing to know what the besiegers

-especially wanted, and why they wanted it.  In the meantime six old

-muskets were hunted up, with which the defenders were armed; the

-soldiers were also provided with clubs and pikes; the servant girls

-themselves received orders to take the poles, with which more than one

-of Fleming's horsemen received their doom during the Club or Peasants'

-War.  Thus prepared, Fru Marta thought that she could safely break off

-all negotiations; she therefore advanced to the inside of the gate, and

-began a tirade which meant action and no play.

-

-"Ye crazy boors!" shrieked the brave dame with more energy than

-courtesy, "may the devil take you all, drunken ale-bibbers!  Be off

-this instant, or, as sure as my name is Marta Ulfsparre, you shall have

-a taste of 'Master Hans' on the back, you villains, sots, shameless

-knaves, and night loafers!"

-

-"Master Hans" was a good-sized braided rattan, which seldom left Fru

-Marta's hand, and for which all the inmates of the castle entertained a

-profound respect.  But whether the noisy crowd did not know of "Master

-Hans'" fine qualities, or whether Fru Marta's words were only

-imperfectly heard in the uproar, the mob continued to press on with

-loud cries, and the strong gate shook on its hinges.

-

-"Out with the witch!" shouted the most excited, and some threw lighted

-brands against the gate, hoping to set it on fire.

-

-Fru Marta had on the ramparts two old cannon from Gustaf I.'s time,

-called "the hawk" and "the dove."  Their functions were to respond to

-the salutes of vessels arriving in the harbour, and to roar forth the

-delight of the people on royal christening days and nuptials.  It is

-true that the ramparts lay outside the high fence with its iron spikes,

-which constituted the only fortification of the castle, and were thus

-easily accessible to the besiegers.  But Fru Marta thought correctly,

-that a cannonade from the ramparts would frighten the enemy, and serve

-as a signal of distress, to summon assistance from the man-of-war and

-the town.  She therefore ordered two of her soldiers to steal out under

-cover of the night, load "the hawk" and "the dove," and directly after

-the blank charges were fired, to return quickly to the castle.

-

-The effect was instantaneous.  The uproar ceased at once, and Fru Marta

-did not let the opportunity slip from her grasp.

-

-"Do you hear, you pack of thieves?" she screamed, mounted on a ladder,

-so that her white night-cap was seen in the moonlight just above the

-gate, "if you don't take yourselves off this minute from his Majesty's

-castle, I will make my cannon shatter you into fragments, like cabbage

-stalks, you noisy, drunken swine!  Angry dogs get torn skins; and the

-chicken who sticks his neck in the jaws of the fox will have to look

-around to see where his head is.  I will cut you to pieces, you rowdy

-set," continued Fru Marta, getting more and more excited.  "I will let

-them make mince-meat of you, and throw you to the----"

-

-Unhappily the brave commander was not allowed to finish her heroic

-speech.  One of the crowd had found a rotten turnip on the ground, and

-hurled it with such good aim at the white night-cap, which shone in the

-moonlight, that Fru Marta, struck right on the brow, was obliged to

-retreat, and for the first time in her life had her tongue silenced.  A

-huge laugh now spread through the crowd, and with it Fru Marta's

-supremacy was at an end.  The enemy battered still more arrogantly

-against the gate, the hinges bent, the boards gave way, and finally

-half of the gate fell in with a great crash, and the whole crowd rushed

-into the courtyard.

-

-Now one would say that Fru Marta would have to surrender.  But no, she

-quickly withdrew with all her force to the interior of the castle,

-barred the entrance, and placed her musketeers at the windows,

-threatening to shoot down the first comers.  Such determined courage

-ought to have succeeded, but the infuriated mob neither heard or saw.

-One of the front men, who had found a crowbar, began to batter the

-door...

-

-Then confusion and outcries arose in the rear of the crowd ... those in

-the middle turned round and saw through the broken gate, as far as one

-could discern in the moonlight, the whole way filled with heads and

-muskets.  It was as if an army had sprung from the earth in order to

-annihilate the besiegers.  Could it be the shades of all the dead

-champions of Korsholm, who had risen from their graves to avenge the

-violence offered against their old fortress?

-

-In order to explain the unexpected sight which now alarmed the crowd,

-one must remember that a large portion of the country people from the

-adjacent hamlets had flocked to the town to witness the departure of

-the recruits.  It should also be mentioned that the peasant king had

-remained all night in Vasa, probably in the secret expectation of

-hearing some news about Bertel from the crew of the "Maria Eleonora."

-The burning of the ale-house and the march of the intoxicated crowd

-towards Korsholm had set all Vasa in commotion, and when Meri arrived

-in breathless haste, imploring her father to rescue the imprisoned

-lady, she found everywhere willing ears.  The East Bothnian is soon

-ready for battle, and when the peasants learned the insults put upon

-old Bertila, their best man, the ancient animosity arose within them

-against the soldiers.  They forgot that many of their own sons and

-brothers were conscripts; they could not neglect such a fine chance to

-give the soldiers a thrashing, both in the name of humanity and loyalty

-to the crown.  They marched therefore, with Bertila at their head,

-about a hundred strong, to the rescue of the castle, and what in the

-moonlight appeared to be pikes and muskets, were mostly poles and

-rails, which had been hastily snatched up, the usual weapons employed

-in the battles of that region.

-

-As soon as the soldiers saw that they were attacked in the rear, they

-tried to conceal their alarm with loud shouts and cries.  Uncertain of

-the enemy's strength, some of them already wished to beat a dangerous

-retreat over the spiked fence; others imagined that they had to deal

-with an army of goblins, called up by the incantations of the foreign

-witch.  They were soon aroused from this delusion, however, by hearing

-the sounds of Malax Swedish, and Lillkyro Finnish, which could

-reasonably be thought to come from human and not spectral lips.  At the

-moment the outer enemy blocked the gate with his forces, a silence

-arose on both sides, during which one could hear two voices speaking,

-together: one from the castle window, and the other from the ramparts.

-

-"What did I tell you?" shrieked Fru Marta from the window; "didn't I

-tell you, drunkards and vagabonds, that you ought to think seven times

-before putting your noses between the wedges of the tree, and if the

-tail has once got into the fox-trap, there is nothing left but to bite

-it off.  A large mouth needs a broad back, and now hold yourself in

-readiness to pay the fiddler."

-

-With this outburst Fru Marta drew back; possibly from fear of another

-rotten turnip.

-

-The other voice was that of an old man, who, in powerful tones, cried

-to the soldiers:

-

-"Lay down your arms, and give up your leaders, then the rest may go in

-peace.  If not, there will be a dance, the like of which Korsholm has

-never seen, and we will see to it that the bows are well rosined."

-

-"May all the demons seize you, rascal peasant!" answered a voice from

-the courtyard, which clearly belonged to the jovial sergeant, Bengt

-Kristerson.  "If I had you down here I would,

-blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim, teach you to insult brave soldiers with

-offers of surrender.  Go ahead, boys; clear the gateway, and drive the

-crew back to their porridge kettles!"

-

-Fortunately none of the conscripts had muskets, which had not yet been

-distributed, and very few possessed swords.  Most of them had only

-extinguished brands, fragments of broken carriages, and faggots

-snatched from a wood-pile in the yard.  Thus armed, the warriors bore

-down upon the entrance.

-

-At the first onset the recruits were received with such vigorous blows,

-that numbers had broken heads.  Soon the press at the gate became so

-dense that no arm could be raised or blow dealt; those in front

-struggled furiously to extricate themselves, whilst the rest closed

-upon them and rendered all movement impossible.  Strong arms and broad

-shoulders exerted themselves fruitlessly to make a way through the

-crowd.  At last the pressure from within became so great, that the

-first ranks of the peasants were broken, and about half of the soldiers

-cleared a way towards the open plain outside the ramparts, whilst the

-remainder were again penned up in the courtyard.

-

-A regular battle began.  Poles, sticks, whips, and fists were used.

-Many a vigorous blow was delivered, which would have been much better

-bestowed on Isolani's Croats; many a fine exploit was performed, more

-in place on the German battlefields.  The soldiers were split in two

-parties by the gate, and although the most numerous, soon had the worst

-of it.  The youngest recruits took to flight, and ran towards the town;

-some were overpowered and badly beaten; others, including the old

-veterans, retired to the ramparts, and with backs to the wall defended

-themselves valiantly.

-

-Victory now seemed on the side of the peasants, when their opponents

-received new assistance.  The peasants at the gate, who on account of

-the struggle outside, forgot the enemy within, were surprised by the

-penned-up soldiers, who now rushed out to help their comrades.  The

-latter thus relieved, fell upon the peasants with redoubled ardour; the

-affray became more and more involved, and victory more and more

-uncertain; both parties had defeats to avenge, and the rage on both

-sides increased as their strength became equal.

-

-Over this scene of tumult, confusion, and wild conflict, the silvery

-August moon beamed like a heavenly eye.  All the inlets shone in the

-moonlight; and in the tree-tops and the moist grass glittered millions

-of dewdrops, like pearls on summer's green robe.  All nature seemed at

-peace; a gentle breeze from the west rippled the surface of the sea,

-and passed softly over the land; the monotonous roll of the surf upon

-the beach was heard in the distance, and the twinkling, silent stars

-looked down into the dark waters.  When the yard was empty, Fru Marta

-and her men ventured out again to behold the strife from the ramparts.

-The courageous old lady undoubtedly wished to join in some way in the

-contest, for she cried to the peasants in a loud voice:

-

-"That's right, boys, go ahead; let the sticks fly; many have danced to

-worse tunes!"

-

-And to the soldiers she screamed:

-

-"Good luck to you, my children; help yourselves to a little supper;

-Korsholm offers what it can give.  Be at ease; your witch is in good

-keeping; Korsholm has bolts and bars for you too, miscreants!"

-

-But as if a capricious destiny wished to convict the old lady of error

-and put her to the blush, a tall, dark female figure now appeared on

-the top of the ramparts, and was outlined against the clear night sky.

-

-Fru Marta's words froze on her lips from dismay, when she recognised

-the figure of her well-guarded prisoner.  How Lady Regina had got

-through locked doors and closed windows was an inexplicable problem,

-and for a moment she was infected by the common belief in the strange

-girl's alliance with the powers of darkness.  She renounced all idea of

-arresting the fugitive, and expected each moment to see large black

-wings grow out of her shoulders, that she might take flight like a

-monstrous raven, and soar aloft to the starry heavens.

-

-The reader, however, can easily discover a natural solution of the

-difficulty.  The din of the conflict and the cannon-shots had reached

-Regina's isolated chamber.  Every moment she expected her room to be

-invaded, and herself seized by executioners and dragged to a certain

-death; and so glorious did this martyrdom seem to her, that her

-impatience increased to the highest point.  Then an hour passed, and

-whilst the noise below continued, no footsteps approached her door.  At

-last the thought took possession of her fanatical soul that the Prince

-of Darkness envied her so grand a fate, and that the strife was

-fomented by him to ensure her a languishing life in captivity, without

-profit to herself or the Holy Faith.  Then she remembered the advice of

-the singing woman, to let herself down through the open window by means

-of sheets and shawls; she took a sudden resolve, and in a few minutes

-stood on the ramparts in full view of all the combatants.

-

-As soon as the latter saw the tall form in the moonlight, they were

-seized with the same superstitious dread which had just paralyzed Fru

-Marta's nimble tongue.  The conflict gradually subsided in the

-vicinity, and continued only at the most remote points; friend and foe

-were affected by a common horror, and near the ramparts rose a silence

-so profound, that one could hear in the distance the sea's low murmur

-on the pebbly beach.

-

-Lady Regina then spoke with a voice so strong and clear, that if her

-terribly imperfect Swedish had not stood in the way, she would have

-been understood by all those within hearing.

-

-"Ye children of Belial," she said in tones, trembling at first, but

-soon calm and composed, "ye people of the heretic faith, why do ye

-delay to take my life?  I am defenceless, without human protection,

-with the high heavens above me, and the earth and sea at my feet, and

-say to you: Your Luther was a false prophet; there is no salvation

-except in the orthodox Catholic Church.  Be converted, therefore, to

-the Holy Virgin and all the saints, acknowledge the Pope to be Christ's

-vicegerent, as he truly is, that you may avert St. George's sword from

-your heads, which is already raised to destroy you.  But you can kill

-me in order to seal the veracity of my faith; here I stand; why do you

-hesitate?  I am ready to die for my faith."

-

-It was Lady Regina's good fortune that her speech was not understood by

-the crowd, for so strong was the power of Lutheranism at this fanatical

-time, when nations and individuals sacrificed life and welfare for

-their creed, that all were filled with flaming zeal, and a blind hatred

-for the Pope and his followers--of which our crabbed but pithy old

-psalm-books bear witness to-day.  Had this crowd, whether peasants or

-soldiers, heard Regina extol the Pope, and declare Luther a false

-prophet, they would have certainly torn her to pieces in their rage.

-As it was, the young girl's meaning escaped them; they saw her bold

-bearing, and the respect which courage and misfortune together always

-inspire, did not fail to have its effect upon them; they now stood

-wavering, and at a loss what to think or do.

-

-Lady Regina again expected, in vain, to be dragged to death.  She

-descended from the rampart, and mingled with the irresolute crowd; they

-all saw that she was quite unprotected, and yet not a hand was put

-forth to seize her.

-

-"She is not honest flesh and blood; she is a shadow," said an old Worä

-peasant doubtingly.  "It seems to me that I see the moon shine right

-through her."

-

-"We will soon prove that," exclaimed a rough fellow from Ilmola, laying

-his coarse hand rather heavily on Regina's shoulder.

-

-It was a critical moment; the young girl turned round and looked her

-molester right in the face with such deep, shining eyes, that the

-latter seized with a strange feeling, immediately drew back, and stole

-away abashed.  Some of the nearest bystanders followed him.  None could

-understand the power of these dark eyes in the moonlight, but all felt

-their wondrous influence.  In a few moments the space near Regina was

-empty, and the strife had ceased.  A patrol, who now arrived, arrested

-the ringleaders.

-

-Not long, however, did the rivalry engendered by the Club War continue

-between the peasants and the soldiers; between the peaceful _plough_,

-Finland's pride, and the conquering sword, which at this time was drawn

-to subdue the Roman Emperor himself.

-

-Of Regina we need only say that she willingly allowed herself, yet with

-a sigh over the martyr's-crown she had missed, to be taken back to the

-dark, solitary prison-chamber.  But Bertila returned with his daughter

-to Storkyro; the old man with thoughts of coming greatness, the young

-woman with the memory of a past joy.  All this occurred during two days

-in the summer of 1632, thus, before King Gustaf Adolf's death.

-

-Days and months elapsed, and human destinies changed their forms, so

-that the swift word is obliged to check its flight, and remain silent

-awhile in expectation of the evenings which are to come.  For the

-surgeon's stories, like a child's joy or sorrow, lasted but a brief

-time--long enough for those who with friendship listened to them, and

-perhaps sufficiently long for the others.  But never was the thread of

-the story clipped in the middle of its course without both young and

-old anticipating more.  And the surgeon had to promise this.  He had so

-much still left to relate about the half-spun skein of two family

-histories, that next time it will probably be spun; longer--if not to

-the end, at least to the knot, which says that the skein has reached

-its right length.

-

-

-

-

-III.--FIRE AND WATER.

-

-Six weeks passed before the surgeon and his circle of listeners

-gathered again.  During that time an accident had happened to old Bäck.

-Most of us in this world possess hobbies, and old bachelors in

-particular.  Bäck had got it into his mind that he ought to have a

-certain comfort in his old age; he had in his garret a good-sized sack

-of feathers, which he increased in spring and autumn by bird-shooting.

-To what use these feathers were to be put no one knew; when he was

-asked about it, he said:

-

-"I will do like Possen at the 'Wiborg explosion'; if Finland is in

-need, I will go up some tower and shake my feathers into the air, then

-there will be as many soldiers as the sack has feathers."

-

-"You talk like a goose, my brother," replied Captain Svanholm, the

-postmaster.  "In our days one must have different stuff to make

-soldiers of.  By my soul, I think you consider us warriors like

-chickens!"

-

-"Yes," added the surgeon, when the captain was about to continue, "I

-know what you wish to say: exactly like Fieandt at Karstula."

-

-However, the fact was, that the surgeon had one fine April day gone to

-the sea-shore on a shooting expedition, with artificial decoy ducks.

-He was accompanied by an old one-eyed corporal called Ritsi (Finnish

-for Fritz), who had been a pedlar in his youth, and wandered over

-Germany with a pack on his back; but he brought home nothing except a

-change in his name.

-

-The ice still remained in patches, with gaps between; both the old men

-strolled along the edge, and discharged a shot every now and then; but

-it amounted to very little, as both of them had rather poor eyesight.

-It happened early one morning that Bäck thought he saw a pair of fine

-ducks at the further end of the ice, which could only be reached by

-making a long circuit.  He set off, and sure enough the ducks were

-there.  He crept as near as he dared, aimed, and fired ... the ducks'

-feathers were slightly agitated, but they did not stir from the spot.

-"Those creatures are pretty tough," thought Bäck; he reloaded, and

-fired again at thirty paces.  The same result followed.  Much

-astonished, Bäck went nearer, and discovered for the first time that he

-had been shooting at his own decoy ducks, which the wind had

-imperceptibly driven from the inner to the outer edge of the ice.

-

-The old gentleman now thought about returning; but this was easier said

-than done.  The wind had separated the ice on which _he_ stood, from

-the ice which held Ritsi, and the loose block was drifting out to sea.

-The two old friends looked sadly at each other; scarcely a dozen yards

-separated them, and yet the corporal could not assist his companion,

-for there was no boat.  Bäck was drifting slowly and steadily out to

-sea.

-

-"Good-bye, now, comrade," cried the surgeon, whilst still within

-hearing.  "Tell Svenonius and Svanholm that my will is locked up in the

-bureau-drawer to the right.  Tell them to have the bells rung for me

-next Sunday.  As for the funeral, you need not give yourself any

-trouble; I will attend to that myself."

-

-"God have mercy!" yelled the corporal, putting the wrong side of his

-jacket to his eyes, and returning to the shore slowly and tranquilly,

-as if nothing had happened.

-

-For the honour of the good town, it must be said, that the rest of the

-surgeon's friends were far from taking the matter like the corporal.

-The postmaster cursed and swore; the schoolmaster marched out at the

-head of his boys; and the old grandmother quietly sent off a couple of

-able-bodied pilots in their boats to cruise between the blocks of ice.

-The greatest excitement prevailed; confusion and running about

-everywhere; and those who made the most fuss accomplished the least.

-

-Two days passed without any trace of the surgeon; on the third the

-pilots came back from a fruitless search.  All gave the surgeon up for

-lost.  There was sincere mourning in the town for such an old

-institution as Bäck--everyone's friend, and everybody's confidant--he

-was one of the little town's house-spirits, without whom the community

-could not get on.  But what could be done?  When the third Sunday

-arrived, without any news of the unfortunate bird-hunter, the bells

-were rung for his soul, according to custom, and a fine eulogy composed

-by Svenonius, was read in the church, and the city magistrate appointed

-a day in the ensuing week for taking an inventory of his effects.

-

-I hope, however, that the reader, who has noticed the title of this

-veracious story, will not be alarmed.  In reality it would be very hard

-if the surgeon should be called away just now, when Regina sits

-imprisoned at Korsholm, under Fru Marta's stern control, and Bertel

-lies bleeding on the battlefield of Lützen.  And what would become of

-the gentle Meri, of the peasant king of Storkyro, and of so many other

-important personages in this narrative?  Patience! the surgeon had

-certainly gone through worse experiences in his day ... he had not been

-born for nothing on the same day as Napoleon!

-

-Everything was arranged to take the inventory.  Astonishing order

-prevailed in Bäck's garret; something unusual had happened there; the

-place was swept and cleaned.  All his things were set out: medicine

-chest dusted, stuffed birds placed in a row, the collection of eggs

-exposed to view.  The silver-headed Spanish cane stood in a corner; the

-old peruke hung with a melancholy look on its hook; the innermost

-mysteries of Bäck's bureau, the pale locks of hair from former days,

-were drawn forth to be valued in roubles and kopeks; probably not at

-high amounts.  An alderman, with an official air, had taken his place

-at the old oak table, where a large sheet of official paper now

-occupied the space usually reserved for the surgeon's carpenter's

-tools; a clerk was sharpening his pencil opposite the alderman, and the

-old grandmother as hostess, had presented herself with moist eyes to

-deliver up Bäck's property, as the old man had no relations.  One

-thing, however, was still unopened: it was the old seal-skin trunk

-under the surgeon's bed.  The official's eyes occasionally wandered

-there with a pious thought of the profit to be derived from the

-inheritance; but no one knew what the trunk contained, and who was the

-rightful and legal heir.

-

-It was time to begin.  Svanholm and Svenonius were called as

-appraisers.  The alderman coughed once or twice, assumed a judicial

-air, and then said:

-

-"Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the worthy magistrate that the

-deceased surgeon of the High Crown, Andreas Bäck, met his death on the

-ice whilst engaged in bird-shooting; and although not found in body, is

-in soul, rightfully and lawfully killed..."

-

-"I would most humbly beg to contradict that!" suddenly interrupted a

-voice from the door.

-

-The effect was truly marvellous.

-

-The magistrate lost both his wits and official bearing; he turned his

-eyes upwards, and his eloquent tongue for the first time refused its

-office.  The secretary sprang up like a rocket, and knocked over the

-learned Svenonius, who, being somewhat deaf, had not heard the cause of

-the sudden commotion.  The brave Svanholm was in a terrible plight; one

-could have sworn that not even at Karstula had he gone through such an

-ordeal.  He looked as white as a ghost, and tried in vain to compel his

-left foot to advance.  The old grandmother was the only one who showed

-self-possession; she put on her spectacles, went straight to the

-new-comer, and shook her ancient head dubiously, as if to say that it

-was very wrong of corpses to come to life again.

-

-But old Bäck--for who else could it be?--was not at all daunted.  His

-feelings had quite a different character.  When he beheld his dear old

-garret so altered, his precious effects on show, and the magistrate in

-full activity with what Bäck thought none of his business, he was

-seized, excusably enough, with righteous anger, and took the myrmidons

-of the law by the neck, one after the other, and threw them without

-ceremony from the room.  Then came the turn of brother Svenonius, who

-was not spared, and finally Svanholm, before he could utter a word,

-found himself rolling headlong down the stairs.  All this happened in

-the twinkling of an eye.  Only the grandmother remained.  When Bäck met

-her mild, reproachful glance, he was ashamed, and came to his senses.

-

-"Well, well," said he, "you must not take it ill, cousin; I shall teach

-brooms and dusters to disorder my room ... be so kind as to take a

-seat.  It would provoke a stone to see such actions.  See how these

-wretches have scrubbed my room and dusted my birds.  It is a positive

-crime!"

-

-"Dear cousin," said the grandmother, at once vexed and delighted, "I am

-the one to be blamed; we thought you must be drowned."

-

-"Drowned, indeed!" muttered the surgeon.  "I tell you, cousin, that

-poor powder isn't so easily got rid of.  It is true that I floated

-around on that miserable ice-floe for three whole days and nights.  It

-wasn't exactly a warm bed and spread table, but it served.  I shot a

-venturesome seal.  It was pretty oily, I assure you, but 'better that

-than nothing.'  I had a tinder-box and salt, too; so I made a fire of

-my game bag, and fried a steak.  On the fourth day I drifted to firm

-ice at West Bothnia, and marched ashore.  'Now it's time to go home,' I

-thought.  Said and done; I sold my gun and hired a team.  And I tell

-you what, cousin, they would have been spared from upsetting my room,

-and sticking their noses into my affairs, had not the Swedes quadrupled

-the rate, compared with old times.  My purse was empty before I came to

-Haparanda.  Then I thought, 'let the Medical College go to the dogs!'

-and began my old practice with the lancet and 'essentia dulcis,' as I

-went along; and all the old women--God bless you, I thought you were

-going to sneeze--and all the old women were amazed to see former times

-revived.  In this manner I was able to reach home--a little too late,

-but still in time to throw out my uninvited guests."

-

-The surgeon had great difficulty in pardoning his friends for their

-invasion of his peaceful kingdom.  Had they taken his treasures, or

-slandered his good name, he could have forgiven them, but to put his

-room in order was more than he could stand!  Little by little, however,

-the storm was allayed through the old grandmother's wise diplomacy; and

-so the day came when the reconciliation was celebrated with a third

-tale.  It is true that some plain people still looked upon the surgeon

-as a ghost; the magistrate doubted his right to live when he had been

-legally declared dead; the postmaster swore over his sore back, which

-still bore the marks of the meeting with brother Bäck; Svenonius sighed

-over a hole in his twenty-year-old black coat, which he had worn in

-honour of the solemn occasion.  But the old grandmother smiled as

-usual; Anne Sophie was friendly as ever; the little folks were as

-noisy; and--thus it happened that the sunshine scattered the morning

-mists, and the horizon was cleared for the captive Regina.

-

-* * * * *

-

-"My dear friends," began the surgeon, "it may puzzle you why I call

-this story 'Fire and Water.'  You understand _The King's Ring_, and how

-_The Sword and the Plough_ came into conflict.  Perhaps you think that

-I shall now treat you to natural history.  That would be well and good.

-But I entertain the opinion that in a story, humanity is the great

-thing.  If we look at pictures, we heartily admire a fruit or a game

-painting, but I believe figure-painting, with fine human forms, is

-nevertheless superior.  Therefore I do not intend to describe

-conflagrations and deluges, but have chosen my title from the fact that

-human temperaments correspond to the elements--some to fire, some to

-air, others to water and earth.  I intend to tell you about four

-persons: two of whom possessed a fiery nature, and two a watery.  All

-is not said that could be said, for most titles have the fault of only

-giving one aspect of many.  I thought of calling this part 'The Coat of

-Arms,' when I realised that it might also be called 'The Axe.'  I might

-have alarmed you with the terrible title of 'The Curse'; but when I

-came to think it over, I found that it could just as well be styled

-'The Blessing.'  Therefore you will have to be contented with the

-elements; I have now said all I wished, and I will leave you to guess

-the rest."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I.

-

-THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.

-

-The first thing to be borne in mind is, that the story of the Sword and

-the Plough happened before the Battle of Lützen.  On now going back to

-that combat, on the 6th of November, 1632, we may forget for a time

-that the "Sword and the Plough" ever existed, and imagine that we still

-stand by the great hero's dead body, as it lay embalmed in the village

-of Meuchen.

-

-It was a fine but terrible spectacle when the Pappenheimers charged the

-Finns on the east of the River Rippach.  These splendid cuirassiers

-rushed upon Stälhandske; the tired Finns and their horses reeled and

-gave way before this terrific onslaught.  But Stälhandske rallied them

-again, man to man, horse to horse; they fought to the death; and

-friends and foes were mixed together in one bleeding, confused mass.

-Here fell Pappenheim and his bravest men; half of the Finnish cavalry

-were trampled under the horses' hoofs, and yet the battle raged till

-nightfall.

-

-Bertel rode at Stalhandske's side, and here he encountered Pappenheim.

-The youth of twenty could not cope with this arm of steel; the brave

-general struck Bertel on the helmet with such tremendous force, that he

-reeled and became unconscious.  But in falling he mechanically grasped

-his horse by the mane, and the faithful Lapp galloped away, dragging

-his master with one foot in the stirrup.

-

-When Bertel opened his eyes he was in utter darkness.  He vaguely

-remembered the last incident of the combat, and Pappenheim's uplifted

-sword.  He thought he was now dead, and lay in his grave.  He then put

-his hand to his heart; it was beating: he bit his finger; it hurt him.

-He realised that he was still in existence, but how and where it was

-impossible to guess.  He reached out his hand and picked up some straw.

-He felt the damp ground under him, and the empty space above.  He tried

-to raise himself up, but his head was too heavy.  It still suffered

-from the blow of Pappenheim's sword.

-

-Then he heard a voice not far from him, half-complaining, half-mocking,

-saying in Swedish:

-

-"Saints and fiends!  Not a drop of wine!  Those rascally Wallachians

-have grabbed my flask; the miserable hen-thieves!  Hollo, Turk, or

-Jew--it is all one--here with a drop of wine!"

-

-"Is it you, Larsson?" said Bertel in a faint voice, for his tongue was

-also parched with a burning thirst.

-

-"What sort of a marmot is it whispering my name?" replied the voice in

-the darkness.  "Hurrah, boys, loose reins and a smart gallop!  Fire

-your pistols, fling them to the devil, and slash away with swords!

-Cleave their skulls; peel them like turnips!  Grind them to powder!

-The king has fallen ... Devils and heroism, what a king! ... to-day we

-bleed.  To-day we shall die, but first revenge.  That's the way, boys,

-hurrah ... pitch in, East Bothnians!"

-

-"Larsson," repeated Bertel; but his comrade did not heed him.  He

-continued in his delirium to lead his Finns to the combat.

-

-After a time a ray of the late autumn morning shone through the window

-of the miserable hut upon Bertel.  He could now distinguish the straw

-upon the bare ground, and two men asleep.

-

-Then the door opened, and a couple of uncouth, bearded men entered, and

-thrust roughly at the sleepers with the butts of their muskets.

-

-"_Raus!_" they cried in Low German; "it is the signal to start!"

-

-And outside the hut was heard the well-known trumpet-blast, which at

-that time was the usual signal for breaking up the camp.

-

-"May they spear me like a frog," said one of the men in a bad humour,

-"if I can guess what the reverend father wishes to do with these

-heretic dogs.  He should have given them a passport to the arch-fiend,

-their lord and master."

-

-"Fool!" replied the other; "do you not know that the heretic king's

-death is going to be celebrated with a great festival at Ingolstadt?

-The reverend father intends to hold a grand _auto-de-fé_ in honour of

-the happy event."

-

-The two sleepers now stood up half-awake, and Bertel could recognise by

-the faint morning light the little, thick-set Larsson and his own

-faithful Pekka.  But there was no opportunity for explanations.  All

-three were brought out, bound, and put into a cart, and then the long

-caravan, composed of wagons for the wounded and baggage, under the

-charge of the Croats, began slowly to move.

-

-Bertel knew that he and his companions were now prisoners of the

-Imperialists.  He soon recovered his memory, and learned from his

-countrymen in captivity how it all happened.  When the faithful Lapp

-felt the reins loose, he galloped with his unconscious master back to

-camp.  But this was being plundered by the wild Croats, and when they

-saw a Swedish officer dragged along half dead by his horse, they took

-him prisoner, in the hope of a good ransom.  Pekka, who would not

-forsake his master, was also taken prisoner.  Larsson, on the other

-hand, had, at the Pappenheimers' attack, charged too far amongst the

-enemy, and having received a sabre thrust in the shoulder, and a wound

-in the arm, was unable to extricate himself.  Who had triumphed Larsson

-did not know with certainty.

-

-It was now the third day after the battle; they had marched for a day

-and night in a southerly direction, and then stopped for a few hours in

-a deserted village.

-

-"Accursed crew!" exclaimed the little captain, whose jovial disposition

-did not abandon him under any circumstances; "if they had not stolen my

-flask, we might now drink Finland's health together.  But these Croats

-are thieves of the first water, compared with whom our gipsies at home

-are innocent angels.  I should like to hang a couple of hundred of them

-from the ramparts of Korsholm, as they hang petticoats on the walls of

-a Finnish garret."

-

-The march continued with brief halts for several days, not without

-great suffering and discomfort to the wounded, who, improperly

-bandaged, were prevented by their fetters from helping each other.  At

-the outset they travelled through a desolated country, where provisions

-were obtained with great difficulty, and whose population took to

-flight at the sight of the dreaded Croats.  But they soon arrived in

-richer parts, where the Catholic inhabitants assembled to curse the

-heretics, and exult over their king's fall.  The whole Catholic world

-shared this rejoicing.  It is stated that in Madrid brilliant

-performances took place, in which Gustave Adolf, another dragon, was

-conquered by Wallenstein as St. George.

-

-After seven days' wearisome journeying, the cart with the captive Finns

-drove late one evening over a clattering drawbridge, and stopped in a

-small courtyard.  The wounded prisoners were led out, and conducted up

-two crumbling flights of stairs into a turret room in the form of a

-semi-circle.  It seemed to Bertel as if he had seen this place before,

-but darkness and fatigue prevented him from making sure.  The stars

-shone through the grated windows, and the prisoners were revived with a

-cup of wine.  Larsson said with satisfaction:

-

-"I will bet anything that the thieves have stolen their wine from our

-cellars, while we lay in Würzburg, for better stuff I have never

-tasted!"

-

-"Würzburg!" said Bertel thoughtfully.  "Regina!" added he, almost

-unconsciously.

-

-"And the wine-cellar!" sighed Larsson, mocking him.  "I will tell you

-something.

-

-  'The greatest fool upon the earth

-  Is he that believes in a girl's worth.

-  When love comes, the little dear,

-  Marry instead the cup of good cheer.'

-

-

-"The black-eyed young Regina now sits and knits stockings at Korsholm.

-Yes, yes, Fru Marta is not one of the folks who sit and weep in the

-moonlight.  Since we last met I have had news from Vasa through the

-jolly sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.  He said he had fought with your

-father.  You had better believe that the old man is a trump; he carried

-Bengt out at arm's-length and threw him down the steps there at your

-home in Storkyro.  Bengt cursed and swore, declaring that he would put

-the old man and twelve of his hands into the windmill at once, and

-grind them to groats; but Meri begged for them.  Smart fellow, Bengt

-Kristerson! fights like a dragon, and lies like a skipper.  Your

-health!"

-

-"What else did you hear from East Bothnia?" inquired Bertel, who with

-the bashfulness of youth, blushed at the thought of revealing to his

-prosaic friend the secret of his heart--his love for the dark-eyed and

-unhappy Lady Regina von Emmeritz.

-

-"Not much, except the bad harvests, immense drain caused by the war,

-and heavy conscriptions.  The old men on the farm, your father and

-mine, quarrel as usual, and make it up again.  Meri pines for you and

-sings doleful songs.  Do you remember that splendid girl, Katri? round

-as a turnip, red as mountain-ash berries, and soft about the chin as a

-lump of butter.  She has run away with a soldier.  Your health, my boy!"

-

-"Nothing more?" said Bertel abstractedly.

-

-"Nothing more!  What the devil do you want to know, when you don't care

-for the prettiest girl in the whole of Storkyro.  'Yes, _noch etivas_,'

-says the German.  There has been a great affray at Korsholm.  The

-conscripts got it into their heads that Lady Regina had tried to kill

-the king with 'witch-shots,' and then they stormed Korsholm, and burned

-the girl alive.  Cursedly jolly! here's to the heretics!  We also know

-the art of holding _autos-da-fé_."

-

-Bertel started up, forgetting his wounds; but pain mastered him.

-Without a cry he sank fainting into Larsson's arms.

-

-The honest captain was both troubled and angry.  While he bathed

-Bertel's temples with the remainder of the noble fluid in the tankard,

-and presently brought him to life once more, he gave vent to his

-feelings in the following manner, crescendo from piano to forte.

-

-"There, there, Bertel ... what next?  What the deuce, boy?  Are you in

-love with the girl?  Faint like a lady's maid!  Courage! did I say that

-they had burned her?  No, my lad, she was only a little scorched,

-according to what Bengt Kristerson says, and afterwards she tore Fru

-Marta's eyes out, and climbed like a squirrel to the top of the castle.

-Such things happen every day in war ... Well, I declare, you have got

-both your eyes open at last.  You are still alive, you milk-baked wheat

-loaf ... are you not ashamed to behave like a poltroon?  You are a

-pretty soldier!  blitz-donnerwetter-kreutz-Pappenheim, you are a pomade

-pot!  D--n it, now the tankard is empty also!"

-

-The stout little warrior would perhaps have continued to vent his bad

-humour for some time longer, especially as there was no consolation now

-left in the cup, had not the door opened, and a female figure then

-stepped over the threshold.  At this sight the captain's pale and

-fluffy face brightened up.  Bertel was laid aside, and Larsson leaned

-eagerly forward, in order to see better, for the light of the single

-lamp was very faint.  But the result of his observation did not seem

-very satisfactory.

-

-"A nun!  Ah, by Heaven ... to convert us!"

-

-"Peace be with you," said a youthful voice from underneath the veil.

-"I am sent here by the worthy prioress of the cloister of 'Our Lady' to

-bind your wounds, and heal them, if it is the will of the saints."

-

-"Upon my honour, charming friend, I am much obliged; let us become

-better acquainted," said the captain, as he stretched out his hand to

-lift the nun's veil.  In a flash the latter retreated, and two soldiers

-appeared at the door.

-

-"The devil!" exclaimed Larsson, startled, "What proud nuns they have

-here!  When I was at Würzburg, I used to get a dozen kisses a day from

-the young sisters at the convent; such sins always obtain absolution.

-Well," he continued, seeing the nun still hesitating at the door, "your

-venerableness must not take offence at a soldier's freedom of speech;

-an honest soldier is a born gallant.  Although an unbelieving heretic,

-I can talk Latin like a monk.  When we stayed at Munich I was very

-intimate with a plump Bavarian nun, twenty-seven years old, with brown

-eyes and a Roman nose."

-

-"Hold your tongue!" impatiently whispered Bertel, "you will drive the

-nun away."

-

-"I haven't said a word.  Walk in; don't be frightened.  I will bet it

-is a long time since you saw twenty-seven.  _Posito_, says the

-Frenchman, that your venerableness is an old woman."

-

-The nun returned in silence, with two others, and examined Bertel's

-wounded head.  A delicate white hand drew out some scissors and cut his

-hair off on each side of the wound.  In a short time Bertel's wound was

-dressed by an experienced hand.  Bertel, touched by this compassion,

-kissed the nun's hand.

-

-"Upon my honour, charming matron," cried the voluble captain, "I am

-jealous of my friend, who is fifteen years younger than I.  Deign to

-stretch out your gentle hand and plaster this brave arm, which has

-conquered so many pious sisters' pity..."

-

-The silent nun began to undo the bandages which covered Larsson's

-wounds.  Her hand touched his.

-

-"_Potz donnerwetter!_" burst out the captain in surprise.  "What a fine

-and soft little hand!  I beg your pardon, amiable Fru doctoress; _ex

-ungua leonem_, says one of the fathers of the church ... that is to say

-in good Swedish: by the paw one knows the lion.  I will wager ten

-bottles of old Rhine against a cast-off stirrup, that this little white

-hand would much rather caress a knight's cheek than finger rosaries

-night and day."

-

-The nun drew her hand away.  The gallant captain feared the

-consequences of his gallantry.

-

-"I will say no more; I am silent as a _karthäuser_ monk.  But I will

-say that this hand is not an old woman's ... well, well, your lovely

-venerableness hears that I keep silent."

-

-"_Tempus est consummatum, itur in missam_," said a solemn voice at the

-door, and the nun hastened her task.  In a few moments the prisoners

-were again alone.

-

-"I have heard that voice before," said Bertel thoughtfully.  "We are

-surrounded by mysteries."

-

-"Bah!" replied the captain, "it was a mangy and jealous monk.  Bless

-me, what a dear little hand!"

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II.

-

-TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES.

-

-When the autumn sun on the following morning spread its first rays into

-the turret room, Bertel arose and looked out of the iron-barred window.

-It was a beautiful view that here met his eye.  Underneath the turret

-wound a lovely river, and on the other side of it lay a town with

-thirty spires, and beyond were seen a number of still verdant vineyards.

-

-Bertel at once recognised Würzburg.  The castle of Marienburg, where

-the prisoners were confined, had at the retreat of the Swedes fallen

-back into the bishop's hands; but his grace, on account of the

-insecurity of the times, did not return there himself, but remained in

-Vienna.  The castle had suffered much, from the last conquest, and the

-consequent plundering; one tower had been destroyed, and the moat was

-filled up in several places.  At present there were only fifty men in

-the garrison, guarding the sisters of charity from the cloisters in the

-town, and many sick and wounded.

-

-When Bertel had carefully examined his prison, he thought he recognised

-Regina's room, the same in which that beautiful young lady with her

-maids in waiting had watched the battle, and where the image of the

-Holy Virgin had been broken into fragments by the splinters from the

-cannon-shot.*

-

-

-* The surgeon forgets that this room was totally destroyed.--Author.

-

-

-"Here," thought the dreaming young man, "she slept the last night

-before the storm."

-

-For Bertel this room was sacred; when he pressed his lips against the

-cold walls, he thought he kissed the marks of Regina's tears.

-

-A wonderful thought struck him like lightning.  If the nun that visited

-them yesterday was a princess ... if the white hand belonged to Regina!

-It would be a miracle, but ... love believes in miracles.  Bertel's

-heart beat fast.

-

-His neglected wounds had greatly improved under the gentle hands of his

-nurse.  He now felt much stronger.  His unfortunate comrades were still

-asleep after their terrible journey.  Then the door was quietly opened,

-and the nun softly entered with a drink for the wounded prisoners.

-Bertel felt his head swim.  Overcome by his violent emotions, he fell

-on his knees before her.

-

-"Your name, you kind angel, who remembers the prisoners!" he cried.

-"Tell me your name, let me see your face ... Ah!  I should have known

-you amongst thousands ... you are Regina, yourself!"

-

-"You make a mistake," said the same kind voice that Bertel had heard

-the day before.  It was not Regina's voice, and still he knew the

-tones.  To whom then did it belong?

-

-Bertel rushed forward and pulled the veil from the nun's head.  In

-front of him stood the beautiful mild Ketchen with a smiling face.  The

-surprised Bertel drew back.

-

-"Imprudent one," she said, covering her face with her hands.  "I wished

-to have you in my care, but now you make me leave the place to another."

-

-Ketchen disappeared.  On the evening of the same day another nun

-entered the room.

-

-Larsson addressed a long speech to her, and put her hand to his lips,

-and impressed on it a loud kiss.  He then swore fearfully.

-

-"Millions of devils!" he said, "that I should kiss an old shrivelled

-hand like that.  The skin was like a century-old parchment."

-

-"Verily, my dear Bertel," continued the chagrined captain with

-philosophical resignation, "there are secrets in nature which will for

-ever remain concealed from human sagacity.  This hand, for

-example--_manus mana, manum_--hand, as the old Roman used to say: this

-hand, my friend, would undoubtedly occupy a shining place in the Greek

-poet Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' which we formerly studied in the Cathedral

-School at Abo, the time my father wanted to make me a priest.

-Yesterday I could have sworn that it was the beautiful white hand of a

-young girl, and to-day I will be shaved as bare as a monk it it was not

-a hand that belongs to a seventy-year-old washerwoman.  _Sic unde ubi

-apud unquam post_, as the ancients used to say.  That is, so can a

-pretty girl be changed into a witch before anyone knows it."

-

-The prisoners' wounds healed rapidly under the care of the nuns.  The

-fierce autumn storms whistled around the castle turrets, and the heavy

-rain beat against the small panes.  The verdure of the vineyards faded,

-and a thick, heavy mist rose from the Main, and obscured the view of

-the town.

-

-"I cannot stand it any longer," growled Larsson.  "The wretches! they

-do not give us either wine or dice.  And forgive me, Saint, the devil

-may kiss their hands or lips, not I.  No.  I have a great respect for

-old women.  I cannot stand this.  I will jump out of the window."

-

-"Do it," said Bertel, provoked.

-

-"No, I will not jump out of the window," said the captain.  "No, my

-dear friend--_micus ameus_, as we learned people used to express

-ourselves--I will instead honour our companion with a game."

-

-And the inventive captain for the thirtieth time summoned Pekka to a

-game of pitch and toss.  This uninteresting game, which was his only

-diversion, was played with a Carl IX. six-öre piece.

-

-"Tell me what they are building over there on the square of Würzburg,

-just opposite the bank of the Main?" said Bertel.

-

-"An ale-house," said Larsson.  "Crown!"

-

-"It looks to me like a pyre."

-

-"Tail!" repeated Larsson monotonously.  "Dash it, what ill luck I have;

-this damned Limingo peasant will win my horse, my saddle, and my

-stirrups."

-

-"The first morning after we were taken prisoners, I heard something

-about an _auto-de-fé_, to celebrate the battle of Lützen.  What do you

-think of it?"

-

-"I?  What should I care; they might burn a dozen witches for our

-amusement."

-

-"But if we are concerned in it?  If they are waiting for the bishop's

-arrival?"

-

-Larsson dilated his small grey eyes, and took hold of his goatee.

-

-"Blitz-donner-kreutz ... the wretched Jesuits!  They would cook us like

-turnips ... we ... the conquerors of the Holy Roman Empire ... I mean,

-my friend Bertel, that in such desperate straits, an honest soldier

-would not be to blame if he tried to escape in silence--for example,

-through the window..."

-

-"There is a fall of seventy feet to the Main underneath."

-

-"The door," said the thoughtful captain.

-

-"Is guarded night and day by two armed men."

-

-The captain fell into some melancholy reflections.  Time passed on; it

-was evening; it became night.  The nun with their suppers did not

-appear.

-

-"The festival begins with a fast," muttered the captain in a gloomy

-tone.  "I am shaped like a fish, if I do not wring the head off our

-neglectful nun as soon as she appears."

-

-At this moment the door opened, and the nun entered alone.  Larsson

-exchanged a glance with his companions, suddenly approached the nun,

-caught her round the neck, and held her against the wall.

-

-"Be still, like a good child, highly honoured abbess," mockingly said

-the captain; "if you make a sound you are lost.  By right I ought to

-throw you out of the window and let you have a swim in the Main, to

-teach you _punctum preciosum_, that is, a precise punctuality in your

-attendance.  But I will give you grace for this night.  Tell me, you

-most miserable of meal bringers, what is the meaning of that fire which

-they are preparing on the square; who is going to be roasted there?"

-

-"For the sake of all the saints, speak low," whispered the nun.  "I am

-Ketchen, and have come to save you.  A great danger threatens you.

-To-morrow the bishop is expected, and Father Hieronymus, the implacable

-enemy of all the Finns, has sworn to burn you alive for the glory of

-the saints."

-

-"My fine little soft hand!" cried Larsson delighted.  "Upon my honour,

-I am a fool not to recognise it at once.  Well, my beautiful friend,

-for the glory or St. Brita I will take a kiss on the spot..."

-

-The captain kept his word.  But Ketchen freed herself, and said quickly:

-

-"If you do not behave yourself, young man, you will afford fuel for the

-flames.  Hurry! bind me to the bedpost, and tie a handkerchief over my

-mouth.

-

-"Bind you..." replied the captain; "explain yourself."

-

-"Make haste! the guard are drunk and asleep, but in twenty minutes they

-will be inspected by the pater himself.  Seize their cloaks and hurry

-to get out.  The passwords are Petrus and Paulus."

-

-"And yourself?" said the captain.

-

-"They will find me bound.  I have been overpowered, and my mouth

-stopped."

-

-"Noble girl!  The crown of all Franconia's sisters of charity; had I

-not sworn never to marry....  Very well, hasten, Bertel! hurry, Pekka,

-you lazy dog!  Farewell, little rogue! another kiss ... Good-bye!"

-

-The three prisoners hastened out.  But scarcely were they outside the

-door when they were seized by iron fists, thrown down, and bound.

-

-"Take the dogs down into the treasury," said a well-known voice.  It

-was Father Hieronymus.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III.

-

-THE TREASURY.

-

-Bound hand and foot, the prisoners soon found themselves in the deep,

-dark, damp vault, blasted out of the rock, where the Bishop of Würzburg

-had kept his treasures before the Swedes delivered him from the

-trouble.  No ray of light penetrated the gloom, and the moisture from

-the rocks trickled through the crevices and dropped steadily on the

-ground.

-

-"Lightning and Croats! may all the devils take you, cursed earless

-monk!" bawled the captain, as soon as he felt firm ground beneath him.

-"To shut up officers of his Royal Highness and the Crown in this

-rat-trap.  _Diabolus infernalis multum plus plurimum!_ ... Are you

-alive, Bertel?"

-

-"Yes.  In order to be burned living to-morrow."

-

-"Do you believe that, Bertel?" asked the captain in a lugubrious tone.

-

-"I know this treasury.  On three sides is the solid rock, on the other

-a door of iron, and the man who guards us here is harder than either

-rock or metal.  We shall never see Finland again!  Never shall I see

-_her_ more..."

-

-"Listen to me, Bertel; you are a smart chap, but that does not prevent

-you from talking like a milksop occasionally.  You are in love with the

-black-eyed lady; well, well, I will say nothing about that; love is a

-bandit, as Ovidius so truly says.  But I cannot stand whimpering.  If

-we live, there are other girls to kiss; if we die, then good-bye to

-them all.  So you really fancy that they intend to roast us like picked

-woodcocks?"

-

-"That entirely depends upon you yourselves," answered a voice in the

-darkness.  All three prisoners started from fright.

-

-"The evil one is here in the midst of us!" exclaimed Larsson.

-

-Pekka began to say his prayers.  Then a clear ray from a dark lantern

-shot through the darkness, and they all saw the Jesuit Hieronymus

-standing alone near them.

-

-"It depends upon you," he repeated.  "To escape is impossible.  Your

-king is dead; your army defeated; the whole world acknowledges the

-power of the Church and the Emperor.  The pile is ready, and your

-bodies shall burn in honour of the saints.  But the holy Church in its

-clemency wishes to save you, and has sent me here to offer you mercy."

-

-"Indeed!" exclaimed Larsson mockingly.  "Come, worthy father, loosen my

-bonds and let me embrace you.  I offer you my friendship, and of course

-you believe me.  How, says Seneca, _homo homini lupus_, we wolves are

-all brothers."

-

-"I offer you mercy," continued the Jesuit coldly, "on _three_

-conditions, which you will certainly accept.  The first is, that you

-abjure your heretic faith and publicly join the only saving Church."

-

-"Never!" exclaimed Bertel hastily.

-

-"Be quiet!" said the captain.  "Well, _posito_ that we abjure the

-Lutheran faith?"

-

-"Then," continued the Jesuit, "as prisoners of war you shall be

-exchanged for the high-born Lady and Princess Regina von Emmeritz, whom

-your king tyrannically sent a prisoner to the north."

-

-"It shall be done!" answered Bertel eagerly.

-

-"Be still!" cried Larsson.  "Well, go on; _posito_ that we accomplish

-the lady's deliverance?"

-

-"Only a trifle remains.  I demand of Lieutenant Bertel King Gustaf

-Adolf's ring."

-

-"Your money or your life, like a highwayman!" said Larsson derisively.

-

-"You ask for that which I do not possess," answered Bertel.

-

-The Jesuit gave him a suspicious glance.

-

-"The king ordered Duke Bernhard to give you the ring, and you must have

-received it."

-

-"All this is quite unknown to me," said Bertel with truth, but

-surprised and delighted at this unexpected news.

-

-The Jesuit resumed his smiling composure.

-

-"If that is how it stands, my dear sons," said he, "let us talk no more

-about the ring.  As far as your conversion to the true believing Church

-is concerned..."

-

-Bertel was just about to answer, but was interrupted by the captain,

-who, a moment before, had made a movement with the upper part of his

-body, which the light did not reach.

-

-"Yes, as far as that matter is concerned," Larsson hastened to add;

-"you know, reverend father, that there are two sides to it: _questio

-an_ and _questio quomodo_.  Now to speak of _questio an_ first, my

-sainted rector, Vincentius Flachsenius, used to say, always place

-_negare_ as _prima regula juris_.  Your reverence undoubtedly finds it

-unexpected and agreeable to hear a royal captain talk Latin like a

-cardinal.  Your reverence should know that we, in Abo Cathedral School,

-studied Ciceronem, Senecam, and Ovidium, also called Naso; for my part

-I have always considered Cicero a great talker, and Seneca a blockhead;

-but as for Ovid ..."

-

-The Jesuit moved towards the door, and said dryly,

-

-"Then you choose the stake?"

-

-"Rather than the disgrace of an apostasy!" exclaimed Bertel, who had

-not noticed Larsson's hints and motions.

-

-"My friend," the captain hastily added, "thinks very sensibly and

-naturally that the worst part of the matter is the public scandal.

-Thus, worthy father, let us confer about _questio quomodo_.  _Posito_

-that we become good Catholics, and enter the Emperor's service ... but

-deign to come a little closer; my friend Bertel is rather hard of

-hearing ever since he had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of

-the mighty Pappenheim."

-

-The Jesuit cautiously advanced a little nearer, after convincing

-himself with a glance that retreat stood open.

-

-"It is I who decide the conditions," said he haughtily.  "Yes or no?"

-

-"Yes, yes, of course," replied Larsson quickly, as he continued to rub

-himself.  "Consequently we are on sound grounds both with _questio an_

-and _questio quomodo_.  Your reverence possesses a persuasive tongue.

-We will now come to _questio ubi_ and _questio quando_, for according

-to _logicam_ and _meta-physicam_ ... Pardon me, worthy father, I don't

-say a word, I consent to it all.  But," continued the captain, as he

-lowered his voice, "deign to cast a glance at my friend Bertel's right

-forefinger.  I can tell your reverence my friend is a great rogue; I am

-very much mistaken if he has not got the king's ring on at this moment."

-

-The Jesuit, carried away by his curiosity, came a few steps nearer.

-Swift as an eel Larsson rolled himself to the door, for he was unable

-to rise on account of his bonds; and when the monk wished to retreat,

-the captain, who had cut through the ligatures which held his right

-arm, against a sharp stone, suddenly seized the Jesuit's legs and threw

-him down.  Father Hieronymus made desperate efforts to free himself

-from the captain's grasp; the lantern was broken into fragments, the

-light extinguished, and a thick darkness enveloped the wrestlers.

-Bertel and Pekka, both unable to get up and assist, rolled themselves

-at random towards the spot, but without reaching it.  Then the brave

-captain felt a sharp sensation in his shoulder, and directly afterwards

-a warm stream of blood.  With a mighty oath he wrenched the dagger from

-his enemy's hand, and returned the stab.  The Jesuit now begged for

-mercy.

-

-"With the greatest pleasure, my son," answered the sarcastic captain.

-"But only on three conditions: the first, that you renounce Loyola,

-your lord and master, and declare him to be an emissary of the devil.

-Do you agree to it?"

-

-"I agree to everything," murmured the pater.

-

-"The second: that you start off and hang yourself to the first hook you

-find in the ceiling."

-

-"Yes, yes, only let me go."

-

-"The third: that you travel to Beelzebub, your patron," ... and with

-these words Larsson flung his enemy violently against the rocky wall,

-after which there was a dead silence.

-

-The dagger was now used to quickly sever the prisoners' bonds, and then

-it only remained to find the door.

-

-When the three fugitives, after having secured the treasury door from

-the outside, reached the dark and narrow stairway, which led to the

-upper portion of the castle, they stayed a moment to consult together.

-Their situation even now was not enviable, for they knew of old that

-the stairs led to the bishop's former bed-chamber, from whence two or

-three rooms had to be crossed before they came to the large armoury,

-and through that to the courtyard, after which they still had to pass

-the closed drawbridge and the guard.  All the rooms, except the

-bed-chamber, which the Jesuit himself had taken possession of, had, two

-hours before, when the prisoners were carried down, been filled partly

-with soldiers, and partly with the sick and their nurses.

-

-"One thing grieves me," whispered Larsson, "and that is, that I did not

-draw the fur off the fox when I held him by the ears.  In the garments

-of piety I could have gone scot-free through purgatory like another

-_Saulus inter prophetas_.  But as it is, my friend Bertel, I ask, in my

-simplicity, how shall we get away from here?"

-

-"We will cut our way out.  The garrison are asleep; the darkness of the

-night favours us."

-

-"I confess, my friend, that if anybody, even I, Larsson himself, should

-call you a poltroon, I would call that fellow a liar.  It is true that

-you once as good as _solo_, alone, _alienus_, all by yourself, took

-this fortress; but you had then at least a sword in your hand, and a

-few thousands of brave boys in the rear.  Hush!  I heard a step on the

-stairs ... no, it was nothing.  Let us push on cautiously.  Here it

-will serve us to tread gingerly, like maidens; the heavy peasant's

-boots sound as if we were a squadron of cavalry."

-

-The fugitives had ascended about thirty or forty steps, and yet there

-seemed more, until a faint ray of light glimmered at the top in the

-passage.  They then came to a door; it stood ajar.  They stopped, and

-held their breath; not a sound could be heard.  The brave captain now

-ventured to put in his head, then his foot, and finally his whole stout

-person.

-

-"We are on the right track," he whispered; "boots off, the whole

-company must march in their stockinged feet--_posito_ that the company

-has stockings.  March!"

-

-The bishop's bed-chamber, into which the three now entered on tip-toe,

-was a large and magnificent room.  A flickering lamp faintly illumined

-the precious gobelin tapestry, the gilded images of the saints, and the

-ebony bedstead, inlaid with pearls, where the wealthy prelate used to

-fall asleep, with his goblet of Rhenish wine beside him.  No living

-creature was visible, but from one of the windows which overlooked the

-courtyard they could see the castle chapel opposite, brilliantly

-lighted and filled with people.  Even the courtyard was occupied by a

-crowd, visible owing to the reflection from the windows, and many of

-whom carried lighted candles.

-

-"I will let them salt and pickle me like a cucumber if I understand

-what all these people are doing here in the dead of night," muttered

-the enraged captain.  "You will find that they have assembled here to

-see three honest Finnish soldiers roasted by a slow fire like Aland

-herrings."

-

-"We must look for weapons, and die like men," said Bertel, as he

-glanced through the room.

-

-"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, "here are three swords, just what we require."

-

-"And three daggers," added Larsson, who, in a large niche behind the

-image of a saint, found a little arsenal of all kinds of weapons.  "The

-worthy fathers have a certain weakness for daggers, as the East

-Bothnians for 'punkkons,' or peasants' knives."

-

-"I think," joined in the taciturn Pekka, as he caught sight of a

-good-sized flask in a corner, "that to-night being Xmas eve..."

-

-"Brave boy!" interrupted the captain, inspired also by this sight, "you

-have a wonderfully keen scent where good liquor is concerned.  Pious

-Jesuit, you have, anyhow, accomplished some good in the world!  Xmas

-eve, did you say?  Stupid, why didn't you tell us at once?  It is clear

-as the day, that half of Würzburg is streaming to the chapel to hear

-Father Hieronymus say mass.  'Pon my honour, I fear that he will keep

-them waiting for some time, the good pater.  Here goes, my friend, I

-will drink to you; an officer ought to always set his troops a good

-example.  Your health, my boys ... damnation ... the miserable monk has

-basely cheated us.  I have swallowed poison.  I am a dead man!"  And

-the honest captain turned pale as a corpse.

-

-Both Bertel and Pekka had hard work to restrain their laughter,

-notwithstanding their critical position, when they saw Larsson at once

-white from fright and black from the fluid he had drank and spat out

-again.

-

-"Be more careful another time," said Bertel, "and you will avoid

-drinking ink."

-

-"Ink!  I might have known that the earless scrawler would be up to some

-devilry.  Two things trouble me to-night more than all the

-_autos-da-fé_: that the sweet Ketchen, with the soft hands, deceived

-us, and that I have swallowed the most useless stuff in the world--ink,

-bah!"*

-

-

-* Here Captain Svanholm trod on Cousin Svenonius' toes, and the latter

-thoughtfully took a pinch of snuff.

-

-

-"If we had nothing else to do I could show you something that ink has

-done," rejoined Bertel, as he hastily turned over a pile of papers on

-the writing-table.  "Here is a letter from the archbishop ... he is

-coming to-morrow ... we are to be solemnly burned ... they will tempt

-us to abjure our faith, and promise us grace ... but burn us,

-nevertheless!  Infamous!"

-

-"Roman!" observed the captain phlegmatically.

-

-In the meantime Larsson had drawn out three monks' cloaks and hoods;

-they put them on, and now ventured to proceed farther on their

-dangerous enterprise.

-

-The next two rooms were empty.  Two common beds indicated that some

-menial monks had here their abode, and were now gone to mass.

-

-"Bravo," whispered Larsson, "they will take us for sheep in wolves'

-clothing, and believe that we are also going to attend mass.  Hist!

-didn't you hear something?  A woman's voice.  Be still!"

-

-They stopped, and heard in the darkness a young female's voice, praying:

-

-"Holy Virgin, forgive me this time, and save me from death; I will

-to-morrow take the veil, and serve you for ever."

-

-"It is Ketchen's voice," said the captain.  "She may be innocent, poor

-child!  Upon my honour, it would be base of a cavalier not to deliver a

-sweet girl with such a soft hand."

-

-"Let us be off!" whispered Bertel in vexation.  But the captain had

-already discovered a little door, bolted on the outside; inside was a

-cell, and in the cell a trembling girl.  Her eyes, used to the

-darkness, saw the monk's garb, and she threw herself at the captain's

-feet, exclaiming,

-

-"Grace, my father, grace!  I will confess all; I have favoured the

-prisoners' flight; I have given wine to the guard.  But spare my life,

-have mercy upon me, I am so young.  I do not wish to die."

-

-"Who the devil has said that you are to die, my brave girl?"

-interrupted the captain's voice.  "No, you shall live, with your soft

-hand, and your warm lips, as true as I'm not a Jesuit, but Lars

-Larsson, captain in his Royal Majesty's and the Crown's service, and

-herewith take you ... as my wedded wife, for better or for worse,"

-continued the captain, no doubt because he thought that the well-known

-formula ought to be said to an end when he had once begun it.

-

-"Away, away, with or without the girl, but away; they are coming, and

-we still have to pass the large armoury!"

-

-"Allow me to tell you, my friend Bertel, that you are the greatest

-fidget I know, _maximus fiescus_, as the ancients so truly expressed

-themselves.  How is it, my girl, you are not a nun ... only a novice?

-Well, it makes no difference to me.  You shall be my wedded wife ... in

-case I ever marry.  Here is a cloak; there now, straighten yourself up

-and look bold."

-

-"It is no cloak, it is a mass-robe," whispered Ketchen, who had

-scarcely time to recover from her amazement.

-

-"The deuce, a mass-robe!  Wait, you take my cloak, and I will take the

-robe.  I shall chant in their ears _dies irae_, so that all will be

-astonished."

-

-The sound of several voices in the armoury outside interrupted the

-captain in his priestly speculations.

-

-"They have missed the Jesuit, they are looking for him, and we are lost

-through your silly jabbering," whispered the exasperated Bertel.  "We

-must be careful now not to betray ourselves.  Come along, all of you."

-

-"And Latin first!" exclaimed the captain.

-

-All four went out.  In the armoury there were about thirty sick beds,

-but only two sisters in attendance.  This sight was reassuring, but

-much more dangerous was the meeting with two monks, who were in violent

-altercation in the doorway.  When they saw Larsson in the mass-robe,

-and three figures behind him in hooded cloaks, the pious fathers were

-evidently startled.  The captain raised his arm to bless them, uttered

-a solemn _pax vobiscum_, and was then going to steal by with a grave

-step, when he was checked by the foremost monk.

-

-"Worthy father," said the latter, as he surveyed the unknown prelate

-from head to foot, "what procures our castle the honour at so unusual a

-time...?"

-

-"_Pax vobiscum!_" repeated the captain devoutly.  "The pious Father

-Hieronymus orders you to say mass with all your might ... his reverence

-is sick ... he has toothache."

-

-"Let us go and wait upon him," said one of the monks, entering the

-smaller room.  But the other seized Larsson by the robe, and regarded

-him in a way which much alarmed the brave captain.

-

-"_Quis vus et quid eltis!_" said the captain in a regular dilemma.

-"_Qui quoe quod, meus tuus suus_ ... go to the devil, you bald-headed

-baboons!" roared Larsson, unable to restrain himself any longer, and

-pushing the obstinate monk into the chamber he bolted the door.  Then

-all four hastened at full speed down to the courtyard.  The alarm was

-immediately given behind them; the monks shouting at the top of their

-voices, and the nuns joining in, until the crowd of people who thronged

-the courtyard began to listen.

-

-"We are lost!" whispered Ketchen, "if we do not reach the drawbridge by

-the back way."

-

-They hurried there ... the tumult increased ... they passed the guard

-at the large sally-port.

-

-"Halt! who's there?"

-

-"Petrus and Paulus," promptly answered Bertel.  They were allowed to

-pass.  Fortunately the drawbridge was down.  But the whole castle was

-now alarmed.

-

-"We will jump into the river, the night is dark, they will not see us!"

-cried Bertel.

-

-"No," said Larsson, "I will not leave my girl, even if it should cost

-me my head."

-

-"Here stand three saddled horses, be quick and mount."

-

-"Up, you sweetest of all the nuns in Franconia, up in the saddle!" and

-the captain hastily swung the trembling Ketchen before him on the

-horse's back.  They all galloped away into the darkness.  But behind

-them raged tumult and uproar, the alarm bells sounding in all the

-turrets, and the whole of Würzburg wondering greatly what could have

-happened on Xmas eve itself.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV.

-

-DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL.

-

-Three months after the events related in the preceding chapter we find

-Lieutenant Bertel one day in one of the rooms at the martial court,

-which Duke Bernhard of Weimar kept sometimes at Kassel and sometimes at

-Nassau, or wherever the duties of the war compelled him to go.

-

-It was a spring day in March, 1633.  Officers came and departed,

-orderlies hastened in all directions; Duke Bernhard had the greatest

-share of the south and west of Germany to look after, and the times

-were most anxious.

-

-After having waited a good while, the young officer was conducted to

-the duke.  The latter looked up irritably from his maps and papers, and

-seemed to wait to be spoken to; but Bertel remained silent.

-

-"Who are you?" asked the duke in sharp, harsh tones.

-

-"Gustaf Bertel, Lieutenant in his Royal Majesty's Finnish cavalry."

-

-"What do you want?"

-

-The young man coloured up and remained silent.  The duke noticed this

-and looked at him with a discontented air.

-

-"I understand," the latter said at last, "you have as usual been

-fighting with the German officers about the girls.  I will not allow

-this sort of thing.  A soldier's sword should be reserved for his

-country's enemies."

-

-"I have not been fighting, your highness."

-

-"All the worse.  You came to ask for a furlough to go to Finland.  I

-refuse it to you.  I want all my men here.  You will stay, Lieutenant.

-Good-bye!"

-

-"I do not come to ask for a furlough."

-

-"Well, What the devil do you want?  Can you not speak out?  Be short

-and quick!  Leave the clergy to say prayers, and the girls to blush."

-

-"Your highness has received from his Majesty, the late king, a ring..."

-

-"I cannot remember it."

-

-"... which his Majesty asked your highness to give to an officer in his

-life-guards."

-

-The duke passed his hand over his high forehead.

-

-"That officer is dead," he said.

-

-"I am that officer, your highness.  I was wounded at Lützen, and

-shortly after taken prisoner by the Imperialists."

-

-Duke Bernhard beckoned Bertel to come nearer, and gave him a searching

-look; he seemed satisfied with his examination.

-

-"Close the door," he said, "and sit down by my side."

-

-Bertel obeyed.  His cheeks were burning with anxiety.

-

-"Young man," said the duke, "you carry on your forehead the marks of

-your origin, and I ask for no further evidence.  Your mother is a

-peasant's daughter of Storkyro, in Finland, and her name is Emerentia

-Aronsdotter Bertila."

-

-"No, your highness, the person you speak of is my elder sister, born of

-my father's first marriage.  I have never seen my mother."

-

-The duke looked at him with surprise.

-

-"Very well," said he doubtfully, as he looked among some papers in his

-portfolio, "we will now speak of this sister of yours, Emerentia

-Aronsdotter.  Her father had performed great services for Carl IX., and

-he was urged to ask a favour.  He asked to be allowed to send his only

-daughter, then his only child, to Stockholm, to be educated with the

-young ladies of rank at the Court."

-

-"I know very little about this."

-

-"At thirteen years of age the peasant girl was sent to Stockholm, where

-her father's vanity and wealth procured her an abode, appearance, and

-education, far above her station.  He was consumed with ambition, and

-as he himself could not gain a noble crest, he relied upon his

-daughter's high birth on her mother's side.  Bertila's first wife was

-an orphan of the noble family Stjernkors, deprived of her inheritance

-by the war, and then rejected by her proud family on account of her

-marriage with the rich peasant Bertila."

-

-"This is all unknown to me."

-

-"The young Emerentia suffered a great deal in Stockholm from the envy

-and contempt of her aristocratic companions; for many of them were

-poorer than herself, and could not endure a plebeian at their side as

-an equal.

-

-"But her beauty was as extraordinary as her wisdom and goodness.

-Within two years she had acquired the habits of the upper classes,

-whilst preserving the rustic simplicity of her heart.  This wonderful

-combination of mental and physical graces reminded old persons of a

-lovely picture of their youthful days--Karin Mansdotter."

-

-As he said these words, the duke closely watched the young officer; but

-Bertel did not betray any agitation, and remained silent.  All this was

-something new and incomprehensible to him.

-

-"Very well," continued the duke after a pause.  "This beauty did not

-long remain unnoticed.  A very young man of high birth soon fell in

-love with the beautiful maiden, then only fifteen years old, and she

-returned his affection with the whole devotion of a first love.  This

-attachment soon became known to those who surrounded the noble youth;

-state policy was endangered, and the nobility were offended by the

-distinction thus conferred on a girl of low birth.  They resolved to

-marry the maiden to an officer of the same origin as herself, who had

-distinguished himself in the Danish War.  This intention came to the

-ears of the young people.  Poor children! they were so young; he

-seventeen, she fifteen, both inexperienced and in love.  Shortly after,

-the youth was sent to the war in Poland.  The young girl's marriage

-came to nothing, and she was sent back by the offended nobility in

-disgrace to her cabin in Finland.  Do you wish to hear any more,

-Lieutenant Bertel?"

-

-"I do not understand, your highness, what this account of my sister's

-life has to do with..."

-

-"... the ring you ask for.  Patience.  When the young man had a secret

-meeting with his beloved for the last time, just before his departure,

-she gave him a ring, whose earlier history I do not know, but which was

-probably made by a Finnish sorcerer, and had all the qualities of a

-talisman.  She conjured her lover to always wear this ring on his

-finger, in war and danger, as he would thus become invulnerable.  Twice

-this warning was forgotten, once at Dirschau..."

-

-"Great God!"

-

-"... the second time at Lützen."

-

-Bertel's emotions were of such a violent nature that all the blood left

-his cheeks, and he sat pale as a marble statue.

-

-"Young man, you now know part of what you ought to know, but you do not

-know all.  We have spoken of your sister.  We will now speak of

-yourself.  It was his Majesty's intention to offer you a nobleman's

-coat of arms, and which you with your good sword have so well deserved.

-But old Aron Bertila, actuated by his hatred for the nobility had asked

-as a favour that the king would give you an opportunity to gain any

-other distinction than that one.  The king could not refuse this

-request from a father, and therefore you are still a commoner by name.

-But I, who am not bound by any promise to your father, will offer you,

-young man, that which has hitherto been denied you: a knight's spur and

-coat of arms."

-

-"Your highness ... this favour makes me wonder and mute; how have I

-deserved it?"

-

-Duke Bernhard smiled with a strange expression.

-

-"How, my friend? you have only half understood me."

-

-Bertel remained silent.

-

-"Well, with or without your knowledge and will, my friend, I already

-regard you as a nobleman.  We will speak more about it another time.

-Your ring ... Ah!  I have forgotten it.  Do you remember what it was

-like?"

-

-The duke now searched zealously in his portfolio.  "They say that the

-king wore a copper ring, and on the inside of it magic signs were

-engraved, and the letters R.R.R."

-

-"It is possible that I have mislaid it, for I cannot find it.  And who

-the devil has time to think of such childish things?  The ring must

-have been stolen from my private casket.  If I find it again I will

-give it to you, and if not, you know that which is worth more.  Go,

-young man, and be worthy of my confidence and the great king's memory.

-No one is to know what I have told you.  Farewell; we will see each

-other again."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V.

-

-LOVE AND HATE AGREE.

-

-Again we fly from Germany's spring back to the North's winter.  Before

-we go further on the bloody path of the Thirty Years' War, we will pay

-a visit to two of the chief personages of this narrative high up in

-East Bothnia.

-

-It was about Advent time, 1632.  A violent storm with heavy snow beat

-against the old ramparts of Korsholm, and drove the waves of the Baltic

-against the ice-covered shores.  All navigation for the year had

-ceased.  The newly conscripted soldiers had gone to Stralsund by way of

-Stockholm, at the end of July, and were impatiently waiting for news

-from the war.  Then it happened in the middle of November that a rumour

-was spread about the country of the king's death.  Such reports fly

-through the air, one does not know how or where they come from.  Great

-misfortunes are known at a distance as presentiments, just as an

-earthquake far beyond its own circle causes a qualm in the mind.  But

-this report had more than once been spread and refuted.  The people

-relied upon King Gustaf Adolf's good fortune, and when corroboration

-did not arrive, the whole matter was forgotten, all thinking it was a

-false story.

-

-It is an ordinary fact in life that, as we hate those to whom we have

-occasioned a wrong, so we feel well disposed towards persons whom we

-have had the opportunity of serving.  Lady Marta of Korsholm was not a

-little proud of her brave defence against the drunken soldiers, and did

-not hesitate to attribute the preservation of the castle to the heroism

-she had then displayed.  That she had saved Regina's life gave the

-latter great importance in her eyes; and neither could she refuse her

-admiration for the courage and self-sacrifice which the young girl had

-shown on the same occasion.  The high-born prisoner was her pride; and

-she did not omit to watch her steps like an Argus; but she gave Regina

-a larger room, let her have old Dorthe again as a waiting woman, and

-provided her with an abundance of good food.  Regina also was less

-proud and cold, she would sometimes answer Lady Marta with a word or a

-nod; but of all the nice things that were offered her, the choice

-meats, the strong beer, etc., she took little or nothing; she had sunk

-apparently into a state of indifference, told her beads devoutly, but

-in other respects let one day pass as another.

-

-Lady Marta held the deep conviction that her prisoner, if not precisely

-the Roman Emperor's own daughter, was, nevertheless, a princess of the

-highest birth.  She therefore hit upon the unlucky idea of trying to

-convert so distinguished a person from her papistical heresy, on the

-supposition that she would thereby accomplish something very remarkable

-when the war was ended and Regina was exchanged.  Regina thus became

-exposed to the same proselytizing attempts which she herself had

-undertaken with the great Gustaf Adolf; but Lady Marta's were not so

-delicate or refined in their application as her own.  She overwhelmed

-the poor girl with Lutheran sermons, psalm-books, and tracts, also

-often made long speeches interspersed with proverbs, and when this was

-without avail, she sent the castle chaplain to preach to the prisoner.

-Of course all this occurred to deaf ears.  Regina was sufficiently firm

-in her faith to listen with patience, but she suffered from it; her

-stay at Korsholm became more unbearable every day, and who can blame

-her, if with secret longings she sighed for the day when she could

-regain her freedom.

-

-Dorthe, on the contrary, flamed up every time the heretic preacher or

-the plucky old lady began their sermons, and rattled through a whole

-string of prayers and maledictions both in Latin and Low German, the

-result generally being that she was shut up for two or three days in

-the dungeon of the castle, until her longing for her lady's company

-once more made her tractable.

-

-And so passed a half-year of Lady Regina's captivity.

-

-A better product of Lady Marta's goodwill was, that Regina was allowed

-to embroider, and fine materials were ordered for her in the autumn

-from Stockholm.  Thus it became possible for her to work a large piece

-of silk with the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ in silver and gold.

-Lady Marta in her innocence considered the work a sacrament cloth,

-which Regina might present to Vasa church, as a proof of her change of

-sentiments.  A warrior's eyes, on the other hand, would have discerned

-in it an intended flag, a Catholic banner, which the imprisoned girl

-was quietly preparing in expectation of the day when her work would

-wave at the head of the Catholic hosts.

-

-Still Lady Marta was not quite satisfied with the Holy Virgin's image,

-which seemed to her surrounded by too large a halo to be truly

-Lutheran.  She therefore considered how she could procure her prisoner

-a more suitable occupation.  It happened now and then that the daughter

-of the Storkyro peasant king, Meri, when she was in town, made an

-errand to Korsholm, and in order to gain the favour of the lady of the

-castle, presented her with several skeins of the finest and silkiest

-linen floss, which no one in the whole vicinity could spin as well as

-Meri.  Lady Marta consequently got the idea one fine day to teach her

-prisoner to spin, and to give her Meri as a teacher in this art.  Meri

-on her part desired nothing better.  The near connection in which the

-imprisoned lady had stood to the king, gave her an irresistible

-interest in Meri's eyes.  She wished to hear something about him--the

-hero, the king, the great, never-to-be-forgotten man, who stood before

-her mind's eye with more than earthly lustre.  She wished to know what

-he had said, what he had done, what he had loved and hated on earth;

-she wished for once to feel herself transported by his glory, and then

-to die herself--forgotten.  Poor Meri!

-

-So Meri made her second acquaintance with Lady Regina in the castle.

-She was received at first with coldness and indifference, and her

-spinning scarcely pleased the proud young lady.  But gradually her

-submissive mild demeanour won Regina's goodwill, and a captive's

-natural desire to communicate with beings outside the prison walls

-finally made Regina more open.

-

-They spun very little, it is true, but they talked together like

-mistress and maid, especially during the days when Dorthe was shut up

-on account of her wicked tongue, and it was quite opportune that Meri

-recollected some German from more brilliant days.  Meri knew how to

-constantly lead the conversation on to the subject of the king, and she

-soon divined Regina's enthusiastic love.  But Regina was very far from

-having any idea of Meri's earlier experiences; she ascribed her

-questions to the natural curiosity which such high personages always

-excite in the minds of the common people.  Sometimes she seemed

-astonished at the delicacy and nobleness of the simple peasant woman's

-expressions and views.  There were moments when Meri's personality

-appeared to her as an enigma full of contradictions, and then she asked

-herself whether she ought not to consider this woman as a spy.  But the

-next instant she repented this thought; and when the spinner looked at

-her with her clear, mild, penetrating gaze, then there was something

-which said to Regina's heart, this woman does not dissemble.

-

-They were sitting one day in the beginning of December, and Dorthe was

-again shut up for her unseasonable remarks to the chaplain.  There was

-a striking contrast between these two beings whom fate had brought

-together from such opposite directions, but who on one point shared the

-same interest.

-

-The first, young, proud, dark, flashing, and beautiful, a princess,

-even in captivity; the other of middle age, blonde, pale, mild, humble,

-and free, and yet very submissive.  Regina now seventeen, could be

-considered twenty; Meri now thirty-six, had something so childish and

-innocent in her whole appearance, that at certain moments she might be

-taken for seventeen.  She could have been Regina's mother, and yet she

-who had suffered so much, seemed almost like a child in comparison with

-the early matured southerner at her side.  Lady Regina had been

-spinning a little, and during the operation broken many threads.

-Provoked and impatient, she pushed the distaff away and resumed her

-embroidery.  This happened very often, and her instructress was

-accustomed to it.

-

-"That is a pretty image," said Meri, after a look at the piece of silk.

-"What does it represent?"

-

-"God's Holy Mother, Sancta Maria," answered Regina, as she made the

-sign of the cross, which she was always in the habit of doing when

-mentioning the name of the Holy Virgin.

-

-"And what is it for?" asked Meri with a naïve familiarity.

-

-Regina looked at her.  Again a suspicion came into her mind, but it

-immediately passed away.

-

-"I am embroidering the banner of the Holy Faith for Germany," replied

-Regina proudly.  "When it one day waves, the heretics will flee before

-the wrath of the mother of God."

-

-"When I think of the mother of God," said Meri, "I imagine her mild,

-good, and peaceful; I imagine her as a mother alone with her love."

-Meri said these words with a peculiar tremor in her voice.

-

-"The mother of God is Heaven's queen; she will fight against the

-godless and destroy them."

-

-"But when the mother of God takes to strife, King Gustaf Adolf will

-meet her with uncovered head and lowered sword, bend his knee to her,

-and say: 'Holy Virgin, I am not fighting for thy glory, but for that of

-thy son, our Saviour.'  'He that fights for my son also fights for me,'

-she will reply, 'because I am a mother.'"

-

-"Your king is a heretic," excitedly answered Regina.  Nothing irritated

-her more than opposition to the Catholic faith, of which the doctrine

-of the Holy Virgin as Heaven's ruler is a constituent.  "Your king is a

-tyrant and unbeliever who deserves all the anger of the saints on his

-head.  Do you know, Meri, that I hate your king?"

-

-"And I love him," said Meri in a scarcely audible voice.

-

-"Yes," continued Regina, "I hate him like sin, death, and perdition.

-If I were a man and had an arm and sword, it would be the aim of my

-life to destroy his hosts and his work.  You are happy, Meri, you know

-nothing about the war, you do not know what Gustaf Adolf has done to

-the poor Catholics.  But I have seen it, and my faith and my country

-cry out for revenge.  There are moments when I could kill him."

-

-"And when Lady Regina lifts her white hand with the gleaming dagger

-over the king's head, then the king will expose his breast where the

-great heart beats; look at her little white hand with a glance of

-sublime calmness and say, 'Thou delicate white hand, which worketh the

-image of the mother of God, strike, if thou canst, my heart is here,

-and it beats for the freedom and enlightenment of the world;' then the

-white hand will sink slowly down, and the dagger will drop from it,

-unnoticed, and God's mother on the cloth will smile again.  She knew

-well that it would be so.  It would have been just the same with

-herself.  For King Gustaf Adolf none can kill, and none hate, because

-God's angel walks by his side and turns human beings' hate to love."

-

-Regina forgot her work, and regarded Meri with her large, dark, moist

-eyes.  There was so much that surprised and astonished her in these

-words, but she kept silent.  Finally she said:

-

-"The king wears an amulet."

-

-"Yes," said Meri, "he wears a talisman, but it is not the copper ring

-that the people speak of--it is his exalted human heart which gives up

-everything for what is good and noble on earth.  When he was still very

-young, and had not yet acquired fame or renown, he only possessed his

-blonde hair, his high brow, and his mild blue eyes.  Then he wore no

-amulet, and yet blessing and love and happiness walked by his side.

-All the angels in Heaven and all human beings on earth loved him."

-

-Regina's eyes glistened with tears.

-

-"Did you see him when he was young?" she asked.

-

-"Did I see him! yes."

-

-"And you have loved him like all the others?"

-

-"More than all the others, lady."

-

-"And you love him still?"

-

-"Yes, I love him much.  Like you; but you would kill him and I would

-die for him."

-

-Regina sprang up, burst out weeping, clasped Meri in her arms and

-kissed her.

-

-"Do not think that I would kill him.  Oh, Holy Virgin, I would a

-thousand times give my life to save his!  But you do not know, Meri.

-It is an anguish that you cannot understand, it is a fearful conflict

-when one loves a man, a hero, the personification of the highest and

-grandest in life, and yet is commanded by a Holy Faith to hate this

-man, to kill him, to persecute him to the grave.  You do not know,

-happy one, who only needs to love and bless, what it means to be tossed

-between love and hate, like a ship on the mighty waves; to be obliged

-to curse one whom you bless in your heart, to sit within the walls of a

-prison a prey to the battling emotions which incessantly struggle for

-mastery in your innermost soul.  Ah! that was the night, when I tried

-to reconcile my love with my faith, and bring him, the mighty one, to

-the way of salvation.  If the saints had then allowed my weak voice to

-convince him of his error ... Then poor Regina would have followed him

-with joy as his humblest servant through all his life, and received in

-her own breast all the lances and balls that sought his heart.  But the

-saints did not grant me--unworthy being--so great an honour, and

-therefore I now sit here a prisoner on account of my faith and my love;

-and if an angel broke down the walls of my prison and said to me, 'Fly,

-your country again awaits you,' I would answer: 'It is his will, the

-beloved; for his sake I suffer, for his sake I remain,' and yet you

-believe that I wish to kill him."

-

-Regina wept much and bitterly, with all the violence of an intense

-passion which had been pent up for a long time.  Meri with gentle hands

-removed the dark locks from her brow, and looking mildly and kindly

-into her tearful eyes, said with prophetic inspiration:

-

-"Do not weep so, the day will arrive when you will be able to love

-without being obliged to curse him at the same time!"

-

-"That day will never come, Meri."

-

-"Yes, that day will come, when Gustaf Adolf is dead."

-

-"Oh, may it never come, then!  Rather would I suffer all my life ... It

-is still for his sake."

-

-"Yes, lady, that day will come, not because you are younger and he is

-older.  But have you never heard anyone say of a child which is

-brighter, kinder, and better than others, 'that child will not live

-long; it is too good for this world?'  So does it seem to me about King

-Gustaf Adolf.  He is too great, too noble, too good, to live long.

-God's angels wish to have him before his body withers and his soul

-grows weary.  Believe me, they will take him from us."

-

-Regina looked at her with an alarmed air.

-

-"Who are you that speaks such words?  How your eyes shine! you are not

-what you seem! who are you then?  Oh, Holy Virgin, protect me!"

-

-And Regina started up with all the superstitious terror that belonged

-to her time.  Probably she could not account for her fear, but Meri's

-conversation had all along seemed strange and unaccountable, coming

-from the mouth of an uncultivated peasant woman in this barbarous land.

-

-"Who am I?" repeated Meri, with the same mild look.  "I am a woman who

-loves.  That is all."

-

-"And you say that the king will die?"

-

-"God alone presides over human destinies, and the greatest among

-mortals is still but a mortal."

-

-At that moment someone opened the door, and Lady Marta entered more

-solemnly than usual, and also somewhat paler.  She now wore, instead of

-her bright striped woollen jacket, a deep mourning attire, and her

-whole appearance indicated something unusual.  Regina and Meri both

-started at the sight.

-

-Meri became pale as death, went straight to Lady Marta, looked her

-fixedly in the face, and said mechanically with a great effort,

-

-"The king is dead."

-

-"Do you know it already?" answered Lady Marta, surprised.  "God

-preserve us, the bad news came an hour ago, with a courier from Tornea."

-

-Lady Regina sank down in a swoon.

-

-Meri, with a broken heart, retained her self-possession, and tried to

-recall Regina to life.

-

-"The king has then fallen on the battlefield in the midst of victory?"

-she asked.

-

-"On the battlefield of Lützen, the 6th of November, and in the midst of

-a glorious victory," replied Lady Marta, more and more surprised at

-Meri's knowledge.

-

-"Awake, gracious lady, he has lived and died like a hero, worthy of the

-admiration of the whole world.  He has fallen in the hour of triumph,

-in the highest lustre of his glory; his name will live in all times,

-and his name we will both bless."

-

-Regina opened her dreamy eyes and clasped her hands in prayer.

-

-"Oh, Holy Virgin," she said, "I thank thee that thou hast let him go in

-his greatness from the world, and thus taken away the curse which

-rested upon my love!"

-

-And Meri dropped down at her side in prayer.

-

-But below in the castle yard stood a tall, white-haired old man, with

-his stiff features distorted by grief and despair.

-

-"A curse upon my work!" he cried; "my plan is frustrated beforehand,

-and the object for which I have lived slips from my grasp.  Oh, fool

-that I was, to count upon a human being's life, and trying to hope that

-the king would acknowledge his son, and live until the son of Aron

-Bertila's daughter had time to win a brilliant fame in war, and walk

-abreast with the heiress to the Swedish throne!  The king is dead, and

-my descendant is only a boy in his minority, who will soon be mixed

-with the multitude.  Now it is only wanting for him to gain a

-nobleman's coat of arms, and place himself amongst the vampires between

-the only true powers of the state, the king and the people.  Fool, fool

-that I was!  The king is dead!  Go, old Bertila, into the grave to

-fraternize with King John and the destroyer of aristocracy, King Carl,

-and bury thy proud plans among the same worms that have already

-consumed Prince Gustaf and Karin Mansdotter!"

-

-And the old man seized Meri, who just then came out, violently by the

-hand, and said:

-

-"Come, we have neither of us anything more to do in the world!"

-

-"Yes," said Meri with suppressed grief, "we both still have a son!"

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI.

-

-THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN.

-

-Until now the Swedish lion, through the wisdom and valour of Gustaf

-Adolf, and of the leaders and men trained under him, had hastened from

-victory to victory, and overthrown all his opponents.  At last a day of

-misfortune dawned; in a great battle the Swedish arms suffered a

-terrible defeat.

-

-The brilliant Wallenstein had died the death of a traitor at Eger; now

-Gallas, the destroyer, overran central Germany, captured Regensburg,

-and advanced against the free city of Nördlingen, in Schwaben; Duke

-Bernhard and Gustaf Horn hurried with the Swedish army to its rescue.

-They had, however, but 17,000 men, whilst Gallas had 33,000.

-

-"We will attack," said the duke.

-

-"Let us wait," said Horn.

-

-They expected 5,000 men as a reinforcement, and fourteen days passed.

-Then Nördlingen came to sore straits, and began to light beacon fires

-on the walls at night.  Again the duke wished to attack; again Horn

-preferred to entrench and assist the city without battle.  Then they

-called this brave soul a cowardly man; and, indignant, but with dark

-presentiments, he resolved to fight.  Repeated victories had made the

-Swedes over-confident, and they entered the conflict assured of success

-beforehand.

-

-The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1634.  Outside Nördlingen

-is a height called Arensberg, and between it and the town a smaller

-one.  Upon the last the Imperialists had raised three redoubts.

-

-The Swedish army stood on Arensberg, Horn on the right and the duke on

-the left wing.  The battle-cry was the same as at Breitenfeld and

-Lützen: God with us!

-

-Early in the morning a heavy rain fell.  Once more the wise Horn wished

-to wait, but the duke, who held the supreme command, ordered an

-advance.  Horn obeyed, and the right wing marched down the valley

-between the two heights.  The impatience of the cavalry hastened the

-conflict, which resulted unfavourably even in the very beginning.  The

-cannon of the Imperialists in the redoubts made great gaps in the lines

-of the cavalry, and the enemy's superiority made them hesitate.  Horn

-sent two brigades to storm the middle redoubt.  They captured it and

-pursued the enemy.  Piccolomini checked their course and drove them

-back to the redoubt.  There the powder happened to take fire.  With a

-terrific explosion the earthwork flew into the air, and several

-hundreds of Swedes and Finns with it.  This was the first calamity.

-

-Upon this position, however, depended the victory.  For a few moments

-the spot stood empty; Piccolomini's soldiers, alarmed by the report and

-destruction, could not be induced to advance and occupy it.  At last

-they did so.  Horn asked for help in order to expel them.  The duke

-sent the young Bohemian, Thurn, with the yellow regiment.  He made a

-mistake, attacked the wrong redoubt, and engaged with a greatly

-superior force.  Seventeen times he charged the enemy, and as often was

-he repulsed.  In vain did Horn try to storm the height.  Thurn's error

-was the second calamity.

-

-On the left wing the duke had begun the conflict against the artillery

-and cavalry.  At the first encounter the Imperialists were hurled back,

-and the duke's German cavalry broke their ranks and pursued the enemy.

-But Tilly's spirit seemed to-day to give the Imperialists courage.

-They advanced their ordered and superior troops against the assailants,

-checked them, and drove them back with loss.  The duke tried to get

-reinforcements into Nördlingen, but failed.  In vain did he drive

-Gallas before him.  New masses of the enemy constantly opposed him, and

-in his rear the Croats plundered his baggage-wagons.

-

-It was about noon.  Horn's troops had been under fire for eight

-consecutive hours, and were worn out with fatigue.  With every hour

-their hopes of victory grew less and less, but their unflinching,

-indomitable courage remained the same.  They had observed the disorder

-in the left wing.  They themselves were in a desperate plight down in

-the valley, where Piccolomini's bullets fell every moment into the

-underbush, and sprinkled the fallen branches with blood.  Then Horn

-proposed to withdraw to Arensberg, and the duke at last consented.  He

-considered the matter, however, for nearly two hours; but these two

-hours he would afterwards have been glad to purchase with half a

-lifetime.

-

-It was three o'clock in the afternoon.  Horn made the Finnish cavalry

-make a feigned attack, so as to cover the retreat, and began like a

-prudent general to withdraw in good order.  The Imperialists perceiving

-his intention, pressed on with double force.  They began to hope, what

-they had not dared to entertain before, that even the Swedes might be

-conquered, and Piccolomini's stumpy figure flew through the ranks,

-urging his men to bear down with their collected forces upon the

-Swedes' exposed flanks, and totally crush them.

-

-In the valley behind the Swedes and between the two heights flowed a

-stream with high banks, and swollen by the abundant rains.  At the

-little village of Hirnheim, the stream was spanned by a single bridge,

-and this point Horn had carefully guarded in order to secure the

-retreat.  The artillery passed first over the bridge, and were safe on

-Arensberg.  The first lines of Horn's wing had also reached the

-village, and the rest were only a short distance from it, when a new

-calamity occurred, the third and the worst on this most disastrous day.

-Duke Bernhard had undertaken to detain the enemy with his left wing

-until Horn and his men had crossed the stream.  But he soon discovered

-that he had consulted valour rather than prudence.  The enemy

-concentrated their forces, and increased their terrible attacks.  Three

-times De Werth charged the duke's cavalry; three times was he repulsed.

-The fourth time, however, he broke through the duke's lines.  In vain

-the latter sent a squadron to take him in flank.  Mad with rage, the

-duke snatched his gold-embroidered banner from an ensign's hand, and

-followed by his bravest men, rushed into the midst of the enemy.  It

-was all useless.  His best men were slain, his horse shot under him,

-and the banner wrenched from his hand; wounded and overpowered he was

-nearly taken prisoner, when a young officer at his side lent him his

-horse, and he escaped with great difficulty.  His infantry had already

-been routed, being unable to support the attacks of the cavalry on the

-open plain; and when the wounded leader galloped away, his whole wing

-followed in the utmost disorder, convinced that all was lost.

-

-At that moment, Horn's infantry crossed the narrow bridge.  Then

-confused and loud cries arose, that the battle was lost, and the enemy

-close upon them.  First single horsemen, then whole troops of the

-duke's cavalry rushed along the road to the bridge, and rode amongst

-the infantry, trampling some under their horses' hoofs, and throwing

-the rest into fearful confusion.  The efforts of Horn and his nearest

-officers to stay the frantic rout were fruitless.  On the narrow bridge

-everything was mixed pell-mell--men, horses, wagons, dead, and wounded;

-and finally the duke's whole wing rushed to this fatal spot.  Like a

-storm Piccolomini pressed upon the rear of the fugitives; he sent some

-light guns up on the heights, where they played with terrible effect on

-the retreating mass; every ball cut long lanes through it.  Then the

-Croats fell upon the rout, and as friend and foe became mixed together,

-the artillery fire had to cease.  The long lances and swords of the

-Imperial cavalry made great slaughter.  All the Swedes and Finns seemed

-doomed to destruction.

-

-Gustaf Horn, the wise and courageous Finnish general, whom Gustaf Adolf

-called "his right hand," was now the last to retain self-possession and

-courage at this terrible crisis.  With the remains of three regiments

-he had taken up a position by the bridge, and the fugitives fled past

-him without drawing his force into the current.  They implored him to

-save himself; but his stubborn, Finnish will refused to listen to these

-appeals, and he stayed where he was.  For a time the pursuit was

-checked, the only thing that Horn hoped to gain by his intrepid

-resistance.  Gallas sent one of his best Spanish brigades to oust him.

-Horn drove them back with loss.  The victorious De Werth fell upon him

-with his dragoons.  The result was the same.  The enemy now

-concentrated their forces, and Horn was attacked on three sides at

-once.  They offered him his life if he would surrender.  He replied

-with a sword-thrust, and his men gave the same response.  Not one would

-ask for quarter.  At last, when nearly all those near him had fallen,

-he was overwhelmed by numbers and taken prisoner.  Then the few

-surviving heroes surrendered.

-

-When the Swedish army in full flight rushed over Arensberg, Duke

-Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tore his hair, and exclaimed that he was a

-fool, and Horn a wise man.  Later on the duke consoled himself with

-Elsas, but that day he had reason to repent of his rashness.  Six

-thousand Swedes, Finns, and Germans covered the blood-stained heights

-of Nordlingen; 6,000 were taken prisoners, and amongst them the two

-Finns, Horn and Wittenberg, who were well treated by the enemy.  Of the

-other 10,000, half were wounded, and most of the remaining mercenaries

-deserted.  The army had lost 4,000 baggage-wagons, 300 banners, and all

-their artillery.  A miserable remnant made its way to Mentz, plundering

-and pillaging as it fled, and suffering from extreme want.

-

-More disastrous to Sweden than the loss of these 12,000 men was the

-damage to its prestige, and the enemy's regained belief in victory.

-The battle of Nordlingen became the turning point in the Thirty Years'

-War, and excited both joy and consternation.  throughout Europe, until

-Baner's genius and victories restored their lost lustre to the Swedish

-arms once more.

-

-Amongst those who fought at Horn's side to the last, was our old

-friend, Captain Larsson.  The sturdy little captain had on this

-occasion no time to open his talkative mouth; he perspired profusely

-from the heat, and had fought since dawn; yet he had not received the

-least scratch upon his fleshy person.  Let it be said in his praise,

-that at Nordlingen he thought of neither Rhine wine or Bavarian nuns,

-but honestly plied his weapons as well as possible.  Nevertheless, we

-will not assert that he then cut down thirty Imperialists with his

-trusty sword, as he afterwards declared in good faith.

-

-He was taken prisoner with Horn; but it was not his capture that most

-provoked the captain, but the terrible vexation he experienced on

-seeing the Croats afterwards empty at their leisure the Swedish stock

-of wine which they had captured with the baggage-wagons.

-

-Another of our friends, Lieutenant Bertel, fought at the duke's side

-all day, and was the one who offered him his horse.  We shall see,

-by-and-by, that the duke did not forget this service.  Bertel, like

-Larsson, was hotly engaged in the battle, but, less fortunate than the

-latter, received several wounds, and was finally borne along in the

-stream of fugitives to Arensberg.  Almost without knowing how, he found

-himself the next day far from the battlefield, and proceeded with the

-remnant of the duke's army to Mentz.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII.

-

-THE LOST SON.

-

-It is Epiphany, in 1635, thus in mid-winter.  In Aron Bertila's

-"stuga,"* at Storkyro, a large fire of pine logs crackled on the

-spacious hearth, for at that time heavy forests still grew around the

-fertile fields.  Outside rages a snow-storm, with a heavy blast; the

-wolves howl on the ice of the stream; the famished lynx prowls around

-to find shelter.  It is Twelfth-day evening, an hour or two after

-twilight.  The Storkyro peasant king sits in his high-backed chair, at

-a short distance from the hearth, listening with scattered thoughts to

-his daughter Meri, who by the firelight reads aloud a chapter of

-Agricola's Finnish New Testament, for at that period the whole Bible

-had not been translated into the Finnish tongue.  Bertila has grown

-very old since we last met him, then still vigorous in his old age.

-The great ideas that constantly revolve in his bald head give him no

-peace, and yet these plans are now completely shattered by the king's

-death, like fragments from a shipwreck floating around on the stormy

-billows of a dark sea.  Strong souls like his generally succumb only by

-destroying themselves.  All the changes and misfortunes of his

-turbulent life had not been able to break his iron will; but grief over

-a ruined hope, the vain attempt to reconstruct the vanished castles in

-the air, and the sorrow of seeing his own children themselves tear down

-his work, all this gnawed like a vulture upon his inner life.  A single

-thought had made him twenty years older in two years, and this idea was

-presumptuous even to madness.

-

-

-* A large room, filling the entire house space with the exception of

-one or two small chambers.  Sleeping bunks are arranged round the

-walls.  The later peasants' houses have more rooms.

-

-

-"Why is not one of my own family at this moment King of Sweden?"  Thus

-it ran.

-

-At times Meri raises her mild blue eyes from the Holy Book and regards

-her old father with anxious looks.  She, too, looks older; the quiet

-sorrow lies like the autumn over green groves; it neither breaks or

-kills, but makes the fresh leaves wither on the tree of life.  Meri's

-glance is full of peace and submission.  The thought that shines forth

-from her soul like a sun at its setting, is none other than this:

-

-"Beyond the grave I shall again meet the joy of my heart, and then he

-will no longer wear an earthly crown."

-

-Near her, to the left, sits old Larsson, short and stout like his

-jovial son.  His good-natured, hearty face has for a time assumed a

-more solemn expression, as he listens to the reading of the sacred

-book.  His hands are folded as in prayer, and now and then he stirs the

-fire a little, with friendly attention, so that Meri can see better.

-

-Behind him in a devotional attitude sit some of the field hands; and

-this group, illuminated by the reflection of the fire, is completed by

-a purring grey cat, and a large shaggy watch-dog, curled up under

-Meri's feet, to which he seems proud to serve as a footstool.

-

-When Meri in her reading came to the place in Luke, where it speaks of

-the Prodigal Son, old Bertila's eyes began to glitter with a sinister

-light.

-

-"The reprobate!" he muttered to himself.  "To waste one's inheritance,

-that is nothing!  But to forget one's old father ... by God, that is

-shameful!"

-

-Meri read until she came to the Prodigal Son's repentance: "And he

-arose and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his

-father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and

-kissed him."

-

-"What a fool of a father!" again muttered Aron Bertila to himself.  "He

-ought to have bound him with cords, beaten him with rods, and then

-driven him away from his house back to the riotous living and the empty

-wine-cups!"

-

-"Father!" whispered Meri reproachfully.  "Be merciful, as our Heavenly

-Father is merciful, and takes the lost children to His arms."

-

-"And if your son ever returns..." began Larsson in the same tone.  But

-Bertila stopped him.

-

-"Hold your tongues, and don't trouble yourselves about me.  I have no

-longer any son ... who falls repentant at my feet," he added directly,

-when he saw two large, clear pearls glistening in Meri's eyelashes.

-

-She continued: "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned

-against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called

-thy son."

-

-"Stop reading that!" burst out the old man, in a bad temper.  "See that

-my bed is in order, and let the folks go to sleep; it is now late."

-

-At this moment horses' hoofs were heard outside on the creaking snow.

-This unusual occurrence on the evening of a sacred day made Larsson go

-to the low window, and breathe on the frost-covered pane, so as to look

-out into the storm.  A sleigh, drawn by two horses, worked its way

-through the snow-drifts and drove into the yard.  Two men in sheep-skin

-cloaks jumped out.

-

-Seized with a sudden intuition, Larsson hurried out to meet the

-travellers, and quick as lightning Meri followed him.  The door swung

-to behind them, and there was a moment's delay before it opened again.

-

-But now a young man in a soldier's garb entered with bowed head, threw

-aside his plumed hat, white with snow, and going straight to old

-Bertila, knelt down, and bent his beautiful curly head still lower, as

-he said:

-

-"Father, I am here, and ask your blessing!"

-

-And behind him stood Meri and old Larsson, both with clasped hands, and

-raising their pleading eyes to the stern old man, with the same words:

-

-"Father, here is thy son, give him thy blessing!"

-

-For a brief moment Bertila struggled with himself, his lips slightly

-trembled, and his hand was unconsciously stretched out, as if to lift

-up the young man at his feet.  But soon his bald head rose higher, his

-hand drew back, his keen eyes flashed darker than ever, and his lips

-trembled no more.

-

-"Go!" said he, short and sharp; "go, you reprobate boy, back to your

-brother noblemen, and your sisters, the fine ladies.  What seek you in

-the plain peasant's 'stuga,' which you despise?  Go!  I have no longer

-a son!"

-

-But the youth went not.

-

-"Do not be angry, my father," he said, "if in my youthful ambition I

-have at any time violated your commands.  Who sent me out amongst the

-great and illustrious ones of the earth, to win fame and honour?  Who

-bade me go to the war to ennoble my peasant name with great deeds?  Who

-exposed me to the temptation of all the brilliant examples which

-surrounded the king?  You, and only you, my father; and now you thrust

-away your son, who for your sake twice refused a patent of nobility."

-

-"You!" exclaimed the old man with foaming rage.  "You renounce a patent

-of nobility, you, who have blushed for your peasant name and taken

-another which would look more imposing?  No, on your knees have you

-begged for a coat of arms.  What do I know about its being offered you;

-what do I care.  I only know that since your earliest childhood I have

-tried to implant in your soul, recreant, that there are no other

-rightful powers than the king and people, that all who place themselves

-between, whether they bear the name of aristocrats, ecclesiastics, or

-what not, are monstrosities, a ruin, a curse to State and country ...

-all this have I tried to teach you, and the fruit of my teachings has

-been that you have smuggled yourself among this nobility, which I hate

-and despise, that you have coveted its empty titles, paraded with its

-extravagant display, imbibed its prejudices, and now you stand here, in

-your father's house, with a lie on your lips, and aristocratic vanity

-in your heart.  Go, degenerate son!  Aron Bertila is what he has always

-been--a peasant!  He curses and rejects you, apostate!"

-

-With these words the old man turned away, rose and went with a firm

-step and a high head into the little bed-chamber, leaving Bertel still

-on his knees in the same place.

-

-"Hear me, father, father!" cried Bertel after him, as he quickly

-unbuttoned his coat and took out a folded paper; "this paper I have

-intended to tear to pieces at your feet!"

-

-But the old father did not hear him; the paper fell to the ground, and

-when Larsson, a moment later, unfolded and read it, he saw it contained

-a diploma from the Regency in Stockholm, conferring upon Gustaf Bertel,

-captain of horse in the "life-guards," a patent of nobility, and a coat

-of arms with the name of _Bertelsköld_* at Duke Bernhard of Weimar's

-solicitation.

-

-

-* Bertila is a Finnish peasant name.  Bertel is a burgher name.

-Bertelsköld is a noble name, indicated by the termination sköld, always

-a sign of nobility in Sweden and Finland.

-

-

-While all in the "stuga" were still perfectly stupefied by old

-Bertila's conduct, three of Fru Marta's soldiers from Korsholm entered

-in great haste.

-

-"Hullo, boys!" they exclaimed to the hands, "have you seen her?  Here

-is something that will pay.  Two hundred silver thalers reward to him

-who seizes and brings back, alive or dead, Lady Regina von Emmeritz,

-state prisoner at Korsholm."

-

-At the sound of this name Bertel was aroused from his stupefying grief,

-sprang up, and seized the speaker by the collar.

-

-"Wretch, what did you say?" he exclaimed.

-

-"Ho, ho, if you please!  Be a little more careful when you speak to the

-people of the Royal Majesty and the Crown.  I tell you that the German

-traitress, the papistical sorceress, Lady von Emmeritz, succeeded in

-escaping last night from Korsholm castle, and that he who does not help

-to catch her is a traitor and a..."

-

-The man had no time to finish his speech, before a blow from Bertel's

-strong arm stretched him at full-length on the floor.

-

-"Ha, my father, you have wished it!" cried the young man, and in a

-flash was outside the door and in his sleigh, which at the next moment

-was heard driving off through the raging tempest.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VIII.

-

-THE FUGITIVE LADY.

-

-We will now see what has become of Lady Regina, and what has induced

-her to exchange Fru Marta's tender care for the desperate adventure of

-fleeing in the middle of winter, through a strange country filled with

-desolate tracts, where she was profoundly ignorant of the roads and

-paths, and did not even know how to make herself understood in the

-language of the people.

-

-We must not overlook the fact that our story is laid in a period when

-Catholicism and Lutheranism were in the sharpest conflict; when

-Lutheranism, heated by the violent opposition, was as little inclined

-to religious tolerance as Catholicism itself.  Fru Marta had once for

-all been possessed by the idea that she was in duty bound to convert

-Lady Regina to the Lutheran faith, and from this well-meant but futile

-enterprise, no one could dissuade her.  She therefore persisted, in and

-out of season, to torment the poor girl with her views; sometimes with

-books, sometimes with exhortations, and at others with persuasions and

-threats, or promises of freedom; and when Regina refused to read the

-books, or listen to the preaching, the zealous old lady had prayers

-read in her prisoner's room every morning and evening, as well as

-services on Sundays.  All these means were thrown away on what Fru

-Marta considered Regina's stubbornness.  The more the former exerted

-herself, the calmer, colder, and more unyielding became her captive.

-Regina naturally looked upon herself as a martyr for her faith, and

-suffered every humiliation with apparent fortitude for the sake of the

-holy cause.

-

-But within the young girl's veins fermented the hot southern blood, and

-it was with great difficulty that she could always appear calm on the

-surface.  There were times when Regina would have blown up the whole of

-Korsholm, if it had been in her power.  But the old granite walls

-defied her silent rage, and flight finally became her only method of

-escape from the persecution.  Night and day she pondered over it; and

-at last she discovered a means of eluding Fru Marta's vigilance.

-

-In Kajaneborg castle was then confined the celebrated and unfortunate

-Johannes Messenius, who in his youth had been educated by the Jesuits

-in Braunsberg, and chosen by them to become the apostle of Catholicism

-in Sweden.  Imprisoned for his lampoons and conspiracies in the

-interest of Sigismund's party, he had now for nineteen years, under

-hard treatment, sat there like a mole in his hole, when the report of

-his learning, his misfortunes, and his Popish sentiments reached Lady

-Regina in her prison.  From this moment some bold plans began to

-ferment in the young girl's mind.

-

-One day, about New Year's time, a wandering German quack came to

-Korsholm with his medicine-chest on his back, just like peddling Jews

-at a later date.*  Such doctors and apothecaries combined in one

-individual did a lucrative business at the expense of the common

-people, and were frequently consulted even by the upper classes, for in

-the whole country there was not a single regular physician, and only

-one apothecary in Abo; and even this one was not well stocked.  No

-wonder, then, that our man found enough to do, even at Korsholm, what

-with pains, stomach-aches, and gout; nay, Fru Marta, who, every time

-she had thrashed her male servants, complained of colic and shortness

-of breath, received the foreign doctor with very good will.  In a few

-days the latter was quite at home, and thus it fell out that he was

-called in to prescribe for Lady Regina, who was suffering from a severe

-headache.

-

-

-* It was peculiar that the surgeon always spoke of quacks with great

-contempt, although he had himself travelled about with a medicine chest

-on his back.

-

-

-This time, Fru Marta's usual perspicacity deserted her.  Two days

-afterwards the young lady, old Dorthe, and the quack doctor were all

-missing.  A grating which had been broken off from the outside, and a

-rope ladder, made it certain that the quack had been instrumental in

-procuring for the prisoner a free passage over wall and ramparts.  Fru

-Marta forgot both her colic and shortness of breath, from sheer

-amazement and anger, stirred up the castle and the town, and

-immediately dispatched her soldiers in all directions to capture the

-fugitives.  It will soon be seen how far she succeeded.

-

-Let us now return for a moment to Bertel, whom we find driving ahead in

-the stormy night, attended by the faithful Pekka, and with a heart full

-of the most conflicting feelings.  The faithful attendant could not

-understand the enormous folly of leaving a cheerful fireside and good

-wholesome porridge, for snow-drifts and wolves in the wild woods, as

-soon as they had arrived.  Neither did Bertel comprehend it himself.

-On returning to the north, by way of Tornel, on a furlough from

-Germany, while the army lay in winter quarters, he had hurried through

-Storkyro to Vasa, which was his secret destination.  And now he had met

-in one place a father's anger, and in the other the empty walls, where

-she had been, but was no longer.  Regina had disappeared without

-leaving a trace.

-

-"Where shall I drive?" asked Pekka monotonously and gruffly, when they

-entered the broad highway.

-

-"Wherever you like," answered his master just as testily.

-

-Pekka turned his horses towards Vasa, about twenty miles away.  Bertel

-noticed this.

-

-"Ass!" he cried, "have I not ordered you to drive north?"

-

-"North!" repeated Pekka mechanically, and with a heavy sigh turned his

-horses towards Ny-Karleby, to which town it was quite forty miles.  At

-that time they had no regular stations, with horses provided for the

-accommodation of travellers.  But there were farms at intervals, where

-all who travelled on Government business could reckon on finding

-horses, while other travellers were obliged to bargain as best they

-could.

-

-The parsonages were the usual stopping-places for the night, and always

-had a room in order in an out-building, where beds of straw and a table

-with cold food stood hospitably prepared for travellers.

-

-It was, therefore, quite natural that Pekka, with his mind still full

-of the porridge-kettle, ventured to ask as a further question whether

-they would spend the night at Wort parsonage.

-

-"Drive to Ylihärmä," answered the captain of horse, provoked, and

-wrapping himself up in his long sheepskin cloak, for the night wind was

-icy cold.

-

-"The devil take me if I understand the pranks of these noblemen!"

-murmured Pekka to himself, as he turned off into the narrow village

-road, which from Storkyro leads northward towards Lappo parish.

-

-Here the snow had drifted several feet high between the fences, and the

-travellers could only advance step by step.  After an hour's efforts

-the horses were completely worn out, and stopped every few paces.

-

-Bertel, absorbed in his thoughts, was scarcely conscious of it.  They

-had left Kyro's wide plains behind them, and were now in the midst of

-Lappo's thick woods.  The silence of the wilderness, interrupted by the

-wailing of the storm, surrounded the travellers on all sides, and as

-far as the eye could reach there were no traces of human habitations.

-

-Pekka had for a time walked by the side of the sleigh, and with his

-broad shoulders lifted it up again, when it sank so deep in the snow

-that the horses' strength was insufficient to move it from the spot.

-

-Finally his sinewy arms also refused their services, and the sleigh

-stopped right in the midst of a mountain of snow.

-

-"Well!" exclaimed Bertel impatiently, "what is the matter?"

-

-"Nothing," replied Pekka stolidly, "except that we need neither priest

-nor undertaker to find us a grave."

-

-"How far is it from here to the nearest farm?"

-

-"Between six and seven miles, I think."

-

-"Do you not see something resembling a light, far away there in the

-woods?"

-

-"Yes, yes, it looks like it..."

-

-"Unharness the horses and let us ride there."

-

-"No, dear master, it is of no use; these woods have been fearfully

-haunted, that I know of old, ever since the peasants beat the bailiff

-to death during the Club War, and burned his house and his innocent

-children."

-

-"Nonsense!  I tell you that we will ride there."

-

-"It is all the same to me."

-

-In a few moments the horses were taken out of the traces, and the two

-travellers pushed on in the direction of the light, which sometimes

-disappeared and then again shone between the snow-covered pines.

-

-"But tell me, Pekka," resumed Bertel, "what is the story about this

-wilderness?  I remember that I often heard them speak of it in my

-childhood."

-

-"Yes, yes, your mother was born here."

-

-"There used to be quite a little colony in this wood."

-

-"Yes, indeed, it was many hundreds of acres in extent.  The bailiffs

-had laid it all out for miles, as far back as Gustaf Vasa's time; and

-here many hundreds of tons of grain have been grown, so father has told

-me; and the noble bailiff had built a fine house here, and lived like a

-prince in the wilderness; and then, as I told you, the peasants came

-and set fire to the place in the night-time, destroying both people and

-cattle, with the exception of the young 'Lady,' whom your father saved

-and afterwards took for his wife.  It is very certain that he had a

-finger in that pie."

-

-"And so the farm was never built up again."

-

-"You may depend upon it that the fields were a fat slice, and so there

-were plenty of people ready to move here and bid defiance to the devil.

-But the old Evil One was too artful for them; he began to make such a

-rumpus here with supernatural performances day and night, so that no

-one was sure of his life, much less of his sinful soul.  If they sat in

-their homes, the chairs were pulled from under them, and the

-porridge-bowl rolled of its own accord down on the floor; the stones

-were torn from the walls and were showered around people's ears.  If

-they went out in the woods they were no better off; they had to keep a

-sharp look-out that the trees did not come crashing down upon their

-heads, although the weather might be perfectly quiet, and that the

-ground did not open under their feet, and draw them down into a

-bottomless pit.  And when I think that we are now travelling through

-the same woods ... Oh, oh, I am sinking..."

-

-"You fool, it is only the pure snow!--and then you say people could not

-stand it any longer?"

-

-"They all moved away, so that there was not even a cat left, except an

-old cottager, but I suppose he died long ago.  The whole settlement was

-again deserted, the ditches filled up, the fields became covered with

-moss, and the pine-woods spread over the former grain lands.  It is now

-forty years since that time..."

-

-And Pekka, who was not in the habit of making long speeches, seemed

-astonished at his own loquacity, and came to a sudden stop as he

-reigned in his horse.

-

-"What is it now?" asked Bertel impatiently.

-

-"I don't see a glimpse of the light."

-

-"Neither do I.  It is hidden by the trees."

-

-"No, dear master, it is not concealed by the trees; it has sunk into

-the earth after decoying us here into the depths of the forest.  Did

-not I tell you that it would be so?  We shall never get out of this

-alive."

-

-"For the devil's sake ride on and do not stop, else both man and beast

-will stiffen with the cold.  It seems to me I see something like a hut

-over there."

-

-"Fine hut; it is nothing but a granite rock with grey sides, from which

-the wind has blown away the snow.  It is all over with us."

-

-"Hold your tongue, and ride on!  Here we have an open space with young

-woods; I caught a glimpse of something there between the snow-drifts."

-

-"All the saints be with us!  We are now on the very spot where the

-house stood.  Do you not see the old fire-place sticking out through

-the snow?  Not a step farther, master!"

-

-"I am not mistaken ... it is the hut."

-

-Bertel and his companion found themselves on very rough ground, where

-the horses stumbled at every step over large stones, or sank into great

-hollows covered with snow.  Deep snow-drifts and fallen trees made it

-worse still, as if to obstruct the passage to a dilapidated peasant's

-hut, which by design or chance was hidden behind two spreading firs,

-with branches hanging to the ground.  The only window of the hut had a

-shutter, which was at one moment blown open by the wind and then

-slammed to again, thus causing the light within to show itself and

-disappear by turns.

-

-Bertel dismounted from his horse, tied it to a branch of the fir, and

-approached the window to throw a glance inside.  A secret hope gave

-wings to his feet.  He took it for granted that unless the fugitives

-had gone in a northerly direction, they could not have followed the

-main highway, but had sought to escape their pursuers on the side

-roads.  But in this part of the plain of East Bothnia hundreds of small

-roads crossed each other at that time, all leading to the new

-settlements in the East.  Who told him that the fugitives would select

-just this road?

-

-Still his heart beat faster when he approached the window.  Of the four

-small panes two were of horn, which was formerly used in default of

-glass; one of them was broken and stopped up with moss; only the fourth

-was of glass, but so covered with ice and snow that at first nothing

-could be seen.  Bertel breathed on the glass, but found to his vexation

-that the frost on the inside defied his curiosity.  Just then his horse

-neighed.

-

-It seemed ridiculous to Bertel to stand spying into a poor peasant's

-hut.  He was already on the point of knocking at the door, when at that

-instant a shadow obscured the light, and the frost on the inside of the

-glass was quickly melted by the breath of a human being, as eager to

-look out as he was to look in.  Bertel was soon able to discern a face

-with burning eyes, which stared out close to the window, to discover

-the cause of a horse's neighing so late at night in the wilderness.

-

-The sight of this face had the effect of an electric shock upon the

-inquisitive captain.  With his thoughts on the beautiful Regina, Bertel

-had expected a sight not involving so great a contrast.  But instead he

-beheld a corpse-like face surrounded by a black tight-fitting, leather

-hood, and this dark frame made the pale face seem still paler.

-

-Bertel had seen these features before, and when he searched his memory,

-the picture of a terrible night in the Bavarian woods rose before his

-mental vision.  Involuntarily he drew back, and hesitated for a moment.

-This motion was observed by Pekka, who had remained on his horse so as

-to be ready to fly.

-

-"Quick, away from here!" he cried.  "I have told you that nobody but

-the devil himself lives in these woods."

-

-"Yes, you are right," said Bertel, now smiling at his own fears, and

-what he considered to be the offspring of his heated fancy.  "If ever

-the Prince of Darkness has assumed a human form, then he resides in

-this hut.  But that is just the reason why we will look the worthy

-gentleman in the face, and force him to give us lodgings for the night.

-Hullo, there! open the door to some travellers."

-

-These words were accompanied by some heavy blows on the door.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IX.

-

-DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.

-

-After some time the door was opened, and an old man, bent with age, and

-with snow-white hair, disclosed himself.  Accustomed by the right of

-war to take whatever was necessary, when it was not given voluntarily,

-Bertel pushed the old man aside and entered the miserable hut without

-ceremony.  To his great astonishment he found it empty.  A half burnt

-"perta,"* stuck in between the bricks of the fire-place, threw a

-flickering light around this abode of poverty.  There was no door

-except the entrance; no living being besides the old man and a large

-woolly dog, which lay outstretched on the hearth, and showed his teeth

-to the uninvited guest.

-

-

-* A thin stick of pine-wood, a yard long and an inch thick, which the

-peasants sometimes use instead of candles.

-

-

-"Where is the man in the black leather hood, who was here a moment

-ago?" asked Bertel sharply.

-

-"God bless your grace," answered the old man humbly and evasively, "who

-could be here but your grace?"

-

-"Out with the truth!  Somebody must be hidden here.  Under the bed ...

-no.  Behind the oven ... no.  And yet you have just had a large fire

-kindled in the fire-place.  What?  I believe it is put out with water?

-Answer."

-

-"It is so cold, your grace, and the hut is full of cracks..."

-

-Bertel's aroused suspicions were not so easily dispelled.  His eyes

-searched every part of the room, and soon discovered a little object

-which had fallen under a bench.  It was a fine and soft lady's glove,

-lined with flannel.

-

-"Will you now confess, old wretch?" burst out the excited young man.

-

-The old man seemed dismayed, but only for a moment.  He suddenly

-changed his manner, nodded slyly, and pointed to the corner nearest the

-oven.  Bertel followed the hint ... took a few steps ... and suddenly

-felt himself precipitated downwards.  He had fallen into the open hole

-of a cellar, whose entrance had been hidden by the heavy shadow of the

-fire-place.  Instantly a trap-door was closed over the opening, and he

-heard the rattling of an iron hook, which secured the trap and deprived

-him of all chance of opening the door from below.

-

-Bertel had fallen into one of those places under the floor in which

-poor people keep roots and home-brewed beer.  The cellar was not deep,

-nor his fall dangerous, but, nevertheless, Bertel's anger was quite

-natural.  The little glove had betrayed the whole story.  She must be

-here; she, the beautiful, proud, unfortunate princess, whom he had so

-long adored in secret.  Perhaps she had fallen into the hands of cruel

-robbers.  And just now, when he was near to her after years of longing,

-and when, perhaps, she most needed his help and protection, he had been

-caught in a miserable trap; imprisoned in a rat-hole, more miserable

-than the hut itself, of which the floor this moment served him for a

-ceiling.  In vain did he try to lift up the planks of the floor by the

-strength of his shoulders; they were as inexorable as the fate which

-had so long mocked his dearest hopes.

-

-Then he heard the footsteps of several persons passing over the floor

-overhead.  Then all was silent.

-

-Pekka was now Bertel's only hope, but the former had not dared to enter

-the hut.  Nothing was heard of him, however, and three or four hours

-passed in torturing suspense, increased by the prospect of perishing

-from hunger and cold.  Then steps again sounded overhead; the iron hook

-was unfastened, and the trap-door raised.  Half-frozen, Bertel crawled

-up from the damp hole, in the firm belief that Pekka had at last spied

-out his prison.  He was met instead by the old man with the snow-white

-hair, who, humble and submissive as before, offered his hand to help

-him up.

-

-The enraged young warrior seized him by his bony shoulders, and

-proceeded to catechise him in a thorough manner.

-

-"Wretch," he exclaimed, "are you tired of life, or do you not know what

-you are doing, dotard?  What hinders me from crushing your miserable

-carcase against the walls of your own hut?"

-

-The old man looked at him with an unchanging countenance.

-

-"Do so, Bertila's son," he replied; "kill your mother's old faithful

-servant if you wish; why should he live any longer?"

-

-"My mother's old servant, do you say?"

-

-"I am the last survivor of all those who formerly inhabited this

-fertile region, which is now a wilderness.  It was I who said to Aron

-Bertila, when my master's house was destroyed in blood and ashes: 'Save

-my young mistress.'  And Bertila did it; cursed is he and blessed at

-the same time!  He carried my lovely young mistress out of the flames,

-and she, a noble maiden, became the haughty peasant's humble wife."

-

-"But are you mad, old man?  If you are, as you say, my mother's old

-servant, why did you shut me up in that damned hole?  You must admit

-that your friendship is of a strange kind."

-

-"Kill me, sir.  I am ninety years of age.  Kill me, I am a Catholic!"

-

-"You!  Well, by my sword now I begin to understand you."

-

-"I am the last Catholic in this country.  I belong to King John's and

-King Sigismund's time.  I am one of the four who buried the last nun in

-Nadendal's cloister.  For twenty years I have not heard mass, or been

-sprinkled with holy water.  But all the saints be praised, an hour

-before your arrival, I had eaten of the holy wafer."

-

-"A monk has been in your hut?"

-

-"Yes, sir, one of ours."

-

-"And with him a young girl and her old waiting-maid?  Answer."

-

-"Yes, sir, they were in his company."

-

-"And on my arrival you concealed them..."

-

-"In the garret.  Yes, your grace."

-

-"Then you decoyed me into that miserable rat-hole, while you allowed

-the women and the monk to escape."

-

-"I do not deny that it is so."

-

-"And what do you think that your reward will be?"

-

-"Anything--death, perhaps."

-

-"I will spare your life on one condition: you shall show me the way the

-fugitives have taken."

-

-"My life; I told you that I was ninety years old."

-

-"And you do not fear the torture?"

-

-"The saints be praised, if I was worthy of so great an honour."

-

-"But if I burn you alive in your own hut?"

-

-"The holy martyrs have been burnt at the stake."

-

-"No, old man, I am not an executioner.  I have learnt in the service of

-my king to revere faithfulness."  And Bertel pressed the old man's hand

-with emotion.

-

-"But I will tell you one thing," he continued, "you think that I have

-come to take the fugitives back to their prison.  It is not so.  I give

-you my word of honour, that I will defend Lady Regina's freedom with my

-life's blood, and do all in my power to favour her flight.  Will you

-now tell me which way she has gone?"

-

-"No, your grace," said the calm old man; "the young lady is under the

-protection of the saints, and a wise man's guidance.  You are

-hot-blooded and young, and would bring them all to ruin.  Turn back,

-you will not find any trace of the fugitives."

-

-"Bull-head," muttered Bertel indignantly.  "Farewell, I shall get along

-without your help."

-

-"Remain here quietly until to-morrow, your grace.  To-night you are at

-liberty to walk, if you choose, six miles through the high snow-drifts,

-to the nearest farm.  To-morrow you can ride comfortably."

-

-"Wretch! you have sent my horses away?"

-

-"Yes, your grace ... you must be hungry.  Here is a kettle with boiled

-turnips; may they be to your taste."

-

-"Ah!" thought Bertel to himself, as he impatiently paced the floor, "I

-would not let Larsson see me at this moment for ten bottles of Rhine

-wine.  He would certainly compare me to the wandering knight of La

-Mancha, who, on the way to his Dulcinea, fell into the most peculiar

-adventures.  How shall I get away from here through these terrible

-snow-drifts?"

-

-"But," he added aloud, "I have an idea; I will try if one of the

-greatest amusements of my youth cannot serve me a good turn now.  Old

-man, where do you keep your snow-shoes?"

-

-"My snow-shoes?" replied the old man, confused.  "I have none."

-

-"You have, I see it in your face.  No Finn in the wilderness is without

-snow-shoes.  Out with them, quick!"

-

-And without heeding the old man, Bertel pushed open the door which led

-to the garret, and drew out a fine pair of snow-shoes.

-

-"Well, old friend," exclaimed the young cavalier, "what do you think of

-my horses? ... I call them mine, for I will bet anything that you will

-sell them to me for three hard silver thalers: swifter steeds have

-seldom hurried over high snow-drifts.  If you have any greeting for the

-monk or Lady Regina, I will take it with pleasure."

-

-"Do not go alone into the wilderness," said the old man.  "There is

-neither track or path; the woods extend for miles, and are filled with

-wolves.  It will be certain death to you."

-

-"You are wrong, my friend," replied Bertel.  "If I am not mistaken,

-there are traces in two directions: one from my horses, the other from

-the fugitives.  Tell me, did they go in a sleigh, or on horseback?"

-

-"I think they went on horseback."

-

-"Then I am certain they drove.  You are a finished rogue.  But I

-forgive you for the sake of your excellent snow-shoes.  Farewell, in a

-couple of hours I will find those whom I seek."

-

-With these words Bertel hurried out.

-

-It was yet early in the morning, a short time before sunrise.  But

-fortunately the storm had ceased, the sky was clear, and the winter

-stars twinkled brightly in the blue firmament.  The cold had increased,

-and a sharp frost had covered all the branches and snowdrifts with

-those ice diamonds, which at once dazzle and charm the wanderer's eye.

-The sight of woods and snow on a starry winter morning gives the

-Northerner a peculiar exhilarating feeling.  There is in this scene a

-grandeur, a splendour, a purity, a freshness, which carries him back to

-the impressions of his childhood and the brilliant illusions of youth.

-There is nothing to cramp the heart, or paralyze the soaring

-imagination; all is there so vast, so solemn, so free.  One might say

-that nature in this deep silence of winter and night is dead, and yet

-she lives, warm and rich, in the wanderer's heart.

-

-It is as if she had in this little spot, this solitary place in the

-wilderness, compressed all her throbbing life, only to let it exist all

-the more beautifully in the midst of silence, stillness, and the

-radiance of the stars.

-

-Bertel also experienced this feeling of freshness and life.  He was

-still young and open to every impression.  As he hastened along, light

-as the wind, between the trees and snow-drifts, he felt like a child.

-It seemed to him that he was again the boy who flew over the snow on

-Storkyro plains to spread his snares for the black-cock in the woods.

-It was true that he was a little unsteady in the beginning for lack of

-practice, and the snow-shoes slid merrily down the icy slopes;

-occasionally he made false pushes, and sometimes stumbled, but he soon

-regained his former skill, and stood firm on the uneven ground.

-

-Now it was necessary to find the traces of the fugitives, and this was

-not easy.  Bertel had wandered about for more than an hour in the

-direction of Ylihärmä, but had not discovered the slightest sign.  The

-last outbreak of the storm had destroyed all indications; one could

-only see the fresh track of the wolf, where he had just trotted along,

-and now and then a frightened bird flew between the branches which were

-heavy with snow.  Want of sleep, hunger, and fatigue, exhausted the

-young man's strength.  The cold increased as sunrise approached, and

-covered his moustache and plumed hat with frost.

-

-At last he saw on a wood-path, which the broad pines had shielded from

-the blast, fresh traces of runners and horses' feet.  Bertel followed

-these with renewed energy; at times the tracks were lost in the snow,

-and then reappeared where the road was sheltered.  The sun rose deep

-red in the south-east over the tops of the trees.  The day was cold and

-clear.  In every direction nothing was to be seen but trees and

-snow-drifts, but far away in the north a little column of smoke rose

-towards the morning sky.  Bertel aimed at this point.  The snow-shoes

-regained their speed, the road seemed smoother, and at last the weary

-adventurer reached a solitary farmhouse by the side of the high road.

-

-The first person he encountered was Pekka, who was going to feed his

-horses.

-

-"Scoundrel!" cried Bertel, with glad surprise, "who sent you here?"

-

-"Who?" repeated Pekka, equally delighted and astonished.  "Well, I

-shall tell you that the devil did it.  I waited and waited outside that

-accursed old shanty in the woods until my eyes and feet became heavy

-together, where I sat in the snow-drift.  After a little while I was

-aroused by the neighing of horses.  And then I saw a sleigh just like

-ours harnessed to two horses, dashing away along the road.  It is

-either my master or the devil.  It is all the same to me.  I will

-follow him, I said.  Then I climbed up again on the horse's back.  I

-was so hungry that it is a shame to speak of it; but I went after him.

-Finally the horse became tired and I lost sight of the sleigh; and

-thanked are both Lutheran and Catholic saints that I came here to the

-farm and got a good bowl of porridge.  For was it not at Lützen and

-Nördlingen ... it is damned cold at Ylihärmä, that is sure."

-

-"Good," said Bertel, "they shall not escape us.  But do you know one

-thing, Pekka: there are moments when hunger and want of sleep are even

-stronger than love itself.  Come, let us go in."

-

-Bertel entered, and drank a bowl of boiled milk, and threw himself,

-overcome by fatigue, on a straw bed in the "stuga."  Here we will leave

-our wandering knight for a couple of hours in peace.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER X.

-

-KAJANEBORG.

-

-Far away in the North roar the mighty waters of the sea under vaults of

-ice; the _fors_ never freezes, the green of the pine never withers, and

-the grey rocks, which confine the foaming floods in narrow ravines,

-never shake.  Here the powers of nature have pursued their incessant

-warfare for centuries without rest, without reconciliation; the flood

-never tires of battling with the rocks, and these persist in resisting

-the stream; the hills never seem to grow old, and the immense morasses

-defy cultivation; the frosty transparent atmosphere quivers as of old

-in the northern light, and the winter sky looks down with its

-imperturbable, majestic calm upon the scattered huts on the banks of

-the streams.

-

-This is the home of night and terror; this is the shadow of Finnish

-poetry's golden pictures.  Here the light-shunning Black Art spins its

-webs around human beliefs; here are the graves of heroes; here the last

-giants spent their rude strength in the mountain wilderness; here stood

-Hüsis ancient fortress, of which the steps were each six feet in

-height; here the spirit of the middle ages brooded over its darkest

-thoughts; here it receded, step by step, before the light of a newer

-time, and here it has bled in its impotent rage; heathenism, fallen

-from its greatness, steals outlawed from place to place, in the sheep's

-clothing of Christendom, going restlessly around the country, and

-performing its miserable mummeries in churchyards at night.

-

-Before the great northern waters, irritated by their battles in

-hundreds of _forssar_* go to seek a brief repose in Uleä Sea, they once

-more pour out their anger into the two mighty waterfalls of Koivukoski

-and Ämmä, near the little Kajana.  Like two immense surfs the torrents

-throw themselves headlong down the narrow pass, and so violent is their

-fall that human daring, accustomed to struggle with nature and conquer

-in the end, has here stopped with dismay and acknowledged its

-powerlessness.  Up to the latest times the boats which have steered

-down the _forssar_ in their course towards Uleäborg, have always been

-obliged to land here and be drawn by horses through the streets of

-Kajana.**

-

-

-* Plural of fors.

-

-** After the surgeon's time, a lock was completed here at each fall,

-and the boats now continue on their way without much delay.

-

-

-In the stream, right between the two falls, Koivukoski and Ämmä, lies a

-flat rock, to which bridges are attached from both sides.  Here stand

-the grey walls of an ancient fortress, now in ruins, and constantly

-bathed by the waves of the flood.  This fortress of Kajaneborg was

-founded in 1607, during Carl IX.'s time, as a protection against

-Russian invasion.  Perhaps the time may come in our stories when we

-shall speak more of it.

-

-It is now 1635, and the castle stands in its original strength.  Its

-form resembles an arrow with the point turned towards the stream.

-Unless famine occurs, or the enemy can bring heavy artillery to the

-heights, it is considered impregnable.  But how can a hostile army find

-any road to Kajaneborg?  In the immense wilderness all around there is

-not a single road where a wheel can run.  In summer the traveller

-follows the narrow paths, and in winter the Laplander, with his

-reindeer and sleigh, drives over the frozen lakes.

-

-It is winter; a thick crust of ice on the shores and over the walls of

-the castle shows that the cold has been severe, though it has not been

-able to bind the _fors_ in its rapid course.

-

-Some soldiers, clad in sheep-skin jackets, with the fur side turned

-inwards, are busy drawing home wood from the adjacent forest.  There is

-peace in the land, the drawbridge is down, and horses' feet thunder

-over the bridge.  Then a violent squabble arises in the castle yard.

-An old woman, tall in stature, with rather disagreeable features, has

-taken possession of one of the loads of wood, and pushed away the

-soldiers, while she picks up as many pieces as she is able to carry,

-and commands another younger woman to do likewise.

-

-The soldiers utter coarse oaths, but the woman with the keen eyes does

-not deign to reply.

-

-A sub-officer, drawn there by the noise, informs himself of the cause,

-then addresses the woman with hard words, and orders her to return the

-wood she has taken.  The woman refuses to obey; the sub-officer

-endeavours to use force; the woman plants herself back to the wall,

-raises a small log of wood in the air, and threatens to break the head

-of the first man who approaches her.  The soldiers swear and laugh; the

-sub-officer hesitates; the old woman's courage holds them all in check.

-

-Then an elderly man appears on the steps, to whom all give way with

-reverence.  It is Governor Wernstedt.  As soon as the old woman sees

-him, she leaves her hostile attitude, and relates with a torrent of

-words all the injustice she has suffered.

-

-"Yes, gracious Excellency," she said, "that is the way they dare to

-treat a man who is the pride and ornament of Sweden.  It is not

-sufficient to shut him up in this miserable out-of-the-way hole, but

-they let him freeze to death in the bargain.  What wood have they given

-us?  Great God! nothing but green and rotten chunks, which fill the

-room with smoke, and do not give out heat enough to thaw the ink on his

-table.  But I tell you, Excellency, that I, Lucia Grothusen, do not

-intend to be imposed upon any longer.  This wood is good, and I take

-it, as you see, Excellency, right before the face of these vagabonds,

-who deserve to all hang upon the highest pine in the Paldamo forest.

-Pack yourselves off, you lazy, good-for-nothing rascals, and look out

-how you act before me and the Governor.  The wood is mine, and that is

-all to be said about it."

-

-The Governor smiled.

-

-"Let her keep the wood," he said to the soldiers, "or else there will

-be no peace in the castle.  And you, Lucia, I warn you to hold your

-wicked tongue, which has already done so much mischief; otherwise it

-may happen that I shall again put you and your husband in that basement

-you know of, where Erik Hare kept you, and where the stream rolls right

-under the floor.  Is this the thanks I get for the mild treatment I

-have bestowed upon you, that you are eternally exciting quarrels in the

-castle?  The day before yesterday you gave rein to your tongue, because

-you did not receive enough soap for your washing; yesterday you took a

-leg of mutton by force from my kitchen, and to-day you make a noise

-about the wood.  Take care, Lucia; my patience may be exhausted."

-

-The woman looked the Governor right in the face.

-

-"Your patience!" she repeated.  "How long do you think that mine will

-last.  I have stayed now nearly nineteen years in this owl's nest.  For

-nineteen long years has it cast a stain upon Sweden that its greatest

-man is confined here like a criminal! ... Mark what I say: Sweden's

-greatest man; for the day will arrive when you, and I, and all these

-souls of lard, all these wandering ale-jugs, will be food for worms,

-and no more thought of than the hogs you killed to-day; but the

-glorious name of Johannes Messenius will shine for all time.  Your

-patience!  Have I, then, had none--I who in these long weary years have

-been fighting with you for a bit of bread, for firewood, for a pillow

-for this great man, whom you abuse?  I, the only one who has kept his

-frail body alive, and strengthened his soul for the great work which he

-has now accomplished?  Do you realise what it means to suffer as I

-have; to be snatched away from one's children, to go about with despair

-in the heart, and a smile on the lips, so as to seem to have a hope

-when none remains? ... Do you know, your Excellency, what all this

-means?  And you stand there and talk about your patience!"

-

-The soldiers' loud laughter all at once interrupted the voluble old

-woman.  She now perceived for the first time that the Governor had

-chosen the wisest course, and gone his way.  It was not the first time

-that Lucia Grothusen had put the commander of a fortress to flight.

-She felt able to drive a whole garrison to the woods.  But it vexed her

-that she could not fully relieve her heart.  She threw a stick of wood

-at the nearest and worst of her mockers, and then hurried with the wood

-in her arms, to reach a low back door.  The soldier, struck in the leg,

-seized the stick with an oath, and flung it in his turn after the old

-woman.  Lucia, hit in the heel, uttered a cry of pain and anger ... and

-then she disappeared through the door, followed by the soldiers' loud

-laughter.

-

-During this scene of self-sacrifice on one side, and rudeness on the

-other, a group of strangers had arrived over the left castle bridge,

-and asked to be conducted to the Governor.

-

-The soldiers regarded them with curiosity.  They wore the common garb

-of peasants, but their whole appearance betrayed their foreign origin.

-An old man, with dark squinting eyes and sallow complexion, came first;

-his face partly hidden under a woolly cap of dog-skin, which with its

-ear-flaps covered the greater portion of the head.  After him followed

-a young woman in a striped home-spun skirt, and a tight-fitting jacket

-of new and fine white sheep-skin.  Her face, also, is almost entirely

-concealed under a hood of coarse felt, bordered with squirrel-skin, the

-fine fur of which is covered with frost.  One only saw a pair of

-beautiful dark eyes of unusual brilliancy, which peeped forth from the

-hood.  The third of the company was a little old woman, so wrapped up

-in furs that her short figure had widened out into the shape of a

-well-stuffed cushion.

-

-All these persons were conducted to the Governor.  The man in the

-dog-skin cap showed a passport, according to which, Albertus Simonis,

-in his royal Majesty's service, was appointed army physician to the

-troops which were to go to Germany the following spring, and was now,

-with his wife and daughter, on a journey from Dantzig to Stockholm, by

-way of the north road through Wiborg and Kajana.  The Governor closely

-examined both the document and the man, and seemed to find a

-satisfactory conclusion to his survey.  Then he sent the travellers to

-a room in the east wing of the castle, and gave orders for them to be

-provided with the necessary refreshments after such a long journey in

-the severe cold.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XI.

-

-THE PRISONER OF STATE.

-

-The room which we now enter is situated in the south tower of the

-castle, and is not very inviting.  It is large and dark.  Although with

-a sunny aspect, the narrow window, with its thick iron gratings, only

-admits a few of the winter's day sunbeams.  A large open fire-place,

-with a granite hearth, occupies one corner of the room; a rough

-unpainted bed, a couple of benches, two chairs, a clothes-chest, a

-large table under the window, and a high cupboard next to it, make up

-the furniture of the room.  All these things have a new appearance,

-which to some degree reconciles the eye to their coarseness.

-

-But the room is a curious combination of kitchen and study.  Learning

-has established its abode at the upper end nearest the window.  The

-table is adorned with ink spots, and covered with old yellow

-manuscripts and large folios of parchments.  The door of the cupboard

-is open, and shows its use as a library.  The lower part of the room,

-near the fire-place, has a different appearance.  Here stands a

-wash-tub by a sack of flour; a kettle is waiting to receive some dried

-pike and bits of salt pork, and leaves room for a bucket of water, and

-a shelf filled with coarse stone dishes.

-

-Such was the habitation which Governor Wernstedt had assigned to the

-state prisoner, Johannes Messenius, his wife, and servant, instead of

-the horrible place where Messenius' tormentor, old Erik Hare, for so

-many years confined these unfortunate beings.  The room was at least

-high and dry above the ground, and its furniture was likewise a

-friendly gift from the Governor.  Messenius occupied the upper part,

-and the women of his household the lower.

-

-By the large ink-spotted table sat a grey-haired man, with his body

-wrapped in furs, his feet clad with reindeer boots, and his head

-covered with a thick woollen cap.  One who had seen this man in the

-days of his prosperity, when he occupied the rostrum in Upsala

-"Consistorium," or proud as a king on his throne, exercising sole

-control over all the historical treasures of the Swedish state

-archives, would scarcely now recognise in this withered form, bent by

-age and misfortune, the man with the arrogant mind, the opponent of

-Rudbeck and Tegel, the learned, gifted, haughty, Jesuit conspirator,

-Johannes Messenius.

-

-But if one looked deep into those keen, restless eyes, which seemed

-constantly trying to penetrate the future as they had done the past,

-and read the words which his shaking hand had just penned--words full

-of egotism even to presumption--then one could divine that within this

-decayed tenement toiled a soul unbroken by time and events, proud as it

-had always been, ambitious as it could never cease to be.

-

-The old man's gaze was fixed upon the paper long after he had laid down

-his pen.

-

-"Yes," he said thoughtfully and reflectively, "so shall it be.  During

-my lifetime they have trampled me like a worm in the dust; once I am

-dead they will know upon whom they have trodden.  _Gloria, gloria in

-excelsis!_  The day will arrive, even if it be a century hence, when

-the miserable prisoner who, now forgotten by the whole world, pines

-away in the wilderness, shall with admiration and respect be called the

-father of Swedish history....

-

-"Then," he continued with a bitter smile, "they can do nothing more for

-me.  Then I shall be dead ... Ah, it is strange! the dead man, whose

-bones have long mouldered in the grave, lives in his works; his spirit

-goes quickening and ennobling through the ages.  All that he has

-endured while he lived, all the ignominy, all the persecutions, all the

-prison gratings are forgotten; they exist no longer, provided his name

-still shines like a star through the night of time, and posterity, with

-its short memory and its ingratitude, says, with thoughtless

-admiration, he was a great man!"

-

-During this soliloquy the old woman, whose acquaintance we made in the

-castle yard, entered the room.  She carefully opened the door, and

-walked on tip-toe, as if afraid of waking a sleeping babe.  Then she

-carefully put down the wood she carried in her arms.  A little noise,

-however, was unavoidable; the old man at the table, startled from his

-thoughts, began to upbraid the intruder:

-

-"Woman!" he said, "how dare you disturb me!  Have I not told you

-_iterum iterumque_, that you shall take away your _penates procul a

-parnasso_?  Do you understand it ... _lupa_?"

-

-"Dear Messenius, I am only bringing you a little wood.  You have been

-so cold all these days.  Do not be angry now.  I shall make the room

-nice and warm for you; it is excellent wood..."

-

-"_Quid miki tecum_.  Go to the dogs.  You vex me, woman.  You are, as

-the late King Gustaf always said, _Messenü mala herba_; my wormwood, my

-nettle."

-

-Lucia Grothusen was an extremely quick-tempered woman, angry and

-quarrelsome with the whole world; but this time she kept quite still.

-How strangely her domestic position had altered!  She had always

-idolized her husband, but as long as he was in the full strength of his

-manhood and prosperity, she had bent his unquiet, vacillating spirit

-like a reed under her will.  All that time the feared and learned

-Messenius was held in complete subjection.  Now the _rôles_ were

-changed.  As his physical strength declined, indicating more and more

-that he approached the end of his life, his wife's idolatrous love came

-into conflict with her masterful disposition, and finally produced the

-extraordinary result of reducing this character to humble submission.

-She nursed him as a mother nurses her sick child, for fear of losing

-him.  She bore everything patiently, and never had an angry word in

-reply to his querulous remarks.  Even on this occasion, only a slight

-trembling of the lips gave evidence of the effort it cost her to check

-her anger.

-

-"Never mind," she said kindly, as she went a few steps nearer, "do not

-feel angry about it, my dear, because it injures your health.  I will

-not do it again; next time I will lay a mat under the wood, so that it

-will not disturb you.  Now I will cook you a splendid leg of mutton for

-supper ... Believe me, I had trouble enough to get it.  I almost had to

-take it by force from the Governor's kitchen."

-

-"What, woman! have you dared to beg _beneficia_ from tyrants?  By

-Jupiter, do you think me a dog, that I should eat the crumbs from their

-tables?  And then you limp.  Why do you do that?  Answer me; why do you

-limp?  I suppose you have been running around like a gossiping old

-woman, and tripped on the stairs."

-

-"Do I limp?" repeated Lucia, with a forced smile.  "I really believe I

-have hurt my foot ... Ungrateful!" added she silently to herself; "it

-is for your sake that I suffer."

-

-"Go your way, and let me finish my epitaph."

-

-But Lucia did not go; she came closer to him.  Her eyes filled with

-tears, and she folded both her arms around the old man's neck.

-

-"Your epitaph!" she repeated in a voice so mild that one would never

-have expected it from those withered lips, used so very often for hard

-words and invective only.

-

-"Oh, my God!" she continued in a low tone, "shall, then, all that is

-great and glorious on earth finally become dust?  But that day is still

-far distant, my friend; yes, it must be so.  Let me see the epitaph of

-the great Johannes Messenius!"

-

-"Certainly," said the old man, consoled by her sincere flattery, "you

-are decidedly the true _persona executrix_ who ought to read my

-_epitaphium_, as you are also the one who will have to engrave it on my

-tombstone.  Look, my dear; what do you think of this?

-

-"Here lie the bones of Doctoris Johannes Messenii.  His soul is in

-God's kingdom, but his fame is all over the world!"

-

-"Never," said Lucia, weeping, "have truer words been placed over a

-great man's grave.  But let us say no more about it.  Let us speak of

-your great work, your _Scondia_.  Do you know I have a feeling that its

-glory will in a short time prepare freedom for you..."

-

-"Freedom!" repeated Messenius, in a melancholy tone.  "Yes, you are

-right; the freedom of the grave to decay wherever one chooses."

-

-"No," replied Lucia with eagerness and enthusiasm, "you shall yet

-receive the honour that is due to you.  They will read your great

-_Scondia illustrata_, they will have it printed ... with your name in

-gilded letters on the title-page ... the whole world will say, full of

-admiration: 'never has his equal existed in the North'!"

-

-"And never will exist again!" added Messenius, with confidence.  "Oh!

-who will restore me my freedom--freedom that I may behold my work and

-triumph over my enemies.  Hear me, Lord, I stretch out my hands before

-Thy face.  Save me from misery, for Thou hast said: 'I will prostrate

-thine enemies, to be trampled under thy feet.'  Who will give me

-freedom--freedom and ten years of life to witness the fruits of my

-labour?"

-

-"I," answered a muffled voice at the lower end of the room.

-

-At the sound of this voice both Messenius and his wife looked around

-with superstitious terror.  The loneliness of the prison, and the

-associations of this wild country, which in all ages has been the

-fruitful soil of superstition, had in both increased the belief in

-superhuman things to a perfect conviction.  More than once had

-Messenius' brooding spirit been on the point of plunging into the

-enticing labyrinth of the Kabala and practical Magic; but his zealous

-labours and his wife's religious exhortations had held him back.  Now

-came an unexpected answer to his question ... from Heaven or the abyss,

-no matter which, but an answer, nevertheless--a straw for his drowning

-hopes.

-

-The short winter day had drawn to a close, and twilight already spread

-its shadows over that part of the room which lay nearest the door.

-From this obscurity advanced a man, in whose sallow features one

-recognised the same person who two hours before had gained an entrance

-to the castle, under the name of Albertus Simonis.  He had probably, in

-his capacity of physician, obtained permission to see the prisoner, for

-the whole medical faculty of the castle consisted of a barber, who

-practised chirurgery, and an old soldier's widow, whose skill in curing

-internal diseases was highly commended, especially when it was assisted

-by _luvut_, or incantations, which, although forbidden by the Church,

-were still used in the vapour-baths as powerful magical aids.

-

-"_Pax vobiscum!_" said the stranger with a certain solemnity, and

-coming nearer the window.

-

-"May the Lord be with you also!" answered Messenius, in the same tone,

-and with curiosity mingled with inquietude.

-

-"May the woman's tongue be far from the consultation!" continued the

-stranger also in Latin.

-

-Lucia, in whose youth the daughters of learned men knew Latin better

-than those of the nineteenth century read French, did not wait for a

-further reminder, and left the room with an inquisitive glance at the

-mysterious stranger.

-

-Messenius made a sign to his visitor to take a seat near him.  The

-whole conversation was conducted in Latin.

-

-"Receive my greeting, great man, whom misfortune has only been able to

-elevate!" began the stranger, with artful discrimination attacking

-Messenius' weakest point.

-

-"Be welcome, you who do not disdain to visit the forsaken!" replied

-Messenius with unusual courtesy.

-

-"Do you recognise me, Johannes Messenius?" said the stranger, as he let

-the light fall on his pale face.

-

-"It seems to me that I have seen your face before," replied the

-prisoner hesitatingly; "but it must have been a long time ago."

-

-"Do you remember a boy in Braunsberg, some years younger than yourself,

-who was educated with you in the school of the holy fathers, and

-afterwards in your company visited Rome and Ingolstadt?"

-

-"Yes, I remember ... a boy who gave great promise of one day becoming a

-pillar of the church ... Hieronymus Mathiæ."

-

-"I am Hieronymus Mathiæ."

-

-Messenius felt a shudder run through his frame.  Time, the experiences

-of life, and the soul destroying doctrines of the Jesuits, had

-completely changed the features of the once blooming boy.  Pater

-Hieronymus observed this impression, and hastened to add:

-

-"Yes, my revered friend, thirty-five years' struggle for the welfare of

-the only saving Church has caused the roses in these cheeks to fade for

-ever.  I have laboured and suffered in these evil times.  Like you,

-great man, but with much lesser genius, I have dug in the vineyard,

-without any reward for my toil but the prospect of the holy martyr's

-crown in Paradise.  You were very kind to me in my youth; now I will

-repay it so far as it lies in my power.  I will restore you to freedom

-and life."

-

-"Ah, reverend father," replied the old man, with a deep sigh, "I am not

-worthy of this; you, the son of the holy Church, extending your hand to

-me, a poor apostate?  You do not know, then, that I have renounced our

-faith; that I, with my own hand and mouth, have embraced the accursed

-Lutheran religion, which I abhor in my heart; nay, even in my time

-persecuted your holy order with several godless libels."

-

-"Why should I not know all this, my honoured friend; have not the great

-Messenius' work and deeds flown on the wings of fame throughout

-Germany?  But what you have done, has been done as a blind, so as to

-work in secret for the highest good of our holy Roman Church.  Do not

-the Scriptures teach us to meet craft with craft in these godless

-times?  'Ye shall be as wily as serpents.'  The Holy Virgin will give

-you her absolution as soon as you have worked for her sake.  Yes,

-esteemed man, even had you seven times abjured your faith, and seven

-times seventy sinned against all the saints and the dogmas of the

-Church, it shall all be accounted to you for reward, and not for

-condemnation, provided you have done it with a mental reservation, and

-with the design of thereby serving the good cause.  Even if your tongue

-has lied, and your hand killed, it shall be deemed a pious and holy

-work, when it was for the purpose of bringing back the stray sheep.

-Courage, great man, I absolve you in the name of the Church."

-

-"Yes, good father, these teachings which the worthy Jesuit fathers, in

-Braunsberg so eloquently instilled into my young mind, I have

-faithfully followed in my life.  But now, in my old age, it sometimes

-seems to me as if my conscience raised some opposition in the matter..."

-

-"Temptations of the devil! nothing else.  Drive them away!"

-

-"That may well be, pious father!  Yes, to calm my conscience, I have

-written a formal confession, in which I openly declare my profession of

-the Lutheran faith a hypocritical act, and as openly proclaim my

-adherence to the Catholic Church."

-

-"Hide this confession, show it not to any mortal eye!" interrupted the

-Jesuit quickly.  "Its time will yet come."

-

-"I do not understand your reasons, pious father."

-

-"Listen attentively to what I have to say!  Do you think, old man, that

-I, without important reasons, have ventured up here in the wilderness,

-daily exposed to hunger, cold, wild beasts, and the still wilder people

-in this country, who would burn me alive if they knew who I was, and

-what I was about?  Do you think I would have left the wide field in my

-native land, had I not hoped to accomplish more here?  Well, then, I

-will briefly explain to you my point ... Can anyone hear us?  Perhaps

-there are private passages in these walls."

-

-"Be sure no mortal can hear us."

-

-"Know, then," continued the Jesuit in a low voice, "that we have again

-before us the never-abandoned plan of bringing heretic Sweden back to

-the bosom of the Roman Church.  There are only two powers which can any

-longer resist us, and the saints be praised, these powers are becoming

-day by day more harmless.  The House of Stuart, in England, is

-surrounded by our nets, and in secret does everything for our cause.

-Sweden still lies stunned by the terrible blow at Nördlingen, and

-cannot, without fresh miracles, retain its dominant position in

-Germany.  The time has come when our plans are fully matured; we must

-avail ourselves of our enemies' powerlessness.  In a few years England

-will fall into our hands like a ripe fruit.  Sweden, still proud of

-former victories, shall be forced to do the same.  The means to this

-end will be a change of dynasty."

-

-"Christina, King Gustaf's daughter..."

-

-"Is a nine-year-old child, and besides a girl!  We are not without

-allies in Sweden, who still remember the expelled royal family.  The

-weak Sigismund is dead; Uladislaus, his son, stretches out his hands,

-with all the impatience of youth, for the crown of his forefathers.  It

-shall be his."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XII.

-

-THE TEMPTER.

-

-"Uladislaus on the Swedish throne?  I doubt whether we shall ever live

-to see that day," said Messenius incredulously.

-

-"Hear me to the end," continued the Jesuit, engrossed by the stupendous

-plan his scheming head had concocted.  "You, Messenius, are the only

-one who can perform this miracle."

-

-"I ... a miserable prisoner!  Impossible."

-

-"To the saints and genius nothing is impossible.  The Swede is now well

-disposed towards royalty.  The example of his kings leads him to good

-or evil.  He has especially a great reverence for old King Gustaf Vasa.

-If it could now be proved that the said king on his death-bed, with

-repentance, declared the Lutheran doctrine to be heterodox, that he had

-abjured and cursed the Reformation, and that he had charged his

-youngest son, the papistical Johan, to atone for his great errors..."

-

-"What do you dare to say?" burst out Messenius, with undisguised

-surprise.  "Such an obvious lie is in direct opposition to Gustaf

-Vasa's last words at death, all of whose utterances have been so

-faithfully recorded..."

-

-"Calm yourself, revered friend," interrupted the Jesuit coldly.

-"Supposing it could be further demonstrated that the second founder of

-Lutheranism, Carolus IX., likewise on his death-bed declared the

-Reformation to be a blasphemy and a misfortune...?"

-

-Messenius regarded the Jesuit with dismay.

-

-"And if it can finally be proven that even Gustaf Adolf, before giving

-up the ghost at Lützen, was struck by a sudden inspiration, and died a

-heretic's death, under the greatest torment and anguish of soul...?"

-

-Messenius' pale cheeks were covered with a flush.

-

-"Then," continued the Jesuit, with the same composed daring, "there

-remains of the Vasa dynasty only the demented Erik XIV., the admitted

-papist, Johan III., and the professed Catholic, Sigismund, with all of

-whom we need not trouble ourselves in the least.  Once convinced that

-all of their greatest kings either have been papistical, or have become

-so in their last moments, the scales will fall from the eyes of the

-Swedish people; they will penitently confess their guilt, and at last

-fall back into the bosom of the only saving Roman Catholic Church.

-

-"But how will you, revered father, in the face of all the facts,

-convince the Swedes of the apostasy of their kings?"

-

-"I have already told you," replied the Jesuit flatteringly, "that such

-a great and meritorious mission can only be accomplished by the gifted

-Johannes Messenius.  All know that you are Sweden's most learned man

-and greatest historian.  They know that you possess and hold in your

-care more historical documents and secrets than anyone else in the

-whole kingdom.  Use these advantages skilfully and judiciously; compile

-documents that never existed; describe events that never happened..."

-

-"What do you dare to say?" exclaimed Messenius with burning cheeks.

-

-The Jesuit misunderstood his excitement.

-

-"Yes," continued the Jesuit, "the undertaking is a bold one, but far

-from impossible.  A hasty flight to Poland will secure your safety."

-

-"And it is to me ... to me that you make this proposal?"

-

-"Yes," added the monk, in the same tone.  "I realise that Gustaf Adolf

-will cause you the most trouble, and therefore I will be responsible

-for him.  You will have therefore Gustaf I. and Carl IX. as your share,

-to present in such a light as will best serve the cause of the holy

-Church."

-

-"_Abi a me, male spiritus!_" burst out Messenius in a fit of rage,

-which the Jesuit with all his sagacity was far from expecting.  "You

-arch-villain! you liar! you infamous traitor, to lay your hand on the

-holiest; do you think that I, Johannes Messenius, have worked for long

-years to become Sweden's greatest historian, to all of a sudden, in

-such an infamous way, violate the historical truth which I have

-re-established with such long and continuous efforts?  Be off this

-moment, quick ... away, to _Gehenna_!" ... and with these words the old

-scholar, wild with rage, flung everything that he could get hold of at

-the Jesuit's head--books, papers, inkstand, sand-box--with such

-violence that the monk started.  The latter's face became still paler

-... then he took a few steps backwards, rose to his full height, and

-opened the plaited Spanish doublet which covered his breast.  A

-crucifix of flashing diamonds, surmounted by a crown of thorns set with

-rubies, glittered suddenly in the gathering twilight.

-

-This sight seemed to have a magical effect upon Messenius.  His excited

-voice was suddenly hushed ... his rage changed immediately to fear ...

-his knees trembled; he staggered, and was on the point of falling, but

-supported himself with difficulty against the chair at the table.  The

-Jesuit again advanced slowly, and looked steadily at the prisoner with

-his piercing eyes, which were like those of the rattlesnake.

-

-"Have you forgotten, old man," he said, in a measured and commanding

-tone, whilst every word was followed by a pause to increase its effect,

-"the penalty which the Church and the laws of our holy order inflict

-for sins like yours?  For apostasy: death ... and you have seven times

-apostatized!  ... For blasphemy: death ... and you have seven times

-blasphemed! ... For disobedience: death ... and you have seven times

-disobeyed! ... For sin against the Holy Ghost: damnation ... and who

-has sinned like you? ... For heresy: the stake ... and who has merited

-it like you? ... For offence and disrespect against the holy ones of

-the Lord: the eternal fire ... and who has given offence like you?"

-

-"Grace, holy father, grace!" exclaimed Messenius, while he writhed like

-a worm under the Jesuit's terrible threats.

-

-But Father Hieronymus continued:

-

-"The celebrated Nicolaus Pragensis went over to Calvin's false

-doctrines, and dared to defy the Head of our order.  He fled to the

-farthest corner of Bohemia, but our revenge found him.  The dogs tore

-his body to pieces, and the spirits of hell obtained his soul..."

-

-"Grace! mercy!" sighed the prisoner, completely crushed.

-

-"Well, then," added the Jesuit in a haughty tone or superiority, "I

-have given you the choice between glory and perdition; I will once more

-place it before you, although you are undeserving.  Do you imagine,

-miserable apostate, that I, the head of the German and Northern

-Jesuits, who do not acknowledge any superior except the Holy Father at

-Rome--do you believe that I, who have braved myriads of dangers to seek

-you here in your miserable corner, will allow you to stop me, the

-invisible ruler of the whole North, with your disobedience and

-irresolution?  I ask you once more, in the name of our holy order, if

-you, Johannes Messenius, will be faithful to the oath you swore in your

-youth, and implicitly obey the behests and commands which I, your

-superior and judge, enjoin upon you?"

-

-"Yes, holy father," answered the trembling captive; "yes, I will."

-

-"Hear, then, the penalty I impose.  You say that for your whole life

-you have striven for a single aim; that of gaining the name of the

-greatest historian in the North, and you think that you have at last

-attained your desire?"

-

-"Yes, holy father, that has been my object, and I have obtained it."

-

-"Your aim is evil!" exclaimed the Jesuit in stern tones, "and it is

-that of the devil, for you have worked for your own glory, and not for

-that of the holy Church, as you have sworn.  Therefore, I command you

-to destroy, with your own hands, the idol of your life--your great fame

-with posterity--by perverting history and writing it, not as it is, but

-as it ought to be.  I order you to cast away fame, to serve the cause

-of the Roman Church in the North.  You shall write the history of

-Gustaf I. and Carl IX. in such a manner that all they have done for the

-Reformation may redound as a ruin and curse both to them and their

-kingdom.  And I will that you base this new history on such reliable

-documents, that in the eyes of the people they will be above suspicion

-... documents which do not exist, but which you shall manufacture ...

-documents of which the falsity may possibly be discovered in a future

-generation, but which will at present produce the desired effect."

-

-"And thus," said Messenius, in a voice trembling with the most varied

-emotions--fear, anger, and humiliation--"I shall stand before posterity

-as a base falsifier, an infamous perverter of historical truth."

-

-"Yes, and what then?" continued the Jesuit with a sardonic smile; "what

-matters it, if you, miserable tool, sacrifice your name, provided the

-Church gains its great victory?  Of what advantage is the praise of

-men, if your soul burns in the eternal fires of hell; and what matters

-humanity's contempt, if you, through this sacrifice, gain the martyr's

-crown in Heaven?"

-

-"But the cause of truth ... the inflexible judgment of posterity."

-

-"Bah! what is historical truth?  Well, is it the obedient slave who

-follows at the heels of human errors ... the parrot which thoughtlessly

-repeats all their folly?  Or is it not rather truth, such as it _ought

-to be_, purified from error, freed from crime and folly ... God's

-kingdom on earth, as wise as it is almighty, as good as it is holy and

-wise?"

-

-"But is it then we who dictate to God what is good and right?  Has He

-not Himself told us that truth, _such as it is_?"

-

-"Ha! vacillating apostate, you still dare to argue with your superior

-about right and wrong.  Choose, obey or disobey!  Choose on one side

-temporal and eternal death, and on the other the joys of Paradise and

-the glory of the saints.  Yet a word, and upon this depends your weal

-or woe.  Will you obey my commands?"

-

-"Yes, I will obey," answered the crushed and terrified prisoner.  And

-the Jesuit went away silent and cold, with a ruler's nod that the slave

-had his good grace.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIII.

-

-AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT.

-

-About a week had passed since the private conversation to which we last

-listened.  The Jesuit during this time had not left the prisoner to

-himself.  He was seen to enter Messenius' room every day, under the

-pretext of medical attendance, and spent some hours with him.  He was

-too acute to rely upon the prisoner's promise.  No one in the castle

-knew what they did together, and the Governor was unsuspicious.  The

-remote situation of Kajajneborg, far from the rest of the world, had

-lulled Wernstedt into security; he rather found pleasure in the society

-of the learned and experienced foreign doctor.

-

-There was one, however, who with a constant and vigilant eye followed

-every motion of the stranger, and this was Lucia Grothusen, Messenius'

-wife.  A Catholic by education and conviction, she had always

-strengthened her husband in his faith; the Jesuit well knew this, and

-therefore felt sure of her co-operation, although he carefully avoided

-confiding his plans to the mercy of female gossip.  But the most artful

-plans are often frustrated by those hidden springs and motives in the

-human heart, especially in a woman's heart, which work in quite a

-different direction from that of cold reason.  The Jesuit, in spite of

-his astuteness, was mistaken in our Lucia.  He did not know that when

-the fanaticism in her mind shouted, push on! love cried still louder in

-her heart, hold back! and love in women always gets the upper hand.

-

-Lucia was a very penetrating person; she had looked through the Jesuit

-before he knew it.  She saw the ruinous inward strife which raged in

-Messenius; a struggle for life and death between fanaticism on the one

-hand, which bade him sacrifice fame and posterity for the victory of

-the Church, and ambition on the other, which continually pleaded to him

-not to sacrifice with his own hand his whole life's work?  "Will you,"

-it said, "blindly desecrate the sanctuary of history?  Will you expose

-to contempt the brilliant name, which in the night of captivity still

-constitutes your wealth and pride?"

-

-Lucia saw all this with the discernment of love; she saw that the man

-for whom she lived an entire life of self-denial and restraint, would

-sink under this terrible internal battle, and she resolved to save him

-with a bold and decisive stroke.

-

-Late one evening the lamp still burned on Messenius' writing-table,

-where he and the Jesuit had been working together ever since the

-morning.  Lucia had received permission to retire to her bed, which

-stood at the other end of the room near the door, and pretended to be

-asleep.  The two men had finished their work, and were conversing

-together with low voices, in Latin, which Lucia well understood.

-

-"I am satisfied with you, my friend," said the Jesuit approvingly.

-"These documents, which bear the stamp of truth, will be sufficient to

-prove the conversion of King Gustaf Vasa and King Carl, and this

-preface, signed by you, will further confirm their veracity.  I will

-now return to Germany through Sweden, and have these prayers printed,

-through our adherents in Stockholm, or if that is impossible, in Lübeck

-or Leyden."

-

-Messenius involuntarily stretched out his hand, as if to snatch back a

-precious treasure from a robber's hands.

-

-"Holy father," he exclaimed with visible consternation, "is there no

-reprieve?  My name ... my reputation ... have mercy upon me, holy

-father, and give me back my name!"

-

-The Jesuit smiled.

-

-"Do I not give you a name," he said, "far greater and more abiding than

-the one you lose--a name in the chronicles of our holy order; a name

-among the martyrs and benefactors of the Church; a name which may one

-day be counted amongst the saints?"

-

-"But, in spite of all this, a name without honour, a liar's, a forger's

-name!" burst out Messenius, with the despair of a condemned man, who is

-shown the glory of Heaven obscured by the scaffold.

-

-"Weak, vain man, you do not know that great aims are never won by the

-fear or praise of humanity!" said the Jesuit in a contemptuous tone.

-"You might have taken back your word and forfeited your claims to the

-gratitude of all Christendom.  But happily it is now impossible.  These

-documents"--and he extended his hand triumphantly with the papers--"are

-now in a hand which will know how to keep them, and, against your will,

-use them for the glory of the Church, the victory of the faith, and

-your soul's eternal welfare."

-

-Father Hieronymus had hardly uttered these words when a hand behind him

-swiftly and suddenly seized the papers, which he had so elatedly waved,

-crumpled them together, tore them in a hundred pieces, and strewed the

-bits over the floor.  This move was so unlooked for, and the Jesuit was

-so far from divining anything of the kind, that he lost his usual

-presence of mind for a moment, and thus gave the daring hand time to

-complete its work of destruction.  When the fragments lying around

-convinced him of the reality of his loss, he bit his lips with rage,

-raised his arms aloft, and with the ferocity of a wild beast, fell upon

-the presumptuous being who had dared to extinguish his plans at the

-very moment of consummation.

-

-Lucia--for she owned the intruding hand--met the monk's outbreak of

-fury with the great courage which distinguishes a woman when she

-struggles for the holiest she possesses.  In her youth she had been one

-of those who could take a man by the collar; and this more than womanly

-strength of arm had gained practice during her constant squabbles with

-the rude soldiers of the castle.  She hastily clasped her sinewy

-fingers around the monk's outstretched arms, and held them fast as in a

-vice.

-

-"Well," she said in a mocking tone, "three paces from death, sir; what

-do you wish?"

-

-"Mad woman!" screamed the Jesuit, foaming with rage, "you do not know

-what you have done!  Miserable thief, you have stolen a kingdom from

-your Church, and Paradise from your husband."

-

-"And from you I have stolen your booty; his secure prey from the wolf;

-is it not so?" replied Lucia, whose voice began to glow with the fire

-of her hasty temper.  "Monk," she added, violently shaking the eminent

-Jesuit, who in vain tried to escape, "I know a vile thief, who, in the

-sheep's clothing of the Church, comes to steal the fame of a great man;

-also the history of a nation; and from a poor, forsaken woman, her sole

-pride; her husband's peace, honour, and life.  Tell me, holy and pious

-monk, what punishment such a thief deserves?  Would not Ämmä fall be

-shallow enough for his body, and the eternal fires cool enough for his

-soul?"

-

-The Jesuit looked out of the window with a hasty movement towards the

-mighty torrent which descended with a terrible roar in the winter's

-night.

-

-"Ha!" exclaimed Lucia with a bitter smile, "you fear me, you, the

-powerful one, who rules kingdoms and consciences.  You fear lest I

-conceal a man's arm under my grey frock, which could hurl you into the

-cataract's abyss.  Be reassured.  I am only a woman, and fight with a

-woman's arms.  You see ... I do not throw you out of the window ... I

-will be content with chaining up the wild beast.  Tremble, monk, I know

-you!  Lucia Grothusen has followed your steps; you are betrayed, and

-she has done this."

-

-"Betrayed!" echoed the Jesuit; he well realised what this statement

-meant.  At a time so full of hate, when two great religions fought for

-worldly and spiritual supremacy, when the plots of the Jesuits

-irritated the Swedes to the highest extent, a member of this order,

-discovered in disguise, in the kingdom, was lost beyond redemption.

-But the dire peril restored the equilibrium of this powerful character.

-

-"My daughter, betrayed by you," he said once more, as his arms relaxed,

-and his features assumed an expression of doubt and mild grief.  "That

-is impossible."

-

-Lucia regarded him with hate and suspicion.

-

-"I your daughter!" she exclaimed, as she pushed the monk from her with

-repulsion.  "Falsehood is your daughter, and deceit your mother.  These

-are thy relatives."

-

-"Lucia Grothusen," said the Jesuit with much suavity, "when you were a

-child, and followed your father, Arnold Grothusen, who was expelled

-with King Sigismund, you came one day as an exile in need, and

-surrounded by enemies, to a peasant's hut.  They refused you a refuge,

-and threatened to deliver you up.  Then your youthful eyes discovered

-an image of the Virgin in a corner of the hut, a relic from former

-times, and now profaned as a plaything for children.  You took the

-image and kissed it; you held it up before the harsh inmates of the

-hut, and said to them, 'See, the Virgin Mary is here, she will succour

-us!'"

-

-"Well, what then?" said Lucia reluctantly in a softer voice.

-

-"Your childish trust ... no, what do I say?  The Holy Virgin moved the

-stern peasants, they gave you shelter, and placed you all in security.

-Still more, they gave you the image, which you have carefully preserved

-as your guardian angel, and there it hangs on your wall.  What you

-formerly said, you still say: 'The Virgin Mary is here, she will

-protect me!'"

-

-Lucia tried in vain to struggle against her emotions.  She bit her lip

-and made no reply.

-

-"You are right," continued the astute monk.  "I am a Catholic like you;

-persecuted like you; if they penetrated my disguise they would kill me.

-My life is in your hands; denounce me; I flee not; I die for my faith,

-and I forgive you my death."

-

-"Fly from here," said Lucia, half vanquished; "I give you till

-to-morrow, but only on condition that you do not see my husband again."

-

-"Well, then," said the Jesuit sadly, "I fly and leave behind my

-beautiful dream of a glorious future.  Ah, I had imagined that the

-great Messenius and his noble wife would reinstate the Catholic Church

-in the North; I saw the time when millions of people would say: we were

-in darkness and blindness, until the historical light of the great

-Messenius revealed to us the falseness of the Reformation."

-

-"If it could be done without injury to the truth," exclaimed Lucia,

-whose ardent spirit was more and more elevated by the future, which the

-Jesuit so skilfully placed before her in perspective.

-

-"The truth!" repeated the Jesuit persuasively.  "Oh, my friend, truth

-is our faith, falseness is the heretic's faith.  If you are convinced

-that I ask only the truth itself from your husband, will you assist

-instead of trying to destroy your Church?"

-

-"Yes, I will!" answered Lucia warmly and earnestly.

-

-"Then listen..." added the Jesuit, but was just then interrupted by

-Messenius, who, hitherto stunned and crestfallen, now seemed to awaken

-from a horrible dream.

-

-"_Abi, male spiritus!_" he frantically exclaimed, as if he feared that

-the Jesuit's serpent tongue would once more triumph.  "_Abi, Abi!_ you

-are not a human being, you are the prince of lies himself, you are the

-tempter in Paradise!  Get ye gone, ye foul spirit, to the eternal fire,

-your abiding place, to the kingdom of lies, your realm!" he said in

-Latin.  And with this he pushed the Jesuit towards the door, without

-Lucia's making the least attempt to prevent it.

-

-"_Insanit miser!_" ("the miserable raver") muttered the Jesuit as he

-disappeared.

-

-"Thanks, my dear!" said Lucia, with a lightened heart, as if freed from

-a dangerous spell.

-

-"Thanks, Lucia!" replied Messenius, with a milder manner than he had

-for a long time assumed towards his wife.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIV.

-

-THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS.

-

-Early the next morning Father Hieronymus entered the room that was

-occupied by Lady Regina von Emmeritz and old Dorthe.  Pale from

-watching and suffering, the beautiful young girl sat by the bedside of

-her faithful servant.  When the Jesuit entered, Regina rose quickly.

-

-"Save Dorthe, my father!" she impetuously exclaimed ... "I have looked

-for you everywhere, and you have abandoned me!"

-

-"Hush!" said the Jesuit whispering.  "Speak low, the walls have ears.

-So ... actually? ... Dorthe is sick?  Poor old woman, it is too bad,

-but I cannot help her.  They have penetrated our disguise.  They

-suspect us.  We must fly this day--this moment."

-

-"Not before you have made Dorthe well again.  I beseech you, my father;

-you are wise, you know all the remedies; give her an immediate

-restorative, and we will follow you wherever you choose.

-

-"Impossible, we have not a moment to lose.  Come!"

-

-"Not without Dorthe, my father!  Holy Virgin, how could I abandon her,

-my nurse, my motherly friend?"

-

-The Jesuit went to the bed, took the old woman's hand, touched her

-forehead, and pointed to it in silence, with an air which Regina

-understood but too well.

-

-"She is dead!" cried the young girl with dismay.

-

-"Yes, what then?" replied the Jesuit, a marked sinister smile on his

-lips fighting with the air of regret he tried to assume.

-

-"You see, my child," he added, "that the saints have wished to spare

-our faithful old friend a toilsome journey, and have taken her instead

-to heavenly glory.  There is nothing more to be done here.  Come!"

-

-But Regina had perceived the malignant smile through her tears, and it

-struck her with an indescribable horror.  She seemed to detect a dark

-secret.

-

-"Come!" he repeated hastily.  "I will give Messenius' wife, who is a

-Catholic, the charge of burying our friend."

-

-Regina's dark eyes looked on the monk with fear and aversion.

-

-"At seven o'clock yesterday evening," she said, "Dorthe was in good

-health.  Then she drank the beverage of strengthening herbs which you

-have prepared for her every evening.  At eight o'clock she was taken

-ill ... ten hours afterwards she has ceased to live."

-

-"The fatigue of the long journey ... a cold, an _inflammation_ ...

-nothing more is wanted.  Come!" said the monk uneasily.

-

-But Regina did not move.

-

-"Monk," she said in a voice trembling with disgust and horror, "you

-have poisoned her."

-

-"My child, my daughter, what are you saying?  Grief has clouded your

-reason; come, I forgive you."

-

-"She was a burden to you ... I saw your impatience on our journey here.

-And now you wish me to place myself in your power without protection.

-Holy Virgin, save me!  I will not go with you!"

-

-The Jesuit's mobile features instantly changed their expression, and

-assumed that commanding air which had made Messenius yield.

-

-"Child," he said, "do not draw upon yourself the anger of the saints by

-listening to the voice of the tempter.  Remember _where_ you are,

-unfortunate, and _who_ you are.  A moment's delay, and I leave you here

-a prey to want, captivity, and death; a target for the heretic's scorn,

-a lost sheep abandoned by the Holy Virgin.  Here perdition and misery

-... there in your Fatherland the favour of the saints.  Choose quickly,

-for the sleigh stands waiting; the morning dawns, and day must not find

-us in this nest of heretics."

-

-Regina hesitated.

-

-"Swear," she said, "that you are innocent of Dorthe's death!"

-

-"I swear it!" exclaimed the Jesuit, "by the cross and by the holy

-Loyola's bones.  May the firm ground open under my feet, and the abyss

-swallow me alive, if I have ever given this woman any drink but what

-was healthful and medicinal."

-

-"Well, then," said Regina, "the saints have heard your oath, and

-written it down in the book of judgment.  Farewell, my mother, my

-friend!  Come, let us go!"

-

-Both hurried out.

-

-It was still dark.  A pale ray of light appeared over the dark firs on

-the edge of Koivukoski fall.  The horses stood harnessed.  The sleepy

-guard at the castle gate gave a free passage to the physician, who was

-well known to all.

-

-The Jesuit already thought himself in safety, when a sleigh from the

-mainland met the fugitives on the narrow bridge, and drove close up to

-them in the darkness.  The monk's sleigh turned on the edge, and was

-only hindered by the half-rotten railing from upsetting into the depths.

-

-Regina gave a cry of terror.

-

-At the sound of this cry a man sprang from the other sleigh and

-approached the fugitives.

-

-"Regina!" cried a well-known voice, which trembled from surprise.

-

-"You are mistaken, my friend," the Jesuit hastened to say in a

-disguised voice.  "Give way to Doctor Albertus Simonis, army physician

-in the service of his Royal Majesty."

-

-"Ha! it is you, accursed Jesuit!" cried the stranger.  "Guard, to arms!

-To arms! and seize the greatest villain on earth."  And so saying, he

-grasped the monk by his fur cloak.

-

-For an instant Hieronymus tried to disengage the sleigh and escape

-through the speed of the horses.  But when he found that this was

-impossible, he left his fur cloak behind him, wriggled from his enemy's

-grasp, and, throwing himself quickly over the railing of the bridge,

-jumped down on the ice, which, in the terrible cold, had formed between

-the castle island and the mainland.  He soon vanished in the dim

-morning light.

-

-Alarmed by the cry, the castle gate guard discharged his musket after

-the fugitive, but without effect.  Some of the soldiers seemed inclined

-to pursue him on the ice.

-

-"Do not do that, boys!" cried a bearded sergeant, "it has thawed during

-the night, and the stream has cut the ice underneath; I think it will

-break up to-day."

-

-"But the fellow jumped down there!" cried some.

-

-"The devil will get him," replied the sergeant, calmly lighting his

-morning pipe.  "I guess by this time he is not far from Ämmä."

-

-"What did you say?" cried the driver of the sleigh in alarm.

-

-"I say that the old woman* has got her breakfast to-day," answered the

-sergeant with perfect composure.  "Just listen, she barks like a

-chained dog; now she is satisfied."

-

-

-* The Finnish word ämmä means old woman.

-

-

-All listened, appalled, to the din of the waters.  It seemed to them as

-if the mighty fall roared more wildly, more terribly than before, in

-the dreary winter dawn.  The sergeant was right, it was like the howl

-of an angry dog, when they have thrown him his prey.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XV.

-

-BERTEL AND REGINA.

-

-We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep in a peasant's house

-at Ylihärmä.  We found him again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly

-trying to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had seen through

-the window-pane of the wretched hut.  Bertel's circuitous course during

-the days between can be perhaps imagined.  Led on a false scent in his

-chase after the fugitives, he had scoured all the roads in East

-Bothnia, and even went as far up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost

-every sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek the

-runaways in the far-off Kajana desert.  Why the young cavalier pursued

-them with such unconquerable perseverance will soon be manifest.

-

-Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find Bertel in the

-apartment which the Governor had assigned to Lady Regina, under the

-protection of one of his female relatives.  More than three years have

-passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in the presence of

-the great king.

-

-Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty, and Regina an equally

-untrained girl of sixteen.  Both had gone through many trials since

-then; in each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been cooled by

-struggles and sufferings.

-

-The distance between the prince's daughter and the lieutenant had been

-lessened by Bertel's military fame and lately acquired coat of arms;

-nay, at this moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider

-herself honoured by a knight's attentions.  But the distance between

-their convictions, their sympathies, their hearts--had it been

-diminished by these trials, which generally steel a conviction instead

-of destroying it?

-

-Bertel approached the young girl with all the perfect courtesy which

-the etiquette of his time had retained as an inheritance from the

-chivalry of past centuries.

-

-"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice, "since my hope of

-finding you at Korsholm failed, I have pursued you through forest and

-wilderness, as one pursues a criminal.  Perhaps you divine the cause

-that prompted me to do so."

-

-Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted, and she looked

-inquiringly at Bertel.

-

-"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated you, I am convinced

-that your reasons were noble and chivalrous.  You cannot have meant to

-take an unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have only wished to

-snatch her from a man whom the poor deceived one has ever since

-childhood regarded as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply

-concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time, learned to know

-and abhor."

-

-"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly.  "It is true I shuddered when I

-found that you were under the escort of this villain, whose real

-character I knew before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver

-you from his hands.  But before I imagined any danger from that

-quarter, I flew to find you with the glad tidings of a justice ...

-late, but I hope not too late."

-

-"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an emotion which sent the

-blood to her cheeks.

-

-"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded her dazzling beauty

-with delight; "at last, after several years of fruitless efforts, I

-have succeeded in undoing this undeserved penalty.  You are free! you

-can now return to your Fatherland under the protection of the Swedish

-arms, and here"--with these words Bertel bent one knee and handed

-Regina a paper with the regency's seal attached--"is the document which

-ensures your freedom."

-

-Regina had controlled her first emotion, and received the precious

-paper with almost haughty dignity.

-

-"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones, "I know that you do

-not desire my thanks for having acted like a man of honour before any

-of your compatriots."

-

-Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he, however, ought to have

-expected.

-

-"What I have done," he said, with a touch of coldness, "I have done to

-efface a wrong which might have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a

-great king.  Each and all of my countrymen would have done the same as

-I, had not the exigencies of war made them forget the reparation you

-had a right to demand.  First of all would the noble King Gustaf Adolf

-himself have hastened to repair a moment's indiscretion, had not

-Providence so suddenly cut short his career.  But," said Bertel,

-breaking off, "I forget that the king I love and admire, you, my lady,

-hate!"

-

-At these words the bright and beautiful colour again rose to Regina's

-cheeks.  Bertel had unknowingly touched one of the most sensitive

-chords in this ardent heart.  A new discovery, a wonderful resemblance

-in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in thought--a likeness which she had

-never before observed, and which these three years had developed in

-Bertel's whole personality, made an indescribable impression upon the

-young Southerner's soul.  It seemed to her as if she saw him himself,

-the greatest among mortals, the pride of her dreams, her life's delight

-and misery; he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's, and

-her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself had said to her in the

-well-remembered tones: "Regina, you hate me!"

-

-This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and with such a

-surprising power, that Regina suddenly grew pale, staggered, and was

-compelled to lean on Bertel's outstretched arm.

-

-"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and not knowing what she

-uttered, "should I hate you ... you, whom I lo ...?"

-

-Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so full of meaning, with

-a surprise as sudden and unexpected as Regina's.  Beside himself with

-amazement, fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to avail himself

-of an involuntary confession.  Mute and respectful, he led the young

-girl to her protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her

-sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed emotions, which sought

-vent.

-

-Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady Regina to Stockholm, from

-whence she could return to her Fatherland, at the first open waters.

-He was, therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until she was

-ready for the journey, and this was again delayed through lack of a

-fitting female companion for the high-born prisoner.

-

-Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time entirely new relations

-were formed, which one could hardly have predicted after Regina's proud

-coldness towards her deliverer.  Ah! this coldness was the ice over a

-glowing volcano; every day it grew thinner and melted away; every day

-the foundations of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and finally

-only one barrier remained, the strongest one of all, it is true,

-namely, that of religious convictions.  Vain wall!  It, too, finally

-crumbled before the fire of a southern passion, and before these weeks

-were ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of twenty-three,

-had forgotten the great differences of faith and rank, and sworn each

-other fidelity for life.

-

-Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory of Gustaf Adolf for his

-beautiful, proud, black-eyed bride?

-

-A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an unexpected and

-wonderful manner.  With a secret apprehension for his future happiness,

-Bertel had tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.

-

-Since the morning when he leaped over the railing of the bridge, no one

-had heard or seen anything of him, until, three weeks afterwards, a

-peasant reported that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below Ämmä

-fall, they had discovered the body of a man without ears, clothed in a

-foreign garb, which the peasant brought with him, and which were

-recognised as those of Father Hieronymus.  In addition, the honest

-Paldamo peasant produced a small copper ring, which had been found

-hanging by a cord on the dead man's neck.

-

-Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and delight.

-

-"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I have so long sought ...

-and with you the certainty of this terrible man's death."

-

-"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!" exclaimed Regina,

-awe-struck.

-

-"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our happiness!" rejoined

-Bertel, and he placed on Regina's finger the _King's Ring_.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVI.

-

-  THE KING'S RING--THE SWORD AND THE

-  PLOUGH--FIRE AND WATER.

-

-Again we return to Storkyro, to Bertila's farm, and the old peasant

-king.

-

-It is a March day, in the year 1635.  The spring sun is already melting

-the snow, and the roofs drip on the sunny side; the icy crust bears

-one's weight on the north side of the hill, but breaks on the south.

-Aron Bertila has just come home from church with all his folks, his

-grey head is bent, and he leans on Meri's arm.  At his side walk two

-sturdy, thick-set figures--old Larsson, and his newly arrived son, the

-brave and learned captain, the faithful image of his father, except in

-age.  On the captain's arm is his young, light-hearted, and pretty

-little wife, whose features we recognise.  It is no other than Ketchen,

-the courageous and merry girl, whose soft hand once made the gallant

-captain lose his wits.  Since that day he has sworn by all the Greek

-and Roman authors, whom he formerly read in Abo Cathedral School, that

-the soft-handed novice among the Würzburg sisters of charity should

-some day become his.  And when the vicissitudes of war again brought

-them together, when Ketchen was without protection, and besides, had

-nothing against an honest, jovial soldier, this cheerful pair were

-formally wedded in the autumn at Stralsund, and then went to visit

-their kind-hearted father in Storkyro, where they were warmly welcomed,

-and received like children in the house.

-

-It must be added that Larsson had obtained his discharge from the

-service after much trouble, and without having a rise in rank.  It is

-to be regretted that he had not gathered a farthing from the booty in

-Germany, like many of his comrades.  All that he had earned--and if we

-can believe him, it must have amounted to millions--had taken wings;

-but where?  At Nördlingen, he says.  By no means.  But in revels and

-sprees with jolly fellows like himself.  Now he meant to be as regular

-and steady as a gate-post; to succeed his father as inspector of

-Bertila's large farms; to plough, sow, harvest, and _pro modulo virium

-prolen copiosam in lucem proferre_, as those in olden times so truly

-said.

-

-Old Bertila treats him with apparent favour.  Significant words have

-escaped the old man, and he has just given his will into the hands of

-the judge.

-

-As for Meri, she has withered like a flower without roots, and clings

-to life only by one heart-thread: the banished, rejected Gustaf Bertel,

-now ennobled to Bertelskold.

-

-This domestic circle, composed of such differing elements, both light

-and shadows, are now gathered in the large "stuga," surrounded by the

-numerous field hands, and old Larsson now tries, in secret alliance

-with Meri, to bring the stern peasant king to a better state of mind

-towards Bertel.  But all their prayers and reasons break against the

-old man's unyielding firmness ... Larsson turns angrily away, and Meri

-conceals her tears in the darkest corner of the room.

-

-Then sleigh-bells are again heard outside, as on Twelfth-day evening; a

-large sleigh stops in the yard, and two persons alight from it, an

-officer in his ample cloak, and a young and classically beautiful woman

-in a magnificent mantle of black velvet, lined with precious fur.  Meri

-and old Larsson turn pale at this sight; Larsson tries to hasten out,

-but it is too late.  Bertel and Regina enter the "stuga."

-

-Both the Larssons and Meri surround Bertel with warm and apparently

-embarrassed greetings.  Ketchen flies and throws herself, without

-thinking of the difference between her burgher dress and the costly

-velvet cloak, into Regina's arms, who, with emotion, clasps her

-faithful friend to her heart.

-

-Bertel gently frees himself from Meri's embrace, and goes straight up

-to old Bertila with a firm step, who, cold and silent in his high chair

-at the end of the table, does not honour him with a word or glance.

-

-All present await with dismayed looks the result of this decisive

-meeting.  The young officer has taken off his cloak and hat, his long

-fair hair falls in beautiful waves around his open brow, his cheeks are

-very pale, but the expressive blue eyes regard the grey-haired man's

-iron face with a firm and steadfast look.

-

-Bertel now, as before, bends a knee, and says in a voice at once humble

-and confident:

-

-"My father!"

-

-"Who are you?  I know you not; I have no son!" said the old man in

-chilling tones.

-

-"My father!" continued Bertel, without allowing himself to be checked,

-"I come here once more, and for the last time, to ask your forgiveness

-and blessing.  Thrust me not from you!  I am going to leave my

-Fatherland, to fight and perhaps die on German soil.  It depends upon

-you whether I ever return.  Remember, my father, that your blessing

-gives you back a son; that your curse drives him into exile for ever."

-

-The features of the old man did not change their expression, but the

-tones of his voice indicated an internal struggle.

-

-"My answer is short," he said.  "I had a son; he became unworthy of me

-and all the principles which have governed my life.  He abandoned the

-cause of the people to pay homage to the pernicious power which I hate

-and detest.  I have no longer a son.  I have to-day disinherited him."

-

-The faces of all the hearers turn pale at these words.  But Bertel

-colours slightly, and says:

-

-"My father, I do not ask for your property.  Give it to the one you

-consider more worthy than I.  I only ask your forgiveness ... your

-blessing, my father."

-

-All around the old man, except Regina, fell on their knees and

-exclaimed:

-

-"Grace for Bertel!  Grace for your son!"

-

-"And if I had a son, do you believe he would for my sake give up his

-desire for the false distinctions of nobility?  Do you think he would

-become a peasant like me, a man of the people, ready to live and die

-for their cause?  Do you fancy that he would plough the earth with his

-fine-gloved hands and choose a wife from my station, a simple plain

-woman, befitting the spouse of a husbandman?"

-

-"My father," replied Bertel, in a voice more tremulous than before,

-"what you ask is impossible on account of the education you have

-yourself bestowed on me.  I honour and respect your station, but I have

-grown accustomed to the career of a soldier, which I neither can nor

-will abandon.  To choose a wife to your mind is equally impossible.

-Here is my wife; she is a prince's daughter, but she has chosen a

-peasant's son for her husband; this is a proof that she will not blush

-to call you father."

-

-At these words Regina humbly approached the old man as if to kiss his

-hand, and all rose except Bertel and his father.  But the peasant

-king's former fiery temper now burst forth.

-

-"Did I not say so!" he shouted.  "There stands the renegade who was

-born a peasant, and became the servant of lords.  Ha! by God!  I have

-in my day seen much strife and defiance between the sword and the

-plough, but a scene like this I have never beheld.  The boy who calls

-himself my son dares to bring before my eyes his high-born harlot and

-call her his wife."

-

-Bertel sprang up and supported Regina, who nearly sank to the floor at

-these words.

-

-"Old man," he said in a voice full of anger, "thank your name of father

-and your grey head that you have been allowed to utter what no one else

-should have uttered and live an hour afterwards.  Here is the ring I

-placed on the hand of my lawfully wedded wife"--with this he took the

-king's ring from Regina's finger--"and I swear that her hand is as pure

-and worthy as that of any other mortal to wear this ring, which has for

-so many years been worn by the greatest of kings."

-

-Meri's eyes stared at the ring, her pale cheeks coloured with a deep

-flush, and she had a violent internal struggle.  Finally she stepped

-nearer, took and pressed the ring with ecstasy to her lips, and said in

-a broken voice and with an emotion so strong that it dried her tears:

-

-"My ring which _he_ has worn ... my ring which has protected _him_ ...

-you are innocent of his death; he gave you away, and then came the

-bullets and death.  Do you know, Gustaf Bertel, and you, his wife, the

-power of this ring?  In my youth I one day went into the wilderness,

-and there found a dying man, who was languishing from thirst.  I gave

-him a drink from the spring, and cooled his tongue with the juice of

-berries.  He thanked me and said: 'My friend, I die, and have no other

-recompense to give you than this ring.  I found it in former days on an

-image of the Holy Virgin, which alone lay uninjured in the midst of the

-broken fragments of Popery in Storkyro Church; and when I took the ring

-from its finger the image fell to dust.  The ring has both the power of

-the saints and that of magic, for with me the greatness of the ancient

-occult knowledge goes into the silence.  He who wears this ring is

-secure against fire, water, steel, and all kinds of dangers, on the

-sole condition that he never swears a false oath, for that destroys the

-power of the ring; with this ring goes happiness in peace, and victory

-in war; love, honour, and wealth; and when it is worn by three

-successive generations, from father to son, then from that family shall

-come brilliant statesmen and generals...'"

-

-Here Meri paused; all listened with intense expectation.

-

-"But," she added, "if the ring is worn by six generations one after the

-other, then a mighty royal house will spring from that family.  'But,'

-said the old man to me, 'you ought to know that great dangers accompany

-great gifts.  False oaths and family enmity will constantly tempt the

-owner of the ring, and thus endeavour to neutralise its power; pride

-and inordinate ambition will constantly work within him to prepare his

-fall, and a great steadfastness in the right path will be necessary,

-joined with a meek and humble heart, to vanquish these temptations.  He

-who wears this ring will enjoy all the prosperity of the world, and

-only have to conquer himself; but he will also be the most formidable

-enemy of his own happiness.  All this is signified: by the letters,

-R.R.R., which are engraved on the inside of the ring, and interpreted

-thus: _Rex Regi Rebellis_--the king rebellious against the king; the

-happiest, the mightiest among men, has to fear the greatest danger

-within himself.'"

-

-"And this ring, O Regina, is ours!" exclaimed Bertel, with both fear

-and joy.  "What a wealth and what a responsibility goes with this ring."

-

-"Power!  Honour!  Immortality!" caed Regina with transport.

-

-"Beware, my daughter!" said Meri sadly.  "Behind these words lie the

-greatest dangers."

-

-Old Bertila looked at the ring and the young people with a contemptuous

-smile.

-

-"False gold!" he said.  "Vanity!  Useless ornament!  False ambition!

-This is a worthy gift to go in inheritance from generation to

-generation among the nobility.  Come, Larsson the younger, you, who are

-also of peasant origin, and who wish to return to your station,

-although you too have been a soldier.  I will give you something which

-is neither gold or a useless ornament, but which will bring you more

-blessings than all the kings' rings in the world.  Take my old axe with

-the oak handle from the wall there; yes, fear not, there is no magic in

-that; my father forged it with his own hand, in Gustaf Vasa's time.

-With it father and I have felled many a heavy tree in the forests, and

-cleared many a field.  May it pass in inheritance within your family,

-and I promise you that he who possesses my axe shall be blessed with

-happiness and contentment of mind in his honest labour."

-

-"Thanks, thanks, Father Bertila," answered the captain joyfully, and,

-with an air of importance, tried the edge of the old man's axe.  "If we

-took a fancy to engrave any inscription on it, I should propose R.R.R.,

-_Ruris Rusticus Robustus_, which is to say briefly: 'The deuce, what a

-big, bulky chopper! a very beautiful and intellectual saying among

-those in olden times."

-

-Larsson the elder now considered the opportunity at hand to give the

-bitter contest a more amicable turn.  He stepped up to old Bertila,

-leading by the hands the two newly married pairs, and said:

-

-"Dear old friend, let us not meddle in the Lord's business.  Your boy

-and mine are a couple of great rascals, that is granted; but are they

-to blame that our Lord created one of them of fire and the other of

-water?  Bertel is like a flame--burning hot, ambitious, high-reaching,

-brilliant, ephemeral, and I will bet anything that his little wife is

-of the same sort.  My boy, here, is of the purest water."

-

-"Stop!" cried the captain.  "Water has never been my weak side!"

-

-"Hold your tongue!  My boy is the clear water ... flowing and unstable,

-contentedly keeping itself to the ground, and created especially to put

-out the other youngster's poetical blaze with its prosaic philosophy.

-As for his wife, she is of the same stuff.  Do you not see, Bertila,

-that our Lord has intended the boys for friends? ... the fire to warm

-the water, and the water to quench the fire ... and you would make them

-enemies by taking from one and giving to the other.  No, Bertila, do

-not do it, this is my advice; give your son what belongs to him; my son

-will not starve for want of it."

-

-Bertila remained silent for a moment.  Then he said vehemently:

-

-"Do not teach me the meaning of the Lord.  Can you believe that he, the

-fresh-baked nobleman, whom you compare with the fire, could be induced

-to give away the ring and take the axe in its place?"

-

-"Never!" excitedly exclaimed Bertel.

-

-Meri seized his hand, and looked beseechingly at him.

-

-"Give away the ring," she said.  "You know some of its dangers, but

-there is still one which I, from anguish, have not mentioned.  All who

-wear this ring will die a violent death."

-

-"What then!" exclaimed Bertel.  "The death of the soldier on the

-battlefield is grand, and full of honour.  I do not ask a better one."

-

-"Just listen to him," said Bertila bitterly.  "I knew it; he runs after

-fame even to the grave.  A peaceful death or a peaceful life is an

-abomination to him; but you, Larsson, tell me: have you a desire to

-give away the axe and take the ring?"

-

-"H'm!" thoughtfully replied the captain; "if the ring were of gold, I

-might sell it in town and get a good cask of ale for the money.  But as

-it is only of copper ... pshaw!  I send it to the deuce, and keep the

-axe, which is at least useful for cutting wood."

-

-"Well done!" said Bertila; "you are sprinkling water on fire, as your

-father said.  It is not I who have made fire and water eternally

-hostile to each other.  Come, Larsson, you, the sound, common-sense,

-practical man, be my son, and one day take my farms when I am no longer

-here.  My blessing on you and your descendants.  May they multiply, and

-work like ants on the land, and may there be eternal hostility between

-them and the nobility, the people with the fiery temperament.  May

-there be war and not peace between them and you until the useless

-glitter disappears from humanity.  May the axe and the ring live in

-open feud until both are melted in the same heat.  When this happens

-after a century or more, then it will be time to say, class

-distinctions have seen their last days, and a man's merit is his only

-coat of arms."

-

-"But, my father," exclaimed Bertel in an entreating voice, "have you

-then no blessing to give me, and my posterity, at the moment when we

-separate for ever?"

-

-"You!" repeated the old man, in still angry tones.  "Go, you lost,

-vain, worm-eaten branch of the people's great trunk; go in your pitiful

-parade to certain ruin.  Until the day when, as I said, the axe and the

-ring, the false gold and the true steel melt together ... until then I

-give you my curse as an inheritance, even unto the tenth generation,

-and with it shall follow dissension, hatred, war, and finally a

-despicable fall."

-

-"Hold there, Father Bertila," cried Larsson the younger.  "Grace for

-Bertel!"

-

-"No grace for nobility," replied the peasant king.

-

-"Beware, unnatural father!" cried Larsson the elder.  "The doom may

-fall on your own head."

-

-"I no longer ask any grace," said Bertel, pale, but apparently calm.

-"Farewell, my former father!  Farewell, my Fatherland!  I go never to

-see you again!"

-

-"One moment," interrupted Meri, who with a violent effort placed

-herself in his way.  "You go! yes, go ... my heart's darling, my hope,

-my life, my all ... go, I shall no longer stand in your way.  But

-before you leave me, you shall take with you the secret which has been

-both my life's highest joy and its greatest agony..."

-

-"Hear her not!" cried old Bertila in a changed and alarmed tone.

-"Listen not to what she says; madness speaks through her! ... Think of

-your honour and mine," he sternly whispered in his pale daughter's ear.

-

-"What do I care for your or my honour!" burst out Meri with an

-impetuosity never before witnessed.  "Do you not see that he goes ...

-my life's joy leaves me, to return no more?  He goes, and you, hard,

-in-human parent, wish me to let him depart with a curse to foreign

-lands.  But it shall not be.  For every curse you throw upon his head,

-I will give him a hundred blessings, and we shall see which will avail

-the most before the throne of the Supreme Being--your hatred or my

-love--the grandfather's curse or the mother's blessing..."

-

-"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel beside himself with astonishment.  Duke

-Bernhard's obscure hints now suddenly became clear.

-

-"Believe her not; she knows not--she knows not what she says!" cried

-Bertila, with a vain attempt to appear calm.

-

-Meri had sunk into Bertel's arms.

-

-"It is now said," she whispered in a weak voice.  "Gustaf ... my son.

-Ah! it is so new and so sweet to call you so.  Now you know my life's

-secret ...  and I have not long to blush over it.  Do you love me? ...

-Yes, yes!  Now I go from life rejoicing ... the veil is lifted ...

-light comes ... My father, ... I forgive you ... that you have hated

-and cursed your daughter's son ... Forgive me ... that I ... love ...

-bless ... my son!..."

-

-"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel, "hear me, my mother!  I thank you ... I

-love you! ... You shall go with me, and I will never desert you.  But

-you do not hear me.  You are so pale ... Great God ... she is dead!"

-

-"My daughter! my only child!" exclaimed the old hard-hearted peasant

-king, completely crushed.

-

-"Judge not, lest ye be judged!" said old Larsson with clasped hands.

-"And you, our children, go put into life with reconciled hearts.  Curse

-and blessing struggle for your future, and not only for yours, but for

-that of your posterity, unto the tenth generation.  Pray to Heaven that

-blessing may conquer."

-

-"Amen!" said Larsson the younger and Ketchen.

-

-"So be it!" said Bertel and Regina.

-

-

-

-

-END OF THE FIRST CYCLE.

-

-

-

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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The King's Ring
+       Being a Romance of the Days of Gustavus Adolphus and the
+       Thirty Years' War
+
+Author: Zacharias Topelius
+
+Translator: Sophie Öhrwall
+            Herbert Arnold
+
+Release Date: February 7, 2019 [EBook #58838]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S RING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING'S RING
+
+BEING A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF
+
+GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS
+
+AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR
+
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH OF
+
+ZACHARIAS TOPELIUS
+
+BY
+
+SOPHIE ÖHRWALL AND HERBERT ARNOLD
+
+
+
+  _With a Photogravure Portrait of Topelius_
+  (missing from source book)
+
+
+
+LONDON
+
+JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
+
+[_All Rights Reserved_]
+
+
+
+
+  _Copyright
+  London: Jarrold & Sons
+  Boston: L. C. Page & Company_
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS.
+
+
+  INTRODUCTION--WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE
+
+
+  I.--THE KING'S RING.
+
+  CHAPTER
+
+  I. THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD
+  II. THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME
+  III. LADY REGINA
+  IV. LADY REGINA'S OATH
+  V. JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES
+  VI. THE FINNS AT LECH
+  VII. NEW ADVENTURES
+  VIII. NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN
+
+
+  II.--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.
+
+  I. A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR
+  II. ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME
+  III. THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH
+  IV. THE PEASANT--THE BURGHERS--AND THE SOLDIER
+  V. LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM
+  VI. THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH
+  VII. THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM
+
+
+  III.--FIRE AND WATER.
+
+  I. THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD
+  II. TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES
+  III. THE TREASURY
+  IV. DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL
+  V. LOVE AND HATE AGREE
+  VI. THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN
+  VII. THE LOST SON
+  VIII. THE FUGITIVE LADY
+  IX. DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA
+  X. KAJANEBORG
+  XI. THE PRISONER OF STATE
+  XII. THE TEMPTER
+  XIII. AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT
+  XIV. THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS
+  XV. BERTEL AND REGINA
+  XVI. THE KING'S RING--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH--FIRE AND WATER
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE.
+
+The surgeon was born in a small town of East Bothnia, the same day as
+Napoleon I., August 15th, 1769.  I well remember the day, as he always
+used to celebrate it with a little party of relatives and a dozen
+children; and as he was very fond of the latter, we were allowed to
+make as much noise as we pleased, and throw everything into absolute
+confusion on this anniversary.
+
+It was the pride of the surgeon's life that he was born on the same day
+as the Great Conqueror, and this coincidence was also the cause of
+several of his important experiences.  But his pride and ambition were
+of a mild and good-tempered kind, and quite different from the powerful
+desires which can force their way through a thousand obstacles to
+attain an exalted position.  How often does the famous one count all
+the victims who have bled for his glory on the battlefield, all the
+tears, all the human misery through which his way leads to an
+illusionary greatness, perhaps, doomed to last a few centuries at most?
+
+The surgeon used to say that he was a great rogue in his childhood; but
+exhibiting good intelligence, he was sent by a wealthy uncle to a
+school in Vasa.
+
+At eighteen, with a firkin of butter in a wagon, and seventeen thalers
+in his purse, he went to Abo to pass his examination.  This well
+accomplished, he was at liberty to strive for the gown and surplice of
+an ecclesiastic.  But his thoughts wandered far too often from his
+Hebrew Codex to the square where the troops frequently assembled.
+
+"Oh!" thought he, "if I were only a soldier, standing there in the
+ranks, and ready to fight like my father, for king and country."
+
+But his mother had placed an emphatic veto on the matter, and exacted a
+solemn promise from him that he would never become a warrior.
+
+Before, however, he was through Genesis, an incident suddenly occurred
+which completely altered his good intentions.  This was an announcement
+in the daily paper from the Medical Faculty, which stated that students
+who wished to take service as surgeons during the war could present
+themselves for private medical instruction, after which they could
+reckon upon being ordered out with five or six thalers per month to
+begin with, as the war was at its height.
+
+Now, young Bäck would no longer be denied; he wrote home that as a
+surgeon's duty is to take off the limbs of others, without losing his
+own, he wished to volunteer.  After some trouble he received the
+desired permission.  In a moment the Codex was thrown away.  He did not
+learn, he devoured surgery, and in a few months was as capable a
+chirurgeon as most others; for in those times they were not very
+particular.
+
+Our youthful surgeon was in the land campaigns of 1788 and 1789; but in
+1790 at sea; was in many a hard battle, drank prodigiously (according
+to his own account), and cut off legs and arms wholesale in a most
+skilful way.  He then knew nothing about the coincidence of his birth
+with Napoleon's, and therefore did not yet consider himself as under a
+lucky star.  He often told the story of the eventful 3rd of July in
+Wiborg Bay, when on board the "Styrbjörn" with Stedingk, at the head of
+the fleet, they passed the enemy's battery at Krosserort's Point, and
+he was struck by a splinter on the right cheek, and carried the mark to
+his grave.  The same shot which caused this wound wrought great havoc
+in the ship, and whizzing by the admiral's ear, made him stone-deaf for
+a time; Bäck with his lancet and palsy drops restored Stedingk's
+hearing in three minutes.  Just then the danger was greatest and the
+balls flew thick as hail.
+
+The vessel ran aground.
+
+"Boys, we are lost," cried a voice.
+
+"Not so!" answered Henrik Fagel, from Ahlais village, in Ulfsby, "send
+all the men to the bow; it is the stern that has stuck."
+
+"All men to the prow," shouted the commander.  Then the "Styrbjörn" was
+again afloat, and all the Swedish fleet followed in her wake.  Bäck
+used to say:
+
+"What the deuce would have become of the fleet if Stedingk had remained
+deaf?"
+
+Everyone understood the old man; he had saved the entire squadron.
+Then he used to laugh and add,
+
+"Yes, yes!  You see, brother, I was born on the 15th of August; that is
+the whole secret; I am not to be blamed for it."
+
+After the war was over, Bäck went to Stockholm, and became devoted to
+the king.  He was young, and needed no reason for his attachment.
+
+"Such a stately monarch," was his only idea.
+
+One day, in the beginning of March, 1792, the surgeon, a handsome
+youth--to use his own expression--had through a chamber-maid at
+Countess Lantingshausen's, who in her turn stood on a confidential
+footing with Count Horn's favourite lackey, obtained a vague inkling of
+a conspiracy against the king's life.  The surgeon resolved to act
+Providence in Sweden's destiny, and reveal to the monarch all that he
+knew, and perhaps a little more.  He tried to obtain an audience of the
+king, but was denied by the chamberlain, De Besche.  A second attempt
+had the same result.  The third time, he stood in the road before the
+royal carriage, waving his written statement in the air.
+
+"What does this man want?" asked Gustave III. of the chamberlain.
+
+"He is an unemployed surgeon," replied De Besche, "and begs your
+Majesty to begin another war, that he may go on lopping off legs and
+arms."
+
+The king laughed, and the forlorn surgeon was left behind.
+
+A few days afterwards the king was shot.
+
+"I was blameless," the surgeon used to say when speaking of this
+matter.  "Had not that damned De Besche been there--yes, I won't say
+anything more."
+
+Everyone understood what he meant.  The "if" in the way was also due to
+his birthday on the 15th of August.
+
+Shortly afterwards Bäck represented his profession at a state
+execution.  Here his free tongue got him into trouble, and he fled on
+board a Pomeranian yacht.  Next we find him tramping like a wandering
+quack to Paris.  He arrived at an opportune moment, and received a
+humble appointment in the army of Italy.  One night, under the
+influence of his birthday, he left his hospital at Nissa, and hurried
+to Mantua to see Bonaparte; he wished to make of the 15th of August a
+ladder to eminence.  He managed to see the General, and presented a
+petition for an appointment as army physician.
+
+"But," sighed the surgeon, every time he spoke of this remarkable
+incident, "the General was very busy, and asked one of his staff what I
+wanted."
+
+"Citizen General," answered the adjutant, "it is a surgeon, who
+requests the honour of sawing off your leg at the first opportunity."
+
+"Just then," added the surgeon, "the Austrian cannon began to thunder,
+and General Bonaparte told me to go to the devil."
+
+Thus the surgeon, who had preserved so many eminent personages, was
+deprived of the honour of saving Napoleon.  He got camp fever instead,
+and lay sick for some time at Brescia.
+
+When well he travelled to Zurich, and here fell in love with a
+rosy-cheeked Swiss girl; but before he could marry her, the city was
+overrun, first by the Russians, then French, and finally by Suvaroff.
+The surgeon's betrothed ran away, and never returned.
+
+One day he sat sorrowfully at his window, when two Cossacks came up,
+dismounted, seized him, and hurried him off at full speed.  The surgeon
+thought his last hour had arrived.  But the Cossacks brought him safely
+to a hut.  There sat some officers round a punch bowl, and among them a
+stern man in large boots.
+
+"Surgeon," said the latter, short and sharp, "out with your forceps; I
+have toothache."
+
+Bäck ventured to ask which tooth it was that ached.
+
+"You argue," said the man impatiently.
+
+"No, I don't," replied the surgeon, and pulled out the first tooth he
+got hold of.
+
+"Good, my boy!  March," said the other, and the surgeon was dismissed
+with ten ducats.
+
+He had acquired another important merit by pulling out the tooth of the
+hero Suvaroff.
+
+The surgeon's next considerable journey was to St. Petersburg, where he
+obtained an appointment in a hospital, and made a little fortune.
+
+Thus passed four or five years.  The surgeon was now thirty-five.  He
+said to himself,
+
+"It is not sufficient to have preserved the Swedish fleet, Gustave
+III., and Armfelt; to have had an interview with Napoleon, and pulled
+out a tooth for Suvaroff.  One must also have an aim in life."  And he
+began to realise that he had a Fatherland.
+
+When the war of 1808 broke out, the surgeon became an assistant
+physician in one of the Finnish regiments; he no longer fought for
+glory and the 15th of August.  He took part in the campaigns of 1808
+and 1809.  Then he fought manfully with misery, disease, and death; cut
+off arms and legs, dressed wounds, applied plasters, solaced the
+wounded, with whom he shared his flask, bread, purse, and what was much
+more, his unalterable good humour, and told a thousand funny stories
+gathered in his travels.  He was called the "tobacco doctor," because
+he was always ready to share his pipe and quid.  One can be a Christian
+even with tobacco.  The surgeon was not so stuck up that he, like
+Konow's corporal, went about
+
+  "With two quids from sheer pride."
+
+On the contrary, he went without himself when the need was great, and a
+wounded comrade had got the last bit of the roll in the pocket of his
+yellow nankeen vest.  Hence the soldiers loved the tobacco doctor.
+
+When peace was concluded between Russia and Sweden in 1809, the latter
+having lost Finland through a foreign traitor, who gave up Sveaborg to
+the enemy, and so many Finns went over to Sweden, the surgeon thought
+it more honourable to remain and share the fortunes of his native land.
+He travelled round the country and practised amongst the peasantry.
+But the Medical Faculty of Abo finally forbade him to continue, and he
+therefore settled down at Jacobstad, his native place, and took to
+fishing.  In the days of his prosperity the surgeon had been too
+liberal; he now only owned his old brown cloak, yellow nankeen vest, a
+hundred fish hooks, and his cheerful disposition.  But he now obtained
+the appointment of public vaccinator, which allowed him to roam about
+the country twice a year, like old times.  No one knew better than he
+how to lull the little children to rest, whilst he pricked the fine
+soft flesh of their arms; almost before they knew it the pain was over.
+
+This gained for him the goodwill of all the mothers; they even forgave
+him the ugly habit of chewing tobacco--it was too late to cure it now.
+
+Then the snow of old age stole gently o'er the surgeon's head.  He had
+gone through the storms of life without losing faith in humanity; never
+hardening under adversity, nor unduly puffed up when fortune smiled.
+He was throughout a good soul.
+
+Often in our childhood and first youth we sat up there in the old
+garret chamber around his leather-covered arm-chair, by the light of
+the crackling fire, listening to his tales from the world of fiction
+and from life.  His memory was inexhaustible, and as the old _runa_
+says, that even the wild stream does not let its waves flow by all at
+once, so had the surgeon continually new stories of his own time, and
+still more from periods which had long passed away.
+
+It sometimes happened after we had been listening to the old man, that
+he took out an electric battery, and drew from it a succession of
+sparks.
+
+"In that way the world sparkled when I was young," he said smiling;
+"one had only to apply a finger, and click it flashed in all
+directions.  But then it was our Lord who turned the machine."
+
+But rarely had he a story written like that of the Duchess of Finland.
+Most of them were given orally.  Many years have since passed; part I
+have forgotten, and some I have compared with traditions and books.  If
+the reader finds a pleasure in them, then the surgeon will not have
+told his tales in vain during the long winter evenings.
+
+
+
+
+I.--THE KING'S RING.
+
+Reader, as you sit in your peaceful home, surrounded by the calm of
+civilisation, can you recall the grand heroic memories of the past,
+which after centuries remain illuminated with a bright glow, and are
+also often darkened with blood and tragedy?  Can you transport yourself
+back to the joys and terrors of the past, and take a vital interest in
+those struggles and battles long since fought out, and become full of
+hopes or fears as fortune smiled or betrayed?
+
+Stand with me on the heights of History, and looking far around on the
+wild arena of human destiny, can you transfer yourself to the vale of
+the past, the physically dead and buried, but spiritually immortal
+life, which forms the being and substance of all History?
+
+Reader, have you ever seen History depicted as an aged man with a
+frozen heart and wise brow, trying all things in the balance of reason?
+But is not the Genius of History like an ever youthful virgin, full of
+fire, with a living heart and a flaming soul--human, warm, and
+beautiful?
+
+If then you have the capacity to suffer or rejoice with the generations
+that have passed away, to love, and hate with them, to admire, despise,
+and curse as they have done; in a word, to live amongst them with your
+whole heart, and not merely with your cold reflecting mentality, then
+follow me.  I will lead down the valley; but your heart will guide you
+better that I; upon that I rely--and begin.
+
+
+
+
+THE KING'S RING.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD.
+
+Through the histories of Germany and Sweden the fame of mighty names
+has resounded for centuries; at their mention the Swede raises his head
+aloft, and the free German uncovers his with admiration.  These are
+Leipzig, Breitenfeld, and the 7th of September, 1631.
+
+King Gustaf Adolf, with his army of Swedes and Finns, stood on German
+soil to protect the holiest and highest things in life--Liberty and
+Faith.
+
+Tilly, the terrible old corporal, had invaded Saxony, and the king
+pursued him.  Twice had they met; the tiger had challenged the lion to
+the combat, but the latter would not move.  Now for the third time they
+faced each other; the crushing blow must fall, and the fate of Germany
+trembled in the balance.
+
+At dawn the Swedes and Saxons crossed the Loder, and placed themselves
+in battle array at the village of Breitenfeld.
+
+The king rode along the lines, and inspected everything.  His eye
+beamed with delight on these brave men; the left wing was composed of
+Gustave Horn's cavalry, Teuffel was in the centre, and Torstensson with
+his leathern cannon in front.  The Livonians and Hepburn's Scots were
+both in the second line.
+
+The king commanded the right wing, composed of several regiments of
+cavalry and the Finns.
+
+"Stälhandske," said he, checking his large steed at the last Finnish
+division, "I suppose you understand why you are here.  Pappenheim is
+opposite, and longs to make your acquaintance," he added smiling, "and
+I expect a vigorous attack from that quarter.  I rely upon you Finns to
+receive him right royally."
+
+The king then raised his voice and said,
+
+"Boys, do not blunt your swords upon those iron-clad fellows, but first
+tackle the horses, and then you will have light work with the riders."
+
+The Finns were proud of their danger and the honour of their position.
+The king inspired all with courage and self-reliance.  But these short,
+sturdy fellows on their small horses seemed unequal to the onset of the
+big Wallachians upon their strong and heavy chargers.  Tilly held the
+same opinion.
+
+"Ride them down," he said, "and horse and man will fall powerless under
+the heels of your steeds."  But Tilly did not know his foes.  The outer
+bearing of the Finns was deceptive.  Their iron muscles and calm
+courage, with the hardihood of their horses, gave them a decided
+advantage over their enemies.
+
+"Well, Bertila," said Stälhandske, turning to a young man who in the
+first rank rode a handsome black horse, and was noticeable from his
+height and bearing, "do you feel inclined to win the knight's spur
+to-day?"
+
+The one addressed seemed astonished, and coloured up to the brim of his
+helmet.
+
+"I have never dared to aspire so high," he answered.  "I--a peasant's
+son!" he added with hesitation.
+
+"Thunder and lightning, the boy blushes like a bride at the altar!  A
+peasant's son?  What the devil, then, have we all come from in the
+beginning?  Did you not provide four fully equipped horsemen?  Has not
+our Lord placed a heart in your breast, and the king a weapon in your
+hand?  That is in itself a coat of arms; you must attend to the rest."
+
+A multitude of thoughts passed quickly through the young man's mind.
+He thought of the days of his childhood in far-off Finland.  He
+remembered his old father, whose name was also Bertila, and who during
+the peasant war was one of Duke Carl's best men.  When the latter
+became King Carl the Ninth, he gave his follower four large farms; each
+of these had to provide a man and horse for military service.  Owing to
+this, old Bertila became one of the richest peasants in the country.
+He thought of the time when his father first sent him to Stockholm, in
+the hope that he would some day attain honour and distinction by the
+king's side; then of his own ambition which had induced him to neglect
+study and take private lessons in riding and fencing.  At last his
+father gave him permission to join the king's Finnish cavalry.  Now he,
+a peasant's son, was about to strive to raise himself to the level of
+the haughty nobility.  It was this thought that made him blush, and
+under its influence he felt he could face any danger.
+
+Moreover, he was about to fight under the king's eye, for his faith and
+the honour of his country.  The whole army was animated by the same
+high principles, which rendered them invincible, and made them realise
+the victory before the battle had begun.
+
+Before the young horseman had time to reply to his generous leader, the
+king's high voice was heard in the distance calling to prayer.  The
+hero took off his helmet and lowered the point of his sword, and all
+the troops did the same.  The king prayed:
+
+"Thou all-merciful God, Who bearest victory and defeat in Thy hand,
+turn Thy beneficent countenance to us, Thy servants.  From distant
+lands and peaceful homes have we come, to fight for freedom, and Thy
+Gospel.  Give us victory for Thy Holy Name's sake.  Amen."
+
+A deep trust at these words filled every heart.
+
+At noon the attacking Swedish army came within range of the Imperial
+cannon.  The Swedish artillery answered, and the conflict began.  As
+the sun shone right in the assailants' eyes, the king made his army
+wheel to the right, so as to get the wind and sun on the side.
+Pappenheim tried to prevent this.  He rushed forward with the speed of
+lightning, and took the Swedish right in flank.  At once the king threw
+the Rhine Count's regiment and Baner's cavalry upon him.  The shock was
+terrific; horses and riders fell over each other in utter confusion.
+Pappenheim drew back, but only to throw himself the next instant on the
+Finns.  But the furious charge of the Wallachians was in vain; they met
+a wall of steel; their front rank was crushed, and the next turned
+back.  The second attack was no better, and Pappenheim raged; for the
+third time he rushed to the assault; the Livonians and Courlanders now
+assisted the Finns.  The latter received the enemy with calm courage;
+nothing could break through that living wall.
+
+The heat of the conflict had gradually excited the Finns, and it was
+now scarcely possible to hold them in.  Stälhandske's mighty voice
+sounded high above the roar and din of the conflict; and once more the
+foe was thrown back.  Now the Finnish lines broke, but only to enclose
+the enemy.  Then it became a hand-to-hand struggle.  Twice more the
+Wallachians charged and were repulsed.  The seventh time Pappenheim was
+followed only by a few of the most determined of his followers, and
+when this last desperate effort failed all was over.  The remaining
+Wallachians scattered themselves in the wildest flight toward
+Breitenfeld.
+
+Covered with blood and dust the Finns took breath.  But as soon as the
+smoke cleared off, they saw other foes in front.  These were the
+Holsteiners, who had supported Pappenheim.  The Finns could not be
+checked.  With the East Goths they surrounded the Holsteiners and
+annihilated them; these brave fellows died in their ranks to a man.
+
+Whilst this happened on the right, the left was in great danger.
+Furstenberg's Croats had made the Saxons give ground, and Tilly then
+advanced his powerful centre.  Torstensson's cannon played havoc in the
+ranks; Tilly moved aside and charged the Saxons.  The ranks of the
+latter were immediately broken, and they fled in the greatest disorder.
+Tilly now turned his victorious troops against the Swedish left wing.
+The latter were slowly pressed back.  The king then hastened up and
+ordered Callenbach's reserve to the rescue.  Almost immediately both
+Callenbach and Teuffel fell.  Then Hepburn's Scots and the Smälanders
+came up; the Croats fell upon them, but the Scots opened their ranks,
+and several masked batteries played with terrible effect on the former.
+Under the fire of the Scots whole ranks were shattered, and amidst the
+dense smoke and dust the combatants were mingled together in utter
+confusion.
+
+Victory still hung in the balance.
+
+But now a diversion occurred which decided the battle.  The king with
+his cavalry and the Finns had captured the Imperial artillery on the
+heights, and now turned it against the latter.  In vain Pappenheim
+tried to recapture the guns; he was repulsed in disorder.  Then the
+king, with his invincible right wing, charged the enemy in flank; the
+Imperialists were lost.  Tilly wept with rage: Pappenheim, who had
+hewed down fourteen men with his own hand, was mad with fury.  No one,
+however, could rally the Imperial troops, and Tilly, whose horse was
+shot under him, barely escaped being taken prisoner.  The king's
+victory was decisive.
+
+But a terrible sequel remained.  Four regiments of Tilly's veteran
+infantry had reformed, and now sought to check the pursuit.  The king
+charged them with Tott's cavalry, the Smälanders, and Finns.  It was a
+terrific combat; the Wallachians fought with the fury of despair; no
+quarter was asked or given.  At last darkness saved the remnant of
+these brave men, who retreated on Leipzig.
+
+The battle was over.
+
+Great results followed this victory; and in the evening the king rode
+from rank to rank, to thank his brave troops.
+
+"Stälhandske," said he, when he came to the Finns, "you and your men
+have fought like heroes, as I expected.  I thank you, my children!  I
+am proud of you."
+
+The troops responded with a joyous cheer.
+
+"But," continued the king, "there was one among you who sprang from his
+horse, and first of all scaled the heights to seize the Imperial guns.
+Where is he?"
+
+A young horseman rode from the ranks.
+
+"Pardon, your Majesty!" he stammered.  "I did it without orders, and
+therefore merit death."
+
+The king smiled.  "Your name?"
+
+"Bertila."
+
+"From East Bothnia?"
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"Good.  To-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, you may present yourself,
+to hear your doom."
+
+The king rode on, and the horseman returned to the ranks.
+
+Night broke over the awful field, covered with 9,000 dead.  The Finnish
+cavalry encamped on the heights, where Tilly's guns were captured.  The
+dead were taken away, and fires of broken gun-carriages and
+musket-stocks spread their light in the September night; through a
+clear sky the eternal stars looked down upon the battlefield.
+
+The cavalry gave their horses fodder, and watered them at the muddy
+Loder.  Then they bivouacked, each in his division, around the fires,
+armed and ready to jump at the first call The ground was damp with dew,
+and slippery with blood, but many were so fatigued that they fell
+asleep as they sat around the fires.  Others kept themselves in good
+spirits by passing round cups of ale, of which they had a good stock.
+They drank in jesting fashion to the health of the Imperialists.
+
+  "And that they to-night may die of thirst
+  Or drink to their own funeral
+  Eläköön kuningas!"
+
+
+At this moment a woeful voice was heard quite near, earnestly calling
+for help.  The soldiers, accustomed to such things, knew by the accent
+that the man was a foreigner, and did not trouble.  But the cries
+continued without ceasing.
+
+"Pekka, go and give the Austrian dog a final thrust," cried some of the
+men, who were irritated by these wailing sounds.
+
+Pekka, one of Bertila's four dragoons, short, but strong as a lion,
+went unwillingly to silence the offender's voice.  Superstitious, like
+all these soldiers, he was not at home amidst the dead on a dark night.
+Bertila, absorbed in thinking of the next morning, did not hear it.
+
+In a few minutes Pekka returned, dragging after him a dark body, which,
+to everyone's surprise, was found to be a monk, easily recognised by
+his tonsure.  Around his common gown he wore a hempen rope, and to this
+hung the scabbard of a sword.
+
+"A monk!  A Jesuit!" exclaimed the soldiers.
+
+"Yes, but what could I do," said Pekka, "he parried my thrust with a
+crucifix."
+
+"Kill him!  It is one of the devil's allies who prowl around to murder
+kings and burn faithful Christians at the stake.
+
+"Away with him!  When we carried the heights, this same man stood with
+his crucifix among the Imperialists and fired off a cannon."
+
+"Let's find out if the precious object is of silver," said one of the
+men, and pulling aside the monk's gown he drew forth, in spite of his
+struggles, a crucifix of silver, richly gilded.
+
+"Just as I thought, the devil has plenty of gold."
+
+"Let me see it," said an old veteran.  "I know something about monks'
+tricks."
+
+As he pressed a little spring in the image's breast, a keen dagger
+sprang from it.  As if bitten by an adder, he threw the crucifix from
+him.  Rage and horror seized the bystanders.
+
+"Hang the serpent by his own rope," shouted the men.
+
+"There is no tree," said one, "and no one is allowed to leave the
+lines."
+
+"Drown him!"
+
+"There is no water."
+
+"Stab him!"
+
+No one was willing, from aversion, to touch the monk.
+
+"What shall we do with him?"
+
+"Misericordia!  Gnade!" said the prisoner, who now began to recover his
+speech and strength.
+
+"Give him a kick and let him go," said one.  "We are Christians, and
+fear no devilry."
+
+"At least I will mark you first, so that we may know you if we meet
+again," cried one of the soldiers named Vitikka, renowned for his
+strength and brutality.  He flourished his sword several times round
+the monk's head, and then with two dexterous strokes cut off both the
+prisoner's ears, before he could be prevented by his comrades.  It was
+most skilfully accomplished.
+
+"St. Peter could not have done it better," said Vitikka laughing.
+
+Those who were standing around turned away.  Although they were
+accustomed to the cruelties of war, this was too savage even for them.
+
+Bleeding, the Jesuit crawled away on his hands and feet.  But long
+afterwards his voice was heard from the darkness:
+
+"Accursed Finns!  May the eternal fires consume you!"
+
+"Our Father, which art in Heaven," a voice exclaimed from the group of
+soldiers.  And all uttered the prayer with devotion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME.
+
+At dawn on the 8th of September, the Swedish army was exercised.  They
+felt sure of complete victory.  From all parts news arrived that the
+enemy's army was almost destroyed.  The king left one division of his
+troops to follow the Imperialists; whilst the rest received the
+agreeable order to loot Tilly's camp: the spoil was divided into lots.
+The treasures were enormous, and many a man was enriched for life.  The
+whole army wore a joyous look; the dead were quickly buried, and the
+wounded forgot their pains.  In the bright September morning, the
+battlefield was covered with groups of delighted soldiers, and here, if
+ever, Beskow's words could be used, "The air was cooled with the waving
+of the flags gained in the victory."
+
+The king had passed the night in a carriage.  After he had read the
+army prayers, and given orders for the first part of the day, he called
+for those who had most distinguished themselves in the battle.  And now
+many a brave deed was recognised with honours and promotion.  But
+higher than any other reward, was the inner satisfaction, and the
+praise they received from this hero, whom the whole of Europe had now
+learnt to admire.
+
+Amongst those who were specially called was a young man, who plays a
+great part in this history.  Gustaf Bertila was only twenty years old,
+and his heart was beating at this time more rapidly than it had ever
+done in the most terrible moments of the conflict.  He knew well that
+the noble king would not take any account of his crime, which was that
+he had disobeyed orders in battle; he blushed and grew pale by turns,
+as he thought of what the king might mean by this special summons,
+which was in itself a great honour.
+
+The king had erected his tent under one of the great elms, at Gross
+Wetteritz, because all the buildings in the neighbourhood were burnt or
+destroyed by friends or enemies.
+
+After waiting for half an hour, Bertila was introduced into the royal
+presence.  Gustaf Adolf was sitting on a low chair, and his arm was
+resting on a table, covered with maps and papers.  The king was tall
+and portly, and his tight-fitting buff coat made him look still more
+corpulent.
+
+When Bertila entered, the king lifted up his mild and beautiful blue
+eyes; he had just signed an order, and looked sharply at the young man.
+
+Gustaf Adolf was short sighted, and therefore had a difficulty in
+recognising persons, and when he met individuals only slightly known to
+him, it gave his look a peculiar sharpness, which, however, disappeared
+immediately.
+
+"Your name is Bertila," said the king, as if he wished to assure
+himself that he had heard it correctly the day before.
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"Aged twenty years," said the king, watching him closely with a strange
+look.
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"His son did you say?"
+
+The young man bowed his head and blushed.
+
+"How strange!" the king muttered this to himself, and seemed for a
+moment to be in deep thought.  He then said,
+
+"Why have you not announced yourself to me before?  Your father has
+done my father and the country great service.  He is then still alive."
+
+"He is alive, and thankful for your Majesty's goodness."
+
+"Really so."
+
+The king said this more as if a secret thought had escaped him, than as
+a remark to the listener.  The young man felt the colour mount to his
+cheeks, and the king noticed it.
+
+"Your father and I once had a quarrel," continued the king, and he
+smiled, but a cloud was seen on his brow.  "But this was all forgotten
+long ago, and I am glad that such a good man has such a brave son.  You
+were amongst the seventy Finns at Demmin."
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"And no one has mentioned you for promotion?"
+
+"My colonel has promised to remember me."
+
+"Your king never forgets a real service.  Gustaf Bertila, I have just
+signed your commission as sub-lieutenant.  Take it, and continue to
+serve with honour."
+
+"Your Majesty," said the young man.
+
+"I have something more to say to you.  Your action yesterday was
+against orders."
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"I want my soldiers to obey implicitly.  I have been told that you
+dismounted at the foot of the steepest hill, so that you could get up
+quicker."
+
+"It is true your Majesty."
+
+"And that you reached the top of the hill first, whilst the others had
+to ride round; and that you killed two of the enemy, and took the first
+cannon."
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"It is good, sub-lieutenant Bertila; I forgive you, and promote you to
+the rank of lieutenant in my Finnish cavalry."
+
+The young man could not speak.  The king himself laboured under
+considerable emotion.
+
+"Come nearer, young man," said the king.  "You ought to know that once,
+in my youth, I did your father a considerable injury.  Heaven knows
+that I repent, and has at last given me an opportunity to repair to the
+son the injustice done to the father.
+
+"Lieutenant Bertila, you are brave and noble, and you have received a
+military education.  You have also brought into my service four
+soldiers.  In your position as officer in my army you are already
+considered a nobleman.  That none of my officers shall look down upon
+you as a peasant's son, I will give you a name, and the knight's spur."
+
+"Go, young man.  Go, my son," repeated the king with great emotion,
+"and show that you are worth the king's favour."
+
+"Until death."  And the young man bent his knee to the king.  The
+latter stood up.  The emotion which had for a moment passed over his
+fine face now disappeared, and he was again the royal leader.
+
+The young Bertila understood that the time had come to retire.  But he
+still remained in his kneeling position, and gave the king a letter,
+which he, until this day, had carried sewed in his coat.
+
+"May I ask your Majesty to read this letter.  When I said farewell to
+my old father he gave me this letter, and said, 'My son, go and try to
+win your king's favour, through your faithfulness and valour.  And if
+some day you can obtain it for your own sake, and not only for the sake
+of your father's name, then give him this letter, and tell him that it
+is my last will.  His great heart will understand what I mean.'"
+
+The king opened the letter and read it, and on his face was seen that
+deep flush, which in his later years was the only sign of the struggles
+of a soul, able to control itself.  It came as a light cloud on the
+king's forehead, deepened for a moment, and then passed away without
+leaving any trace.  When he had finished reading, his eyes rested for a
+moment on the handsome youth who was still kneeling at his feet.
+
+"Stand up," said the king at last.
+
+Bertila obeyed.
+
+"Do you know what this letter contains?"
+
+"No, your Majesty."
+
+The king watched him closely, but was satisfied with the honest and
+truthful expression of his face.
+
+"Your father is a strange man.  He hates all noblemen since the days of
+the Peasants' War.  He fought many tough battles as their leader; and
+Fleming's troops took possession of his farm.  He forbids you ever to
+bear a noble name, if you wish to avoid his curse."
+
+Bertila did not reply.  A thunder-bolt from a clear sky had come down
+upon his happiness, and all his dreams of a noble and knightly name had
+been destroyed at one blow.
+
+"A father's will must be obeyed," continued the king with great
+seriousness.
+
+"The noble name which I had intended for you, you cannot accept.  Do
+not feel sad, my young friend, you shall keep your sword and your
+lieutenant's commission; with them, and your brave arm, the path to
+honour will always be open to you."
+
+The king now dismissed him, and the young man left the tent with mixed
+feelings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+LADY REGINA.
+
+In the beginning of October, 1631, it was a dull autumn day, about
+three or four weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld, and in one of the
+rooms of the tower of the castle of Würzburg the beautiful Regina von
+Emmeritz was sitting with several of her attendants; they were all
+working on a banner of white silk with the image of the Holy Virgin on
+it.  It was intended for a standard of victory to stimulate the troops
+defending the castle.  The young maidens indulged in an animated
+conversation, for the terror of the castle, the old, selfish bishop,
+had just started off, as he alleged, on a journey through the diocese,
+but in reality to escape Gustaf Adolf's approaching warriors.
+Trembling for his treasures, he had previously entrusted the defence of
+the town and castle to the valiant and trustworthy captain of horse,
+Keller, with fifteen hundred men; and this commander, relying upon the
+impregnable position of the fortress on the banks of the Main, had
+assured his reverence that the heretic king should crush his head
+against the walls, before any of his godless host obtained an entrance.
+
+The lovely Regina was scarcely sixteen, and her curls were dark as the
+night, cheeks rosy as the dawn, and black eyes shining like two stars
+which at midnight mirror themselves in a mountain lake.  She was the
+pet and idol of the aged bishop; he had therefore unwillingly left her
+with his other treasures in the castle, depending, however, upon
+Keller's assurance that the thick walls well mounted with heavy guns,
+were, in such uncertain times, the best harbour for beauty and gold;
+and Keller was a commander of fidelity and honour; with such a precious
+trust he would sooner bury himself underneath the ruins of the fortress
+than surrender.
+
+Lady Regina raised her brilliant eyes from the embroidery and glanced
+through the little turret window over the river, where at that moment a
+carriage, escorted by some troopers, was crossing the bridge from the
+town to the castle.
+
+"Who is this traveller?" she said, with the concentrated gaze which
+rarely fixed itself upon any object except the large and beautiful
+marble image of the Madonna in her sanctuary.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Ketchen, the youngest and most talkative of the
+maidens, "ah, Holy Virgin, how charming it is to live in such times as
+these!  Every day, new faces, stately cavaliers, brave young knights,
+and now and then a little feast in town.  It is quite a different thing
+from sitting shut up in a cloister, and hearing the monks chant De
+Profundis from morn till eve.  Yes," continued she saucily, "may his
+grace, the bishop, only stay away a good long time!"
+
+"Ketchen," admonished Regina, "take care not to speak ill of the
+services and masses of the monks!  Remember that our confessor, Father
+Hieronymus, is a member of the Holy Inquisition, and that the castle
+dungeons are deep and dark."
+
+Ketchen remained silent for a moment.  But directly afterwards she
+boldly said,
+
+"If I were in your place, lady, I would rather think of the handsome
+Count of Lichtenstein, than of that terrible Father Hieronymus.  He is
+a valiant knight; God grant that he may return victorious from the war
+against the heretics!"
+
+"May they all be exterminated by fire and sword!" interjected one of
+the girls in a devout manner.
+
+"Poor heretics!" said Ketchen smiling.
+
+"Beware!" repeated Lady Regina, with naïve earnestness.  "A heretic
+deserves no mercy.  Anyone who kills a heretic has pardon for seven
+sins; Father Hieronymus has often thus instructed me.  To hate the
+heretics is the eighth sacrament, and to love a single one of them is
+to consign your soul to eternal torment."
+
+Regina's black eyes emitted fire with these words.  One could easily
+see that the worthy father's teachings had taken deep root in her soul.
+
+Still Ketchen did not refrain.
+
+"It is said that their king is good and noble, and that he shelters all
+the weak, and does not allow his soldiers to plunder and outrage their
+enemies."
+
+"Satan often assumes the disguise of an angel."
+
+"They also say that his men are brave and humane.  I myself heard an
+old Italian soldier tell the knights in the armoury how seventy men
+belonging to a heretic people called Finns, defended their king for
+more than an hour against fifteen hundred Neapolitans.  And when most
+of these Finns had fallen, the rest were succoured and finally
+triumphed; afterwards they bound up the wounds of their enemies as well
+as their own."
+
+Lady Regina rose, and was about to return a quick answer to this
+unpalatable speech, but at that moment a servant appeared at the door,
+and announced that the Count of Lichtenstein, sick and wounded, had
+arrived at the castle, and craved shelter.  The young lady, who, as the
+niece of the old bishop, took the part of hostess of the castle in his
+absence, immediately hastened down to welcome the new arrival, who was
+a distant relative of the family.
+
+The maidens now exchanged significant glances, as if they considered
+this event especially opportune.  It had long been gossiped amongst
+them that the old bishop had chosen the count as the future husband of
+the young lady.  But in vain had they endeavoured to discover any signs
+of emotion on the part of their young mistress at the intelligence of
+his arrival.  If Lady Regina entertained any tender passion, she well
+knew how to conceal it.
+
+"Is it true," asked one of the girls, "that the king of the heretics
+has won a great victory over the soldiers of the true faith, and is now
+approaching this castle with his godless army?"
+
+"So it is said," answered another.  "But he is unable to come here.
+Our people have erected the image of the Swedish saint, Brigitta, in
+his path, in Thüringer forest, and she will stop his progress."
+
+In the meanwhile, Lady Regina had ordered one of the bishop's own
+apartments to be put in order for the guest, and provided in every way
+for his comfort.  The young Count of Lichtenstein was a proud and
+stately youth, dark as a Spaniard, and with eyes almost as bright as
+Regina's.  He approached the beautiful hostess with faltering steps,
+and with an ardent glance, before which Regina cast down her eyes.
+
+"How grateful I should be to heaven," he said, "for these wounds, which
+have procured me the happiness of having such a beautiful hostess!"
+
+The count's wounds were numerous, but not dangerous.  Taken captive at
+Breitenfeld, he had shortly afterwards, still weak from his wounds,
+been exchanged, and immediately hastened here, to regain health and
+strength in the neighbourhood of his heart's mistress.
+
+"But," he added, "I heard with great alarm that the enemy, seeking whom
+they may devour, were on their march hither to the rich vales of
+Franconia.  Then I hurried, quickly as I could, to share with you,
+beautiful Regina, all these dangers and terrors.  Be calm!  Königshofen
+will make a stand against them, and Father Hieronymus, who, also
+wounded, escaped from the disastrous field of Breitenfeld, is busy
+inciting the country people to resistance all along the enemy's advance.
+
+"And so you think," anxiously asked Regina, "that these terrible
+heretics will venture as far as this place?"
+
+"The protection of the saints will be with beauty and faith," answered
+the count evasively.  "Besides, we shall soon receive more reliable
+news."
+
+As he spoke, Regina looked out of the window, and perceived a troop of
+horsemen, who were hurrying at full speed towards the fortress.
+
+"I cannot be mistaken," she exclaimed; "it is Father Hieronymus himself
+who returns here."
+
+"A bad omen," muttered the count between his teeth.
+
+Lady Regina was right; it was Father Hieronymus who at that moment rode
+over the drawbridge.  In appearance, the father was a little
+insignificant man, thin and pallid, with sharp features, and deeply
+sunk, hollow eyes, whose quick glance fled inquiringly from one object
+to another.  He still wore the long sword suspended from the rope round
+his waist.  But the bald spot no longer shone on the crown of his head;
+wounded at that place, he wore over it a sort of skull-cap or calotte
+of leather, the black colour of which made a ghastly contrast with his
+cadaverous-looking face.  Never had the dreaded Jesuit showed himself
+in so forbidding a form.  The men-at-arms stood at attention, and all
+the servants in the castle hastened to receive his commands.  A secret
+anxiety took possession of all the bystanders.  It looked as if terror
+and death had ridden in his train through the gates of Würzburg Castle.
+
+The monk hastily surveyed the garrison drawn up in the courtyard, and
+then greeted Lady Regina with a smile, which was probably intended to
+make him look more agreeable, but which had exactly the opposite effect.
+
+"St. Petrus and all the saints protect you, gracious lady!  The times
+are very awful, very bad.  The Holy Virgin has allowed the vile
+heretics to penetrate to our very gates--on account of our sins!" he
+added, crossing himself devoutly.
+
+"And Königshofen?" inquired Count Fritz, who anticipated the answer.
+
+"The treacherous commander has capitulated."
+
+"But did not the peasants oppose the enemy's march through the forest?"
+
+"All scattered like chaff--on account of our sins."
+
+"And the holy Brigitta's image?"
+
+"The vile heretics have placed it as a scarecrow in a wheat-field.
+But," continued the Jesuit, his voice acquiring suddenly a commanding
+tone, "what is this I see, my daughter?  Why are you still here, and
+the castle filled with women and children, while the enemy may arrive
+at any moment at your gates?"
+
+"Lady Regina shall never need a protector as long as I am alive,"
+exclaimed Count Fritz.
+
+"The castle is provisioned for a whole year," said Regina timidly.
+"But, worthy father, you are fatigued, you are wounded, and need rest.
+Allow me to dress your wounds; you are hurt in the head."
+
+"It is nothing, my daughter.  Do not think of me.  You must fly
+instantly to the impregnable fortress of Aschaffenburg."
+
+"Ha!  I fear it is too late," exclaimed Count Fritz, who was looking
+out upon the river and town.
+
+"Holy Virgin, are they already here?"
+
+The Jesuit and Lady Regina rushed to the window.  The afternoon sun was
+shedding its rays over Würzburg and the surrounding country.  Horsemen
+could be seen riding at full gallop through the streets, and a whole
+host of panic-stricken people were rapidly moving towards the
+castle--monks and nuns, women and children, dragging after them a
+number of hand-carts containing the best of their household effects.
+Beyond the town, in the direction of Schweinfurter, on the east bank of
+the river, appeared a troop of cavalry, from whose threatening but
+cautious advance one could easily recognise the vanguard of the Swedish
+army.
+
+"Accursed devils!" burst out the Jesuit, with an indescribable
+expression of hatred on his pallid face.  "These heretics can fly.  May
+the earth open and devour them!"  And he ran out with frantic zeal to
+place himself at the head of the garrison.
+
+The bishop's castle, also called Marienburg, raises its old walls high
+above the right bank of the Main.  On the river side of the town the
+rock is high and precipitous, but on the other side sloping and easily
+ascended.  A rampart in the shape of a half moon formed a formidable
+outwork before the gates; and if the enemy surmounted this obstacle, a
+deep moat, cut in the solid rock, awaited him on the other side; and
+even if he crossed this successfully, the inner and higher castle wall
+blocked his way, lined with steel-clad defenders, prepared to receive
+him with a devastating fire, and crush him with the large stones
+collected on the walls.  The only passage over the river was a narrow
+bridge, and the forty-eight guns of the fortress commanded and swept
+the whole town and neighbourhood.  From this it will be seen that
+Keller at the head of 1,500 valiant troops, and well provided with all
+necessaries, had good reason in bidding the departing bishop to be of
+good heart.
+
+But Gustaf Adolf had an overwhelming reason for becoming master of this
+castle, cost what it would.  Tilly had now drawn to himself large
+reinforcements, and stood, a few weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld,
+fully equipped and eager for revenge, with 30,000 men on the march from
+Hessen, to assist Würzburg.
+
+The king summoned the town, and forced his way into the suburbs, but it
+was already late in the day, and the attack had to be postponed.  The
+next morning the town surrendered.  But Keller had profited by the
+darkness of the night to transfer his whole force, a large number of
+fugitives, and the portable property of the town, to the castle, after
+which he blew up two arches of the bridge, and thus blockaded the
+enemy's way.
+
+But to return to the fortress.
+
+That night none but the little children could sleep in the bishop's
+castle.  Crowds of soldiers, monks, and women, were constantly
+arriving; one baggage-wagon after the other rattled in through the
+castle gates; the vaults echoed with the cries of the watch, the orders
+of the officers, and the children's crying, and above all this noise
+and confusion one could plainly hear the masses of the monks, who were
+invoking in the chapel the protection of the Holy Virgin and all the
+saints, on behalf of the threatened fortress, the strongest castle of
+the Catholics in all Franconia.
+
+In order to provide for this human host, Lady Regina had not only
+opened the bishop's private rooms, but also the two spacious
+drawing-rooms set aside for her own use in the interior of the castle,
+and with her maids moved up to the small chambers in the east turret.
+In vain it was represented to her that this point was exposed to the
+fire of the enemy.  She here had the best and most extensive prospect
+in the whole fortress, and was not willing to forego it.  "Do not
+interfere with me," she said to the cautious Jesuit; "I wish to see the
+heretics mown down by our guns.  It will be a fine spectacle."
+
+"Amen," answered Father Hieronymus.  "You remember, my daughter, that
+this castle is protected by two miraculous images of the Virgin, one of
+pure gold, the other of gilded wood.  I will hang up the latter in your
+apartment; it will avert the enemy's shot like so many puff-balls from
+your turret."
+
+At daybreak, Lady Regina was on the look-out at her little turret
+window.  It was a glorious sight, when the sun rose over the autumn
+hills with their still verdant vineyards, through which the River Main
+wound like a glittering serpent of gold and silver in the morning
+light.  In the town all was activity; four Swedish regiments marched in
+with flags flying and drums beating, their armour shining in the bright
+sunlight, and the plumes of their officers waving in the wind.  At this
+sight, fear and curiosity came into conflict in the minds of the
+maidens.
+
+"Do you see," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, "the two cavaliers in their
+yellow waistcoats, who ride at the head of the heretics?"
+
+"How handsome they are!  Now they turn round the street corner--there
+they are again.  Just see how everyone makes way for them!"
+
+"Send for Count Fritz.  He was in the Swedish camp for more than a
+fortnight, and knows their leaders."
+
+The count, who was prevented by his wounds from taking part in the
+defence of the castle, immediately obeyed the Lady Regina's summons.
+
+In the meantime the Swedes had taken full possession of the town, and
+began to show themselves in scattered groups on the river banks.  At
+that moment the castle guns opened fire, and here and there a ball fell
+among the Swedes, who immediately sought shelter behind the houses by
+the river.
+
+"Holy Mary, a man was struck over there and does not move again!" cried
+Ketchen, who could not conceal her sympathy.
+
+"St. Francis be praised, there is one heretic less in the world!"
+rejoined old Dorthe, Lady Regina's duenna, who had been appointed by
+Father Hieronymus to guard all her steps.
+
+"But it is terrible to shoot a man."
+
+Count Fritz smiled.
+
+"Fräulein Ketchen, you should have been on the field of Breitenfeld.
+Nine thousand corpses!"
+
+"It is horrible!"
+
+"Count, can you inform me who those horsemen are, who, in spite of the
+storm of cannon-shot, keep on the river bank and seem to be closely
+examining the defences of our castle?"
+
+"Pardon me, charming cousin, the smoke blocks my sight.  Those
+cavaliers--upon my honour, it is the king himself, and Count Pehr
+Brahe.  I would not be in their shoes if Father Hieronymus sees them.
+He would undoubtedly bring all the guns of the fortress to bear upon
+them."
+
+At these words old Dorthe crept silently from the room.
+
+"My cousin, why do you thus regard the heretic leader?"
+
+"Beautiful Regina, why do your eyes flash fire at the thought.  You
+are, yourself, so generous and noble, can you not understand my
+sympathy for a brave and chivalrous foe?  The king of Sweden is a hero,
+well worthy of our supreme admiration, as well as of our great enmity."
+
+"I fail to comprehend you.  A heretic!"
+
+"God preserve you from some day seeing him within these walls; you will
+then understand me much better.  Ha! they are now preparing to assault
+the bridge; they are throwing planks over the destroyed arches.  By
+Heaven, that is courageous!"
+
+"Now, four fell at once!" exclaimed the excited Ketchen.
+
+"I know them well," said Count Fritz, growing more and more agitated by
+the sounds of the battle and the loud thunder of the cannonade, which
+made the fortress walls shake.  "They are the Scots.  There are no
+finer soldiers in the whole Swedish army; the Scots and Finns are
+always in the front of the battle."
+
+"Ah! see there, my cousin, the Scots recoil; they dare not try to leap
+the abyss.  That truly requires superhuman courage.  Twenty-four feet
+underneath the planks rushes the flood."
+
+"Two young officers dash out on the planks."
+
+"They are the youthful brothers Ramsay.  I recognise them by their blue
+scarves.  They love the same lady, and both sport her colours, without
+loving each other any the less."
+
+"Oh God, guard them!  Ah, Holy Virgin, this is fearful!" and Ketchen
+hid her face in her apron.
+
+Before the brave and intrepid Scots could reach the centre of the
+planks, they lost their balance, reeled, and then fell headlong into
+the river.  For a short time they struggled with the flood, but wounded
+by bullets from the castle, their strength soon failed them, and their
+heavy armour made them sink in the waters; another moment, and these
+gallant youths sank to rise no more.
+
+"You rejoiced at war not long ago," said Lady Regina to Ketchen,
+assuming a calmness which she did not feel in her agitated heart.
+
+"Oh, yes, at the handsome young knights; the feasts and music, but not
+at this!" exclaimed the crying Ketchen.
+
+"The Scots retreat!" exclaimed another of the girls.
+
+"Yes," replied the reflecting count, "but the Swedes have begun to
+cross the river in boats."
+
+"The Scots are returning to the attack."
+
+"Just as I imagined," said the count calmly.
+
+"God preserve us! they have succeeded; they are now on this side.  Our
+troops attack them."
+
+"Lady Regina, do not expose yourself so much at the window.  The Swedes
+may aim their cannon at the turret."
+
+"Count, do you fear?" Regina smiled as she said this.
+
+Lichtenstein coloured up.
+
+"I have satisfied myself that I have courage enough," he answered.
+"Hearken, and you will every now and then distinguish a peculiar
+whizzing, and a rattling like the fall of stones; you do not know what
+this is.  I will tell you.  These are cannon-shot, Lady Regina; you
+would know this better if the noise outside was not so deafening.  For
+some time the balls have been shattering the walls of the turret, and
+almost always at the same place.  Fair cousin, these are no
+sugar-plums.  The Swedes must have been taught to shoot by the Wild
+Huntsman."
+
+"Do you really think----"
+
+"That the enemy intend to destroy this turret, and will fill the castle
+moat with the debris?  Yes, cousin, and I believe they will do it very
+soon.  You are in danger here, every moment, and must go somewhere
+else."
+
+"Immediately, good count, at once!  Come, lady!" cried Ketchen, trying
+with friendly violence to take her young mistress away with her.  But
+Regina was in an exalted mood.  In the habit of ruling, and perhaps
+from the defiant nature of her character, full of strange contrasts,
+joined to the burning fanaticism which the Jesuit had implanted in her
+mind from childhood ... she stepped backwards, grasped the gilded image
+of the Virgin, which Father Hieronymus had sent to guard her, and
+placed it in front of herself on the window-sill.
+
+"Go," she exclaimed; "you are weak in the faith; you doubt the
+protection of the holy saints.  I shall remain, and the efforts of the
+heretics will avail nothing against----"
+
+Lady Regina's speech was not finished, when a ball struck the turret at
+an oblique angle, knocking away a piece of the facing.  A shower of
+stone fragments hurtled through the window, demolishing the image of
+the Holy Virgin, and enveloping Lady Regina in dust and dirt.
+
+"You must away!  Now you see for yourself!" cried the count.
+
+"Let us go!" exclaimed all the girls nearly paralyzed with fear.
+
+But Regina, nearly overwhelmed for a moment, recovered her
+self-confidence, and stooped down to pick up the image, saying with
+faith,
+
+"They cannot triumph over the Holy Mother."
+
+She was deceived.  The wooden virgin had broken into several fragments.
+A sceptical smile played around the count's lips, and he now led
+without any opposition his terror-stricken relative from the turret.
+
+While this was happening, Keller, with the quickness and perception of
+a thorough soldier, had made every arrangement for a vigorous defence.
+He was unable to stop the Swedes from crossing the river, but the
+nearer they came, the more destructive was the fire of his artillery.
+The enemy's ranks were decimated by his shot; and the whole day they
+could do nothing.
+
+Father Hieronymus and his monks ran around the walls, deluging the guns
+with holy water, and making the sign of the cross over every touch-hole.
+
+Old Dorthe had whispered in his ear, and the Jesuit's gaze was directed
+towards the place where someone had just seen the Swedish king and his
+companion.  The worthy priest now wished to aim, himself, one of the
+heavy guns towards the spot; but before firing he fell on his knees and
+repeated four _pater nosters_ and _ave Marias_.  Then followed the
+shot; but in vain did the anxious Jesuit look for the effect.  Unhurt,
+as before, the forms of the two horsemen were seen through the
+vanishing smoke.  The monk now thought that four _paters_ and four
+_aves_ were too little, and accordingly repeated eight of each sort,
+and then fired again.  Disgusting!  The balls would not touch the
+selected objects.  Providence had not yet rung the death-knell of
+Gustaf Adolf, and Pehr Brahe it wished to spare for the sake of
+Finland.  Who can estimate what would have succeeded Sweden's
+victories, and Finland's learning, if the Jesuit's shots had reached
+their mark?
+
+Father Hieronymus fumed.  Once more he resolved to try with twelve
+_paters_ and twelve _aves_, when someone touched him on the back; he
+turned round and saw an old soldier, who had been exchanged with Count
+Lichtenstein.
+
+"Cease your efforts," said the veteran in a firm tone, "it is a
+needless waste of powder; you are trying to kill a man with a charmed
+life; he is invulnerable."
+
+The superstitious Jesuit muttered something with a low breath.
+
+"I should have divined as much.  But how do you know this, my son?" he
+added.
+
+"I was told of it in the Swedish camp.  On the forefinger of his right
+hand the king wears a little copper ring, inscribed all over with
+magical signs.  This was given to him in his youth by a Finnish witch,
+and as long as he wears this ring, neither fire, water, iron, or lead
+can injure him."
+
+"Nothing affects him, you believe?  Oh, _maledicti Fennones_, why do
+you follow me everywhere?"
+
+"No iron or lead," whispered the veteran, "but I can tell you of
+something else."
+
+"Say on, my son; you are absolved beforehand."
+
+"But, good father, it is a sinful method."
+
+"All means are justified for the benefit of our Holy Faith.  Speak, my
+son."
+
+"Gold from a holy image."
+
+"Never, my son, no; we dare not do that.  Had it been a dagger of
+glass, or an occult poison, it would do; but gold from a saint's image,
+no, my son, let us forget the unholy idea."
+
+Meanwhile the cloak of night had descended, and death's work for the
+time was finished.  The worn-out soldiers refreshed themselves with
+food and drink, and Keller passed around some fine liquors to sustain
+their courage.
+
+Lady Regina had moved down to one of the inner apartments; Count Fritz
+had gone to bed.  Soon all was silent, except the call of the
+sentinels, the songs of drunken soldiers, and the murmur of the feast
+which Keller gave to his officers in the armoury.  But in the fine
+chapel, where stood the pure golden statues of Christ and the Virgin
+Mary, the midnight mass was over, and all the monks except one had gone
+to rest, or--the wine-cup.  This lonely figure was still kneeling
+before the altar, and the perpetually burning lamp shed its dim rays
+over the praying pallid Jesuit.
+
+"Holy Virgin," prayed he, "forgive thy humble servant for daring to
+take from thee a small piece of thy golden robe.  Thou knowest, oh
+sanctissima, that it is for a holy and sacred end, in order to kill the
+sworn enemy of the holy church, the heretic king, whom the heathen
+Finns with their devilish arts have rendered invulnerable to the steel
+and lead of the true believers.  Grant that the gold, which I, in thy
+honour, take from thy glorious mantle, may pierce the wicked heart of
+the godless king, and I promise thee, holy mother, to replace what thou
+hast lost by a costly robe of velvet and pearls.  Three gilded candles
+will I cause to burn also, night and day, before thy image.  Amen."
+
+When Father Hieronymus had finished his devotions, he looked up, and it
+appeared to him as if the image in the light of the eternal lamp smiled
+its approval to the fanatical petition.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+LADY REGINA'S OATH.
+
+The next day was one of hot and furious battle.  The Swedes bombarded
+the castle with a heavy fire, and drew near to the walls under the
+cover of earthworks.  The Imperial troops fought well.  Time was
+precious for both sides; in a few days Tilly would be in the rear of
+Gustaf Adolf; a possible thunder-bolt to the Swedes; a certain relief
+for the garrison.
+
+Lady Regina and her attendants were now shut up in the inner rooms, and
+could no longer view the extraordinary spectacle of the siege.  But
+there was much to do within.  Large numbers of wounded had to be
+nursed; the young lady moved like a spirit of light from couch to couch
+in the armoury, where the wounded had been placed; her healing hands
+poured balm on their wounds; her compassionate voice poured consolation
+into their hearts.  She spoke of the Holy Faith for which they
+suffered; promised honours and rewards to those who recovered, and
+eternal salvation to the dying.
+
+The heavy artillery thunder made the walls tremble.  Lady Regina
+suddenly remembered that she had left her rosary up in the little
+turret, and it was now needed for the prayers of the dying.  She had
+already reached the threshold of the armoury, when a terrific crash
+shook the castle to its very base.  Pale with fear, she hesitated, and
+at the same moment the Count of Lichtenstein rushed in.
+
+"What has happened?" exclaimed the young lady.
+
+"Thank the saints, my fair cousin, that you took my advice yesterday.
+The turret has fallen."
+
+"Then we are lost."
+
+"Not yet.  The Swedes thought it would fall into the moat, but it has
+fallen inside.  The enemy will soon try an assault.  Come to this
+window which overlooks the walls.  Can you see?  Father Hieronymus is
+on his knees by the large gun.  I will wager that he sees the Swedish
+king."
+
+The count was right.  The Jesuit's keen glance was fixed on one spot,
+and his lips hastily muttered prayer after prayer.  He had discovered
+Gustaf Adolf on horseback with Pehr Brahe.  The two kept near the
+outworks, sheltered somewhat by a heap of debris.  Father Hieronymus
+relied upon the heavy shot, into which, with prayers and fasting, he
+had run the gold from the Holy Mother's mantle.  He stooped to direct
+the cannon, and the pupils of his eyes contracted, his nostrils
+expanded, while Latin prayers continued to flow from his lips.  Then he
+rose quickly, and after swinging the lighted match in the form of a
+cross, fired.
+
+The gun belched forth flame and smoke.  Oh, hate and fury!  When the
+smoke cleared off, the two horsemen still rode unharmed side by side.
+But this time Gustaf Adolf had a narrow escape, for the ball had struck
+the debris, and covered both with dust.
+
+Tired, weary, and quite exasperated, the Jesuit left the ramparts.
+
+"Wait, ruler of Belial, until I succeed in taking your ring from you,
+and then you shalt be destroyed!"
+
+The king now commanded an assault on the outworks.  Axel Lilje, Jacob
+Ramsay, and Hamilton, pressed on with their men.  Frightful
+difficulties were here encountered.  They were obliged to climb up the
+steep rocks under a heavy fire, and then cross the moat and scale the
+walls.  The irresistible Scots and Finns led the way.  Those who fell
+were immediately replaced by others, with their swords between their
+teeth.  The king himself rode as near as possible in order to encourage
+his troops.  A bullet tore away a piece of his glove, without wounding
+him.  It was now a common belief that Gustaf Adolf was invulnerable.
+
+At last, after two hours desperate conflict, the Scots and the Finns
+triumphed.  The outworks were captured, and the defenders driven back
+into the castle.  It was then four in the afternoon.
+
+A few hours rest ensued.  At a council of war it was resolved to storm
+the castle at daybreak, and the Finns were to lead the forlorn hope.
+
+The position of the garrison was far from hopeless.  They could still
+concentrate 1,000 men at any threatened point.  But they had lost their
+moral courage.  In vain did Keller try to restore their spirits; in
+vain did the monks carry the golden image of the Virgin around the
+ramparts.  At nightfall disorder reigned; the troops refused to obey
+orders, and some wished to escape in the darkness.
+
+At midnight, Lady Regina was praying before the altar in the chapel to
+the mother of God.
+
+"Holy Mary," she whispered, "guard this castle against the heretics.
+But if it be thy will that the fortress shall fall, then also bury in
+its ruins all thy enemies: the godless king, and his heathen Finns who
+have fought the most to-day against thy Holy Cause."
+
+"Amen!" said the voice of Father Hieronymus behind her.  A dark smile
+played over his pale countenance.
+
+"Do you realise what you are asking for, my daughter?"
+
+"Victory for the Catholic faith.  Death to the heretics."
+
+"The youthful mind is subject to change.  Have you sufficient devotion
+to hate the enemies of the faith, even if ever, as a woman, you felt
+tempted to love one of them?"
+
+"I have, my father; yes, I declare it!"
+
+"You are my penitent, and I would save your soul from eternal
+damnation.  Have you courage to sacrifice yourself for the holy faith,
+and thereby secure the eternal crown of a martyr?"
+
+"Yes, my father!"
+
+"Very well; then know that the fortress will be taken in a short time.
+You will be a prisoner; you are young and beautiful, and may easily win
+the king's favour.  When you can approach his person, and the Holy
+Virgin grants an opportunity, you must----"
+
+The Jesuit now took out a crucifix of silver, and when he pressed a
+spring in the breast of the image, a keen dagger flew out.
+
+"Grace, my father; this task is terrible.
+
+"No respite.  The Holy Church demands a blind obedience.  _Perinde ac
+cadaver_.  As a corpse which has no will of its own.  Do you love the
+Holy Virgin?"
+
+"You know that I do."
+
+"Look at her golden robe.  She has lost a part of it during the night.
+It is a bad omen, and indicates her anger.  Do you love me also, my
+daughter?"
+
+"I revere you more than anyone else, my father."
+
+"Then look at this mutilated head."
+
+The Jesuit removed his black leather cap, and exposed the horrible
+stumps of two severed ears.
+
+"Thus have the blasphemous king's Finns treated your confessor and
+friend.  Do you still hesitate to avenge the mother of God and myself?"
+
+"What must I do, my father?"
+
+"Listen!  The heretic king wears on his right forefinger a ring of
+copper; this is a talisman against death and injury.  You must gain
+possession of this ring by some artifice, and then if your arm is too
+weak to deal the blow, call upon me.  We will reach his heart, even if
+it was guarded by a dragon's scales."
+
+"If it is the will of the saints ... so be it."
+
+"Place two fingers on this crucifix, and repeat this oath.  I swear by
+this cross, and by all the saints, to accomplish what I now vow before
+the image of the Holy Virgin.  If I ever break this oath, may a curse
+rest upon me and my posterity to the seventh generation.
+
+"Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.  Amen!"
+
+Lady Regina faithfully repeated these words after the monk.
+
+The night's silence sealed this terrible oath, which, with iron
+fetters, chained the coming generations to the hesitating decision of a
+girl of sixteen.
+
+While this passed, the troops of stormers assembled in the outworks.  A
+number of volunteers had obtained permission to join them.  All relied
+upon victory.
+
+Among the volunteers appeared Lieutenant Bertel.
+
+"Thunder and lightning! is that you, Bertel?" exclaimed Lieutenant
+Larsson.
+
+"As you see," said the youth, shaking his hand cordially.
+
+"Well, I declare, the good boy wishes to sport his new commission.
+There's not a single drop left in my flask.  But say, why have you
+changed your name, Bertel?  What sort of a mixture is it? neither
+Swedish or Finnish."
+
+"It was done at Breitenfeld," said Bertel, slightly blushing.  "The
+comrades have long called me so, and--it is shorter."
+
+"Well, I hope you are not too proud to bear a peasant's name, now you
+are an officer?"
+
+"Have the lots already been drawn?" said Bertel.
+
+"No.  You are just in time to try your luck."
+
+As all the younger officers desired the honour of leading the forlorn
+hope, the difficulty was settled by drawing lots.  After these were
+shaken up in a helmet, Bertel was the successful competitor.
+
+"Look out for yourself, my boy!" cried little Larsson.  "Thunder and
+lightning, remember that the castle is full of Jesuits.  Trap-doors
+everywhere, a dagger in every crucifix, and at the moment of victory
+the castle will be blown up."
+
+It was half an hour to the dawn.  Bertel with seven men was ordered to
+closely reconnoitre the fortress.  The rest of the troops were held in
+readiness.
+
+The night was pitch dark.  Bertel's men approached the drawbridge
+without being challenged: To their complete astonishment they found it
+down.*
+
+
+* Some authors say that the drawbridge could not be drawn up on account
+of the weight of the many dead who were left there after the strife.
+
+
+Bertel stopped for an instant, remembering Larsson's warnings.  Was
+this a trap?  All was silent.  Then Bertel and his men stepped softly
+over the bridge.
+
+"Who goes there?" thundered a German sentinel through the darkness.
+
+"Swede!" cried Bertel, cleaving his head.  "Comrades, the castle is
+ours!"
+
+And the seven pushed on resolutely after him.
+
+Inside the drawbridge stood two hundred Imperialists on guard.  These
+became panic-stricken and thought the whole Swedish army was upon them.
+They tried to regain the sally-port, but the bold lieutenant and his
+seven men opposed them.  The darkness in the arched gateway was
+impenetrable; friend could not be distinguished from foe.  The press
+soon became so great that no sword could be used, and the rash
+assailants were in danger of being crushed to death by the rushing host
+of mailed warriors.
+
+But those in the outworks had heard Bertel's cry, and the whole Swedish
+force now rushed against the castle; the rest of the garrison seized
+their weapons and hastened to defend the entrance.  But the Finns had
+obtained a footing, and in a short time stood inside the castle yard.
+Keller and his men fought desperately, and many Swedes and Finns fell
+here, at the very moment of victory.  Their fall excited their
+countrymen to revenge.  They began to cry, "Magdeburger pardon," and
+this shout meant death without quarter to all the Imperialists.  The
+carnage became awful.  Many monks threw themselves into the mêlée, some
+with torches, some sword in hand.  Most were cut down, others cast
+themselves on the ground feigning death.  Day had broken over the
+sanguinary scene.
+
+Then Lennart Torstensson started forward, seized the madly struggling
+Keller round the waist, and took him prisoner.  The remainder of the
+Imperialists laid down their arms, and all was over.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES.
+
+When the first rays of the sun glittered in the waves of the River
+Main, the castle of Marienburg was in the hands of the Swedes.  The
+king rode up to the courtyard, which was covered with killed and
+wounded enemies, and amongst these were more than a score of monks.
+Some of these appeared to the king to be shamming death.
+
+"Stand up," he said to them, "and no evil shall befall you."
+
+Immediately many of those who were pretending to be dead stood on their
+feet sound and well, and bowed low, full of joy and gratitude to the
+king.
+
+The castle had been taken by storm, and the soldiers were allowed to
+plunder.  The quantity of silver, and gold, and weapons, and other
+valuable things was enormous.  The king reserved the armoury, with its
+complete equipments for 7,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, 48 guns and 4
+mortars, the stables with fine and valuable horses, and the wine cellar
+filled with the very best wines.  The library was sent to Upsala, and
+donated to the university.  The sacred statues of gold and silver found
+their way to the Treasury.  Although many of the inhabitants of the
+town were allowed to take away their property, the booty was so great
+that when the soldiers divided it, the money was measured in helmets.
+At last Keller had to lead the way to the concealed treasure vault.
+This was deep down in the rock underneath the cellar of the castle;
+here the bishop kept his treasures.  Fryxell relates, that when the
+soldiers carried up the heavy chests, the bottom fell out of one of
+them, and the gold rolled over the courtyard.  The soldiers hurried to
+pick it up.  Some they gave to the king, but most of it went into their
+own pockets.  Gustaf Adolf saw this, and said, laughing, "Never mind,
+boys; now that it has once come into your hands, you may as well keep
+it."  The spoil was so great that after that day there was scarcely a
+soldier in the whole army who did not have a new suit of clothes.  In
+the camp a cow was sold for a riks thaler, a sheep for a few stivers,
+and the learned Salvius writes, "Our Finnish boys, who are now
+accustomed to the winelands down here, are not likely to wish to return
+to Savolax.  In the Livonian war they often had to put up with water
+and mouldy bread, now the Finns can concoct a beverage in their helmets
+with wine and spices."
+
+Amongst the prisoners was the Count of Lichtenstein and Lady Regina.
+The king ordered that they should both be treated with the greatest
+respect.  He offered the young lady a safe conduct to go to the bishop,
+her uncle.  Lady Regina rejected this on account of the insecurity of
+the times, and asked as a favour to be allowed to remain under the
+king's protection for the present.  Gustaf Adolf agreed to this.
+
+"I do this unwillingly," said the king, smiling, to the Margrave of
+Baden Durlach, who was riding by his side.  "Young ladies are a luxury
+in the camp, and they turn the heads of my attendants; but she may come
+with me to Frankfurt, as a hostage; it will bind the hands of the
+bishop."
+
+"Your Majesty knows how to attract everybody through your generosity,"
+replied the Margrave with the politeness of a courtier.
+
+"Lieutenant Bertel," said the king, turning to the officer close to
+him, who had the command of a troop of Finnish cavalry, "I give Lady
+Regina von Emmeritz into your charge.  She has my permission to bring
+with her an elderly lady, a young girl, and her father confessor.  See
+to it, that you are not smitten, lieutenant, and above all give close
+heed to the monk; that set is not to be relied upon."
+
+Bertel saluted with his sword, and remained silent.
+
+"One thing more," continued the king.  "I have not forgotten that you
+were the first one who entered the sally-port.  When you have brought
+the young lady to safety, you must appear on duty in my life-guards.
+Have you understood me?"
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"Good."  And the king then said to the Margrave with a smile, "Believe
+me, it would have been serious to leave this beautiful dark-eyed girl
+in the charge of one of my susceptible Swedes.  This boy is a Finn;
+they are the most phlegmatic people I know of.  They are poor gallants;
+they need a year to catch fire.  A girl can drive twenty of them out of
+a ball-room; but if it comes to a battle with Pappenheim, then your
+grace knows what they can do."
+
+Gustaf Adolf gained victory after victory in the late autumn.  Tilly,
+who had come too late to save Würzburg, did not dare to attack him, and
+irritated by his bad luck and constant defeats, drew back to the
+Bavarian frontier.  Gustaf Adolf marched down the Main, entered
+Aschaffenburg, and compelled the cautious Frankfurters to open their
+gates.  On December the 6th the king forced a march over the Rhine near
+Oppenheim, and entered Mainz on the 9th, which the Spaniard de Sylva
+had so proudly thought that he could defend against three Swedish
+kings.  The victorious Swedish army was now spread over the north and
+west part of Germany, and the conqueror had chosen his winter quarters
+in Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  A splendid court here assembled around the
+hero; it was here that flattery had previously adorned his head with
+the crown of the German Empire.  It was here that Maria Elenora came
+flying on longing wings to embrace her husband; in Henau, where he had
+come to meet her, she clasped him in her arms and said,
+
+"At last the great Gustaf Adolf is captured."
+
+One day at the end of December, 1631, the king gave a splendid banquet
+in Frankfurt on account of the queen's arrival.  Great crowds of people
+filled the place outside the castle, the high Gothic windows at night
+shone bright as day.  Ale and wines flowed constantly from big casks
+for the people's entertainment; around the tap-holes workmen and
+soldiers jostled each other, holding out tankards and goblets, which
+were quickly filled and as suddenly empty again.  The good citizens of
+Frankfurt were beside themselves with admiration for the great king.
+From man to man, the famous tales of his justice and mildness
+circulated: now he had ordered a soldier to be hanged because he had
+taken with force a burgher's hen; now he had stopped in the streets and
+spoken familiarly with those whom he met.  They imagined that they saw
+his shadow reflected by the small window-panes and wondered whether the
+German crown would not be placed upon that mighty head that very
+evening.
+
+In the saloon of the castle a royal magnificence prevailed.  Gustaf
+Adolf knew his consort's weakness for display, and probably wished to
+produce an effect on the assembled German nobility.  The floor was
+covered with rich Flemish carpets, and over the windows were draperies
+of crimson velvet with tassels of gold; costly chandeliers, heavy with
+a thousand wax-lights, hung from the ceiling, which was adorned with
+arabesques.
+
+They had just finished one of those measured and stately Spanish
+dances, which were at that time in vogue, and the heavy-footed Northmen
+had tried in vain to compete with the German and French aristocracy.
+
+The king had offered his arm to the queen, and they made a promenade
+through the magnificent saloons.  His tall and corpulent figure, and
+simple dignity of manner, which at once inspired reverence and love,
+seemed still more majestic by the side of the slender and delicate
+queen, who with sincere devotion leaned on his arm.  Maria Elenora was
+then thirty-two years of age, and had retained a great portion of her
+beauty, which had gained her so many admirers in her youth.  On her
+black hair, which was arranged in small curls about her snow-white
+temples, flashed a diadem of fabulous value, which was a recent gift
+from the king; her expressive blue eyes rested with indescribable
+affection upon her royal spouse; she seemed to forget herself, absorbed
+in the admiration which the king excited.
+
+In the wake of the royal couple followed a crowd of all the illustrious
+personages of whom Protestant Germany could boast at that time.
+
+One saw here the deposed King Frederick of Bohemia, the Duke of Weimar
+and Würtemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the Margrave of Baden Durlach,
+the Count of Wetterau, as well as other distinguished chevaliers; not
+less than twelve ambassadors from foreign courts had assembled here
+round the hero feared by all Europe.  Of the king's own, Tott, Baner,
+and Gustaf Horn were occupied in other directions with affairs of war;
+but here at Gustaf Adolf's side, great as himself, even in outer form,
+was the gifted Oxenstjerna, and behind him the man with the pale,
+unpretending aspect, the calm, penetrating, and commanding look,
+Lennart Torstensson, as well as the proud Finn, Wittenberg, then
+colonel.  Many of the Swedish generals, and almost all the Finns,
+Stälhandske, Ruuth, Forbus, and others, did not thrive well amidst the
+ceremonial of the royal saloon and amongst this haughty nobility whose
+court etiquette appeared to the stern warriors unbearably tedious, and
+had therefore withdrawn in good time to one of the smaller saloons,
+where pages in gold-embroidered velvet suits profusely poured the
+choicest Rhine wines into silver goblets.
+
+Among this brilliant assemblage ought to be included the members of the
+common council of the city of Frankfurt, and many of its most prominent
+citizens, with their wives and daughters, as well as a large number of
+ladies, from the high-born duchess down to the scarcely less proud
+councillor's wife.  Yes, and one saw here even a small number of
+Catholic prelates, easily recognisable by their bald heads; for the
+king wished to proclaim religious freedom by word and deed; the
+prelates, although in their hearts cursing the paltry _rôle_ they
+played here, once invited, did not dare to stay away.
+
+This scene was doubly gorgeous from the splendour of the attire.  The
+king, however, wore a tight-fitting suit of black velvet stitched with
+silver, a Spanish cape of white satin, embroidered by the queen's
+hands, short yellow leather top-boots, and the broad lace collar which
+one sees in all his portraits, with the short hair and long goatee.
+The luxury-loving queen wore a richly jewelled dress of silver brocade
+with a short waist and half-bare arms; even the little white satin
+slippers glittered with brilliants.
+
+The ladies of the aristocracy and the rich burghers' wives vied with
+each other in display; silver and gold fabrics, velvet, satin, and
+costly Brabant laces; also ribbons of all sorts of colours, buckles,
+rosettes, and long sashes, which, fluttering in the air, gave a
+picturesque effect.  Princes and knights, some in wide German, others
+in close-fitting Spanish costumes, with their plumed hats under their
+arms, and attendant pages in silver and velvet, completed this bright
+scene in a time when uniforms were unknown.  Flattery and admiration
+followed the king.
+
+"Sire," said the artful king of Bohemia to him, "your Majesty can only
+be compared to Alexander of Macedon."
+
+"My cousin," answered Gustaf Adolf, smiling, "you do not mean to liken
+the good city of Frankfurt to Babylon?"
+
+"No, sire," joined in the French ambassador, Breze, who walked by their
+side; "his Bohemian Majesty only wishes to liken the Rhine to Granicus,
+and hopes that the new Alexander's Hyphasis may lie beyond the
+frontiers of Bohemia."
+
+"You must confess, Count Breze," said the king, changing the
+conversation, "that our Northern beauties and your French beauties have
+been conquered to-day by a German."
+
+"Sire, I am of your opinion, that her Majesty the Queen does not need
+the enviable position by your side to be truly victorious," replied the
+courteous Frenchman.
+
+"My consort will be grateful for your politeness, minister, but she
+resigns to Lady von Emmentz the preference that belongs to youth."
+
+"Your Majesty flatters to a great extent our national German pride,"
+said the Duke of Würtemberg bowing.
+
+"Beauty is cosmopolitan, your grace.  It was truly a great booty my
+soldiers took at Würzburg."
+
+The king then approached Lady Regina.  Her radiant beauty was still
+more charming through the tight-fitting black velvet dress strewed with
+silver stars in which she was robed.
+
+"My lady," he said courteously.  "I should be happy if the mourning you
+wear covered a heart that could forget all sad memories and only live
+in the hope of a brighter future, when war and battles no longer
+frighten the colour away from your beautiful cheeks.  Believe me, lady,
+the time will come, and I am wishing for it with all my heart as much
+as you are, and let this hope bring joy to these lips where it always
+ought to remain."
+
+"By your Majesty's side one forgets everything," replied Lady Regina,
+and rose respectfully from her high crimson-covered chair.  But her
+cheeks grew still paler while she spoke, which showed that she could
+not forget the past and her present captivity.
+
+"Are you not well, lady?"
+
+"Very well, your Majesty."
+
+"Perhaps you have something to complain of?  Have confidence in me--as
+a friend!"
+
+"Your Majesty is very kind----"
+
+Regina struggled with herself.  At last she said, with her eyes on the
+floor,
+
+"Your Majesty's goodness leaves nothing to wish for."
+
+"We shall meet again."
+
+The king continued his walk through the saloon.
+
+Lady Regina withdrew to a deep window recess in one of the other rooms
+and wept.
+
+"Holy Virgin," she prayed, "forgive me, that my heart does not belong
+to you alone.  You who can see into my inmost being, you know that I
+have not enough strength to hate this heretic king as you demand of me.
+He is so great, so noble.  Woe unto me, I shudder to think of the holy
+charge you have given me!"
+
+"Courage, my daughter," whispered a voice close by, and Lady Regina's
+evil spirit, the pale Jesuit, stood behind her.
+
+"The hour is approaching," he said in a low tone.  "The godless king
+has been taken by your beauty; rejoice, my child.  The Holy Virgin has
+decided his destruction.  This night he shall die."
+
+"Oh, my father, my father, what do you demand of me?"
+
+"Listen to me, my daughter.  When Holofernes, the King of Assyria,
+besieged Bethulia, there was a widow, Judith, the daughter of Merari,
+beautiful as you, my child, devoted as you.  She fasted three times,
+and then she walked out and gained the favour of the enemy of her faith
+and people.  The saints gave his life into her hands, she drew his
+sword and cut off his head, and delivered her people."
+
+"Mercy, my father!"
+
+"It was counted unto her great honour and ever-lasting salvation, and
+her name was mentioned among the greatest in Israel.  You will some day
+be mentioned like that, my daughter, amongst the saints of the Holy
+Catholic Church.  Last night the Holy Franciscus was visible by my
+bedside.  He said, the time has come, go to Judith, tell her that I
+will give Holofernes' head into her hands."
+
+"What shall I do, my father?"
+
+"Mark closely how you ought to deport yourself.  This very evening you
+must request a private audience of the king."
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"You shall reveal to him a fictitious plot against his life.  He will
+listen to you.  You shall entice the ring from him.  Once in possession
+of it, I will be ready to assist you.  But if he refuses you the ring,
+then take this paper, it contains a deadly poison; St. Franciscus has
+given it himself to me.  You shall mix it in the beverage which the
+king drinks at night."
+
+Lady Regina took the paper, and leaned her curly head against the
+window-frame, and she hardly seemed to have taken any notice of the
+Jesuits terrible injunction.  An entirely new thought had seized this
+ardent soul, and was working itself to clearness.  The Jesuit
+misunderstood her; he supposed that her silence proceeded from
+submission to his despotism, from fanatic ecstasy over the martyr-crown
+he had held up to her.
+
+"Have you understood me, my daughter?" asked he.
+
+"Yes, my father."
+
+"You will, then, this evening, ask the king for a private audience?
+You will..."
+
+"Yes, my father."
+
+"Benedicta, ten benedicta, thou thrice-blessed instrument, go to thy
+heavenly glory!"  And the Jesuit disappeared in the throng.
+
+The large clock in the coronation chamber pointed to midnight.  Through
+an ingenious mechanism, invented by a Nuremberger, two immense tables,
+set with elegant silver service, rolled out from an adjoining room at
+the twelfth stroke, and stood at once, as if risen from the floor, in
+the centre of the saloon.  Upon a given sign from the master of the
+ceremonies, the king and queen placed themselves before two crimson
+chairs at the middle of the upper table, and all the guests in rows,
+according to rank and dignity, around the festive boards.  One of the
+prelates present said grace in a loud voice, after which the king
+himself recited a short psalm, and the rest with practised voices
+joined in.  They now seated themselves with considerable bustle, and
+once arrived so far, they did not allow themselves to be too much
+incommoded by ceremony.  The courses were both many and savoury.
+Richelieu had sent Gustaf Adolf a French cook; but the king, far from
+spoiled by good living, only employed the fine Frenchman for ornamental
+dishes on occasions like this; perhaps he did not rely fully upon the
+cardinal's gift, for it was said that Richelieu's dinners were scarcely
+less dangerous than those of the former Borgias.  And besides, the
+Netherland and German cooking was at that time more praised than the
+French.  The tables' greatest ornaments at this banquet were a wild
+boar roasted whole, decorated with flowers and laurel leaves, and a
+piece of pastry, presented by a baker of Frankfurt, and representing
+the triumphant march of a Roman Emperor.  Everyone believed that they
+recognised in this small hero, Gustaf Adolf's features, and many
+jesting words were exchanged, when each found a resemblance between the
+attending Romans and his neighbour.  The queen, whose delicate hand was
+destined to break this masterpiece of culinary art, with a smile put
+one of the last slaves in the triumphal march on her silver plate; but
+Gustaf Adolf, generally endowed with a good appetite, seized the great
+pastry hero rather ungently with his warrior hand, and placed a
+considerable portion of his person upon his plate.
+
+In the meantime the goblets were filled with the best Rhenish and
+Spanish wines, and the king drank the queen's health in a plain simple
+manner, and all the other guests followed his example.  At the top of
+the table stood the royal pages in glittering uniforms, one behind each
+chair, and at the lower end one stood behind every other chair.  They
+refilled the goblets, and the king then drank to Frankfurt's welfare;
+immediately afterwards he rose from the table and left the room with
+the queen on his arm, and they retired to their own apartments.  Gustaf
+Adolf always lived as a plain soldier ought to do, and was generally
+quick at his meals, but under favourable circumstances would stay an
+hour at the table.  The king, however, did not ask the others to follow
+his example, and left in his place as host a high officer of the court.
+
+This time it was the old Scotchman, Patrick Ruthwen, who was a good
+boon companion, and he filled his post with great credit.  Oxenstjerna
+left the room with the king.  The ladies also left the hall, but the
+gentlemen remained behind enjoying themselves over their wine and the
+nuts which had been handed round on silver dishes; amongst the latter
+were artificial ones made of stone, which looked so natural that they
+were constantly mistaken for real From this joke came the saying, "it
+is a hard nut to crack."  The heroes of the Thirty Years' War were
+nearly all great topers; to empty at a draught one of the large beakers
+of Rhenish wine was a small matter to them.  But on this occasion they
+had to restrain themselves, because they all knew the high moral
+principles of the king, and hence did not dare to turn their goblets
+upside down too often.  They did not break up until a late hour, and
+some of the commanders treated each other to a rare product just
+imported from the Low Countries, and it was passed from hand to hand in
+small boxes; each man bit off a piece, and some with frightful grimaces
+spat it out again, whilst others kept it in their mouths with evident
+enjoyment.  Doubtless, the reader has already guessed, this was tobacco.
+
+While this feasting was going on in the hall, the queen had gone to
+rest with her ladies in waiting, but the king was still talking to Axel
+Oxenstjerna.  What these two great men were conversing about is easier
+to guess than to tell.  Perhaps it was about Sweden's poverty, or the
+Emperor's power, or the power of God, which is still greater, or the
+victory of the Light, or the crown of the Roman kingdom, or a German
+Protestant empire in the future.  No one knows this for certain; for
+after the king's death all his secrets followed Oxenstjerna to the
+grave.
+
+It was very late, and Oxenstjerna was about to leave, when Bertel, the
+officer on duty, announced that a closely veiled lady requested an
+audience of the king.  It was a strange favour to ask at this time of
+the night, and both Gustaf Adolf and his minister were greatly
+surprised; but that there must be an important reason for such a secret
+visit was obvious to them both, and the king ordered Bertel to bring
+the lady in, and told Oxenstjerna to remain.
+
+Bertel left the room, and returned in a few moments with a tall lady
+thickly veiled, and dressed in black.  She seemed greatly agitated and
+surprised not to find the king alone; she was unable to utter a word.
+
+"Madam," said the king in a somewhat irritable tone--he did not like
+such a visit at this late hour; for if it was known it would tend to
+excite gossip amongst the courtiers, and perhaps awaken the jealousy of
+his sensitive wife--"a visit at this hour of the night must have some
+important object in order to justify it.  I should first of all like to
+know who you are."
+
+The lady was still silent.
+
+The king thought he could guess the cause of her silence, and
+continued, pointing to his companion:
+
+"This is minister Oxenstjerna, my friend, and I have no secrets from
+him."
+
+The lady dressed in black then threw herself at the king's feet and
+drew back her veil.  The king retreated several paces when he
+recognised Lady Regina von Emmeritz; her dark eyes flashed with an
+enthusiastic fire, but her face was as pale as that of a marble statue.
+
+"Stand up, lady," said Gustaf Adolf in a kind tone, and stretched out
+his hand to lift her up.  "What now leads you to seek an audience with
+me?  Speak, I beg of you; tell me without fear what troubles you have
+in your heart; will you not comply with my wish?"
+
+Lady Regina sighed deeply, and began to speak in a low voice almost
+impossible to hear, but she gradually assumed a louder tone, supported
+by her enthusiasm.
+
+"Your Majesty, I have come to you because you asked me to come.  I come
+to you because I have hated you, sire; for a long time I have prayed
+daily to the Holy Virgin, that she would destroy you, and your whole
+army.  Your Majesty, I am only a weak girl, but an honest Catholic; you
+have pursued our Church with war, and plundered our convents; driven
+away our holy fathers, and melted down our holy golden images; you have
+slain our soldiers, and dealt our cause deadly blows that can never be
+repaired.  Therefore I have taken a Holy Oath to bring about your
+destruction, and relying upon the Holy Virgin's help I have followed
+your steps from Würzburg in order to kill you."
+
+The king and Oxenstjerna looked at each other as if they doubted the
+young girl's sanity.  Lady Regina saw this, and continued to speak with
+more vehemence than before.
+
+"Sire, you think me mad, because I speak thus to the conqueror of
+Germany.  But listen to me further.  When I saw you for the first time
+in the castle of Würzburg, and how kindly and generously you sheltered
+the weak, and spared those who had been captured, I then said to
+myself, 'This conduct seems to be inspired from Heaven, but
+nevertheless it must come from hell.'  But when I followed you here,
+and saw your greatness as a man combined with your heroic qualities,
+sire, I hesitated to carry out my vow, and my hatred became a burden to
+me.  I struggled with myself, and your kindness to-night has conquered
+my resolve.  Sire, now I love you as much as I have hated you before.
+I admire you, and am devoted to you----"
+
+The beautiful girl let her eyes sink to the floor.
+
+"Well," said the king, hesitating with great emotion.
+
+"Your Majesty, I have made this confession because you are great and
+noble enough not to misunderstand me.  But I have not come to you at
+this late hour only to confess an unhappy girl's feelings.  I have come
+here to save you, sire."
+
+"Explain yourself."
+
+"Hear me, your Majesty.  I am disarmed, but others much more dangerous
+remain.  Some of our body, men without mercy, have sworn to kill you.
+Oh! you do not know what these men are capable of doing.  They have
+drawn lots in order to decide who shall kill you, and the most
+dangerous of them is near you in disguise daily.  Your Majesty cannot
+escape from them.  To-day or to-morrow, perhaps, you may be
+assassinated or poisoned.  Your death is sure."
+
+"My life is in the hand of God, and not at the mercy of a murderous
+fanatic," said Gustaf Adolf in a very calm voice.  "The evil have not
+as much power as Will.  Be assured, Lady von Emmeritz, I do not fear
+them."
+
+"No, sire, the saints have decided your death.  I know that you rely
+upon this ring"--and Regina grasped the king's hand--"but it will not
+help you.  Sire, I say to you that your death is certain, and I have
+not come here to save your life and thus betray the cause of our Holy
+Church."
+
+"Then why, lady, did you come here now?"
+
+Lady Regina again threw herself at the king's feet with almost
+adoration.
+
+"Sire, I have come to save your soul.  I cannot bear to think that a
+hero like yourself, so noble, so great, should be lost for ever.  Hear
+me, I beg, I implore you by your eternal salvation, with certain death
+staring you in the face, do not continue in your heretical faith, whose
+fruit is eternal damnation.  I pray you, abjure these evil doctrines
+while there is still time, and come back to the only way of redemption,
+the Holy Catholic Church; give up your faith and go to the Holy Father
+in Rome; confess your sins to him, and use your victorious sword in the
+service of the true Church, instead of using it for her destruction.
+She will receive you with open arms, and whether your Majesty lives or
+dies, your Majesty can always depend upon being placed among the chosen
+saints in Heaven."
+
+The king for the second time raised the young girl from the ground, and
+looked straight into her burning eyes, and said in an impressive voice:
+
+"When I was as young as you are, Lady von Emmeritz, my teacher, old
+Skytte, brought me up with the same enthusiastic devotion to the
+Protestant faith that you have for the Catholic.  At that time I hated
+the Pope with all my soul, as you now hate Luther, and I prayed to God
+that the time might come when I could destroy Antichrist and convert
+all those that believed in him to the true light.  Since then I have
+not altered my principles, but I have learned through experience that
+the paths are many, although the goal is One.  I stand steadily by my
+faith, and am prepared to die for it, if God so decides.  But I respect
+the faith of a Christian, even if it is quite different from my own,
+and I know that God's mercy can bring a soul to salvation, even if its
+way is obscured by dark mists and illusions.  Go, Lady von Emmeritz, I
+forgive you; although deluded by the fanatical teachings of the monks,
+you have tried to draw me from the battle for the Light.  Go, poor
+child, and let the Word of God, and the lessons of Life, teach you not
+to rely upon saints, who are no better than we are, or images, or
+rings, as they cannot alter the highest law.  I thank you because your
+intentions are good, although you are inexperienced.  Be without fear
+for my life, which is in the hand of Him who knows how to use it."
+
+King Gustaf Adolf was truly great when he spoke these words.
+
+Lady Regina stood there, at the same time crushed and uplifted by the
+king's magnanimous spirit.  Perhaps she remembered his answer to the
+burghers of Frankfurt, when they asked him to be allowed to remain
+neutral; "neutrality is a word which I cannot bear to hear, least of
+all amidst the battle between light and darkness, betwixt liberty and
+slavery."  Brought up to hate the Protestant faith, she could not
+understand how it was possible for the sword which had destroyed the
+worldly power of the church to be laid aside in the presence of its
+spiritual power over the hearts and minds of men.
+
+The fanatical young girl raised her tear-stained eyes towards the king.
+Her cheeks turned pale, on which had before burned the fire of
+enthusiasm, and her eyes were fixed with terror on the scarlet-coloured
+hangings which surrounded the king's bed.
+
+Oxenstjerna, who was more suspicious than Gustaf Adolf, had closely
+watched the young lady the whole time, and at once noticed her
+agitation.
+
+"Your Majesty," said he in Swedish to the king, "be on your guard,
+there are owls in the marshes."
+
+Then without waiting for an answer he drew his sword and walked
+steadily towards the magnificent bed, which was a gift from the
+burghers of Frankfurt; the royal hero had exchanged the eider-down
+pillows for a simple mattress, and a coarse blanket of Saxon wool, the
+same as his soldiers used in their winter camps.
+
+"Stop!" cried Regina with evident reluctance.  But it was too late.
+Oxenstjerna had with a sudden movement pulled back the hangings, and
+revealed a pale face with dark burning eyes, surmounted by a black
+leather skull-cap.  The hangings were still further drawn back, and the
+whole features of the monk became visible; his hands were clasped round
+a crucifix of silver.
+
+"Step forward, devoted father," said Oxenstjerna in a satirical tone.
+"A man of your merits should not remain in concealment.  Your reverence
+has chosen a peculiar place for your evening devotions.  With his
+Majesty's permission I will furnish you with a larger audience."
+
+At the sound of the bell, Lieutenant Bertel with two men from the
+life-guards entered, and placed themselves on both sides of the exit
+with their long halberts.
+
+The king looked at Lady Regina, but more sadness than anger was to be
+seen in his eyes.  It pained him that so young and beautiful a girl
+could take part in such a detestable plot.
+
+"Mercy, your Majesty! mercy for my father confessor!  He is innocent!"
+cried the unhappy girl.
+
+"Will your Majesty allow me to ask a few questions in your place?" said
+Oxenstjerna.
+
+"Do as you think best, minister," said the king.
+
+"Very well.  What did your reverence come here for?"
+
+"To bring back a great sinner to the true fold," said the monk
+hypocritically, with his eyes turned upwards.
+
+"Really, one must say that you are very zealous.  And for such a holy
+purpose you carry with you the image of the crucified Saviour?"
+
+The monk bowed whilst devoutly making the sign of the cross.
+
+"Your reverence is very humble.  Give me the crucifix, that I may
+admire this work of art."
+
+The monk unwillingly handed it to him.
+
+"A beautiful object.  It required a clever artist to design this holy
+image."
+
+The minister passed his hands over all parts of the crucifix.  At last,
+when he touched the breast of the image, a sharp dagger sprang forth.
+
+"See, your reverence carries a very innocent-looking toy.  A keen
+dagger, just suitable to thrust through a noble king's heart!
+Miserable monk," said Oxenstjerna in a terrible voice, "do you know
+that your horrible crime becomes a hundred times more detestable
+through the blasphemous method you wish to employ?"
+
+Like all the kings of the Vasa line, Gustaf Adolf had a hasty temper in
+his youth, which more than once brought him into trouble.  But the
+experience of manhood had cooled his blood; still one could sometimes
+see the quick Vasa disposition get beyond control.  This now happened.
+He was quite great enough, however, to look calmly upon this
+treacherous attempt against his life, although the preservation of
+Germany depended upon it, and he looked down with great disgust upon
+the discovered traitor, who now stood trembling before his indignant
+judge.  But the horrible misuse of the Saviour's holy image as a weapon
+against his life--he who was prepared to sacrifice himself for the pure
+teachings of Jesus Christ--appeared to him to be such a terrible
+blasphemy against all in life that he considered holy and right, that
+his calmness was instantly changed to the most terrible anger.
+
+Noble and great as a lion in his wrath, he stood in front of the
+cringing Jesuit, who was unable to bear the glance of his eyes.
+
+"On your knees," said the king in a thunderous voice, stamping
+violently with his foot on the floor.
+
+The Jesuit fell down as if struck by lightning, and crawled in mortal
+terror to the king's feet, like a poisonous reptile, spell-bound by the
+king's look: powerless at the conqueror's feet.
+
+"Ye serpent's brood," continued the king beside himself with anger,
+"how long do ye think that the Almighty will endure your iniquities?
+By God!  I have seen much; I have seen your Antichrist and Romish rule
+cover the world with all the deeds of darkness; I have seen ye, monks
+and Jesuits, poison frightened consciences with your devil's teachings
+about murder and crimes committed for the glory of Heaven; but a deed
+so black as this, a blasphemy against everything that is holy in Heaven
+and upon earth, I have never before dreamed of.  I have forgiven ye
+all; ye have plotted against my life at Demmin and other places; I have
+not taken revenge; ye have acted worse than Turks and barbarians
+towards the innocent Lutherans; wherever ye have had the power ye have
+destroyed their churches, and burned them at the stake, driven them
+away from house and home; and what is worse, ye have tried to draw them
+from their faith with arguments and force to your idolatrous religion,
+which worships deeds and miserable images instead of the living God and
+His only Son.  For all this, I have not retaliated upon your cloisters
+and churches and consciences; ye have gone free in your faith, and no
+one has touched a hair of your heads.  But now I know you, servants of
+the devil; the Almighty God has delivered ye into my hand; I shall
+scatter ye like chaff; I shall punish you, ye desecrators of the
+temple; I shall follow you to the end of the world, as long as this arm
+is able to wield the Lord's sword.  Ye have hitherto seen me mild and
+merciful, ye will now see me hard and terrible; I will destroy you and
+your accursed faith on earth; it will be such a judgment as the world
+has not seen since the destruction of Rome."
+
+The king walked up and down the room with hasty steps, without deigning
+to bestow a glance on the prostrate Jesuit or the trembling Regina, who
+was standing by the window covering her face with her hands.
+Oxenstjerna, always calm and collected, was alarmed at the king's
+anger, and feared that he would go too far, and now tried to modify it.
+
+"Will your Majesty deign to order Lieutenant Bertel to take the monk
+into safe custody, and let a court-martial make a terrible example of
+him?"
+
+"Mercy, your Majesty!" cried Regina, who was blindly devoted to her
+father confessor.  "Mercy!  I am the guilty one.  I have advised him to
+take this terrible step.  I alone deserve to be punished for it."
+
+At this noble self-sacrifice a faint ray of hope illumined the Jesuit's
+pale features, but he did not dare to rise up.  The king took no notice
+of this appeal.  Instead, he turned all his wrath upon the guard.
+
+"Lieutenant Bertel," he said sharply, "you have commanded my life-guard
+to-night; through your neglect this wretch has slipped into the room.
+Take him at once to prison, and you shall answer for his safety with
+your head.  Then you can go and take your place in the ranks.  From
+this moment you are degraded to the position of a private soldier."
+
+Bertel saluted, but did not speak.  What pained him more than the loss
+of his commission was the sacrifice of the king's favour, especially as
+he knew that he had kept a ceaseless watch.  It was a complete mystery
+to him how the Jesuit had got in.  The latter had now grasped the
+king's knees and prayed for mercy.  But in vain.  The king pushed him
+backwards, and he was taken away gnashing his teeth and his heart full
+of revenge.
+
+Gustaf Adolf then turned to the trembling girl at the window, took her
+hand and looked straight into her eyes.
+
+"Lady," he said with asperity, "it is said that when the king of the
+darkness wishes to do a terrible evil deed on earth, he sends his
+instruments dressed as angels of light.  What do you wish me to think
+of you?"
+
+Lady Regina had courage enough to lift up her eyes once more to the
+great king.
+
+"I have nothing more to say.  Kill me, sire, but save my father
+confessor!" she said with fanatical resolution.
+
+The king, still looking angrily into her eyes, could not yet control
+himself.
+
+"If your father, lady, had been an honest man, he would have taught his
+daughter to fear God, honour the king, and speak the truth to every
+man.  You wished to convert me; I will instead educate you, you seem to
+be in great want of it.  Go, you remain my prisoner until you have
+learned to speak the truth.  Oxenstjerna, is the severe old Lady Marta
+at Korsholm still alive?"
+
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+
+"She will have a pupil to educate.  At the first opportunity this girl
+is to be sent to Finland."
+
+Lady Regina, proud and silent, left the room.
+
+"Your Majesty!" said Oxenstjerna reproachfully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FINNS AT LECH.
+
+Before our story proceeds further, it is necessary to bestow one more
+look on Frankfurt.
+
+Lady Regina was closely guarded after her midnight visit to the king;
+and later in the spring, when the waters were released from their icy
+fetters, she was sent to Finland, where we may find her again.  No
+religious hatred, still less revenge, prompted the anger of the usually
+generous Gustaf Adolf towards the young girl; abused confidence deeply
+stabs a noble heart, and Regina said nothing to remove the idea of her
+guilt from the king's mind; in fact, she strengthened it more and more
+by her fanaticism, and hatred still possessed her young heart, which
+ought to have been given to love alone.
+
+An extraordinary incident increased the king's resentment.  On the
+night that the Jesuit was taken to prison, to be executed next day, the
+terrible monk escaped; no one knew how.  These fearful men had allies
+and secret emissaries and passages everywhere; that very night a
+hitherto concealed door was discovered in the king's bed-chamber.
+Bertel's innocence came to light through this, but the mysterious
+escape of the monk again excited the king's wrath, and the late
+lieutenant had still to remain a private soldier.
+
+By the middle of February, 1632, the king was ready for departure; he
+then took the stronghold at Kreutznach in March, after a short siege,
+and left the queen, as well as Axel Oxenstjerna, in Mayence.  But Tilly
+had in the meantime surprised Gustaf Horn at Bamberg, and done great
+mischief.  The king pursued him down the Danube, and wished to invade
+Bavaria by crossing the Lech.  In vain did his generals object that the
+river was too deep and rapid, and that the Elector, with Tilly,
+Altringer, and 22,000 men, stood on the opposite side.  The king spoke
+like Alexander at the passage of the Granicus.
+
+"Shall we, who have crossed the Elbe, Oder, and Rhine, nay, even the
+Baltic, stop alarmed at the River Lech?"
+
+The passage was decided upon.
+
+The king tried for some time to find a suitable crossing.  At last he
+discovered it near a bend in the stream; a dragoon disguised as a
+peasant heard that the Lech was twenty-two feet deep.  Trestles were
+made of timber torn from cabins; four batteries of seventy cannon in
+all, were erected on the bank, and breastworks thrown up for the
+skirmishers, while fires of damp straw and green wood enveloped the
+neighbourhood in thick smoke.  Still, Tilly was old and experienced; he
+soon occupied the wood on the other side with his force; dug trenches
+and made fortifications, from which he directed a heavy fire.  On the
+3rd of April the Swedish cannon replied with terrific effect.  On April
+5th the trestles for a bridge were laid in spite of the fire of the
+enemy; planks were then thrown across, and, as usual, the Finns led the
+attack.  Three hundred infantry, headed by little Larsson, and the
+brave Savolaxen Paavo Lyydikain, were ordered to cross the planks, and
+defend the bridge on the opposite shore; each was promised a reward of
+ten riks thalers.  In a few moments the fate of Bavaria would be
+decided.
+
+The Finns carried spades and trenching tools, and cheering as they
+advanced, rushed at the double over the bridge.  Immediately a
+tremendous cross-fire from all Tilly's batteries was directed upon
+them; every moment balls dropped splashing into the foaming waters, or
+flew over the charging Finns, and now and then fell amongst them,
+scattering death on every side.  Those who got over worked vigorously
+at throwing up earthworks, which soon protected their front, although
+their flanks were still exposed to the enemy's fire.
+
+Tilly realised the importance of this position, and his fire redoubled.
+The Swedes riddled the opposite wood with a storm of shot, which struck
+the stones and tree-tops, scattering fragments and branches far and
+wide upon the Bavarians, who stood underneath awaiting the order to
+charge.  The king, in order to encourage his men, hastened to the
+front, and himself fired sixty shots.  The cannon thunder was heard for
+miles.
+
+More than half of the Finns had now been killed, wounded, or drowned,
+but the entrenchments were completed.  And at that instant the king
+ordered the afterwards celebrated Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel to go to
+their assistance.  The Finns, exalted with pride by their countrymen's
+success, and also anxious for the safety of their comrades, begged
+eagerly to be led into the midst of the fight, and in a moment Wrangel
+was surrounded by 300 Finnish volunteers, with whom he heroically
+charged across the shaking planks.  The gallant Duke Bernhard, who,
+like the king, had a certain partiality for the Finns, received
+permission to make a diversion in their favour.  Followed by a troop of
+Finnish cavalry, he found and passed over a ford, and fell upon the
+enemy's right flank.  The surprised Bavarians fell into disorder, and
+in spite of their numerical superiority, gave ground before the attack.
+Duke Bernhard's troop played havoc with the enemy, and soon cut their
+way through to their comrades at the end of the bridge.  Through this
+daring exploit the Finns obtained the dreaded name, "Hackapeliter,"
+from the words "hakkaa päälle!"  Go Ahead! which they shouted as they
+charged.
+
+Stimulated by the Finns' success, the Swedish and German infantry now
+began to cross the bridge.  Tilly, avoiding exposing his troops to the
+murderous Swedish fire till the last moment, now sent Altringer's
+infantry to take the fortifications, and drive the enemy into the
+river.  The Bavarians advanced at the double, and although decimated by
+the hail of bullets, threw themselves furiously on the earthworks.
+
+Wrangel's men stood firm.  Almost enveloped by the enemy's massive
+column, the Finns gave them a hot reception.  Pouring in a deadly
+volley at fifty yards, every bullet told.  The Bavarians wavered for a
+moment; most of them were new recruits; they faltered.  The Finns got
+time to reload; another volley; and the assailants fled in disorder
+along the bank.  Altringer rallied them with great difficulty, and
+again led them to the onset; at that moment a cannon-shot whizzed so
+close to his head that he fell senseless to the ground.  Again the
+Bavarians gave way.  Tilly saw this, and sent his favourite Wallachians
+to their assistance.  But even these veterans had to retreat, so
+terrific was the fire.  Then Tilly seized a banner, and led the attack
+in person.  Before, however, he had taken many steps, he fell, struck
+down by a falconet ball, which had smashed one leg.  The old general
+was carried from the field, and died a fortnight afterwards at
+Ingolstadt.
+
+The Bavarian army now became utterly demoralised.  The Elector
+retreated under cover of the darkness, leaving 2,000 dead on the field,
+and the way open to the heart of Bavaria.
+
+Next day the entire Swedish army crossed the Lech.  The king with a
+liberal hand distributed rewards to his brave troops.  Amongst these
+was a horseman who had accompanied Duke Bernhard, who praised him in
+the highest terms.  This was Bertel; three slight wounds attested the
+duke's account.  Bertel regained his rank, but not the king's
+confidence, which he valued above everything.  But he resolved to win
+this back at all costs.
+
+Gustaf Adolf then marched to Augsburg, which took the oath of
+allegiance, and gave brilliant festivals in his honour.  Here report,
+which joined the names Gustafva Augusta, whispered that the king had
+abandoned himself, like another Hannibal in Capua, to effeminacy and
+pleasure.  Rumour was wrong.  Gustaf Adolf was merely resting, and
+revolving still more daring enterprises in his mind.  But from this
+time the king's pathway began to darken.  The death angel went before
+him with drawn sword, and aimed now here, now there, a blow at his
+life, as if to cry constantly in his ear, "Mortal, thou art not a god."
+
+One could almost think that the powers of darkness had obtained more
+power over him; now ambition began to gain ground in his mind, and he
+was no longer solely animated by the sacred cause of Liberty and Faith.
+A secret and terrible enemy seemed everywhere in his path, dealing
+deadly blows which could not as yet reach their mark.  At the bold but
+unsuccessful attack on Ingolstadt there was, relates Fryxell, a cannon
+on the ramparts called a "Fikonet," and celebrated for shooting both
+far and true.  The gunner on the ramparts saw out on the field a man
+with a waving plume riding a fine charger, and surrounded by attentive
+followers.  "There," he said, "rides a great lord, but this will stop
+his career;" then he aimed and fired the "Fikonet."  The ball brought
+down horse and rider, and the others hastened to the place in great
+dread; but the king, for it was he, raised himself up, covered with
+blood and dust, but unharmed, from underneath the dead horse,
+exclaiming,
+
+"The apple is not yet ripe."
+
+The citizens of Ingolstadt buried the horse, and stuffed his skin as a
+remembrance.  Shortly afterwards the king was riding at the side of the
+young Margrave of Baden Durlach, who had just before been one of the
+most brilliant figures at the Augsburg balls.  A cannon-shot passed
+very near the king, and as he looked round, a headless horseman rode by
+his side and then sank to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+NEW ADVENTURES.
+
+From Ingolstadt the king turned to Landshut, in the centre of Bavaria.
+The farther he advanced into this country, where they had never seen an
+army of heretics before, the people became more fanatical, wild, and
+bloodthirsty.  Large bands of peasants assembled, commanded by the
+monks, lying in ambush everywhere for the Swedes, and cutting off every
+straggler; they also tortured their prisoners in the most horrible
+manner.  The king's army on their side, inebriated by their successes,
+were infuriated by this cruel guerilla warfare, and began to burn and
+destroy all the places they passed through.  Hitherto the Swedish army
+had been remarkable for its good conduct in the field, but now they
+left in their rear a broad track of murder and crime; and woe to those
+troops who in insufficient numbers wandered far from the main body.
+
+The king had now marched far into the country, and wished to send some
+new important orders to Baner, who followed slowly in his steps from
+Ingolstadt.  On account of the lawless state of the country this was
+attended with great risk, and the king would not order a large body to
+go.  A young officer, a Finn, volunteered to try, accompanied by two
+horsemen.  The king agreed to this, and the three horsemen set out one
+evening in May on this dangerous journey.
+
+The young officer was no other than our friend Bertel, and his
+companions were Pekka from East Bothnia, and Vitikka from Tavastland.
+The night was dark and gloomy, and the three horsemen rode carefully in
+the middle of the road, much afraid of missing their way in this
+strange country, and dreading an ambush from their enemies.  It began
+to rain, which made the roads still worse; these had already been much
+damaged by the passage of the heavy baggage-wagons, and at every step
+they risked an accident.
+
+"Here," said Vitikka ironically to his companion, "you are a northern
+Finn, and ought to be able to practise witchcraft."
+
+"I should not be worth much if I could not do it," responded Pekka in
+the same bantering tone.
+
+"Try, then, and take us in a minute to Hattelmala mountain and let us
+see the light shining from Hämeenlinna's castle.  There is a little
+gipsy girl whom I once loved, and I would rather be by her side
+to-night, than here in the ruts of this damned forest."
+
+"That will be easy for me to do," said Pekka; "see, you can already see
+the lights shining from Hämeenlinna."
+
+His comrade looked sharply around, uncertain if Pekka was joking or in
+earnest; he thought the latter quite as likely as the former.  And
+truly, in the brushwood underneath, a light appeared, but he soon
+understood that he was still hundreds of miles away from his home.
+Suddenly their horses stopped, and would not move.  A barrier of tree
+trunks was stretched across the road.
+
+"Hush!" whispered Bertel, "I hear a noise in the wood."
+
+The horsemen leaned forward and listened attentively.  On the opposite
+side of the wood they heard footsteps and the breaking of branches.
+
+"They must be here in a quarter of an hour," said a voice in the
+well-known Bavarian dialect.
+
+"How many of them are there?"
+
+"Thirty horsemen, and ten or twelve baggage animals.  They left
+Geisenfeld at dusk, and they have a young girl with them as a prisoner."
+
+"How many are we?"
+
+"About fifty musketeers, and seventy or eighty armed with pitchforks
+and axes."
+
+"Good.  No firing is allowed until they are within three paces."
+
+At this moment Bertel's horse neighed, whose name was Lapp; he was
+small but strong and active.
+
+"Who is there?" sounded from the road.
+
+"Swedes!" cried Bertel boldly, just as he did at the Würzburg
+sally-port, and fired off a pistol in the direction of the voice, and
+saw by the flash a large band of peasants, who had encamped by the
+barricade.  He then turned his horse, and, calling upon his companions
+to follow him, rode at full gallop on the road back to Landshut.
+
+But the peasants had by the flash also seen the three horsemen, and now
+hurried to cut off their retreat.  Bertel's horse easily distanced the
+pursuers, but Vitikka's fell over the stump of a tree, and Pekka's
+clumsy animal was hurt by the thrust of a pitchfork in his neck as he
+tried to get out of the marsh.  Bertel saw his followers' danger, and
+would not leave them; he turned back and killed the nearest peasants,
+and caught Pekka's horse by the bridle and tried to pull him up,
+calling also to Vitikka to leave his horse and jump on the back of
+Lapp.  This brave effort was successful, and the three were on their
+way to safety, when suddenly a whizzing noise was heard, and a lasso
+settled upon Bertel's shoulders, tightened, and jerked him from his
+saddle.  Vitikka fell at the same moment, and Lapp, thus delivered from
+his heavy burden, galloped off, and Pekka followed with or without his
+will.  Bertel and Vitikka were taken prisoners and bound with their
+hands behind their backs.
+
+"Hang the dogs before the others arrive!" cried one.
+
+"Hang them by the heels!" suggested another.
+
+"With a little fire underneath!" said a third.
+
+"No fire! no noise!" ordered a fourth, who appeared to be in command.
+"Listen, comrades," whispered he Ito the prisoners lying on the ground,
+"was it Finnish you spoke?"
+
+"Go to the devil!" said Vitikka in a rage.
+
+"_Maledicti, maledicti Fennones!_" said the former speaker in the
+darkness.  "You are mine!"
+
+"Now they are coming!" cried one of the band, and the trampling of
+horses was heard on the road to Ingolstadt.  The peasants remained
+still, and for greater safety gagged the prisoners.  The approaching
+troop were provided with torches, and seemed to be Germans, who were
+returning from a marauding expedition.  They were riding so quickly
+that they did not notice the barricade until they were close upon it;
+at the same moment a murderous fire opened upon them from behind this
+obstruction.  Ten or twelve of the foremost fell to the ground, and
+their riderless horses reared and dragged them along by the stirrups;
+the greatest confusion prevailed amongst them, some turned back, riding
+over their comrades and the pack-horses; others fired off their pistols
+towards the enemy behind the barricade.  The peasants rushed from their
+ambush and furiously attacked those that remained, and pulled them off
+their horses with lassos.  In vain the horsemen endeavoured to defend
+themselves; in less than ten minutes the whole troop was scattered;
+eight or ten had escaped, fifteen were lying wounded on the road, and
+six or seven were made prisoners.  Only four of the peasants had
+fallen.  The revenge of the Bavarians was inhuman.  They fired blank
+charges in the prisoners' faces, which burnt them black, and partially
+buried some of them in the ground and stoned them slowly to death.
+
+When this terrible work was finished, they carried away the booty to a
+place of safety.  Bertel and his companion were thrown across one of
+the horses, and they marched deep into the forest.  After some time
+they stopped at a lonely farm, and the prisoners were dragged in and
+thrown on the floor in a separate room, while the peasants in the next
+room rejoiced over their victory, and drank captured wine.  A deathly
+pale monk now entered the room, carrying a sword by his side with a
+rope.  He held up a torch to the prisoners' faces, took away their
+gags, and looked at them in silence.
+
+"Am I right," said he at last, sarcastically; "this is Lieutenant
+Bertel, of the king's life-guards."
+
+Bertel looked up and recognised the Jesuit Hieronymus.
+
+"You are welcome to me, lieutenant, and thank you for our last meeting.
+Such an important guest must be well entertained.  I fancy I have seen
+this comrade before, also," he said, pointing to Vitikka.
+
+The wild Finn looked him straight in the eyes and opened his mouth with
+an obstinate grin.
+
+"What have you done with your ears, monk?" he said tauntingly.  "Take
+away your skull-cap, foul thief, and let us see if you have grown any
+ass's ears in their place."
+
+At this daring remark about the incident at Breitenfeld a dark frown
+contracted the Jesuit's eyebrows, and a blush arose on his pale
+features; he bit his lips with rage.
+
+"Think of your own ears, comrade," said he.  "_Anathema maranatha_!
+They will soon have heard enough in this world."
+
+With these words the Jesuit clapped his hands twice, and a blacksmith
+with his leather apron entered, carrying a pair of red-hot pincers.
+
+"Well, comrade, do your ears begin to burn?" said the monk cruelly.
+
+Vitikka replied stubbornly, "Now you think you are clever, but you are
+only a fumbler in comparison with the devil.  Your lord and master does
+not need any pincers, he uses his claws."
+
+"The right ear," said the Jesuit.  The smith approached the Finn and
+put the pincers to his head.  Vitikka smiled disdainfully.  A sudden
+blush coloured his brown cheeks, but only for a moment.  He had now
+only one ear.
+
+"Will you now abjure your faith, and believe in the Holy Father and
+damn Luther, and you shall keep your other ear?"
+
+"Niggard!" cried the Finn.  "Your lord and master generally offers
+countries and kingdoms, and you only offer me a wretched ear!"
+
+"The left ear," continued the Jesuit coldly.  The smith carried out the
+order.  The mutilated soldier smiled.
+
+"Monk, it is shameful!" said Bertel, who was lying close by.  "Kill us,
+if you like, but do it quickly!"
+
+"Who has said that I intend to kill you?" replied the Jesuit, smirking.
+"Never; it entirely depends upon yourself whether you regain your
+freedom this very night."
+
+"What do you ask of me?"
+
+"You are a brave young man, Lieutenant Bertel!  I am sorry that the
+king so shamefully and unjustly deprived you of your rank, which you
+had gained with your blood."
+
+"Are you really sorry?  And what then?"
+
+"If I was in your place I should take revenge."
+
+"Take revenge?  Oh yes, I have thought of it."
+
+"You belong to Gustaf Adolf's life-guards.  Do you know, young friend,
+what the Catholic princes would give to anyone who brought the king,
+dead or alive, into their power?"
+
+"How could I know that, holy father?"
+
+"A kingdom if he was a nobleman; 50,000 ducats if he was a man of the
+people."
+
+"Holy father, it is a small reward for such a great service."
+
+"You have your choice between death and a royal reward!"
+
+"This is the point you were trying to reach, holy father?"
+
+"Do as you please; think it over, and we will talk about it again.
+This time you can buy your life and freedom for a less price; yes, a
+very small service."
+
+"What would that be, holy father?"
+
+"Listen to me.  I wish you to swear that you will do me a very small
+favour.  King Gustaf Adolf wears on the forefinger of his right hand a
+small copper ring.  It is of no value to him, but it is of great
+importance to me, young friend; as I am an antiquary, I should like to
+have a remembrance of a king, whom I must hate as an enemy, but admire
+as a man."
+
+"And the ring?"
+
+"The ring; you must swear to deliver it into my hands before the next
+new moon.  Do this, and you are free!"
+
+"Oh, only a small sin against the seventh commandment?  And you have
+the absolution ready before-hand; is it not so?  Go, miserable thief,
+and thank your stars that my arm is bound; or by Heaven, it would teach
+you to have respect for a Christian's honour!"
+
+"Be still, young man, remember that your life is in my hands.  When I
+have finished with your comrade I shall begin with you."
+
+Bertel looked at him with contempt.
+
+"Smith, go on with your work!" said the Jesuit.
+
+And the smith again took the pincers from the fire.
+
+At the same instant a great confusion and noise arose in the next room.
+They shouted:
+
+"To arms!  The Swedes are upon us!"
+
+The door flew open.  Some of the peasants seized their guns, others
+were lying in a drunken sleep on the floor.  Outside one could plainly
+hear the Swedish officer's commands.
+
+"Set the house on fire, boys, we have them all in a trap!"
+
+At these words the Jesuit jumped out of the window.
+
+A hot but short skirmish began by the door.  The peasants were
+overpowered in a few moments and begged for mercy.  In reply to this
+appeal, the foremost were killed, and the rest taken prisoners and
+bound; the house and booty were taken, and Bertel and his mutilated
+comrade were released.
+
+"Is it you, Larsson?" cried Bertel.
+
+"Thunder and lightning, is it you, Bertel?  Is it here you intend to
+leave the king's orders?"
+
+"And yourself?"
+
+"Yes, damn it, you know that I am always a lucky child!  I was sent to
+guard a convoy, and met on the road some rascally marauders, who told
+me that there was an ambush in the forest.  I hurried after them, and
+delivered a brave boy and a beautiful girl.  Look at her: cheeks like a
+poppy, and eyes to buy fish with!"
+
+Bertel turned round, and by his side stood a trembling girl, paralyzed
+with fear.
+
+"This is Ketchen, Lady Regina's maid!" cried Bertel, who had often seen
+the bright girl in the company of her dull mistress.
+
+"Save me, lieutenant, save me!" cried the girl, and caught hold of his
+arm.  "They have taken me by force from my aunt's house."
+
+"Larsson, I beg you to give me the girl!"
+
+"What the devil are you thinking of?  Do you want to take the girl from
+me?"
+
+"Let her go free, I beg of you!"
+
+"Later on, perhaps, yes.  Let her go, I say, or..."
+
+The hot-tempered Finn drew his sword again, with which he had just
+before killed a peasant.
+
+"The cottage is on fire!" was heard from all directions, and a thick
+smoke proved that it was true.  Bertel rushed out with the girl, and
+Larsson followed, and the heat of his temper gave way before the heat
+of the fire.  When Bertel got outside and saw the flames, he remembered
+that the cottage was filled with people; about thirty peasants were
+bound inside.
+
+"Come, hurry, let us save the unfortunate prisoners!" he cried.
+
+"Are you mad?" said Larsson, laughing; "it is only a few of the rascals
+who have killed so many of our brave comrades.  Let it burn, boys!"
+
+It was now too late to help.  The unfortunate Bavarians were sacrificed
+to the barbarities with which wars were then carried on; too often one
+terrible deed was followed by another.
+
+We turn with disgust from these wild scenes, which essentially belong
+to the times in which they occurred, and hasten to the grand picture of
+the Swedish lion's last struggle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN.
+
+The incidents of the campaign followed each other quickly, like wave
+after wave on a stormy sea, and history compressed into a narrow frame
+is obliged to pursue the same course.  Hence we must hurry over these
+marvellous occurrences and into a still more extraordinary period, to
+find the thread of our story, "The King's Ring," which passes through
+ages and the destinies of great characters.
+
+The terrible Wallenstein had become reconciled to the emperor, and
+gathering a formidable army, turned like a dark cloud upon the rich
+city of Nürnberg.  Gustaf Adolf cut short his victorious career in
+Bavaria, and hurried to meet him; and here the two armies remained in
+entrenched camps facing each other for eleven weeks--the panther and
+the lion, ready to spring, sharply watched each other's movements.  The
+surrounding country was stripped bare to provide for the wants of the
+two hosts, and foraging parties were constantly dispatched to more
+remote places to get supplies.  Among the Imperialists those mostly
+employed in this task were Isolani's Croats; the Swedes generally sent
+Taupadel's dragoons and Stälhandske's Finnish cavalry.
+
+Famine, heat, and plague, and the plundering German soldiers, spread
+want and misery everywhere.  Gustaf Adolf, having united himself with
+Oxenstjerna's and Baner's forces, could now muster 50,000 men.  On the
+24th of August, 1632, he marched against Wallenstein, who stood behind
+impregnable entrenchments.  Long before daylight the thunder of
+Torstensson's guns was heard against Alte Veste.  In the darkness of
+the night 500 musketeers of the white brigade were climbing up the
+steep redoubts, and reached the tops under a terrible fire.  For a
+moment victory seemed to reward their strenuous efforts; confusion
+reigned amongst the half-awakened enemy; the cries of the women, and
+the fire from the Swedes, added to the disorder, and made the attack
+easy.  But Wallenstein, calm and unmoved, sent away the women, and
+directed a murderous fire on the assailants.  The brave brigade was
+driven back with heavy losses.  The king, however, would not give way;
+once more the white brigade renewed the attack; but in vain.  Gustaf
+Adolf then called his Finns, for, as Schiller relates, "the courage of
+the Northmen puts the Germans to shame."  It was the East Bothnians in
+the ranks of the Swedish brigade.  Death stared them in the face in the
+form of hundreds of guns; with unsurpassed courage and determination
+they climbed up the entrenchments, slippery with rain and blood.  But
+against these strong works and the deadly fire, nothing could prevail;
+in the midst of death and destruction they tried again to reach the top
+of the redoubts, but in vain; those who escaped the shot and pikes were
+hurled back; for the first time one saw Gustaf Adolf's Finns retreat;
+and the attempts made by the other troops were also in vain.  The
+Imperialists hastened out in pursuit, but were driven back; again they
+sallied forth with the same result.  With heavy losses on both sides
+the battle continued all day, and many of the bravest commanders were
+killed.  The angel of death again sent a bullet towards the king, but
+it only touched the sole of his boot.
+
+The Imperial cavalry fought with the Swedish on the left flank.
+Cronenberg, with his cuirassiers, clad in iron mail from head to feet,
+who were called "the invincibles," overthrew the Hessians.  The
+Landgrave of Hessen remarked with anger that the king by the sacrifice
+of the German troops tried to save his own.
+
+"Very well," said Gustaf Adolf, "I will send my Finns, and hope that
+the change of troops will bring a change of fortune."
+
+Stälhandske, with the Finns, was now sent against Cronenberg and his
+invincibles.  A grand contest, which will never be forgotten, then
+started between these two powerful forces; on the shore of the River
+Regnitz, which was covered with bushes, these troops met in conflict,
+man to man, horse to horse; swords were blunted on helmets, long
+pistols flashed, and many a brave horseman was driven into the river.
+The Finns' horses were hardier than the beautiful Hungarian chargers,
+and thus they shared in the victory.  The brave Cronenberg fell, and
+his invincibles then fled from the Finns.  In his place, Fugger
+appeared with a great force, and drew the Finns in continuous battle
+slowly towards the enemy in the forest.  But here the Imperialists were
+met with the fire from the Swedish infantry.  Fugger fell, and his
+horsemen were again routed by the exhausted Finns.
+
+At the close of the day more than three thousand killed covered the
+hills and the fields.  "In the battle at Alte Veste, Gustaf Adolf was
+considered worsted, because the attack failed," says Schiller.  The
+following day he altered his position, and on the 8th of September he
+marched away to Bavaria.  Forty-four thousand men, both friends and
+foes, had been destroyed by plague and war during these terrible weeks
+in and around Nürnberg.
+
+* * * * *
+
+The darkness of the autumn increased, and its fogs covered the
+blood-stained fields of Germany, and still the battles did not cease.
+Here it was ordained that only one great spirit should find everlasting
+rest, after many storms, and pass from life's dark night to eternal
+light.  The angel of death came closer over Gustaf Adolf's noble head,
+and threw over him a gleam of light from a higher world, which is
+sometimes seen shining around the great souls of the earth in their
+last moments.  The bystanders do not understand it, but the departing
+ones know what it means.  Two days before his death, Gustaf Adolf
+received the homage of a god from the people of Naumburg, but through
+his soul fled the shadow of the coming change, and he said to the royal
+chaplain, Fabricius:
+
+"Perhaps God will soon punish them for their foolishness, and myself
+also, the object of it; and show that I am only a weak mortal."
+
+The king had marched into Saxony to follow the traces of the
+destructive Wallenstein.  At Arnstadt he bade farewell to Axel
+Oxenstjerna; in Erfurt he said good-bye to the queen.  There, and in
+Naumburg, one could see by his arrangements that he was prepared for
+what would come.  Wallenstein, who thought he had gone into winter
+quarters, sent Pappenheim away to Halle with 12,000 men; he himself
+stood at Lützen with 28,000, and the king was in Naumburg with 20,000
+men.
+
+But on the 4th of November, when Gustaf Adolf heard of Pappenheim's
+departure, he broke up his camp and hurried to surprise his weakened
+enemy, in which he would have succeeded if he had made his attack on
+the 5th.  But Providence had thrown in the way of his victorious career
+a small obstacle, the brook Rippach, which with many newly ploughed
+fields delayed his march.  It was late in the evening on the 5th of
+November when the king approached Lützen; thus Wallenstein had time,
+and he knew how to make use of it.  Along the broad road to Leipzig he
+deepened the ditches, and made redoubts on both sides, which he filled
+with his best sharpshooters, and it was decided that with their
+cross-fire they could destroy the attacking Swedes.
+
+The king's war council advised him not to make the attack; Duke
+Bernhard was the only one who advised him to the contrary, and the king
+shared his opinion, "because," he said, "it is necessary to wash one's
+self perfectly clean once you are in the bath."
+
+The night was dull and dark.  The king spent it in an old carriage with
+Kniephausen and Duke Bernhard.  His restless soul had time to think of
+everything, and then history says, he drew from the forefinger of his
+right hand a small copper ring, and gave it to Duke Bernhard, and asked
+him to give it to a young officer in his Finnish cavalry, in case
+anything should happen to himself.
+
+Early in the morning Gustaf Adolf rode out to inspect the positions of
+his troops.  He was dressed in a buff waistcoat made of elk's skin, and
+wore a grey great coat over it; when he was told to wear harness on a
+day like this, he replied:
+
+"God is my armour."
+
+A heavy mist delayed the attack.  At dawn the whole army sang a hymn.
+The fog continued, and the king began another hymn, which he had
+written himself just before.  He then rode along the lines, calling out:
+
+"To-day, boys, we shall put an end to all our trouble;" and his horse
+stumbled twice as he said this.
+
+The fog did not clear off till eleven o'clock through a strong breeze.
+The Swedish army at once advanced to the attack; under the king in the
+right wing was Stälhandske and the Finns, next came the Swedish troops;
+in the centre were the Swedish yellow and green brigades, commanded by
+Nils Brahe; on the left wing the German cavalry, under Duke Bernhard.
+Against the duke was Colloredo, with his strong cavalry, while in the
+centre was Wallenstein, with four heavy columns of infantry and seven
+cannon in front; against Stälhandske stood Isolani, with his wild but
+brave Croats.  The war-cries on both sides were the same as at
+Breitenfeld.  When the king ordered the attack he clasped his hands,
+and cried out:
+
+"Jesus, help me to-day to fight for the glory of Thy Holy Name!"
+
+The Imperialists started firing, and the Swedish army advanced and
+suffered heavy losses from the beginning.  At last the Swedish centre
+passed the redoubts, took the seven guns, and routed the two first
+brigades of the enemy.  The third was preparing for flight when
+Wallenstein rallied them.  The Swedish left wing was attacked by the
+cavalry, and the Finns, who had sent the Croats and the Polacks flying,
+had not yet reached the redoubts.  The king then rushed to the front
+with the troops from Smaländ; but only a few were well-mounted enough
+to follow him.  It is said that an Imperial musketeer fired at him with
+a silver bullet; it is true that the king's left arm was smashed, and
+that he tried to conceal his wound; but soon he became so weak from
+loss of blood, that he asked the Duke of Lauenburg, who was riding by
+his side, to bring him unseen out of the battle.
+
+In the midst of the conflict Gotz's cuirassiers rushed forward, and at
+the head of them was Moritz von Falkenberg, who recognised the king and
+fired point-blank at him, crying out:
+
+"I have long sought for you!"
+
+Soon afterwards Falkenberg himself fell from a bullet.  The king was
+shot underneath the heart, and reeled in his saddle; he told the duke
+to save his own life; the latter had placed his arm around the king's
+waist to support him, but the next moment the rush of the enemy had
+separated them.  The duke's hair was singed by the close discharge of a
+pistol, and the king's horse was wounded in the throat and staggered.
+The king sunk from the saddle, and was dragged a short distance along
+the ground; his foot caught in the stirrup.  The young page,
+Leubelfingen, from Nürnberg, offered him his horse, but could not raise
+him up.  Some of the Imperialists now came to the spot, and inquired
+who the wounded man was, and when Leubelfingen would not reply, one of
+them ran him through with a sword-thrust, while another shot the king
+through the head; others then shot at them, and both remained on the
+field.  But Leubelfingen lived for a few days afterwards, to relate for
+the benefit of future generations the never-to-be-forgotten sad death
+of the great hero, Gustaf Adolf.
+
+In the meantime the Swedish centre was driven back, the battlefield was
+covered with thousands of mutilated corpses, and they had not yet
+gained a foot of ground.  Both the armies occupied nearly the same
+positions as before the battle.  The king's wounded horse was then seen
+galloping between the lines, with an empty saddle, covered with blood.
+
+"The king has fallen!"
+
+As Schiller has so beautifully put it, "Life was not worth anything,
+when the most holy of all lives had ceased to exist; death no longer
+had any terror for the lowliest, since it had not spared this royal
+head."
+
+Duke Bernhard flew from line to line, saying, "Swedes, Finns, and
+Germans, yours, ours, and Freedom's protector has fallen.  Well then,
+those who love the king will rush forward to avenge his death."
+
+The first to obey this order was Stälhandske, with the Finns; with
+great difficulty they crossed the ditches and drove the enemy in front
+of them; before their terrific onslaught all fell or fled.  Isolani
+turned back and attacked the baggage train, but was again routed.  The
+centre of the Swedish army advanced under Brahe, and Duke Bernhard,
+disregarding his wounded arm, took one of the enemy's batteries.  The
+whole of the Imperial army was broken by this terrible attack; its
+ammunition wagons exploded; Wallenstein's orders, and brave
+Piccolomini's efforts, could not stay the rout.  Just then a joyful cry
+arose from the battlefield: "Pappenheim is here!" and this leader, the
+bravest of the brave, appeared with his horsemen; his first question
+was, "Where is the King of Sweden?"  Someone pointed to the Finns, and
+Pappenheim rushed to the spot.  Here began a terrible battle.  The
+Imperialists, filled with new courage, turned back and attacked on
+three sides at once.  Not a man of the Swedes gave ground.  Brahe died
+with the yellow brigade, who fell nearly to the last man; Winckel with
+the blue, died in the same order, man for man, as they stood in the
+ranks.  The rest of the Swedish infantry slowly retreated, and victory
+seemed to smile on the destructive Pappenheim.
+
+But he, the Ajax of his time, the man of a hundred scars, did not live
+to see success.  In the first attack on the Finns, a falconet bullet
+smashed his hip; and two musket balls pierced his chest; it was also
+said that Stälhandske wounded him with his own hand.  He fell, but
+still in death rejoiced over Gustaf Adolf's fall, and the news of his
+loss spread consternation amongst the Imperialists.
+
+"Pappenheim is dead; everything is lost!"
+
+Once more the Swedes advanced; Duke Bernhard, Kniephausen, and
+Stälhandske, performed prodigies of valour.  But Piccolomini, with six
+wounds, mounted his seventh horse, and fought with more than mortal
+valour; the Imperialist centre held its ground, and only the darkness
+stopped the battle.  Wallenstein retired, and the exhausted Swedish
+army encamped on the battlefield.  Nine thousand slain covered the
+field of Lützen.
+
+The result of this battle was disastrous to the Imperialists.  They had
+lost all their artillery; Pappenheim and Wallenstein had lost their
+invincible names.  The latter raged with anger; he executed the cowards
+with the same facility as he bestowed gold on the brave.  Ill and
+disheartened he retired with the rest of his army to Bohemia, where the
+stars were his nightly companions, and treacherous plans his only
+solace; and his death from Buttler's hand was the end of his glorious
+life.
+
+A thrill of joy passed over the whole Catholic world, because the faith
+of Luther and the Swedes had lost a great deal more than their enemies.
+
+The arm was paralyzed which had so powerfully wielded the victorious
+sword of light and freedom; the grief of the Protestants was deep and
+universal, mixed with fear for the future.  It was not for nothing that
+the Te Deum was sung in the churches of Vienna, Brussels, and Madrid;
+twelve days' bull-fighting gratified Madrid on account of the dreaded
+hero's fall.  But it is said that the Emperor Ferdinand, who was
+greater than the men of his time, shed bitter tears at the sight of his
+slain enemy's bloody buff waistcoat.
+
+Many stories circulated about the great Gustaf Adolf's death.  Duke
+Franz Albert of Lauenburg, Richelieu, and Duke Bernhard, were all said
+to have had a share in his fall; but none of these surmises have been
+verified by history.  A later German author tells the following popular
+story:
+
+"Gustaf Adolf, King of Sweden, received in his youth, from a young
+woman whom he loved, a ring of iron, which he ever afterwards wore.
+The ring was composed of seven circles, which formed the letters Gustaf
+Adolf.  Seven days before his death he missed the ring."
+
+The reader knows that the threads of this story are tied to the same
+ring, but we have several reasons for saying that this ring was made of
+copper.
+
+On the evening after the battle, Duke Bernhard sent his soldiers with
+torches to find the king's body; and they found it plundered and hardly
+recognisable under heaps of slain.  It was taken to the village of
+Meuchen, and there embalmed.  The soldiers were all allowed to see the
+dead body of their king and leader.  Bitter tears were here shed, but
+tears full of pride, for even the lowest considered it an honour to
+have fought by the side of such a hero.
+
+"See," said one of Stälhandske's old Finns, loudly sniffing, "they have
+stolen his golden chain and his copper ring; I still see the white mark
+on his forefinger."
+
+"Why should they care about a copper ring?" asked a Scotchman, who had
+lately joined the army, and had not heard the stories which passed from
+man to man.
+
+"His ring!" said a Pomeranian.  "Be sure that the Jesuits knew what is
+was good for.  The ring was charmed by a Finnish witch, and as long as
+the king wore it, he could not be hurt by steel or lead."
+
+"But see to-day he has lost it, and therefore--you understand."
+
+"What is that fruit-eating Pomeranian saying?" said the Finn angrily.
+"The power of the Almighty, and nothing else, has protected our great
+king, but the ring was given to him long ago by a young Finnish girl,
+whom he loved in his youth; I know more about this than you do."
+
+Duke Bernhard, who, sad and sorrowful, was watching the king's pale
+features, turned round at these words; he put his sound hand underneath
+his open buff waistcoat, and said to the Finn:
+
+"Comrade, do you know one of Stälhandske's officers named Bertel?"
+
+"Yes, your grace."
+
+"Is he alive?"
+
+"No, your grace."
+
+The duke turned to another and gave several orders abstractedly.  A few
+moments later, when he again looked at the king, he seemed to remember
+something.
+
+"Was he a brave man?" he asked.
+
+"He was one of Stälhandske's horsemen!" said the Finn with great pride.
+
+"When did he fall, and where?"
+
+"In the last struggle with the Pappenheimers."
+
+"Go and search for him."
+
+The duke's order was promptly obeyed by these exhausted soldiers, who
+had reason to wonder why one of the youngest officers should be
+searched for this night, when Nils Brahe, Winckel, and many other old
+leaders were lying uncared for in their blood on the battlefield.  It
+was nearly morning when the searchers returned and reported that
+Bertel's dead body could not be found anywhere.
+
+"Hum!" said the duke discontentedly; "great men have sometimes funny
+ideas.  What shall I now do with the king's ring?"
+
+The November sun rose blood-red over the field of Lützen.  A new time
+had come; the Master had left, and the disciples had now to carry out
+his work alone.
+
+
+
+
+II.--THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.
+
+Silence reigned after the conclusion of the narrative; everyone was
+thinking of the great hero's fall, and not realising that the tale was
+ended.  The old grandmother sat on the stuffed sofa in her brown
+woollen shawl, and near her the schoolmaster, Svenonius, with his blue
+handkerchief and brass spectacles.  Captain Svanholm, the postmaster,
+who had lost a finger in the last war, was on the right; on the left
+pretty Anne Sophie, eighteen years old, with a high tortoise-shell comb
+in her long brown hair; and around them, on the floor or on stools, sat
+six or seven playful children, with mouths now wide open, as if they
+had heard a ghost story.
+
+The first to disturb the silence was Anne Sophie, who sprang with a cry
+from her chair, stumbled, and fell into the schoolmaster's arms.
+
+The entranced company, who were still at Lützen, were as much disturbed
+by this interruption as if Isolani's Croats had suddenly broken into
+the room.  The postmaster, still in the midst of the battle, sprang up
+and trod heavily upon old grandma's sore foot with his iron heel.  The
+schoolmaster was quite upset, not at all realising the value of the
+burden in his arms--perhaps the first and also the prettiest in his
+whole life; the children fled in all directions, and some crept behind
+the surgeon's high chair.  But Andreas, who had just followed the
+Finnish cavalry in their charge over the trenches, seized the surgeon's
+silver-headed Spanish cane, and prepared to receive the Croats at the
+point of the bayonet.  Old Bäck was undisturbed; he produced his
+tobacco box, bit off a piece, and mildly said, "What is the matter with
+you, Anne Sophie?"  The latter freed herself, blushing and embarrassed,
+from the schoolmaster's arms, and declaring that someone had pricked
+her with a pin, looked around for the culprit.
+
+Old grandma, always quick to scent out mischief, immediately practised
+a method, and discovered that Jonathan had inserted a pin at the top of
+his rattan, and therewith upset his eldest sister, with the results
+just indicated.  The punishment, like that under martial law, was quick
+and short, and Jonathan had then to retire to the nursery, and learn an
+extra lesson for the next day.
+
+When the principal power had thus restored order without bloodshed, the
+company began to talk of the surgeon's story.
+
+"It is too violent a tale, my dear cousin," said the old grandmother,
+whilst looking at the teller with one of those mild and speaking
+glances, which captured all hearts with their expression of
+intelligence and sympathy; "altogether too turbulent.  It seems to me
+that I still hear the noise of the cannon.  War is frightful and
+detestable, when we consider all the blood shed on the battlefield, and
+all the tears at home.  When will the day arrive when men, instead of
+destroying each other, will share the earth and our Lord's good gifts
+together in Harmony and Universal Brotherhood?"
+
+Now the postmaster's martial spirit rose in arms.
+
+"Peace?  Share?  No war?  Pshaw! cousin, pshaw! would you make an ant's
+nest of the world?  What a state of things!  Scribblers would smother
+everything with ink; cowards and petty tyrants would sit on honest men;
+and when one nation domineered over another, people would lowly bow,
+thank them, and act like sheep.  No; the devil take me! men like Gustaf
+Adolf and Napoleon move nations and things; they tap a little blood
+which has been spoilt by gross living, and then the world improves.  I
+still remember the 21st of August, at Karstula; Fieandt stood on the
+left, and I at the right----"
+
+"If I may interrupt the speech of my honoured brother," said the
+schoolmaster, who had heard this story one hundred and seventy times
+before, "I would prove that the world would progress much better
+through spilling ink than blood.  _Inter arma silent leges_.  In war
+times we could not sit here by the fire, and drink our toddy in Bäck's
+room; we should be serving a cannon on the ramparts; linstock in hand,
+instead of a glass; powder in our pouches, and not even a pinch of
+snuff.  Ink has made you, brother, a postmaster; in ink you live and
+have your being; ink brings your daily bread, and what would you be
+with blood alone, and no ink, may I ask?
+
+"What should I be?  Devils and heretics ... I?"
+
+"Cousin Svanholm!" said the old grandmother, with a warning glance at
+the children.
+
+The postmaster stopped at once.  The surgeon saw the necessity of
+re-establishing peace and concord.
+
+"I think," he said, "that nations go through the world like the
+individuals of which they are composed.  In youth they are wild and
+passionate, fight, rage, and tear each other to pieces.  When older and
+wiser, they invent gunpowder, place host against host, and let them
+destroy each other in cold blood at long distances.  Finally the world
+comes to reason, and seizes the pen which is very sharp when necessary.
+And then begins the reign of universal knowledge, which is certainly
+the best, according to my mind."
+
+"It would be ... seven devils ... all right, cousin, I will be as quiet
+as a wall," said the postmaster.  "I only ask what kind of a man was
+Gustaf Adolf?  What kind of a man was Napoleon?  Were they only
+birthday eaters of sweetmeats?  What do you think?  Were they fools or
+savages?  I pray you.  Do you hear, cousin?  I do not swear, cousin;
+you should have heard Fieandt, how devilishly he swore at Karstula."
+
+The surgeon continued, without paying any attention to the postmaster.
+
+"Therefore, the youthful history of all nations begins with war, and
+the first soldier in the world's company was called Cain.  But as war
+is as old as the world, it is likely to exist as long as it lasts.  I
+do not believe in the new ideas about a perpetual peace.  I believe
+that as long as human hearts retain selfish desires, the curse of war
+will prevail.  Eternal peace consists in no longer fighting blindly,
+slavishly, as before, but with glad courage comprehending the reason
+why, and for a righteous cause; then one can hack away with right
+goodwill."
+
+"Then we should always fight for an idea," said the schoolmaster
+thoughtfully.
+
+"That's it, for an idea.  It is to the honour of the Finnish soldier
+that with one exception he has always fought for the defence of his
+fatherland.  Then he has gone out to fight on foreign soil; and our
+Lord has mercifully chosen that this should be for the greatest and
+most righteous cause of all, namely, to defend the pure Protestant
+faith and freedom of conscience for the whole world.  The Finn was
+proud to know this in the Thirty Years' War.  He felt within himself
+that his heart was the same as Gustaf Adolf's, who, I think, was the
+greatest general who ever lived, whilst he fought and won victories for
+one of the few causes that are worth bleeding for."
+
+"Tell us more about Gustaf Adolf!" exclaimed Andreas, who could think
+only of that one name.
+
+"Dear uncle, a little more about Gustaf Adolf," chimed in the rest of
+the children, who, with the greatest trouble, had been held in check by
+grandma's admonitions and sister Anne Sophie.
+
+"Thank you.  No.  The great king is dead, and we will allow him to
+peacefully slumber in the royal vault of the church at Riddarholm,
+Stockholm.  And if the story in future loses something from this, it
+will also gain something, namely, that the other characters will become
+more prominent.  Hitherto, we have been compelled to almost exclusively
+fix our eyes on the heroic king, and grandmother was right in saying
+that we have been deafened by the thunder of the cannon.  Thus, Lady
+Regina, and the Jesuit, and especially Bertel, who is the real hero,
+have all been kept in the background."
+
+"And Ketchen," said the grandmother; "for my part, I would like much to
+know more of the good, charming child.  I will leave Regina alone, but
+this I will maintain that such a black-eyed wild cat, who would tear
+one's eyes out at any moment, cannot come to any good."
+
+"And the lordly Count of Lichtenstein, whom we have not heard of
+lately," added Sophie.  "I am certain he will become Regina's
+betrothed."
+
+"Aha! little cousin listens with delight to that part of it," said the
+postmaster with a sly smile.  "But say, brother Bäck, do not busy
+yourself with sentimentalities; let us hear more about Stälhandske, the
+stout little Larsson, and the Tavastlander Vitikka.  How the d----l did
+the man get along without ears?  I remember to this day, that on the
+21st of August, there was a corporal at Karstula----"
+
+"Brother Bäck," interrupted the schoolmaster, "who has _justitia
+mundi_, the sword of justice in his hand, will not fail to hoist the
+Jesuit Hieronymus up to the top of the highest pine on the Hartz
+mountains."
+
+"Take care, brother Svenonius," retorted the post-master maliciously,
+"the Jesuit was very learned, and knew a heap of Latin."
+
+"I will tell you what I know about the Finns," said the surgeon; "but I
+assure you beforehand that it is altogether too little.  Wait ten or
+twenty years longer, when some industrious man will take the trouble to
+glean from the old chronicles our brave countrymen's exploits."
+
+"And what became of the king's ring?"
+
+"Why, that we shall hear to-morrow evening."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR.
+
+Beyond the fertile plains of Germany a wild sea extends itself towards
+the north, whose shores are annually covered with the ice of winter,
+and whose straits have sometimes borne entire armies on their
+ice-bridges.  For ages the surrounding nations have fought for the
+possession of this sea; but at the time of our story the greatest power
+in the north triumphed over nine-tenths of its wide shores, the Baltic
+had almost become a Swedish lake; stretching its mighty blue arms north
+and east, it folded in its embrace a daughter of the sea, a land which
+had arisen from its bosom, and elevated its granite rocks high above
+its mother's heart.  _Finland_ is the most favoured child of the
+Baltic; she empties her treasures into the lap of her mother, and the
+great sea does not disdain the offering, but withdraws lovingly and
+tenderly like an indulgent mother, that her daughter may develop, and
+every season clothes the shores with grass and flowers.  Fortunate the
+land which lulls to sleep in its bosom the waters of a thousand lakes,
+and stretches one hundred and forty Swedish miles along the shore.  The
+sea bears power, freedom, and enlightenment; the ocean is an active
+civilising element in the world; and a sea communicating nation can
+never stagnate in need and under oppression except by its own fault.
+
+Far away in the north of Finland a region exists which more than any
+other is the fostered child of the sea, for from time unknown it has
+risen with a gentle slope from the waters.  Numerous green isles rise
+along this coast.  "In my youth," says the grey-haired old salt, "fine
+ships floated where now the water is quite shallow, and in a few years
+the cattle will graze on the former sea-bottom.  The playing child
+launches its little boat from the beach; look around you, little one,
+and see well the point where the waters trace their edges; when you
+become a man, you will look in vain for your present strand--beyond the
+green fields you will hear their distant murmur; and when you are an
+old man, a village may appear on the spot once occupied by the waves."
+A strange region, where the towns built hard by deep sounds and
+tributaries, are twelve miles from the waters in two hundred years,
+while the keels and anchors of vessels are drawn up from the bogs fifty
+miles inland.
+
+This region is East Bothnia; greater than many kingdoms, and extending
+to the verge of Lapland in the north, where the sun never sets at
+midsummer, and never rises during the Christmas darkness.
+
+Nature is awake for three months of the year in an unbroken day, and
+then at midnight you can read the finest print; three months of night,
+but a night of moonlight and glittering snow--clear, cold, and solemn.
+The flower's beauty perishes sooner there than human joy; for seven
+months the plains are covered with snow and the lakes with solid ice;
+but never is spring more delightful than such a winter; still a
+melancholy mingles with this joy, which the heart well understands.
+
+Two races live on the coasts of this land, unmixed and unlike; a
+variegated picture of national and local peculiarities of language and
+habits; one parish sharply contrasting with another.  Certain common
+traits exist, however, which all present.  It is not a historical
+accident that the greatest and bloodiest battles of Finland have been
+fought on the soil of East Bothnia.
+
+Twenty-five miles east of Vasa, on the banks of Kyro River, is the rich
+Storkyro parish--the granary of East Bothnia.  Here grows the
+well-known rye-seed, which is exported in large quantities to Sweden.
+The parish presents a plain of waving grain-fields, from which arose
+the saying, "that Storkyro fields and Limingo meadows have no equals in
+length and breadth."  The people are Finns, of Tavastlandish origin in
+remote times.  Their old church, built in 1304, is one of the oldest in
+the country.
+
+We now ask our reader to follow us there.  At the time of our story
+this region was badly cultivated, compared with later times.  The
+ravages of the Peasants' War had retarded its growth, so that for a
+generation traces of this disastrous struggle were visible, whilst
+other wars, with heavy conscriptions, prevented time from healing these
+wounds.  Hence, in the summer of 1632, many farmhouses still stood
+empty; the grain-fields did not spread far from the river banks, and
+unhealthy fogs covered the country when the nights were cool.  The
+forests, then already thinned, still yielded fuel for the tar pits;
+part of the peasantry fished among the Michel Islands, and the worthy
+pastor, Herr Georgius Thomoe Patur, had not then, like his present
+successor, a yearly income of 4,000 silver roubles.  Therefore the eye
+lingered with delight on Bertila's farmhouse close to the church, finer
+and better built than any of the others, and surrounded by the most
+fertile fields.
+
+The summer had advanced to the middle of August, and the harvesting had
+just begun.  More than sixty persons, men, women, and children--for the
+East Bothnian peasant women work the whole summer out of doors--were
+busily cutting the golden rye, which they gathered into sheaves and
+placed with skilful hands in high, handsome ricks.  The day was hot,
+and the stooping posture of the work wearisome; so it often happened
+that the petted boys amongst the reapers threw longing glances at the
+soft grass round the edge of the field, which evidently seemed intended
+for a resting-place.  At the same time they did not forget to look for
+the overseer, an old man in a loose, grey homespun jacket.  Whenever
+anyone stopped, he heard his neighbour whisper, "Larsson is coming!"
+which had an instantaneous effect, like the stroke of a whip.
+
+But Larsson, a small man, between whose bushy head and eyebrows a
+good-hearted look glanced forth, was now concerned with one of the
+women, who, on account of the heat and work, had sunk to the ground.
+
+Judging from her features this woman was no longer young; perhaps about
+thirty-six; but to look at her slender figure, and the mild sympathetic
+expression of her blue eyes, she seemed no more than twenty.  She
+exhibited a rare but prematurely faded beauty, with much suffering and
+resignation.  She wore a fine white flannel jacket, which being thrown
+aside on account of the sun, showed sleeves of the finest linen, a red
+bodice, like the peasantry wore, with a short striped woollen skirt,
+and a little plaid handkerchief tied around her head, to support her
+long flaxen hair.  She had worked hard, but her strength was
+insufficient; she had fallen with her scythe in her hand, and those
+nearest to her, with respect and love, had carried her to the soft
+turf, and tried with fresh water from the spring to bring her back to
+life.
+
+"There now, Meri!" said old Larsson with fatherly sympathy, as he held
+the fainting woman's head on his knees and bathed her forehead with
+cold water; "there, my child, don't be foolish enough to die and leave
+your old friend; what joy would he then have on earth? ... She cannot
+hear me, poor child!  Who ever had such a father as hers?  To compel
+this delicate thing to work in such heat! ... Drink a little--that's
+right ... it is very good of you; now open your lovely eyes once more.
+Do not trouble, Meri; we will go to the house, and you shall not work
+any more to-day."
+
+The pale and delicate creature endeavoured to rise and seize her sickle.
+
+"Thank you, Larsson," she said in a low but melodious voice, "I am
+better now.  I will work; father washes it."
+
+"Father wishes it!" exclaimed the old man testily.  "You see, I do not;
+I forbid you to work.  Even if your father turned me out of doors, and
+I had to beg my bread, you should not work any more to-day.  Well,
+well, my child, don't take it so hard; your father is not so foolish.
+He knows that you are not strong; you are like your dead mother, who
+was a lady by birth, and from your education in Stockholm ... There,
+there; let us go home; don't be obstinate now, Meri!"
+
+"Let me go, Larsson; see, he comes himself!" cried Meri, tearing
+herself free and grasping the scythe, with which she again tried to mow
+the golden rye.  But as she stooped down, it grew dark before her eyes,
+and for the second time she sank fainting between the waving stalks.
+
+At that instant the efforts of all the workers redoubled; he approached
+in person, the severe and dreaded owner of Bertila farm.  Like a gloomy
+shadow he came slowly along the path--a tall old man of seventy, but
+little bent by age.  His costume was the same as that of the peasants
+in summer: wide shirt-sleeves, a long red-striped vest, short linen
+pantaloons, blue stockings, and bark-shoes.  He wore a high pointed cap
+of red yarn on his white head, which made his tall figure still more
+imposing.  In spite of his simple costume, his whole bearing was
+commanding.  The decided carriage, sharp penetrating look, resolute
+expression, love of authority around the tightly drawn upper lip,
+indicated the former political leader and the rich and powerful
+land-owner, accustomed to rule over many hundreds of subordinates.
+Seeing this old man, one understood why he was known in many
+neighbouring parishes as the _Peasant King_.
+
+Cold and calm, old Aron Bertila approached the spot where his only
+daughter lay in a dead faint.
+
+"Put her in the hay-wagon and take her up to the house," he said.  "In
+two hours she will be back to her work."
+
+"But, Bertila!" exclaimed Larsson excitedly.
+
+Bertila looked round with a glance before which the other quailed; then
+he stalked on through the field as if nothing had occurred, observing
+with a keen eye the labours of the reapers; here and there breaking off
+an ear and closely examining the number and weight of the seeds.  From
+the barn the whole harvest-field was visible; it was new, and more than
+a hundred acres in extent.  The old man looked with great pride on the
+waving sea of golden ears; his carriage became more erect, his breast
+expanded, as he beckoned Larsson to him.
+
+"Do you remember this tract thirty-four years ago, when Fleming's
+cavalry scoured the country like savages, the village lay in ruins, and
+the fields were trampled down by the horses' hoofs.  Here, close to the
+village, was the desert; naked, charred stumps stood between mud
+puddles and quagmires; no road or path led here, and even the forest
+wolves avoided the desolate spot."
+
+"I remember it well," said Larsson in a monotonous tone.
+
+"Look now around, old friend, and say.  Who rebuilt this village, more
+lovely than ever before?  Who tilled this wilderness, made roads and
+paths, measured the land, drained the morass, ploughed this fertile
+soil, and sowed this great field which now waves in the breeze, and
+will soon supply hundreds of human beings with its harvest?  Say,
+Larsson, who is the man who did this mighty work?" and the old man's
+eyes flamed with enthusiasm.
+
+But the little, plump person at his side seemed to be possessed with
+quite another feeling.  He humbly took off his old hat, clasped his
+hands, and earnestly said,
+
+"Nothing is he who sows; nothing is he who waters; God alone gives the
+growth!"
+
+Bertila, absorbed in thought, heeded him not, and continued,
+
+"Yes, by God!  I have seen evil times, days of want, misery, and
+despair, which the sword brought upon earth, and I have myself drawn
+the weapon to destroy my enemies.  I have had victory and defeat, both
+to my injury.  Hence I can rejoice in the work of peace.  I know the
+fruit of the sword, and what the plough produces.  In the sword lurks a
+spirit of evil, which revels in blood and tears; the sword kills and
+destroys, but the plough gives life and happiness.  You see, Larsson,
+the plough has made this field.  Over at Korsholm is the Finnish coat
+of arms, a lion with a naked sword.  Were I king, I would say, Away
+with the sword and take the plough.  The latter is the true weapon of
+Finland; if we possess bread we have plenty of arms; with arms we can
+drive our enemies from our homes.  But without bread, Larsson, what use
+is steel and powder to us?"
+
+"Bertila," said Larsson, "you are a singular man.  You hate war, but
+that I understand; in war they burnt your farm, and drove your first
+wife and her little children into the woods to perish.  You yourself
+have fought at the head of the peasantry, and barely escaped _the blood
+bath on Ilmola's ice_.  Such things are not easily forgotten; but what
+I cannot comprehend is, that you, a friend of the peasants, a soldier
+hater, first took me, an old starving soldier, as overseer on your
+farm, then equipped my Lasse--God bless the boy--for the war, and
+finally sent your own grandson, Meri's child, little Gösta,* yet
+beardless, to the field among the king's cavalry."
+
+
+* From Gustaf.
+
+
+Old Bertila's look darkened.  Some sensitive chord had been touched,
+and he glanced around as if he feared a listener behind the barn walls.
+
+"Who dares to speak to me of Meri's child?" he said in a low tone.  "I
+know none other than my son Gösta, born of my second wife during the
+journey to Stockholm; and God be merciful unto you if ever ... Let us
+forget that matter.  Why I took you?  Why I sent your boy into the
+field?  H'm! it does not concern anyone."
+
+"Well, keep it to yourself; I know too much already."
+
+"Tell me, if you can, Larsson, what constituents are required for an
+honest Christian Government?"
+
+Larsson looked at him with surprise.
+
+"I will tell you.  The sword has two parts, the blade and the handle.
+Two forces are likewise necessary for the plough: one that draws and
+one that drives.  And two forces united form a Christian Government,
+namely, the people and the king.  But that which comes between brings
+discord and ruin; it arrogates to itself the king's power and the
+people's property.  It is a monster."
+
+"I know you hate the nobles."
+
+"And therefore," Bertila laid an emphasis on his words, and uttered
+them with an almost ironical smile, which seemed to turn his meaning
+into a jest, "you see, _my_ son must either be _peasant or king_;
+nothing more or less!"
+
+Larsson looked at him with dismay.  He had not imagined the depth of
+ambition which had hitherto glowed concealed in the old peasant's
+heart.  He thought it the extreme of crazy presumption.
+
+"You can certainly never hope," he timidly said, "that Meri's son, with
+his birth----"
+
+The old man's eyes flashed, but the words were inaudible that came from
+his lips, as if he tried to struggle against an inner impulse, to
+express for the first and perhaps for the last time, the bold idea
+which had already for many years grown in his tempestuous soul.
+
+"King Gustaf Adolf has only a daughter," he said finally, with a
+peculiar look.
+
+"Princess Christina ... Yes."
+
+"But the kingdom at war with half the world, after his death, needs a
+man upon the throne."
+
+"Bertila, what do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that in my childhood I heard King Erik's son, in spite of his
+peasant wife, Karin, declared the successor to the crown."
+
+"Are you in your senses?"
+
+Again an ironical smile played around the old man's lips.
+
+"Do you not understand," he coldly said, "how it is possible to hate
+soldiers and aristocrats, and yet send one's son to war as the nearest
+road to distinction, under a king's eyes?"
+
+"I beg of you, Bertila, put aside such wild fancies; you are a
+reasonable man when the demon of pride does not get possession of your
+restless mind.  Your plan will fail; it must fail."
+
+"It cannot fail."
+
+"What!  Not fail!"
+
+"No!  Have I not told you that Gösta must be either king or peasant?
+Either.  I do not care.  If he wishes to remain a peasant, so be it."
+
+"But if he will not remain a peasant?  Supposing he wishes to fight for
+a coat of arms, and becomes a nobleman?  Remember, you have started him
+on the right road for that end; as an officer he is already an equal of
+the nobility."
+
+Bertila seemed to be cogitating.
+
+"No!" he cried, "it is impossible.  His blood ... his education ... my
+will."
+
+"His blood!  Then you no longer remember that nobility is in it from
+both sides?  His education! and you sent him to Stockholm at twelve,
+and allowed him to grow up amongst young aristocrats, whom he has
+constantly heard express themselves with contempt about the peasantry.
+Your will! foolish father to think that you can bend a youth's desires
+from the direction given to them by such powerful influences."
+
+The old man remained silent for a time, then he said, coldly,
+
+"Larsson, you are a credulous fool; I joke, and you take it seriously.
+I will answer for the youth.  Let us say no more about it; but take
+care, not a word of what has passed!  Do you understand?"
+
+"I am your old friend, Bertila.  Since the time when I, a horseman with
+Svidje Klas, helped you to escape from Ilmola, you have repaid me the
+service many times over; I shall never betray you.  But, you see, I
+love your children as my own, and cannot bear to see you make the boy
+unhappy; and Meri ... are you a father, Bertila?  How do you treat your
+child, your only daughter, who attends to your lightest wish, and does
+everything to atone for the fault of her youth?  You treat her worse
+than any of your servants; you allow her frail and weak body to perform
+the hardest work; she sinks to the ground, and you do not raise her.
+You are cruel, Bertila; you are an inhuman father."
+
+"You do not understand the matter," answered the morose old man.  "You
+are too tender-hearted to comprehend what it means to go straight ahead
+without compunction.  Meri, like her mother, has the fine lady in her,
+and that must be uprooted.  She cannot become a queen; well, then, she
+shall be a thorough peasant.  I have said what I think about the
+intermediate class, and now you know the reason for my actions.  Come,
+let us return to the labourers."
+
+"And Meri ... spare her to-day, at least."
+
+"She shall work with the rest this afternoon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME.
+
+The log-house of the East Bothnian peasant is now always more roomy,
+lighter, and more pretentious in its whole appearance than in any other
+part of Finland.  It sometimes consists of two storeys, or has at least
+a garret; the windows are of good size; it it almost always painted red
+or yellow, with white corners, and occasionally possesses window
+shutters.  The whole bears evidence of mechanical skill and comfort.
+The East Bothnian never builds such large and fine villages as the
+Tavastlander and the Abo peasants do, but in cases of necessity
+constructs good solitary farmhouses.  At the time of our story the
+smoke-huts were in use by nearly the whole Finnish population; only
+peasants of Swedish origin used fire-places and regular chimneys.  But
+even then one could see in East Bothnia, close to the coast, some
+buildings constructed in a more modern style, copied from their Swedish
+neighbours.
+
+The newly settled towns had attracted the country people to the coast,
+and they had already begun to be accustomed to greater comfort; and the
+wealthier the peasant, the quicker his house and person assumed a more
+civilised aspect.  It is true that the luxury, against which the laws
+of the sixteenth century so severely protested, was found only on the
+estates of the nobility and among the wealthy Abo burghers--but the
+home-brewed ale foamed over in the tankards of the peasants, and the
+Holland spices were produced from his cupboards for festive occasions.
+
+Since the fires of the Peasants' War had destroyed the huts of Storkyro
+village, one could often see the Swedish and Finnish styles of building
+side by side.  Bertila's farm was the largest and the richest in the
+village, and was built in the new style, with steps and a small
+verandah, and two small chambers beside the large room; one for the
+master of the family and one for his daughter.  The rest of the people
+on the farm lived together in the large room, but in summertime the
+younger ones slept out of doors in the sheds and some in the lofts.
+
+At this time one would not see the large clock, with its red and blue
+painted cover, which to-day is the chief ornament in every peasant's
+cottage.  The long plain table with its high seat for the master, stood
+surrounded by benches on the sides towards the door.  It was close to
+dinner-time, and in the big fire-place the porridge-kettle was boiling.
+The room was nearly empty, only a large cat purred on a bench, and a
+girl of fourteen stirred the porridge; and Meri was sitting by the fire
+with her work.  Poor Meri had just recovered from her fainting attack,
+but she was still very pale.  Her long golden hair fell down over her
+almost bare shoulders; her eyes were often shyly turned towards the
+door, as if she feared the sudden entrance of her father.  She was
+knitting a girdle of the most beautiful colours, and sang at the same
+time an old Swedish song.
+
+  "This girdle with roses fair
+  Shall only my loved one wear,
+  When he from the perils of war
+  Returns to us from afar."
+
+
+It has been said that Meri was no longer young.  The traces which
+suffering had left on her finely formed features told of many a year of
+sorrow and pain; but at this moment as she watched the girdle, her face
+assumed an almost childish expression of delight.  One could see that
+her work was a joy to her, and that she sang of someone much beloved
+and far away.
+
+Her life with her severe father was full of hardship, and when she
+looked at the girdle she semed to read in its bright-coloured loops of
+a future full of joy and peace.  In this girdle she lived, it was the
+same to her as the thought of her only joy--her idolized son.
+
+Again she sang:
+
+  "I weave in beads so fine
+  For this dear beloved of mine,
+  And no king upon his throne
+  Shall the like of this girdle own."
+
+
+Just then Bertila, her father, entered, followed by Larsson and all the
+rest of the working people.  Old Bertila's looks were dark; he could
+not deny to himself that Larsson's predictions were only too likely to
+be true.  His son a nobleman.  This possibility was in his eyes a
+disgrace, and up to this time had not troubled his mind.
+
+The last words of Meri's song had just died away.  At her father's
+entrance she quickly concealed the girdle under her apron; but the
+suspicious eyes of the old man fathomed her secret.
+
+"You are again sitting with your dreams, lazy thing, instead of serving
+out the porridge," he said in a sharp tone.  "What have you underneath
+your apron?  Out with it."
+
+And Meri was obliged in the presence of them all to reveal the
+unfinished girdle--her dearest secret.  Her father snatched it from
+her, looked at it for a moment with contempt, then tore it in two, and
+threw the pieces behind the oven.
+
+"I have told you many a time," he said severely, "that an honest
+peasant woman has nothing to do with fancy work.  Let us say grace."
+
+The old man then clasped his hands in the usual way, and the rest
+followed suit.  But before the prayer could be uttered, Larsson stepped
+to the middle of the floor, his naturally good-humoured face purple
+with rage.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bertila," he said, "to insult
+your own daughter in front of all the people!  She works like a slave
+night and day, more than anyone of us, yet you call her a lazy thing!
+I tell you this straight in the face, that although you are my master,
+and I eat your bread, and without you I have nothing but the beggar's
+staff, that such an unrighteous father does not deserve to have such a
+good daughter; and rather than see this misery day after day, I will
+beg my bread.  But you will have to answer before the Almighty for your
+children.  And may you now say your grace, and let the food taste well
+to you if you can.  Farewell, Bertila, I cannot stand this life any
+longer."
+
+"Cast out the rascal who dares to speak against the master of the
+house," said Bertila with more than usual violence.  No one moved.  For
+the first time the peasant king saw his orders disobeyed.
+
+"Dear master," began the oldest of the labourers, "we all think the
+same----"
+
+A terrible blow from the master struck the speaker to the ground before
+he finished his remarks.  In vain Larsson offered to go of his own
+accord; in vain Meri tried to mediate between the disputants.  So
+strong were the principles of right in these people, that without
+consulting anything but their own convictions, they arrayed themselves
+as one man against the master's tyranny.  Fourteen muscular men stood
+erect and resolute before the enraged Bertila, whose tall figure stood
+threateningly in the midst of the throng.  One more blow, and they
+would all have left his service, and perhaps shut him up in his own
+little chamber until his anger had subsided; for the farther towards
+the north one goes, the more sensitive is the Finnish peasant to blows.
+Bertila, however, knew his people, and saw as a wise man that his anger
+had led him too far.  He sought a means of getting out of the dilemma
+without too great a humiliation.
+
+"What is it you want?" he asked with regained self-possession.
+
+The workers looked at each other in silence for a moment.
+
+"You are wrong, master," said one of the boldest at last.  "You have
+insulted Meri for nothing.  You wished to turn Larsson out of the
+house, and struck Simeon; you have done wrong."
+
+"Meri, come here."
+
+She did so.
+
+"You are no longer a child, Meri.  If you cannot endure to live with
+your aged father, then you are at liberty to stay on my farm at Ilmola.
+You are free--go, my child."
+
+Bertila knew his daughter.  These few words, "go, my child," pronounced
+in a milder tone than she was accustomed to hear, were sufficient to
+melt his daughter's heart.
+
+"Do not reject me, father," she said, "I will never desert you."
+
+These words made her defenders waver, and the old man saw his
+opportunity.
+
+"Bring hither the catechism," he said in a commanding voice.
+
+The fourteen-year-old Greta stepped forward as was the custom on sacred
+days, and read aloud:
+
+"Ye servants obey your temporal masters with fear and trembling, in the
+simplicity of your hearts!  Ye servants be submissive to your masters
+in all fear, not only the mild and good, but also the unworthy!"
+
+These words, thus uttered at the right time, did not fail in their
+effect.
+
+In these times the power and authority of father and master were at
+their zenith, and were not only by word, but in deed, a power by "God's
+mercy."  The words of obedience heard from childhood, the old man's
+commanding tone, and Meri's example of ready submission to her father's
+authority, all combined to tone down the hot tempers of the rebels.
+They took their places at the table without another word.  Only old
+Larsson stood sad and hesitating with his hand on the door-latch.
+
+Suddenly the door was opened, and a stranger entered.
+
+The new-comer was a soldier, in a broad-brimmed hat, decorated with a
+gracefully fastened eagle's plume.  He wore a waistcoat of yellow wool,
+short top-boots, bore a cudgel in his hand, and a long sword hung at
+his side.
+
+"By St. Lucifer," he said joyfully, "I have come at the right time.
+God's peace, peasants, make room at the table; I am as hungry as a monk
+during mass, and I am not able to go to the vicarage on this damned
+heath.  Have you any ale?"
+
+The old man in the high seat, who had not yet quite overcome his
+temper, although he appeared to be calm, rose from his chair, but at
+once sat down again.
+
+"Sit down, countryman," said the old man softly; "Aron Bertila has room
+at his table for self-invited guests also."
+
+"Very well," continued the new-comer, helping himself freely to the
+food, which seemed to be a familiar habit with him.  "You are Bertila,
+then.  I am glad to hear it, comrade.  Confidence for confidence, I
+will now tell you that I am Bengt Kristerson, from Limingo, sergeant in
+his Majesty's brave East Bothnians.  I am sent here to look after the
+conscripts.  Some more ale in the tankard, peasants ... well, do not be
+afraid, girls, I will not bite you.  Bertila," added the soldier with
+his mouth full, "what the deuce is this?  Are you Lieutenant Bertel's
+father, peasant?"
+
+"I do not know that name," replied the old man, who was nettled by the
+soldier's impudent remarks.
+
+"Are you mad, old man?  You do not know Gustaf Bertel, who six months
+ago called himself Bertila?"
+
+"My son! my son!" cried the old man in a voice of anguish.  "I am an
+unfortunate father!  He is ashamed of a peasant's name!"
+
+"Peasant's name," said the soldier laughing, and striking the table
+violently, so that the tankards and dishes jumped.  "Do ye peasants
+also have names?  I think I will go without mine.  You are a fine
+fellow, old man; tell me what the d----l you want with a name?"
+
+He then looked at his host with such an air of naïve impudence, that
+the insulting words were somewhat modified in effect.
+
+Old Bertila, however, scarcely honoured him with a glance.
+
+"Fool that I was!  I sent out a beardless boy and thought that I sent a
+man," he gloomily said to himself.
+
+But the sergeant, who had indulged in many drinks before, and had now
+seen the bottom of the jug, did not seem inclined to drop the subject.
+
+"Do not look so fierce, old boy," he said in the same aggravating tone.
+"You peasants associate so much with oxen and sheep, that you become
+just like them yourselves.  If you were a bit civil you would send a
+pretty girl to fill my jug.  It is now empty, you see; as empty as your
+cranium.  But you turnip-peelers do not appreciate the honour which is
+conferred upon you, of having a royal sergeant for guest.  You see, old
+fellow, a soldier in these times is everything; he has a name that
+rings because he has a sword that rings.  But you, old ploughshare,
+have nothing but porridge in your head and a turnip in your breast;
+fill your mug, old fellow; here's to Lieutenant Bertel's success!  So
+you refuse to drink the health of an honest cavalier?  Out upon you,
+peasant."
+
+And the sergeant, in the consciousness of his dignity, struck the table
+with his fist, so that the wooden bowls jumped and seemed disposed to
+make for the floor with all their contents.
+
+The first effect of this martial joke was to induce six or seven of the
+men to rise from their benches, with the object of giving the uninvited
+guest a salutary lesson in politeness.  But old Bertila stopped them.
+He rose composedly from his seat, approached the rowdy sergeant with a
+firm step, and without saying a word, grasped him by the neck with his
+left hand, and with his right on his back, he lifted the soldier from
+the bench, carried him to the door and threw him out on a heap of chips
+outside the steps.  The funny sergeant was so surprised at this
+unexpected attack, that he did not move a muscle to defend himself.  If
+he had, it was not likely that the seventy-year-old man would have
+gained the victory in the struggle.
+
+"Go," cried Bertila after him, "and keep your treatment as a
+remembrance of the peasants in Storkyro."
+
+Nothing impresses the multitude so much as resolute courage combined
+with a strong arm.  When the old man entered the room again he was
+surrounded by his people, who now greatly admired him; and this feat
+destroyed the difference which had existed a few moments before between
+them.
+
+The conflict between the sword and the plough is as old as the world.
+The Peasants' War was based on this rivalry, and served to keep it
+fresh and alive in the minds of all.  These independent peasants had
+not been subjected to the tyranny of the landed proprietors.  They
+witnessed with delight their honour defended against the soldier's
+outrageous insults; they forgot at the moment that they might shortly
+be compelled themselves to don the soldier's jacket, and fight for
+their country.  Even the old peasant chief, elated at his exploit, had
+surmounted his bad temper.
+
+For the first time in a long while they saw a smile on his lips; and
+when the meal was over, he began to relate to them some of his former
+adventures.
+
+"Never shall I forget how we cudgelled the rascal Abraham Melchiorson,
+the man who, here in Kyro, seized our best peasants, and had them
+broken on the wheel like malefactors.  With fifty men he had gone up
+north.  It was winter time.  He was a fine gentleman, muffled up from
+the cold, and rode so grandly in a splendid wolf-skin cloak.  But when
+he approached Karleby church we placed ourselves in ambush, and rushing
+upon him like Jehu, beat twenty-two of his men to death, and pommelled
+him black and blue; but every time he expected a rap he drew the
+wolf-skin cloak over his ears, so that no club could disable the
+traitor.  'Wait,' said Hans Krank, from Limingo, who led us on that
+wolf hunt, 'we will whip him out of his skin yet'; with this he drubbed
+Abraham so soundly that he was obliged to let go of his fine fur.
+Krank had nothing on but a jacket, and it was cold enough, God knows;
+he thought the fur cloak a good thing, and drew it unobserved over his
+own shoulders.  But, as all this occurred in the twilight, we others
+did not notice who was now in the wolf-skin, and we kept on belabouring
+the cloak; it is very certain that Krank had a very warm time of it
+that evening.  But Abraham Melchiorson became so light and nimble after
+getting rid of his cloak, that he ran off to Huso farm; but there he
+was taken by Saka Jacob from Karleby, and the rascal was taken to
+Stockholm; but he did not get much time to mourn over the loss of his
+cloak, for the duke soon made him a head shorter."
+
+"Yes," said Larsson, who always tried to defend Fleming and his people,
+"that time you had the best of it.  Eleven soldiers remained alive, but
+seeming to be dead, you took all their clothes.  And at midnight they
+crept half dead with cold to the vicarage, and were there taken in; but
+in the morning you wanted to put them in the water underneath the ice,
+alive, as you had done in Lappfjard's River.  You were wolves and not
+human beings.  The water was so low in the river that you had to push
+the men down with poles to keep them there; and when they tried to get
+up, the women knocked them on their heads with buckets."
+
+"Keep quiet, Larsson, you do not know all that Svidje Klas did," said
+Bertila angrily; "I say nothing about all the men that he and his
+people have killed and broken on the wheel.  Do you remember Severin
+Sigfridson at Sorsankoski?  He surrounded the peasants, and ordered his
+subaltern to behead them one by one; but he was not able to kill more
+than twenty-four, and asked the nobleman to finish the rest himself.
+The gentleman got angry, and ordered the peasants to cut the subaltern
+into five parts, and then do the same to each other as long as one
+remained alive."
+
+"But what did you do, you mad brutes, on Peter Gumse's farm?  Your men
+destroyed the place, broke the windows, slaughtered all the cattle, and
+set their severed heads with wide open mouths in the windows as a
+scare.  Then the beams of the house were cut three parts through, so
+that when the folk came home it would fall upon their heads; and when
+you caught a horseman you used him as a target for your arrows."
+
+"It is not worth while, Larsson, to try to take Svidje Klas' part.  Do
+you remember when Axel Kurk's men came and killed a woman's children
+before her eyes?  The poor mother could not stand this, she and her
+half-grown daughter seized the brute by the waist, hit him on the head
+with a pole, and pushed him fainting in the water.  Svidje Klas then
+came and had that same woman cut in two."
+
+"Loose talk, which has never been proven," replied Larsson gruffly.
+
+"The dead keep silent like good children.  The 5,000 killed at Ilmola
+do not speak."
+
+"Instead of molesting the sergeant, you should have asked him for news
+about your son and mine," said Larsson, to get away from their usual
+contentious subject--the fatal Peasant War.
+
+"Yes, you are right.  I must hear more about the boys and the war.  I
+am going to Vasa to-morrow."
+
+"Will he soon return?" asked Meri in a shy voice.
+
+"Gösta.  He will take his own time," said the father angrily.  "He has
+now became a nobleman; he is ashamed of his old father .... he blushes
+for a peasant's name."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH.
+
+Some miles south of Vasa, on the sixty-third degree of latitude, the
+Bay of Finland, which has hitherto gone straight north and south, makes
+a perceptible bend towards the north-east.  The great blue Baltic
+following the same direction, narrows for a moment in the "Qvark,"
+widens again, and leans its bright brow against Finland's breast.
+Freer there than anywhere else, the winds from the Arctic Ocean sweep
+over these coasts and drive the waves with terrible violence against
+the rocks.  In the midst of this stormy sea, lie Gadden's bare flat
+ledges, with their warning lighthouse and far projecting reefs.  When
+the mountain winds shake their wings over these breakers, then woe unto
+the vessel which, without a sure rudder and lightly furled sails,
+ventures through the narrow passage at "Understen"--its destruction is
+certain.  But in the middle of summer it often happens that a slightly
+northern wind is the most welcome, and promises clear skies and fine
+weather.  Then fly many hundreds of sails from the coast out towards
+"Qvark's" islands and reefs, to cast their nets for shoals of herrings;
+and the restless, murmuring sea dances like a loving mother, with her
+daughters, the green islands, resting upon her bosom.
+
+With the exception of Aland and Ekenäs there is no part of Finland's
+coast so rich with luxuriant vegetation as "Qvark" and its neighbouring
+east shore.  These innumerable islets, of which the largest are
+Wallgrund and Björkö, are here sprinkled about like drops of green in
+the blue expanse, and formed a parish by themselves called
+"Replotchapel," inhabited only by fishermen.  So numerous are these
+groups, so infinitely varied the sounds, so intricate the channels,
+that a strange vessel could not find its way out without a native pilot
+at the helm.  Thirty cruisers here would be insufficient to prevent
+smuggling; there is only one means of putting a stop to this inherited
+sin of the coast, and this method is a light tariff with but few
+prohibitions; Finland during later years has tried it with success and
+to her own advantage.
+
+At the same period as described in the preceding chapter, therefore in
+the middle of August, 1632, the waters of the Baltic were divided by
+the royal man-of-war "Maria Eleonora," bound from Stockholm to Vasa to
+transport the recruits for the German War.  It was a bright fine summer
+morning.  Over the wide sea played an indescribable glitter, which was
+at the same time grand and enchantingry beautiful.  A boundless field
+of snow, illumined by the spring sun, can rival it in splendour, but
+the snow is stillness and death, the shimmering waves are motion and
+life.
+
+A slumbering sea in its resplendency, is grandeur clothed in the smile
+of delight; he is a sleeping giant, who dreams of sunbeams and flowers.
+Gently heaves his breast; then the plank rocks underneath thy feet, and
+thou tremblest not; he could swallow thee up in his abyss, but he
+mildly spreads his golden carpet under the keel, and he, the strong,
+bears the frail bark like a child in his arms.
+
+It was immediately after sunrise.  The monotonous silence of sea-life
+prevailed on board the vessel during the morning watch, as when no
+danger is feared.  Part of the crew were still asleep below the deck,
+only the mate, wrapped in a jacket of frieze, walked to and fro on the
+aft deck.  The helmsman stood motionless at the rudder, the man in the
+round top peered ahead, and here and there on the fore deck stood a
+sailor, fastening a loose rope end, carrying wood to the caboose, or
+polishing the guns which were to salute Korsholm when they entered that
+port.
+
+The stern discipline of a modern man-of-war was at that time almost
+unknown.  There were no uniforms or steam whistles, nor any of the
+complex signals and commands which are now carried to such perfection.
+Then a man-of-war scarcely differed from a merchant vessel, excepting
+in size, armament, and the number of officers and men she carried.
+When one remembers that at that time there was neither whisky or coffee
+on board to protect against the chill morning air--they had, however,
+already learned from the Dutch to use an occasional quid of tobacco for
+this purpose--then it is readily perceived that life on the "Maria
+Eleonora" bore very little resemblance to that on board one of our
+modern men-of-war.
+
+By the green gunwale of the deck stood two female figures, with wide
+travelling hoods of black wool on their heads.  One of these passengers
+was small in atature, and showed under her hood an old wrinkled face,
+with a pair of peering grey eyes; she had wrapped herself up in a thick
+wadded cloak of Nurberg cloth.  The other figure was tall and slender,
+and wore a tight-fitting capote of black velvet lined with ermine.
+Leaning against the gunwale, she regarded with a gloomy air the fast
+receding waves left in the vessel's wake.  Her features could not be
+seen from the deck; but if one could have caught her countenance from
+the mirroring waves, it would have exhibited a classically beautiful
+pale face, illuminated by two black eyes, which surpassed in lustre the
+shining wave-mirrors themselves.
+
+"Holy Mary!" cried the old woman in strongly pronounced Low German,
+"when will this misery come to an end, that the saints have imposed
+upon us on account of our sins?  Tell me, my little lady, in what part
+of the world we are now?  It appears to me as if a whole year had
+passed since we sailed from Stralsund; for since we left the heretic's
+Stockholm I have not kept account of the days.  Every morning when I
+rise, I say seven _aves_ and seven _pater nosters_, as the revered
+Father Hieronymus taught us, as a protection against witchcraft and
+evil.  One can never know; the world might end here, and we have now
+come far away from the rule of the true believing Church and Christian
+people.  This sea has no end.  Oh, this horrible sea!  I now praise the
+River Main, which flows so peacefully underneath our turret windows in
+Würzburg.  Say, lady, what if over there, on the horizon, the earth
+ends, and that we are sailing straight into purgatory?"
+
+The tall slender girl did not seem to listen to her loquacious duenna.
+Her dark brilliant eyes under the black eyelashes were resting
+pensively on the water, as if in the waves she could read an
+interpretation of the dream of her heart.  And when at times a long
+swell from former storms rolled forth under the smaller waves, and the
+ship gently careened, so that the gunwale dipped close to the water,
+and the image in the sea approached the girl on board, then a smile
+could be seen on her beautiful features, at once proud and melancholy,
+and her lips moved inaudibly, as if to confide her inmost thoughts to
+the waves.
+
+"It is only the great and majestic in life that deserve to be loved."
+
+Then she added, transported by this thought:
+
+"Why should I not love a great man?"
+
+And she whispered these words with unbounded enthusiasm.  But instantly
+a shiver ran through her delicate frame, a bright flash shot from her
+dark eyes, and she said, almost trembling at the thought:
+
+"It is only the great and majestic in life that deserve to be hated!
+Why should I not hate----?"
+
+She did not finish the sentence.  She bent her head towards the ground,
+the fire in her eyes disappeared, and in its place a tear was seen.
+Two mighty opposing spirits fought with each other in this passionate
+soul.  One said to her "Love!" the other said to her "Hate!"  And her
+heart bled under this terrible struggle between the angel and the demon.
+
+It is unnecessary to mention what the reader has already divined, that
+the slender girl on board the "Maria Eleonora" was no other than Lady
+Regina von Emmeritz, the beautiful fanatical girl who tried to convert
+King Gustaf Adolf to the Catholic faith at Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  The
+king who knew the human heart, considered with reason, that this
+religious enthusiast was capable of anything if left a prey to the
+Jesuit's influence.  It was, therefore, not from revenge, which was
+unknown to this great heart, but, on the contrary, from noble
+compassion for a young and richly endowed nature, that he had sent her
+away for a time to a far-off country, where the black monk's influence
+could not reach her.  The reader will remember that the king, on the
+night of the feast at Frankfurt, ordered the Lady Regina to be sent by
+Stralsund and Stockholm to the strict old lady Marta at Korsholm.  The
+noble king did not know that the dark power, from whom he was trying to
+save his beautiful prisoner, followed her even to the far-off coast of
+Finland.  Lady Regina had permission to choose one of her maids to
+accompany her; accordingly she selected the one in whom she had the
+greatest confidence; unfortunately this was not the bright and fair
+Ketchen--she had been sent back to her relations in Bavaria--but old
+Dorthe, who had been her nurse, and who was controlled by the Jesuit;
+for a long time this old woman had nourished the fanatical fire in the
+young girl's soul.  So the poor unprotected maiden was still given up
+to the dark powers that had warped her mind since childhood, and
+perverted her rich, sensitive heart with their terrible teachings.  And
+against this influence she could only place a single but mighty
+feeling: her admiration, her enthusiastic attachment to Gustaf Adolf,
+whom she loved and hated at the same time--whom she would have been
+able to kill, yet for whom she would herself have suffered death.
+
+The shrewd Dorthe seemed to guess her mistress' thoughts; she leaned
+forward, and peering with her small eyes, said in the familiar tone
+which a subordinate in her position so easily assumes:
+
+"Aye, aye....  Is that the way it stands; do they come up again, the
+sinful thoughts about the heretic king and all his followers?  Yes,
+yes, the devil is cunning; he knows what he is about.  When he wishes
+to catch a little frivolous girl of the usual kind, he puts before her
+eyes a young handsome cavalier, with long silken curls.  But when he
+wishes to entangle a poor forsaken girl, with great proud thoughts and
+noble aspirations, he brings forward a great king, who gains castles
+and battles; and little does the poor child care that the stately
+conqueror is a sworn enemy to her Church and faith, and is working for
+the ruin of both."
+
+Regina turned her tearful and glistening eyes away from the sea, and
+looked for a moment with indescribable doubt at her old counsellor.
+
+"Say," said she, almost vehemently, "is it possible to be at once the
+greatest and the most hateful of human beings?"
+
+Regina looked again towards the sea.  The peaceful tranquility of the
+mornine lay over the glittering waters, and stilled the tempest within.
+The young girl remained silent.  Dorthe continued:
+
+"By their fruits ye shall know them.  Just think, what evil has not the
+godless king done to our Church and us?  He has slain many thousands of
+our warriors; he has plundered our cloisters and castles; he has driven
+out our nuns and holy fathers from their godly habitations, and the
+devout pater, Hieronymus, has been frightfully abused by his people,
+the heretic Finns; ourselves he has sent away to the ends of the
+earth..."
+
+Again Regina looked over at the islands and the inlets bathed in the
+mild morning effulgence.  While the dark demon whispered hatred in her
+ears, beaming nature seemed to preach only love.  On her lips hovered
+already the ravishing thought:
+
+"What matters it if he has slain thousands; if he has driven away monks
+and nuns; if he has forced us into exile!  What matters all this, if he
+is great as an individual, and acts according to the dictates of his
+faith!"
+
+But she kept silent from fear; she dared not break from all her
+preceding life.  She caught up, instead, one of Dorthe's words, as if
+to dispel the thunder-cloud of hatred and malice, which enveloped her
+heart in its dark mist, in the midst of this calm and lovely scene.
+
+"Do you know, Dorthe," she said, "that the Finns whom you hate live on
+the coast of this sea?  Do you see that strip of land over there in the
+east?  It is Finland.  I have not yet seen its shores, and yet I cannot
+detest a country which is bathed by so glorious a sea.  I cannot think
+that evil people can grow up in the heart of such a land."
+
+"All saints protect us!" exclaimed the old woman, and her lenn hand
+hastily made the sign of the cross.  "Is that Finland?  St. Patrick
+preserve us from ever setting foot upon its cursed soil; my dear lady,
+you have then never heard what is said of this land and its heathen
+people?  There prevails an eternal night; there the snow never melts;
+there the wild beasts and the still wilder men lie together in dens and
+caves.  The woods are so thick with hobgoblins and imps, that when one
+of them is called by name, a hundred monsters immediately come forth
+from the leaves and branches.  And among themselves, these people
+bewitch each other with all kinds of evils, so that when anyone carries
+food to another person, he changes his enemy into a wolf; and every
+word they speak takes life, so that when they wish to make a boat or an
+axe, they say it, and directly they have what they wish."
+
+"You are drawing a fine picture," said Regina, smiling for the first
+time in a long period, for the freshness of the sea had a good
+influence on her dreamy soul.  "Happy is the land where the people can
+create all they wish for with a word.  If I am hungry, and desire a
+beautiful fruit, I have but to say, _peach_, and right away I have it.
+If I feel thirsty, I say, _spring_, and instantly a spring gurgles at
+my feet.  If I have sorrow in my heart, I say, _hope_, and hope
+returns.  And if I long for a beloved friend, I mention his name, and
+he stands by my side.  A glorious land is Finland, were it such as you
+represent it to me.  Even if we lived with wild beasts in a cave under
+the eternal snows, we would look at each other and say, Fatherland, and
+at the same moment we would sit hand in hand on the banks of the Main,
+beneath the shadows of the lindens, where we often sat when I was a
+child, and the nightingales of our native land would sing to us as
+before."
+
+Dorthe turned angrily away.  The vessel steered between the rocks and
+islands, and moved with gentle speed past the outermost cliffs, many of
+which now stand high above the surface of the water, but at that time
+these were washed by the briny waves.
+
+"What is the name of the long, richly wooded stretch of land to the
+left?" asked Regina of the helmsman standing near.
+
+"Wolf's Island," answered the man.
+
+"There you have it yourself, dear lady ... Wolf's Island!  That is the
+first name we hear on Finland's coast, and shows us what we have to
+expect."
+
+The vessel now turned to the north, and sailed between Langskär and
+Sundomland, again veered towards the east, passed Brändö, went safely
+over the shoals, which now exclude large vessels from its waters, into
+Vasa's at that time superb harbour, and then saluted with sixteen
+cannon the castle of Korsholm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE PEASANT--THE BURGHERS--AND THE SOLDIER.
+
+When the rich Aron Bertila seated himself in his nice chaise to take a
+short journey to Vasa, it was decided, as a pledge of the restored good
+feeling between father and daughter, that Meri should take the seat by
+his side, and purchase in town some salt fish, hops, and certain
+spices, ginger and cinnamon, which already began to be seen in the
+houses of the wealthiest peasants.  Both father and daughter had their
+private interests in the journey; but neither would confess that it was
+news from Germany which each sought.  Larsson had charge in the
+meantime of the home work.
+
+It was just when Gustaf Adolf and Wallenstein stood opposed at
+Nürnberg.  Soldiers were badly wanted, and Oxenstjerna wrote constantly
+from Saxony to hasten the arrival of additional reinforcements.  The
+harvesting at its height, clashed with the harvesting of war, also at
+its greatest altitude.  A large number of conscripts were compelled to
+go down to Vasa from the neighbouring villages, then they were taken to
+Stockholm, and thence to the scene of war in Germany.
+
+At that epoch military drill was not nearly so complicated as it is
+now; to stand fairly in the ranks, rush straight at the enemy on
+command, to aim well--as the East Bothnians had learned beforehand in
+the seal-hunts--and to hew away manfully, these were the chief things.
+Thus one can understand why many of these peasant boys, just taken from
+the plough, were able to fall with honour by the side of their king at
+Lützen.
+
+The town of Vasa was then only twenty years old, and much smaller than
+now, not merely on account of its youth, but because all expansion was
+stopped on the south side by the crown fields of Korsholm.  Around the
+old Mustasaari church, on the northern side of "Kopmans" and "Stora"
+streets, were a few rows of newly built one-storey houses, with six or
+eight small shops.  Near the harbour stood storehouses, and that
+neighbourhood was also filled with fishermen's and sailors' huts in
+groups, for regular streets were considered superfluous by the
+architects of that time, and the closer the houses stood together, the
+greater the mutual protection in stormy periods.
+
+A borough, like Vasa, held one common family, and the inhabitants
+looked with pride on the high green battlements of Korsholm.
+
+The long-credited story, confirmed by Messenius, that Korsholm was
+built by Birger Jarl, and received its name from a large wooden cross
+raised as a symbol, refuge, and sign of victory, was founded on the old
+tradition that the great "Jarl," on his expedition to Finland, landed
+on this very coast.  Later researches have thrown some doubt on this
+story of Korsholm's origin; but it is certain that the fortress is very
+old, so old that it is beyond calculation.  It has never been besieged;
+its situation renders it of no importance to Finland; and after Uleä
+and Kajana castles were built, shortly before the time of our story, it
+had ceased to be considered a military position.  It now served as the
+residence of the Governor of the Northern districts, to lodge other
+crown officials, and serve as a prison; and its so-called "dairy"
+yielded a nice income to the Governor.  The Stadtholder of Northern
+Finland, Johan Mansson Ulfsparre of Tusenhult, lived only at intervals
+at Korsholm, and it is said that his seventy-year-old mother, Mistress
+Marta, ruled with a stern hand over both castle and dairy in his
+absence.  Between the peasants and burghers an unnatural and injurious
+rivalry prevailed at that time, owing to the efforts of the Government
+to suppress the country trade for the benefit of the towns, and in a
+very ignorant way to regulate the exchange of commodities.  Therefore,
+when the rich old peasant with his daughter drove in through the
+country toll-gate on the Lillkyro side, a few of the citizens, it is
+true, nodded a greeting to the well-known old man for the sake of his
+wealth; but the proudest amongst the merchants, who feared his
+influence with the king, gazed on him with hostile eyes, and gave vent
+to their ill-feelings in sarcastic words, uttered loud enough to reach
+the old man's ears.
+
+"Here comes the peasant king of Storkyro!" they said, "and Vasa has no
+triumphal arch!  He considers himself too good to thrash in the barn;
+he means to enter the army and become commander at once.  Take care!
+Do you not see how angry he looks, the log-house king?  If he had his
+way, he would plough up the whole town and make it into a rye-field!"
+
+The hot-tempered Bertila concealed his resentment, and hurried up the
+horse, so as to arrive quickly at the widow's house, where he generally
+resided when in town.  He had not gone far, however, up Kopman Street,
+which was not one of the widest, before it was blocked by a crowd of
+drunken recruits, who, in an ale-house near by, had inaugurated their
+new comradeship and strengthened themselves for the long journey ahead.
+Two sub-officers had joined the crowd as its self-appointed leaders,
+and rushed with a bold "out of the way, peasant!" towards the new-comer.
+
+Bertila, already irritated and unable to control himself, answered the
+summons with a cut of the whip, which knocked off the foremost
+sub-officer's broad-brimmed hat with an eagle's feather.  At once the
+affray began.  The man struck rushed upon the chaise, and the whole
+crowd followed him.
+
+"Aha, old fellow!" exclaimed the jovial serjeant, Bengt Kristerson,
+whom Bertila had so ignominiously expelled from his house, "now we have
+got you, and I will recompense you for your gracious treatment
+yesterday.  Make way, boys; the old fellow is mine; this fish I will
+scale myself."
+
+Bertila was too old to rely upon the power of his fists, and he looked
+around for a place of refuge.  Whip in hand, he leaped from the chaise,
+which had stopped close to the entrance of a shop, and gave the horse a
+lash, so that the latter, chaise and daughter, rushed through the
+yielding crowd and galloped up the street.  But before Bertila could
+find a refuge in the shop, the door was slammed in his face by the
+timorous owner.  The old champion, seeing escape cut off, placed his
+back to the door, and menaced the assailants with his long whip.
+
+"Let us thrash the proud Storkyro peasant," cried a young Laihela boy,
+who, by carrying a musket for a week, had forgotten his peasant origin,
+but not his rustic language.
+
+"Your father was a better man, Matts Hindrickson," said Bertila
+contemptuously, "instead of assailing his own people, he helped us,
+like an honest peasant, to pommel Peder Gumse's cavalry in former days."
+
+"Do you hear that, boys?" cried one of the subalterns; "the dog boasts
+of thrashing brave soldiers."
+
+"We will not allow anyone to lord it over us!"
+
+"The peasant shall dance to our tune!"
+
+"And not we to his."
+
+And five or six of the most excited, who had lately worn the jacket of
+the peasants themselves, rushed to drag Bertila down the steps.  The
+old man would have got the worst of it, had not the aforesaid jolly
+sergeant thrown himself between him and the assailants.
+
+"Hold on, boys!" cried Bengt Kristerson in a stentorian voice.  "What
+the devil are you about?  Are you honest soldiers?  Do you not see that
+the old man is seventy years old, and yet you go six to one at him!
+Blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim (the sergeant had learned this potent
+oath in the proper school, and it never failed in its effect), is that
+warlike?  What would the king say about it?  Out of the way, boys; the
+old man is mine; I alone have the right to wash him clean.  You should
+have seen how he threw me down the steps yesterday like an old glove.
+It was a fine stroke, and now it has to be repaid."
+
+Courage and magnanimity seldom fail.  The nearest willingly gave way.
+The sergeant advanced to the steps.  Bertila could reach him with his
+whip, but he did not strike.  He knew his people.
+
+"Do you know what it means, peasant," cried the sergeant with an
+authoritative air, which would have become General Stälhandske himself,
+"to throw a soldier of the great king down the steps?  Do you know what
+it means to knock off the hat of a defender of the evangelical faith,
+and a conqueror who has gained fourteen battles and run his sword
+through sixteen or seventeen living generals?  Do you know, peasant, if
+I were in your place----?"
+
+"If I stood in the place of a soldier of his Majesty," coolly answered
+Bertila, "I would respect an honest man in his own house, and a
+grandsire's old age.  And if I stood in the shoes of Bengt Kristerson,
+and had conquered the Roman Emperor, and run my sword through seventeen
+living commanders, still I would not forget that Bengt Kristerson's
+father, Krister Nilsson, was a Limingo peasant, and fell on Ilmola's
+ice like an honest fighter against Fleming's tyranny."
+
+The sergeant was abashed for a moment.  Then he stepped close up to his
+opponent, and said in a bragging manner:
+
+"Do you know, peasant, that I could impale you on this?" and so saying,
+he drew his long sword half-way from its sheath.
+
+Bertila looked calmly at him with folded arms.
+
+"Are you not afraid, old man?" resumed the hero of fourteen battles,
+evidently taken aback by the peasant's firm attitude.
+
+"Did you ever see an honest Finn afraid?" said the old man, almost
+smiling.
+
+The sergeant was not malicious.  He suddenly felt much inclined to be
+generous; his fierce mien changed into the blustering, jovial air which
+became him so well.
+
+"Do you know, boys," he said, with a look at his companions, "that the
+old ox has got both horns and hoofs?  He might have become something in
+the world if he had been in good society.  Yesterday, when they were
+fourteen to one--for you should know, boys, that all fourteen of the
+hands helped to lift me on the clodhopper's back, and then I gave
+everyone of them a remembrance of it--yes, as I say, yesterday I would
+have beaten the old fellow black and blue, had it not been for the
+presence of ladies at the table.  But to-day we are fifteen against
+one, and so I propose that we let the old fellow go."
+
+"He is as rich as Beelzebub," shouted some of the conscripts; "he shall
+treat us to a cask of ale."
+
+Bertila produced a little purse, and threw some Carl IX. silver coins
+contemptuously among the crowd.  This irritated the soldiers afresh;
+and again the storm threatened to burst forth, when suddenly
+cannon-shots were heard, and the whole crowd rushed down to the
+harbour.  It was the Swedish man-of-war, "Maria Eleonora," saluting
+Korsholm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM.
+
+All who had life and sound limbs in Vasa had gone down to the shore, to
+see the uncommon sight of a man-of-war.  Five or six hundred people
+lined the shore--rowed out in boats, climbed the masts of the vessels,
+or got on the roofs of the warehouses to get a better view.
+
+Two hundred recruits regarded with mixed feelings the vessel which was
+perhaps destined to take them from their Fatherland for ever.  Behind
+them stood a large crowd of mothers, sisters, and sweethearts, crying
+bitterly at the thought of the approaching separation.
+
+The Commissary-General, Ulfsparre, was away in Sweden.  The next
+authority, Steward Peder Thun, as well as the military commander,
+received the new-comers; the recruits formed in ranks, and the captain
+of the "Maria Eleonora" offered his arm courteously to Lady Regina, to
+escort her to Korsholm.  But at this moment the proud young girl felt
+that she was a prisoner; she declined the officer's arm, and walked
+alone with a royal bearing between the ranks of the recruits and the
+gaping crowd.
+
+Such a strange sight put the whole town in a great commotion.  In a
+moment the strangest rumours about her arose and spread.
+
+"She is an Austrian princess," said some; "the Emperor's daughter,
+taken prisoner during the war, and sent here for safety."
+
+Others pretended she was the Queen Maria Eleonora; but why did she come
+to Korsholm?
+
+"I will tell you," said one, whispering with an important air to
+another.  "She is in league with her German countrymen against the
+king, and therefore she is to be confined in remote Korsholm."
+
+"That is not true," rejoined another, who had heard some vague stories
+of the conspiracies against the king's life.  "It is," added he in a
+low voice, as if fearing to be heard by the object of his remarks, "a
+nun from Walskland, hired by the Jesuits to make away with the king.
+Six times she has given him deadly poison, and six times he has been
+warned in dreams not to drink.  When she offered him the draught for
+the seventh time, the king drew his sword and forced her to swallow her
+own poison."
+
+"Then how can she be here alive?" said an old lady very innocently.
+
+"Alive!" repeated the story-teller, without being put out in any
+degree; "oh, that is another matter.  These creatures can dissemble to
+such an extent...  Yes, indeed; do you remember the Hollanders last
+year, how they bolted molten lead?  I do not wish to say anything, but
+just look--the black-haired nun is as pale as death!"
+
+"Has she given the king poison?" cried a trembling female voice close
+behind.
+
+It was Meri, who with bated breath had listened to every word.
+
+"What rubbish!" said a sea-captain with a mysterious knowing air.
+"When I was at Stralsund, last spring, I saw those eyes, which one
+cannot easily forget.  The girl was then taken to Stockholm, and one of
+the guards told me the entire story.  She is a Spanish witch, who has
+sold herself to the evil one, in order to be the most beautiful woman
+on earth for seven years.  Look at her: do you not see that the devil
+has kept his word?  Take care; in those eyes there is something that
+charms and bewitches.  When she became as beautiful as she is now, she
+entered the Swedish camp, and gave the king a love-potion, so that he
+could neither see or hear anyone else but herself for seven whole
+weeks.  His generals thought this a sin and shame, and the enemy
+pressed them sorely; so one night they took her secretly and sent her
+to spend the seven enchanted years at Korsholm."
+
+"Did the king love her?" asked Meri with emotion.
+
+"Of course he did," answered the blunt sea-captain.
+
+"Did she also love the king?"
+
+"What is there more curious than a woman?  How the deuce do you expect
+me to know all about it?  The foul-fiend is wiser than other folks,
+that is certain.  She gave the king a copper ring..."
+
+"With seven circles inside each other, and three letters engraved on
+the plate..."
+
+"What the devil do you know about that?  I have heard of the seven
+circles, but not of the plate."
+
+Meri took a deep breath.  "He wears it still!" she said to herself with
+a great joy.
+
+Meri was superstitious, like all the people of that period.  She never
+doubted the existence of witches, enchantments, and love potions; but
+this strange dark girl, who loved the king and was beloved by him in
+return ... was she really guilty of the horrible things they said about
+her?  The poor forgotten one was seized with the most violent wish to
+approach this extraordinary being, who had been so near the great
+monarch.  Each moment was precious.  In a few hours she must return to
+Storkyro.  She took heart and followed the stranger to Korsholm.
+
+The old residence inside the ramparts, in spite of its fine outlook,
+was more sombre than magnificent.  Frequent changes of Stadtholders,
+who only lived there a little while at a time, had given to the
+double-storied granite building, with its side wings for prisoners, a
+terribly deserted appearance.  It certainly more resembled a jail than
+a great governor's residence.  The dreariness was increased by its
+present inhabitants, stern Fru Marta, with her aged maid-servants, some
+invalid soldiers, and gruff jailors.  Had Gustaf Adolf recollected the
+condition of the place, he would probably not have sent his young
+prisoner to such a depressing abode.
+
+Fru Marta expected her guest, who had been described to her as a
+dangerous and depraved young person, of superhuman cunning.  She had,
+therefore, prepared a little dark chamber within her own for Lady
+Regina and her attendant, and made up her mind to keep the closest
+watch on the wild young lady.  Fru Marta was a good, honest soul, but
+sharp and severe like a lady of the old school, who had brought up all
+her children with the rod.  It never entered her mind that a lonely,
+defenceless, and forsaken young girl, isolated in a strange land,
+needed a comforting, sympathetic hand and motherly kindness; Fru Marta
+felt that discipline ought to tame a spoilt child, and then milder
+treatment could be introduced.
+
+When Lady Regina, accustomed to the freedom of the sea, entered this
+gloomy dwelling, an involuntary shudder passed through her slight
+frame.  This feeling remained when she was received on the threshold by
+the old lady, in a close linen cap and a long dark woollen cloak.
+
+No doubt Lady Regina's inclination of the head was somewhat stiff, and
+her whole bearing somewhat reserved, when she greeted Fru Marta on the
+castle steps.  But Fru Marta was not intimidated by it.  She took the
+young girl by both hands, shook them vigorously, and nodded a greeting,
+about half-way between a welcome and a menace.  Then she surveyed her
+guest from head to foot, and the result of the examination was muttered
+aloud:
+
+"Figure like a princess ... no harm; eyes black as a gipsy's ... no
+evil; skin as white as milk ... no mischief; proud ... ah, ah, that is
+bad; we shall be two about that, my young friend."
+
+Regina impatiently made a motion to proceed, but Fru Marta did not let
+go her hold.
+
+"Wait a bit, my dear," said the stern dame, as she endeavoured to
+recollect her ancient stock of German words; "it takes time to go a
+long way.  One who crosses my threshold must not be taller than the
+door-post.  Better to bend in youth than creep in old age.  There ...
+that's the way for a young girl to greet one who is older and wiser..."
+
+And before Lady Regina knew it, the strong old lady had put her right
+hand on her neck, her left against her waist, and with a sudden
+pressure, forced her proud guest to bow as deeply as one could desire.
+
+Lady Regina's pale cheeks were covered with a flush as red as the
+sunset sky before a storm.  More erect and prouder than before rose the
+girl's slender figure, and her dark eyes flashed fire.  She said
+nothing, but old Dorthe was determined to give Fru Marta a lesson in
+politeness on her mistress' behalf.  She advanced with lively southern
+gesticulations, and screamed, beside herself with anger:
+
+"Miserable Finnish witch, how dare you treat a high-born lady in such a
+manner?  Do you know, vile jailor, whom you have the honour of
+receiving in your house?  You do not!  Then I will tell you.  This is
+the exalted Lady Regina von Emmeritz, _née_ Princess of Emmeritz,
+Hohenloe, and Saalfield, Countess of Wertheim and Bischoffshöhe,
+heiress of Dettelsbach and Kissingen, &c.  Her father was the Prince of
+Emmeritz, who owned more castles than you, miserable wretch, have huts
+in your town.  Her mother was Princess Würtemberg, related to the
+Electoral House of Bavaria, and her still living uncle, the Right
+Reverend Bishop of Würzburg, is lord of Marienburg, and the town of
+Würzburg, with all the lands belonging to it.  You take advantage of us
+because your heretic king has taken our land and town, and made us
+prisoners; but the day will come when St. George and the Holy Virgin
+will descend and destroy you, you heathen; and if you harm a hair of
+our heads, this castle shall be levelled to the ground, and you,
+miserable witch, and your whole town, annihilated ..."
+
+It is probable that old Dorthe's outpourings would not have come to an
+end for some time, had not Fru Marta made a sign to her servants, at
+which they carried off the old woman without any ceremony, and in spite
+of her strenuous resistance, to one of the small rooms on the lower
+floor, where she was left to herself to further reflect upon the high
+lineage of her young lady.
+
+But Fru Marta took the astonished Regina, half by force, half
+voluntarily, by the arm, and led her to the allotted room near her own,
+with a view over the town.  Here the stern old lady left her for the
+present, yet not without adding the following admonitions at the door:
+
+"I can tell you, my young friend, to obey is better than to weep; the
+bird that sings too early in the morning is in the claws of the hawk
+before evening.  Follow the laws of the country you are in.  It is now
+seven o'clock.  At eight supper is served, at nine you go to bed, and
+at four in the morning you get up, and if you don't know how to card
+and spin, I will give you some sewing, so that time shall not hang
+heavy on your hands.  Then we will talk together, and when your waiting
+woman learns to hold her tongue you may have her back again.  Good
+night; don't forget to say your prayers; a psalm Prayer Book lies on
+the dressing-table."
+
+With these words Fru Marta shut the door, and Lady Regina was alone.
+Solitary, imprisoned, in a foreign land, left to the mercy of a hard
+keeper ... her thoughts were of the most depressing kind.  Lady Regina
+fell on her knees, and prayed to the saints, not from the heretic
+Prayer Book, but with the rosary of rubies which her uncle, the bishop,
+had formerly given her as sponsor.  What did she pray for?  Only Heaven
+and the black walls of Korsholm know that; but a sympathetic heart can
+imagine her petitions.  She prayed for the saints' assistance; for the
+victory of her faith and the downfall of the heretics; she prayed also
+that the saints might convert King Gustaf Adolf to the only saving
+Church; that he, another Saul, might become another Paul.  Finally she
+prayed for freedom and protection ... the hours fled; her supper was
+brought in, and still she continued her supplications.
+
+At last Lady Regina arose and looked out of the little window.  There
+lay a landscape in the sunset glow; it was not Franconia, with its
+luxuriant vineyards; it was not the rushing Main; the town yonder was
+not rich Würzburg, with its rows of cloisters and high turret spires.
+It was poor, pale Finland, with an arm of its sea; it was young little
+Vasa, with its church, Mustasaari, the oldest in East Bothnia; one
+could plainly see the reflection of the sun on the small Gothic
+windows, of stained glass belonging to Catholic times, and it seemed to
+Regina as if she saw the transfigured saints looking out from their
+former temple.  And at this moment, had not the eye of the setting sun
+itself such a beatific look, as it serenely gazed down upon the world's
+strife!  All was silent and still--the evening glow, the landscape's
+pretty verdure, the newly mown fields with their rows of sheaves, the
+small red houses with their shining windows--all conduced to devotion
+and peace.
+
+Suddenly, Lady Regina heard in the distance a mild, plaintive song,
+simple and unaffected, as if proceeding from nature's own heart, on a
+lonely evening, with a setting sun on the shore of a silent sea, when
+all sweet memories awaken in a longing breast.  At first she did not
+listen, but it came nearer ... now it was obstructed by a cottage wall,
+now by a group of hanging birches; now it was heard again, high, clear,
+and free; and finally one could distinguish the words.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.
+
+When the lonely singer approached one could gradually understand the
+import of the song.  It was a gentle heart, which sang in uneven but
+impressive numbers, its longings and its sorrows on the shore in the
+glow of a beautiful August evening far off in the north country.
+
+  "The sun shines bright and clear
+    O'er the waters far and near,
+  And the moon wanders in the night
+    Above in the heavenly sphere.
+  But never again will the sun supreme
+    Shine down on the forgotten troth,
+  And never again shall the gentle moon's beam
+    Illumine the brave knight's holy oath.
+
+  "The only one I loved so dear
+    Lives far away in a palace fine,
+  Surrounded by splendour he leaves me here
+    Alone with grief and sorrow mine.
+  He is served by many, I have but one knight,
+    He has castles, towns, and land.
+  I spread my pearls in the evening light
+    And sing to the waves on the strand.
+
+  "The bird flies to the south so fair,
+    Far away to the castle grand,
+  And sings on the tree a sorrowful air,
+    As I in my lonely land.
+  The brave knight listens to the song,
+    How strangely his heart doth beat,
+  And before one knows the evening long
+    Hath gone like the joys that never repeat."
+
+
+The more Lady Regina listened to the simple strains, which to her were
+foreign and strange, and yet appealing through their deep melancholy,
+the more she was affected by this sorrow so like her own.  She wished
+to breathe the fresh evening air; the little window, however, long
+resisted her attempts to open it, but all Lady Marta's prudence could
+not prevent the hinges from being old and rusty, and at last they
+yielded to the young girl's persistent efforts.  She had only been a
+guest in this castle for a few hours, and yet she inhaled the evening
+fragrance as a prisoner for long years finally breathes the air of his
+freedom.  Her heart expanded and her eyes regained their fire; her mind
+became filled with a dreamy ecstasy, and she sang softly, so as not to
+be heard by her custodian, but clearly and melodiously.
+
+
+  REGINA'S SONG.
+
+  "Great as my sufferings are
+  Still to thee I will repair.
+  Holy Virgin, wilt thou bless
+  What to thee I now confess,
+  My soul's desire sincere
+  To die without fear.
+
+  "Amongst the kings of the earth
+  My loved one hath his birth,
+  Far flash his dread strokes
+  As the Almighty's lightnings rend the oaks.
+  But victor and conqueror tho' he be
+  Yet mild and merciful is he.
+
+  "I'll all forget, and firmly stand,
+  If you give me the dread command
+  To stop the hero's great career.
+  O holy Virgin, bright and dear,
+  God's mother, thou me hear,
+  Spare the noble heart that knows no fear.
+
+  "Make the heretic king his faults forswear,
+  And that he will our glorious faith declare.
+  Then my weary heart will gain its rest.
+  O Mary, grant me this request,
+  Spare his life, his throne,
+  Let me with my death for his crime atone."
+
+
+The solitary figure which had sung the first song now slowly approached
+the castle walls; it was a woman of the people, with once beautiful
+features, now pale and expressing a winning and sympathetic heart.  She
+tried to listen to the strange girl's song, but could not succeed on
+account of the foreign language and suppressed tones.  She then seated
+herself on a stone a short distance from the castle, and fixed her mild
+gaze on the prisoner at the window.  In her turn, Regina also fastened
+her dark penetrating eyes on the visitor.  One would think that they
+perfectly understood each other, for the language of songs needs no
+other lexicon than the heart.  Or did a presentiment tell them, the
+girl of seventeen and the woman of thirty-six, that their loves were
+concentrated on the same object, and that both sang their shipwrecked
+hopes on the lonely shore, but in an infinitely differing way?
+
+Up in the north the summer nights are clear until the beginning of
+August, then a light veil spreads itself over land and sea as soon as
+the sun goes down.  By the middle of August this veil has already
+become thicker, and casts a mild soft shade over the summer leaves and
+grass.  When the moon rises upon this world of vanishing green, then
+there is nothing more sadly beautiful to be found in all nature than
+one of these lovely evenings in August.  Then the eye accustomed to
+three months unbroken day, shrinks from the darkness and yet sees this
+darkness in its loveliest aspect, like a mild sorrow softened by a ray
+of heavenly glory.  This impression would return every year even if one
+lived for centuries; it is light and darkness which at the same moment
+are struggling in the world and in the human heart.
+
+The two lonely singers felt the power of this impression; they both sat
+fixed and mute, quietly regarding each other in the twilight; neither
+of them spoke, and yet they understood each other's inmost thoughts.
+
+Then the pale woman suddenly rose and turned her face towards the town.
+She seemed to be listening to a noise which disturbed the holy peace of
+the evening.
+
+Lady Regina followed every movement of the stranger, and leaned out of
+the window so as to be able to see better.  All nature was calm and
+silent, only the strokes of oars were heard from the sea, or the
+melancholy prolonged note from some shepherd's horn.  This stillness
+increased by the first darkness of the autumn, had something solemn and
+inviting to worship about it, and made the noise which now came from
+the distant town still more singular.  It was not the surges of the
+sea, or the roar of the fors,* or the crackling of a fire in the wood.
+Although it resembled all these.  It was more like the murmur of an
+enraged populace, at once actuated by rage and want.  Directly
+afterwards the reflection of a fire was seen afar off in the northern
+portion of the town.
+
+
+* Fors, a stream peculiar to the north, like rapids.
+
+
+With the speed of the wind the lonely woman outside the wall hurried
+away in the direction of the sounds and light .... We will now precede
+her for a moment.
+
+The arrival of the man-of-war, which was destined to transport the
+conscripts, had placed the latter in a state of excitement much
+augmented by sorrow, pride, and ale.  With their under officers at
+their head, they had thronged around the ale-shops, and at this time,
+when the soldier was all important, one was often obliged to overlook
+his irregularities and keep him in a good humour.  The superior
+officers consequently pretended not to notice that 200 young men, with
+the combative temperament of East Bothnia, were in a state of
+intoxication more or less; and it is possible that this policy might
+have been the right one at the time, had not a special circumstance
+detrimental to peace brought their unrestrained passions into full play.
+
+The brave sergeant, Bengt Kristerson, did not neglect this opportunity
+to do himself every possible justice.  Filled with a sense of his own
+great importance, he had jumped on a table and easily demonstrated to
+the crowd of conscripts: first, that he especially had conquered
+Germany; secondly, that long before this he would have driven the
+Emperor Ferdinand into the River Danube, had not the latter been in
+league with Satan and bewitched the whole Swedish army, and the king
+himself first of all; thirdly, that Bengt, on the night of the
+Frankfurt ball, was on guard outside the king's bed-chamber, and there
+he had plainly seen Beelzebub in the form of a young girl, who then
+made a terrible commotion; fourthly--this thought naturally struck him
+during his inspired address--that the weal or woe of the country, yes,
+of the whole world, depended upon the witch, who was a prisoner at
+Korsholm...
+
+"You will see that the black-haired witch will bring the plague to the
+town," observed thoughtfully a Malax peasant, with very fair hair and
+shabby appearance.
+
+"The wolf-cub!"
+
+"The king's murderess!"
+
+"Shall we allow her to sit in peace and destroy both king and country
+with her witch-shots?" cried a drunken clerk of assizes, who had just
+joined the company.
+
+"Let us duck her in the sea!" shrieked a Nerpes peasant.
+
+"Let us club her on the spot!" yelled a Lappo cottager, with an eagle
+nose and dark bushy eyebrows.
+
+"And if they do not give her into our hands, we will set fire to
+Korsholm and burn the owl and the nest at the same time," said a
+ferocious Laihela peasant.
+
+"Better that, than to have the kingdom ruined," remarked a
+grave-looking seal-hunter from Replot.
+
+"Here, take brands!" shouted a Worä peasant.
+
+"To Korsholm!" cried the whole crowd. And stimulated as usual by their
+own clamour, they rushed to the big open fire-place in the large room,
+and pulled out all the brands from it.  But, unfortunately, there was a
+lot of hemp hanging in bundles on the wall in the room.  One of the
+conscripts in the scramble swung his brand too high, and the hemp
+caught fire; the strong draught from the open door fanned the flame,
+and in a few minutes the ale-house was in full blaze.
+
+All inside rushed out, and no one had time to realise how it happened.
+
+"It is a witch-shot!" cried some of them.
+
+"The witch at Korsholm will have to pay for all this!" shouted the
+others.
+
+And the whole raging mass rushed off at full speed towards the old
+castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM.
+
+As soon as Meri--for she was the lonely singer--understood the wild
+crowd's intention, she flew back to Korsholm.  By the silver rays of
+the moonlight, which shone over the landscape, she plainly
+distinguished Regina's dark locks, which, blacker than the night, stood
+in relief from the room in the background, like a shadow in the midst
+of the shade.  Under these locks shone two eyes, dreamy, deep, like the
+glimmer of the stars in the dusky mirror of a lake.  The words died on
+Meri's lips; all the strange rumours rose like spectres in her mind.
+She who sat up there alone at the window, was she not, after all, a
+southern witch, weeping over her fate in being compelled to spend the
+seven years of her wondrous beauty within these walls, and then
+reassume her normal shape; a terrible monster, half-woman and
+half-serpent?
+
+Meri stood as if petrified at the foot of the wall.
+
+But nearer and nearer was heard the murmur of the wild crowd, and the
+light of the torches began to be reflected on the castle.  Then the
+superstitious countrywoman gathered courage, and raised her voice to
+the window.
+
+"Fly, your grace," she said rapidly in Swedish; "fly, a great danger
+threatens you; the soldiers are intoxicated and frantic; they say that
+you have tried to kill the king, and they demand your life."
+
+Regina saw the pale form in the moonlight, and before her imagination
+rose all the stories she had heard about this land of witchcraft.
+During her ten months' stay in Sweden she had in some degree learned to
+understand the language; she did not immediately comprehend the other's
+meaning, but a single word sufficed to attract all her attention.
+
+"The king?" she repeated in broken Swedish.  "Who are you, and what can
+you tell me about the great Gustaf Adolf?"
+
+"Lose not a moment, your grace," continued Meri, ignoring Regina's
+question.  "They are already at the gates, and Fru Marta, with six
+soldiers, will not be able to protect you against two hundred.  Quick!
+don't come out by the door, but tie together sheets and shawls, and let
+yourself down through the window; I will receive you."
+
+Regina saw that a danger threatened, but far from being terrified by
+it, she heard it with a secret joy.  Was she not a martyr to her faith,
+transported to this wild land for her zeal in trying to convert the
+mightiest enemy of her Church?  Perhaps the moment was at hand when the
+saints would grant her a martyr's-crown, richly earned by her devotion.
+Was it not the tempter himself, who in this pale woman's form, tried to
+lure her from an imperishable glory?
+
+And Regina answered:
+
+"And Satan saith unto Him: 'Cast Thyself down: for it is written, He
+shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, that they may preserve
+Thee, so that no harm may befall Thee...'"*
+
+
+* Compare Matthew iv. 6, where the Lutheran text differs from the
+Catholic.
+
+
+At these words the moon appeared round a corner of the wall and threw
+its pale beams on the beautiful girl's face.  Her cheeks glowed, and
+her eyes burned with an ecstatic fire.  Meri looked at her with wonder
+and dread ... and again it seemed to her that it was not well with a
+being, who possessed such a singular appearance, and uttered such
+strange sounds from her lips.  An overwhelming fear seized her, and she
+fled, without knowing why, back to the town.
+
+In the meantime Regina heard the murmur from the castle yard up in her
+chamber.  The drunken horde had been checked by a stout gate, and stood
+clamouring outside, threatening to burn down the fortress, unless the
+witch was immediately given up to them.  But Fru Marta, just awakened
+from a sound sleep, was not one easily scared.  She had been in more
+than one siege in her younger days, and understood like a wise
+commander, that a fortress does not fall at big words.
+
+"One who gains time, gains all," she thought, and therefore began to
+negotiate about the capitulation, wishing to know what the besiegers
+especially wanted, and why they wanted it.  In the meantime six old
+muskets were hunted up, with which the defenders were armed; the
+soldiers were also provided with clubs and pikes; the servant girls
+themselves received orders to take the poles, with which more than one
+of Fleming's horsemen received their doom during the Club or Peasants'
+War.  Thus prepared, Fru Marta thought that she could safely break off
+all negotiations; she therefore advanced to the inside of the gate, and
+began a tirade which meant action and no play.
+
+"Ye crazy boors!" shrieked the brave dame with more energy than
+courtesy, "may the devil take you all, drunken ale-bibbers!  Be off
+this instant, or, as sure as my name is Marta Ulfsparre, you shall have
+a taste of 'Master Hans' on the back, you villains, sots, shameless
+knaves, and night loafers!"
+
+"Master Hans" was a good-sized braided rattan, which seldom left Fru
+Marta's hand, and for which all the inmates of the castle entertained a
+profound respect.  But whether the noisy crowd did not know of "Master
+Hans'" fine qualities, or whether Fru Marta's words were only
+imperfectly heard in the uproar, the mob continued to press on with
+loud cries, and the strong gate shook on its hinges.
+
+"Out with the witch!" shouted the most excited, and some threw lighted
+brands against the gate, hoping to set it on fire.
+
+Fru Marta had on the ramparts two old cannon from Gustaf I.'s time,
+called "the hawk" and "the dove."  Their functions were to respond to
+the salutes of vessels arriving in the harbour, and to roar forth the
+delight of the people on royal christening days and nuptials.  It is
+true that the ramparts lay outside the high fence with its iron spikes,
+which constituted the only fortification of the castle, and were thus
+easily accessible to the besiegers.  But Fru Marta thought correctly,
+that a cannonade from the ramparts would frighten the enemy, and serve
+as a signal of distress, to summon assistance from the man-of-war and
+the town.  She therefore ordered two of her soldiers to steal out under
+cover of the night, load "the hawk" and "the dove," and directly after
+the blank charges were fired, to return quickly to the castle.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.  The uproar ceased at once, and Fru Marta
+did not let the opportunity slip from her grasp.
+
+"Do you hear, you pack of thieves?" she screamed, mounted on a ladder,
+so that her white night-cap was seen in the moonlight just above the
+gate, "if you don't take yourselves off this minute from his Majesty's
+castle, I will make my cannon shatter you into fragments, like cabbage
+stalks, you noisy, drunken swine!  Angry dogs get torn skins; and the
+chicken who sticks his neck in the jaws of the fox will have to look
+around to see where his head is.  I will cut you to pieces, you rowdy
+set," continued Fru Marta, getting more and more excited.  "I will let
+them make mince-meat of you, and throw you to the----"
+
+Unhappily the brave commander was not allowed to finish her heroic
+speech.  One of the crowd had found a rotten turnip on the ground, and
+hurled it with such good aim at the white night-cap, which shone in the
+moonlight, that Fru Marta, struck right on the brow, was obliged to
+retreat, and for the first time in her life had her tongue silenced.  A
+huge laugh now spread through the crowd, and with it Fru Marta's
+supremacy was at an end.  The enemy battered still more arrogantly
+against the gate, the hinges bent, the boards gave way, and finally
+half of the gate fell in with a great crash, and the whole crowd rushed
+into the courtyard.
+
+Now one would say that Fru Marta would have to surrender.  But no, she
+quickly withdrew with all her force to the interior of the castle,
+barred the entrance, and placed her musketeers at the windows,
+threatening to shoot down the first comers.  Such determined courage
+ought to have succeeded, but the infuriated mob neither heard or saw.
+One of the front men, who had found a crowbar, began to batter the
+door...
+
+Then confusion and outcries arose in the rear of the crowd ... those in
+the middle turned round and saw through the broken gate, as far as one
+could discern in the moonlight, the whole way filled with heads and
+muskets.  It was as if an army had sprung from the earth in order to
+annihilate the besiegers.  Could it be the shades of all the dead
+champions of Korsholm, who had risen from their graves to avenge the
+violence offered against their old fortress?
+
+In order to explain the unexpected sight which now alarmed the crowd,
+one must remember that a large portion of the country people from the
+adjacent hamlets had flocked to the town to witness the departure of
+the recruits.  It should also be mentioned that the peasant king had
+remained all night in Vasa, probably in the secret expectation of
+hearing some news about Bertel from the crew of the "Maria Eleonora."
+The burning of the ale-house and the march of the intoxicated crowd
+towards Korsholm had set all Vasa in commotion, and when Meri arrived
+in breathless haste, imploring her father to rescue the imprisoned
+lady, she found everywhere willing ears.  The East Bothnian is soon
+ready for battle, and when the peasants learned the insults put upon
+old Bertila, their best man, the ancient animosity arose within them
+against the soldiers.  They forgot that many of their own sons and
+brothers were conscripts; they could not neglect such a fine chance to
+give the soldiers a thrashing, both in the name of humanity and loyalty
+to the crown.  They marched therefore, with Bertila at their head,
+about a hundred strong, to the rescue of the castle, and what in the
+moonlight appeared to be pikes and muskets, were mostly poles and
+rails, which had been hastily snatched up, the usual weapons employed
+in the battles of that region.
+
+As soon as the soldiers saw that they were attacked in the rear, they
+tried to conceal their alarm with loud shouts and cries.  Uncertain of
+the enemy's strength, some of them already wished to beat a dangerous
+retreat over the spiked fence; others imagined that they had to deal
+with an army of goblins, called up by the incantations of the foreign
+witch.  They were soon aroused from this delusion, however, by hearing
+the sounds of Malax Swedish, and Lillkyro Finnish, which could
+reasonably be thought to come from human and not spectral lips.  At the
+moment the outer enemy blocked the gate with his forces, a silence
+arose on both sides, during which one could hear two voices speaking,
+together: one from the castle window, and the other from the ramparts.
+
+"What did I tell you?" shrieked Fru Marta from the window; "didn't I
+tell you, drunkards and vagabonds, that you ought to think seven times
+before putting your noses between the wedges of the tree, and if the
+tail has once got into the fox-trap, there is nothing left but to bite
+it off.  A large mouth needs a broad back, and now hold yourself in
+readiness to pay the fiddler."
+
+With this outburst Fru Marta drew back; possibly from fear of another
+rotten turnip.
+
+The other voice was that of an old man, who, in powerful tones, cried
+to the soldiers:
+
+"Lay down your arms, and give up your leaders, then the rest may go in
+peace.  If not, there will be a dance, the like of which Korsholm has
+never seen, and we will see to it that the bows are well rosined."
+
+"May all the demons seize you, rascal peasant!" answered a voice from
+the courtyard, which clearly belonged to the jovial sergeant, Bengt
+Kristerson.  "If I had you down here I would,
+blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim, teach you to insult brave soldiers with
+offers of surrender.  Go ahead, boys; clear the gateway, and drive the
+crew back to their porridge kettles!"
+
+Fortunately none of the conscripts had muskets, which had not yet been
+distributed, and very few possessed swords.  Most of them had only
+extinguished brands, fragments of broken carriages, and faggots
+snatched from a wood-pile in the yard.  Thus armed, the warriors bore
+down upon the entrance.
+
+At the first onset the recruits were received with such vigorous blows,
+that numbers had broken heads.  Soon the press at the gate became so
+dense that no arm could be raised or blow dealt; those in front
+struggled furiously to extricate themselves, whilst the rest closed
+upon them and rendered all movement impossible.  Strong arms and broad
+shoulders exerted themselves fruitlessly to make a way through the
+crowd.  At last the pressure from within became so great, that the
+first ranks of the peasants were broken, and about half of the soldiers
+cleared a way towards the open plain outside the ramparts, whilst the
+remainder were again penned up in the courtyard.
+
+A regular battle began.  Poles, sticks, whips, and fists were used.
+Many a vigorous blow was delivered, which would have been much better
+bestowed on Isolani's Croats; many a fine exploit was performed, more
+in place on the German battlefields.  The soldiers were split in two
+parties by the gate, and although the most numerous, soon had the worst
+of it.  The youngest recruits took to flight, and ran towards the town;
+some were overpowered and badly beaten; others, including the old
+veterans, retired to the ramparts, and with backs to the wall defended
+themselves valiantly.
+
+Victory now seemed on the side of the peasants, when their opponents
+received new assistance.  The peasants at the gate, who on account of
+the struggle outside, forgot the enemy within, were surprised by the
+penned-up soldiers, who now rushed out to help their comrades.  The
+latter thus relieved, fell upon the peasants with redoubled ardour; the
+affray became more and more involved, and victory more and more
+uncertain; both parties had defeats to avenge, and the rage on both
+sides increased as their strength became equal.
+
+Over this scene of tumult, confusion, and wild conflict, the silvery
+August moon beamed like a heavenly eye.  All the inlets shone in the
+moonlight; and in the tree-tops and the moist grass glittered millions
+of dewdrops, like pearls on summer's green robe.  All nature seemed at
+peace; a gentle breeze from the west rippled the surface of the sea,
+and passed softly over the land; the monotonous roll of the surf upon
+the beach was heard in the distance, and the twinkling, silent stars
+looked down into the dark waters.  When the yard was empty, Fru Marta
+and her men ventured out again to behold the strife from the ramparts.
+The courageous old lady undoubtedly wished to join in some way in the
+contest, for she cried to the peasants in a loud voice:
+
+"That's right, boys, go ahead; let the sticks fly; many have danced to
+worse tunes!"
+
+And to the soldiers she screamed:
+
+"Good luck to you, my children; help yourselves to a little supper;
+Korsholm offers what it can give.  Be at ease; your witch is in good
+keeping; Korsholm has bolts and bars for you too, miscreants!"
+
+But as if a capricious destiny wished to convict the old lady of error
+and put her to the blush, a tall, dark female figure now appeared on
+the top of the ramparts, and was outlined against the clear night sky.
+
+Fru Marta's words froze on her lips from dismay, when she recognised
+the figure of her well-guarded prisoner.  How Lady Regina had got
+through locked doors and closed windows was an inexplicable problem,
+and for a moment she was infected by the common belief in the strange
+girl's alliance with the powers of darkness.  She renounced all idea of
+arresting the fugitive, and expected each moment to see large black
+wings grow out of her shoulders, that she might take flight like a
+monstrous raven, and soar aloft to the starry heavens.
+
+The reader, however, can easily discover a natural solution of the
+difficulty.  The din of the conflict and the cannon-shots had reached
+Regina's isolated chamber.  Every moment she expected her room to be
+invaded, and herself seized by executioners and dragged to a certain
+death; and so glorious did this martyrdom seem to her, that her
+impatience increased to the highest point.  Then an hour passed, and
+whilst the noise below continued, no footsteps approached her door.  At
+last the thought took possession of her fanatical soul that the Prince
+of Darkness envied her so grand a fate, and that the strife was
+fomented by him to ensure her a languishing life in captivity, without
+profit to herself or the Holy Faith.  Then she remembered the advice of
+the singing woman, to let herself down through the open window by means
+of sheets and shawls; she took a sudden resolve, and in a few minutes
+stood on the ramparts in full view of all the combatants.
+
+As soon as the latter saw the tall form in the moonlight, they were
+seized with the same superstitious dread which had just paralyzed Fru
+Marta's nimble tongue.  The conflict gradually subsided in the
+vicinity, and continued only at the most remote points; friend and foe
+were affected by a common horror, and near the ramparts rose a silence
+so profound, that one could hear in the distance the sea's low murmur
+on the pebbly beach.
+
+Lady Regina then spoke with a voice so strong and clear, that if her
+terribly imperfect Swedish had not stood in the way, she would have
+been understood by all those within hearing.
+
+"Ye children of Belial," she said in tones, trembling at first, but
+soon calm and composed, "ye people of the heretic faith, why do ye
+delay to take my life?  I am defenceless, without human protection,
+with the high heavens above me, and the earth and sea at my feet, and
+say to you: Your Luther was a false prophet; there is no salvation
+except in the orthodox Catholic Church.  Be converted, therefore, to
+the Holy Virgin and all the saints, acknowledge the Pope to be Christ's
+vicegerent, as he truly is, that you may avert St. George's sword from
+your heads, which is already raised to destroy you.  But you can kill
+me in order to seal the veracity of my faith; here I stand; why do you
+hesitate?  I am ready to die for my faith."
+
+It was Lady Regina's good fortune that her speech was not understood by
+the crowd, for so strong was the power of Lutheranism at this fanatical
+time, when nations and individuals sacrificed life and welfare for
+their creed, that all were filled with flaming zeal, and a blind hatred
+for the Pope and his followers--of which our crabbed but pithy old
+psalm-books bear witness to-day.  Had this crowd, whether peasants or
+soldiers, heard Regina extol the Pope, and declare Luther a false
+prophet, they would have certainly torn her to pieces in their rage.
+As it was, the young girl's meaning escaped them; they saw her bold
+bearing, and the respect which courage and misfortune together always
+inspire, did not fail to have its effect upon them; they now stood
+wavering, and at a loss what to think or do.
+
+Lady Regina again expected, in vain, to be dragged to death.  She
+descended from the rampart, and mingled with the irresolute crowd; they
+all saw that she was quite unprotected, and yet not a hand was put
+forth to seize her.
+
+"She is not honest flesh and blood; she is a shadow," said an old Worä
+peasant doubtingly.  "It seems to me that I see the moon shine right
+through her."
+
+"We will soon prove that," exclaimed a rough fellow from Ilmola, laying
+his coarse hand rather heavily on Regina's shoulder.
+
+It was a critical moment; the young girl turned round and looked her
+molester right in the face with such deep, shining eyes, that the
+latter seized with a strange feeling, immediately drew back, and stole
+away abashed.  Some of the nearest bystanders followed him.  None could
+understand the power of these dark eyes in the moonlight, but all felt
+their wondrous influence.  In a few moments the space near Regina was
+empty, and the strife had ceased.  A patrol, who now arrived, arrested
+the ringleaders.
+
+Not long, however, did the rivalry engendered by the Club War continue
+between the peasants and the soldiers; between the peaceful _plough_,
+Finland's pride, and the conquering sword, which at this time was drawn
+to subdue the Roman Emperor himself.
+
+Of Regina we need only say that she willingly allowed herself, yet with
+a sigh over the martyr's-crown she had missed, to be taken back to the
+dark, solitary prison-chamber.  But Bertila returned with his daughter
+to Storkyro; the old man with thoughts of coming greatness, the young
+woman with the memory of a past joy.  All this occurred during two days
+in the summer of 1632, thus, before King Gustaf Adolf's death.
+
+Days and months elapsed, and human destinies changed their forms, so
+that the swift word is obliged to check its flight, and remain silent
+awhile in expectation of the evenings which are to come.  For the
+surgeon's stories, like a child's joy or sorrow, lasted but a brief
+time--long enough for those who with friendship listened to them, and
+perhaps sufficiently long for the others.  But never was the thread of
+the story clipped in the middle of its course without both young and
+old anticipating more.  And the surgeon had to promise this.  He had so
+much still left to relate about the half-spun skein of two family
+histories, that next time it will probably be spun; longer--if not to
+the end, at least to the knot, which says that the skein has reached
+its right length.
+
+
+
+
+III.--FIRE AND WATER.
+
+Six weeks passed before the surgeon and his circle of listeners
+gathered again.  During that time an accident had happened to old Bäck.
+Most of us in this world possess hobbies, and old bachelors in
+particular.  Bäck had got it into his mind that he ought to have a
+certain comfort in his old age; he had in his garret a good-sized sack
+of feathers, which he increased in spring and autumn by bird-shooting.
+To what use these feathers were to be put no one knew; when he was
+asked about it, he said:
+
+"I will do like Possen at the 'Wiborg explosion'; if Finland is in
+need, I will go up some tower and shake my feathers into the air, then
+there will be as many soldiers as the sack has feathers."
+
+"You talk like a goose, my brother," replied Captain Svanholm, the
+postmaster.  "In our days one must have different stuff to make
+soldiers of.  By my soul, I think you consider us warriors like
+chickens!"
+
+"Yes," added the surgeon, when the captain was about to continue, "I
+know what you wish to say: exactly like Fieandt at Karstula."
+
+However, the fact was, that the surgeon had one fine April day gone to
+the sea-shore on a shooting expedition, with artificial decoy ducks.
+He was accompanied by an old one-eyed corporal called Ritsi (Finnish
+for Fritz), who had been a pedlar in his youth, and wandered over
+Germany with a pack on his back; but he brought home nothing except a
+change in his name.
+
+The ice still remained in patches, with gaps between; both the old men
+strolled along the edge, and discharged a shot every now and then; but
+it amounted to very little, as both of them had rather poor eyesight.
+It happened early one morning that Bäck thought he saw a pair of fine
+ducks at the further end of the ice, which could only be reached by
+making a long circuit.  He set off, and sure enough the ducks were
+there.  He crept as near as he dared, aimed, and fired ... the ducks'
+feathers were slightly agitated, but they did not stir from the spot.
+"Those creatures are pretty tough," thought Bäck; he reloaded, and
+fired again at thirty paces.  The same result followed.  Much
+astonished, Bäck went nearer, and discovered for the first time that he
+had been shooting at his own decoy ducks, which the wind had
+imperceptibly driven from the inner to the outer edge of the ice.
+
+The old gentleman now thought about returning; but this was easier said
+than done.  The wind had separated the ice on which _he_ stood, from
+the ice which held Ritsi, and the loose block was drifting out to sea.
+The two old friends looked sadly at each other; scarcely a dozen yards
+separated them, and yet the corporal could not assist his companion,
+for there was no boat.  Bäck was drifting slowly and steadily out to
+sea.
+
+"Good-bye, now, comrade," cried the surgeon, whilst still within
+hearing.  "Tell Svenonius and Svanholm that my will is locked up in the
+bureau-drawer to the right.  Tell them to have the bells rung for me
+next Sunday.  As for the funeral, you need not give yourself any
+trouble; I will attend to that myself."
+
+"God have mercy!" yelled the corporal, putting the wrong side of his
+jacket to his eyes, and returning to the shore slowly and tranquilly,
+as if nothing had happened.
+
+For the honour of the good town, it must be said, that the rest of the
+surgeon's friends were far from taking the matter like the corporal.
+The postmaster cursed and swore; the schoolmaster marched out at the
+head of his boys; and the old grandmother quietly sent off a couple of
+able-bodied pilots in their boats to cruise between the blocks of ice.
+The greatest excitement prevailed; confusion and running about
+everywhere; and those who made the most fuss accomplished the least.
+
+Two days passed without any trace of the surgeon; on the third the
+pilots came back from a fruitless search.  All gave the surgeon up for
+lost.  There was sincere mourning in the town for such an old
+institution as Bäck--everyone's friend, and everybody's confidant--he
+was one of the little town's house-spirits, without whom the community
+could not get on.  But what could be done?  When the third Sunday
+arrived, without any news of the unfortunate bird-hunter, the bells
+were rung for his soul, according to custom, and a fine eulogy composed
+by Svenonius, was read in the church, and the city magistrate appointed
+a day in the ensuing week for taking an inventory of his effects.
+
+I hope, however, that the reader, who has noticed the title of this
+veracious story, will not be alarmed.  In reality it would be very hard
+if the surgeon should be called away just now, when Regina sits
+imprisoned at Korsholm, under Fru Marta's stern control, and Bertel
+lies bleeding on the battlefield of Lützen.  And what would become of
+the gentle Meri, of the peasant king of Storkyro, and of so many other
+important personages in this narrative?  Patience! the surgeon had
+certainly gone through worse experiences in his day ... he had not been
+born for nothing on the same day as Napoleon!
+
+Everything was arranged to take the inventory.  Astonishing order
+prevailed in Bäck's garret; something unusual had happened there; the
+place was swept and cleaned.  All his things were set out: medicine
+chest dusted, stuffed birds placed in a row, the collection of eggs
+exposed to view.  The silver-headed Spanish cane stood in a corner; the
+old peruke hung with a melancholy look on its hook; the innermost
+mysteries of Bäck's bureau, the pale locks of hair from former days,
+were drawn forth to be valued in roubles and kopeks; probably not at
+high amounts.  An alderman, with an official air, had taken his place
+at the old oak table, where a large sheet of official paper now
+occupied the space usually reserved for the surgeon's carpenter's
+tools; a clerk was sharpening his pencil opposite the alderman, and the
+old grandmother as hostess, had presented herself with moist eyes to
+deliver up Bäck's property, as the old man had no relations.  One
+thing, however, was still unopened: it was the old seal-skin trunk
+under the surgeon's bed.  The official's eyes occasionally wandered
+there with a pious thought of the profit to be derived from the
+inheritance; but no one knew what the trunk contained, and who was the
+rightful and legal heir.
+
+It was time to begin.  Svanholm and Svenonius were called as
+appraisers.  The alderman coughed once or twice, assumed a judicial
+air, and then said:
+
+"Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the worthy magistrate that the
+deceased surgeon of the High Crown, Andreas Bäck, met his death on the
+ice whilst engaged in bird-shooting; and although not found in body, is
+in soul, rightfully and lawfully killed..."
+
+"I would most humbly beg to contradict that!" suddenly interrupted a
+voice from the door.
+
+The effect was truly marvellous.
+
+The magistrate lost both his wits and official bearing; he turned his
+eyes upwards, and his eloquent tongue for the first time refused its
+office.  The secretary sprang up like a rocket, and knocked over the
+learned Svenonius, who, being somewhat deaf, had not heard the cause of
+the sudden commotion.  The brave Svanholm was in a terrible plight; one
+could have sworn that not even at Karstula had he gone through such an
+ordeal.  He looked as white as a ghost, and tried in vain to compel his
+left foot to advance.  The old grandmother was the only one who showed
+self-possession; she put on her spectacles, went straight to the
+new-comer, and shook her ancient head dubiously, as if to say that it
+was very wrong of corpses to come to life again.
+
+But old Bäck--for who else could it be?--was not at all daunted.  His
+feelings had quite a different character.  When he beheld his dear old
+garret so altered, his precious effects on show, and the magistrate in
+full activity with what Bäck thought none of his business, he was
+seized, excusably enough, with righteous anger, and took the myrmidons
+of the law by the neck, one after the other, and threw them without
+ceremony from the room.  Then came the turn of brother Svenonius, who
+was not spared, and finally Svanholm, before he could utter a word,
+found himself rolling headlong down the stairs.  All this happened in
+the twinkling of an eye.  Only the grandmother remained.  When Bäck met
+her mild, reproachful glance, he was ashamed, and came to his senses.
+
+"Well, well," said he, "you must not take it ill, cousin; I shall teach
+brooms and dusters to disorder my room ... be so kind as to take a
+seat.  It would provoke a stone to see such actions.  See how these
+wretches have scrubbed my room and dusted my birds.  It is a positive
+crime!"
+
+"Dear cousin," said the grandmother, at once vexed and delighted, "I am
+the one to be blamed; we thought you must be drowned."
+
+"Drowned, indeed!" muttered the surgeon.  "I tell you, cousin, that
+poor powder isn't so easily got rid of.  It is true that I floated
+around on that miserable ice-floe for three whole days and nights.  It
+wasn't exactly a warm bed and spread table, but it served.  I shot a
+venturesome seal.  It was pretty oily, I assure you, but 'better that
+than nothing.'  I had a tinder-box and salt, too; so I made a fire of
+my game bag, and fried a steak.  On the fourth day I drifted to firm
+ice at West Bothnia, and marched ashore.  'Now it's time to go home,' I
+thought.  Said and done; I sold my gun and hired a team.  And I tell
+you what, cousin, they would have been spared from upsetting my room,
+and sticking their noses into my affairs, had not the Swedes quadrupled
+the rate, compared with old times.  My purse was empty before I came to
+Haparanda.  Then I thought, 'let the Medical College go to the dogs!'
+and began my old practice with the lancet and 'essentia dulcis,' as I
+went along; and all the old women--God bless you, I thought you were
+going to sneeze--and all the old women were amazed to see former times
+revived.  In this manner I was able to reach home--a little too late,
+but still in time to throw out my uninvited guests."
+
+The surgeon had great difficulty in pardoning his friends for their
+invasion of his peaceful kingdom.  Had they taken his treasures, or
+slandered his good name, he could have forgiven them, but to put his
+room in order was more than he could stand!  Little by little, however,
+the storm was allayed through the old grandmother's wise diplomacy; and
+so the day came when the reconciliation was celebrated with a third
+tale.  It is true that some plain people still looked upon the surgeon
+as a ghost; the magistrate doubted his right to live when he had been
+legally declared dead; the postmaster swore over his sore back, which
+still bore the marks of the meeting with brother Bäck; Svenonius sighed
+over a hole in his twenty-year-old black coat, which he had worn in
+honour of the solemn occasion.  But the old grandmother smiled as
+usual; Anne Sophie was friendly as ever; the little folks were as
+noisy; and--thus it happened that the sunshine scattered the morning
+mists, and the horizon was cleared for the captive Regina.
+
+* * * * *
+
+"My dear friends," began the surgeon, "it may puzzle you why I call
+this story 'Fire and Water.'  You understand _The King's Ring_, and how
+_The Sword and the Plough_ came into conflict.  Perhaps you think that
+I shall now treat you to natural history.  That would be well and good.
+But I entertain the opinion that in a story, humanity is the great
+thing.  If we look at pictures, we heartily admire a fruit or a game
+painting, but I believe figure-painting, with fine human forms, is
+nevertheless superior.  Therefore I do not intend to describe
+conflagrations and deluges, but have chosen my title from the fact that
+human temperaments correspond to the elements--some to fire, some to
+air, others to water and earth.  I intend to tell you about four
+persons: two of whom possessed a fiery nature, and two a watery.  All
+is not said that could be said, for most titles have the fault of only
+giving one aspect of many.  I thought of calling this part 'The Coat of
+Arms,' when I realised that it might also be called 'The Axe.'  I might
+have alarmed you with the terrible title of 'The Curse'; but when I
+came to think it over, I found that it could just as well be styled
+'The Blessing.'  Therefore you will have to be contented with the
+elements; I have now said all I wished, and I will leave you to guess
+the rest."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.
+
+The first thing to be borne in mind is, that the story of the Sword and
+the Plough happened before the Battle of Lützen.  On now going back to
+that combat, on the 6th of November, 1632, we may forget for a time
+that the "Sword and the Plough" ever existed, and imagine that we still
+stand by the great hero's dead body, as it lay embalmed in the village
+of Meuchen.
+
+It was a fine but terrible spectacle when the Pappenheimers charged the
+Finns on the east of the River Rippach.  These splendid cuirassiers
+rushed upon Stälhandske; the tired Finns and their horses reeled and
+gave way before this terrific onslaught.  But Stälhandske rallied them
+again, man to man, horse to horse; they fought to the death; and
+friends and foes were mixed together in one bleeding, confused mass.
+Here fell Pappenheim and his bravest men; half of the Finnish cavalry
+were trampled under the horses' hoofs, and yet the battle raged till
+nightfall.
+
+Bertel rode at Stalhandske's side, and here he encountered Pappenheim.
+The youth of twenty could not cope with this arm of steel; the brave
+general struck Bertel on the helmet with such tremendous force, that he
+reeled and became unconscious.  But in falling he mechanically grasped
+his horse by the mane, and the faithful Lapp galloped away, dragging
+his master with one foot in the stirrup.
+
+When Bertel opened his eyes he was in utter darkness.  He vaguely
+remembered the last incident of the combat, and Pappenheim's uplifted
+sword.  He thought he was now dead, and lay in his grave.  He then put
+his hand to his heart; it was beating: he bit his finger; it hurt him.
+He realised that he was still in existence, but how and where it was
+impossible to guess.  He reached out his hand and picked up some straw.
+He felt the damp ground under him, and the empty space above.  He tried
+to raise himself up, but his head was too heavy.  It still suffered
+from the blow of Pappenheim's sword.
+
+Then he heard a voice not far from him, half-complaining, half-mocking,
+saying in Swedish:
+
+"Saints and fiends!  Not a drop of wine!  Those rascally Wallachians
+have grabbed my flask; the miserable hen-thieves!  Hollo, Turk, or
+Jew--it is all one--here with a drop of wine!"
+
+"Is it you, Larsson?" said Bertel in a faint voice, for his tongue was
+also parched with a burning thirst.
+
+"What sort of a marmot is it whispering my name?" replied the voice in
+the darkness.  "Hurrah, boys, loose reins and a smart gallop!  Fire
+your pistols, fling them to the devil, and slash away with swords!
+Cleave their skulls; peel them like turnips!  Grind them to powder!
+The king has fallen ... Devils and heroism, what a king! ... to-day we
+bleed.  To-day we shall die, but first revenge.  That's the way, boys,
+hurrah ... pitch in, East Bothnians!"
+
+"Larsson," repeated Bertel; but his comrade did not heed him.  He
+continued in his delirium to lead his Finns to the combat.
+
+After a time a ray of the late autumn morning shone through the window
+of the miserable hut upon Bertel.  He could now distinguish the straw
+upon the bare ground, and two men asleep.
+
+Then the door opened, and a couple of uncouth, bearded men entered, and
+thrust roughly at the sleepers with the butts of their muskets.
+
+"_Raus!_" they cried in Low German; "it is the signal to start!"
+
+And outside the hut was heard the well-known trumpet-blast, which at
+that time was the usual signal for breaking up the camp.
+
+"May they spear me like a frog," said one of the men in a bad humour,
+"if I can guess what the reverend father wishes to do with these
+heretic dogs.  He should have given them a passport to the arch-fiend,
+their lord and master."
+
+"Fool!" replied the other; "do you not know that the heretic king's
+death is going to be celebrated with a great festival at Ingolstadt?
+The reverend father intends to hold a grand _auto-de-fé_ in honour of
+the happy event."
+
+The two sleepers now stood up half-awake, and Bertel could recognise by
+the faint morning light the little, thick-set Larsson and his own
+faithful Pekka.  But there was no opportunity for explanations.  All
+three were brought out, bound, and put into a cart, and then the long
+caravan, composed of wagons for the wounded and baggage, under the
+charge of the Croats, began slowly to move.
+
+Bertel knew that he and his companions were now prisoners of the
+Imperialists.  He soon recovered his memory, and learned from his
+countrymen in captivity how it all happened.  When the faithful Lapp
+felt the reins loose, he galloped with his unconscious master back to
+camp.  But this was being plundered by the wild Croats, and when they
+saw a Swedish officer dragged along half dead by his horse, they took
+him prisoner, in the hope of a good ransom.  Pekka, who would not
+forsake his master, was also taken prisoner.  Larsson, on the other
+hand, had, at the Pappenheimers' attack, charged too far amongst the
+enemy, and having received a sabre thrust in the shoulder, and a wound
+in the arm, was unable to extricate himself.  Who had triumphed Larsson
+did not know with certainty.
+
+It was now the third day after the battle; they had marched for a day
+and night in a southerly direction, and then stopped for a few hours in
+a deserted village.
+
+"Accursed crew!" exclaimed the little captain, whose jovial disposition
+did not abandon him under any circumstances; "if they had not stolen my
+flask, we might now drink Finland's health together.  But these Croats
+are thieves of the first water, compared with whom our gipsies at home
+are innocent angels.  I should like to hang a couple of hundred of them
+from the ramparts of Korsholm, as they hang petticoats on the walls of
+a Finnish garret."
+
+The march continued with brief halts for several days, not without
+great suffering and discomfort to the wounded, who, improperly
+bandaged, were prevented by their fetters from helping each other.  At
+the outset they travelled through a desolated country, where provisions
+were obtained with great difficulty, and whose population took to
+flight at the sight of the dreaded Croats.  But they soon arrived in
+richer parts, where the Catholic inhabitants assembled to curse the
+heretics, and exult over their king's fall.  The whole Catholic world
+shared this rejoicing.  It is stated that in Madrid brilliant
+performances took place, in which Gustave Adolf, another dragon, was
+conquered by Wallenstein as St. George.
+
+After seven days' wearisome journeying, the cart with the captive Finns
+drove late one evening over a clattering drawbridge, and stopped in a
+small courtyard.  The wounded prisoners were led out, and conducted up
+two crumbling flights of stairs into a turret room in the form of a
+semi-circle.  It seemed to Bertel as if he had seen this place before,
+but darkness and fatigue prevented him from making sure.  The stars
+shone through the grated windows, and the prisoners were revived with a
+cup of wine.  Larsson said with satisfaction:
+
+"I will bet anything that the thieves have stolen their wine from our
+cellars, while we lay in Würzburg, for better stuff I have never
+tasted!"
+
+"Würzburg!" said Bertel thoughtfully.  "Regina!" added he, almost
+unconsciously.
+
+"And the wine-cellar!" sighed Larsson, mocking him.  "I will tell you
+something.
+
+  'The greatest fool upon the earth
+  Is he that believes in a girl's worth.
+  When love comes, the little dear,
+  Marry instead the cup of good cheer.'
+
+
+"The black-eyed young Regina now sits and knits stockings at Korsholm.
+Yes, yes, Fru Marta is not one of the folks who sit and weep in the
+moonlight.  Since we last met I have had news from Vasa through the
+jolly sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.  He said he had fought with your
+father.  You had better believe that the old man is a trump; he carried
+Bengt out at arm's-length and threw him down the steps there at your
+home in Storkyro.  Bengt cursed and swore, declaring that he would put
+the old man and twelve of his hands into the windmill at once, and
+grind them to groats; but Meri begged for them.  Smart fellow, Bengt
+Kristerson! fights like a dragon, and lies like a skipper.  Your
+health!"
+
+"What else did you hear from East Bothnia?" inquired Bertel, who with
+the bashfulness of youth, blushed at the thought of revealing to his
+prosaic friend the secret of his heart--his love for the dark-eyed and
+unhappy Lady Regina von Emmeritz.
+
+"Not much, except the bad harvests, immense drain caused by the war,
+and heavy conscriptions.  The old men on the farm, your father and
+mine, quarrel as usual, and make it up again.  Meri pines for you and
+sings doleful songs.  Do you remember that splendid girl, Katri? round
+as a turnip, red as mountain-ash berries, and soft about the chin as a
+lump of butter.  She has run away with a soldier.  Your health, my boy!"
+
+"Nothing more?" said Bertel abstractedly.
+
+"Nothing more!  What the devil do you want to know, when you don't care
+for the prettiest girl in the whole of Storkyro.  'Yes, _noch etivas_,'
+says the German.  There has been a great affray at Korsholm.  The
+conscripts got it into their heads that Lady Regina had tried to kill
+the king with 'witch-shots,' and then they stormed Korsholm, and burned
+the girl alive.  Cursedly jolly! here's to the heretics!  We also know
+the art of holding _autos-da-fé_."
+
+Bertel started up, forgetting his wounds; but pain mastered him.
+Without a cry he sank fainting into Larsson's arms.
+
+The honest captain was both troubled and angry.  While he bathed
+Bertel's temples with the remainder of the noble fluid in the tankard,
+and presently brought him to life once more, he gave vent to his
+feelings in the following manner, crescendo from piano to forte.
+
+"There, there, Bertel ... what next?  What the deuce, boy?  Are you in
+love with the girl?  Faint like a lady's maid!  Courage! did I say that
+they had burned her?  No, my lad, she was only a little scorched,
+according to what Bengt Kristerson says, and afterwards she tore Fru
+Marta's eyes out, and climbed like a squirrel to the top of the castle.
+Such things happen every day in war ... Well, I declare, you have got
+both your eyes open at last.  You are still alive, you milk-baked wheat
+loaf ... are you not ashamed to behave like a poltroon?  You are a
+pretty soldier!  blitz-donnerwetter-kreutz-Pappenheim, you are a pomade
+pot!  D--n it, now the tankard is empty also!"
+
+The stout little warrior would perhaps have continued to vent his bad
+humour for some time longer, especially as there was no consolation now
+left in the cup, had not the door opened, and a female figure then
+stepped over the threshold.  At this sight the captain's pale and
+fluffy face brightened up.  Bertel was laid aside, and Larsson leaned
+eagerly forward, in order to see better, for the light of the single
+lamp was very faint.  But the result of his observation did not seem
+very satisfactory.
+
+"A nun!  Ah, by Heaven ... to convert us!"
+
+"Peace be with you," said a youthful voice from underneath the veil.
+"I am sent here by the worthy prioress of the cloister of 'Our Lady' to
+bind your wounds, and heal them, if it is the will of the saints."
+
+"Upon my honour, charming friend, I am much obliged; let us become
+better acquainted," said the captain, as he stretched out his hand to
+lift the nun's veil.  In a flash the latter retreated, and two soldiers
+appeared at the door.
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Larsson, startled, "What proud nuns they have
+here!  When I was at Würzburg, I used to get a dozen kisses a day from
+the young sisters at the convent; such sins always obtain absolution.
+Well," he continued, seeing the nun still hesitating at the door, "your
+venerableness must not take offence at a soldier's freedom of speech;
+an honest soldier is a born gallant.  Although an unbelieving heretic,
+I can talk Latin like a monk.  When we stayed at Munich I was very
+intimate with a plump Bavarian nun, twenty-seven years old, with brown
+eyes and a Roman nose."
+
+"Hold your tongue!" impatiently whispered Bertel, "you will drive the
+nun away."
+
+"I haven't said a word.  Walk in; don't be frightened.  I will bet it
+is a long time since you saw twenty-seven.  _Posito_, says the
+Frenchman, that your venerableness is an old woman."
+
+The nun returned in silence, with two others, and examined Bertel's
+wounded head.  A delicate white hand drew out some scissors and cut his
+hair off on each side of the wound.  In a short time Bertel's wound was
+dressed by an experienced hand.  Bertel, touched by this compassion,
+kissed the nun's hand.
+
+"Upon my honour, charming matron," cried the voluble captain, "I am
+jealous of my friend, who is fifteen years younger than I.  Deign to
+stretch out your gentle hand and plaster this brave arm, which has
+conquered so many pious sisters' pity..."
+
+The silent nun began to undo the bandages which covered Larsson's
+wounds.  Her hand touched his.
+
+"_Potz donnerwetter!_" burst out the captain in surprise.  "What a fine
+and soft little hand!  I beg your pardon, amiable Fru doctoress; _ex
+ungua leonem_, says one of the fathers of the church ... that is to say
+in good Swedish: by the paw one knows the lion.  I will wager ten
+bottles of old Rhine against a cast-off stirrup, that this little white
+hand would much rather caress a knight's cheek than finger rosaries
+night and day."
+
+The nun drew her hand away.  The gallant captain feared the
+consequences of his gallantry.
+
+"I will say no more; I am silent as a _karthäuser_ monk.  But I will
+say that this hand is not an old woman's ... well, well, your lovely
+venerableness hears that I keep silent."
+
+"_Tempus est consummatum, itur in missam_," said a solemn voice at the
+door, and the nun hastened her task.  In a few moments the prisoners
+were again alone.
+
+"I have heard that voice before," said Bertel thoughtfully.  "We are
+surrounded by mysteries."
+
+"Bah!" replied the captain, "it was a mangy and jealous monk.  Bless
+me, what a dear little hand!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES.
+
+When the autumn sun on the following morning spread its first rays into
+the turret room, Bertel arose and looked out of the iron-barred window.
+It was a beautiful view that here met his eye.  Underneath the turret
+wound a lovely river, and on the other side of it lay a town with
+thirty spires, and beyond were seen a number of still verdant vineyards.
+
+Bertel at once recognised Würzburg.  The castle of Marienburg, where
+the prisoners were confined, had at the retreat of the Swedes fallen
+back into the bishop's hands; but his grace, on account of the
+insecurity of the times, did not return there himself, but remained in
+Vienna.  The castle had suffered much, from the last conquest, and the
+consequent plundering; one tower had been destroyed, and the moat was
+filled up in several places.  At present there were only fifty men in
+the garrison, guarding the sisters of charity from the cloisters in the
+town, and many sick and wounded.
+
+When Bertel had carefully examined his prison, he thought he recognised
+Regina's room, the same in which that beautiful young lady with her
+maids in waiting had watched the battle, and where the image of the
+Holy Virgin had been broken into fragments by the splinters from the
+cannon-shot.*
+
+
+* The surgeon forgets that this room was totally destroyed.--Author.
+
+
+"Here," thought the dreaming young man, "she slept the last night
+before the storm."
+
+For Bertel this room was sacred; when he pressed his lips against the
+cold walls, he thought he kissed the marks of Regina's tears.
+
+A wonderful thought struck him like lightning.  If the nun that visited
+them yesterday was a princess ... if the white hand belonged to Regina!
+It would be a miracle, but ... love believes in miracles.  Bertel's
+heart beat fast.
+
+His neglected wounds had greatly improved under the gentle hands of his
+nurse.  He now felt much stronger.  His unfortunate comrades were still
+asleep after their terrible journey.  Then the door was quietly opened,
+and the nun softly entered with a drink for the wounded prisoners.
+Bertel felt his head swim.  Overcome by his violent emotions, he fell
+on his knees before her.
+
+"Your name, you kind angel, who remembers the prisoners!" he cried.
+"Tell me your name, let me see your face ... Ah!  I should have known
+you amongst thousands ... you are Regina, yourself!"
+
+"You make a mistake," said the same kind voice that Bertel had heard
+the day before.  It was not Regina's voice, and still he knew the
+tones.  To whom then did it belong?
+
+Bertel rushed forward and pulled the veil from the nun's head.  In
+front of him stood the beautiful mild Ketchen with a smiling face.  The
+surprised Bertel drew back.
+
+"Imprudent one," she said, covering her face with her hands.  "I wished
+to have you in my care, but now you make me leave the place to another."
+
+Ketchen disappeared.  On the evening of the same day another nun
+entered the room.
+
+Larsson addressed a long speech to her, and put her hand to his lips,
+and impressed on it a loud kiss.  He then swore fearfully.
+
+"Millions of devils!" he said, "that I should kiss an old shrivelled
+hand like that.  The skin was like a century-old parchment."
+
+"Verily, my dear Bertel," continued the chagrined captain with
+philosophical resignation, "there are secrets in nature which will for
+ever remain concealed from human sagacity.  This hand, for
+example--_manus mana, manum_--hand, as the old Roman used to say: this
+hand, my friend, would undoubtedly occupy a shining place in the Greek
+poet Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' which we formerly studied in the Cathedral
+School at Abo, the time my father wanted to make me a priest.
+Yesterday I could have sworn that it was the beautiful white hand of a
+young girl, and to-day I will be shaved as bare as a monk it it was not
+a hand that belongs to a seventy-year-old washerwoman.  _Sic unde ubi
+apud unquam post_, as the ancients used to say.  That is, so can a
+pretty girl be changed into a witch before anyone knows it."
+
+The prisoners' wounds healed rapidly under the care of the nuns.  The
+fierce autumn storms whistled around the castle turrets, and the heavy
+rain beat against the small panes.  The verdure of the vineyards faded,
+and a thick, heavy mist rose from the Main, and obscured the view of
+the town.
+
+"I cannot stand it any longer," growled Larsson.  "The wretches! they
+do not give us either wine or dice.  And forgive me, Saint, the devil
+may kiss their hands or lips, not I.  No.  I have a great respect for
+old women.  I cannot stand this.  I will jump out of the window."
+
+"Do it," said Bertel, provoked.
+
+"No, I will not jump out of the window," said the captain.  "No, my
+dear friend--_micus ameus_, as we learned people used to express
+ourselves--I will instead honour our companion with a game."
+
+And the inventive captain for the thirtieth time summoned Pekka to a
+game of pitch and toss.  This uninteresting game, which was his only
+diversion, was played with a Carl IX. six-öre piece.
+
+"Tell me what they are building over there on the square of Würzburg,
+just opposite the bank of the Main?" said Bertel.
+
+"An ale-house," said Larsson.  "Crown!"
+
+"It looks to me like a pyre."
+
+"Tail!" repeated Larsson monotonously.  "Dash it, what ill luck I have;
+this damned Limingo peasant will win my horse, my saddle, and my
+stirrups."
+
+"The first morning after we were taken prisoners, I heard something
+about an _auto-de-fé_, to celebrate the battle of Lützen.  What do you
+think of it?"
+
+"I?  What should I care; they might burn a dozen witches for our
+amusement."
+
+"But if we are concerned in it?  If they are waiting for the bishop's
+arrival?"
+
+Larsson dilated his small grey eyes, and took hold of his goatee.
+
+"Blitz-donner-kreutz ... the wretched Jesuits!  They would cook us like
+turnips ... we ... the conquerors of the Holy Roman Empire ... I mean,
+my friend Bertel, that in such desperate straits, an honest soldier
+would not be to blame if he tried to escape in silence--for example,
+through the window..."
+
+"There is a fall of seventy feet to the Main underneath."
+
+"The door," said the thoughtful captain.
+
+"Is guarded night and day by two armed men."
+
+The captain fell into some melancholy reflections.  Time passed on; it
+was evening; it became night.  The nun with their suppers did not
+appear.
+
+"The festival begins with a fast," muttered the captain in a gloomy
+tone.  "I am shaped like a fish, if I do not wring the head off our
+neglectful nun as soon as she appears."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and the nun entered alone.  Larsson
+exchanged a glance with his companions, suddenly approached the nun,
+caught her round the neck, and held her against the wall.
+
+"Be still, like a good child, highly honoured abbess," mockingly said
+the captain; "if you make a sound you are lost.  By right I ought to
+throw you out of the window and let you have a swim in the Main, to
+teach you _punctum preciosum_, that is, a precise punctuality in your
+attendance.  But I will give you grace for this night.  Tell me, you
+most miserable of meal bringers, what is the meaning of that fire which
+they are preparing on the square; who is going to be roasted there?"
+
+"For the sake of all the saints, speak low," whispered the nun.  "I am
+Ketchen, and have come to save you.  A great danger threatens you.
+To-morrow the bishop is expected, and Father Hieronymus, the implacable
+enemy of all the Finns, has sworn to burn you alive for the glory of
+the saints."
+
+"My fine little soft hand!" cried Larsson delighted.  "Upon my honour,
+I am a fool not to recognise it at once.  Well, my beautiful friend,
+for the glory or St. Brita I will take a kiss on the spot..."
+
+The captain kept his word.  But Ketchen freed herself, and said quickly:
+
+"If you do not behave yourself, young man, you will afford fuel for the
+flames.  Hurry! bind me to the bedpost, and tie a handkerchief over my
+mouth.
+
+"Bind you..." replied the captain; "explain yourself."
+
+"Make haste! the guard are drunk and asleep, but in twenty minutes they
+will be inspected by the pater himself.  Seize their cloaks and hurry
+to get out.  The passwords are Petrus and Paulus."
+
+"And yourself?" said the captain.
+
+"They will find me bound.  I have been overpowered, and my mouth
+stopped."
+
+"Noble girl!  The crown of all Franconia's sisters of charity; had I
+not sworn never to marry....  Very well, hasten, Bertel! hurry, Pekka,
+you lazy dog!  Farewell, little rogue! another kiss ... Good-bye!"
+
+The three prisoners hastened out.  But scarcely were they outside the
+door when they were seized by iron fists, thrown down, and bound.
+
+"Take the dogs down into the treasury," said a well-known voice.  It
+was Father Hieronymus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TREASURY.
+
+Bound hand and foot, the prisoners soon found themselves in the deep,
+dark, damp vault, blasted out of the rock, where the Bishop of Würzburg
+had kept his treasures before the Swedes delivered him from the
+trouble.  No ray of light penetrated the gloom, and the moisture from
+the rocks trickled through the crevices and dropped steadily on the
+ground.
+
+"Lightning and Croats! may all the devils take you, cursed earless
+monk!" bawled the captain, as soon as he felt firm ground beneath him.
+"To shut up officers of his Royal Highness and the Crown in this
+rat-trap.  _Diabolus infernalis multum plus plurimum!_ ... Are you
+alive, Bertel?"
+
+"Yes.  In order to be burned living to-morrow."
+
+"Do you believe that, Bertel?" asked the captain in a lugubrious tone.
+
+"I know this treasury.  On three sides is the solid rock, on the other
+a door of iron, and the man who guards us here is harder than either
+rock or metal.  We shall never see Finland again!  Never shall I see
+_her_ more..."
+
+"Listen to me, Bertel; you are a smart chap, but that does not prevent
+you from talking like a milksop occasionally.  You are in love with the
+black-eyed lady; well, well, I will say nothing about that; love is a
+bandit, as Ovidius so truly says.  But I cannot stand whimpering.  If
+we live, there are other girls to kiss; if we die, then good-bye to
+them all.  So you really fancy that they intend to roast us like picked
+woodcocks?"
+
+"That entirely depends upon you yourselves," answered a voice in the
+darkness.  All three prisoners started from fright.
+
+"The evil one is here in the midst of us!" exclaimed Larsson.
+
+Pekka began to say his prayers.  Then a clear ray from a dark lantern
+shot through the darkness, and they all saw the Jesuit Hieronymus
+standing alone near them.
+
+"It depends upon you," he repeated.  "To escape is impossible.  Your
+king is dead; your army defeated; the whole world acknowledges the
+power of the Church and the Emperor.  The pile is ready, and your
+bodies shall burn in honour of the saints.  But the holy Church in its
+clemency wishes to save you, and has sent me here to offer you mercy."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Larsson mockingly.  "Come, worthy father, loosen my
+bonds and let me embrace you.  I offer you my friendship, and of course
+you believe me.  How, says Seneca, _homo homini lupus_, we wolves are
+all brothers."
+
+"I offer you mercy," continued the Jesuit coldly, "on _three_
+conditions, which you will certainly accept.  The first is, that you
+abjure your heretic faith and publicly join the only saving Church."
+
+"Never!" exclaimed Bertel hastily.
+
+"Be quiet!" said the captain.  "Well, _posito_ that we abjure the
+Lutheran faith?"
+
+"Then," continued the Jesuit, "as prisoners of war you shall be
+exchanged for the high-born Lady and Princess Regina von Emmeritz, whom
+your king tyrannically sent a prisoner to the north."
+
+"It shall be done!" answered Bertel eagerly.
+
+"Be still!" cried Larsson.  "Well, go on; _posito_ that we accomplish
+the lady's deliverance?"
+
+"Only a trifle remains.  I demand of Lieutenant Bertel King Gustaf
+Adolf's ring."
+
+"Your money or your life, like a highwayman!" said Larsson derisively.
+
+"You ask for that which I do not possess," answered Bertel.
+
+The Jesuit gave him a suspicious glance.
+
+"The king ordered Duke Bernhard to give you the ring, and you must have
+received it."
+
+"All this is quite unknown to me," said Bertel with truth, but
+surprised and delighted at this unexpected news.
+
+The Jesuit resumed his smiling composure.
+
+"If that is how it stands, my dear sons," said he, "let us talk no more
+about the ring.  As far as your conversion to the true believing Church
+is concerned..."
+
+Bertel was just about to answer, but was interrupted by the captain,
+who, a moment before, had made a movement with the upper part of his
+body, which the light did not reach.
+
+"Yes, as far as that matter is concerned," Larsson hastened to add;
+"you know, reverend father, that there are two sides to it: _questio
+an_ and _questio quomodo_.  Now to speak of _questio an_ first, my
+sainted rector, Vincentius Flachsenius, used to say, always place
+_negare_ as _prima regula juris_.  Your reverence undoubtedly finds it
+unexpected and agreeable to hear a royal captain talk Latin like a
+cardinal.  Your reverence should know that we, in Abo Cathedral School,
+studied Ciceronem, Senecam, and Ovidium, also called Naso; for my part
+I have always considered Cicero a great talker, and Seneca a blockhead;
+but as for Ovid ..."
+
+The Jesuit moved towards the door, and said dryly,
+
+"Then you choose the stake?"
+
+"Rather than the disgrace of an apostasy!" exclaimed Bertel, who had
+not noticed Larsson's hints and motions.
+
+"My friend," the captain hastily added, "thinks very sensibly and
+naturally that the worst part of the matter is the public scandal.
+Thus, worthy father, let us confer about _questio quomodo_.  _Posito_
+that we become good Catholics, and enter the Emperor's service ... but
+deign to come a little closer; my friend Bertel is rather hard of
+hearing ever since he had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
+the mighty Pappenheim."
+
+The Jesuit cautiously advanced a little nearer, after convincing
+himself with a glance that retreat stood open.
+
+"It is I who decide the conditions," said he haughtily.  "Yes or no?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," replied Larsson quickly, as he continued to rub
+himself.  "Consequently we are on sound grounds both with _questio an_
+and _questio quomodo_.  Your reverence possesses a persuasive tongue.
+We will now come to _questio ubi_ and _questio quando_, for according
+to _logicam_ and _meta-physicam_ ... Pardon me, worthy father, I don't
+say a word, I consent to it all.  But," continued the captain, as he
+lowered his voice, "deign to cast a glance at my friend Bertel's right
+forefinger.  I can tell your reverence my friend is a great rogue; I am
+very much mistaken if he has not got the king's ring on at this moment."
+
+The Jesuit, carried away by his curiosity, came a few steps nearer.
+Swift as an eel Larsson rolled himself to the door, for he was unable
+to rise on account of his bonds; and when the monk wished to retreat,
+the captain, who had cut through the ligatures which held his right
+arm, against a sharp stone, suddenly seized the Jesuit's legs and threw
+him down.  Father Hieronymus made desperate efforts to free himself
+from the captain's grasp; the lantern was broken into fragments, the
+light extinguished, and a thick darkness enveloped the wrestlers.
+Bertel and Pekka, both unable to get up and assist, rolled themselves
+at random towards the spot, but without reaching it.  Then the brave
+captain felt a sharp sensation in his shoulder, and directly afterwards
+a warm stream of blood.  With a mighty oath he wrenched the dagger from
+his enemy's hand, and returned the stab.  The Jesuit now begged for
+mercy.
+
+"With the greatest pleasure, my son," answered the sarcastic captain.
+"But only on three conditions: the first, that you renounce Loyola,
+your lord and master, and declare him to be an emissary of the devil.
+Do you agree to it?"
+
+"I agree to everything," murmured the pater.
+
+"The second: that you start off and hang yourself to the first hook you
+find in the ceiling."
+
+"Yes, yes, only let me go."
+
+"The third: that you travel to Beelzebub, your patron," ... and with
+these words Larsson flung his enemy violently against the rocky wall,
+after which there was a dead silence.
+
+The dagger was now used to quickly sever the prisoners' bonds, and then
+it only remained to find the door.
+
+When the three fugitives, after having secured the treasury door from
+the outside, reached the dark and narrow stairway, which led to the
+upper portion of the castle, they stayed a moment to consult together.
+Their situation even now was not enviable, for they knew of old that
+the stairs led to the bishop's former bed-chamber, from whence two or
+three rooms had to be crossed before they came to the large armoury,
+and through that to the courtyard, after which they still had to pass
+the closed drawbridge and the guard.  All the rooms, except the
+bed-chamber, which the Jesuit himself had taken possession of, had, two
+hours before, when the prisoners were carried down, been filled partly
+with soldiers, and partly with the sick and their nurses.
+
+"One thing grieves me," whispered Larsson, "and that is, that I did not
+draw the fur off the fox when I held him by the ears.  In the garments
+of piety I could have gone scot-free through purgatory like another
+_Saulus inter prophetas_.  But as it is, my friend Bertel, I ask, in my
+simplicity, how shall we get away from here?"
+
+"We will cut our way out.  The garrison are asleep; the darkness of the
+night favours us."
+
+"I confess, my friend, that if anybody, even I, Larsson himself, should
+call you a poltroon, I would call that fellow a liar.  It is true that
+you once as good as _solo_, alone, _alienus_, all by yourself, took
+this fortress; but you had then at least a sword in your hand, and a
+few thousands of brave boys in the rear.  Hush!  I heard a step on the
+stairs ... no, it was nothing.  Let us push on cautiously.  Here it
+will serve us to tread gingerly, like maidens; the heavy peasant's
+boots sound as if we were a squadron of cavalry."
+
+The fugitives had ascended about thirty or forty steps, and yet there
+seemed more, until a faint ray of light glimmered at the top in the
+passage.  They then came to a door; it stood ajar.  They stopped, and
+held their breath; not a sound could be heard.  The brave captain now
+ventured to put in his head, then his foot, and finally his whole stout
+person.
+
+"We are on the right track," he whispered; "boots off, the whole
+company must march in their stockinged feet--_posito_ that the company
+has stockings.  March!"
+
+The bishop's bed-chamber, into which the three now entered on tip-toe,
+was a large and magnificent room.  A flickering lamp faintly illumined
+the precious gobelin tapestry, the gilded images of the saints, and the
+ebony bedstead, inlaid with pearls, where the wealthy prelate used to
+fall asleep, with his goblet of Rhenish wine beside him.  No living
+creature was visible, but from one of the windows which overlooked the
+courtyard they could see the castle chapel opposite, brilliantly
+lighted and filled with people.  Even the courtyard was occupied by a
+crowd, visible owing to the reflection from the windows, and many of
+whom carried lighted candles.
+
+"I will let them salt and pickle me like a cucumber if I understand
+what all these people are doing here in the dead of night," muttered
+the enraged captain.  "You will find that they have assembled here to
+see three honest Finnish soldiers roasted by a slow fire like Aland
+herrings."
+
+"We must look for weapons, and die like men," said Bertel, as he
+glanced through the room.
+
+"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, "here are three swords, just what we require."
+
+"And three daggers," added Larsson, who, in a large niche behind the
+image of a saint, found a little arsenal of all kinds of weapons.  "The
+worthy fathers have a certain weakness for daggers, as the East
+Bothnians for 'punkkons,' or peasants' knives."
+
+"I think," joined in the taciturn Pekka, as he caught sight of a
+good-sized flask in a corner, "that to-night being Xmas eve..."
+
+"Brave boy!" interrupted the captain, inspired also by this sight, "you
+have a wonderfully keen scent where good liquor is concerned.  Pious
+Jesuit, you have, anyhow, accomplished some good in the world!  Xmas
+eve, did you say?  Stupid, why didn't you tell us at once?  It is clear
+as the day, that half of Würzburg is streaming to the chapel to hear
+Father Hieronymus say mass.  'Pon my honour, I fear that he will keep
+them waiting for some time, the good pater.  Here goes, my friend, I
+will drink to you; an officer ought to always set his troops a good
+example.  Your health, my boys ... damnation ... the miserable monk has
+basely cheated us.  I have swallowed poison.  I am a dead man!"  And
+the honest captain turned pale as a corpse.
+
+Both Bertel and Pekka had hard work to restrain their laughter,
+notwithstanding their critical position, when they saw Larsson at once
+white from fright and black from the fluid he had drank and spat out
+again.
+
+"Be more careful another time," said Bertel, "and you will avoid
+drinking ink."
+
+"Ink!  I might have known that the earless scrawler would be up to some
+devilry.  Two things trouble me to-night more than all the
+_autos-da-fé_: that the sweet Ketchen, with the soft hands, deceived
+us, and that I have swallowed the most useless stuff in the world--ink,
+bah!"*
+
+
+* Here Captain Svanholm trod on Cousin Svenonius' toes, and the latter
+thoughtfully took a pinch of snuff.
+
+
+"If we had nothing else to do I could show you something that ink has
+done," rejoined Bertel, as he hastily turned over a pile of papers on
+the writing-table.  "Here is a letter from the archbishop ... he is
+coming to-morrow ... we are to be solemnly burned ... they will tempt
+us to abjure our faith, and promise us grace ... but burn us,
+nevertheless!  Infamous!"
+
+"Roman!" observed the captain phlegmatically.
+
+In the meantime Larsson had drawn out three monks' cloaks and hoods;
+they put them on, and now ventured to proceed farther on their
+dangerous enterprise.
+
+The next two rooms were empty.  Two common beds indicated that some
+menial monks had here their abode, and were now gone to mass.
+
+"Bravo," whispered Larsson, "they will take us for sheep in wolves'
+clothing, and believe that we are also going to attend mass.  Hist!
+didn't you hear something?  A woman's voice.  Be still!"
+
+They stopped, and heard in the darkness a young female's voice, praying:
+
+"Holy Virgin, forgive me this time, and save me from death; I will
+to-morrow take the veil, and serve you for ever."
+
+"It is Ketchen's voice," said the captain.  "She may be innocent, poor
+child!  Upon my honour, it would be base of a cavalier not to deliver a
+sweet girl with such a soft hand."
+
+"Let us be off!" whispered Bertel in vexation.  But the captain had
+already discovered a little door, bolted on the outside; inside was a
+cell, and in the cell a trembling girl.  Her eyes, used to the
+darkness, saw the monk's garb, and she threw herself at the captain's
+feet, exclaiming,
+
+"Grace, my father, grace!  I will confess all; I have favoured the
+prisoners' flight; I have given wine to the guard.  But spare my life,
+have mercy upon me, I am so young.  I do not wish to die."
+
+"Who the devil has said that you are to die, my brave girl?"
+interrupted the captain's voice.  "No, you shall live, with your soft
+hand, and your warm lips, as true as I'm not a Jesuit, but Lars
+Larsson, captain in his Royal Majesty's and the Crown's service, and
+herewith take you ... as my wedded wife, for better or for worse,"
+continued the captain, no doubt because he thought that the well-known
+formula ought to be said to an end when he had once begun it.
+
+"Away, away, with or without the girl, but away; they are coming, and
+we still have to pass the large armoury!"
+
+"Allow me to tell you, my friend Bertel, that you are the greatest
+fidget I know, _maximus fiescus_, as the ancients so truly expressed
+themselves.  How is it, my girl, you are not a nun ... only a novice?
+Well, it makes no difference to me.  You shall be my wedded wife ... in
+case I ever marry.  Here is a cloak; there now, straighten yourself up
+and look bold."
+
+"It is no cloak, it is a mass-robe," whispered Ketchen, who had
+scarcely time to recover from her amazement.
+
+"The deuce, a mass-robe!  Wait, you take my cloak, and I will take the
+robe.  I shall chant in their ears _dies irae_, so that all will be
+astonished."
+
+The sound of several voices in the armoury outside interrupted the
+captain in his priestly speculations.
+
+"They have missed the Jesuit, they are looking for him, and we are lost
+through your silly jabbering," whispered the exasperated Bertel.  "We
+must be careful now not to betray ourselves.  Come along, all of you."
+
+"And Latin first!" exclaimed the captain.
+
+All four went out.  In the armoury there were about thirty sick beds,
+but only two sisters in attendance.  This sight was reassuring, but
+much more dangerous was the meeting with two monks, who were in violent
+altercation in the doorway.  When they saw Larsson in the mass-robe,
+and three figures behind him in hooded cloaks, the pious fathers were
+evidently startled.  The captain raised his arm to bless them, uttered
+a solemn _pax vobiscum_, and was then going to steal by with a grave
+step, when he was checked by the foremost monk.
+
+"Worthy father," said the latter, as he surveyed the unknown prelate
+from head to foot, "what procures our castle the honour at so unusual a
+time...?"
+
+"_Pax vobiscum!_" repeated the captain devoutly.  "The pious Father
+Hieronymus orders you to say mass with all your might ... his reverence
+is sick ... he has toothache."
+
+"Let us go and wait upon him," said one of the monks, entering the
+smaller room.  But the other seized Larsson by the robe, and regarded
+him in a way which much alarmed the brave captain.
+
+"_Quis vus et quid eltis!_" said the captain in a regular dilemma.
+"_Qui quoe quod, meus tuus suus_ ... go to the devil, you bald-headed
+baboons!" roared Larsson, unable to restrain himself any longer, and
+pushing the obstinate monk into the chamber he bolted the door.  Then
+all four hastened at full speed down to the courtyard.  The alarm was
+immediately given behind them; the monks shouting at the top of their
+voices, and the nuns joining in, until the crowd of people who thronged
+the courtyard began to listen.
+
+"We are lost!" whispered Ketchen, "if we do not reach the drawbridge by
+the back way."
+
+They hurried there ... the tumult increased ... they passed the guard
+at the large sally-port.
+
+"Halt! who's there?"
+
+"Petrus and Paulus," promptly answered Bertel.  They were allowed to
+pass.  Fortunately the drawbridge was down.  But the whole castle was
+now alarmed.
+
+"We will jump into the river, the night is dark, they will not see us!"
+cried Bertel.
+
+"No," said Larsson, "I will not leave my girl, even if it should cost
+me my head."
+
+"Here stand three saddled horses, be quick and mount."
+
+"Up, you sweetest of all the nuns in Franconia, up in the saddle!" and
+the captain hastily swung the trembling Ketchen before him on the
+horse's back.  They all galloped away into the darkness.  But behind
+them raged tumult and uproar, the alarm bells sounding in all the
+turrets, and the whole of Würzburg wondering greatly what could have
+happened on Xmas eve itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL.
+
+Three months after the events related in the preceding chapter we find
+Lieutenant Bertel one day in one of the rooms at the martial court,
+which Duke Bernhard of Weimar kept sometimes at Kassel and sometimes at
+Nassau, or wherever the duties of the war compelled him to go.
+
+It was a spring day in March, 1633.  Officers came and departed,
+orderlies hastened in all directions; Duke Bernhard had the greatest
+share of the south and west of Germany to look after, and the times
+were most anxious.
+
+After having waited a good while, the young officer was conducted to
+the duke.  The latter looked up irritably from his maps and papers, and
+seemed to wait to be spoken to; but Bertel remained silent.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the duke in sharp, harsh tones.
+
+"Gustaf Bertel, Lieutenant in his Royal Majesty's Finnish cavalry."
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+The young man coloured up and remained silent.  The duke noticed this
+and looked at him with a discontented air.
+
+"I understand," the latter said at last, "you have as usual been
+fighting with the German officers about the girls.  I will not allow
+this sort of thing.  A soldier's sword should be reserved for his
+country's enemies."
+
+"I have not been fighting, your highness."
+
+"All the worse.  You came to ask for a furlough to go to Finland.  I
+refuse it to you.  I want all my men here.  You will stay, Lieutenant.
+Good-bye!"
+
+"I do not come to ask for a furlough."
+
+"Well, What the devil do you want?  Can you not speak out?  Be short
+and quick!  Leave the clergy to say prayers, and the girls to blush."
+
+"Your highness has received from his Majesty, the late king, a ring..."
+
+"I cannot remember it."
+
+"... which his Majesty asked your highness to give to an officer in his
+life-guards."
+
+The duke passed his hand over his high forehead.
+
+"That officer is dead," he said.
+
+"I am that officer, your highness.  I was wounded at Lützen, and
+shortly after taken prisoner by the Imperialists."
+
+Duke Bernhard beckoned Bertel to come nearer, and gave him a searching
+look; he seemed satisfied with his examination.
+
+"Close the door," he said, "and sit down by my side."
+
+Bertel obeyed.  His cheeks were burning with anxiety.
+
+"Young man," said the duke, "you carry on your forehead the marks of
+your origin, and I ask for no further evidence.  Your mother is a
+peasant's daughter of Storkyro, in Finland, and her name is Emerentia
+Aronsdotter Bertila."
+
+"No, your highness, the person you speak of is my elder sister, born of
+my father's first marriage.  I have never seen my mother."
+
+The duke looked at him with surprise.
+
+"Very well," said he doubtfully, as he looked among some papers in his
+portfolio, "we will now speak of this sister of yours, Emerentia
+Aronsdotter.  Her father had performed great services for Carl IX., and
+he was urged to ask a favour.  He asked to be allowed to send his only
+daughter, then his only child, to Stockholm, to be educated with the
+young ladies of rank at the Court."
+
+"I know very little about this."
+
+"At thirteen years of age the peasant girl was sent to Stockholm, where
+her father's vanity and wealth procured her an abode, appearance, and
+education, far above her station.  He was consumed with ambition, and
+as he himself could not gain a noble crest, he relied upon his
+daughter's high birth on her mother's side.  Bertila's first wife was
+an orphan of the noble family Stjernkors, deprived of her inheritance
+by the war, and then rejected by her proud family on account of her
+marriage with the rich peasant Bertila."
+
+"This is all unknown to me."
+
+"The young Emerentia suffered a great deal in Stockholm from the envy
+and contempt of her aristocratic companions; for many of them were
+poorer than herself, and could not endure a plebeian at their side as
+an equal.
+
+"But her beauty was as extraordinary as her wisdom and goodness.
+Within two years she had acquired the habits of the upper classes,
+whilst preserving the rustic simplicity of her heart.  This wonderful
+combination of mental and physical graces reminded old persons of a
+lovely picture of their youthful days--Karin Mansdotter."
+
+As he said these words, the duke closely watched the young officer; but
+Bertel did not betray any agitation, and remained silent.  All this was
+something new and incomprehensible to him.
+
+"Very well," continued the duke after a pause.  "This beauty did not
+long remain unnoticed.  A very young man of high birth soon fell in
+love with the beautiful maiden, then only fifteen years old, and she
+returned his affection with the whole devotion of a first love.  This
+attachment soon became known to those who surrounded the noble youth;
+state policy was endangered, and the nobility were offended by the
+distinction thus conferred on a girl of low birth.  They resolved to
+marry the maiden to an officer of the same origin as herself, who had
+distinguished himself in the Danish War.  This intention came to the
+ears of the young people.  Poor children! they were so young; he
+seventeen, she fifteen, both inexperienced and in love.  Shortly after,
+the youth was sent to the war in Poland.  The young girl's marriage
+came to nothing, and she was sent back by the offended nobility in
+disgrace to her cabin in Finland.  Do you wish to hear any more,
+Lieutenant Bertel?"
+
+"I do not understand, your highness, what this account of my sister's
+life has to do with..."
+
+"... the ring you ask for.  Patience.  When the young man had a secret
+meeting with his beloved for the last time, just before his departure,
+she gave him a ring, whose earlier history I do not know, but which was
+probably made by a Finnish sorcerer, and had all the qualities of a
+talisman.  She conjured her lover to always wear this ring on his
+finger, in war and danger, as he would thus become invulnerable.  Twice
+this warning was forgotten, once at Dirschau..."
+
+"Great God!"
+
+"... the second time at Lützen."
+
+Bertel's emotions were of such a violent nature that all the blood left
+his cheeks, and he sat pale as a marble statue.
+
+"Young man, you now know part of what you ought to know, but you do not
+know all.  We have spoken of your sister.  We will now speak of
+yourself.  It was his Majesty's intention to offer you a nobleman's
+coat of arms, and which you with your good sword have so well deserved.
+But old Aron Bertila, actuated by his hatred for the nobility had asked
+as a favour that the king would give you an opportunity to gain any
+other distinction than that one.  The king could not refuse this
+request from a father, and therefore you are still a commoner by name.
+But I, who am not bound by any promise to your father, will offer you,
+young man, that which has hitherto been denied you: a knight's spur and
+coat of arms."
+
+"Your highness ... this favour makes me wonder and mute; how have I
+deserved it?"
+
+Duke Bernhard smiled with a strange expression.
+
+"How, my friend? you have only half understood me."
+
+Bertel remained silent.
+
+"Well, with or without your knowledge and will, my friend, I already
+regard you as a nobleman.  We will speak more about it another time.
+Your ring ... Ah!  I have forgotten it.  Do you remember what it was
+like?"
+
+The duke now searched zealously in his portfolio.  "They say that the
+king wore a copper ring, and on the inside of it magic signs were
+engraved, and the letters R.R.R."
+
+"It is possible that I have mislaid it, for I cannot find it.  And who
+the devil has time to think of such childish things?  The ring must
+have been stolen from my private casket.  If I find it again I will
+give it to you, and if not, you know that which is worth more.  Go,
+young man, and be worthy of my confidence and the great king's memory.
+No one is to know what I have told you.  Farewell; we will see each
+other again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LOVE AND HATE AGREE.
+
+Again we fly from Germany's spring back to the North's winter.  Before
+we go further on the bloody path of the Thirty Years' War, we will pay
+a visit to two of the chief personages of this narrative high up in
+East Bothnia.
+
+It was about Advent time, 1632.  A violent storm with heavy snow beat
+against the old ramparts of Korsholm, and drove the waves of the Baltic
+against the ice-covered shores.  All navigation for the year had
+ceased.  The newly conscripted soldiers had gone to Stralsund by way of
+Stockholm, at the end of July, and were impatiently waiting for news
+from the war.  Then it happened in the middle of November that a rumour
+was spread about the country of the king's death.  Such reports fly
+through the air, one does not know how or where they come from.  Great
+misfortunes are known at a distance as presentiments, just as an
+earthquake far beyond its own circle causes a qualm in the mind.  But
+this report had more than once been spread and refuted.  The people
+relied upon King Gustaf Adolf's good fortune, and when corroboration
+did not arrive, the whole matter was forgotten, all thinking it was a
+false story.
+
+It is an ordinary fact in life that, as we hate those to whom we have
+occasioned a wrong, so we feel well disposed towards persons whom we
+have had the opportunity of serving.  Lady Marta of Korsholm was not a
+little proud of her brave defence against the drunken soldiers, and did
+not hesitate to attribute the preservation of the castle to the heroism
+she had then displayed.  That she had saved Regina's life gave the
+latter great importance in her eyes; and neither could she refuse her
+admiration for the courage and self-sacrifice which the young girl had
+shown on the same occasion.  The high-born prisoner was her pride; and
+she did not omit to watch her steps like an Argus; but she gave Regina
+a larger room, let her have old Dorthe again as a waiting woman, and
+provided her with an abundance of good food.  Regina also was less
+proud and cold, she would sometimes answer Lady Marta with a word or a
+nod; but of all the nice things that were offered her, the choice
+meats, the strong beer, etc., she took little or nothing; she had sunk
+apparently into a state of indifference, told her beads devoutly, but
+in other respects let one day pass as another.
+
+Lady Marta held the deep conviction that her prisoner, if not precisely
+the Roman Emperor's own daughter, was, nevertheless, a princess of the
+highest birth.  She therefore hit upon the unlucky idea of trying to
+convert so distinguished a person from her papistical heresy, on the
+supposition that she would thereby accomplish something very remarkable
+when the war was ended and Regina was exchanged.  Regina thus became
+exposed to the same proselytizing attempts which she herself had
+undertaken with the great Gustaf Adolf; but Lady Marta's were not so
+delicate or refined in their application as her own.  She overwhelmed
+the poor girl with Lutheran sermons, psalm-books, and tracts, also
+often made long speeches interspersed with proverbs, and when this was
+without avail, she sent the castle chaplain to preach to the prisoner.
+Of course all this occurred to deaf ears.  Regina was sufficiently firm
+in her faith to listen with patience, but she suffered from it; her
+stay at Korsholm became more unbearable every day, and who can blame
+her, if with secret longings she sighed for the day when she could
+regain her freedom.
+
+Dorthe, on the contrary, flamed up every time the heretic preacher or
+the plucky old lady began their sermons, and rattled through a whole
+string of prayers and maledictions both in Latin and Low German, the
+result generally being that she was shut up for two or three days in
+the dungeon of the castle, until her longing for her lady's company
+once more made her tractable.
+
+And so passed a half-year of Lady Regina's captivity.
+
+A better product of Lady Marta's goodwill was, that Regina was allowed
+to embroider, and fine materials were ordered for her in the autumn
+from Stockholm.  Thus it became possible for her to work a large piece
+of silk with the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ in silver and gold.
+Lady Marta in her innocence considered the work a sacrament cloth,
+which Regina might present to Vasa church, as a proof of her change of
+sentiments.  A warrior's eyes, on the other hand, would have discerned
+in it an intended flag, a Catholic banner, which the imprisoned girl
+was quietly preparing in expectation of the day when her work would
+wave at the head of the Catholic hosts.
+
+Still Lady Marta was not quite satisfied with the Holy Virgin's image,
+which seemed to her surrounded by too large a halo to be truly
+Lutheran.  She therefore considered how she could procure her prisoner
+a more suitable occupation.  It happened now and then that the daughter
+of the Storkyro peasant king, Meri, when she was in town, made an
+errand to Korsholm, and in order to gain the favour of the lady of the
+castle, presented her with several skeins of the finest and silkiest
+linen floss, which no one in the whole vicinity could spin as well as
+Meri.  Lady Marta consequently got the idea one fine day to teach her
+prisoner to spin, and to give her Meri as a teacher in this art.  Meri
+on her part desired nothing better.  The near connection in which the
+imprisoned lady had stood to the king, gave her an irresistible
+interest in Meri's eyes.  She wished to hear something about him--the
+hero, the king, the great, never-to-be-forgotten man, who stood before
+her mind's eye with more than earthly lustre.  She wished to know what
+he had said, what he had done, what he had loved and hated on earth;
+she wished for once to feel herself transported by his glory, and then
+to die herself--forgotten.  Poor Meri!
+
+So Meri made her second acquaintance with Lady Regina in the castle.
+She was received at first with coldness and indifference, and her
+spinning scarcely pleased the proud young lady.  But gradually her
+submissive mild demeanour won Regina's goodwill, and a captive's
+natural desire to communicate with beings outside the prison walls
+finally made Regina more open.
+
+They spun very little, it is true, but they talked together like
+mistress and maid, especially during the days when Dorthe was shut up
+on account of her wicked tongue, and it was quite opportune that Meri
+recollected some German from more brilliant days.  Meri knew how to
+constantly lead the conversation on to the subject of the king, and she
+soon divined Regina's enthusiastic love.  But Regina was very far from
+having any idea of Meri's earlier experiences; she ascribed her
+questions to the natural curiosity which such high personages always
+excite in the minds of the common people.  Sometimes she seemed
+astonished at the delicacy and nobleness of the simple peasant woman's
+expressions and views.  There were moments when Meri's personality
+appeared to her as an enigma full of contradictions, and then she asked
+herself whether she ought not to consider this woman as a spy.  But the
+next instant she repented this thought; and when the spinner looked at
+her with her clear, mild, penetrating gaze, then there was something
+which said to Regina's heart, this woman does not dissemble.
+
+They were sitting one day in the beginning of December, and Dorthe was
+again shut up for her unseasonable remarks to the chaplain.  There was
+a striking contrast between these two beings whom fate had brought
+together from such opposite directions, but who on one point shared the
+same interest.
+
+The first, young, proud, dark, flashing, and beautiful, a princess,
+even in captivity; the other of middle age, blonde, pale, mild, humble,
+and free, and yet very submissive.  Regina now seventeen, could be
+considered twenty; Meri now thirty-six, had something so childish and
+innocent in her whole appearance, that at certain moments she might be
+taken for seventeen.  She could have been Regina's mother, and yet she
+who had suffered so much, seemed almost like a child in comparison with
+the early matured southerner at her side.  Lady Regina had been
+spinning a little, and during the operation broken many threads.
+Provoked and impatient, she pushed the distaff away and resumed her
+embroidery.  This happened very often, and her instructress was
+accustomed to it.
+
+"That is a pretty image," said Meri, after a look at the piece of silk.
+"What does it represent?"
+
+"God's Holy Mother, Sancta Maria," answered Regina, as she made the
+sign of the cross, which she was always in the habit of doing when
+mentioning the name of the Holy Virgin.
+
+"And what is it for?" asked Meri with a naïve familiarity.
+
+Regina looked at her.  Again a suspicion came into her mind, but it
+immediately passed away.
+
+"I am embroidering the banner of the Holy Faith for Germany," replied
+Regina proudly.  "When it one day waves, the heretics will flee before
+the wrath of the mother of God."
+
+"When I think of the mother of God," said Meri, "I imagine her mild,
+good, and peaceful; I imagine her as a mother alone with her love."
+Meri said these words with a peculiar tremor in her voice.
+
+"The mother of God is Heaven's queen; she will fight against the
+godless and destroy them."
+
+"But when the mother of God takes to strife, King Gustaf Adolf will
+meet her with uncovered head and lowered sword, bend his knee to her,
+and say: 'Holy Virgin, I am not fighting for thy glory, but for that of
+thy son, our Saviour.'  'He that fights for my son also fights for me,'
+she will reply, 'because I am a mother.'"
+
+"Your king is a heretic," excitedly answered Regina.  Nothing irritated
+her more than opposition to the Catholic faith, of which the doctrine
+of the Holy Virgin as Heaven's ruler is a constituent.  "Your king is a
+tyrant and unbeliever who deserves all the anger of the saints on his
+head.  Do you know, Meri, that I hate your king?"
+
+"And I love him," said Meri in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+"Yes," continued Regina, "I hate him like sin, death, and perdition.
+If I were a man and had an arm and sword, it would be the aim of my
+life to destroy his hosts and his work.  You are happy, Meri, you know
+nothing about the war, you do not know what Gustaf Adolf has done to
+the poor Catholics.  But I have seen it, and my faith and my country
+cry out for revenge.  There are moments when I could kill him."
+
+"And when Lady Regina lifts her white hand with the gleaming dagger
+over the king's head, then the king will expose his breast where the
+great heart beats; look at her little white hand with a glance of
+sublime calmness and say, 'Thou delicate white hand, which worketh the
+image of the mother of God, strike, if thou canst, my heart is here,
+and it beats for the freedom and enlightenment of the world;' then the
+white hand will sink slowly down, and the dagger will drop from it,
+unnoticed, and God's mother on the cloth will smile again.  She knew
+well that it would be so.  It would have been just the same with
+herself.  For King Gustaf Adolf none can kill, and none hate, because
+God's angel walks by his side and turns human beings' hate to love."
+
+Regina forgot her work, and regarded Meri with her large, dark, moist
+eyes.  There was so much that surprised and astonished her in these
+words, but she kept silent.  Finally she said:
+
+"The king wears an amulet."
+
+"Yes," said Meri, "he wears a talisman, but it is not the copper ring
+that the people speak of--it is his exalted human heart which gives up
+everything for what is good and noble on earth.  When he was still very
+young, and had not yet acquired fame or renown, he only possessed his
+blonde hair, his high brow, and his mild blue eyes.  Then he wore no
+amulet, and yet blessing and love and happiness walked by his side.
+All the angels in Heaven and all human beings on earth loved him."
+
+Regina's eyes glistened with tears.
+
+"Did you see him when he was young?" she asked.
+
+"Did I see him! yes."
+
+"And you have loved him like all the others?"
+
+"More than all the others, lady."
+
+"And you love him still?"
+
+"Yes, I love him much.  Like you; but you would kill him and I would
+die for him."
+
+Regina sprang up, burst out weeping, clasped Meri in her arms and
+kissed her.
+
+"Do not think that I would kill him.  Oh, Holy Virgin, I would a
+thousand times give my life to save his!  But you do not know, Meri.
+It is an anguish that you cannot understand, it is a fearful conflict
+when one loves a man, a hero, the personification of the highest and
+grandest in life, and yet is commanded by a Holy Faith to hate this
+man, to kill him, to persecute him to the grave.  You do not know,
+happy one, who only needs to love and bless, what it means to be tossed
+between love and hate, like a ship on the mighty waves; to be obliged
+to curse one whom you bless in your heart, to sit within the walls of a
+prison a prey to the battling emotions which incessantly struggle for
+mastery in your innermost soul.  Ah! that was the night, when I tried
+to reconcile my love with my faith, and bring him, the mighty one, to
+the way of salvation.  If the saints had then allowed my weak voice to
+convince him of his error ... Then poor Regina would have followed him
+with joy as his humblest servant through all his life, and received in
+her own breast all the lances and balls that sought his heart.  But the
+saints did not grant me--unworthy being--so great an honour, and
+therefore I now sit here a prisoner on account of my faith and my love;
+and if an angel broke down the walls of my prison and said to me, 'Fly,
+your country again awaits you,' I would answer: 'It is his will, the
+beloved; for his sake I suffer, for his sake I remain,' and yet you
+believe that I wish to kill him."
+
+Regina wept much and bitterly, with all the violence of an intense
+passion which had been pent up for a long time.  Meri with gentle hands
+removed the dark locks from her brow, and looking mildly and kindly
+into her tearful eyes, said with prophetic inspiration:
+
+"Do not weep so, the day will arrive when you will be able to love
+without being obliged to curse him at the same time!"
+
+"That day will never come, Meri."
+
+"Yes, that day will come, when Gustaf Adolf is dead."
+
+"Oh, may it never come, then!  Rather would I suffer all my life ... It
+is still for his sake."
+
+"Yes, lady, that day will come, not because you are younger and he is
+older.  But have you never heard anyone say of a child which is
+brighter, kinder, and better than others, 'that child will not live
+long; it is too good for this world?'  So does it seem to me about King
+Gustaf Adolf.  He is too great, too noble, too good, to live long.
+God's angels wish to have him before his body withers and his soul
+grows weary.  Believe me, they will take him from us."
+
+Regina looked at her with an alarmed air.
+
+"Who are you that speaks such words?  How your eyes shine! you are not
+what you seem! who are you then?  Oh, Holy Virgin, protect me!"
+
+And Regina started up with all the superstitious terror that belonged
+to her time.  Probably she could not account for her fear, but Meri's
+conversation had all along seemed strange and unaccountable, coming
+from the mouth of an uncultivated peasant woman in this barbarous land.
+
+"Who am I?" repeated Meri, with the same mild look.  "I am a woman who
+loves.  That is all."
+
+"And you say that the king will die?"
+
+"God alone presides over human destinies, and the greatest among
+mortals is still but a mortal."
+
+At that moment someone opened the door, and Lady Marta entered more
+solemnly than usual, and also somewhat paler.  She now wore, instead of
+her bright striped woollen jacket, a deep mourning attire, and her
+whole appearance indicated something unusual.  Regina and Meri both
+started at the sight.
+
+Meri became pale as death, went straight to Lady Marta, looked her
+fixedly in the face, and said mechanically with a great effort,
+
+"The king is dead."
+
+"Do you know it already?" answered Lady Marta, surprised.  "God
+preserve us, the bad news came an hour ago, with a courier from Tornea."
+
+Lady Regina sank down in a swoon.
+
+Meri, with a broken heart, retained her self-possession, and tried to
+recall Regina to life.
+
+"The king has then fallen on the battlefield in the midst of victory?"
+she asked.
+
+"On the battlefield of Lützen, the 6th of November, and in the midst of
+a glorious victory," replied Lady Marta, more and more surprised at
+Meri's knowledge.
+
+"Awake, gracious lady, he has lived and died like a hero, worthy of the
+admiration of the whole world.  He has fallen in the hour of triumph,
+in the highest lustre of his glory; his name will live in all times,
+and his name we will both bless."
+
+Regina opened her dreamy eyes and clasped her hands in prayer.
+
+"Oh, Holy Virgin," she said, "I thank thee that thou hast let him go in
+his greatness from the world, and thus taken away the curse which
+rested upon my love!"
+
+And Meri dropped down at her side in prayer.
+
+But below in the castle yard stood a tall, white-haired old man, with
+his stiff features distorted by grief and despair.
+
+"A curse upon my work!" he cried; "my plan is frustrated beforehand,
+and the object for which I have lived slips from my grasp.  Oh, fool
+that I was, to count upon a human being's life, and trying to hope that
+the king would acknowledge his son, and live until the son of Aron
+Bertila's daughter had time to win a brilliant fame in war, and walk
+abreast with the heiress to the Swedish throne!  The king is dead, and
+my descendant is only a boy in his minority, who will soon be mixed
+with the multitude.  Now it is only wanting for him to gain a
+nobleman's coat of arms, and place himself amongst the vampires between
+the only true powers of the state, the king and the people.  Fool, fool
+that I was!  The king is dead!  Go, old Bertila, into the grave to
+fraternize with King John and the destroyer of aristocracy, King Carl,
+and bury thy proud plans among the same worms that have already
+consumed Prince Gustaf and Karin Mansdotter!"
+
+And the old man seized Meri, who just then came out, violently by the
+hand, and said:
+
+"Come, we have neither of us anything more to do in the world!"
+
+"Yes," said Meri with suppressed grief, "we both still have a son!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN.
+
+Until now the Swedish lion, through the wisdom and valour of Gustaf
+Adolf, and of the leaders and men trained under him, had hastened from
+victory to victory, and overthrown all his opponents.  At last a day of
+misfortune dawned; in a great battle the Swedish arms suffered a
+terrible defeat.
+
+The brilliant Wallenstein had died the death of a traitor at Eger; now
+Gallas, the destroyer, overran central Germany, captured Regensburg,
+and advanced against the free city of Nördlingen, in Schwaben; Duke
+Bernhard and Gustaf Horn hurried with the Swedish army to its rescue.
+They had, however, but 17,000 men, whilst Gallas had 33,000.
+
+"We will attack," said the duke.
+
+"Let us wait," said Horn.
+
+They expected 5,000 men as a reinforcement, and fourteen days passed.
+Then Nördlingen came to sore straits, and began to light beacon fires
+on the walls at night.  Again the duke wished to attack; again Horn
+preferred to entrench and assist the city without battle.  Then they
+called this brave soul a cowardly man; and, indignant, but with dark
+presentiments, he resolved to fight.  Repeated victories had made the
+Swedes over-confident, and they entered the conflict assured of success
+beforehand.
+
+The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1634.  Outside Nördlingen
+is a height called Arensberg, and between it and the town a smaller
+one.  Upon the last the Imperialists had raised three redoubts.
+
+The Swedish army stood on Arensberg, Horn on the right and the duke on
+the left wing.  The battle-cry was the same as at Breitenfeld and
+Lützen: God with us!
+
+Early in the morning a heavy rain fell.  Once more the wise Horn wished
+to wait, but the duke, who held the supreme command, ordered an
+advance.  Horn obeyed, and the right wing marched down the valley
+between the two heights.  The impatience of the cavalry hastened the
+conflict, which resulted unfavourably even in the very beginning.  The
+cannon of the Imperialists in the redoubts made great gaps in the lines
+of the cavalry, and the enemy's superiority made them hesitate.  Horn
+sent two brigades to storm the middle redoubt.  They captured it and
+pursued the enemy.  Piccolomini checked their course and drove them
+back to the redoubt.  There the powder happened to take fire.  With a
+terrific explosion the earthwork flew into the air, and several
+hundreds of Swedes and Finns with it.  This was the first calamity.
+
+Upon this position, however, depended the victory.  For a few moments
+the spot stood empty; Piccolomini's soldiers, alarmed by the report and
+destruction, could not be induced to advance and occupy it.  At last
+they did so.  Horn asked for help in order to expel them.  The duke
+sent the young Bohemian, Thurn, with the yellow regiment.  He made a
+mistake, attacked the wrong redoubt, and engaged with a greatly
+superior force.  Seventeen times he charged the enemy, and as often was
+he repulsed.  In vain did Horn try to storm the height.  Thurn's error
+was the second calamity.
+
+On the left wing the duke had begun the conflict against the artillery
+and cavalry.  At the first encounter the Imperialists were hurled back,
+and the duke's German cavalry broke their ranks and pursued the enemy.
+But Tilly's spirit seemed to-day to give the Imperialists courage.
+They advanced their ordered and superior troops against the assailants,
+checked them, and drove them back with loss.  The duke tried to get
+reinforcements into Nördlingen, but failed.  In vain did he drive
+Gallas before him.  New masses of the enemy constantly opposed him, and
+in his rear the Croats plundered his baggage-wagons.
+
+It was about noon.  Horn's troops had been under fire for eight
+consecutive hours, and were worn out with fatigue.  With every hour
+their hopes of victory grew less and less, but their unflinching,
+indomitable courage remained the same.  They had observed the disorder
+in the left wing.  They themselves were in a desperate plight down in
+the valley, where Piccolomini's bullets fell every moment into the
+underbush, and sprinkled the fallen branches with blood.  Then Horn
+proposed to withdraw to Arensberg, and the duke at last consented.  He
+considered the matter, however, for nearly two hours; but these two
+hours he would afterwards have been glad to purchase with half a
+lifetime.
+
+It was three o'clock in the afternoon.  Horn made the Finnish cavalry
+make a feigned attack, so as to cover the retreat, and began like a
+prudent general to withdraw in good order.  The Imperialists perceiving
+his intention, pressed on with double force.  They began to hope, what
+they had not dared to entertain before, that even the Swedes might be
+conquered, and Piccolomini's stumpy figure flew through the ranks,
+urging his men to bear down with their collected forces upon the
+Swedes' exposed flanks, and totally crush them.
+
+In the valley behind the Swedes and between the two heights flowed a
+stream with high banks, and swollen by the abundant rains.  At the
+little village of Hirnheim, the stream was spanned by a single bridge,
+and this point Horn had carefully guarded in order to secure the
+retreat.  The artillery passed first over the bridge, and were safe on
+Arensberg.  The first lines of Horn's wing had also reached the
+village, and the rest were only a short distance from it, when a new
+calamity occurred, the third and the worst on this most disastrous day.
+Duke Bernhard had undertaken to detain the enemy with his left wing
+until Horn and his men had crossed the stream.  But he soon discovered
+that he had consulted valour rather than prudence.  The enemy
+concentrated their forces, and increased their terrible attacks.  Three
+times De Werth charged the duke's cavalry; three times was he repulsed.
+The fourth time, however, he broke through the duke's lines.  In vain
+the latter sent a squadron to take him in flank.  Mad with rage, the
+duke snatched his gold-embroidered banner from an ensign's hand, and
+followed by his bravest men, rushed into the midst of the enemy.  It
+was all useless.  His best men were slain, his horse shot under him,
+and the banner wrenched from his hand; wounded and overpowered he was
+nearly taken prisoner, when a young officer at his side lent him his
+horse, and he escaped with great difficulty.  His infantry had already
+been routed, being unable to support the attacks of the cavalry on the
+open plain; and when the wounded leader galloped away, his whole wing
+followed in the utmost disorder, convinced that all was lost.
+
+At that moment, Horn's infantry crossed the narrow bridge.  Then
+confused and loud cries arose, that the battle was lost, and the enemy
+close upon them.  First single horsemen, then whole troops of the
+duke's cavalry rushed along the road to the bridge, and rode amongst
+the infantry, trampling some under their horses' hoofs, and throwing
+the rest into fearful confusion.  The efforts of Horn and his nearest
+officers to stay the frantic rout were fruitless.  On the narrow bridge
+everything was mixed pell-mell--men, horses, wagons, dead, and wounded;
+and finally the duke's whole wing rushed to this fatal spot.  Like a
+storm Piccolomini pressed upon the rear of the fugitives; he sent some
+light guns up on the heights, where they played with terrible effect on
+the retreating mass; every ball cut long lanes through it.  Then the
+Croats fell upon the rout, and as friend and foe became mixed together,
+the artillery fire had to cease.  The long lances and swords of the
+Imperial cavalry made great slaughter.  All the Swedes and Finns seemed
+doomed to destruction.
+
+Gustaf Horn, the wise and courageous Finnish general, whom Gustaf Adolf
+called "his right hand," was now the last to retain self-possession and
+courage at this terrible crisis.  With the remains of three regiments
+he had taken up a position by the bridge, and the fugitives fled past
+him without drawing his force into the current.  They implored him to
+save himself; but his stubborn, Finnish will refused to listen to these
+appeals, and he stayed where he was.  For a time the pursuit was
+checked, the only thing that Horn hoped to gain by his intrepid
+resistance.  Gallas sent one of his best Spanish brigades to oust him.
+Horn drove them back with loss.  The victorious De Werth fell upon him
+with his dragoons.  The result was the same.  The enemy now
+concentrated their forces, and Horn was attacked on three sides at
+once.  They offered him his life if he would surrender.  He replied
+with a sword-thrust, and his men gave the same response.  Not one would
+ask for quarter.  At last, when nearly all those near him had fallen,
+he was overwhelmed by numbers and taken prisoner.  Then the few
+surviving heroes surrendered.
+
+When the Swedish army in full flight rushed over Arensberg, Duke
+Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tore his hair, and exclaimed that he was a
+fool, and Horn a wise man.  Later on the duke consoled himself with
+Elsas, but that day he had reason to repent of his rashness.  Six
+thousand Swedes, Finns, and Germans covered the blood-stained heights
+of Nordlingen; 6,000 were taken prisoners, and amongst them the two
+Finns, Horn and Wittenberg, who were well treated by the enemy.  Of the
+other 10,000, half were wounded, and most of the remaining mercenaries
+deserted.  The army had lost 4,000 baggage-wagons, 300 banners, and all
+their artillery.  A miserable remnant made its way to Mentz, plundering
+and pillaging as it fled, and suffering from extreme want.
+
+More disastrous to Sweden than the loss of these 12,000 men was the
+damage to its prestige, and the enemy's regained belief in victory.
+The battle of Nordlingen became the turning point in the Thirty Years'
+War, and excited both joy and consternation.  throughout Europe, until
+Baner's genius and victories restored their lost lustre to the Swedish
+arms once more.
+
+Amongst those who fought at Horn's side to the last, was our old
+friend, Captain Larsson.  The sturdy little captain had on this
+occasion no time to open his talkative mouth; he perspired profusely
+from the heat, and had fought since dawn; yet he had not received the
+least scratch upon his fleshy person.  Let it be said in his praise,
+that at Nordlingen he thought of neither Rhine wine or Bavarian nuns,
+but honestly plied his weapons as well as possible.  Nevertheless, we
+will not assert that he then cut down thirty Imperialists with his
+trusty sword, as he afterwards declared in good faith.
+
+He was taken prisoner with Horn; but it was not his capture that most
+provoked the captain, but the terrible vexation he experienced on
+seeing the Croats afterwards empty at their leisure the Swedish stock
+of wine which they had captured with the baggage-wagons.
+
+Another of our friends, Lieutenant Bertel, fought at the duke's side
+all day, and was the one who offered him his horse.  We shall see,
+by-and-by, that the duke did not forget this service.  Bertel, like
+Larsson, was hotly engaged in the battle, but, less fortunate than the
+latter, received several wounds, and was finally borne along in the
+stream of fugitives to Arensberg.  Almost without knowing how, he found
+himself the next day far from the battlefield, and proceeded with the
+remnant of the duke's army to Mentz.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE LOST SON.
+
+It is Epiphany, in 1635, thus in mid-winter.  In Aron Bertila's
+"stuga,"* at Storkyro, a large fire of pine logs crackled on the
+spacious hearth, for at that time heavy forests still grew around the
+fertile fields.  Outside rages a snow-storm, with a heavy blast; the
+wolves howl on the ice of the stream; the famished lynx prowls around
+to find shelter.  It is Twelfth-day evening, an hour or two after
+twilight.  The Storkyro peasant king sits in his high-backed chair, at
+a short distance from the hearth, listening with scattered thoughts to
+his daughter Meri, who by the firelight reads aloud a chapter of
+Agricola's Finnish New Testament, for at that period the whole Bible
+had not been translated into the Finnish tongue.  Bertila has grown
+very old since we last met him, then still vigorous in his old age.
+The great ideas that constantly revolve in his bald head give him no
+peace, and yet these plans are now completely shattered by the king's
+death, like fragments from a shipwreck floating around on the stormy
+billows of a dark sea.  Strong souls like his generally succumb only by
+destroying themselves.  All the changes and misfortunes of his
+turbulent life had not been able to break his iron will; but grief over
+a ruined hope, the vain attempt to reconstruct the vanished castles in
+the air, and the sorrow of seeing his own children themselves tear down
+his work, all this gnawed like a vulture upon his inner life.  A single
+thought had made him twenty years older in two years, and this idea was
+presumptuous even to madness.
+
+
+* A large room, filling the entire house space with the exception of
+one or two small chambers.  Sleeping bunks are arranged round the
+walls.  The later peasants' houses have more rooms.
+
+
+"Why is not one of my own family at this moment King of Sweden?"  Thus
+it ran.
+
+At times Meri raises her mild blue eyes from the Holy Book and regards
+her old father with anxious looks.  She, too, looks older; the quiet
+sorrow lies like the autumn over green groves; it neither breaks or
+kills, but makes the fresh leaves wither on the tree of life.  Meri's
+glance is full of peace and submission.  The thought that shines forth
+from her soul like a sun at its setting, is none other than this:
+
+"Beyond the grave I shall again meet the joy of my heart, and then he
+will no longer wear an earthly crown."
+
+Near her, to the left, sits old Larsson, short and stout like his
+jovial son.  His good-natured, hearty face has for a time assumed a
+more solemn expression, as he listens to the reading of the sacred
+book.  His hands are folded as in prayer, and now and then he stirs the
+fire a little, with friendly attention, so that Meri can see better.
+
+Behind him in a devotional attitude sit some of the field hands; and
+this group, illuminated by the reflection of the fire, is completed by
+a purring grey cat, and a large shaggy watch-dog, curled up under
+Meri's feet, to which he seems proud to serve as a footstool.
+
+When Meri in her reading came to the place in Luke, where it speaks of
+the Prodigal Son, old Bertila's eyes began to glitter with a sinister
+light.
+
+"The reprobate!" he muttered to himself.  "To waste one's inheritance,
+that is nothing!  But to forget one's old father ... by God, that is
+shameful!"
+
+Meri read until she came to the Prodigal Son's repentance: "And he
+arose and came to his father.  But when he was yet a great way off, his
+father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and
+kissed him."
+
+"What a fool of a father!" again muttered Aron Bertila to himself.  "He
+ought to have bound him with cords, beaten him with rods, and then
+driven him away from his house back to the riotous living and the empty
+wine-cups!"
+
+"Father!" whispered Meri reproachfully.  "Be merciful, as our Heavenly
+Father is merciful, and takes the lost children to His arms."
+
+"And if your son ever returns..." began Larsson in the same tone.  But
+Bertila stopped him.
+
+"Hold your tongues, and don't trouble yourselves about me.  I have no
+longer any son ... who falls repentant at my feet," he added directly,
+when he saw two large, clear pearls glistening in Meri's eyelashes.
+
+She continued: "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned
+against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called
+thy son."
+
+"Stop reading that!" burst out the old man, in a bad temper.  "See that
+my bed is in order, and let the folks go to sleep; it is now late."
+
+At this moment horses' hoofs were heard outside on the creaking snow.
+This unusual occurrence on the evening of a sacred day made Larsson go
+to the low window, and breathe on the frost-covered pane, so as to look
+out into the storm.  A sleigh, drawn by two horses, worked its way
+through the snow-drifts and drove into the yard.  Two men in sheep-skin
+cloaks jumped out.
+
+Seized with a sudden intuition, Larsson hurried out to meet the
+travellers, and quick as lightning Meri followed him.  The door swung
+to behind them, and there was a moment's delay before it opened again.
+
+But now a young man in a soldier's garb entered with bowed head, threw
+aside his plumed hat, white with snow, and going straight to old
+Bertila, knelt down, and bent his beautiful curly head still lower, as
+he said:
+
+"Father, I am here, and ask your blessing!"
+
+And behind him stood Meri and old Larsson, both with clasped hands, and
+raising their pleading eyes to the stern old man, with the same words:
+
+"Father, here is thy son, give him thy blessing!"
+
+For a brief moment Bertila struggled with himself, his lips slightly
+trembled, and his hand was unconsciously stretched out, as if to lift
+up the young man at his feet.  But soon his bald head rose higher, his
+hand drew back, his keen eyes flashed darker than ever, and his lips
+trembled no more.
+
+"Go!" said he, short and sharp; "go, you reprobate boy, back to your
+brother noblemen, and your sisters, the fine ladies.  What seek you in
+the plain peasant's 'stuga,' which you despise?  Go!  I have no longer
+a son!"
+
+But the youth went not.
+
+"Do not be angry, my father," he said, "if in my youthful ambition I
+have at any time violated your commands.  Who sent me out amongst the
+great and illustrious ones of the earth, to win fame and honour?  Who
+bade me go to the war to ennoble my peasant name with great deeds?  Who
+exposed me to the temptation of all the brilliant examples which
+surrounded the king?  You, and only you, my father; and now you thrust
+away your son, who for your sake twice refused a patent of nobility."
+
+"You!" exclaimed the old man with foaming rage.  "You renounce a patent
+of nobility, you, who have blushed for your peasant name and taken
+another which would look more imposing?  No, on your knees have you
+begged for a coat of arms.  What do I know about its being offered you;
+what do I care.  I only know that since your earliest childhood I have
+tried to implant in your soul, recreant, that there are no other
+rightful powers than the king and people, that all who place themselves
+between, whether they bear the name of aristocrats, ecclesiastics, or
+what not, are monstrosities, a ruin, a curse to State and country ...
+all this have I tried to teach you, and the fruit of my teachings has
+been that you have smuggled yourself among this nobility, which I hate
+and despise, that you have coveted its empty titles, paraded with its
+extravagant display, imbibed its prejudices, and now you stand here, in
+your father's house, with a lie on your lips, and aristocratic vanity
+in your heart.  Go, degenerate son!  Aron Bertila is what he has always
+been--a peasant!  He curses and rejects you, apostate!"
+
+With these words the old man turned away, rose and went with a firm
+step and a high head into the little bed-chamber, leaving Bertel still
+on his knees in the same place.
+
+"Hear me, father, father!" cried Bertel after him, as he quickly
+unbuttoned his coat and took out a folded paper; "this paper I have
+intended to tear to pieces at your feet!"
+
+But the old father did not hear him; the paper fell to the ground, and
+when Larsson, a moment later, unfolded and read it, he saw it contained
+a diploma from the Regency in Stockholm, conferring upon Gustaf Bertel,
+captain of horse in the "life-guards," a patent of nobility, and a coat
+of arms with the name of _Bertelsköld_* at Duke Bernhard of Weimar's
+solicitation.
+
+
+* Bertila is a Finnish peasant name.  Bertel is a burgher name.
+Bertelsköld is a noble name, indicated by the termination sköld, always
+a sign of nobility in Sweden and Finland.
+
+
+While all in the "stuga" were still perfectly stupefied by old
+Bertila's conduct, three of Fru Marta's soldiers from Korsholm entered
+in great haste.
+
+"Hullo, boys!" they exclaimed to the hands, "have you seen her?  Here
+is something that will pay.  Two hundred silver thalers reward to him
+who seizes and brings back, alive or dead, Lady Regina von Emmeritz,
+state prisoner at Korsholm."
+
+At the sound of this name Bertel was aroused from his stupefying grief,
+sprang up, and seized the speaker by the collar.
+
+"Wretch, what did you say?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Ho, ho, if you please!  Be a little more careful when you speak to the
+people of the Royal Majesty and the Crown.  I tell you that the German
+traitress, the papistical sorceress, Lady von Emmeritz, succeeded in
+escaping last night from Korsholm castle, and that he who does not help
+to catch her is a traitor and a..."
+
+The man had no time to finish his speech, before a blow from Bertel's
+strong arm stretched him at full-length on the floor.
+
+"Ha, my father, you have wished it!" cried the young man, and in a
+flash was outside the door and in his sleigh, which at the next moment
+was heard driving off through the raging tempest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE FUGITIVE LADY.
+
+We will now see what has become of Lady Regina, and what has induced
+her to exchange Fru Marta's tender care for the desperate adventure of
+fleeing in the middle of winter, through a strange country filled with
+desolate tracts, where she was profoundly ignorant of the roads and
+paths, and did not even know how to make herself understood in the
+language of the people.
+
+We must not overlook the fact that our story is laid in a period when
+Catholicism and Lutheranism were in the sharpest conflict; when
+Lutheranism, heated by the violent opposition, was as little inclined
+to religious tolerance as Catholicism itself.  Fru Marta had once for
+all been possessed by the idea that she was in duty bound to convert
+Lady Regina to the Lutheran faith, and from this well-meant but futile
+enterprise, no one could dissuade her.  She therefore persisted, in and
+out of season, to torment the poor girl with her views; sometimes with
+books, sometimes with exhortations, and at others with persuasions and
+threats, or promises of freedom; and when Regina refused to read the
+books, or listen to the preaching, the zealous old lady had prayers
+read in her prisoner's room every morning and evening, as well as
+services on Sundays.  All these means were thrown away on what Fru
+Marta considered Regina's stubbornness.  The more the former exerted
+herself, the calmer, colder, and more unyielding became her captive.
+Regina naturally looked upon herself as a martyr for her faith, and
+suffered every humiliation with apparent fortitude for the sake of the
+holy cause.
+
+But within the young girl's veins fermented the hot southern blood, and
+it was with great difficulty that she could always appear calm on the
+surface.  There were times when Regina would have blown up the whole of
+Korsholm, if it had been in her power.  But the old granite walls
+defied her silent rage, and flight finally became her only method of
+escape from the persecution.  Night and day she pondered over it; and
+at last she discovered a means of eluding Fru Marta's vigilance.
+
+In Kajaneborg castle was then confined the celebrated and unfortunate
+Johannes Messenius, who in his youth had been educated by the Jesuits
+in Braunsberg, and chosen by them to become the apostle of Catholicism
+in Sweden.  Imprisoned for his lampoons and conspiracies in the
+interest of Sigismund's party, he had now for nineteen years, under
+hard treatment, sat there like a mole in his hole, when the report of
+his learning, his misfortunes, and his Popish sentiments reached Lady
+Regina in her prison.  From this moment some bold plans began to
+ferment in the young girl's mind.
+
+One day, about New Year's time, a wandering German quack came to
+Korsholm with his medicine-chest on his back, just like peddling Jews
+at a later date.*  Such doctors and apothecaries combined in one
+individual did a lucrative business at the expense of the common
+people, and were frequently consulted even by the upper classes, for in
+the whole country there was not a single regular physician, and only
+one apothecary in Abo; and even this one was not well stocked.  No
+wonder, then, that our man found enough to do, even at Korsholm, what
+with pains, stomach-aches, and gout; nay, Fru Marta, who, every time
+she had thrashed her male servants, complained of colic and shortness
+of breath, received the foreign doctor with very good will.  In a few
+days the latter was quite at home, and thus it fell out that he was
+called in to prescribe for Lady Regina, who was suffering from a severe
+headache.
+
+
+* It was peculiar that the surgeon always spoke of quacks with great
+contempt, although he had himself travelled about with a medicine chest
+on his back.
+
+
+This time, Fru Marta's usual perspicacity deserted her.  Two days
+afterwards the young lady, old Dorthe, and the quack doctor were all
+missing.  A grating which had been broken off from the outside, and a
+rope ladder, made it certain that the quack had been instrumental in
+procuring for the prisoner a free passage over wall and ramparts.  Fru
+Marta forgot both her colic and shortness of breath, from sheer
+amazement and anger, stirred up the castle and the town, and
+immediately dispatched her soldiers in all directions to capture the
+fugitives.  It will soon be seen how far she succeeded.
+
+Let us now return for a moment to Bertel, whom we find driving ahead in
+the stormy night, attended by the faithful Pekka, and with a heart full
+of the most conflicting feelings.  The faithful attendant could not
+understand the enormous folly of leaving a cheerful fireside and good
+wholesome porridge, for snow-drifts and wolves in the wild woods, as
+soon as they had arrived.  Neither did Bertel comprehend it himself.
+On returning to the north, by way of Tornel, on a furlough from
+Germany, while the army lay in winter quarters, he had hurried through
+Storkyro to Vasa, which was his secret destination.  And now he had met
+in one place a father's anger, and in the other the empty walls, where
+she had been, but was no longer.  Regina had disappeared without
+leaving a trace.
+
+"Where shall I drive?" asked Pekka monotonously and gruffly, when they
+entered the broad highway.
+
+"Wherever you like," answered his master just as testily.
+
+Pekka turned his horses towards Vasa, about twenty miles away.  Bertel
+noticed this.
+
+"Ass!" he cried, "have I not ordered you to drive north?"
+
+"North!" repeated Pekka mechanically, and with a heavy sigh turned his
+horses towards Ny-Karleby, to which town it was quite forty miles.  At
+that time they had no regular stations, with horses provided for the
+accommodation of travellers.  But there were farms at intervals, where
+all who travelled on Government business could reckon on finding
+horses, while other travellers were obliged to bargain as best they
+could.
+
+The parsonages were the usual stopping-places for the night, and always
+had a room in order in an out-building, where beds of straw and a table
+with cold food stood hospitably prepared for travellers.
+
+It was, therefore, quite natural that Pekka, with his mind still full
+of the porridge-kettle, ventured to ask as a further question whether
+they would spend the night at Wort parsonage.
+
+"Drive to Ylihärmä," answered the captain of horse, provoked, and
+wrapping himself up in his long sheepskin cloak, for the night wind was
+icy cold.
+
+"The devil take me if I understand the pranks of these noblemen!"
+murmured Pekka to himself, as he turned off into the narrow village
+road, which from Storkyro leads northward towards Lappo parish.
+
+Here the snow had drifted several feet high between the fences, and the
+travellers could only advance step by step.  After an hour's efforts
+the horses were completely worn out, and stopped every few paces.
+
+Bertel, absorbed in his thoughts, was scarcely conscious of it.  They
+had left Kyro's wide plains behind them, and were now in the midst of
+Lappo's thick woods.  The silence of the wilderness, interrupted by the
+wailing of the storm, surrounded the travellers on all sides, and as
+far as the eye could reach there were no traces of human habitations.
+
+Pekka had for a time walked by the side of the sleigh, and with his
+broad shoulders lifted it up again, when it sank so deep in the snow
+that the horses' strength was insufficient to move it from the spot.
+
+Finally his sinewy arms also refused their services, and the sleigh
+stopped right in the midst of a mountain of snow.
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Bertel impatiently, "what is the matter?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Pekka stolidly, "except that we need neither priest
+nor undertaker to find us a grave."
+
+"How far is it from here to the nearest farm?"
+
+"Between six and seven miles, I think."
+
+"Do you not see something resembling a light, far away there in the
+woods?"
+
+"Yes, yes, it looks like it..."
+
+"Unharness the horses and let us ride there."
+
+"No, dear master, it is of no use; these woods have been fearfully
+haunted, that I know of old, ever since the peasants beat the bailiff
+to death during the Club War, and burned his house and his innocent
+children."
+
+"Nonsense!  I tell you that we will ride there."
+
+"It is all the same to me."
+
+In a few moments the horses were taken out of the traces, and the two
+travellers pushed on in the direction of the light, which sometimes
+disappeared and then again shone between the snow-covered pines.
+
+"But tell me, Pekka," resumed Bertel, "what is the story about this
+wilderness?  I remember that I often heard them speak of it in my
+childhood."
+
+"Yes, yes, your mother was born here."
+
+"There used to be quite a little colony in this wood."
+
+"Yes, indeed, it was many hundreds of acres in extent.  The bailiffs
+had laid it all out for miles, as far back as Gustaf Vasa's time; and
+here many hundreds of tons of grain have been grown, so father has told
+me; and the noble bailiff had built a fine house here, and lived like a
+prince in the wilderness; and then, as I told you, the peasants came
+and set fire to the place in the night-time, destroying both people and
+cattle, with the exception of the young 'Lady,' whom your father saved
+and afterwards took for his wife.  It is very certain that he had a
+finger in that pie."
+
+"And so the farm was never built up again."
+
+"You may depend upon it that the fields were a fat slice, and so there
+were plenty of people ready to move here and bid defiance to the devil.
+But the old Evil One was too artful for them; he began to make such a
+rumpus here with supernatural performances day and night, so that no
+one was sure of his life, much less of his sinful soul.  If they sat in
+their homes, the chairs were pulled from under them, and the
+porridge-bowl rolled of its own accord down on the floor; the stones
+were torn from the walls and were showered around people's ears.  If
+they went out in the woods they were no better off; they had to keep a
+sharp look-out that the trees did not come crashing down upon their
+heads, although the weather might be perfectly quiet, and that the
+ground did not open under their feet, and draw them down into a
+bottomless pit.  And when I think that we are now travelling through
+the same woods ... Oh, oh, I am sinking..."
+
+"You fool, it is only the pure snow!--and then you say people could not
+stand it any longer?"
+
+"They all moved away, so that there was not even a cat left, except an
+old cottager, but I suppose he died long ago.  The whole settlement was
+again deserted, the ditches filled up, the fields became covered with
+moss, and the pine-woods spread over the former grain lands.  It is now
+forty years since that time..."
+
+And Pekka, who was not in the habit of making long speeches, seemed
+astonished at his own loquacity, and came to a sudden stop as he
+reigned in his horse.
+
+"What is it now?" asked Bertel impatiently.
+
+"I don't see a glimpse of the light."
+
+"Neither do I.  It is hidden by the trees."
+
+"No, dear master, it is not concealed by the trees; it has sunk into
+the earth after decoying us here into the depths of the forest.  Did
+not I tell you that it would be so?  We shall never get out of this
+alive."
+
+"For the devil's sake ride on and do not stop, else both man and beast
+will stiffen with the cold.  It seems to me I see something like a hut
+over there."
+
+"Fine hut; it is nothing but a granite rock with grey sides, from which
+the wind has blown away the snow.  It is all over with us."
+
+"Hold your tongue, and ride on!  Here we have an open space with young
+woods; I caught a glimpse of something there between the snow-drifts."
+
+"All the saints be with us!  We are now on the very spot where the
+house stood.  Do you not see the old fire-place sticking out through
+the snow?  Not a step farther, master!"
+
+"I am not mistaken ... it is the hut."
+
+Bertel and his companion found themselves on very rough ground, where
+the horses stumbled at every step over large stones, or sank into great
+hollows covered with snow.  Deep snow-drifts and fallen trees made it
+worse still, as if to obstruct the passage to a dilapidated peasant's
+hut, which by design or chance was hidden behind two spreading firs,
+with branches hanging to the ground.  The only window of the hut had a
+shutter, which was at one moment blown open by the wind and then
+slammed to again, thus causing the light within to show itself and
+disappear by turns.
+
+Bertel dismounted from his horse, tied it to a branch of the fir, and
+approached the window to throw a glance inside.  A secret hope gave
+wings to his feet.  He took it for granted that unless the fugitives
+had gone in a northerly direction, they could not have followed the
+main highway, but had sought to escape their pursuers on the side
+roads.  But in this part of the plain of East Bothnia hundreds of small
+roads crossed each other at that time, all leading to the new
+settlements in the East.  Who told him that the fugitives would select
+just this road?
+
+Still his heart beat faster when he approached the window.  Of the four
+small panes two were of horn, which was formerly used in default of
+glass; one of them was broken and stopped up with moss; only the fourth
+was of glass, but so covered with ice and snow that at first nothing
+could be seen.  Bertel breathed on the glass, but found to his vexation
+that the frost on the inside defied his curiosity.  Just then his horse
+neighed.
+
+It seemed ridiculous to Bertel to stand spying into a poor peasant's
+hut.  He was already on the point of knocking at the door, when at that
+instant a shadow obscured the light, and the frost on the inside of the
+glass was quickly melted by the breath of a human being, as eager to
+look out as he was to look in.  Bertel was soon able to discern a face
+with burning eyes, which stared out close to the window, to discover
+the cause of a horse's neighing so late at night in the wilderness.
+
+The sight of this face had the effect of an electric shock upon the
+inquisitive captain.  With his thoughts on the beautiful Regina, Bertel
+had expected a sight not involving so great a contrast.  But instead he
+beheld a corpse-like face surrounded by a black tight-fitting, leather
+hood, and this dark frame made the pale face seem still paler.
+
+Bertel had seen these features before, and when he searched his memory,
+the picture of a terrible night in the Bavarian woods rose before his
+mental vision.  Involuntarily he drew back, and hesitated for a moment.
+This motion was observed by Pekka, who had remained on his horse so as
+to be ready to fly.
+
+"Quick, away from here!" he cried.  "I have told you that nobody but
+the devil himself lives in these woods."
+
+"Yes, you are right," said Bertel, now smiling at his own fears, and
+what he considered to be the offspring of his heated fancy.  "If ever
+the Prince of Darkness has assumed a human form, then he resides in
+this hut.  But that is just the reason why we will look the worthy
+gentleman in the face, and force him to give us lodgings for the night.
+Hullo, there! open the door to some travellers."
+
+These words were accompanied by some heavy blows on the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.
+
+After some time the door was opened, and an old man, bent with age, and
+with snow-white hair, disclosed himself.  Accustomed by the right of
+war to take whatever was necessary, when it was not given voluntarily,
+Bertel pushed the old man aside and entered the miserable hut without
+ceremony.  To his great astonishment he found it empty.  A half burnt
+"perta,"* stuck in between the bricks of the fire-place, threw a
+flickering light around this abode of poverty.  There was no door
+except the entrance; no living being besides the old man and a large
+woolly dog, which lay outstretched on the hearth, and showed his teeth
+to the uninvited guest.
+
+
+* A thin stick of pine-wood, a yard long and an inch thick, which the
+peasants sometimes use instead of candles.
+
+
+"Where is the man in the black leather hood, who was here a moment
+ago?" asked Bertel sharply.
+
+"God bless your grace," answered the old man humbly and evasively, "who
+could be here but your grace?"
+
+"Out with the truth!  Somebody must be hidden here.  Under the bed ...
+no.  Behind the oven ... no.  And yet you have just had a large fire
+kindled in the fire-place.  What?  I believe it is put out with water?
+Answer."
+
+"It is so cold, your grace, and the hut is full of cracks..."
+
+Bertel's aroused suspicions were not so easily dispelled.  His eyes
+searched every part of the room, and soon discovered a little object
+which had fallen under a bench.  It was a fine and soft lady's glove,
+lined with flannel.
+
+"Will you now confess, old wretch?" burst out the excited young man.
+
+The old man seemed dismayed, but only for a moment.  He suddenly
+changed his manner, nodded slyly, and pointed to the corner nearest the
+oven.  Bertel followed the hint ... took a few steps ... and suddenly
+felt himself precipitated downwards.  He had fallen into the open hole
+of a cellar, whose entrance had been hidden by the heavy shadow of the
+fire-place.  Instantly a trap-door was closed over the opening, and he
+heard the rattling of an iron hook, which secured the trap and deprived
+him of all chance of opening the door from below.
+
+Bertel had fallen into one of those places under the floor in which
+poor people keep roots and home-brewed beer.  The cellar was not deep,
+nor his fall dangerous, but, nevertheless, Bertel's anger was quite
+natural.  The little glove had betrayed the whole story.  She must be
+here; she, the beautiful, proud, unfortunate princess, whom he had so
+long adored in secret.  Perhaps she had fallen into the hands of cruel
+robbers.  And just now, when he was near to her after years of longing,
+and when, perhaps, she most needed his help and protection, he had been
+caught in a miserable trap; imprisoned in a rat-hole, more miserable
+than the hut itself, of which the floor this moment served him for a
+ceiling.  In vain did he try to lift up the planks of the floor by the
+strength of his shoulders; they were as inexorable as the fate which
+had so long mocked his dearest hopes.
+
+Then he heard the footsteps of several persons passing over the floor
+overhead.  Then all was silent.
+
+Pekka was now Bertel's only hope, but the former had not dared to enter
+the hut.  Nothing was heard of him, however, and three or four hours
+passed in torturing suspense, increased by the prospect of perishing
+from hunger and cold.  Then steps again sounded overhead; the iron hook
+was unfastened, and the trap-door raised.  Half-frozen, Bertel crawled
+up from the damp hole, in the firm belief that Pekka had at last spied
+out his prison.  He was met instead by the old man with the snow-white
+hair, who, humble and submissive as before, offered his hand to help
+him up.
+
+The enraged young warrior seized him by his bony shoulders, and
+proceeded to catechise him in a thorough manner.
+
+"Wretch," he exclaimed, "are you tired of life, or do you not know what
+you are doing, dotard?  What hinders me from crushing your miserable
+carcase against the walls of your own hut?"
+
+The old man looked at him with an unchanging countenance.
+
+"Do so, Bertila's son," he replied; "kill your mother's old faithful
+servant if you wish; why should he live any longer?"
+
+"My mother's old servant, do you say?"
+
+"I am the last survivor of all those who formerly inhabited this
+fertile region, which is now a wilderness.  It was I who said to Aron
+Bertila, when my master's house was destroyed in blood and ashes: 'Save
+my young mistress.'  And Bertila did it; cursed is he and blessed at
+the same time!  He carried my lovely young mistress out of the flames,
+and she, a noble maiden, became the haughty peasant's humble wife."
+
+"But are you mad, old man?  If you are, as you say, my mother's old
+servant, why did you shut me up in that damned hole?  You must admit
+that your friendship is of a strange kind."
+
+"Kill me, sir.  I am ninety years of age.  Kill me, I am a Catholic!"
+
+"You!  Well, by my sword now I begin to understand you."
+
+"I am the last Catholic in this country.  I belong to King John's and
+King Sigismund's time.  I am one of the four who buried the last nun in
+Nadendal's cloister.  For twenty years I have not heard mass, or been
+sprinkled with holy water.  But all the saints be praised, an hour
+before your arrival, I had eaten of the holy wafer."
+
+"A monk has been in your hut?"
+
+"Yes, sir, one of ours."
+
+"And with him a young girl and her old waiting-maid?  Answer."
+
+"Yes, sir, they were in his company."
+
+"And on my arrival you concealed them..."
+
+"In the garret.  Yes, your grace."
+
+"Then you decoyed me into that miserable rat-hole, while you allowed
+the women and the monk to escape."
+
+"I do not deny that it is so."
+
+"And what do you think that your reward will be?"
+
+"Anything--death, perhaps."
+
+"I will spare your life on one condition: you shall show me the way the
+fugitives have taken."
+
+"My life; I told you that I was ninety years old."
+
+"And you do not fear the torture?"
+
+"The saints be praised, if I was worthy of so great an honour."
+
+"But if I burn you alive in your own hut?"
+
+"The holy martyrs have been burnt at the stake."
+
+"No, old man, I am not an executioner.  I have learnt in the service of
+my king to revere faithfulness."  And Bertel pressed the old man's hand
+with emotion.
+
+"But I will tell you one thing," he continued, "you think that I have
+come to take the fugitives back to their prison.  It is not so.  I give
+you my word of honour, that I will defend Lady Regina's freedom with my
+life's blood, and do all in my power to favour her flight.  Will you
+now tell me which way she has gone?"
+
+"No, your grace," said the calm old man; "the young lady is under the
+protection of the saints, and a wise man's guidance.  You are
+hot-blooded and young, and would bring them all to ruin.  Turn back,
+you will not find any trace of the fugitives."
+
+"Bull-head," muttered Bertel indignantly.  "Farewell, I shall get along
+without your help."
+
+"Remain here quietly until to-morrow, your grace.  To-night you are at
+liberty to walk, if you choose, six miles through the high snow-drifts,
+to the nearest farm.  To-morrow you can ride comfortably."
+
+"Wretch! you have sent my horses away?"
+
+"Yes, your grace ... you must be hungry.  Here is a kettle with boiled
+turnips; may they be to your taste."
+
+"Ah!" thought Bertel to himself, as he impatiently paced the floor, "I
+would not let Larsson see me at this moment for ten bottles of Rhine
+wine.  He would certainly compare me to the wandering knight of La
+Mancha, who, on the way to his Dulcinea, fell into the most peculiar
+adventures.  How shall I get away from here through these terrible
+snow-drifts?"
+
+"But," he added aloud, "I have an idea; I will try if one of the
+greatest amusements of my youth cannot serve me a good turn now.  Old
+man, where do you keep your snow-shoes?"
+
+"My snow-shoes?" replied the old man, confused.  "I have none."
+
+"You have, I see it in your face.  No Finn in the wilderness is without
+snow-shoes.  Out with them, quick!"
+
+And without heeding the old man, Bertel pushed open the door which led
+to the garret, and drew out a fine pair of snow-shoes.
+
+"Well, old friend," exclaimed the young cavalier, "what do you think of
+my horses? ... I call them mine, for I will bet anything that you will
+sell them to me for three hard silver thalers: swifter steeds have
+seldom hurried over high snow-drifts.  If you have any greeting for the
+monk or Lady Regina, I will take it with pleasure."
+
+"Do not go alone into the wilderness," said the old man.  "There is
+neither track or path; the woods extend for miles, and are filled with
+wolves.  It will be certain death to you."
+
+"You are wrong, my friend," replied Bertel.  "If I am not mistaken,
+there are traces in two directions: one from my horses, the other from
+the fugitives.  Tell me, did they go in a sleigh, or on horseback?"
+
+"I think they went on horseback."
+
+"Then I am certain they drove.  You are a finished rogue.  But I
+forgive you for the sake of your excellent snow-shoes.  Farewell, in a
+couple of hours I will find those whom I seek."
+
+With these words Bertel hurried out.
+
+It was yet early in the morning, a short time before sunrise.  But
+fortunately the storm had ceased, the sky was clear, and the winter
+stars twinkled brightly in the blue firmament.  The cold had increased,
+and a sharp frost had covered all the branches and snowdrifts with
+those ice diamonds, which at once dazzle and charm the wanderer's eye.
+The sight of woods and snow on a starry winter morning gives the
+Northerner a peculiar exhilarating feeling.  There is in this scene a
+grandeur, a splendour, a purity, a freshness, which carries him back to
+the impressions of his childhood and the brilliant illusions of youth.
+There is nothing to cramp the heart, or paralyze the soaring
+imagination; all is there so vast, so solemn, so free.  One might say
+that nature in this deep silence of winter and night is dead, and yet
+she lives, warm and rich, in the wanderer's heart.
+
+It is as if she had in this little spot, this solitary place in the
+wilderness, compressed all her throbbing life, only to let it exist all
+the more beautifully in the midst of silence, stillness, and the
+radiance of the stars.
+
+Bertel also experienced this feeling of freshness and life.  He was
+still young and open to every impression.  As he hastened along, light
+as the wind, between the trees and snow-drifts, he felt like a child.
+It seemed to him that he was again the boy who flew over the snow on
+Storkyro plains to spread his snares for the black-cock in the woods.
+It was true that he was a little unsteady in the beginning for lack of
+practice, and the snow-shoes slid merrily down the icy slopes;
+occasionally he made false pushes, and sometimes stumbled, but he soon
+regained his former skill, and stood firm on the uneven ground.
+
+Now it was necessary to find the traces of the fugitives, and this was
+not easy.  Bertel had wandered about for more than an hour in the
+direction of Ylihärmä, but had not discovered the slightest sign.  The
+last outbreak of the storm had destroyed all indications; one could
+only see the fresh track of the wolf, where he had just trotted along,
+and now and then a frightened bird flew between the branches which were
+heavy with snow.  Want of sleep, hunger, and fatigue, exhausted the
+young man's strength.  The cold increased as sunrise approached, and
+covered his moustache and plumed hat with frost.
+
+At last he saw on a wood-path, which the broad pines had shielded from
+the blast, fresh traces of runners and horses' feet.  Bertel followed
+these with renewed energy; at times the tracks were lost in the snow,
+and then reappeared where the road was sheltered.  The sun rose deep
+red in the south-east over the tops of the trees.  The day was cold and
+clear.  In every direction nothing was to be seen but trees and
+snow-drifts, but far away in the north a little column of smoke rose
+towards the morning sky.  Bertel aimed at this point.  The snow-shoes
+regained their speed, the road seemed smoother, and at last the weary
+adventurer reached a solitary farmhouse by the side of the high road.
+
+The first person he encountered was Pekka, who was going to feed his
+horses.
+
+"Scoundrel!" cried Bertel, with glad surprise, "who sent you here?"
+
+"Who?" repeated Pekka, equally delighted and astonished.  "Well, I
+shall tell you that the devil did it.  I waited and waited outside that
+accursed old shanty in the woods until my eyes and feet became heavy
+together, where I sat in the snow-drift.  After a little while I was
+aroused by the neighing of horses.  And then I saw a sleigh just like
+ours harnessed to two horses, dashing away along the road.  It is
+either my master or the devil.  It is all the same to me.  I will
+follow him, I said.  Then I climbed up again on the horse's back.  I
+was so hungry that it is a shame to speak of it; but I went after him.
+Finally the horse became tired and I lost sight of the sleigh; and
+thanked are both Lutheran and Catholic saints that I came here to the
+farm and got a good bowl of porridge.  For was it not at Lützen and
+Nördlingen ... it is damned cold at Ylihärmä, that is sure."
+
+"Good," said Bertel, "they shall not escape us.  But do you know one
+thing, Pekka: there are moments when hunger and want of sleep are even
+stronger than love itself.  Come, let us go in."
+
+Bertel entered, and drank a bowl of boiled milk, and threw himself,
+overcome by fatigue, on a straw bed in the "stuga."  Here we will leave
+our wandering knight for a couple of hours in peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+KAJANEBORG.
+
+Far away in the North roar the mighty waters of the sea under vaults of
+ice; the _fors_ never freezes, the green of the pine never withers, and
+the grey rocks, which confine the foaming floods in narrow ravines,
+never shake.  Here the powers of nature have pursued their incessant
+warfare for centuries without rest, without reconciliation; the flood
+never tires of battling with the rocks, and these persist in resisting
+the stream; the hills never seem to grow old, and the immense morasses
+defy cultivation; the frosty transparent atmosphere quivers as of old
+in the northern light, and the winter sky looks down with its
+imperturbable, majestic calm upon the scattered huts on the banks of
+the streams.
+
+This is the home of night and terror; this is the shadow of Finnish
+poetry's golden pictures.  Here the light-shunning Black Art spins its
+webs around human beliefs; here are the graves of heroes; here the last
+giants spent their rude strength in the mountain wilderness; here stood
+Hüsis ancient fortress, of which the steps were each six feet in
+height; here the spirit of the middle ages brooded over its darkest
+thoughts; here it receded, step by step, before the light of a newer
+time, and here it has bled in its impotent rage; heathenism, fallen
+from its greatness, steals outlawed from place to place, in the sheep's
+clothing of Christendom, going restlessly around the country, and
+performing its miserable mummeries in churchyards at night.
+
+Before the great northern waters, irritated by their battles in
+hundreds of _forssar_* go to seek a brief repose in Uleä Sea, they once
+more pour out their anger into the two mighty waterfalls of Koivukoski
+and Ämmä, near the little Kajana.  Like two immense surfs the torrents
+throw themselves headlong down the narrow pass, and so violent is their
+fall that human daring, accustomed to struggle with nature and conquer
+in the end, has here stopped with dismay and acknowledged its
+powerlessness.  Up to the latest times the boats which have steered
+down the _forssar_ in their course towards Uleäborg, have always been
+obliged to land here and be drawn by horses through the streets of
+Kajana.**
+
+
+* Plural of fors.
+
+** After the surgeon's time, a lock was completed here at each fall,
+and the boats now continue on their way without much delay.
+
+
+In the stream, right between the two falls, Koivukoski and Ämmä, lies a
+flat rock, to which bridges are attached from both sides.  Here stand
+the grey walls of an ancient fortress, now in ruins, and constantly
+bathed by the waves of the flood.  This fortress of Kajaneborg was
+founded in 1607, during Carl IX.'s time, as a protection against
+Russian invasion.  Perhaps the time may come in our stories when we
+shall speak more of it.
+
+It is now 1635, and the castle stands in its original strength.  Its
+form resembles an arrow with the point turned towards the stream.
+Unless famine occurs, or the enemy can bring heavy artillery to the
+heights, it is considered impregnable.  But how can a hostile army find
+any road to Kajaneborg?  In the immense wilderness all around there is
+not a single road where a wheel can run.  In summer the traveller
+follows the narrow paths, and in winter the Laplander, with his
+reindeer and sleigh, drives over the frozen lakes.
+
+It is winter; a thick crust of ice on the shores and over the walls of
+the castle shows that the cold has been severe, though it has not been
+able to bind the _fors_ in its rapid course.
+
+Some soldiers, clad in sheep-skin jackets, with the fur side turned
+inwards, are busy drawing home wood from the adjacent forest.  There is
+peace in the land, the drawbridge is down, and horses' feet thunder
+over the bridge.  Then a violent squabble arises in the castle yard.
+An old woman, tall in stature, with rather disagreeable features, has
+taken possession of one of the loads of wood, and pushed away the
+soldiers, while she picks up as many pieces as she is able to carry,
+and commands another younger woman to do likewise.
+
+The soldiers utter coarse oaths, but the woman with the keen eyes does
+not deign to reply.
+
+A sub-officer, drawn there by the noise, informs himself of the cause,
+then addresses the woman with hard words, and orders her to return the
+wood she has taken.  The woman refuses to obey; the sub-officer
+endeavours to use force; the woman plants herself back to the wall,
+raises a small log of wood in the air, and threatens to break the head
+of the first man who approaches her.  The soldiers swear and laugh; the
+sub-officer hesitates; the old woman's courage holds them all in check.
+
+Then an elderly man appears on the steps, to whom all give way with
+reverence.  It is Governor Wernstedt.  As soon as the old woman sees
+him, she leaves her hostile attitude, and relates with a torrent of
+words all the injustice she has suffered.
+
+"Yes, gracious Excellency," she said, "that is the way they dare to
+treat a man who is the pride and ornament of Sweden.  It is not
+sufficient to shut him up in this miserable out-of-the-way hole, but
+they let him freeze to death in the bargain.  What wood have they given
+us?  Great God! nothing but green and rotten chunks, which fill the
+room with smoke, and do not give out heat enough to thaw the ink on his
+table.  But I tell you, Excellency, that I, Lucia Grothusen, do not
+intend to be imposed upon any longer.  This wood is good, and I take
+it, as you see, Excellency, right before the face of these vagabonds,
+who deserve to all hang upon the highest pine in the Paldamo forest.
+Pack yourselves off, you lazy, good-for-nothing rascals, and look out
+how you act before me and the Governor.  The wood is mine, and that is
+all to be said about it."
+
+The Governor smiled.
+
+"Let her keep the wood," he said to the soldiers, "or else there will
+be no peace in the castle.  And you, Lucia, I warn you to hold your
+wicked tongue, which has already done so much mischief; otherwise it
+may happen that I shall again put you and your husband in that basement
+you know of, where Erik Hare kept you, and where the stream rolls right
+under the floor.  Is this the thanks I get for the mild treatment I
+have bestowed upon you, that you are eternally exciting quarrels in the
+castle?  The day before yesterday you gave rein to your tongue, because
+you did not receive enough soap for your washing; yesterday you took a
+leg of mutton by force from my kitchen, and to-day you make a noise
+about the wood.  Take care, Lucia; my patience may be exhausted."
+
+The woman looked the Governor right in the face.
+
+"Your patience!" she repeated.  "How long do you think that mine will
+last.  I have stayed now nearly nineteen years in this owl's nest.  For
+nineteen long years has it cast a stain upon Sweden that its greatest
+man is confined here like a criminal! ... Mark what I say: Sweden's
+greatest man; for the day will arrive when you, and I, and all these
+souls of lard, all these wandering ale-jugs, will be food for worms,
+and no more thought of than the hogs you killed to-day; but the
+glorious name of Johannes Messenius will shine for all time.  Your
+patience!  Have I, then, had none--I who in these long weary years have
+been fighting with you for a bit of bread, for firewood, for a pillow
+for this great man, whom you abuse?  I, the only one who has kept his
+frail body alive, and strengthened his soul for the great work which he
+has now accomplished?  Do you realise what it means to suffer as I
+have; to be snatched away from one's children, to go about with despair
+in the heart, and a smile on the lips, so as to seem to have a hope
+when none remains? ... Do you know, your Excellency, what all this
+means?  And you stand there and talk about your patience!"
+
+The soldiers' loud laughter all at once interrupted the voluble old
+woman.  She now perceived for the first time that the Governor had
+chosen the wisest course, and gone his way.  It was not the first time
+that Lucia Grothusen had put the commander of a fortress to flight.
+She felt able to drive a whole garrison to the woods.  But it vexed her
+that she could not fully relieve her heart.  She threw a stick of wood
+at the nearest and worst of her mockers, and then hurried with the wood
+in her arms, to reach a low back door.  The soldier, struck in the leg,
+seized the stick with an oath, and flung it in his turn after the old
+woman.  Lucia, hit in the heel, uttered a cry of pain and anger ... and
+then she disappeared through the door, followed by the soldiers' loud
+laughter.
+
+During this scene of self-sacrifice on one side, and rudeness on the
+other, a group of strangers had arrived over the left castle bridge,
+and asked to be conducted to the Governor.
+
+The soldiers regarded them with curiosity.  They wore the common garb
+of peasants, but their whole appearance betrayed their foreign origin.
+An old man, with dark squinting eyes and sallow complexion, came first;
+his face partly hidden under a woolly cap of dog-skin, which with its
+ear-flaps covered the greater portion of the head.  After him followed
+a young woman in a striped home-spun skirt, and a tight-fitting jacket
+of new and fine white sheep-skin.  Her face, also, is almost entirely
+concealed under a hood of coarse felt, bordered with squirrel-skin, the
+fine fur of which is covered with frost.  One only saw a pair of
+beautiful dark eyes of unusual brilliancy, which peeped forth from the
+hood.  The third of the company was a little old woman, so wrapped up
+in furs that her short figure had widened out into the shape of a
+well-stuffed cushion.
+
+All these persons were conducted to the Governor.  The man in the
+dog-skin cap showed a passport, according to which, Albertus Simonis,
+in his royal Majesty's service, was appointed army physician to the
+troops which were to go to Germany the following spring, and was now,
+with his wife and daughter, on a journey from Dantzig to Stockholm, by
+way of the north road through Wiborg and Kajana.  The Governor closely
+examined both the document and the man, and seemed to find a
+satisfactory conclusion to his survey.  Then he sent the travellers to
+a room in the east wing of the castle, and gave orders for them to be
+provided with the necessary refreshments after such a long journey in
+the severe cold.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE PRISONER OF STATE.
+
+The room which we now enter is situated in the south tower of the
+castle, and is not very inviting.  It is large and dark.  Although with
+a sunny aspect, the narrow window, with its thick iron gratings, only
+admits a few of the winter's day sunbeams.  A large open fire-place,
+with a granite hearth, occupies one corner of the room; a rough
+unpainted bed, a couple of benches, two chairs, a clothes-chest, a
+large table under the window, and a high cupboard next to it, make up
+the furniture of the room.  All these things have a new appearance,
+which to some degree reconciles the eye to their coarseness.
+
+But the room is a curious combination of kitchen and study.  Learning
+has established its abode at the upper end nearest the window.  The
+table is adorned with ink spots, and covered with old yellow
+manuscripts and large folios of parchments.  The door of the cupboard
+is open, and shows its use as a library.  The lower part of the room,
+near the fire-place, has a different appearance.  Here stands a
+wash-tub by a sack of flour; a kettle is waiting to receive some dried
+pike and bits of salt pork, and leaves room for a bucket of water, and
+a shelf filled with coarse stone dishes.
+
+Such was the habitation which Governor Wernstedt had assigned to the
+state prisoner, Johannes Messenius, his wife, and servant, instead of
+the horrible place where Messenius' tormentor, old Erik Hare, for so
+many years confined these unfortunate beings.  The room was at least
+high and dry above the ground, and its furniture was likewise a
+friendly gift from the Governor.  Messenius occupied the upper part,
+and the women of his household the lower.
+
+By the large ink-spotted table sat a grey-haired man, with his body
+wrapped in furs, his feet clad with reindeer boots, and his head
+covered with a thick woollen cap.  One who had seen this man in the
+days of his prosperity, when he occupied the rostrum in Upsala
+"Consistorium," or proud as a king on his throne, exercising sole
+control over all the historical treasures of the Swedish state
+archives, would scarcely now recognise in this withered form, bent by
+age and misfortune, the man with the arrogant mind, the opponent of
+Rudbeck and Tegel, the learned, gifted, haughty, Jesuit conspirator,
+Johannes Messenius.
+
+But if one looked deep into those keen, restless eyes, which seemed
+constantly trying to penetrate the future as they had done the past,
+and read the words which his shaking hand had just penned--words full
+of egotism even to presumption--then one could divine that within this
+decayed tenement toiled a soul unbroken by time and events, proud as it
+had always been, ambitious as it could never cease to be.
+
+The old man's gaze was fixed upon the paper long after he had laid down
+his pen.
+
+"Yes," he said thoughtfully and reflectively, "so shall it be.  During
+my lifetime they have trampled me like a worm in the dust; once I am
+dead they will know upon whom they have trodden.  _Gloria, gloria in
+excelsis!_  The day will arrive, even if it be a century hence, when
+the miserable prisoner who, now forgotten by the whole world, pines
+away in the wilderness, shall with admiration and respect be called the
+father of Swedish history....
+
+"Then," he continued with a bitter smile, "they can do nothing more for
+me.  Then I shall be dead ... Ah, it is strange! the dead man, whose
+bones have long mouldered in the grave, lives in his works; his spirit
+goes quickening and ennobling through the ages.  All that he has
+endured while he lived, all the ignominy, all the persecutions, all the
+prison gratings are forgotten; they exist no longer, provided his name
+still shines like a star through the night of time, and posterity, with
+its short memory and its ingratitude, says, with thoughtless
+admiration, he was a great man!"
+
+During this soliloquy the old woman, whose acquaintance we made in the
+castle yard, entered the room.  She carefully opened the door, and
+walked on tip-toe, as if afraid of waking a sleeping babe.  Then she
+carefully put down the wood she carried in her arms.  A little noise,
+however, was unavoidable; the old man at the table, startled from his
+thoughts, began to upbraid the intruder:
+
+"Woman!" he said, "how dare you disturb me!  Have I not told you
+_iterum iterumque_, that you shall take away your _penates procul a
+parnasso_?  Do you understand it ... _lupa_?"
+
+"Dear Messenius, I am only bringing you a little wood.  You have been
+so cold all these days.  Do not be angry now.  I shall make the room
+nice and warm for you; it is excellent wood..."
+
+"_Quid miki tecum_.  Go to the dogs.  You vex me, woman.  You are, as
+the late King Gustaf always said, _Messenü mala herba_; my wormwood, my
+nettle."
+
+Lucia Grothusen was an extremely quick-tempered woman, angry and
+quarrelsome with the whole world; but this time she kept quite still.
+How strangely her domestic position had altered!  She had always
+idolized her husband, but as long as he was in the full strength of his
+manhood and prosperity, she had bent his unquiet, vacillating spirit
+like a reed under her will.  All that time the feared and learned
+Messenius was held in complete subjection.  Now the _rôles_ were
+changed.  As his physical strength declined, indicating more and more
+that he approached the end of his life, his wife's idolatrous love came
+into conflict with her masterful disposition, and finally produced the
+extraordinary result of reducing this character to humble submission.
+She nursed him as a mother nurses her sick child, for fear of losing
+him.  She bore everything patiently, and never had an angry word in
+reply to his querulous remarks.  Even on this occasion, only a slight
+trembling of the lips gave evidence of the effort it cost her to check
+her anger.
+
+"Never mind," she said kindly, as she went a few steps nearer, "do not
+feel angry about it, my dear, because it injures your health.  I will
+not do it again; next time I will lay a mat under the wood, so that it
+will not disturb you.  Now I will cook you a splendid leg of mutton for
+supper ... Believe me, I had trouble enough to get it.  I almost had to
+take it by force from the Governor's kitchen."
+
+"What, woman! have you dared to beg _beneficia_ from tyrants?  By
+Jupiter, do you think me a dog, that I should eat the crumbs from their
+tables?  And then you limp.  Why do you do that?  Answer me; why do you
+limp?  I suppose you have been running around like a gossiping old
+woman, and tripped on the stairs."
+
+"Do I limp?" repeated Lucia, with a forced smile.  "I really believe I
+have hurt my foot ... Ungrateful!" added she silently to herself; "it
+is for your sake that I suffer."
+
+"Go your way, and let me finish my epitaph."
+
+But Lucia did not go; she came closer to him.  Her eyes filled with
+tears, and she folded both her arms around the old man's neck.
+
+"Your epitaph!" she repeated in a voice so mild that one would never
+have expected it from those withered lips, used so very often for hard
+words and invective only.
+
+"Oh, my God!" she continued in a low tone, "shall, then, all that is
+great and glorious on earth finally become dust?  But that day is still
+far distant, my friend; yes, it must be so.  Let me see the epitaph of
+the great Johannes Messenius!"
+
+"Certainly," said the old man, consoled by her sincere flattery, "you
+are decidedly the true _persona executrix_ who ought to read my
+_epitaphium_, as you are also the one who will have to engrave it on my
+tombstone.  Look, my dear; what do you think of this?
+
+"Here lie the bones of Doctoris Johannes Messenii.  His soul is in
+God's kingdom, but his fame is all over the world!"
+
+"Never," said Lucia, weeping, "have truer words been placed over a
+great man's grave.  But let us say no more about it.  Let us speak of
+your great work, your _Scondia_.  Do you know I have a feeling that its
+glory will in a short time prepare freedom for you..."
+
+"Freedom!" repeated Messenius, in a melancholy tone.  "Yes, you are
+right; the freedom of the grave to decay wherever one chooses."
+
+"No," replied Lucia with eagerness and enthusiasm, "you shall yet
+receive the honour that is due to you.  They will read your great
+_Scondia illustrata_, they will have it printed ... with your name in
+gilded letters on the title-page ... the whole world will say, full of
+admiration: 'never has his equal existed in the North'!"
+
+"And never will exist again!" added Messenius, with confidence.  "Oh!
+who will restore me my freedom--freedom that I may behold my work and
+triumph over my enemies.  Hear me, Lord, I stretch out my hands before
+Thy face.  Save me from misery, for Thou hast said: 'I will prostrate
+thine enemies, to be trampled under thy feet.'  Who will give me
+freedom--freedom and ten years of life to witness the fruits of my
+labour?"
+
+"I," answered a muffled voice at the lower end of the room.
+
+At the sound of this voice both Messenius and his wife looked around
+with superstitious terror.  The loneliness of the prison, and the
+associations of this wild country, which in all ages has been the
+fruitful soil of superstition, had in both increased the belief in
+superhuman things to a perfect conviction.  More than once had
+Messenius' brooding spirit been on the point of plunging into the
+enticing labyrinth of the Kabala and practical Magic; but his zealous
+labours and his wife's religious exhortations had held him back.  Now
+came an unexpected answer to his question ... from Heaven or the abyss,
+no matter which, but an answer, nevertheless--a straw for his drowning
+hopes.
+
+The short winter day had drawn to a close, and twilight already spread
+its shadows over that part of the room which lay nearest the door.
+From this obscurity advanced a man, in whose sallow features one
+recognised the same person who two hours before had gained an entrance
+to the castle, under the name of Albertus Simonis.  He had probably, in
+his capacity of physician, obtained permission to see the prisoner, for
+the whole medical faculty of the castle consisted of a barber, who
+practised chirurgery, and an old soldier's widow, whose skill in curing
+internal diseases was highly commended, especially when it was assisted
+by _luvut_, or incantations, which, although forbidden by the Church,
+were still used in the vapour-baths as powerful magical aids.
+
+"_Pax vobiscum!_" said the stranger with a certain solemnity, and
+coming nearer the window.
+
+"May the Lord be with you also!" answered Messenius, in the same tone,
+and with curiosity mingled with inquietude.
+
+"May the woman's tongue be far from the consultation!" continued the
+stranger also in Latin.
+
+Lucia, in whose youth the daughters of learned men knew Latin better
+than those of the nineteenth century read French, did not wait for a
+further reminder, and left the room with an inquisitive glance at the
+mysterious stranger.
+
+Messenius made a sign to his visitor to take a seat near him.  The
+whole conversation was conducted in Latin.
+
+"Receive my greeting, great man, whom misfortune has only been able to
+elevate!" began the stranger, with artful discrimination attacking
+Messenius' weakest point.
+
+"Be welcome, you who do not disdain to visit the forsaken!" replied
+Messenius with unusual courtesy.
+
+"Do you recognise me, Johannes Messenius?" said the stranger, as he let
+the light fall on his pale face.
+
+"It seems to me that I have seen your face before," replied the
+prisoner hesitatingly; "but it must have been a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember a boy in Braunsberg, some years younger than yourself,
+who was educated with you in the school of the holy fathers, and
+afterwards in your company visited Rome and Ingolstadt?"
+
+"Yes, I remember ... a boy who gave great promise of one day becoming a
+pillar of the church ... Hieronymus Mathiæ."
+
+"I am Hieronymus Mathiæ."
+
+Messenius felt a shudder run through his frame.  Time, the experiences
+of life, and the soul destroying doctrines of the Jesuits, had
+completely changed the features of the once blooming boy.  Pater
+Hieronymus observed this impression, and hastened to add:
+
+"Yes, my revered friend, thirty-five years' struggle for the welfare of
+the only saving Church has caused the roses in these cheeks to fade for
+ever.  I have laboured and suffered in these evil times.  Like you,
+great man, but with much lesser genius, I have dug in the vineyard,
+without any reward for my toil but the prospect of the holy martyr's
+crown in Paradise.  You were very kind to me in my youth; now I will
+repay it so far as it lies in my power.  I will restore you to freedom
+and life."
+
+"Ah, reverend father," replied the old man, with a deep sigh, "I am not
+worthy of this; you, the son of the holy Church, extending your hand to
+me, a poor apostate?  You do not know, then, that I have renounced our
+faith; that I, with my own hand and mouth, have embraced the accursed
+Lutheran religion, which I abhor in my heart; nay, even in my time
+persecuted your holy order with several godless libels."
+
+"Why should I not know all this, my honoured friend; have not the great
+Messenius' work and deeds flown on the wings of fame throughout
+Germany?  But what you have done, has been done as a blind, so as to
+work in secret for the highest good of our holy Roman Church.  Do not
+the Scriptures teach us to meet craft with craft in these godless
+times?  'Ye shall be as wily as serpents.'  The Holy Virgin will give
+you her absolution as soon as you have worked for her sake.  Yes,
+esteemed man, even had you seven times abjured your faith, and seven
+times seventy sinned against all the saints and the dogmas of the
+Church, it shall all be accounted to you for reward, and not for
+condemnation, provided you have done it with a mental reservation, and
+with the design of thereby serving the good cause.  Even if your tongue
+has lied, and your hand killed, it shall be deemed a pious and holy
+work, when it was for the purpose of bringing back the stray sheep.
+Courage, great man, I absolve you in the name of the Church."
+
+"Yes, good father, these teachings which the worthy Jesuit fathers, in
+Braunsberg so eloquently instilled into my young mind, I have
+faithfully followed in my life.  But now, in my old age, it sometimes
+seems to me as if my conscience raised some opposition in the matter..."
+
+"Temptations of the devil! nothing else.  Drive them away!"
+
+"That may well be, pious father!  Yes, to calm my conscience, I have
+written a formal confession, in which I openly declare my profession of
+the Lutheran faith a hypocritical act, and as openly proclaim my
+adherence to the Catholic Church."
+
+"Hide this confession, show it not to any mortal eye!" interrupted the
+Jesuit quickly.  "Its time will yet come."
+
+"I do not understand your reasons, pious father."
+
+"Listen attentively to what I have to say!  Do you think, old man, that
+I, without important reasons, have ventured up here in the wilderness,
+daily exposed to hunger, cold, wild beasts, and the still wilder people
+in this country, who would burn me alive if they knew who I was, and
+what I was about?  Do you think I would have left the wide field in my
+native land, had I not hoped to accomplish more here?  Well, then, I
+will briefly explain to you my point ... Can anyone hear us?  Perhaps
+there are private passages in these walls."
+
+"Be sure no mortal can hear us."
+
+"Know, then," continued the Jesuit in a low voice, "that we have again
+before us the never-abandoned plan of bringing heretic Sweden back to
+the bosom of the Roman Church.  There are only two powers which can any
+longer resist us, and the saints be praised, these powers are becoming
+day by day more harmless.  The House of Stuart, in England, is
+surrounded by our nets, and in secret does everything for our cause.
+Sweden still lies stunned by the terrible blow at Nördlingen, and
+cannot, without fresh miracles, retain its dominant position in
+Germany.  The time has come when our plans are fully matured; we must
+avail ourselves of our enemies' powerlessness.  In a few years England
+will fall into our hands like a ripe fruit.  Sweden, still proud of
+former victories, shall be forced to do the same.  The means to this
+end will be a change of dynasty."
+
+"Christina, King Gustaf's daughter..."
+
+"Is a nine-year-old child, and besides a girl!  We are not without
+allies in Sweden, who still remember the expelled royal family.  The
+weak Sigismund is dead; Uladislaus, his son, stretches out his hands,
+with all the impatience of youth, for the crown of his forefathers.  It
+shall be his."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE TEMPTER.
+
+"Uladislaus on the Swedish throne?  I doubt whether we shall ever live
+to see that day," said Messenius incredulously.
+
+"Hear me to the end," continued the Jesuit, engrossed by the stupendous
+plan his scheming head had concocted.  "You, Messenius, are the only
+one who can perform this miracle."
+
+"I ... a miserable prisoner!  Impossible."
+
+"To the saints and genius nothing is impossible.  The Swede is now well
+disposed towards royalty.  The example of his kings leads him to good
+or evil.  He has especially a great reverence for old King Gustaf Vasa.
+If it could now be proved that the said king on his death-bed, with
+repentance, declared the Lutheran doctrine to be heterodox, that he had
+abjured and cursed the Reformation, and that he had charged his
+youngest son, the papistical Johan, to atone for his great errors..."
+
+"What do you dare to say?" burst out Messenius, with undisguised
+surprise.  "Such an obvious lie is in direct opposition to Gustaf
+Vasa's last words at death, all of whose utterances have been so
+faithfully recorded..."
+
+"Calm yourself, revered friend," interrupted the Jesuit coldly.
+"Supposing it could be further demonstrated that the second founder of
+Lutheranism, Carolus IX., likewise on his death-bed declared the
+Reformation to be a blasphemy and a misfortune...?"
+
+Messenius regarded the Jesuit with dismay.
+
+"And if it can finally be proven that even Gustaf Adolf, before giving
+up the ghost at Lützen, was struck by a sudden inspiration, and died a
+heretic's death, under the greatest torment and anguish of soul...?"
+
+Messenius' pale cheeks were covered with a flush.
+
+"Then," continued the Jesuit, with the same composed daring, "there
+remains of the Vasa dynasty only the demented Erik XIV., the admitted
+papist, Johan III., and the professed Catholic, Sigismund, with all of
+whom we need not trouble ourselves in the least.  Once convinced that
+all of their greatest kings either have been papistical, or have become
+so in their last moments, the scales will fall from the eyes of the
+Swedish people; they will penitently confess their guilt, and at last
+fall back into the bosom of the only saving Roman Catholic Church.
+
+"But how will you, revered father, in the face of all the facts,
+convince the Swedes of the apostasy of their kings?"
+
+"I have already told you," replied the Jesuit flatteringly, "that such
+a great and meritorious mission can only be accomplished by the gifted
+Johannes Messenius.  All know that you are Sweden's most learned man
+and greatest historian.  They know that you possess and hold in your
+care more historical documents and secrets than anyone else in the
+whole kingdom.  Use these advantages skilfully and judiciously; compile
+documents that never existed; describe events that never happened..."
+
+"What do you dare to say?" exclaimed Messenius with burning cheeks.
+
+The Jesuit misunderstood his excitement.
+
+"Yes," continued the Jesuit, "the undertaking is a bold one, but far
+from impossible.  A hasty flight to Poland will secure your safety."
+
+"And it is to me ... to me that you make this proposal?"
+
+"Yes," added the monk, in the same tone.  "I realise that Gustaf Adolf
+will cause you the most trouble, and therefore I will be responsible
+for him.  You will have therefore Gustaf I. and Carl IX. as your share,
+to present in such a light as will best serve the cause of the holy
+Church."
+
+"_Abi a me, male spiritus!_" burst out Messenius in a fit of rage,
+which the Jesuit with all his sagacity was far from expecting.  "You
+arch-villain! you liar! you infamous traitor, to lay your hand on the
+holiest; do you think that I, Johannes Messenius, have worked for long
+years to become Sweden's greatest historian, to all of a sudden, in
+such an infamous way, violate the historical truth which I have
+re-established with such long and continuous efforts?  Be off this
+moment, quick ... away, to _Gehenna_!" ... and with these words the old
+scholar, wild with rage, flung everything that he could get hold of at
+the Jesuit's head--books, papers, inkstand, sand-box--with such
+violence that the monk started.  The latter's face became still paler
+... then he took a few steps backwards, rose to his full height, and
+opened the plaited Spanish doublet which covered his breast.  A
+crucifix of flashing diamonds, surmounted by a crown of thorns set with
+rubies, glittered suddenly in the gathering twilight.
+
+This sight seemed to have a magical effect upon Messenius.  His excited
+voice was suddenly hushed ... his rage changed immediately to fear ...
+his knees trembled; he staggered, and was on the point of falling, but
+supported himself with difficulty against the chair at the table.  The
+Jesuit again advanced slowly, and looked steadily at the prisoner with
+his piercing eyes, which were like those of the rattlesnake.
+
+"Have you forgotten, old man," he said, in a measured and commanding
+tone, whilst every word was followed by a pause to increase its effect,
+"the penalty which the Church and the laws of our holy order inflict
+for sins like yours?  For apostasy: death ... and you have seven times
+apostatized!  ... For blasphemy: death ... and you have seven times
+blasphemed! ... For disobedience: death ... and you have seven times
+disobeyed! ... For sin against the Holy Ghost: damnation ... and who
+has sinned like you? ... For heresy: the stake ... and who has merited
+it like you? ... For offence and disrespect against the holy ones of
+the Lord: the eternal fire ... and who has given offence like you?"
+
+"Grace, holy father, grace!" exclaimed Messenius, while he writhed like
+a worm under the Jesuit's terrible threats.
+
+But Father Hieronymus continued:
+
+"The celebrated Nicolaus Pragensis went over to Calvin's false
+doctrines, and dared to defy the Head of our order.  He fled to the
+farthest corner of Bohemia, but our revenge found him.  The dogs tore
+his body to pieces, and the spirits of hell obtained his soul..."
+
+"Grace! mercy!" sighed the prisoner, completely crushed.
+
+"Well, then," added the Jesuit in a haughty tone or superiority, "I
+have given you the choice between glory and perdition; I will once more
+place it before you, although you are undeserving.  Do you imagine,
+miserable apostate, that I, the head of the German and Northern
+Jesuits, who do not acknowledge any superior except the Holy Father at
+Rome--do you believe that I, who have braved myriads of dangers to seek
+you here in your miserable corner, will allow you to stop me, the
+invisible ruler of the whole North, with your disobedience and
+irresolution?  I ask you once more, in the name of our holy order, if
+you, Johannes Messenius, will be faithful to the oath you swore in your
+youth, and implicitly obey the behests and commands which I, your
+superior and judge, enjoin upon you?"
+
+"Yes, holy father," answered the trembling captive; "yes, I will."
+
+"Hear, then, the penalty I impose.  You say that for your whole life
+you have striven for a single aim; that of gaining the name of the
+greatest historian in the North, and you think that you have at last
+attained your desire?"
+
+"Yes, holy father, that has been my object, and I have obtained it."
+
+"Your aim is evil!" exclaimed the Jesuit in stern tones, "and it is
+that of the devil, for you have worked for your own glory, and not for
+that of the holy Church, as you have sworn.  Therefore, I command you
+to destroy, with your own hands, the idol of your life--your great fame
+with posterity--by perverting history and writing it, not as it is, but
+as it ought to be.  I order you to cast away fame, to serve the cause
+of the Roman Church in the North.  You shall write the history of
+Gustaf I. and Carl IX. in such a manner that all they have done for the
+Reformation may redound as a ruin and curse both to them and their
+kingdom.  And I will that you base this new history on such reliable
+documents, that in the eyes of the people they will be above suspicion
+... documents which do not exist, but which you shall manufacture ...
+documents of which the falsity may possibly be discovered in a future
+generation, but which will at present produce the desired effect."
+
+"And thus," said Messenius, in a voice trembling with the most varied
+emotions--fear, anger, and humiliation--"I shall stand before posterity
+as a base falsifier, an infamous perverter of historical truth."
+
+"Yes, and what then?" continued the Jesuit with a sardonic smile; "what
+matters it, if you, miserable tool, sacrifice your name, provided the
+Church gains its great victory?  Of what advantage is the praise of
+men, if your soul burns in the eternal fires of hell; and what matters
+humanity's contempt, if you, through this sacrifice, gain the martyr's
+crown in Heaven?"
+
+"But the cause of truth ... the inflexible judgment of posterity."
+
+"Bah! what is historical truth?  Well, is it the obedient slave who
+follows at the heels of human errors ... the parrot which thoughtlessly
+repeats all their folly?  Or is it not rather truth, such as it _ought
+to be_, purified from error, freed from crime and folly ... God's
+kingdom on earth, as wise as it is almighty, as good as it is holy and
+wise?"
+
+"But is it then we who dictate to God what is good and right?  Has He
+not Himself told us that truth, _such as it is_?"
+
+"Ha! vacillating apostate, you still dare to argue with your superior
+about right and wrong.  Choose, obey or disobey!  Choose on one side
+temporal and eternal death, and on the other the joys of Paradise and
+the glory of the saints.  Yet a word, and upon this depends your weal
+or woe.  Will you obey my commands?"
+
+"Yes, I will obey," answered the crushed and terrified prisoner.  And
+the Jesuit went away silent and cold, with a ruler's nod that the slave
+had his good grace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT.
+
+About a week had passed since the private conversation to which we last
+listened.  The Jesuit during this time had not left the prisoner to
+himself.  He was seen to enter Messenius' room every day, under the
+pretext of medical attendance, and spent some hours with him.  He was
+too acute to rely upon the prisoner's promise.  No one in the castle
+knew what they did together, and the Governor was unsuspicious.  The
+remote situation of Kajajneborg, far from the rest of the world, had
+lulled Wernstedt into security; he rather found pleasure in the society
+of the learned and experienced foreign doctor.
+
+There was one, however, who with a constant and vigilant eye followed
+every motion of the stranger, and this was Lucia Grothusen, Messenius'
+wife.  A Catholic by education and conviction, she had always
+strengthened her husband in his faith; the Jesuit well knew this, and
+therefore felt sure of her co-operation, although he carefully avoided
+confiding his plans to the mercy of female gossip.  But the most artful
+plans are often frustrated by those hidden springs and motives in the
+human heart, especially in a woman's heart, which work in quite a
+different direction from that of cold reason.  The Jesuit, in spite of
+his astuteness, was mistaken in our Lucia.  He did not know that when
+the fanaticism in her mind shouted, push on! love cried still louder in
+her heart, hold back! and love in women always gets the upper hand.
+
+Lucia was a very penetrating person; she had looked through the Jesuit
+before he knew it.  She saw the ruinous inward strife which raged in
+Messenius; a struggle for life and death between fanaticism on the one
+hand, which bade him sacrifice fame and posterity for the victory of
+the Church, and ambition on the other, which continually pleaded to him
+not to sacrifice with his own hand his whole life's work?  "Will you,"
+it said, "blindly desecrate the sanctuary of history?  Will you expose
+to contempt the brilliant name, which in the night of captivity still
+constitutes your wealth and pride?"
+
+Lucia saw all this with the discernment of love; she saw that the man
+for whom she lived an entire life of self-denial and restraint, would
+sink under this terrible internal battle, and she resolved to save him
+with a bold and decisive stroke.
+
+Late one evening the lamp still burned on Messenius' writing-table,
+where he and the Jesuit had been working together ever since the
+morning.  Lucia had received permission to retire to her bed, which
+stood at the other end of the room near the door, and pretended to be
+asleep.  The two men had finished their work, and were conversing
+together with low voices, in Latin, which Lucia well understood.
+
+"I am satisfied with you, my friend," said the Jesuit approvingly.
+"These documents, which bear the stamp of truth, will be sufficient to
+prove the conversion of King Gustaf Vasa and King Carl, and this
+preface, signed by you, will further confirm their veracity.  I will
+now return to Germany through Sweden, and have these prayers printed,
+through our adherents in Stockholm, or if that is impossible, in Lübeck
+or Leyden."
+
+Messenius involuntarily stretched out his hand, as if to snatch back a
+precious treasure from a robber's hands.
+
+"Holy father," he exclaimed with visible consternation, "is there no
+reprieve?  My name ... my reputation ... have mercy upon me, holy
+father, and give me back my name!"
+
+The Jesuit smiled.
+
+"Do I not give you a name," he said, "far greater and more abiding than
+the one you lose--a name in the chronicles of our holy order; a name
+among the martyrs and benefactors of the Church; a name which may one
+day be counted amongst the saints?"
+
+"But, in spite of all this, a name without honour, a liar's, a forger's
+name!" burst out Messenius, with the despair of a condemned man, who is
+shown the glory of Heaven obscured by the scaffold.
+
+"Weak, vain man, you do not know that great aims are never won by the
+fear or praise of humanity!" said the Jesuit in a contemptuous tone.
+"You might have taken back your word and forfeited your claims to the
+gratitude of all Christendom.  But happily it is now impossible.  These
+documents"--and he extended his hand triumphantly with the papers--"are
+now in a hand which will know how to keep them, and, against your will,
+use them for the glory of the Church, the victory of the faith, and
+your soul's eternal welfare."
+
+Father Hieronymus had hardly uttered these words when a hand behind him
+swiftly and suddenly seized the papers, which he had so elatedly waved,
+crumpled them together, tore them in a hundred pieces, and strewed the
+bits over the floor.  This move was so unlooked for, and the Jesuit was
+so far from divining anything of the kind, that he lost his usual
+presence of mind for a moment, and thus gave the daring hand time to
+complete its work of destruction.  When the fragments lying around
+convinced him of the reality of his loss, he bit his lips with rage,
+raised his arms aloft, and with the ferocity of a wild beast, fell upon
+the presumptuous being who had dared to extinguish his plans at the
+very moment of consummation.
+
+Lucia--for she owned the intruding hand--met the monk's outbreak of
+fury with the great courage which distinguishes a woman when she
+struggles for the holiest she possesses.  In her youth she had been one
+of those who could take a man by the collar; and this more than womanly
+strength of arm had gained practice during her constant squabbles with
+the rude soldiers of the castle.  She hastily clasped her sinewy
+fingers around the monk's outstretched arms, and held them fast as in a
+vice.
+
+"Well," she said in a mocking tone, "three paces from death, sir; what
+do you wish?"
+
+"Mad woman!" screamed the Jesuit, foaming with rage, "you do not know
+what you have done!  Miserable thief, you have stolen a kingdom from
+your Church, and Paradise from your husband."
+
+"And from you I have stolen your booty; his secure prey from the wolf;
+is it not so?" replied Lucia, whose voice began to glow with the fire
+of her hasty temper.  "Monk," she added, violently shaking the eminent
+Jesuit, who in vain tried to escape, "I know a vile thief, who, in the
+sheep's clothing of the Church, comes to steal the fame of a great man;
+also the history of a nation; and from a poor, forsaken woman, her sole
+pride; her husband's peace, honour, and life.  Tell me, holy and pious
+monk, what punishment such a thief deserves?  Would not Ämmä fall be
+shallow enough for his body, and the eternal fires cool enough for his
+soul?"
+
+The Jesuit looked out of the window with a hasty movement towards the
+mighty torrent which descended with a terrible roar in the winter's
+night.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Lucia with a bitter smile, "you fear me, you, the
+powerful one, who rules kingdoms and consciences.  You fear lest I
+conceal a man's arm under my grey frock, which could hurl you into the
+cataract's abyss.  Be reassured.  I am only a woman, and fight with a
+woman's arms.  You see ... I do not throw you out of the window ... I
+will be content with chaining up the wild beast.  Tremble, monk, I know
+you!  Lucia Grothusen has followed your steps; you are betrayed, and
+she has done this."
+
+"Betrayed!" echoed the Jesuit; he well realised what this statement
+meant.  At a time so full of hate, when two great religions fought for
+worldly and spiritual supremacy, when the plots of the Jesuits
+irritated the Swedes to the highest extent, a member of this order,
+discovered in disguise, in the kingdom, was lost beyond redemption.
+But the dire peril restored the equilibrium of this powerful character.
+
+"My daughter, betrayed by you," he said once more, as his arms relaxed,
+and his features assumed an expression of doubt and mild grief.  "That
+is impossible."
+
+Lucia regarded him with hate and suspicion.
+
+"I your daughter!" she exclaimed, as she pushed the monk from her with
+repulsion.  "Falsehood is your daughter, and deceit your mother.  These
+are thy relatives."
+
+"Lucia Grothusen," said the Jesuit with much suavity, "when you were a
+child, and followed your father, Arnold Grothusen, who was expelled
+with King Sigismund, you came one day as an exile in need, and
+surrounded by enemies, to a peasant's hut.  They refused you a refuge,
+and threatened to deliver you up.  Then your youthful eyes discovered
+an image of the Virgin in a corner of the hut, a relic from former
+times, and now profaned as a plaything for children.  You took the
+image and kissed it; you held it up before the harsh inmates of the
+hut, and said to them, 'See, the Virgin Mary is here, she will succour
+us!'"
+
+"Well, what then?" said Lucia reluctantly in a softer voice.
+
+"Your childish trust ... no, what do I say?  The Holy Virgin moved the
+stern peasants, they gave you shelter, and placed you all in security.
+Still more, they gave you the image, which you have carefully preserved
+as your guardian angel, and there it hangs on your wall.  What you
+formerly said, you still say: 'The Virgin Mary is here, she will
+protect me!'"
+
+Lucia tried in vain to struggle against her emotions.  She bit her lip
+and made no reply.
+
+"You are right," continued the astute monk.  "I am a Catholic like you;
+persecuted like you; if they penetrated my disguise they would kill me.
+My life is in your hands; denounce me; I flee not; I die for my faith,
+and I forgive you my death."
+
+"Fly from here," said Lucia, half vanquished; "I give you till
+to-morrow, but only on condition that you do not see my husband again."
+
+"Well, then," said the Jesuit sadly, "I fly and leave behind my
+beautiful dream of a glorious future.  Ah, I had imagined that the
+great Messenius and his noble wife would reinstate the Catholic Church
+in the North; I saw the time when millions of people would say: we were
+in darkness and blindness, until the historical light of the great
+Messenius revealed to us the falseness of the Reformation."
+
+"If it could be done without injury to the truth," exclaimed Lucia,
+whose ardent spirit was more and more elevated by the future, which the
+Jesuit so skilfully placed before her in perspective.
+
+"The truth!" repeated the Jesuit persuasively.  "Oh, my friend, truth
+is our faith, falseness is the heretic's faith.  If you are convinced
+that I ask only the truth itself from your husband, will you assist
+instead of trying to destroy your Church?"
+
+"Yes, I will!" answered Lucia warmly and earnestly.
+
+"Then listen..." added the Jesuit, but was just then interrupted by
+Messenius, who, hitherto stunned and crestfallen, now seemed to awaken
+from a horrible dream.
+
+"_Abi, male spiritus!_" he frantically exclaimed, as if he feared that
+the Jesuit's serpent tongue would once more triumph.  "_Abi, Abi!_ you
+are not a human being, you are the prince of lies himself, you are the
+tempter in Paradise!  Get ye gone, ye foul spirit, to the eternal fire,
+your abiding place, to the kingdom of lies, your realm!" he said in
+Latin.  And with this he pushed the Jesuit towards the door, without
+Lucia's making the least attempt to prevent it.
+
+"_Insanit miser!_" ("the miserable raver") muttered the Jesuit as he
+disappeared.
+
+"Thanks, my dear!" said Lucia, with a lightened heart, as if freed from
+a dangerous spell.
+
+"Thanks, Lucia!" replied Messenius, with a milder manner than he had
+for a long time assumed towards his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS.
+
+Early the next morning Father Hieronymus entered the room that was
+occupied by Lady Regina von Emmeritz and old Dorthe.  Pale from
+watching and suffering, the beautiful young girl sat by the bedside of
+her faithful servant.  When the Jesuit entered, Regina rose quickly.
+
+"Save Dorthe, my father!" she impetuously exclaimed ... "I have looked
+for you everywhere, and you have abandoned me!"
+
+"Hush!" said the Jesuit whispering.  "Speak low, the walls have ears.
+So ... actually? ... Dorthe is sick?  Poor old woman, it is too bad,
+but I cannot help her.  They have penetrated our disguise.  They
+suspect us.  We must fly this day--this moment."
+
+"Not before you have made Dorthe well again.  I beseech you, my father;
+you are wise, you know all the remedies; give her an immediate
+restorative, and we will follow you wherever you choose.
+
+"Impossible, we have not a moment to lose.  Come!"
+
+"Not without Dorthe, my father!  Holy Virgin, how could I abandon her,
+my nurse, my motherly friend?"
+
+The Jesuit went to the bed, took the old woman's hand, touched her
+forehead, and pointed to it in silence, with an air which Regina
+understood but too well.
+
+"She is dead!" cried the young girl with dismay.
+
+"Yes, what then?" replied the Jesuit, a marked sinister smile on his
+lips fighting with the air of regret he tried to assume.
+
+"You see, my child," he added, "that the saints have wished to spare
+our faithful old friend a toilsome journey, and have taken her instead
+to heavenly glory.  There is nothing more to be done here.  Come!"
+
+But Regina had perceived the malignant smile through her tears, and it
+struck her with an indescribable horror.  She seemed to detect a dark
+secret.
+
+"Come!" he repeated hastily.  "I will give Messenius' wife, who is a
+Catholic, the charge of burying our friend."
+
+Regina's dark eyes looked on the monk with fear and aversion.
+
+"At seven o'clock yesterday evening," she said, "Dorthe was in good
+health.  Then she drank the beverage of strengthening herbs which you
+have prepared for her every evening.  At eight o'clock she was taken
+ill ... ten hours afterwards she has ceased to live."
+
+"The fatigue of the long journey ... a cold, an _inflammation_ ...
+nothing more is wanted.  Come!" said the monk uneasily.
+
+But Regina did not move.
+
+"Monk," she said in a voice trembling with disgust and horror, "you
+have poisoned her."
+
+"My child, my daughter, what are you saying?  Grief has clouded your
+reason; come, I forgive you."
+
+"She was a burden to you ... I saw your impatience on our journey here.
+And now you wish me to place myself in your power without protection.
+Holy Virgin, save me!  I will not go with you!"
+
+The Jesuit's mobile features instantly changed their expression, and
+assumed that commanding air which had made Messenius yield.
+
+"Child," he said, "do not draw upon yourself the anger of the saints by
+listening to the voice of the tempter.  Remember _where_ you are,
+unfortunate, and _who_ you are.  A moment's delay, and I leave you here
+a prey to want, captivity, and death; a target for the heretic's scorn,
+a lost sheep abandoned by the Holy Virgin.  Here perdition and misery
+... there in your Fatherland the favour of the saints.  Choose quickly,
+for the sleigh stands waiting; the morning dawns, and day must not find
+us in this nest of heretics."
+
+Regina hesitated.
+
+"Swear," she said, "that you are innocent of Dorthe's death!"
+
+"I swear it!" exclaimed the Jesuit, "by the cross and by the holy
+Loyola's bones.  May the firm ground open under my feet, and the abyss
+swallow me alive, if I have ever given this woman any drink but what
+was healthful and medicinal."
+
+"Well, then," said Regina, "the saints have heard your oath, and
+written it down in the book of judgment.  Farewell, my mother, my
+friend!  Come, let us go!"
+
+Both hurried out.
+
+It was still dark.  A pale ray of light appeared over the dark firs on
+the edge of Koivukoski fall.  The horses stood harnessed.  The sleepy
+guard at the castle gate gave a free passage to the physician, who was
+well known to all.
+
+The Jesuit already thought himself in safety, when a sleigh from the
+mainland met the fugitives on the narrow bridge, and drove close up to
+them in the darkness.  The monk's sleigh turned on the edge, and was
+only hindered by the half-rotten railing from upsetting into the depths.
+
+Regina gave a cry of terror.
+
+At the sound of this cry a man sprang from the other sleigh and
+approached the fugitives.
+
+"Regina!" cried a well-known voice, which trembled from surprise.
+
+"You are mistaken, my friend," the Jesuit hastened to say in a
+disguised voice.  "Give way to Doctor Albertus Simonis, army physician
+in the service of his Royal Majesty."
+
+"Ha! it is you, accursed Jesuit!" cried the stranger.  "Guard, to arms!
+To arms! and seize the greatest villain on earth."  And so saying, he
+grasped the monk by his fur cloak.
+
+For an instant Hieronymus tried to disengage the sleigh and escape
+through the speed of the horses.  But when he found that this was
+impossible, he left his fur cloak behind him, wriggled from his enemy's
+grasp, and, throwing himself quickly over the railing of the bridge,
+jumped down on the ice, which, in the terrible cold, had formed between
+the castle island and the mainland.  He soon vanished in the dim
+morning light.
+
+Alarmed by the cry, the castle gate guard discharged his musket after
+the fugitive, but without effect.  Some of the soldiers seemed inclined
+to pursue him on the ice.
+
+"Do not do that, boys!" cried a bearded sergeant, "it has thawed during
+the night, and the stream has cut the ice underneath; I think it will
+break up to-day."
+
+"But the fellow jumped down there!" cried some.
+
+"The devil will get him," replied the sergeant, calmly lighting his
+morning pipe.  "I guess by this time he is not far from Ämmä."
+
+"What did you say?" cried the driver of the sleigh in alarm.
+
+"I say that the old woman* has got her breakfast to-day," answered the
+sergeant with perfect composure.  "Just listen, she barks like a
+chained dog; now she is satisfied."
+
+
+* The Finnish word ämmä means old woman.
+
+
+All listened, appalled, to the din of the waters.  It seemed to them as
+if the mighty fall roared more wildly, more terribly than before, in
+the dreary winter dawn.  The sergeant was right, it was like the howl
+of an angry dog, when they have thrown him his prey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+BERTEL AND REGINA.
+
+We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep in a peasant's house
+at Ylihärmä.  We found him again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly
+trying to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had seen through
+the window-pane of the wretched hut.  Bertel's circuitous course during
+the days between can be perhaps imagined.  Led on a false scent in his
+chase after the fugitives, he had scoured all the roads in East
+Bothnia, and even went as far up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost
+every sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek the
+runaways in the far-off Kajana desert.  Why the young cavalier pursued
+them with such unconquerable perseverance will soon be manifest.
+
+Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find Bertel in the
+apartment which the Governor had assigned to Lady Regina, under the
+protection of one of his female relatives.  More than three years have
+passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in the presence of
+the great king.
+
+Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty, and Regina an equally
+untrained girl of sixteen.  Both had gone through many trials since
+then; in each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been cooled by
+struggles and sufferings.
+
+The distance between the prince's daughter and the lieutenant had been
+lessened by Bertel's military fame and lately acquired coat of arms;
+nay, at this moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider
+herself honoured by a knight's attentions.  But the distance between
+their convictions, their sympathies, their hearts--had it been
+diminished by these trials, which generally steel a conviction instead
+of destroying it?
+
+Bertel approached the young girl with all the perfect courtesy which
+the etiquette of his time had retained as an inheritance from the
+chivalry of past centuries.
+
+"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice, "since my hope of
+finding you at Korsholm failed, I have pursued you through forest and
+wilderness, as one pursues a criminal.  Perhaps you divine the cause
+that prompted me to do so."
+
+Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted, and she looked
+inquiringly at Bertel.
+
+"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated you, I am convinced
+that your reasons were noble and chivalrous.  You cannot have meant to
+take an unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have only wished to
+snatch her from a man whom the poor deceived one has ever since
+childhood regarded as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply
+concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time, learned to know
+and abhor."
+
+"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly.  "It is true I shuddered when I
+found that you were under the escort of this villain, whose real
+character I knew before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver
+you from his hands.  But before I imagined any danger from that
+quarter, I flew to find you with the glad tidings of a justice ...
+late, but I hope not too late."
+
+"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an emotion which sent the
+blood to her cheeks.
+
+"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded her dazzling beauty
+with delight; "at last, after several years of fruitless efforts, I
+have succeeded in undoing this undeserved penalty.  You are free! you
+can now return to your Fatherland under the protection of the Swedish
+arms, and here"--with these words Bertel bent one knee and handed
+Regina a paper with the regency's seal attached--"is the document which
+ensures your freedom."
+
+Regina had controlled her first emotion, and received the precious
+paper with almost haughty dignity.
+
+"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones, "I know that you do
+not desire my thanks for having acted like a man of honour before any
+of your compatriots."
+
+Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he, however, ought to have
+expected.
+
+"What I have done," he said, with a touch of coldness, "I have done to
+efface a wrong which might have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a
+great king.  Each and all of my countrymen would have done the same as
+I, had not the exigencies of war made them forget the reparation you
+had a right to demand.  First of all would the noble King Gustaf Adolf
+himself have hastened to repair a moment's indiscretion, had not
+Providence so suddenly cut short his career.  But," said Bertel,
+breaking off, "I forget that the king I love and admire, you, my lady,
+hate!"
+
+At these words the bright and beautiful colour again rose to Regina's
+cheeks.  Bertel had unknowingly touched one of the most sensitive
+chords in this ardent heart.  A new discovery, a wonderful resemblance
+in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in thought--a likeness which she had
+never before observed, and which these three years had developed in
+Bertel's whole personality, made an indescribable impression upon the
+young Southerner's soul.  It seemed to her as if she saw him himself,
+the greatest among mortals, the pride of her dreams, her life's delight
+and misery; he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's, and
+her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself had said to her in the
+well-remembered tones: "Regina, you hate me!"
+
+This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and with such a
+surprising power, that Regina suddenly grew pale, staggered, and was
+compelled to lean on Bertel's outstretched arm.
+
+"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and not knowing what she
+uttered, "should I hate you ... you, whom I lo ...?"
+
+Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so full of meaning, with
+a surprise as sudden and unexpected as Regina's.  Beside himself with
+amazement, fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to avail himself
+of an involuntary confession.  Mute and respectful, he led the young
+girl to her protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her
+sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed emotions, which sought
+vent.
+
+Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady Regina to Stockholm, from
+whence she could return to her Fatherland, at the first open waters.
+He was, therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until she was
+ready for the journey, and this was again delayed through lack of a
+fitting female companion for the high-born prisoner.
+
+Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time entirely new relations
+were formed, which one could hardly have predicted after Regina's proud
+coldness towards her deliverer.  Ah! this coldness was the ice over a
+glowing volcano; every day it grew thinner and melted away; every day
+the foundations of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and finally
+only one barrier remained, the strongest one of all, it is true,
+namely, that of religious convictions.  Vain wall!  It, too, finally
+crumbled before the fire of a southern passion, and before these weeks
+were ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of twenty-three,
+had forgotten the great differences of faith and rank, and sworn each
+other fidelity for life.
+
+Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory of Gustaf Adolf for his
+beautiful, proud, black-eyed bride?
+
+A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an unexpected and
+wonderful manner.  With a secret apprehension for his future happiness,
+Bertel had tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.
+
+Since the morning when he leaped over the railing of the bridge, no one
+had heard or seen anything of him, until, three weeks afterwards, a
+peasant reported that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below Ämmä
+fall, they had discovered the body of a man without ears, clothed in a
+foreign garb, which the peasant brought with him, and which were
+recognised as those of Father Hieronymus.  In addition, the honest
+Paldamo peasant produced a small copper ring, which had been found
+hanging by a cord on the dead man's neck.
+
+Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and delight.
+
+"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I have so long sought ...
+and with you the certainty of this terrible man's death."
+
+"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!" exclaimed Regina,
+awe-struck.
+
+"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our happiness!" rejoined
+Bertel, and he placed on Regina's finger the _King's Ring_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  THE KING'S RING--THE SWORD AND THE
+  PLOUGH--FIRE AND WATER.
+
+Again we return to Storkyro, to Bertila's farm, and the old peasant
+king.
+
+It is a March day, in the year 1635.  The spring sun is already melting
+the snow, and the roofs drip on the sunny side; the icy crust bears
+one's weight on the north side of the hill, but breaks on the south.
+Aron Bertila has just come home from church with all his folks, his
+grey head is bent, and he leans on Meri's arm.  At his side walk two
+sturdy, thick-set figures--old Larsson, and his newly arrived son, the
+brave and learned captain, the faithful image of his father, except in
+age.  On the captain's arm is his young, light-hearted, and pretty
+little wife, whose features we recognise.  It is no other than Ketchen,
+the courageous and merry girl, whose soft hand once made the gallant
+captain lose his wits.  Since that day he has sworn by all the Greek
+and Roman authors, whom he formerly read in Abo Cathedral School, that
+the soft-handed novice among the Würzburg sisters of charity should
+some day become his.  And when the vicissitudes of war again brought
+them together, when Ketchen was without protection, and besides, had
+nothing against an honest, jovial soldier, this cheerful pair were
+formally wedded in the autumn at Stralsund, and then went to visit
+their kind-hearted father in Storkyro, where they were warmly welcomed,
+and received like children in the house.
+
+It must be added that Larsson had obtained his discharge from the
+service after much trouble, and without having a rise in rank.  It is
+to be regretted that he had not gathered a farthing from the booty in
+Germany, like many of his comrades.  All that he had earned--and if we
+can believe him, it must have amounted to millions--had taken wings;
+but where?  At Nördlingen, he says.  By no means.  But in revels and
+sprees with jolly fellows like himself.  Now he meant to be as regular
+and steady as a gate-post; to succeed his father as inspector of
+Bertila's large farms; to plough, sow, harvest, and _pro modulo virium
+prolen copiosam in lucem proferre_, as those in olden times so truly
+said.
+
+Old Bertila treats him with apparent favour.  Significant words have
+escaped the old man, and he has just given his will into the hands of
+the judge.
+
+As for Meri, she has withered like a flower without roots, and clings
+to life only by one heart-thread: the banished, rejected Gustaf Bertel,
+now ennobled to Bertelskold.
+
+This domestic circle, composed of such differing elements, both light
+and shadows, are now gathered in the large "stuga," surrounded by the
+numerous field hands, and old Larsson now tries, in secret alliance
+with Meri, to bring the stern peasant king to a better state of mind
+towards Bertel.  But all their prayers and reasons break against the
+old man's unyielding firmness ... Larsson turns angrily away, and Meri
+conceals her tears in the darkest corner of the room.
+
+Then sleigh-bells are again heard outside, as on Twelfth-day evening; a
+large sleigh stops in the yard, and two persons alight from it, an
+officer in his ample cloak, and a young and classically beautiful woman
+in a magnificent mantle of black velvet, lined with precious fur.  Meri
+and old Larsson turn pale at this sight; Larsson tries to hasten out,
+but it is too late.  Bertel and Regina enter the "stuga."
+
+Both the Larssons and Meri surround Bertel with warm and apparently
+embarrassed greetings.  Ketchen flies and throws herself, without
+thinking of the difference between her burgher dress and the costly
+velvet cloak, into Regina's arms, who, with emotion, clasps her
+faithful friend to her heart.
+
+Bertel gently frees himself from Meri's embrace, and goes straight up
+to old Bertila with a firm step, who, cold and silent in his high chair
+at the end of the table, does not honour him with a word or glance.
+
+All present await with dismayed looks the result of this decisive
+meeting.  The young officer has taken off his cloak and hat, his long
+fair hair falls in beautiful waves around his open brow, his cheeks are
+very pale, but the expressive blue eyes regard the grey-haired man's
+iron face with a firm and steadfast look.
+
+Bertel now, as before, bends a knee, and says in a voice at once humble
+and confident:
+
+"My father!"
+
+"Who are you?  I know you not; I have no son!" said the old man in
+chilling tones.
+
+"My father!" continued Bertel, without allowing himself to be checked,
+"I come here once more, and for the last time, to ask your forgiveness
+and blessing.  Thrust me not from you!  I am going to leave my
+Fatherland, to fight and perhaps die on German soil.  It depends upon
+you whether I ever return.  Remember, my father, that your blessing
+gives you back a son; that your curse drives him into exile for ever."
+
+The features of the old man did not change their expression, but the
+tones of his voice indicated an internal struggle.
+
+"My answer is short," he said.  "I had a son; he became unworthy of me
+and all the principles which have governed my life.  He abandoned the
+cause of the people to pay homage to the pernicious power which I hate
+and detest.  I have no longer a son.  I have to-day disinherited him."
+
+The faces of all the hearers turn pale at these words.  But Bertel
+colours slightly, and says:
+
+"My father, I do not ask for your property.  Give it to the one you
+consider more worthy than I.  I only ask your forgiveness ... your
+blessing, my father."
+
+All around the old man, except Regina, fell on their knees and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Grace for Bertel!  Grace for your son!"
+
+"And if I had a son, do you believe he would for my sake give up his
+desire for the false distinctions of nobility?  Do you think he would
+become a peasant like me, a man of the people, ready to live and die
+for their cause?  Do you fancy that he would plough the earth with his
+fine-gloved hands and choose a wife from my station, a simple plain
+woman, befitting the spouse of a husbandman?"
+
+"My father," replied Bertel, in a voice more tremulous than before,
+"what you ask is impossible on account of the education you have
+yourself bestowed on me.  I honour and respect your station, but I have
+grown accustomed to the career of a soldier, which I neither can nor
+will abandon.  To choose a wife to your mind is equally impossible.
+Here is my wife; she is a prince's daughter, but she has chosen a
+peasant's son for her husband; this is a proof that she will not blush
+to call you father."
+
+At these words Regina humbly approached the old man as if to kiss his
+hand, and all rose except Bertel and his father.  But the peasant
+king's former fiery temper now burst forth.
+
+"Did I not say so!" he shouted.  "There stands the renegade who was
+born a peasant, and became the servant of lords.  Ha! by God!  I have
+in my day seen much strife and defiance between the sword and the
+plough, but a scene like this I have never beheld.  The boy who calls
+himself my son dares to bring before my eyes his high-born harlot and
+call her his wife."
+
+Bertel sprang up and supported Regina, who nearly sank to the floor at
+these words.
+
+"Old man," he said in a voice full of anger, "thank your name of father
+and your grey head that you have been allowed to utter what no one else
+should have uttered and live an hour afterwards.  Here is the ring I
+placed on the hand of my lawfully wedded wife"--with this he took the
+king's ring from Regina's finger--"and I swear that her hand is as pure
+and worthy as that of any other mortal to wear this ring, which has for
+so many years been worn by the greatest of kings."
+
+Meri's eyes stared at the ring, her pale cheeks coloured with a deep
+flush, and she had a violent internal struggle.  Finally she stepped
+nearer, took and pressed the ring with ecstasy to her lips, and said in
+a broken voice and with an emotion so strong that it dried her tears:
+
+"My ring which _he_ has worn ... my ring which has protected _him_ ...
+you are innocent of his death; he gave you away, and then came the
+bullets and death.  Do you know, Gustaf Bertel, and you, his wife, the
+power of this ring?  In my youth I one day went into the wilderness,
+and there found a dying man, who was languishing from thirst.  I gave
+him a drink from the spring, and cooled his tongue with the juice of
+berries.  He thanked me and said: 'My friend, I die, and have no other
+recompense to give you than this ring.  I found it in former days on an
+image of the Holy Virgin, which alone lay uninjured in the midst of the
+broken fragments of Popery in Storkyro Church; and when I took the ring
+from its finger the image fell to dust.  The ring has both the power of
+the saints and that of magic, for with me the greatness of the ancient
+occult knowledge goes into the silence.  He who wears this ring is
+secure against fire, water, steel, and all kinds of dangers, on the
+sole condition that he never swears a false oath, for that destroys the
+power of the ring; with this ring goes happiness in peace, and victory
+in war; love, honour, and wealth; and when it is worn by three
+successive generations, from father to son, then from that family shall
+come brilliant statesmen and generals...'"
+
+Here Meri paused; all listened with intense expectation.
+
+"But," she added, "if the ring is worn by six generations one after the
+other, then a mighty royal house will spring from that family.  'But,'
+said the old man to me, 'you ought to know that great dangers accompany
+great gifts.  False oaths and family enmity will constantly tempt the
+owner of the ring, and thus endeavour to neutralise its power; pride
+and inordinate ambition will constantly work within him to prepare his
+fall, and a great steadfastness in the right path will be necessary,
+joined with a meek and humble heart, to vanquish these temptations.  He
+who wears this ring will enjoy all the prosperity of the world, and
+only have to conquer himself; but he will also be the most formidable
+enemy of his own happiness.  All this is signified: by the letters,
+R.R.R., which are engraved on the inside of the ring, and interpreted
+thus: _Rex Regi Rebellis_--the king rebellious against the king; the
+happiest, the mightiest among men, has to fear the greatest danger
+within himself.'"
+
+"And this ring, O Regina, is ours!" exclaimed Bertel, with both fear
+and joy.  "What a wealth and what a responsibility goes with this ring."
+
+"Power!  Honour!  Immortality!" caed Regina with transport.
+
+"Beware, my daughter!" said Meri sadly.  "Behind these words lie the
+greatest dangers."
+
+Old Bertila looked at the ring and the young people with a contemptuous
+smile.
+
+"False gold!" he said.  "Vanity!  Useless ornament!  False ambition!
+This is a worthy gift to go in inheritance from generation to
+generation among the nobility.  Come, Larsson the younger, you, who are
+also of peasant origin, and who wish to return to your station,
+although you too have been a soldier.  I will give you something which
+is neither gold or a useless ornament, but which will bring you more
+blessings than all the kings' rings in the world.  Take my old axe with
+the oak handle from the wall there; yes, fear not, there is no magic in
+that; my father forged it with his own hand, in Gustaf Vasa's time.
+With it father and I have felled many a heavy tree in the forests, and
+cleared many a field.  May it pass in inheritance within your family,
+and I promise you that he who possesses my axe shall be blessed with
+happiness and contentment of mind in his honest labour."
+
+"Thanks, thanks, Father Bertila," answered the captain joyfully, and,
+with an air of importance, tried the edge of the old man's axe.  "If we
+took a fancy to engrave any inscription on it, I should propose R.R.R.,
+_Ruris Rusticus Robustus_, which is to say briefly: 'The deuce, what a
+big, bulky chopper! a very beautiful and intellectual saying among
+those in olden times."
+
+Larsson the elder now considered the opportunity at hand to give the
+bitter contest a more amicable turn.  He stepped up to old Bertila,
+leading by the hands the two newly married pairs, and said:
+
+"Dear old friend, let us not meddle in the Lord's business.  Your boy
+and mine are a couple of great rascals, that is granted; but are they
+to blame that our Lord created one of them of fire and the other of
+water?  Bertel is like a flame--burning hot, ambitious, high-reaching,
+brilliant, ephemeral, and I will bet anything that his little wife is
+of the same sort.  My boy, here, is of the purest water."
+
+"Stop!" cried the captain.  "Water has never been my weak side!"
+
+"Hold your tongue!  My boy is the clear water ... flowing and unstable,
+contentedly keeping itself to the ground, and created especially to put
+out the other youngster's poetical blaze with its prosaic philosophy.
+As for his wife, she is of the same stuff.  Do you not see, Bertila,
+that our Lord has intended the boys for friends? ... the fire to warm
+the water, and the water to quench the fire ... and you would make them
+enemies by taking from one and giving to the other.  No, Bertila, do
+not do it, this is my advice; give your son what belongs to him; my son
+will not starve for want of it."
+
+Bertila remained silent for a moment.  Then he said vehemently:
+
+"Do not teach me the meaning of the Lord.  Can you believe that he, the
+fresh-baked nobleman, whom you compare with the fire, could be induced
+to give away the ring and take the axe in its place?"
+
+"Never!" excitedly exclaimed Bertel.
+
+Meri seized his hand, and looked beseechingly at him.
+
+"Give away the ring," she said.  "You know some of its dangers, but
+there is still one which I, from anguish, have not mentioned.  All who
+wear this ring will die a violent death."
+
+"What then!" exclaimed Bertel.  "The death of the soldier on the
+battlefield is grand, and full of honour.  I do not ask a better one."
+
+"Just listen to him," said Bertila bitterly.  "I knew it; he runs after
+fame even to the grave.  A peaceful death or a peaceful life is an
+abomination to him; but you, Larsson, tell me: have you a desire to
+give away the axe and take the ring?"
+
+"H'm!" thoughtfully replied the captain; "if the ring were of gold, I
+might sell it in town and get a good cask of ale for the money.  But as
+it is only of copper ... pshaw!  I send it to the deuce, and keep the
+axe, which is at least useful for cutting wood."
+
+"Well done!" said Bertila; "you are sprinkling water on fire, as your
+father said.  It is not I who have made fire and water eternally
+hostile to each other.  Come, Larsson, you, the sound, common-sense,
+practical man, be my son, and one day take my farms when I am no longer
+here.  My blessing on you and your descendants.  May they multiply, and
+work like ants on the land, and may there be eternal hostility between
+them and the nobility, the people with the fiery temperament.  May
+there be war and not peace between them and you until the useless
+glitter disappears from humanity.  May the axe and the ring live in
+open feud until both are melted in the same heat.  When this happens
+after a century or more, then it will be time to say, class
+distinctions have seen their last days, and a man's merit is his only
+coat of arms."
+
+"But, my father," exclaimed Bertel in an entreating voice, "have you
+then no blessing to give me, and my posterity, at the moment when we
+separate for ever?"
+
+"You!" repeated the old man, in still angry tones.  "Go, you lost,
+vain, worm-eaten branch of the people's great trunk; go in your pitiful
+parade to certain ruin.  Until the day when, as I said, the axe and the
+ring, the false gold and the true steel melt together ... until then I
+give you my curse as an inheritance, even unto the tenth generation,
+and with it shall follow dissension, hatred, war, and finally a
+despicable fall."
+
+"Hold there, Father Bertila," cried Larsson the younger.  "Grace for
+Bertel!"
+
+"No grace for nobility," replied the peasant king.
+
+"Beware, unnatural father!" cried Larsson the elder.  "The doom may
+fall on your own head."
+
+"I no longer ask any grace," said Bertel, pale, but apparently calm.
+"Farewell, my former father!  Farewell, my Fatherland!  I go never to
+see you again!"
+
+"One moment," interrupted Meri, who with a violent effort placed
+herself in his way.  "You go! yes, go ... my heart's darling, my hope,
+my life, my all ... go, I shall no longer stand in your way.  But
+before you leave me, you shall take with you the secret which has been
+both my life's highest joy and its greatest agony..."
+
+"Hear her not!" cried old Bertila in a changed and alarmed tone.
+"Listen not to what she says; madness speaks through her! ... Think of
+your honour and mine," he sternly whispered in his pale daughter's ear.
+
+"What do I care for your or my honour!" burst out Meri with an
+impetuosity never before witnessed.  "Do you not see that he goes ...
+my life's joy leaves me, to return no more?  He goes, and you, hard,
+in-human parent, wish me to let him depart with a curse to foreign
+lands.  But it shall not be.  For every curse you throw upon his head,
+I will give him a hundred blessings, and we shall see which will avail
+the most before the throne of the Supreme Being--your hatred or my
+love--the grandfather's curse or the mother's blessing..."
+
+"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel beside himself with astonishment.  Duke
+Bernhard's obscure hints now suddenly became clear.
+
+"Believe her not; she knows not--she knows not what she says!" cried
+Bertila, with a vain attempt to appear calm.
+
+Meri had sunk into Bertel's arms.
+
+"It is now said," she whispered in a weak voice.  "Gustaf ... my son.
+Ah! it is so new and so sweet to call you so.  Now you know my life's
+secret ...  and I have not long to blush over it.  Do you love me? ...
+Yes, yes!  Now I go from life rejoicing ... the veil is lifted ...
+light comes ... My father, ... I forgive you ... that you have hated
+and cursed your daughter's son ... Forgive me ... that I ... love ...
+bless ... my son!..."
+
+"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel, "hear me, my mother!  I thank you ... I
+love you! ... You shall go with me, and I will never desert you.  But
+you do not hear me.  You are so pale ... Great God ... she is dead!"
+
+"My daughter! my only child!" exclaimed the old hard-hearted peasant
+king, completely crushed.
+
+"Judge not, lest ye be judged!" said old Larsson with clasped hands.
+"And you, our children, go put into life with reconciled hearts.  Curse
+and blessing struggle for your future, and not only for yours, but for
+that of your posterity, unto the tenth generation.  Pray to Heaven that
+blessing may conquer."
+
+"Amen!" said Larsson the younger and Ketchen.
+
+"So be it!" said Bertel and Regina.
+
+
+
+
+END OF THE FIRST CYCLE.
+
+
+
+Jarrold and Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  SELECTIONS FROM
+  JARROLD & SONS'
+  LIST OF FICTION
+
+
+
+Maurus Jókai's Famous Novels.
+
+
+Black Diamonds.
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author of "The Green Book," "Poor Plutocrats," etc.
+Translated by Frances Gerard.  With Special Preface by the Author.
+
+
+The Green Book.  (FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW.)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by Mrs. Waugh.  With a finely engraved
+Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Pretty Michal.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a specially
+engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+A Hungarian Nabob.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+The Poor Plutocrats.  (AS WE GROW OLD.)
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+The Day of Wrath.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated from the Hungarian by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Dr. Dumany's Wife.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by F. Steinitz (under the author's
+personal supervision).  With specially engraved Photogravure Portrait
+of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+The Nameless Castle.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by S. E. Boggs (under the author's
+personal supervision).  With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Debts of Honor.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by A. B. Yolland.  With a charming
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and Madame Jókai.
+
+
+'Midst the Wild Carpathians.
+
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a specially
+engraved Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+
+The Lion of Janina.
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a special
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Eyes Like the Sea.
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Halil the Pedlar; THE WHITE ROSE.
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a Photogravure
+Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+
+Carpathia Knox.
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush," "That Little Girl," "A Romance of
+Modern London," etc.  With a charming Photogravure Portrait of the
+Author.
+
+
+Jocelyn Erroll.
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Once," "Dudley," "The Wild Ruthvens," etc.
+With a fine Photogravure Portrait of the Author.
+
+
+Valentine: A STORY OF IDEALS.
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "The Medlicotts," "His Heart to Win,"
+"Because of the Child," etc.
+
+
+In Tight Places.
+
+By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of "Forbidden by Law," etc.
+
+
+St. Peter's Umbrella.
+
+By KÁLMÁN MIKSZÁTH, Author of "The Good People of Palvez."  Translated
+from the original Hungarian by W. B. Worswick.  With Introduction by R.
+Nisbet Bain.  A charming Photogravure Portrait of the Author and three
+illustrations.
+
+
+The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac.  Captain Satan.
+
+From the French of Louis Gallet.  With specially engraved Portrait of
+Cyrano de Bergerac.
+
+
+A Woman's Burden,
+
+By FERGUS HUME, Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The Lone
+Inn," etc.
+
+
+Vivian of Virginia.
+
+Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John Vivian, of Middle
+Plantation, Virginia.  By Hulbert Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel."
+With ten charming Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill.
+
+
+Anima Vilis.
+
+A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe.  By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.  Translated
+from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons.  With a fine Photogravure
+Portrait of the Author.
+
+
+The Tone King.
+
+A Romance of the Life of Mozart.  By Heribert Rau.  Translated by J. E.
+S. Rae.  With specially engraved Portrait of Mozart.
+
+
+The Golden Dog (LE CHIEN D'OR).
+
+A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec.  By WILLIAM KIRBY,
+F.R.S.C.
+
+
+Memory Street.
+
+By MARTHA BAKER DUNN, Author of "Sleeping Beauty," "Lias' Wife," etc.
+
+
+God's Rebel.
+
+By HULBERT FULLER, Author of "Vivian of Virginia."
+
+
+The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore.
+
+A Farcical Novel.  By HAL GODFREY (Miss C.  O'Conor Eccles).
+
+
+The Man Who Forgot.
+
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of the "Prodigal's Brother," "Sinners Twain,"
+etc.  With a special Photogravure Portrait of the Author.
+
+
+
+  Jarrold & Sons'
+  New Six-Shilling Fiction
+
+
+  By MAURUS JOKAI.
+  Haiti the Pedlar.
+  (The White Rose).
+
+
+  By COUNT LEO TOLSTOI.
+  Tales Prom Tolstoi.
+  Translated from the Russian by R. NISBET-BAIN,
+  and with Biography of the Author.
+
+
+  By the Author of "ANIMA VILIS."
+  Distaff.
+  By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.
+  Translated from the Polish by COUNT STANISLAUS
+  C. DE SOISSONS.
+
+
+  By RENÉ BAZIM.
+  Autumn Glory.
+  Translated by MRS. ELLEN WAUGH.
+
+
+  By the Author of
+  "DUKE RODNEY'S SECRET."
+  Ivy Cardew.
+  By PERRINGTON PRIMM.
+
+
+  By HULBERT FULLER.
+  God's Rebel.
+
+
+  By MARTHA BAKER DUNN.
+  Memory Street.
+
+
+
+  London:
+  JARROLD & SONS,
+  Publishers,
+  10 & 11, Warwick Lane,
+  E.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius
+
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-<pre>

-

-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: The King's Ring

-       Being a Romance of the Days of Gustavus Adolphus and the

-              Thirty Years' War

-

-Author: Zacharias Topelius

-

-Translator: Sophie Öhrwall

-            Herbert Arnold

-

-Release Date: February 7, 2019 [EBook #58838]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S RING ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Al Haines

-

-

-

-

-

-</pre>

-

-

-<h1>

-<br /><br />

-THE KING'S RING

-</h1>

-

-<p class="t3">

-BEING A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS

-<br />

-AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH OF

-<br />

-ZACHARIAS TOPELIUS

-<br />

-BY

-<br />

-SOPHIE ÖHRWALL AND HERBERT ARNOLD

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-<i>With a Photogravure Portrait of Topelius</i><br />

-  (missing from source book)<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-LONDON

-<br />

-JARROLD &amp; SONS, 10 &amp; 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.

-<br />

-[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t4">

-  <i>Copyright<br />

-  London: Jarrold &amp; Sons<br />

-  Boston: L. C. Page &amp; Company</i><br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-  CONTENTS.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-  <a href="#intro">INTRODUCTION&mdash;WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  I.&mdash;<a href="#chap0100">THE KING'S RING.</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-  CHAPTER<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-  I. <a href="#chap0101">THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD</a><br />

-  II. <a href="#chap0102">THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME</a><br />

-  III. <a href="#chap0103">LADY REGINA</a><br />

-  IV. <a href="#chap0104">LADY REGINA'S OATH</a><br />

-  V. <a href="#chap0105">JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES</a><br />

-  VI. <a href="#chap0106">THE FINNS AT LECH</a><br />

-  VII. <a href="#chap0107">NEW ADVENTURES</a><br />

-  VIII. <a href="#chap0108">NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  II.&mdash;<a href="#chap0200">THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-  I. <a href="#chap0201">A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR</a><br />

-  II. <a href="#chap0202">ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME</a><br />

-  III. <a href="#chap0203">THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH</a><br />

-  IV. <a href="#chap0204">THE PEASANT&mdash;THE BURGHERS&mdash;AND THE SOLDIER</a><br />

-  V. <a href="#chap0205">LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM</a><br />

-  VI. <a href="#chap0206">THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH</a><br />

-  VII. <a href="#chap0207">THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  III.&mdash;<a href="#chap0300">FIRE AND WATER.</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-  I. <a href="#chap0301">THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD</a><br />

-  II. <a href="#chap0302">TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES</a><br />

-  III. <a href="#chap0303">THE TREASURY</a><br />

-  IV. <a href="#chap0304">DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL</a><br />

-  V. <a href="#chap0305">LOVE AND HATE AGREE</a><br />

-  VI. <a href="#chap0306">THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN</a><br />

-  VII. <a href="#chap0307">THE LOST SON</a><br />

-  VIII. <a href="#chap0308">THE FUGITIVE LADY</a><br />

-  IX. <a href="#chap0309">DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA</a><br />

-  X. <a href="#chap0310">KAJANEBORG</a><br />

-  XI. <a href="#chap0311">THE PRISONER OF STATE</a><br />

-  XII. <a href="#chap0312">THE TEMPTER</a><br />

-  XIII. <a href="#chap0313">AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT</a><br />

-  XIV. <a href="#chap0314">THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS</a><br />

-  XV. <a href="#chap0315">BERTEL AND REGINA</a><br />

-  XVI. <a href="#chap0316">THE KING'S RING&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH&mdash;FIRE AND WATER</a><br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="intro"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-INTRODUCTION.

-</h3>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The surgeon was born in a small town of East

-Bothnia, the same day as Napoleon I., August 15th,

-1769.  I well remember the day, as he always used to

-celebrate it with a little party of relatives and a dozen

-children; and as he was very fond of the latter, we

-were allowed to make as much noise as we pleased,

-and throw everything into absolute confusion on this

-anniversary.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was the pride of the surgeon's life that he was

-born on the same day as the Great Conqueror, and

-this coincidence was also the cause of several of his

-important experiences.  But his pride and ambition

-were of a mild and good-tempered kind, and quite

-different from the powerful desires which can force

-their way through a thousand obstacles to attain an

-exalted position.  How often does the famous one

-count all the victims who have bled for his glory on

-the battlefield, all the tears, all the human misery

-through which his way leads to an illusionary greatness,

-perhaps, doomed to last a few centuries at most?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The surgeon used to say that he was a great rogue

-in his childhood; but exhibiting good intelligence,

-he was sent by a wealthy uncle to a school in Vasa.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At eighteen, with a firkin of butter in a wagon, and

-seventeen thalers in his purse, he went to Abo to

-pass his examination.  This well accomplished, he

-was at liberty to strive for the gown and surplice of

-an ecclesiastic.  But his thoughts wandered far too

-often from his Hebrew Codex to the square where the

-troops frequently assembled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh!" thought he, "if I were only a soldier, standing

-there in the ranks, and ready to fight like my

-father, for king and country."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But his mother had placed an emphatic veto on the

-matter, and exacted a solemn promise from him that

-he would never become a warrior.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Before, however, he was through Genesis, an

-incident suddenly occurred which completely altered his

-good intentions.  This was an announcement in the

-daily paper from the Medical Faculty, which stated

-that students who wished to take service as surgeons

-during the war could present themselves for private

-medical instruction, after which they could reckon

-upon being ordered out with five or six thalers per

-month to begin with, as the war was at its height.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Now, young Bäck would no longer be denied; he

-wrote home that as a surgeon's duty is to take off

-the limbs of others, without losing his own, he wished

-to volunteer.  After some trouble he received the

-desired permission.  In a moment the Codex was

-thrown away.  He did not learn, he devoured surgery,

-and in a few months was as capable a chirurgeon as

-most others; for in those times they were not very

-particular.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Our youthful surgeon was in the land campaigns

-of 1788 and 1789; but in 1790 at sea; was in many

-a hard battle, drank prodigiously (according to his own

-account), and cut off legs and arms wholesale in a most

-skilful way.  He then knew nothing about the coincidence

-of his birth with Napoleon's, and therefore did

-not yet consider himself as under a lucky star.  He

-often told the story of the eventful 3rd of July in

-Wiborg Bay, when on board the "Styrbjörn" with

-Stedingk, at the head of the fleet, they passed the

-enemy's battery at Krosserort's Point, and he was

-struck by a splinter on the right cheek, and carried

-the mark to his grave.  The same shot which caused

-this wound wrought great havoc in the ship, and

-whizzing by the admiral's ear, made him stone-deaf

-for a time; Bäck with his lancet and palsy drops

-restored Stedingk's hearing in three minutes.  Just

-then the danger was greatest and the balls flew thick

-as hail.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The vessel ran aground.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Boys, we are lost," cried a voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Not so!" answered Henrik Fagel, from Ahlais

-village, in Ulfsby, "send all the men to the bow; it

-is the stern that has stuck."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All men to the prow," shouted the commander.

-Then the "Styrbjörn" was again afloat, and all the

-Swedish fleet followed in her wake.  Bäck used to

-say:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What the deuce would have become of the fleet

-if Stedingk had remained deaf?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Everyone understood the old man; he had saved

-the entire squadron.  Then he used to laugh and add,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, yes!  You see, brother, I was born on the

-15th of August; that is the whole secret; I am not to

-be blamed for it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After the war was over, Bäck went to Stockholm,

-and became devoted to the king.  He was young, and

-needed no reason for his attachment.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Such a stately monarch," was his only idea.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One day, in the beginning of March, 1792, the

-surgeon, a handsome youth&mdash;to use his own expression&mdash;had

-through a chamber-maid at Countess Lantingshausen's,

-who in her turn stood on a confidential

-footing with Count Horn's favourite lackey, obtained

-a vague inkling of a conspiracy against the king's

-life.  The surgeon resolved to act Providence in

-Sweden's destiny, and reveal to the monarch all

-that he knew, and perhaps a little more.  He tried

-to obtain an audience of the king, but was denied

-by the chamberlain, De Besche.  A second attempt

-had the same result.  The third time, he stood in

-the road before the royal carriage, waving his written

-statement in the air.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What does this man want?" asked Gustave III. of

-the chamberlain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"He is an unemployed surgeon," replied De Besche,

-"and begs your Majesty to begin another war, that

-he may go on lopping off legs and arms."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king laughed, and the forlorn surgeon was

-left behind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A few days afterwards the king was shot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I was blameless," the surgeon used to say when

-speaking of this matter.  "Had not that damned De

-Besche been there&mdash;yes, I won't say anything more."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Everyone understood what he meant.  The "if"

-in the way was also due to his birthday on the 15th

-of August.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Shortly afterwards Bäck represented his profession

-at a state execution.  Here his free tongue got him

-into trouble, and he fled on board a Pomeranian yacht.

-Next we find him tramping like a wandering quack

-to Paris.  He arrived at an opportune moment, and

-received a humble appointment in the army of Italy.

-One night, under the influence of his birthday, he

-left his hospital at Nissa, and hurried to Mantua to

-see Bonaparte; he wished to make of the 15th of

-August a ladder to eminence.  He managed to see

-the General, and presented a petition for an

-appointment as army physician.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But," sighed the surgeon, every time he spoke of

-this remarkable incident, "the General was very busy,

-and asked one of his staff what I wanted."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Citizen General," answered the adjutant, "it is a

-surgeon, who requests the honour of sawing off your

-leg at the first opportunity."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Just then," added the surgeon, "the Austrian

-cannon began to thunder, and General Bonaparte

-told me to go to the devil."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Thus the surgeon, who had preserved so many

-eminent personages, was deprived of the honour of

-saving Napoleon.  He got camp fever instead, and

-lay sick for some time at Brescia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When well he travelled to Zurich, and here fell

-in love with a rosy-cheeked Swiss girl; but before

-he could marry her, the city was overrun, first by

-the Russians, then French, and finally by Suvaroff.

-The surgeon's betrothed ran away, and never returned.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One day he sat sorrowfully at his window, when

-two Cossacks came up, dismounted, seized him, and

-hurried him off at full speed.  The surgeon thought

-his last hour had arrived.  But the Cossacks brought

-him safely to a hut.  There sat some officers round a

-punch bowl, and among them a stern man in large

-boots.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Surgeon," said the latter, short and sharp, "out

-with your forceps; I have toothache."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bäck ventured to ask which tooth it was that ached.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You argue," said the man impatiently.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, I don't," replied the surgeon, and pulled out

-the first tooth he got hold of.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good, my boy!  March," said the other, and the

-surgeon was dismissed with ten ducats.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He had acquired another important merit by pulling

-out the tooth of the hero Suvaroff.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The surgeon's next considerable journey was to

-St. Petersburg, where he obtained an appointment

-in a hospital, and made a little fortune.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Thus passed four or five years.  The surgeon was

-now thirty-five.  He said to himself,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is not sufficient to have preserved the Swedish

-fleet, Gustave III., and Armfelt; to have had an

-interview with Napoleon, and pulled out a tooth for

-Suvaroff.  One must also have an aim in life."  And

-he began to realise that he had a Fatherland.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the war of 1808 broke out, the surgeon

-became an assistant physician in one of the Finnish

-regiments; he no longer fought for glory and the

-15th of August.  He took part in the campaigns of

-1808 and 1809.  Then he fought manfully with

-misery, disease, and death; cut off arms and legs,

-dressed wounds, applied plasters, solaced the wounded,

-with whom he shared his flask, bread, purse, and what

-was much more, his unalterable good humour, and

-told a thousand funny stories gathered in his travels.

-He was called the "tobacco doctor," because he was

-always ready to share his pipe and quid.  One can

-be a Christian even with tobacco.  The surgeon was

-not so stuck up that he, like Konow's corporal, went

-about

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "With two quids from sheer pride."<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-On the contrary, he went without himself when the

-need was great, and a wounded comrade had got the

-last bit of the roll in the pocket of his yellow nankeen

-vest.  Hence the soldiers loved the tobacco doctor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When peace was concluded between Russia and

-Sweden in 1809, the latter having lost Finland

-through a foreign traitor, who gave up Sveaborg to

-the enemy, and so many Finns went over to Sweden,

-the surgeon thought it more honourable to remain

-and share the fortunes of his native land.  He

-travelled round the country and practised amongst

-the peasantry.  But the Medical Faculty of Abo

-finally forbade him to continue, and he therefore

-settled down at Jacobstad, his native place, and took

-to fishing.  In the days of his prosperity the surgeon

-had been too liberal; he now only owned his old

-brown cloak, yellow nankeen vest, a hundred fish

-hooks, and his cheerful disposition.  But he now

-obtained the appointment of public vaccinator, which

-allowed him to roam about the country twice a year,

-like old times.  No one knew better than he how

-to lull the little children to rest, whilst he pricked the

-fine soft flesh of their arms; almost before they knew

-it the pain was over.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This gained for him the goodwill of all the

-mothers; they even forgave him the ugly habit of

-chewing tobacco&mdash;it was too late to cure it now.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then the snow of old age stole gently o'er the

-surgeon's head.  He had gone through the storms of

-life without losing faith in humanity; never

-hardening under adversity, nor unduly puffed up when

-fortune smiled.  He was throughout a good soul.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Often in our childhood and first youth we sat up

-there in the old garret chamber around his leather-covered

-arm-chair, by the light of the crackling fire,

-listening to his tales from the world of fiction and

-from life.  His memory was inexhaustible, and as the

-old <i>runa</i> says, that even the wild stream does not

-let its waves flow by all at once, so had the surgeon

-continually new stories of his own time, and still

-more from periods which had long passed away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It sometimes happened after we had been listening

-to the old man, that he took out an electric

-battery, and drew from it a succession of sparks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"In that way the world sparkled when I was young,"

-he said smiling; "one had only to apply a finger, and

-click it flashed in all directions.  But then it was our

-Lord who turned the machine."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But rarely had he a story written like that of the

-Duchess of Finland.  Most of them were given orally.

-Many years have since passed; part I have forgotten,

-and some I have compared with traditions and books.

-If the reader finds a pleasure in them, then the

-surgeon will not have told his tales in vain during the

-long winter evenings.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0100"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-I.&mdash;THE KING'S RING.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Reader, as you sit in your peaceful home, surrounded

-by the calm of civilisation, can you recall the grand

-heroic memories of the past, which after centuries

-remain illuminated with a bright glow, and are also often

-darkened with blood and tragedy?  Can you transport

-yourself back to the joys and terrors of the past,

-and take a vital interest in those struggles and battles

-long since fought out, and become full of hopes or

-fears as fortune smiled or betrayed?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Stand with me on the heights of History, and

-looking far around on the wild arena of human

-destiny, can you transfer yourself to the vale of the

-past, the physically dead and buried, but spiritually

-immortal life, which forms the being and substance

-of all History?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Reader, have you ever seen History depicted as

-an aged man with a frozen heart and wise brow,

-trying all things in the balance of reason?  But is

-not the Genius of History like an ever youthful virgin,

-full of fire, with a living heart and a flaming

-soul&mdash;human, warm, and beautiful?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-If then you have the capacity to suffer or rejoice

-with the generations that have passed away, to love,

-and hate with them, to admire, despise, and curse as

-they have done; in a word, to live amongst them

-with your whole heart, and not merely with your cold

-reflecting mentality, then follow me.  I will lead

-down the valley; but your heart will guide you better

-that I; upon that I rely&mdash;and begin.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0101"></a></p>

-

-<h2>

-THE KING'S RING.

-</h2>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER I.

-<br /><br />

-THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Through the histories of Germany and Sweden the

-fame of mighty names has resounded for centuries;

-at their mention the Swede raises his head aloft, and

-the free German uncovers his with admiration.  These

-are Leipzig, Breitenfeld, and the 7th of September,

-1631.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-King Gustaf Adolf, with his army of Swedes and

-Finns, stood on German soil to protect the holiest

-and highest things in life&mdash;Liberty and Faith.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Tilly, the terrible old corporal, had invaded Saxony,

-and the king pursued him.  Twice had they met;

-the tiger had challenged the lion to the combat, but

-the latter would not move.  Now for the third time

-they faced each other; the crushing blow must fall,

-and the fate of Germany trembled in the balance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At dawn the Swedes and Saxons crossed the Loder,

-and placed themselves in battle array at the village

-of Breitenfeld.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king rode along the lines, and inspected

-everything.  His eye beamed with delight on these brave

-men; the left wing was composed of Gustave Horn's

-cavalry, Teuffel was in the centre, and Torstensson

-with his leathern cannon in front.  The Livonians

-and Hepburn's Scots were both in the second line.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king commanded the right wing, composed

-of several regiments of cavalry and the Finns.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stälhandske," said he, checking his large steed

-at the last Finnish division, "I suppose you

-understand why you are here.  Pappenheim is opposite,

-and longs to make your acquaintance," he added

-smiling, "and I expect a vigorous attack from that

-quarter.  I rely upon you Finns to receive him right

-royally."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king then raised his voice and said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Boys, do not blunt your swords upon those iron-clad

-fellows, but first tackle the horses, and then you

-will have light work with the riders."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Finns were proud of their danger and the

-honour of their position.  The king inspired all with

-courage and self-reliance.  But these short, sturdy

-fellows on their small horses seemed unequal to the

-onset of the big Wallachians upon their strong and

-heavy chargers.  Tilly held the same opinion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ride them down," he said, "and horse and man

-will fall powerless under the heels of your steeds."  But

-Tilly did not know his foes.  The outer bearing

-of the Finns was deceptive.  Their iron muscles and

-calm courage, with the hardihood of their horses, gave

-them a decided advantage over their enemies.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, Bertila," said Stälhandske, turning to a

-young man who in the first rank rode a handsome

-black horse, and was noticeable from his height and

-bearing, "do you feel inclined to win the knight's

-spur to-day?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The one addressed seemed astonished, and

-coloured up to the brim of his helmet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have never dared to aspire so high," he

-answered.  "I&mdash;a peasant's son!" he added with

-hesitation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thunder and lightning, the boy blushes like a

-bride at the altar!  A peasant's son?  What the

-devil, then, have we all come from in the beginning?

-Did you not provide four fully equipped horsemen?

-Has not our Lord placed a heart in your breast, and

-the king a weapon in your hand?  That is in itself a

-coat of arms; you must attend to the rest."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A multitude of thoughts passed quickly through

-the young man's mind.  He thought of the days of

-his childhood in far-off Finland.  He remembered

-his old father, whose name was also Bertila, and who

-during the peasant war was one of Duke Carl's best

-men.  When the latter became King Carl the Ninth,

-he gave his follower four large farms; each of these

-had to provide a man and horse for military service.

-Owing to this, old Bertila became one of the richest

-peasants in the country.  He thought of the time

-when his father first sent him to Stockholm, in the

-hope that he would some day attain honour and

-distinction by the king's side; then of his own ambition

-which had induced him to neglect study and take

-private lessons in riding and fencing.  At last his

-father gave him permission to join the king's Finnish

-cavalry.  Now he, a peasant's son, was about to strive

-to raise himself to the level of the haughty nobility.

-It was this thought that made him blush, and under

-its influence he felt he could face any danger.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Moreover, he was about to fight under the king's

-eye, for his faith and the honour of his country.  The

-whole army was animated by the same high principles,

-which rendered them invincible, and made

-them realise the victory before the battle had begun.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Before the young horseman had time to reply to

-his generous leader, the king's high voice was heard

-in the distance calling to prayer.  The hero took off

-his helmet and lowered the point of his sword, and

-all the troops did the same.  The king prayed:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thou all-merciful God, Who bearest victory and

-defeat in Thy hand, turn Thy beneficent countenance

-to us, Thy servants.  From distant lands and

-peaceful homes have we come, to fight for freedom,

-and Thy Gospel.  Give us victory for Thy Holy

-Name's sake.  Amen."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A deep trust at these words filled every heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At noon the attacking Swedish army came within

-range of the Imperial cannon.  The Swedish artillery

-answered, and the conflict began.  As the sun shone

-right in the assailants' eyes, the king made his army

-wheel to the right, so as to get the wind and sun on

-the side.  Pappenheim tried to prevent this.  He

-rushed forward with the speed of lightning, and took

-the Swedish right in flank.  At once the king threw

-the Rhine Count's regiment and Baner's cavalry upon

-him.  The shock was terrific; horses and riders fell

-over each other in utter confusion.  Pappenheim drew

-back, but only to throw himself the next instant on

-the Finns.  But the furious charge of the Wallachians

-was in vain; they met a wall of steel; their front

-rank was crushed, and the next turned back.  The

-second attack was no better, and Pappenheim raged;

-for the third time he rushed to the assault; the

-Livonians and Courlanders now assisted the Finns.

-The latter received the enemy with calm courage;

-nothing could break through that living wall.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The heat of the conflict had gradually excited the

-Finns, and it was now scarcely possible to hold them

-in.  Stälhandske's mighty voice sounded high above

-the roar and din of the conflict; and once more the

-foe was thrown back.  Now the Finnish lines broke,

-but only to enclose the enemy.  Then it became a

-hand-to-hand struggle.  Twice more the Wallachians

-charged and were repulsed.  The seventh time

-Pappenheim was followed only by a few of the most

-determined of his followers, and when this last

-desperate effort failed all was over.  The remaining

-Wallachians scattered themselves in the wildest flight

-toward Breitenfeld.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Covered with blood and dust the Finns took breath.

-But as soon as the smoke cleared off, they saw other

-foes in front.  These were the Holsteiners, who had

-supported Pappenheim.  The Finns could not be

-checked.  With the East Goths they surrounded the

-Holsteiners and annihilated them; these brave fellows

-died in their ranks to a man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Whilst this happened on the right, the left was in

-great danger.  Furstenberg's Croats had made the

-Saxons give ground, and Tilly then advanced his

-powerful centre.  Torstensson's cannon played havoc

-in the ranks; Tilly moved aside and charged the

-Saxons.  The ranks of the latter were immediately

-broken, and they fled in the greatest disorder.  Tilly

-now turned his victorious troops against the Swedish

-left wing.  The latter were slowly pressed back.  The

-king then hastened up and ordered Callenbach's

-reserve to the rescue.  Almost immediately both

-Callenbach and Teuffel fell.  Then Hepburn's Scots

-and the Smälanders came up; the Croats fell upon

-them, but the Scots opened their ranks, and several

-masked batteries played with terrible effect on the

-former.  Under the fire of the Scots whole ranks

-were shattered, and amidst the dense smoke and

-dust the combatants were mingled together in utter

-confusion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Victory still hung in the balance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But now a diversion occurred which decided the

-battle.  The king with his cavalry and the Finns had

-captured the Imperial artillery on the heights, and

-now turned it against the latter.  In vain Pappenheim

-tried to recapture the guns; he was repulsed in

-disorder.  Then the king, with his invincible right wing,

-charged the enemy in flank; the Imperialists were

-lost.  Tilly wept with rage: Pappenheim, who had

-hewed down fourteen men with his own hand, was

-mad with fury.  No one, however, could rally the

-Imperial troops, and Tilly, whose horse was shot

-under him, barely escaped being taken prisoner.  The

-king's victory was decisive.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But a terrible sequel remained.  Four regiments

-of Tilly's veteran infantry had reformed, and now

-sought to check the pursuit.  The king charged them

-with Tott's cavalry, the Smälanders, and Finns.  It

-was a terrific combat; the Wallachians fought with

-the fury of despair; no quarter was asked or given.

-At last darkness saved the remnant of these brave

-men, who retreated on Leipzig.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The battle was over.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Great results followed this victory; and in the

-evening the king rode from rank to rank, to thank

-his brave troops.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stälhandske," said he, when he came to the Finns,

-"you and your men have fought like heroes, as I

-expected.  I thank you, my children!  I am proud

-of you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The troops responded with a joyous cheer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But," continued the king, "there was one among

-you who sprang from his horse, and first of all scaled

-the heights to seize the Imperial guns.  Where is he?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A young horseman rode from the ranks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Pardon, your Majesty!" he stammered.  "I did it

-without orders, and therefore merit death."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king smiled.  "Your name?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bertila."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"From East Bothnia?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good.  To-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, you

-may present yourself, to hear your doom."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king rode on, and the horseman returned to

-the ranks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Night broke over the awful field, covered with 9,000

-dead.  The Finnish cavalry encamped on the heights,

-where Tilly's guns were captured.  The dead were

-taken away, and fires of broken gun-carriages and

-musket-stocks spread their light in the September

-night; through a clear sky the eternal stars looked

-down upon the battlefield.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The cavalry gave their horses fodder, and watered

-them at the muddy Loder.  Then they bivouacked,

-each in his division, around the fires, armed and

-ready to jump at the first call The ground was

-damp with dew, and slippery with blood, but many

-were so fatigued that they fell asleep as they sat

-around the fires.  Others kept themselves in good

-spirits by passing round cups of ale, of which they

-had a good stock.  They drank in jesting fashion to

-the health of the Imperialists.

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "And that they to-night may die of thirst<br />

-  Or drink to their own funeral<br />

-  Eläköön kuningas!"<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-At this moment a woeful voice was heard quite

-near, earnestly calling for help.  The soldiers,

-accustomed to such things, knew by the accent that the

-man was a foreigner, and did not trouble.  But the

-cries continued without ceasing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Pekka, go and give the Austrian dog a final

-thrust," cried some of the men, who were irritated by

-these wailing sounds.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pekka, one of Bertila's four dragoons, short, but

-strong as a lion, went unwillingly to silence the

-offender's voice.  Superstitious, like all these soldiers,

-he was not at home amidst the dead on a dark night.

-Bertila, absorbed in thinking of the next morning,

-did not hear it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In a few minutes Pekka returned, dragging after

-him a dark body, which, to everyone's surprise, was

-found to be a monk, easily recognised by his tonsure.

-Around his common gown he wore a hempen rope,

-and to this hung the scabbard of a sword.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A monk!  A Jesuit!" exclaimed the soldiers.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, but what could I do," said Pekka, "he parried

-my thrust with a crucifix."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Kill him!  It is one of the devil's allies who

-prowl around to murder kings and burn faithful

-Christians at the stake.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Away with him!  When we carried the heights,

-this same man stood with his crucifix among the

-Imperialists and fired off a cannon."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let's find out if the precious object is of silver,"

-said one of the men, and pulling aside the monk's

-gown he drew forth, in spite of his struggles, a crucifix

-of silver, richly gilded.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Just as I thought, the devil has plenty of gold."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let me see it," said an old veteran.  "I know

-something about monks' tricks."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As he pressed a little spring in the image's breast,

-a keen dagger sprang from it.  As if bitten by an

-adder, he threw the crucifix from him.  Rage and

-horror seized the bystanders.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hang the serpent by his own rope," shouted the men.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There is no tree," said one, "and no one is

-allowed to leave the lines."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Drown him!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There is no water."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stab him!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-No one was willing, from aversion, to touch the

-monk.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What shall we do with him?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Misericordia!  Gnade!" said the prisoner, who

-now began to recover his speech and strength.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Give him a kick and let him go," said one.  "We

-are Christians, and fear no devilry."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"At least I will mark you first, so that we may

-know you if we meet again," cried one of the soldiers

-named Vitikka, renowned for his strength and

-brutality.  He flourished his sword several times round

-the monk's head, and then with two dexterous strokes

-cut off both the prisoner's ears, before he could be

-prevented by his comrades.  It was most skilfully

-accomplished.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"St. Peter could not have done it better," said

-Vitikka laughing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Those who were standing around turned away.

-Although they were accustomed to the cruelties of

-war, this was too savage even for them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bleeding, the Jesuit crawled away on his hands and

-feet.  But long afterwards his voice was heard from

-the darkness:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Accursed Finns!  May the eternal fires consume

-you!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Our Father, which art in Heaven," a voice

-exclaimed from the group of soldiers.  And all uttered

-the prayer with devotion.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0102"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER II.

-<br /><br />

-THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-At dawn on the 8th of September, the Swedish army

-was exercised.  They felt sure of complete victory.

-From all parts news arrived that the enemy's army

-was almost destroyed.  The king left one division

-of his troops to follow the Imperialists; whilst the

-rest received the agreeable order to loot Tilly's camp:

-the spoil was divided into lots.  The treasures were

-enormous, and many a man was enriched for life.

-The whole army wore a joyous look; the dead were

-quickly buried, and the wounded forgot their pains.

-In the bright September morning, the battlefield was

-covered with groups of delighted soldiers, and here,

-if ever, Beskow's words could be used, "The air was

-cooled with the waving of the flags gained in the

-victory."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had passed the night in a carriage.  After

-he had read the army prayers, and given orders for

-the first part of the day, he called for those who had

-most distinguished themselves in the battle.  And

-now many a brave deed was recognised with honours

-and promotion.  But higher than any other reward,

-was the inner satisfaction, and the praise they received

-from this hero, whom the whole of Europe had now

-learnt to admire.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Amongst those who were specially called was a

-young man, who plays a great part in this history.

-Gustaf Bertila was only twenty years old, and his

-heart was beating at this time more rapidly than it

-had ever done in the most terrible moments of the

-conflict.  He knew well that the noble king would

-not take any account of his crime, which was that

-he had disobeyed orders in battle; he blushed and

-grew pale by turns, as he thought of what the king

-might mean by this special summons, which was in

-itself a great honour.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had erected his tent under one of the

-great elms, at Gross Wetteritz, because all the

-buildings in the neighbourhood were burnt or destroyed

-by friends or enemies.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After waiting for half an hour, Bertila was

-introduced into the royal presence.  Gustaf Adolf was

-sitting on a low chair, and his arm was resting on a

-table, covered with maps and papers.  The king was

-tall and portly, and his tight-fitting buff coat made

-him look still more corpulent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Bertila entered, the king lifted up his mild

-and beautiful blue eyes; he had just signed an order,

-and looked sharply at the young man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Gustaf Adolf was short sighted, and therefore had

-a difficulty in recognising persons, and when he met

-individuals only slightly known to him, it gave his

-look a peculiar sharpness, which, however, disappeared

-immediately.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your name is Bertila," said the king, as if he

-wished to assure himself that he had heard it correctly

-the day before.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Aged twenty years," said the king, watching him

-closely with a strange look.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"His son did you say?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The young man bowed his head and blushed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How strange!" the king muttered this to himself,

-and seemed for a moment to be in deep thought.  He

-then said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Why have you not announced yourself to me

-before?  Your father has done my father and the

-country great service.  He is then still alive."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"He is alive, and thankful for your Majesty's goodness."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Really so."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king said this more as if a secret thought had

-escaped him, than as a remark to the listener.  The

-young man felt the colour mount to his cheeks, and

-the king noticed it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your father and I once had a quarrel," continued

-the king, and he smiled, but a cloud was seen on his

-brow.  "But this was all forgotten long ago, and I

-am glad that such a good man has such a brave

-son.  You were amongst the seventy Finns at

-Demmin."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And no one has mentioned you for promotion?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My colonel has promised to remember me."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your king never forgets a real service.  Gustaf

-Bertila, I have just signed your commission as

-sub-lieutenant.  Take it, and continue to serve with

-honour."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty," said the young man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have something more to say to you.  Your

-action yesterday was against orders."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I want my soldiers to obey implicitly.  I have

-been told that you dismounted at the foot of the

-steepest hill, so that you could get up quicker."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is true your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And that you reached the top of the hill first,

-whilst the others had to ride round; and that you

-killed two of the enemy, and took the first cannon."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is good, sub-lieutenant Bertila; I forgive you,

-and promote you to the rank of lieutenant in my

-Finnish cavalry."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The young man could not speak.  The king himself

-laboured under considerable emotion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Come nearer, young man," said the king.  "You

-ought to know that once, in my youth, I did your

-father a considerable injury.  Heaven knows that I

-repent, and has at last given me an opportunity to

-repair to the son the injustice done to the father.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lieutenant Bertila, you are brave and noble, and

-you have received a military education.  You have

-also brought into my service four soldiers.  In your

-position as officer in my army you are already

-considered a nobleman.  That none of my officers shall

-look down upon you as a peasant's son, I will give

-you a name, and the knight's spur."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go, young man.  Go, my son," repeated the king

-with great emotion, "and show that you are worth

-the king's favour."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Until death."  And the young man bent his knee

-to the king.  The latter stood up.  The emotion

-which had for a moment passed over his fine face

-now disappeared, and he was again the royal leader.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The young Bertila understood that the time had

-come to retire.  But he still remained in his kneeling

-position, and gave the king a letter, which he, until

-this day, had carried sewed in his coat.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May I ask your Majesty to read this letter.

-When I said farewell to my old father he gave me

-this letter, and said, 'My son, go and try to win your

-king's favour, through your faithfulness and valour.

-And if some day you can obtain it for your own

-sake, and not only for the sake of your father's name,

-then give him this letter, and tell him that it is my

-last will.  His great heart will understand what I

-mean.'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king opened the letter and read it, and on

-his face was seen that deep flush, which in his later

-years was the only sign of the struggles of a soul,

-able to control itself.  It came as a light cloud on the

-king's forehead, deepened for a moment, and then

-passed away without leaving any trace.  When he

-had finished reading, his eyes rested for a moment

-on the handsome youth who was still kneeling at

-his feet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stand up," said the king at last.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila obeyed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know what this letter contains?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king watched him closely, but was satisfied

-with the honest and truthful expression of his face.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your father is a strange man.  He hates all noblemen

-since the days of the Peasants' War.  He fought

-many tough battles as their leader; and Fleming's

-troops took possession of his farm.  He forbids you

-ever to bear a noble name, if you wish to avoid his

-curse."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila did not reply.  A thunder-bolt from a clear

-sky had come down upon his happiness, and all his

-dreams of a noble and knightly name had been

-destroyed at one blow.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A father's will must be obeyed," continued the

-king with great seriousness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The noble name which I had intended for you,

-you cannot accept.  Do not feel sad, my young friend,

-you shall keep your sword and your lieutenant's

-commission; with them, and your brave arm, the path

-to honour will always be open to you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king now dismissed him, and the young man

-left the tent with mixed feelings.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0103"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER III.

-<br /><br />

-LADY REGINA.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-In the beginning of October, 1631, it was a dull

-autumn day, about three or four weeks after the

-battle of Breitenfeld, and in one of the rooms of the

-tower of the castle of Würzburg the beautiful Regina

-von Emmeritz was sitting with several of her

-attendants; they were all working on a banner of white

-silk with the image of the Holy Virgin on it.  It

-was intended for a standard of victory to stimulate

-the troops defending the castle.  The young maidens

-indulged in an animated conversation, for the terror

-of the castle, the old, selfish bishop, had just started

-off, as he alleged, on a journey through the diocese,

-but in reality to escape Gustaf Adolf's approaching

-warriors.  Trembling for his treasures, he had

-previously entrusted the defence of the town and castle

-to the valiant and trustworthy captain of horse, Keller,

-with fifteen hundred men; and this commander, relying

-upon the impregnable position of the fortress on

-the banks of the Main, had assured his reverence that

-the heretic king should crush his head against the

-walls, before any of his godless host obtained an

-entrance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The lovely Regina was scarcely sixteen, and her

-curls were dark as the night, cheeks rosy as the dawn,

-and black eyes shining like two stars which at midnight

-mirror themselves in a mountain lake.  She was

-the pet and idol of the aged bishop; he had therefore

-unwillingly left her with his other treasures in

-the castle, depending, however, upon Keller's

-assurance that the thick walls well mounted with heavy

-guns, were, in such uncertain times, the best harbour

-for beauty and gold; and Keller was a commander

-of fidelity and honour; with such a precious trust

-he would sooner bury himself underneath the ruins

-of the fortress than surrender.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina raised her brilliant eyes from the

-embroidery and glanced through the little turret

-window over the river, where at that moment a

-carriage, escorted by some troopers, was crossing the

-bridge from the town to the castle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who is this traveller?" she said, with the

-concentrated gaze which rarely fixed itself upon any

-object except the large and beautiful marble image

-of the Madonna in her sanctuary.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ah!" exclaimed Ketchen, the youngest and most

-talkative of the maidens, "ah, Holy Virgin, how

-charming it is to live in such times as these!  Every

-day, new faces, stately cavaliers, brave young knights,

-and now and then a little feast in town.  It is quite

-a different thing from sitting shut up in a cloister, and

-hearing the monks chant De Profundis from morn

-till eve.  Yes," continued she saucily, "may his

-grace, the bishop, only stay away a good long time!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ketchen," admonished Regina, "take care not to

-speak ill of the services and masses of the monks!

-Remember that our confessor, Father Hieronymus,

-is a member of the Holy Inquisition, and that the

-castle dungeons are deep and dark."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Ketchen remained silent for a moment.  But

-directly afterwards she boldly said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If I were in your place, lady, I would rather

-think of the handsome Count of Lichtenstein, than

-of that terrible Father Hieronymus.  He is a valiant

-knight; God grant that he may return victorious

-from the war against the heretics!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May they all be exterminated by fire and sword!"

-interjected one of the girls in a devout manner.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Poor heretics!" said Ketchen smiling.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beware!" repeated Lady Regina, with naïve

-earnestness.  "A heretic deserves no mercy.  Anyone

-who kills a heretic has pardon for seven sins; Father

-Hieronymus has often thus instructed me.  To hate

-the heretics is the eighth sacrament, and to love a

-single one of them is to consign your soul to eternal

-torment."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina's black eyes emitted fire with these words.

-One could easily see that the worthy father's

-teachings had taken deep root in her soul.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Still Ketchen did not refrain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is said that their king is good and noble, and

-that he shelters all the weak, and does not allow his

-soldiers to plunder and outrage their enemies."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Satan often assumes the disguise of an angel."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They also say that his men are brave and humane.

-I myself heard an old Italian soldier tell the knights

-in the armoury how seventy men belonging to a

-heretic people called Finns, defended their king for

-more than an hour against fifteen hundred

-Neapolitans.  And when most of these Finns had fallen,

-the rest were succoured and finally triumphed;

-afterwards they bound up the wounds of their enemies as

-well as their own."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina rose, and was about to return a quick

-answer to this unpalatable speech, but at that moment

-a servant appeared at the door, and announced that

-the Count of Lichtenstein, sick and wounded, had

-arrived at the castle, and craved shelter.  The young

-lady, who, as the niece of the old bishop, took the

-part of hostess of the castle in his absence,

-immediately hastened down to welcome the new arrival,

-who was a distant relative of the family.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The maidens now exchanged significant glances,

-as if they considered this event especially opportune.

-It had long been gossiped amongst them that the

-old bishop had chosen the count as the future husband

-of the young lady.  But in vain had they endeavoured

-to discover any signs of emotion on the part of their

-young mistress at the intelligence of his arrival.  If

-Lady Regina entertained any tender passion, she well

-knew how to conceal it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is it true," asked one of the girls, "that the king

-of the heretics has won a great victory over the

-soldiers of the true faith, and is now approaching this

-castle with his godless army?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"So it is said," answered another.  "But he is

-unable to come here.  Our people have erected the

-image of the Swedish saint, Brigitta, in his path, in

-Thüringer forest, and she will stop his progress."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meanwhile, Lady Regina had ordered one

-of the bishop's own apartments to be put in order for

-the guest, and provided in every way for his comfort.

-The young Count of Lichtenstein was a proud and

-stately youth, dark as a Spaniard, and with eyes

-almost as bright as Regina's.  He approached the

-beautiful hostess with faltering steps, and with an

-ardent glance, before which Regina cast down her

-eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How grateful I should be to heaven," he said, "for

-these wounds, which have procured me the happiness

-of having such a beautiful hostess!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The count's wounds were numerous, but not dangerous.

-Taken captive at Breitenfeld, he had shortly

-afterwards, still weak from his wounds, been

-exchanged, and immediately hastened here, to regain

-health and strength in the neighbourhood of his

-heart's mistress.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But," he added, "I heard with great alarm that

-the enemy, seeking whom they may devour, were on

-their march hither to the rich vales of Franconia.

-Then I hurried, quickly as I could, to share with you,

-beautiful Regina, all these dangers and terrors.  Be

-calm!  Königshofen will make a stand against them,

-and Father Hieronymus, who, also wounded, escaped

-from the disastrous field of Breitenfeld, is busy

-inciting the country people to resistance all along the

-enemy's advance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And so you think," anxiously asked Regina, "that

-these terrible heretics will venture as far as this

-place?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The protection of the saints will be with beauty

-and faith," answered the count evasively.  "Besides,

-we shall soon receive more reliable news."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As he spoke, Regina looked out of the window, and

-perceived a troop of horsemen, who were hurrying at

-full speed towards the fortress.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I cannot be mistaken," she exclaimed; "it is

-Father Hieronymus himself who returns here."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A bad omen," muttered the count between his

-teeth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina was right; it was Father Hieronymus

-who at that moment rode over the drawbridge.  In

-appearance, the father was a little insignificant man,

-thin and pallid, with sharp features, and deeply sunk,

-hollow eyes, whose quick glance fled inquiringly from

-one object to another.  He still wore the long sword

-suspended from the rope round his waist.  But the

-bald spot no longer shone on the crown of his head;

-wounded at that place, he wore over it a sort of

-skull-cap or calotte of leather, the black colour of

-which made a ghastly contrast with his cadaverous-looking

-face.  Never had the dreaded Jesuit showed

-himself in so forbidding a form.  The men-at-arms

-stood at attention, and all the servants in the castle

-hastened to receive his commands.  A secret anxiety

-took possession of all the bystanders.  It looked as

-if terror and death had ridden in his train through

-the gates of Würzburg Castle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The monk hastily surveyed the garrison drawn up

-in the courtyard, and then greeted Lady Regina with

-a smile, which was probably intended to make him

-look more agreeable, but which had exactly the

-opposite effect.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"St. Petrus and all the saints protect you,

-gracious lady!  The times are very awful, very bad.

-The Holy Virgin has allowed the vile heretics to

-penetrate to our very gates&mdash;on account of our sins!"

-he added, crossing himself devoutly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And Königshofen?" inquired Count Fritz, who

-anticipated the answer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The treacherous commander has capitulated."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But did not the peasants oppose the enemy's

-march through the forest?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All scattered like chaff&mdash;on account of our sins."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And the holy Brigitta's image?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The vile heretics have placed it as a scarecrow in

-a wheat-field.  But," continued the Jesuit, his voice

-acquiring suddenly a commanding tone, "what is this

-I see, my daughter?  Why are you still here, and

-the castle filled with women and children, while the

-enemy may arrive at any moment at your gates?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lady Regina shall never need a protector as long

-as I am alive," exclaimed Count Fritz.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The castle is provisioned for a whole year," said

-Regina timidly.  "But, worthy father, you are

-fatigued, you are wounded, and need rest.  Allow me

-to dress your wounds; you are hurt in the head."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is nothing, my daughter.  Do not think of me.

-You must fly instantly to the impregnable fortress of

-Aschaffenburg."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ha!  I fear it is too late," exclaimed Count Fritz,

-who was looking out upon the river and town.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Virgin, are they already here?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit and Lady Regina rushed to the window.

-The afternoon sun was shedding its rays over

-Würzburg and the surrounding country.  Horsemen could

-be seen riding at full gallop through the streets, and

-a whole host of panic-stricken people were rapidly

-moving towards the castle&mdash;monks and nuns, women

-and children, dragging after them a number of

-hand-carts containing the best of their household effects.

-Beyond the town, in the direction of Schweinfurter,

-on the east bank of the river, appeared a troop of

-cavalry, from whose threatening but cautious advance

-one could easily recognise the vanguard of the

-Swedish army.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Accursed devils!" burst out the Jesuit, with an

-indescribable expression of hatred on his pallid face.

-"These heretics can fly.  May the earth open and

-devour them!"  And he ran out with frantic zeal to

-place himself at the head of the garrison.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The bishop's castle, also called Marienburg, raises

-its old walls high above the right bank of the Main.

-On the river side of the town the rock is high and

-precipitous, but on the other side sloping and easily

-ascended.  A rampart in the shape of a half moon

-formed a formidable outwork before the gates;

-and if the enemy surmounted this obstacle, a deep

-moat, cut in the solid rock, awaited him on the other

-side; and even if he crossed this successfully, the

-inner and higher castle wall blocked his way, lined

-with steel-clad defenders, prepared to receive him

-with a devastating fire, and crush him with the large

-stones collected on the walls.  The only passage over

-the river was a narrow bridge, and the forty-eight

-guns of the fortress commanded and swept the whole

-town and neighbourhood.  From this it will be seen

-that Keller at the head of 1,500 valiant troops, and

-well provided with all necessaries, had good reason

-in bidding the departing bishop to be of good

-heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Gustaf Adolf had an overwhelming reason for

-becoming master of this castle, cost what it would.

-Tilly had now drawn to himself large reinforcements,

-and stood, a few weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld,

-fully equipped and eager for revenge, with

-30,000 men on the march from Hessen, to assist

-Würzburg.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king summoned the town, and forced his way

-into the suburbs, but it was already late in the day,

-and the attack had to be postponed.  The next

-morning the town surrendered.  But Keller had profited

-by the darkness of the night to transfer his whole

-force, a large number of fugitives, and the portable

-property of the town, to the castle, after which he

-blew up two arches of the bridge, and thus blockaded

-the enemy's way.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But to return to the fortress.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-That night none but the little children could sleep

-in the bishop's castle.  Crowds of soldiers, monks, and

-women, were constantly arriving; one baggage-wagon

-after the other rattled in through the castle gates;

-the vaults echoed with the cries of the watch, the

-orders of the officers, and the children's crying, and

-above all this noise and confusion one could plainly

-hear the masses of the monks, who were invoking

-in the chapel the protection of the Holy Virgin and

-all the saints, on behalf of the threatened fortress, the

-strongest castle of the Catholics in all Franconia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In order to provide for this human host, Lady

-Regina had not only opened the bishop's private

-rooms, but also the two spacious drawing-rooms set

-aside for her own use in the interior of the castle,

-and with her maids moved up to the small chambers

-in the east turret.  In vain it was represented to her

-that this point was exposed to the fire of the enemy.

-She here had the best and most extensive prospect

-in the whole fortress, and was not willing to forego it.

-"Do not interfere with me," she said to the

-cautious Jesuit; "I wish to see the heretics mown

-down by our guns.  It will be a fine spectacle."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Amen," answered Father Hieronymus.  "You

-remember, my daughter, that this castle is protected by

-two miraculous images of the Virgin, one of pure

-gold, the other of gilded wood.  I will hang up the

-latter in your apartment; it will avert the enemy's

-shot like so many puff-balls from your turret."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At daybreak, Lady Regina was on the look-out at

-her little turret window.  It was a glorious sight,

-when the sun rose over the autumn hills with their

-still verdant vineyards, through which the River Main

-wound like a glittering serpent of gold and silver in

-the morning light.  In the town all was activity; four

-Swedish regiments marched in with flags flying and

-drums beating, their armour shining in the bright

-sunlight, and the plumes of their officers waving in

-the wind.  At this sight, fear and curiosity came into

-conflict in the minds of the maidens.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you see," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, "the

-two cavaliers in their yellow waistcoats, who ride at

-the head of the heretics?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How handsome they are!  Now they turn round

-the street corner&mdash;there they are again.  Just see how

-everyone makes way for them!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Send for Count Fritz.  He was in the Swedish

-camp for more than a fortnight, and knows their

-leaders."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The count, who was prevented by his wounds from

-taking part in the defence of the castle, immediately

-obeyed the Lady Regina's summons.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meantime the Swedes had taken full

-possession of the town, and began to show

-themselves in scattered groups on the river banks.  At

-that moment the castle guns opened fire, and here

-and there a ball fell among the Swedes, who

-immediately sought shelter behind the houses by the

-river.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Mary, a man was struck over there and does

-not move again!" cried Ketchen, who could not

-conceal her sympathy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"St. Francis be praised, there is one heretic less

-in the world!" rejoined old Dorthe, Lady Regina's

-duenna, who had been appointed by Father Hieronymus

-to guard all her steps.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But it is terrible to shoot a man."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Count Fritz smiled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fräulein Ketchen, you should have been on the

-field of Breitenfeld.  Nine thousand corpses!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is horrible!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Count, can you inform me who those horsemen

-are, who, in spite of the storm of cannon-shot, keep on

-the river bank and seem to be closely examining the

-defences of our castle?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Pardon me, charming cousin, the smoke blocks

-my sight.  Those cavaliers&mdash;upon my honour, it is

-the king himself, and Count Pehr Brahe.  I would

-not be in their shoes if Father Hieronymus sees them.

-He would undoubtedly bring all the guns of the

-fortress to bear upon them."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At these words old Dorthe crept silently from the

-room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My cousin, why do you thus regard the heretic

-leader?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beautiful Regina, why do your eyes flash fire at

-the thought.  You are, yourself, so generous and

-noble, can you not understand my sympathy for a

-brave and chivalrous foe?  The king of Sweden is a

-hero, well worthy of our supreme admiration, as well

-as of our great enmity."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I fail to comprehend you.  A heretic!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God preserve you from some day seeing him

-within these walls; you will then understand me much

-better.  Ha! they are now preparing to assault the

-bridge; they are throwing planks over the destroyed

-arches.  By Heaven, that is courageous!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Now, four fell at once!" exclaimed the excited

-Ketchen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I know them well," said Count Fritz, growing

-more and more agitated by the sounds of the battle

-and the loud thunder of the cannonade, which made

-the fortress walls shake.  "They are the Scots.  There

-are no finer soldiers in the whole Swedish army; the

-Scots and Finns are always in the front of the battle."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ah! see there, my cousin, the Scots recoil; they

-dare not try to leap the abyss.  That truly requires

-superhuman courage.  Twenty-four feet underneath

-the planks rushes the flood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Two young officers dash out on the planks."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They are the youthful brothers Ramsay.  I recognise

-them by their blue scarves.  They love the same

-lady, and both sport her colours, without loving each

-other any the less."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh God, guard them!  Ah, Holy Virgin, this is

-fearful!" and Ketchen hid her face in her apron.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Before the brave and intrepid Scots could reach

-the centre of the planks, they lost their balance,

-reeled, and then fell headlong into the river.  For a

-short time they struggled with the flood, but wounded

-by bullets from the castle, their strength soon failed

-them, and their heavy armour made them sink in

-the waters; another moment, and these gallant youths

-sank to rise no more.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You rejoiced at war not long ago," said Lady

-Regina to Ketchen, assuming a calmness which she

-did not feel in her agitated heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, yes, at the handsome young knights; the

-feasts and music, but not at this!" exclaimed the

-crying Ketchen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The Scots retreat!" exclaimed another of the

-girls.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," replied the reflecting count, "but the Swedes

-have begun to cross the river in boats."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The Scots are returning to the attack."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Just as I imagined," said the count calmly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God preserve us! they have succeeded; they are

-now on this side.  Our troops attack them."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lady Regina, do not expose yourself so much at

-the window.  The Swedes may aim their cannon at

-the turret."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Count, do you fear?" Regina smiled as she said

-this.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lichtenstein coloured up.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have satisfied myself that I have courage

-enough," he answered.  "Hearken, and you will every

-now and then distinguish a peculiar whizzing, and a

-rattling like the fall of stones; you do not know what

-this is.  I will tell you.  These are cannon-shot, Lady

-Regina; you would know this better if the noise

-outside was not so deafening.  For some time the

-balls have been shattering the walls of the turret, and

-almost always at the same place.  Fair cousin, these

-are no sugar-plums.  The Swedes must have been

-taught to shoot by the Wild Huntsman."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you really think&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That the enemy intend to destroy this turret, and

-will fill the castle moat with the debris?  Yes, cousin,

-and I believe they will do it very soon.  You are in

-danger here, every moment, and must go somewhere

-else."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Immediately, good count, at once!  Come, lady!"

-cried Ketchen, trying with friendly violence to take

-her young mistress away with her.  But Regina was

-in an exalted mood.  In the habit of ruling, and

-perhaps from the defiant nature of her character, full of

-strange contrasts, joined to the burning fanaticism

-which the Jesuit had implanted in her mind from

-childhood ... she stepped backwards, grasped the

-gilded image of the Virgin, which Father Hieronymus

-had sent to guard her, and placed it in front of

-herself on the window-sill.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go," she exclaimed; "you are weak in the faith;

-you doubt the protection of the holy saints.  I shall

-remain, and the efforts of the heretics will avail

-nothing against&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina's speech was not finished, when a

-ball struck the turret at an oblique angle, knocking

-away a piece of the facing.  A shower of stone

-fragments hurtled through the window, demolishing the

-image of the Holy Virgin, and enveloping Lady

-Regina in dust and dirt.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You must away!  Now you see for yourself!"

-cried the count.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us go!" exclaimed all the girls nearly

-paralyzed with fear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Regina, nearly overwhelmed for a moment,

-recovered her self-confidence, and stooped down to

-pick up the image, saying with faith,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They cannot triumph over the Holy Mother."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She was deceived.  The wooden virgin had

-broken into several fragments.  A sceptical smile

-played around the count's lips, and he now led

-without any opposition his terror-stricken relative from

-the turret.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-While this was happening, Keller, with the quickness

-and perception of a thorough soldier, had made

-every arrangement for a vigorous defence.  He was

-unable to stop the Swedes from crossing the river,

-but the nearer they came, the more destructive was

-the fire of his artillery.  The enemy's ranks were

-decimated by his shot; and the whole day they could

-do nothing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Father Hieronymus and his monks ran around

-the walls, deluging the guns with holy water, and

-making the sign of the cross over every touch-hole.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Old Dorthe had whispered in his ear, and the

-Jesuit's gaze was directed towards the place where

-someone had just seen the Swedish king and his

-companion.  The worthy priest now wished to aim,

-himself, one of the heavy guns towards the spot; but

-before firing he fell on his knees and repeated four

-<i>pater nosters</i> and <i>ave Marias</i>.  Then followed the shot;

-but in vain did the anxious Jesuit look for the effect.

-Unhurt, as before, the forms of the two horsemen

-were seen through the vanishing smoke.  The monk

-now thought that four <i>paters</i> and four <i>aves</i> were

-too little, and accordingly repeated eight of each sort,

-and then fired again.  Disgusting!  The balls would

-not touch the selected objects.  Providence had not

-yet rung the death-knell of Gustaf Adolf, and Pehr

-Brahe it wished to spare for the sake of Finland.

-Who can estimate what would have succeeded

-Sweden's victories, and Finland's learning, if the

-Jesuit's shots had reached their mark?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Father Hieronymus fumed.  Once more he resolved

-to try with twelve <i>paters</i> and twelve <i>aves</i>, when

-someone touched him on the back; he turned round and

-saw an old soldier, who had been exchanged with

-Count Lichtenstein.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Cease your efforts," said the veteran in a firm tone,

-"it is a needless waste of powder; you are trying

-to kill a man with a charmed life; he is invulnerable."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The superstitious Jesuit muttered something with

-a low breath.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I should have divined as much.  But how do you

-know this, my son?" he added.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I was told of it in the Swedish camp.  On the

-forefinger of his right hand the king wears a little

-copper ring, inscribed all over with magical signs.

-This was given to him in his youth by a Finnish

-witch, and as long as he wears this ring, neither fire,

-water, iron, or lead can injure him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nothing affects him, you believe?  Oh, <i>maledicti

-Fennones</i>, why do you follow me everywhere?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No iron or lead," whispered the veteran, "but I

-can tell you of something else."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Say on, my son; you are absolved beforehand."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But, good father, it is a sinful method."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All means are justified for the benefit of our Holy

-Faith.  Speak, my son."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Gold from a holy image."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never, my son, no; we dare not do that.  Had it

-been a dagger of glass, or an occult poison, it would

-do; but gold from a saint's image, no, my son, let us

-forget the unholy idea."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meanwhile the cloak of night had descended, and

-death's work for the time was finished.  The worn-out

-soldiers refreshed themselves with food and drink,

-and Keller passed around some fine liquors to sustain

-their courage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina had moved down to one of the inner

-apartments; Count Fritz had gone to bed.  Soon all

-was silent, except the call of the sentinels, the songs of

-drunken soldiers, and the murmur of the feast which

-Keller gave to his officers in the armoury.  But in

-the fine chapel, where stood the pure golden statues

-of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the midnight mass

-was over, and all the monks except one had gone to

-rest, or&mdash;the wine-cup.  This lonely figure was still

-kneeling before the altar, and the perpetually burning

-lamp shed its dim rays over the praying pallid Jesuit.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Virgin," prayed he, "forgive thy humble

-servant for daring to take from thee a small piece of

-thy golden robe.  Thou knowest, oh sanctissima, that

-it is for a holy and sacred end, in order to kill the

-sworn enemy of the holy church, the heretic king,

-whom the heathen Finns with their devilish arts have

-rendered invulnerable to the steel and lead of the true

-believers.  Grant that the gold, which I, in thy

-honour, take from thy glorious mantle, may pierce

-the wicked heart of the godless king, and I promise

-thee, holy mother, to replace what thou hast lost by

-a costly robe of velvet and pearls.  Three gilded

-candles will I cause to burn also, night and day,

-before thy image.  Amen."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Father Hieronymus had finished his devotions,

-he looked up, and it appeared to him as if the

-image in the light of the eternal lamp smiled its

-approval to the fanatical petition.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0104"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IV.

-<br /><br />

-LADY REGINA'S OATH.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The next day was one of hot and furious battle.  The

-Swedes bombarded the castle with a heavy fire, and

-drew near to the walls under the cover of earthworks.

-The Imperial troops fought well.  Time was precious

-for both sides; in a few days Tilly would be in the

-rear of Gustaf Adolf; a possible thunder-bolt to the

-Swedes; a certain relief for the garrison.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina and her attendants were now shut

-up in the inner rooms, and could no longer view the

-extraordinary spectacle of the siege.  But there was

-much to do within.  Large numbers of wounded had

-to be nursed; the young lady moved like a spirit of

-light from couch to couch in the armoury, where the

-wounded had been placed; her healing hands poured

-balm on their wounds; her compassionate voice

-poured consolation into their hearts.  She spoke of

-the Holy Faith for which they suffered; promised

-honours and rewards to those who recovered, and

-eternal salvation to the dying.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The heavy artillery thunder made the walls tremble.

-Lady Regina suddenly remembered that she had

-left her rosary up in the little turret, and it was now

-needed for the prayers of the dying.  She had already

-reached the threshold of the armoury, when a terrific

-crash shook the castle to its very base.  Pale with

-fear, she hesitated, and at the same moment the Count

-of Lichtenstein rushed in.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What has happened?" exclaimed the young lady.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thank the saints, my fair cousin, that you took

-my advice yesterday.  The turret has fallen."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then we are lost."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Not yet.  The Swedes thought it would fall into

-the moat, but it has fallen inside.  The enemy will

-soon try an assault.  Come to this window which

-overlooks the walls.  Can you see?  Father Hieronymus

-is on his knees by the large gun.  I will wager

-that he sees the Swedish king."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The count was right.  The Jesuit's keen glance

-was fixed on one spot, and his lips hastily muttered

-prayer after prayer.  He had discovered Gustaf

-Adolf on horseback with Pehr Brahe.  The two kept

-near the outworks, sheltered somewhat by a heap of

-debris.  Father Hieronymus relied upon the heavy

-shot, into which, with prayers and fasting, he had run

-the gold from the Holy Mother's mantle.  He

-stooped to direct the cannon, and the pupils of his

-eyes contracted, his nostrils expanded, while Latin

-prayers continued to flow from his lips.  Then he

-rose quickly, and after swinging the lighted match

-in the form of a cross, fired.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The gun belched forth flame and smoke.  Oh, hate

-and fury!  When the smoke cleared off, the two

-horsemen still rode unharmed side by side.  But this

-time Gustaf Adolf had a narrow escape, for the

-ball had struck the debris, and covered both with

-dust.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Tired, weary, and quite exasperated, the Jesuit left

-the ramparts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wait, ruler of Belial, until I succeed in taking

-your ring from you, and then you shalt be destroyed!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king now commanded an assault on the

-outworks.  Axel Lilje, Jacob Ramsay, and Hamilton,

-pressed on with their men.  Frightful difficulties were

-here encountered.  They were obliged to climb up

-the steep rocks under a heavy fire, and then cross

-the moat and scale the walls.  The irresistible Scots

-and Finns led the way.  Those who fell were

-immediately replaced by others, with their swords

-between their teeth.  The king himself rode as near

-as possible in order to encourage his troops.  A bullet

-tore away a piece of his glove, without wounding him.

-It was now a common belief that Gustaf Adolf was

-invulnerable.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At last, after two hours desperate conflict, the

-Scots and the Finns triumphed.  The outworks were

-captured, and the defenders driven back into the

-castle.  It was then four in the afternoon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A few hours rest ensued.  At a council of war it

-was resolved to storm the castle at daybreak, and the

-Finns were to lead the forlorn hope.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The position of the garrison was far from hopeless.

-They could still concentrate 1,000 men at any

-threatened point.  But they had lost their moral

-courage.  In vain did Keller try to restore their

-spirits; in vain did the monks carry the golden image

-of the Virgin around the ramparts.  At nightfall

-disorder reigned; the troops refused to obey orders,

-and some wished to escape in the darkness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At midnight, Lady Regina was praying before the

-altar in the chapel to the mother of God.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Mary," she whispered, "guard this castle

-against the heretics.  But if it be thy will that the

-fortress shall fall, then also bury in its ruins all thy

-enemies: the godless king, and his heathen Finns

-who have fought the most to-day against thy Holy

-Cause."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Amen!" said the voice of Father Hieronymus

-behind her.  A dark smile played over his pale

-countenance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you realise what you are asking for, my

-daughter?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Victory for the Catholic faith.  Death to the

-heretics."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The youthful mind is subject to change.  Have

-you sufficient devotion to hate the enemies of the

-faith, even if ever, as a woman, you felt tempted to

-love one of them?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have, my father; yes, I declare it!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are my penitent, and I would save your soul

-from eternal damnation.  Have you courage to sacrifice

-yourself for the holy faith, and thereby secure

-the eternal crown of a martyr?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, my father!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well; then know that the fortress will be

-taken in a short time.  You will be a prisoner; you

-are young and beautiful, and may easily win the

-king's favour.  When you can approach his person,

-and the Holy Virgin grants an opportunity, you

-must&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit now took out a crucifix of silver, and

-when he pressed a spring in the breast of the

-image, a keen dagger flew out.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Grace, my father; this task is terrible.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No respite.  The Holy Church demands a blind

-obedience.  <i>Perinde ac cadaver</i>.  As a corpse which

-has no will of its own.  Do you love the Holy

-Virgin?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You know that I do."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Look at her golden robe.  She has lost a part

-of it during the night.  It is a bad omen, and indicates

-her anger.  Do you love me also, my daughter?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I revere you more than anyone else, my father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then look at this mutilated head."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit removed his black leather cap, and

-exposed the horrible stumps of two severed ears.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thus have the blasphemous king's Finns treated

-your confessor and friend.  Do you still hesitate to

-avenge the mother of God and myself?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What must I do, my father?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Listen!  The heretic king wears on his right

-forefinger a ring of copper; this is a talisman against

-death and injury.  You must gain possession of this

-ring by some artifice, and then if your arm is too weak

-to deal the blow, call upon me.  We will reach his

-heart, even if it was guarded by a dragon's scales."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If it is the will of the saints ... so be it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Place two fingers on this crucifix, and repeat this

-oath.  I swear by this cross, and by all the saints, to

-accomplish what I now vow before the image of the

-Holy Virgin.  If I ever break this oath, may a curse

-rest upon me and my posterity to the seventh

-generation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in

-Heaven.  Amen!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina faithfully repeated these words after

-the monk.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The night's silence sealed this terrible oath, which,

-with iron fetters, chained the coming generations to

-the hesitating decision of a girl of sixteen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-While this passed, the troops of stormers assembled

-in the outworks.  A number of volunteers had

-obtained permission to join them.  All relied upon

-victory.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Among the volunteers appeared Lieutenant Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thunder and lightning! is that you, Bertel?"

-exclaimed Lieutenant Larsson.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"As you see," said the youth, shaking his hand

-cordially.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, I declare, the good boy wishes to sport his

-new commission.  There's not a single drop left in

-my flask.  But say, why have you changed your

-name, Bertel?  What sort of a mixture is it? neither

-Swedish or Finnish."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It was done at Breitenfeld," said Bertel, slightly

-blushing.  "The comrades have long called me so,

-and&mdash;it is shorter."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, I hope you are not too proud to bear a

-peasant's name, now you are an officer?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Have the lots already been drawn?" said Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No.  You are just in time to try your luck."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As all the younger officers desired the honour of

-leading the forlorn hope, the difficulty was settled

-by drawing lots.  After these were shaken up in a

-helmet, Bertel was the successful competitor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Look out for yourself, my boy!" cried little

-Larsson.  "Thunder and lightning, remember that

-the castle is full of Jesuits.  Trap-doors everywhere,

-a dagger in every crucifix, and at the moment of

-victory the castle will be blown up."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was half an hour to the dawn.  Bertel with

-seven men was ordered to closely reconnoitre the

-fortress.  The rest of the troops were held in readiness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The night was pitch dark.  Bertel's men approached

-the drawbridge without being challenged: To their

-complete astonishment they found it down.*

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Some authors say that the drawbridge could not be drawn up on

-account of the weight of the many dead who were left there after the

-strife.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel stopped for an instant, remembering

-Larsson's warnings.  Was this a trap?  All was

-silent.  Then Bertel and his men stepped softly over

-the bridge.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who goes there?" thundered a German sentinel

-through the darkness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Swede!" cried Bertel, cleaving his head.  "Comrades,

-the castle is ours!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the seven pushed on resolutely after him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Inside the drawbridge stood two hundred

-Imperialists on guard.  These became panic-stricken

-and thought the whole Swedish army was upon them.

-They tried to regain the sally-port, but the bold

-lieutenant and his seven men opposed them.  The

-darkness in the arched gateway was impenetrable;

-friend could not be distinguished from foe.  The

-press soon became so great that no sword could be

-used, and the rash assailants were in danger of being

-crushed to death by the rushing host of mailed

-warriors.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But those in the outworks had heard Bertel's cry,

-and the whole Swedish force now rushed against the

-castle; the rest of the garrison seized their weapons

-and hastened to defend the entrance.  But the Finns

-had obtained a footing, and in a short time stood

-inside the castle yard.  Keller and his men fought

-desperately, and many Swedes and Finns fell here,

-at the very moment of victory.  Their fall excited

-their countrymen to revenge.  They began to cry,

-"Magdeburger pardon," and this shout meant death

-without quarter to all the Imperialists.  The carnage

-became awful.  Many monks threw themselves into

-the mêlée, some with torches, some sword in hand.

-Most were cut down, others cast themselves on the

-ground feigning death.  Day had broken over the

-sanguinary scene.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then Lennart Torstensson started forward, seized

-the madly struggling Keller round the waist, and took

-him prisoner.  The remainder of the Imperialists

-laid down their arms, and all was over.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0105"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER V.

-<br /><br />

-JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-When the first rays of the sun glittered in the waves

-of the River Main, the castle of Marienburg was in

-the hands of the Swedes.  The king rode up to the

-courtyard, which was covered with killed and wounded

-enemies, and amongst these were more than a score

-of monks.  Some of these appeared to the king to be

-shamming death.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stand up," he said to them, "and no evil shall

-befall you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Immediately many of those who were pretending

-to be dead stood on their feet sound and well, and

-bowed low, full of joy and gratitude to the king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The castle had been taken by storm, and the

-soldiers were allowed to plunder.  The quantity of

-silver, and gold, and weapons, and other valuable

-things was enormous.  The king reserved the

-armoury, with its complete equipments for 7,000

-infantry and 4,000 cavalry, 48 guns and 4 mortars,

-the stables with fine and valuable horses, and the

-wine cellar filled with the very best wines.  The

-library was sent to Upsala, and donated to the

-university.  The sacred statues of gold and silver

-found their way to the Treasury.  Although many of

-the inhabitants of the town were allowed to take away

-their property, the booty was so great that when the

-soldiers divided it, the money was measured in

-helmets.  At last Keller had to lead the way to the

-concealed treasure vault.  This was deep down in

-the rock underneath the cellar of the castle; here the

-bishop kept his treasures.  Fryxell relates, that when

-the soldiers carried up the heavy chests, the bottom

-fell out of one of them, and the gold rolled over the

-courtyard.  The soldiers hurried to pick it up.  Some

-they gave to the king, but most of it went into their

-own pockets.  Gustaf Adolf saw this, and said,

-laughing, "Never mind, boys; now that it has once come

-into your hands, you may as well keep it."  The

-spoil was so great that after that day there was

-scarcely a soldier in the whole army who did not

-have a new suit of clothes.  In the camp a cow was

-sold for a riks thaler, a sheep for a few stivers, and

-the learned Salvius writes, "Our Finnish boys, who

-are now accustomed to the winelands down here, are

-not likely to wish to return to Savolax.  In the

-Livonian war they often had to put up with water

-and mouldy bread, now the Finns can concoct a

-beverage in their helmets with wine and spices."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Amongst the prisoners was the Count of Lichtenstein

-and Lady Regina.  The king ordered that they

-should both be treated with the greatest respect.  He

-offered the young lady a safe conduct to go to the

-bishop, her uncle.  Lady Regina rejected this on

-account of the insecurity of the times, and asked as

-a favour to be allowed to remain under the king's

-protection for the present.  Gustaf Adolf agreed to

-this.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do this unwillingly," said the king, smiling, to

-the Margrave of Baden Durlach, who was riding by

-his side.  "Young ladies are a luxury in the camp,

-and they turn the heads of my attendants; but she

-may come with me to Frankfurt, as a hostage; it will

-bind the hands of the bishop."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty knows how to attract everybody

-through your generosity," replied the Margrave with

-the politeness of a courtier.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lieutenant Bertel," said the king, turning to the

-officer close to him, who had the command of a troop

-of Finnish cavalry, "I give Lady Regina von

-Emmeritz into your charge.  She has my permission

-to bring with her an elderly lady, a young girl, and

-her father confessor.  See to it, that you are not

-smitten, lieutenant, and above all give close heed to

-the monk; that set is not to be relied upon."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel saluted with his sword, and remained silent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"One thing more," continued the king.  "I have

-not forgotten that you were the first one who entered

-the sally-port.  When you have brought the young

-lady to safety, you must appear on duty in my

-life-guards.  Have you understood me?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good."  And the king then said to the Margrave

-with a smile, "Believe me, it would have been serious

-to leave this beautiful dark-eyed girl in the charge

-of one of my susceptible Swedes.  This boy is a

-Finn; they are the most phlegmatic people I know

-of.  They are poor gallants; they need a year to

-catch fire.  A girl can drive twenty of them out of

-a ball-room; but if it comes to a battle with

-Pappenheim, then your grace knows what they can do."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Gustaf Adolf gained victory after victory in the

-late autumn.  Tilly, who had come too late to save

-Würzburg, did not dare to attack him, and irritated

-by his bad luck and constant defeats, drew back to

-the Bavarian frontier.  Gustaf Adolf marched down

-the Main, entered Aschaffenburg, and compelled

-the cautious Frankfurters to open their gates.  On

-December the 6th the king forced a march over the

-Rhine near Oppenheim, and entered Mainz on the

-9th, which the Spaniard de Sylva had so proudly

-thought that he could defend against three Swedish

-kings.  The victorious Swedish army was now spread

-over the north and west part of Germany, and the

-conqueror had chosen his winter quarters in

-Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  A splendid court here assembled

-around the hero; it was here that flattery had

-previously adorned his head with the crown of the

-German Empire.  It was here that Maria Elenora

-came flying on longing wings to embrace her

-husband; in Henau, where he had come to meet her,

-she clasped him in her arms and said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"At last the great Gustaf Adolf is captured."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One day at the end of December, 1631, the king

-gave a splendid banquet in Frankfurt on account of

-the queen's arrival.  Great crowds of people filled the

-place outside the castle, the high Gothic windows at

-night shone bright as day.  Ale and wines flowed

-constantly from big casks for the people's entertainment;

-around the tap-holes workmen and soldiers

-jostled each other, holding out tankards and goblets,

-which were quickly filled and as suddenly empty

-again.  The good citizens of Frankfurt were beside

-themselves with admiration for the great king.  From

-man to man, the famous tales of his justice and

-mildness circulated: now he had ordered a soldier to be

-hanged because he had taken with force a burgher's

-hen; now he had stopped in the streets and spoken

-familiarly with those whom he met.  They imagined

-that they saw his shadow reflected by the small

-window-panes and wondered whether the German

-crown would not be placed upon that mighty head

-that very evening.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the saloon of the castle a royal magnificence

-prevailed.  Gustaf Adolf knew his consort's weakness

-for display, and probably wished to produce an effect

-on the assembled German nobility.  The floor was

-covered with rich Flemish carpets, and over the

-windows were draperies of crimson velvet with tassels

-of gold; costly chandeliers, heavy with a thousand

-wax-lights, hung from the ceiling, which was adorned

-with arabesques.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They had just finished one of those measured and

-stately Spanish dances, which were at that time in

-vogue, and the heavy-footed Northmen had tried in

-vain to compete with the German and French aristocracy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had offered his arm to the queen, and

-they made a promenade through the magnificent

-saloons.  His tall and corpulent figure, and simple

-dignity of manner, which at once inspired reverence

-and love, seemed still more majestic by the side of

-the slender and delicate queen, who with sincere

-devotion leaned on his arm.  Maria Elenora was then

-thirty-two years of age, and had retained a great

-portion of her beauty, which had gained her so many

-admirers in her youth.  On her black hair, which was

-arranged in small curls about her snow-white temples,

-flashed a diadem of fabulous value, which was a recent

-gift from the king; her expressive blue eyes rested

-with indescribable affection upon her royal spouse;

-she seemed to forget herself, absorbed in the

-admiration which the king excited.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the wake of the royal couple followed a crowd

-of all the illustrious personages of whom Protestant

-Germany could boast at that time.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One saw here the deposed King Frederick of

-Bohemia, the Duke of Weimar and Würtemberg, the

-Landgrave of Hesse, the Margrave of Baden Durlach,

-the Count of Wetterau, as well as other distinguished

-chevaliers; not less than twelve ambassadors from

-foreign courts had assembled here round the hero

-feared by all Europe.  Of the king's own, Tott,

-Baner, and Gustaf Horn were occupied in other

-directions with affairs of war; but here at Gustaf

-Adolf's side, great as himself, even in outer form, was

-the gifted Oxenstjerna, and behind him the man with

-the pale, unpretending aspect, the calm, penetrating,

-and commanding look, Lennart Torstensson, as well

-as the proud Finn, Wittenberg, then colonel.  Many

-of the Swedish generals, and almost all the Finns,

-Stälhandske, Ruuth, Forbus, and others, did not

-thrive well amidst the ceremonial of the royal saloon

-and amongst this haughty nobility whose court

-etiquette appeared to the stern warriors unbearably

-tedious, and had therefore withdrawn in good time

-to one of the smaller saloons, where pages in

-gold-embroidered velvet suits profusely poured the

-choicest Rhine wines into silver goblets.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Among this brilliant assemblage ought to be

-included the members of the common council of the

-city of Frankfurt, and many of its most prominent

-citizens, with their wives and daughters, as well as a

-large number of ladies, from the high-born duchess

-down to the scarcely less proud councillor's wife.

-Yes, and one saw here even a small number of

-Catholic prelates, easily recognisable by their bald

-heads; for the king wished to proclaim religious

-freedom by word and deed; the prelates, although

-in their hearts cursing the paltry <i>rôle</i> they played

-here, once invited, did not dare to stay away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This scene was doubly gorgeous from the

-splendour of the attire.  The king, however, wore a

-tight-fitting suit of black velvet stitched with silver,

-a Spanish cape of white satin, embroidered by the

-queen's hands, short yellow leather top-boots, and the

-broad lace collar which one sees in all his portraits,

-with the short hair and long goatee.  The luxury-loving

-queen wore a richly jewelled dress of silver

-brocade with a short waist and half-bare arms; even

-the little white satin slippers glittered with brilliants.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The ladies of the aristocracy and the rich burghers'

-wives vied with each other in display; silver

-and gold fabrics, velvet, satin, and costly Brabant

-laces; also ribbons of all sorts of colours, buckles,

-rosettes, and long sashes, which, fluttering in the air,

-gave a picturesque effect.  Princes and knights, some

-in wide German, others in close-fitting Spanish

-costumes, with their plumed hats under their arms, and

-attendant pages in silver and velvet, completed this

-bright scene in a time when uniforms were unknown.

-Flattery and admiration followed the king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Sire," said the artful king of Bohemia to him,

-"your Majesty can only be compared to Alexander

-of Macedon."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My cousin," answered Gustaf Adolf, smiling, "you

-do not mean to liken the good city of Frankfurt to

-Babylon?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, sire," joined in the French ambassador, Breze,

-who walked by their side; "his Bohemian Majesty

-only wishes to liken the Rhine to Granicus, and hopes

-that the new Alexander's Hyphasis may lie beyond

-the frontiers of Bohemia."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You must confess, Count Breze," said the king,

-changing the conversation, "that our Northern

-beauties and your French beauties have been

-conquered to-day by a German."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Sire, I am of your opinion, that her Majesty the

-Queen does not need the enviable position by your

-side to be truly victorious," replied the courteous

-Frenchman.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My consort will be grateful for your politeness,

-minister, but she resigns to Lady von Emmentz the

-preference that belongs to youth."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty flatters to a great extent our

-national German pride," said the Duke of

-Würtemberg bowing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beauty is cosmopolitan, your grace.  It was truly

-a great booty my soldiers took at Würzburg."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king then approached Lady Regina.  Her

-radiant beauty was still more charming through the

-tight-fitting black velvet dress strewed with silver

-stars in which she was robed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My lady," he said courteously.  "I should be happy

-if the mourning you wear covered a heart that could

-forget all sad memories and only live in the hope of

-a brighter future, when war and battles no longer

-frighten the colour away from your beautiful cheeks.

-Believe me, lady, the time will come, and I am wishing

-for it with all my heart as much as you are, and let

-this hope bring joy to these lips where it always

-ought to remain."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"By your Majesty's side one forgets everything,"

-replied Lady Regina, and rose respectfully from her

-high crimson-covered chair.  But her cheeks grew

-still paler while she spoke, which showed that

-she could not forget the past and her present

-captivity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you not well, lady?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Perhaps you have something to complain of?

-Have confidence in me&mdash;as a friend!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty is very kind&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina struggled with herself.  At last she said,

-with her eyes on the floor,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty's goodness leaves nothing to wish for."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We shall meet again."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king continued his walk through the saloon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina withdrew to a deep window recess in

-one of the other rooms and wept.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Virgin," she prayed, "forgive me, that my

-heart does not belong to you alone.  You who can see

-into my inmost being, you know that I have not

-enough strength to hate this heretic king as you

-demand of me.  He is so great, so noble.  Woe unto

-me, I shudder to think of the holy charge you have

-given me!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Courage, my daughter," whispered a voice close

-by, and Lady Regina's evil spirit, the pale Jesuit,

-stood behind her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The hour is approaching," he said in a low tone.

-"The godless king has been taken by your beauty;

-rejoice, my child.  The Holy Virgin has decided his

-destruction.  This night he shall die."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, my father, my father, what do you demand

-of me?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Listen to me, my daughter.  When Holofernes,

-the King of Assyria, besieged Bethulia, there was

-a widow, Judith, the daughter of Merari, beautiful as

-you, my child, devoted as you.  She fasted three

-times, and then she walked out and gained the

-favour of the enemy of her faith and people.  The

-saints gave his life into her hands, she drew his

-sword and cut off his head, and delivered her people."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Mercy, my father!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It was counted unto her great honour and

-ever-lasting salvation, and her name was mentioned among

-the greatest in Israel.  You will some day be mentioned

-like that, my daughter, amongst the saints of

-the Holy Catholic Church.  Last night the Holy

-Franciscus was visible by my bedside.  He said, the

-time has come, go to Judith, tell her that I will give

-Holofernes' head into her hands."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What shall I do, my father?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Mark closely how you ought to deport yourself.

-This very evening you must request a private audience

-of the king."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Impossible!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You shall reveal to him a fictitious plot against

-his life.  He will listen to you.  You shall entice the

-ring from him.  Once in possession of it, I will be

-ready to assist you.  But if he refuses you the ring,

-then take this paper, it contains a deadly poison;

-St. Franciscus has given it himself to me.  You

-shall mix it in the beverage which the king drinks

-at night."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina took the paper, and leaned her curly

-head against the window-frame, and she hardly

-seemed to have taken any notice of the Jesuits

-terrible injunction.  An entirely new thought had

-seized this ardent soul, and was working itself to

-clearness.  The Jesuit misunderstood her; he

-supposed that her silence proceeded from submission to

-his despotism, from fanatic ecstasy over the

-martyr-crown he had held up to her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Have you understood me, my daughter?" asked he.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, my father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You will, then, this evening, ask the king for a

-private audience?  You will..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, my father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Benedicta, ten benedicta, thou thrice-blessed

-instrument, go to thy heavenly glory!"  And the Jesuit

-disappeared in the throng.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The large clock in the coronation chamber pointed

-to midnight.  Through an ingenious mechanism,

-invented by a Nuremberger, two immense tables, set

-with elegant silver service, rolled out from an

-adjoining room at the twelfth stroke, and stood at once,

-as if risen from the floor, in the centre of the saloon.

-Upon a given sign from the master of the ceremonies,

-the king and queen placed themselves before two

-crimson chairs at the middle of the upper table, and

-all the guests in rows, according to rank and dignity,

-around the festive boards.  One of the prelates

-present said grace in a loud voice, after which the

-king himself recited a short psalm, and the rest with

-practised voices joined in.  They now seated

-themselves with considerable bustle, and once arrived so

-far, they did not allow themselves to be too much

-incommoded by ceremony.  The courses were both

-many and savoury.  Richelieu had sent Gustaf Adolf

-a French cook; but the king, far from spoiled by

-good living, only employed the fine Frenchman for

-ornamental dishes on occasions like this; perhaps

-he did not rely fully upon the cardinal's gift, for it

-was said that Richelieu's dinners were scarcely less

-dangerous than those of the former Borgias.  And

-besides, the Netherland and German cooking was at

-that time more praised than the French.  The tables'

-greatest ornaments at this banquet were a wild boar

-roasted whole, decorated with flowers and laurel

-leaves, and a piece of pastry, presented by a baker

-of Frankfurt, and representing the triumphant march

-of a Roman Emperor.  Everyone believed that they

-recognised in this small hero, Gustaf Adolf's features,

-and many jesting words were exchanged, when each

-found a resemblance between the attending Romans

-and his neighbour.  The queen, whose delicate hand

-was destined to break this masterpiece of culinary

-art, with a smile put one of the last slaves in the

-triumphal march on her silver plate; but Gustaf

-Adolf, generally endowed with a good appetite, seized

-the great pastry hero rather ungently with his warrior

-hand, and placed a considerable portion of his person

-upon his plate.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meantime the goblets were filled with the

-best Rhenish and Spanish wines, and the king drank

-the queen's health in a plain simple manner, and all

-the other guests followed his example.  At the top

-of the table stood the royal pages in glittering

-uniforms, one behind each chair, and at the lower end

-one stood behind every other chair.  They refilled

-the goblets, and the king then drank to Frankfurt's

-welfare; immediately afterwards he rose from the

-table and left the room with the queen on his arm,

-and they retired to their own apartments.  Gustaf

-Adolf always lived as a plain soldier ought to do, and

-was generally quick at his meals, but under favourable

-circumstances would stay an hour at the table.  The

-king, however, did not ask the others to follow his

-example, and left in his place as host a high officer

-of the court.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This time it was the old Scotchman, Patrick

-Ruthwen, who was a good boon companion, and he

-filled his post with great credit.  Oxenstjerna left

-the room with the king.  The ladies also left the hall,

-but the gentlemen remained behind enjoying themselves

-over their wine and the nuts which had been

-handed round on silver dishes; amongst the latter

-were artificial ones made of stone, which looked so

-natural that they were constantly mistaken for real

-From this joke came the saying, "it is a hard nut to

-crack."  The heroes of the Thirty Years' War were

-nearly all great topers; to empty at a draught one

-of the large beakers of Rhenish wine was a small

-matter to them.  But on this occasion they had to

-restrain themselves, because they all knew the high

-moral principles of the king, and hence did not dare

-to turn their goblets upside down too often.  They

-did not break up until a late hour, and some of the

-commanders treated each other to a rare product just

-imported from the Low Countries, and it was passed

-from hand to hand in small boxes; each man bit

-off a piece, and some with frightful grimaces spat it

-out again, whilst others kept it in their mouths with

-evident enjoyment.  Doubtless, the reader has already

-guessed, this was tobacco.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-While this feasting was going on in the hall, the

-queen had gone to rest with her ladies in waiting,

-but the king was still talking to Axel Oxenstjerna.

-What these two great men were conversing about is

-easier to guess than to tell.  Perhaps it was about

-Sweden's poverty, or the Emperor's power, or

-the power of God, which is still greater, or the

-victory of the Light, or the crown of the Roman

-kingdom, or a German Protestant empire in the

-future.  No one knows this for certain; for after the

-king's death all his secrets followed Oxenstjerna to

-the grave.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was very late, and Oxenstjerna was about to

-leave, when Bertel, the officer on duty, announced

-that a closely veiled lady requested an audience of

-the king.  It was a strange favour to ask at this time

-of the night, and both Gustaf Adolf and his minister

-were greatly surprised; but that there must be an

-important reason for such a secret visit was obvious

-to them both, and the king ordered Bertel to bring

-the lady in, and told Oxenstjerna to remain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel left the room, and returned in a few moments

-with a tall lady thickly veiled, and dressed in black.

-She seemed greatly agitated and surprised not to

-find the king alone; she was unable to utter a

-word.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Madam," said the king in a somewhat irritable

-tone&mdash;he did not like such a visit at this late hour;

-for if it was known it would tend to excite gossip

-amongst the courtiers, and perhaps awaken the

-jealousy of his sensitive wife&mdash;"a visit at this hour

-of the night must have some important object in

-order to justify it.  I should first of all like to know

-who you are."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The lady was still silent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king thought he could guess the cause of her

-silence, and continued, pointing to his companion:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"This is minister Oxenstjerna, my friend, and I

-have no secrets from him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The lady dressed in black then threw herself at the

-king's feet and drew back her veil.  The king

-retreated several paces when he recognised Lady Regina

-von Emmeritz; her dark eyes flashed with an

-enthusiastic fire, but her face was as pale as that of a

-marble statue.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stand up, lady," said Gustaf Adolf in a kind tone,

-and stretched out his hand to lift her up.  "What

-now leads you to seek an audience with me?  Speak,

-I beg of you; tell me without fear what troubles you

-have in your heart; will you not comply with my

-wish?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina sighed deeply, and began to speak

-in a low voice almost impossible to hear, but she

-gradually assumed a louder tone, supported by her

-enthusiasm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty, I have come to you because you

-asked me to come.  I come to you because I have

-hated you, sire; for a long time I have prayed daily

-to the Holy Virgin, that she would destroy you, and

-your whole army.  Your Majesty, I am only a weak

-girl, but an honest Catholic; you have pursued our

-Church with war, and plundered our convents; driven

-away our holy fathers, and melted down our holy

-golden images; you have slain our soldiers, and

-dealt our cause deadly blows that can never be

-repaired.  Therefore I have taken a Holy Oath to bring

-about your destruction, and relying upon the Holy

-Virgin's help I have followed your steps from

-Würzburg in order to kill you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king and Oxenstjerna looked at each other as

-if they doubted the young girl's sanity.  Lady Regina

-saw this, and continued to speak with more vehemence

-than before.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Sire, you think me mad, because I speak thus

-to the conqueror of Germany.  But listen to me

-further.  When I saw you for the first time in the

-castle of Würzburg, and how kindly and generously

-you sheltered the weak, and spared those who had

-been captured, I then said to myself, 'This conduct

-seems to be inspired from Heaven, but nevertheless

-it must come from hell.'  But when I followed you

-here, and saw your greatness as a man combined with

-your heroic qualities, sire, I hesitated to carry out

-my vow, and my hatred became a burden to me.  I

-struggled with myself, and your kindness to-night has

-conquered my resolve.  Sire, now I love you as much

-as I have hated you before.  I admire you, and am

-devoted to you&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The beautiful girl let her eyes sink to the floor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well," said the king, hesitating with great emotion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty, I have made this confession

-because you are great and noble enough not to

-misunderstand me.  But I have not come to you at this

-late hour only to confess an unhappy girl's feelings.

-I have come here to save you, sire."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Explain yourself."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hear me, your Majesty.  I am disarmed, but

-others much more dangerous remain.  Some of our

-body, men without mercy, have sworn to kill you.

-Oh! you do not know what these men are capable

-of doing.  They have drawn lots in order to decide

-who shall kill you, and the most dangerous of them

-is near you in disguise daily.  Your Majesty cannot

-escape from them.  To-day or to-morrow, perhaps,

-you may be assassinated or poisoned.  Your death is

-sure."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My life is in the hand of God, and not at the

-mercy of a murderous fanatic," said Gustaf Adolf in

-a very calm voice.  "The evil have not as much

-power as Will.  Be assured, Lady von Emmeritz, I

-do not fear them."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, sire, the saints have decided your death.  I

-know that you rely upon this ring"&mdash;and Regina

-grasped the king's hand&mdash;"but it will not help you.

-Sire, I say to you that your death is certain, and I

-have not come here to save your life and thus betray

-the cause of our Holy Church."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then why, lady, did you come here now?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina again threw herself at the king's

-feet with almost adoration.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Sire, I have come to save your soul.  I cannot

-bear to think that a hero like yourself, so noble, so

-great, should be lost for ever.  Hear me, I beg, I

-implore you by your eternal salvation, with certain

-death staring you in the face, do not continue in

-your heretical faith, whose fruit is eternal damnation.

-I pray you, abjure these evil doctrines while there

-is still time, and come back to the only way of

-redemption, the Holy Catholic Church; give up your

-faith and go to the Holy Father in Rome; confess

-your sins to him, and use your victorious sword in

-the service of the true Church, instead of using it for

-her destruction.  She will receive you with open arms,

-and whether your Majesty lives or dies, your Majesty

-can always depend upon being placed among the

-chosen saints in Heaven."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king for the second time raised the young

-girl from the ground, and looked straight into her

-burning eyes, and said in an impressive voice:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"When I was as young as you are, Lady von

-Emmeritz, my teacher, old Skytte, brought me up

-with the same enthusiastic devotion to the Protestant

-faith that you have for the Catholic.  At that time

-I hated the Pope with all my soul, as you now hate

-Luther, and I prayed to God that the time might

-come when I could destroy Antichrist and convert all

-those that believed in him to the true light.  Since

-then I have not altered my principles, but I have

-learned through experience that the paths are many,

-although the goal is One.  I stand steadily by my

-faith, and am prepared to die for it, if God so decides.

-But I respect the faith of a Christian, even if it is

-quite different from my own, and I know that God's

-mercy can bring a soul to salvation, even if its way

-is obscured by dark mists and illusions.  Go, Lady

-von Emmeritz, I forgive you; although deluded by the

-fanatical teachings of the monks, you have tried to

-draw me from the battle for the Light.  Go, poor

-child, and let the Word of God, and the lessons of

-Life, teach you not to rely upon saints, who are no

-better than we are, or images, or rings, as they cannot

-alter the highest law.  I thank you because your

-intentions are good, although you are inexperienced.

-Be without fear for my life, which is in the hand of

-Him who knows how to use it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-King Gustaf Adolf was truly great when he spoke

-these words.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina stood there, at the same time crushed

-and uplifted by the king's magnanimous spirit.

-Perhaps she remembered his answer to the burghers of

-Frankfurt, when they asked him to be allowed to

-remain neutral; "neutrality is a word which I cannot

-bear to hear, least of all amidst the battle between

-light and darkness, betwixt liberty and slavery."  Brought

-up to hate the Protestant faith, she could

-not understand how it was possible for the sword

-which had destroyed the worldly power of the church

-to be laid aside in the presence of its spiritual power

-over the hearts and minds of men.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The fanatical young girl raised her tear-stained

-eyes towards the king.  Her cheeks turned pale, on

-which had before burned the fire of enthusiasm, and

-her eyes were fixed with terror on the scarlet-coloured

-hangings which surrounded the king's bed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Oxenstjerna, who was more suspicious than Gustaf

-Adolf, had closely watched the young lady the whole

-time, and at once noticed her agitation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty," said he in Swedish to the king,

-"be on your guard, there are owls in the marshes."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then without waiting for an answer he drew his

-sword and walked steadily towards the magnificent

-bed, which was a gift from the burghers of Frankfurt;

-the royal hero had exchanged the eider-down pillows

-for a simple mattress, and a coarse blanket of Saxon

-wool, the same as his soldiers used in their winter

-camps.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stop!" cried Regina with evident reluctance.  But

-it was too late.  Oxenstjerna had with a sudden

-movement pulled back the hangings, and revealed

-a pale face with dark burning eyes, surmounted by a

-black leather skull-cap.  The hangings were still

-further drawn back, and the whole features of the

-monk became visible; his hands were clasped round

-a crucifix of silver.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Step forward, devoted father," said Oxenstjerna

-in a satirical tone.  "A man of your merits should not

-remain in concealment.  Your reverence has chosen

-a peculiar place for your evening devotions.  With

-his Majesty's permission I will furnish you with a

-larger audience."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the sound of the bell, Lieutenant Bertel with

-two men from the life-guards entered, and placed

-themselves on both sides of the exit with their long

-halberts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king looked at Lady Regina, but more sadness

-than anger was to be seen in his eyes.  It pained

-him that so young and beautiful a girl could take

-part in such a detestable plot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Mercy, your Majesty! mercy for my father

-confessor!  He is innocent!" cried the unhappy girl.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Will your Majesty allow me to ask a few questions

-in your place?" said Oxenstjerna.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do as you think best, minister," said the king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well.  What did your reverence come here for?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"To bring back a great sinner to the true fold,"

-said the monk hypocritically, with his eyes turned

-upwards.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Really, one must say that you are very zealous.

-And for such a holy purpose you carry with you the

-image of the crucified Saviour?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The monk bowed whilst devoutly making the sign

-of the cross.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your reverence is very humble.  Give me the

-crucifix, that I may admire this work of art."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The monk unwillingly handed it to him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A beautiful object.  It required a clever artist to

-design this holy image."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The minister passed his hands over all parts of the

-crucifix.  At last, when he touched the breast of the

-image, a sharp dagger sprang forth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"See, your reverence carries a very innocent-looking

-toy.  A keen dagger, just suitable to thrust through

-a noble king's heart!  Miserable monk," said

-Oxenstjerna in a terrible voice, "do you know that your

-horrible crime becomes a hundred times more detestable

-through the blasphemous method you wish to

-employ?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Like all the kings of the Vasa line, Gustaf Adolf

-had a hasty temper in his youth, which more than

-once brought him into trouble.  But the experience

-of manhood had cooled his blood; still one could

-sometimes see the quick Vasa disposition get

-beyond control.  This now happened.  He was quite

-great enough, however, to look calmly upon this

-treacherous attempt against his life, although the

-preservation of Germany depended upon it, and

-he looked down with great disgust upon the

-discovered traitor, who now stood trembling before his

-indignant judge.  But the horrible misuse of the

-Saviour's holy image as a weapon against his life&mdash;he

-who was prepared to sacrifice himself for the

-pure teachings of Jesus Christ&mdash;appeared to him to

-be such a terrible blasphemy against all in life that

-he considered holy and right, that his calmness was

-instantly changed to the most terrible anger.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Noble and great as a lion in his wrath, he stood in

-front of the cringing Jesuit, who was unable to bear

-the glance of his eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"On your knees," said the king in a thunderous

-voice, stamping violently with his foot on the floor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit fell down as if struck by lightning, and

-crawled in mortal terror to the king's feet, like a

-poisonous reptile, spell-bound by the king's look:

-powerless at the conqueror's feet.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ye serpent's brood," continued the king beside

-himself with anger, "how long do ye think that the

-Almighty will endure your iniquities?  By God!  I

-have seen much; I have seen your Antichrist and

-Romish rule cover the world with all the deeds of

-darkness; I have seen ye, monks and Jesuits, poison

-frightened consciences with your devil's teachings

-about murder and crimes committed for the glory of

-Heaven; but a deed so black as this, a blasphemy

-against everything that is holy in Heaven and upon

-earth, I have never before dreamed of.  I have forgiven

-ye all; ye have plotted against my life at Demmin

-and other places; I have not taken revenge; ye have

-acted worse than Turks and barbarians towards the

-innocent Lutherans; wherever ye have had the

-power ye have destroyed their churches, and burned

-them at the stake, driven them away from house and

-home; and what is worse, ye have tried to draw

-them from their faith with arguments and force to

-your idolatrous religion, which worships deeds and

-miserable images instead of the living God and His

-only Son.  For all this, I have not retaliated upon

-your cloisters and churches and consciences; ye

-have gone free in your faith, and no one has touched

-a hair of your heads.  But now I know you, servants

-of the devil; the Almighty God has delivered ye

-into my hand; I shall scatter ye like chaff; I shall

-punish you, ye desecrators of the temple; I shall

-follow you to the end of the world, as long as this

-arm is able to wield the Lord's sword.  Ye have

-hitherto seen me mild and merciful, ye will now see

-me hard and terrible; I will destroy you and your

-accursed faith on earth; it will be such a judgment

-as the world has not seen since the destruction of

-Rome."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king walked up and down the room with

-hasty steps, without deigning to bestow a glance on

-the prostrate Jesuit or the trembling Regina, who

-was standing by the window covering her face with

-her hands.  Oxenstjerna, always calm and collected,

-was alarmed at the king's anger, and feared that he

-would go too far, and now tried to modify it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Will your Majesty deign to order Lieutenant

-Bertel to take the monk into safe custody, and let

-a court-martial make a terrible example of him?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Mercy, your Majesty!" cried Regina, who was

-blindly devoted to her father confessor.  "Mercy!  I

-am the guilty one.  I have advised him to take this

-terrible step.  I alone deserve to be punished for it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this noble self-sacrifice a faint ray of hope

-illumined the Jesuit's pale features, but he did not

-dare to rise up.  The king took no notice of this

-appeal.  Instead, he turned all his wrath upon the

-guard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lieutenant Bertel," he said sharply, "you have

-commanded my life-guard to-night; through your

-neglect this wretch has slipped into the room.  Take

-him at once to prison, and you shall answer for his

-safety with your head.  Then you can go and take

-your place in the ranks.  From this moment you are

-degraded to the position of a private soldier."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel saluted, but did not speak.  What pained

-him more than the loss of his commission was the

-sacrifice of the king's favour, especially as he knew

-that he had kept a ceaseless watch.  It was a

-complete mystery to him how the Jesuit had got in.

-The latter had now grasped the king's knees and

-prayed for mercy.  But in vain.  The king pushed

-him backwards, and he was taken away gnashing his

-teeth and his heart full of revenge.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Gustaf Adolf then turned to the trembling girl at

-the window, took her hand and looked straight into

-her eyes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lady," he said with asperity, "it is said that when

-the king of the darkness wishes to do a terrible evil

-deed on earth, he sends his instruments dressed as

-angels of light.  What do you wish me to think of

-you?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina had courage enough to lift up her

-eyes once more to the great king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have nothing more to say.  Kill me, sire, but

-save my father confessor!" she said with fanatical

-resolution.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king, still looking angrily into her eyes, could

-not yet control himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If your father, lady, had been an honest man, he

-would have taught his daughter to fear God, honour

-the king, and speak the truth to every man.  You

-wished to convert me; I will instead educate you, you

-seem to be in great want of it.  Go, you remain my

-prisoner until you have learned to speak the truth.

-Oxenstjerna, is the severe old Lady Marta at

-Korsholm still alive?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She will have a pupil to educate.  At the first

-opportunity this girl is to be sent to Finland."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina, proud and silent, left the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your Majesty!" said Oxenstjerna reproachfully.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0106"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VI.

-<br /><br />

-THE FINNS AT LECH.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Before our story proceeds further, it is necessary to

-bestow one more look on Frankfurt.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina was closely guarded after her midnight

-visit to the king; and later in the spring,

-when the waters were released from their icy fetters,

-she was sent to Finland, where we may find her again.

-No religious hatred, still less revenge, prompted the

-anger of the usually generous Gustaf Adolf towards

-the young girl; abused confidence deeply stabs a

-noble heart, and Regina said nothing to remove the

-idea of her guilt from the king's mind; in fact, she

-strengthened it more and more by her fanaticism, and

-hatred still possessed her young heart, which ought to

-have been given to love alone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-An extraordinary incident increased the king's

-resentment.  On the night that the Jesuit was taken to

-prison, to be executed next day, the terrible monk

-escaped; no one knew how.  These fearful men had

-allies and secret emissaries and passages everywhere;

-that very night a hitherto concealed door was

-discovered in the king's bed-chamber.  Bertel's

-innocence came to light through this, but the mysterious

-escape of the monk again excited the king's wrath,

-and the late lieutenant had still to remain a private

-soldier.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By the middle of February, 1632, the king was

-ready for departure; he then took the stronghold at

-Kreutznach in March, after a short siege, and left

-the queen, as well as Axel Oxenstjerna, in Mayence.

-But Tilly had in the meantime surprised Gustaf Horn

-at Bamberg, and done great mischief.  The king

-pursued him down the Danube, and wished to invade

-Bavaria by crossing the Lech.  In vain did his

-generals object that the river was too deep and rapid,

-and that the Elector, with Tilly, Altringer, and 22,000

-men, stood on the opposite side.  The king spoke

-like Alexander at the passage of the Granicus.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Shall we, who have crossed the Elbe, Oder, and

-Rhine, nay, even the Baltic, stop alarmed at the

-River Lech?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The passage was decided upon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king tried for some time to find a suitable

-crossing.  At last he discovered it near a bend in the

-stream; a dragoon disguised as a peasant heard that

-the Lech was twenty-two feet deep.  Trestles were

-made of timber torn from cabins; four batteries of

-seventy cannon in all, were erected on the bank, and

-breastworks thrown up for the skirmishers, while fires

-of damp straw and green wood enveloped the

-neighbourhood in thick smoke.  Still, Tilly was old and

-experienced; he soon occupied the wood on the other

-side with his force; dug trenches and made fortifications,

-from which he directed a heavy fire.  On the

-3rd of April the Swedish cannon replied with terrific

-effect.  On April 5th the trestles for a bridge were

-laid in spite of the fire of the enemy; planks were

-then thrown across, and, as usual, the Finns led the

-attack.  Three hundred infantry, headed by little

-Larsson, and the brave Savolaxen Paavo Lyydikain,

-were ordered to cross the planks, and defend the

-bridge on the opposite shore; each was promised a

-reward of ten riks thalers.  In a few moments the

-fate of Bavaria would be decided.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Finns carried spades and trenching tools, and

-cheering as they advanced, rushed at the double over

-the bridge.  Immediately a tremendous cross-fire from

-all Tilly's batteries was directed upon them; every

-moment balls dropped splashing into the foaming

-waters, or flew over the charging Finns, and now

-and then fell amongst them, scattering death on every

-side.  Those who got over worked vigorously at

-throwing up earthworks, which soon protected their

-front, although their flanks were still exposed to the

-enemy's fire.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Tilly realised the importance of this position, and

-his fire redoubled.  The Swedes riddled the opposite

-wood with a storm of shot, which struck the stones

-and tree-tops, scattering fragments and branches

-far and wide upon the Bavarians, who stood

-underneath awaiting the order to charge.  The king, in

-order to encourage his men, hastened to the front,

-and himself fired sixty shots.  The cannon thunder

-was heard for miles.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-More than half of the Finns had now been killed,

-wounded, or drowned, but the entrenchments were

-completed.  And at that instant the king ordered the

-afterwards celebrated Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel to

-go to their assistance.  The Finns, exalted with pride

-by their countrymen's success, and also anxious for

-the safety of their comrades, begged eagerly to be

-led into the midst of the fight, and in a moment

-Wrangel was surrounded by 300 Finnish volunteers,

-with whom he heroically charged across the shaking

-planks.  The gallant Duke Bernhard, who, like the

-king, had a certain partiality for the Finns, received

-permission to make a diversion in their favour.

-Followed by a troop of Finnish cavalry, he found and

-passed over a ford, and fell upon the enemy's right

-flank.  The surprised Bavarians fell into disorder, and

-in spite of their numerical superiority, gave ground

-before the attack.  Duke Bernhard's troop played

-havoc with the enemy, and soon cut their way through

-to their comrades at the end of the bridge.  Through

-this daring exploit the Finns obtained the dreaded

-name, "Hackapeliter," from the words "hakkaa

-päälle!"  Go Ahead! which they shouted as they

-charged.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Stimulated by the Finns' success, the Swedish and

-German infantry now began to cross the bridge.

-Tilly, avoiding exposing his troops to the murderous

-Swedish fire till the last moment, now sent Altringer's

-infantry to take the fortifications, and drive the enemy

-into the river.  The Bavarians advanced at the double,

-and although decimated by the hail of bullets, threw

-themselves furiously on the earthworks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Wrangel's men stood firm.  Almost enveloped by

-the enemy's massive column, the Finns gave them

-a hot reception.  Pouring in a deadly volley at fifty

-yards, every bullet told.  The Bavarians wavered for

-a moment; most of them were new recruits; they

-faltered.  The Finns got time to reload; another

-volley; and the assailants fled in disorder along the

-bank.  Altringer rallied them with great difficulty,

-and again led them to the onset; at that moment a

-cannon-shot whizzed so close to his head that he

-fell senseless to the ground.  Again the Bavarians

-gave way.  Tilly saw this, and sent his favourite

-Wallachians to their assistance.  But even these

-veterans had to retreat, so terrific was the fire.  Then

-Tilly seized a banner, and led the attack in person.

-Before, however, he had taken many steps, he fell,

-struck down by a falconet ball, which had smashed

-one leg.  The old general was carried from the field,

-and died a fortnight afterwards at Ingolstadt.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Bavarian army now became utterly demoralised.

-The Elector retreated under cover of the

-darkness, leaving 2,000 dead on the field, and the

-way open to the heart of Bavaria.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Next day the entire Swedish army crossed the

-Lech.  The king with a liberal hand distributed

-rewards to his brave troops.  Amongst these was a

-horseman who had accompanied Duke Bernhard, who

-praised him in the highest terms.  This was Bertel;

-three slight wounds attested the duke's account.

-Bertel regained his rank, but not the king's

-confidence, which he valued above everything.  But he

-resolved to win this back at all costs.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Gustaf Adolf then marched to Augsburg, which

-took the oath of allegiance, and gave brilliant festivals

-in his honour.  Here report, which joined the names

-Gustafva Augusta, whispered that the king had

-abandoned himself, like another Hannibal in Capua,

-to effeminacy and pleasure.  Rumour was wrong.

-Gustaf Adolf was merely resting, and revolving still

-more daring enterprises in his mind.  But from this

-time the king's pathway began to darken.  The death

-angel went before him with drawn sword, and aimed

-now here, now there, a blow at his life, as if to cry

-constantly in his ear, "Mortal, thou art not a god."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One could almost think that the powers of darkness

-had obtained more power over him; now ambition

-began to gain ground in his mind, and he was no longer

-solely animated by the sacred cause of Liberty and

-Faith.  A secret and terrible enemy seemed everywhere

-in his path, dealing deadly blows which could

-not as yet reach their mark.  At the bold but

-unsuccessful attack on Ingolstadt there was, relates

-Fryxell, a cannon on the ramparts called a "Fikonet,"

-and celebrated for shooting both far and true.  The

-gunner on the ramparts saw out on the field a man

-with a waving plume riding a fine charger, and

-surrounded by attentive followers.  "There," he said,

-"rides a great lord, but this will stop his career;"

-then he aimed and fired the "Fikonet."  The ball

-brought down horse and rider, and the others

-hastened to the place in great dread; but the king,

-for it was he, raised himself up, covered with blood

-and dust, but unharmed, from underneath the dead

-horse, exclaiming,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The apple is not yet ripe."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The citizens of Ingolstadt buried the horse, and

-stuffed his skin as a remembrance.  Shortly afterwards

-the king was riding at the side of the young

-Margrave of Baden Durlach, who had just before

-been one of the most brilliant figures at the Augsburg

-balls.  A cannon-shot passed very near the king, and

-as he looked round, a headless horseman rode by his

-side and then sank to the ground.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0107"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VII.

-<br /><br />

-NEW ADVENTURES.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-From Ingolstadt the king turned to Landshut, in the

-centre of Bavaria.  The farther he advanced into this

-country, where they had never seen an army of

-heretics before, the people became more fanatical,

-wild, and bloodthirsty.  Large bands of peasants

-assembled, commanded by the monks, lying in ambush

-everywhere for the Swedes, and cutting off every

-straggler; they also tortured their prisoners in the

-most horrible manner.  The king's army on their

-side, inebriated by their successes, were infuriated by

-this cruel guerilla warfare, and began to burn and

-destroy all the places they passed through.  Hitherto

-the Swedish army had been remarkable for its good

-conduct in the field, but now they left in their rear

-a broad track of murder and crime; and woe to

-those troops who in insufficient numbers wandered

-far from the main body.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had now marched far into the country,

-and wished to send some new important orders to

-Baner, who followed slowly in his steps from Ingolstadt.

-On account of the lawless state of the country

-this was attended with great risk, and the king would

-not order a large body to go.  A young officer, a

-Finn, volunteered to try, accompanied by two

-horsemen.  The king agreed to this, and the three

-horsemen set out one evening in May on this dangerous

-journey.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The young officer was no other than our friend

-Bertel, and his companions were Pekka from East

-Bothnia, and Vitikka from Tavastland.  The night

-was dark and gloomy, and the three horsemen rode

-carefully in the middle of the road, much afraid of

-missing their way in this strange country, and

-dreading an ambush from their enemies.  It began to rain,

-which made the roads still worse; these had already

-been much damaged by the passage of the heavy

-baggage-wagons, and at every step they risked an

-accident.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Here," said Vitikka ironically to his companion,

-"you are a northern Finn, and ought to be able to

-practise witchcraft."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I should not be worth much if I could not do

-it," responded Pekka in the same bantering tone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Try, then, and take us in a minute to Hattelmala

-mountain and let us see the light shining from

-Hämeenlinna's castle.  There is a little gipsy girl

-whom I once loved, and I would rather be by her

-side to-night, than here in the ruts of this damned

-forest."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That will be easy for me to do," said Pekka; "see,

-you can already see the lights shining from Hämeenlinna."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His comrade looked sharply around, uncertain if

-Pekka was joking or in earnest; he thought the latter

-quite as likely as the former.  And truly, in the

-brushwood underneath, a light appeared, but he soon

-understood that he was still hundreds of miles away

-from his home.  Suddenly their horses stopped, and

-would not move.  A barrier of tree trunks was

-stretched across the road.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hush!" whispered Bertel, "I hear a noise in the

-wood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The horsemen leaned forward and listened attentively.

-On the opposite side of the wood they heard

-footsteps and the breaking of branches.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They must be here in a quarter of an hour," said

-a voice in the well-known Bavarian dialect.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How many of them are there?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thirty horsemen, and ten or twelve baggage

-animals.  They left Geisenfeld at dusk, and they have

-a young girl with them as a prisoner."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How many are we?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"About fifty musketeers, and seventy or eighty

-armed with pitchforks and axes."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good.  No firing is allowed until they are within

-three paces."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this moment Bertel's horse neighed, whose name

-was Lapp; he was small but strong and active.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who is there?" sounded from the road.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Swedes!" cried Bertel boldly, just as he did at

-the Würzburg sally-port, and fired off a pistol in the

-direction of the voice, and saw by the flash a large

-band of peasants, who had encamped by the barricade.

-He then turned his horse, and, calling upon

-his companions to follow him, rode at full gallop on

-the road back to Landshut.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the peasants had by the flash also seen the

-three horsemen, and now hurried to cut off their

-retreat.  Bertel's horse easily distanced the pursuers,

-but Vitikka's fell over the stump of a tree, and Pekka's

-clumsy animal was hurt by the thrust of a pitchfork

-in his neck as he tried to get out of the marsh.

-Bertel saw his followers' danger, and would not leave

-them; he turned back and killed the nearest peasants,

-and caught Pekka's horse by the bridle and tried to

-pull him up, calling also to Vitikka to leave his horse

-and jump on the back of Lapp.  This brave effort

-was successful, and the three were on their way to

-safety, when suddenly a whizzing noise was heard,

-and a lasso settled upon Bertel's shoulders, tightened,

-and jerked him from his saddle.  Vitikka fell at the

-same moment, and Lapp, thus delivered from his

-heavy burden, galloped off, and Pekka followed with

-or without his will.  Bertel and Vitikka were taken

-prisoners and bound with their hands behind their

-backs.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hang the dogs before the others arrive!" cried

-one.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hang them by the heels!" suggested another.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"With a little fire underneath!" said a third.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No fire! no noise!" ordered a fourth, who

-appeared to be in command.  "Listen, comrades,"

-whispered he Ito the prisoners lying on the ground,

-"was it Finnish you spoke?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go to the devil!" said Vitikka in a rage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Maledicti, maledicti Fennones!</i>" said the former

-speaker in the darkness.  "You are mine!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Now they are coming!" cried one of the band,

-and the trampling of horses was heard on the road to

-Ingolstadt.  The peasants remained still, and for

-greater safety gagged the prisoners.  The approaching

-troop were provided with torches, and seemed

-to be Germans, who were returning from a marauding

-expedition.  They were riding so quickly that they

-did not notice the barricade until they were close

-upon it; at the same moment a murderous fire opened

-upon them from behind this obstruction.  Ten or

-twelve of the foremost fell to the ground, and their

-riderless horses reared and dragged them along by

-the stirrups; the greatest confusion prevailed amongst

-them, some turned back, riding over their comrades

-and the pack-horses; others fired off their pistols

-towards the enemy behind the barricade.  The

-peasants rushed from their ambush and furiously

-attacked those that remained, and pulled them off

-their horses with lassos.  In vain the horsemen

-endeavoured to defend themselves; in less than ten

-minutes the whole troop was scattered; eight or ten

-had escaped, fifteen were lying wounded on the road,

-and six or seven were made prisoners.  Only four

-of the peasants had fallen.  The revenge of the

-Bavarians was inhuman.  They fired blank charges

-in the prisoners' faces, which burnt them black, and

-partially buried some of them in the ground and

-stoned them slowly to death.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When this terrible work was finished, they carried

-away the booty to a place of safety.  Bertel and his

-companion were thrown across one of the horses, and

-they marched deep into the forest.  After some time

-they stopped at a lonely farm, and the prisoners were

-dragged in and thrown on the floor in a separate

-room, while the peasants in the next room rejoiced

-over their victory, and drank captured wine.  A

-deathly pale monk now entered the room, carrying

-a sword by his side with a rope.  He held up a

-torch to the prisoners' faces, took away their gags,

-and looked at them in silence.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Am I right," said he at last, sarcastically; "this

-is Lieutenant Bertel, of the king's life-guards."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel looked up and recognised the Jesuit Hieronymus.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are welcome to me, lieutenant, and thank you

-for our last meeting.  Such an important guest must

-be well entertained.  I fancy I have seen this comrade

-before, also," he said, pointing to Vitikka.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The wild Finn looked him straight in the eyes and

-opened his mouth with an obstinate grin.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What have you done with your ears, monk?" he

-said tauntingly.  "Take away your skull-cap, foul

-thief, and let us see if you have grown any ass's

-ears in their place."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this daring remark about the incident at Breitenfeld

-a dark frown contracted the Jesuit's eyebrows,

-and a blush arose on his pale features; he bit his

-lips with rage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Think of your own ears, comrade," said he.

-"<i>Anathema maranatha</i>!  They will soon have heard

-enough in this world."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With these words the Jesuit clapped his hands

-twice, and a blacksmith with his leather apron entered,

-carrying a pair of red-hot pincers.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, comrade, do your ears begin to burn?" said

-the monk cruelly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Vitikka replied stubbornly, "Now you think you

-are clever, but you are only a fumbler in comparison

-with the devil.  Your lord and master does not need

-any pincers, he uses his claws."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The right ear," said the Jesuit.  The smith

-approached the Finn and put the pincers to his head.

-Vitikka smiled disdainfully.  A sudden blush coloured

-his brown cheeks, but only for a moment.  He had

-now only one ear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Will you now abjure your faith, and believe in

-the Holy Father and damn Luther, and you shall

-keep your other ear?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Niggard!" cried the Finn.  "Your lord and

-master generally offers countries and kingdoms, and

-you only offer me a wretched ear!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The left ear," continued the Jesuit coldly.

-The smith carried out the order.  The mutilated

-soldier smiled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Monk, it is shameful!" said Bertel, who was lying

-close by.  "Kill us, if you like, but do it quickly!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who has said that I intend to kill you?" replied

-the Jesuit, smirking.  "Never; it entirely depends

-upon yourself whether you regain your freedom this

-very night."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What do you ask of me?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are a brave young man, Lieutenant Bertel!

-I am sorry that the king so shamefully and unjustly

-deprived you of your rank, which you had gained

-with your blood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you really sorry?  And what then?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If I was in your place I should take revenge."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Take revenge?  Oh yes, I have thought of it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You belong to Gustaf Adolf's life-guards.  Do you

-know, young friend, what the Catholic princes would

-give to anyone who brought the king, dead or alive,

-into their power?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How could I know that, holy father?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A kingdom if he was a nobleman; 50,000 ducats

-if he was a man of the people."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy father, it is a small reward for such a great

-service."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You have your choice between death and a royal

-reward!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"This is the point you were trying to reach, holy

-father?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do as you please; think it over, and we will

-talk about it again.  This time you can buy your life

-and freedom for a less price; yes, a very small

-service."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What would that be, holy father?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Listen to me.  I wish you to swear that you will

-do me a very small favour.  King Gustaf Adolf wears

-on the forefinger of his right hand a small copper

-ring.  It is of no value to him, but it is of great

-importance to me, young friend; as I am an antiquary,

-I should like to have a remembrance of a king,

-whom I must hate as an enemy, but admire as a man."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And the ring?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The ring; you must swear to deliver it into my

-hands before the next new moon.  Do this, and you

-are free!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, only a small sin against the seventh commandment?

-And you have the absolution ready before-hand;

-is it not so?  Go, miserable thief, and thank

-your stars that my arm is bound; or by Heaven, it

-would teach you to have respect for a Christian's

-honour!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be still, young man, remember that your life is

-in my hands.  When I have finished with your

-comrade I shall begin with you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel looked at him with contempt.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Smith, go on with your work!" said the Jesuit.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the smith again took the pincers from the fire.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the same instant a great confusion and noise

-arose in the next room.  They shouted:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"To arms!  The Swedes are upon us!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The door flew open.  Some of the peasants seized

-their guns, others were lying in a drunken sleep on

-the floor.  Outside one could plainly hear the Swedish

-officer's commands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Set the house on fire, boys, we have them all in

-a trap!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At these words the Jesuit jumped out of the window.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A hot but short skirmish began by the door.  The

-peasants were overpowered in a few moments and

-begged for mercy.  In reply to this appeal, the

-foremost were killed, and the rest taken prisoners and

-bound; the house and booty were taken, and Bertel

-and his mutilated comrade were released.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is it you, Larsson?" cried Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thunder and lightning, is it you, Bertel?  Is it

-here you intend to leave the king's orders?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And yourself?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, damn it, you know that I am always a lucky

-child!  I was sent to guard a convoy, and met on

-the road some rascally marauders, who told me that

-there was an ambush in the forest.  I hurried after

-them, and delivered a brave boy and a beautiful girl.

-Look at her: cheeks like a poppy, and eyes to buy

-fish with!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel turned round, and by his side stood a

-trembling girl, paralyzed with fear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"This is Ketchen, Lady Regina's maid!" cried

-Bertel, who had often seen the bright girl in the

-company of her dull mistress.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Save me, lieutenant, save me!" cried the girl, and

-caught hold of his arm.  "They have taken me by

-force from my aunt's house."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Larsson, I beg you to give me the girl!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What the devil are you thinking of?  Do you

-want to take the girl from me?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let her go free, I beg of you!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Later on, perhaps, yes.  Let her go, I say, or..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The hot-tempered Finn drew his sword again, with

-which he had just before killed a peasant.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The cottage is on fire!" was heard from all

-directions, and a thick smoke proved that it was true.

-Bertel rushed out with the girl, and Larsson followed,

-and the heat of his temper gave way before the heat

-of the fire.  When Bertel got outside and saw the

-flames, he remembered that the cottage was filled

-with people; about thirty peasants were bound inside.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Come, hurry, let us save the unfortunate

-prisoners!" he cried.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you mad?" said Larsson, laughing; "it is

-only a few of the rascals who have killed so many

-of our brave comrades.  Let it burn, boys!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was now too late to help.  The unfortunate

-Bavarians were sacrificed to the barbarities with

-which wars were then carried on; too often one

-terrible deed was followed by another.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We turn with disgust from these wild scenes, which

-essentially belong to the times in which they occurred,

-and hasten to the grand picture of the Swedish lion's

-last struggle.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0108"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VIII.

-<br /><br />

-NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The incidents of the campaign followed each other

-quickly, like wave after wave on a stormy sea, and

-history compressed into a narrow frame is obliged

-to pursue the same course.  Hence we must hurry

-over these marvellous occurrences and into a still

-more extraordinary period, to find the thread of our

-story, "The King's Ring," which passes through ages

-and the destinies of great characters.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The terrible Wallenstein had become reconciled

-to the emperor, and gathering a formidable army,

-turned like a dark cloud upon the rich city of

-Nürnberg.  Gustaf Adolf cut short his victorious

-career in Bavaria, and hurried to meet him; and

-here the two armies remained in entrenched camps

-facing each other for eleven weeks&mdash;the panther and

-the lion, ready to spring, sharply watched each other's

-movements.  The surrounding country was stripped

-bare to provide for the wants of the two hosts, and

-foraging parties were constantly dispatched to more

-remote places to get supplies.  Among the Imperialists

-those mostly employed in this task were Isolani's

-Croats; the Swedes generally sent Taupadel's

-dragoons and Stälhandske's Finnish cavalry.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Famine, heat, and plague, and the plundering

-German soldiers, spread want and misery everywhere.

-Gustaf Adolf, having united himself with Oxenstjerna's

-and Baner's forces, could now muster 50,000

-men.  On the 24th of August, 1632, he marched

-against Wallenstein, who stood behind impregnable

-entrenchments.  Long before daylight the thunder of

-Torstensson's guns was heard against Alte Veste.  In

-the darkness of the night 500 musketeers of the

-white brigade were climbing up the steep redoubts,

-and reached the tops under a terrible fire.  For a

-moment victory seemed to reward their strenuous

-efforts; confusion reigned amongst the half-awakened

-enemy; the cries of the women, and the fire from

-the Swedes, added to the disorder, and made the

-attack easy.  But Wallenstein, calm and unmoved,

-sent away the women, and directed a murderous fire

-on the assailants.  The brave brigade was driven

-back with heavy losses.  The king, however, would

-not give way; once more the white brigade renewed

-the attack; but in vain.  Gustaf Adolf then called

-his Finns, for, as Schiller relates, "the courage of the

-Northmen puts the Germans to shame."  It was the

-East Bothnians in the ranks of the Swedish brigade.

-Death stared them in the face in the form of

-hundreds of guns; with unsurpassed courage and

-determination they climbed up the entrenchments,

-slippery with rain and blood.  But against these

-strong works and the deadly fire, nothing could

-prevail; in the midst of death and destruction they tried

-again to reach the top of the redoubts, but in vain;

-those who escaped the shot and pikes were hurled

-back; for the first time one saw Gustaf Adolf's Finns

-retreat; and the attempts made by the other troops

-were also in vain.  The Imperialists hastened out in

-pursuit, but were driven back; again they sallied

-forth with the same result.  With heavy losses on

-both sides the battle continued all day, and many of

-the bravest commanders were killed.  The angel of

-death again sent a bullet towards the king, but it only

-touched the sole of his boot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Imperial cavalry fought with the Swedish on

-the left flank.  Cronenberg, with his cuirassiers, clad

-in iron mail from head to feet, who were called

-"the invincibles," overthrew the Hessians.  The

-Landgrave of Hessen remarked with anger that the

-king by the sacrifice of the German troops tried to

-save his own.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well," said Gustaf Adolf, "I will send my

-Finns, and hope that the change of troops will bring a

-change of fortune."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Stälhandske, with the Finns, was now sent against

-Cronenberg and his invincibles.  A grand contest,

-which will never be forgotten, then started between

-these two powerful forces; on the shore of the River

-Regnitz, which was covered with bushes, these troops

-met in conflict, man to man, horse to horse; swords

-were blunted on helmets, long pistols flashed, and

-many a brave horseman was driven into the river.

-The Finns' horses were hardier than the beautiful

-Hungarian chargers, and thus they shared in the

-victory.  The brave Cronenberg fell, and his invincibles

-then fled from the Finns.  In his place, Fugger

-appeared with a great force, and drew the Finns in

-continuous battle slowly towards the enemy in the

-forest.  But here the Imperialists were met with the

-fire from the Swedish infantry.  Fugger fell, and his

-horsemen were again routed by the exhausted Finns.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the close of the day more than three thousand

-killed covered the hills and the fields.  "In the battle

-at Alte Veste, Gustaf Adolf was considered worsted,

-because the attack failed," says Schiller.  The

-following day he altered his position, and on the 8th of

-September he marched away to Bavaria.  Forty-four

-thousand men, both friends and foes, had been

-destroyed by plague and war during these terrible

-weeks in and around Nürnberg.

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-* * * * *

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The darkness of the autumn increased, and its

-fogs covered the blood-stained fields of Germany, and

-still the battles did not cease.  Here it was ordained

-that only one great spirit should find everlasting rest,

-after many storms, and pass from life's dark night to

-eternal light.  The angel of death came closer over

-Gustaf Adolf's noble head, and threw over him a

-gleam of light from a higher world, which is

-sometimes seen shining around the great souls of the

-earth in their last moments.  The bystanders do not

-understand it, but the departing ones know what it

-means.  Two days before his death, Gustaf Adolf

-received the homage of a god from the people of

-Naumburg, but through his soul fled the shadow of

-the coming change, and he said to the royal chaplain,

-Fabricius:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Perhaps God will soon punish them for their

-foolishness, and myself also, the object of it; and

-show that I am only a weak mortal."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king had marched into Saxony to follow the

-traces of the destructive Wallenstein.  At Arnstadt

-he bade farewell to Axel Oxenstjerna; in Erfurt he

-said good-bye to the queen.  There, and in Naumburg,

-one could see by his arrangements that he was

-prepared for what would come.  Wallenstein, who

-thought he had gone into winter quarters, sent

-Pappenheim away to Halle with 12,000 men; he himself

-stood at Lützen with 28,000, and the king was in

-Naumburg with 20,000 men.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But on the 4th of November, when Gustaf Adolf

-heard of Pappenheim's departure, he broke up his

-camp and hurried to surprise his weakened enemy,

-in which he would have succeeded if he had made

-his attack on the 5th.  But Providence had thrown

-in the way of his victorious career a small obstacle,

-the brook Rippach, which with many newly ploughed

-fields delayed his march.  It was late in the evening

-on the 5th of November when the king approached

-Lützen; thus Wallenstein had time, and he knew how

-to make use of it.  Along the broad road to Leipzig

-he deepened the ditches, and made redoubts on both

-sides, which he filled with his best sharpshooters, and

-it was decided that with their cross-fire they could

-destroy the attacking Swedes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The king's war council advised him not to make

-the attack; Duke Bernhard was the only one who

-advised him to the contrary, and the king shared his

-opinion, "because," he said, "it is necessary to wash

-one's self perfectly clean once you are in the bath."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The night was dull and dark.  The king spent it

-in an old carriage with Kniephausen and Duke

-Bernhard.  His restless soul had time to think of

-everything, and then history says, he drew from the

-forefinger of his right hand a small copper ring, and

-gave it to Duke Bernhard, and asked him to give it

-to a young officer in his Finnish cavalry, in case

-anything should happen to himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Early in the morning Gustaf Adolf rode out to

-inspect the positions of his troops.  He was dressed

-in a buff waistcoat made of elk's skin, and wore a

-grey great coat over it; when he was told to wear

-harness on a day like this, he replied:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God is my armour."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A heavy mist delayed the attack.  At dawn the

-whole army sang a hymn.  The fog continued, and

-the king began another hymn, which he had written

-himself just before.  He then rode along the lines,

-calling out:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"To-day, boys, we shall put an end to all our

-trouble;" and his horse stumbled twice as he said

-this.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The fog did not clear off till eleven o'clock through

-a strong breeze.  The Swedish army at once advanced

-to the attack; under the king in the right

-wing was Stälhandske and the Finns, next came the

-Swedish troops; in the centre were the Swedish

-yellow and green brigades, commanded by Nils

-Brahe; on the left wing the German cavalry, under

-Duke Bernhard.  Against the duke was Colloredo,

-with his strong cavalry, while in the centre was

-Wallenstein, with four heavy columns of infantry and seven

-cannon in front; against Stälhandske stood Isolani,

-with his wild but brave Croats.  The war-cries on

-both sides were the same as at Breitenfeld.  When

-the king ordered the attack he clasped his hands, and

-cried out:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Jesus, help me to-day to fight for the glory of

-Thy Holy Name!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Imperialists started firing, and the Swedish

-army advanced and suffered heavy losses from the

-beginning.  At last the Swedish centre passed the

-redoubts, took the seven guns, and routed the two

-first brigades of the enemy.  The third was preparing

-for flight when Wallenstein rallied them.  The

-Swedish left wing was attacked by the cavalry, and

-the Finns, who had sent the Croats and the Polacks

-flying, had not yet reached the redoubts.  The king

-then rushed to the front with the troops from

-Smaländ; but only a few were well-mounted enough to

-follow him.  It is said that an Imperial musketeer

-fired at him with a silver bullet; it is true that the

-king's left arm was smashed, and that he tried to

-conceal his wound; but soon he became so weak

-from loss of blood, that he asked the Duke of Lauenburg,

-who was riding by his side, to bring him unseen

-out of the battle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the midst of the conflict Gotz's cuirassiers rushed

-forward, and at the head of them was Moritz von

-Falkenberg, who recognised the king and fired

-point-blank at him, crying out:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have long sought for you!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Soon afterwards Falkenberg himself fell from a

-bullet.  The king was shot underneath the heart, and

-reeled in his saddle; he told the duke to save his

-own life; the latter had placed his arm around the

-king's waist to support him, but the next moment

-the rush of the enemy had separated them.  The

-duke's hair was singed by the close discharge of a

-pistol, and the king's horse was wounded in the

-throat and staggered.  The king sunk from the

-saddle, and was dragged a short distance along the

-ground; his foot caught in the stirrup.  The young

-page, Leubelfingen, from Nürnberg, offered him his

-horse, but could not raise him up.  Some of the

-Imperialists now came to the spot, and inquired who

-the wounded man was, and when Leubelfingen would

-not reply, one of them ran him through with a

-sword-thrust, while another shot the king through the head;

-others then shot at them, and both remained on the

-field.  But Leubelfingen lived for a few days afterwards,

-to relate for the benefit of future generations

-the never-to-be-forgotten sad death of the great

-hero, Gustaf Adolf.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meantime the Swedish centre was driven

-back, the battlefield was covered with thousands of

-mutilated corpses, and they had not yet gained a

-foot of ground.  Both the armies occupied nearly the

-same positions as before the battle.  The king's

-wounded horse was then seen galloping between the

-lines, with an empty saddle, covered with blood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king has fallen!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As Schiller has so beautifully put it, "Life was not

-worth anything, when the most holy of all lives had

-ceased to exist; death no longer had any terror for

-the lowliest, since it had not spared this royal head."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Duke Bernhard flew from line to line, saying,

-"Swedes, Finns, and Germans, yours, ours, and

-Freedom's protector has fallen.  Well then, those who

-love the king will rush forward to avenge his death."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first to obey this order was Stälhandske, with

-the Finns; with great difficulty they crossed the

-ditches and drove the enemy in front of them; before

-their terrific onslaught all fell or fled.  Isolani turned

-back and attacked the baggage train, but was again

-routed.  The centre of the Swedish army advanced

-under Brahe, and Duke Bernhard, disregarding his

-wounded arm, took one of the enemy's batteries.

-The whole of the Imperial army was broken by this

-terrible attack; its ammunition wagons exploded;

-Wallenstein's orders, and brave Piccolomini's efforts,

-could not stay the rout.  Just then a joyful cry arose

-from the battlefield: "Pappenheim is here!" and

-this leader, the bravest of the brave, appeared with

-his horsemen; his first question was, "Where is the

-King of Sweden?"  Someone pointed to the Finns,

-and Pappenheim rushed to the spot.  Here began a

-terrible battle.  The Imperialists, filled with new

-courage, turned back and attacked on three sides at

-once.  Not a man of the Swedes gave ground.  Brahe

-died with the yellow brigade, who fell nearly to the

-last man; Winckel with the blue, died in the same

-order, man for man, as they stood in the ranks.  The

-rest of the Swedish infantry slowly retreated, and

-victory seemed to smile on the destructive Pappenheim.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But he, the Ajax of his time, the man of a hundred

-scars, did not live to see success.  In the first attack

-on the Finns, a falconet bullet smashed his hip; and

-two musket balls pierced his chest; it was also said

-that Stälhandske wounded him with his own hand.

-He fell, but still in death rejoiced over Gustaf Adolf's

-fall, and the news of his loss spread consternation

-amongst the Imperialists.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Pappenheim is dead; everything is lost!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Once more the Swedes advanced; Duke Bernhard,

-Kniephausen, and Stälhandske, performed prodigies

-of valour.  But Piccolomini, with six wounds, mounted

-his seventh horse, and fought with more than mortal

-valour; the Imperialist centre held its ground, and

-only the darkness stopped the battle.  Wallenstein

-retired, and the exhausted Swedish army encamped

-on the battlefield.  Nine thousand slain covered the

-field of Lützen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The result of this battle was disastrous to the

-Imperialists.  They had lost all their artillery;

-Pappenheim and Wallenstein had lost their invincible

-names.  The latter raged with anger; he executed

-the cowards with the same facility as he bestowed

-gold on the brave.  Ill and disheartened he retired

-with the rest of his army to Bohemia, where the

-stars were his nightly companions, and treacherous

-plans his only solace; and his death from Buttler's

-hand was the end of his glorious life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A thrill of joy passed over the whole Catholic

-world, because the faith of Luther and the Swedes

-had lost a great deal more than their enemies.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The arm was paralyzed which had so powerfully

-wielded the victorious sword of light and freedom;

-the grief of the Protestants was deep and universal,

-mixed with fear for the future.  It was not for

-nothing that the Te Deum was sung in the churches

-of Vienna, Brussels, and Madrid; twelve days'

-bull-fighting gratified Madrid on account of the dreaded

-hero's fall.  But it is said that the Emperor

-Ferdinand, who was greater than the men of his time,

-shed bitter tears at the sight of his slain enemy's

-bloody buff waistcoat.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Many stories circulated about the great Gustaf

-Adolf's death.  Duke Franz Albert of Lauenburg,

-Richelieu, and Duke Bernhard, were all said to have

-had a share in his fall; but none of these surmises

-have been verified by history.  A later German

-author tells the following popular story:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Gustaf Adolf, King of Sweden, received in his

-youth, from a young woman whom he loved, a ring

-of iron, which he ever afterwards wore.  The ring

-was composed of seven circles, which formed the

-letters Gustaf Adolf.  Seven days before his death

-he missed the ring."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The reader knows that the threads of this story

-are tied to the same ring, but we have several

-reasons for saying that this ring was made of

-copper.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On the evening after the battle, Duke Bernhard

-sent his soldiers with torches to find the king's body;

-and they found it plundered and hardly recognisable

-under heaps of slain.  It was taken to the village of

-Meuchen, and there embalmed.  The soldiers were

-all allowed to see the dead body of their king and

-leader.  Bitter tears were here shed, but tears full

-of pride, for even the lowest considered it an honour

-to have fought by the side of such a hero.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"See," said one of Stälhandske's old Finns, loudly

-sniffing, "they have stolen his golden chain and his

-copper ring; I still see the white mark on his forefinger."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Why should they care about a copper ring?"

-asked a Scotchman, who had lately joined the army,

-and had not heard the stories which passed from

-man to man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"His ring!" said a Pomeranian.  "Be sure that

-the Jesuits knew what is was good for.  The ring

-was charmed by a Finnish witch, and as long as the

-king wore it, he could not be hurt by steel or lead."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But see to-day he has lost it, and therefore&mdash;you

-understand."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What is that fruit-eating Pomeranian saying?"

-said the Finn angrily.  "The power of the Almighty,

-and nothing else, has protected our great king, but

-the ring was given to him long ago by a young

-Finnish girl, whom he loved in his youth; I know

-more about this than you do."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Duke Bernhard, who, sad and sorrowful, was watching

-the king's pale features, turned round at these

-words; he put his sound hand underneath his open

-buff waistcoat, and said to the Finn:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Comrade, do you know one of Stälhandske's

-officers named Bertel?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your grace."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is he alive?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, your grace."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The duke turned to another and gave several orders

-abstractedly.  A few moments later, when he again

-looked at the king, he seemed to remember something.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Was he a brave man?" he asked.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"He was one of Stälhandske's horsemen!" said the

-Finn with great pride.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"When did he fall, and where?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"In the last struggle with the Pappenheimers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go and search for him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The duke's order was promptly obeyed by these

-exhausted soldiers, who had reason to wonder why

-one of the youngest officers should be searched for

-this night, when Nils Brahe, Winckel, and many

-other old leaders were lying uncared for in their blood

-on the battlefield.  It was nearly morning when the

-searchers returned and reported that Bertel's dead

-body could not be found anywhere.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hum!" said the duke discontentedly; "great men

-have sometimes funny ideas.  What shall I now do

-with the king's ring?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The November sun rose blood-red over the field

-of Lützen.  A new time had come; the Master had

-left, and the disciples had now to carry out his work

-alone.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0200"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-II.&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Silence reigned after the conclusion of the narrative;

-everyone was thinking of the great hero's fall,

-and not realising that the tale was ended.  The old

-grandmother sat on the stuffed sofa in her brown

-woollen shawl, and near her the schoolmaster,

-Svenonius, with his blue handkerchief and brass

-spectacles.  Captain Svanholm, the postmaster, who

-had lost a finger in the last war, was on the right;

-on the left pretty Anne Sophie, eighteen years old,

-with a high tortoise-shell comb in her long brown

-hair; and around them, on the floor or on stools, sat

-six or seven playful children, with mouths now wide

-open, as if they had heard a ghost story.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first to disturb the silence was Anne Sophie,

-who sprang with a cry from her chair, stumbled, and

-fell into the schoolmaster's arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The entranced company, who were still at Lützen,

-were as much disturbed by this interruption as if

-Isolani's Croats had suddenly broken into the room.

-The postmaster, still in the midst of the battle, sprang

-up and trod heavily upon old grandma's sore foot

-with his iron heel.  The schoolmaster was quite upset,

-not at all realising the value of the burden in his

-arms&mdash;perhaps the first and also the prettiest in his whole

-life; the children fled in all directions, and some

-crept behind the surgeon's high chair.  But Andreas,

-who had just followed the Finnish cavalry in their

-charge over the trenches, seized the surgeon's

-silver-headed Spanish cane, and prepared to receive the

-Croats at the point of the bayonet.  Old Bäck was

-undisturbed; he produced his tobacco box, bit off a

-piece, and mildly said, "What is the matter with you,

-Anne Sophie?"  The latter freed herself, blushing

-and embarrassed, from the schoolmaster's arms, and

-declaring that someone had pricked her with a pin,

-looked around for the culprit.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Old grandma, always quick to scent out mischief,

-immediately practised a method, and discovered that

-Jonathan had inserted a pin at the top of his rattan,

-and therewith upset his eldest sister, with the results

-just indicated.  The punishment, like that under

-martial law, was quick and short, and Jonathan had

-then to retire to the nursery, and learn an extra

-lesson for the next day.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the principal power had thus restored order

-without bloodshed, the company began to talk of the

-surgeon's story.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is too violent a tale, my dear cousin," said the

-old grandmother, whilst looking at the teller with

-one of those mild and speaking glances, which captured

-all hearts with their expression of intelligence

-and sympathy; "altogether too turbulent.  It seems

-to me that I still hear the noise of the cannon.  War

-is frightful and detestable, when we consider all the

-blood shed on the battlefield, and all the tears at

-home.  When will the day arrive when men, instead

-of destroying each other, will share the earth and our

-Lord's good gifts together in Harmony and Universal

-Brotherhood?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Now the postmaster's martial spirit rose in arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Peace?  Share?  No war?  Pshaw! cousin, pshaw! would

-you make an ant's nest of the world?  What

-a state of things!  Scribblers would smother everything

-with ink; cowards and petty tyrants would sit

-on honest men; and when one nation domineered

-over another, people would lowly bow, thank them,

-and act like sheep.  No; the devil take me! men like

-Gustaf Adolf and Napoleon move nations and things;

-they tap a little blood which has been spoilt by gross

-living, and then the world improves.  I still remember

-the 21st of August, at Karstula; Fieandt stood on

-the left, and I at the right&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If I may interrupt the speech of my honoured

-brother," said the schoolmaster, who had heard this

-story one hundred and seventy times before, "I would

-prove that the world would progress much better

-through spilling ink than blood.  <i>Inter arma silent

-leges</i>.  In war times we could not sit here by the

-fire, and drink our toddy in Bäck's room; we should

-be serving a cannon on the ramparts; linstock in

-hand, instead of a glass; powder in our pouches, and

-not even a pinch of snuff.  Ink has made you, brother,

-a postmaster; in ink you live and have your being;

-ink brings your daily bread, and what would you

-be with blood alone, and no ink, may I ask?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What should I be?  Devils and heretics ... I?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Cousin Svanholm!" said the old grandmother,

-with a warning glance at the children.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The postmaster stopped at once.  The surgeon

-saw the necessity of re-establishing peace and concord.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I think," he said, "that nations go through the

-world like the individuals of which they are

-composed.  In youth they are wild and passionate, fight,

-rage, and tear each other to pieces.  When older and

-wiser, they invent gunpowder, place host against host,

-and let them destroy each other in cold blood at long

-distances.  Finally the world comes to reason, and

-seizes the pen which is very sharp when necessary.

-And then begins the reign of universal knowledge,

-which is certainly the best, according to my mind."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It would be ... seven devils ... all right, cousin, I

-will be as quiet as a wall," said the postmaster.  "I

-only ask what kind of a man was Gustaf Adolf?  What

-kind of a man was Napoleon?  Were they only

-birthday eaters of sweetmeats?  What do you think?

-Were they fools or savages?  I pray you.  Do you

-hear, cousin?  I do not swear, cousin; you should

-have heard Fieandt, how devilishly he swore at

-Karstula."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The surgeon continued, without paying any attention

-to the postmaster.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Therefore, the youthful history of all nations

-begins with war, and the first soldier in the world's

-company was called Cain.  But as war is as old as

-the world, it is likely to exist as long as it lasts.

-I do not believe in the new ideas about a perpetual

-peace.  I believe that as long as human hearts retain

-selfish desires, the curse of war will prevail.  Eternal

-peace consists in no longer fighting blindly, slavishly,

-as before, but with glad courage comprehending the

-reason why, and for a righteous cause; then one can

-hack away with right goodwill."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then we should always fight for an idea," said the

-schoolmaster thoughtfully.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That's it, for an idea.  It is to the honour of the

-Finnish soldier that with one exception he has always

-fought for the defence of his fatherland.  Then he

-has gone out to fight on foreign soil; and our Lord

-has mercifully chosen that this should be for the

-greatest and most righteous cause of all, namely, to

-defend the pure Protestant faith and freedom of

-conscience for the whole world.  The Finn was

-proud to know this in the Thirty Years' War.  He

-felt within himself that his heart was the same as

-Gustaf Adolf's, who, I think, was the greatest

-general who ever lived, whilst he fought and won

-victories for one of the few causes that are worth

-bleeding for."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Tell us more about Gustaf Adolf!" exclaimed

-Andreas, who could think only of that one name.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Dear uncle, a little more about Gustaf Adolf,"

-chimed in the rest of the children, who, with the

-greatest trouble, had been held in check by grandma's

-admonitions and sister Anne Sophie.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thank you.  No.  The great king is dead, and we

-will allow him to peacefully slumber in the royal vault

-of the church at Riddarholm, Stockholm.  And if

-the story in future loses something from this, it will

-also gain something, namely, that the other characters

-will become more prominent.  Hitherto, we have

-been compelled to almost exclusively fix our eyes

-on the heroic king, and grandmother was right in

-saying that we have been deafened by the thunder

-of the cannon.  Thus, Lady Regina, and the Jesuit,

-and especially Bertel, who is the real hero, have all

-been kept in the background."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And Ketchen," said the grandmother; "for my

-part, I would like much to know more of the good,

-charming child.  I will leave Regina alone, but this

-I will maintain that such a black-eyed wild cat, who

-would tear one's eyes out at any moment, cannot

-come to any good."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And the lordly Count of Lichtenstein, whom we

-have not heard of lately," added Sophie.  "I am

-certain he will become Regina's betrothed."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Aha! little cousin listens with delight to that part

-of it," said the postmaster with a sly smile.  "But

-say, brother Bäck, do not busy yourself with

-sentimentalities; let us hear more about Stälhandske, the

-stout little Larsson, and the Tavastlander Vitikka.

-How the d&mdash;&mdash;l did the man get along without ears?

-I remember to this day, that on the 21st of August,

-there was a corporal at Karstula&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Brother Bäck," interrupted the schoolmaster,

-"who has <i>justitia mundi</i>, the sword of justice in his

-hand, will not fail to hoist the Jesuit Hieronymus up

-to the top of the highest pine on the Hartz mountains."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Take care, brother Svenonius," retorted the

-post-master maliciously, "the Jesuit was very learned, and

-knew a heap of Latin."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will tell you what I know about the Finns," said

-the surgeon; "but I assure you beforehand that it

-is altogether too little.  Wait ten or twenty years

-longer, when some industrious man will take the

-trouble to glean from the old chronicles our brave

-countrymen's exploits."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And what became of the king's ring?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Why, that we shall hear to-morrow evening."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0201"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER I.

-<br /><br />

-A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Beyond the fertile plains of Germany a wild sea

-extends itself towards the north, whose shores are

-annually covered with the ice of winter, and whose

-straits have sometimes borne entire armies on their

-ice-bridges.  For ages the surrounding nations have

-fought for the possession of this sea; but at the

-time of our story the greatest power in the north

-triumphed over nine-tenths of its wide shores, the

-Baltic had almost become a Swedish lake; stretching

-its mighty blue arms north and east, it folded in

-its embrace a daughter of the sea, a land which had

-arisen from its bosom, and elevated its granite rocks

-high above its mother's heart.  <i>Finland</i> is the most

-favoured child of the Baltic; she empties her

-treasures into the lap of her mother, and the great

-sea does not disdain the offering, but withdraws

-lovingly and tenderly like an indulgent mother, that

-her daughter may develop, and every season clothes

-the shores with grass and flowers.  Fortunate the

-land which lulls to sleep in its bosom the waters of

-a thousand lakes, and stretches one hundred and forty

-Swedish miles along the shore.  The sea bears power,

-freedom, and enlightenment; the ocean is an active

-civilising element in the world; and a sea communicating

-nation can never stagnate in need and under

-oppression except by its own fault.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Far away in the north of Finland a region exists

-which more than any other is the fostered child of

-the sea, for from time unknown it has risen with a

-gentle slope from the waters.  Numerous green isles

-rise along this coast.  "In my youth," says the

-grey-haired old salt, "fine ships floated where now the

-water is quite shallow, and in a few years the cattle

-will graze on the former sea-bottom.  The playing

-child launches its little boat from the beach; look

-around you, little one, and see well the point where

-the waters trace their edges; when you become a

-man, you will look in vain for your present

-strand&mdash;beyond the green fields you will hear their distant

-murmur; and when you are an old man, a village

-may appear on the spot once occupied by the waves."  A

-strange region, where the towns built hard by

-deep sounds and tributaries, are twelve miles from

-the waters in two hundred years, while the keels and

-anchors of vessels are drawn up from the bogs fifty

-miles inland.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This region is East Bothnia; greater than many

-kingdoms, and extending to the verge of Lapland in

-the north, where the sun never sets at midsummer,

-and never rises during the Christmas darkness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Nature is awake for three months of the year in

-an unbroken day, and then at midnight you can read

-the finest print; three months of night, but a night

-of moonlight and glittering snow&mdash;clear, cold, and

-solemn.  The flower's beauty perishes sooner there

-than human joy; for seven months the plains are

-covered with snow and the lakes with solid ice;

-but never is spring more delightful than such a

-winter; still a melancholy mingles with this joy,

-which the heart well understands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Two races live on the coasts of this land, unmixed

-and unlike; a variegated picture of national and

-local peculiarities of language and habits; one parish

-sharply contrasting with another.  Certain common

-traits exist, however, which all present.  It is not a

-historical accident that the greatest and bloodiest

-battles of Finland have been fought on the soil of

-East Bothnia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Twenty-five miles east of Vasa, on the banks of

-Kyro River, is the rich Storkyro parish&mdash;the granary

-of East Bothnia.  Here grows the well-known rye-seed,

-which is exported in large quantities to Sweden.

-The parish presents a plain of waving grain-fields,

-from which arose the saying, "that Storkyro fields

-and Limingo meadows have no equals in length and

-breadth."  The people are Finns, of Tavastlandish

-origin in remote times.  Their old church, built in

-1304, is one of the oldest in the country.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We now ask our reader to follow us there.  At the

-time of our story this region was badly cultivated,

-compared with later times.  The ravages of the

-Peasants' War had retarded its growth, so that for

-a generation traces of this disastrous struggle were

-visible, whilst other wars, with heavy conscriptions,

-prevented time from healing these wounds.  Hence,

-in the summer of 1632, many farmhouses still stood

-empty; the grain-fields did not spread far from the

-river banks, and unhealthy fogs covered the country

-when the nights were cool.  The forests, then already

-thinned, still yielded fuel for the tar pits; part of

-the peasantry fished among the Michel Islands, and

-the worthy pastor, Herr Georgius Thomoe Patur, had

-not then, like his present successor, a yearly income

-of 4,000 silver roubles.  Therefore the eye lingered

-with delight on Bertila's farmhouse close to the

-church, finer and better built than any of the others,

-and surrounded by the most fertile fields.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The summer had advanced to the middle of August,

-and the harvesting had just begun.  More than sixty

-persons, men, women, and children&mdash;for the East

-Bothnian peasant women work the whole summer out

-of doors&mdash;were busily cutting the golden rye, which

-they gathered into sheaves and placed with skilful

-hands in high, handsome ricks.  The day was hot,

-and the stooping posture of the work wearisome;

-so it often happened that the petted boys amongst

-the reapers threw longing glances at the soft grass

-round the edge of the field, which evidently seemed

-intended for a resting-place.  At the same time they

-did not forget to look for the overseer, an old man

-in a loose, grey homespun jacket.  Whenever anyone

-stopped, he heard his neighbour whisper, "Larsson

-is coming!" which had an instantaneous effect, like

-the stroke of a whip.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Larsson, a small man, between whose bushy

-head and eyebrows a good-hearted look glanced forth,

-was now concerned with one of the women, who, on

-account of the heat and work, had sunk to the

-ground.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Judging from her features this woman was no

-longer young; perhaps about thirty-six; but to look

-at her slender figure, and the mild sympathetic

-expression of her blue eyes, she seemed no more than

-twenty.  She exhibited a rare but prematurely faded

-beauty, with much suffering and resignation.  She

-wore a fine white flannel jacket, which being

-thrown aside on account of the sun, showed sleeves

-of the finest linen, a red bodice, like the peasantry

-wore, with a short striped woollen skirt, and a little

-plaid handkerchief tied around her head, to support

-her long flaxen hair.  She had worked hard, but her

-strength was insufficient; she had fallen with her

-scythe in her hand, and those nearest to her, with

-respect and love, had carried her to the soft turf,

-and tried with fresh water from the spring to bring

-her back to life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There now, Meri!" said old Larsson with fatherly

-sympathy, as he held the fainting woman's head on

-his knees and bathed her forehead with cold water;

-"there, my child, don't be foolish enough to die and

-leave your old friend; what joy would he then have

-on earth? ... She cannot hear me, poor child!

-Who ever had such a father as hers?  To compel

-this delicate thing to work in such heat! ... Drink

-a little&mdash;that's right ... it is very good of you;

-now open your lovely eyes once more.  Do not

-trouble, Meri; we will go to the house, and you shall

-not work any more to-day."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The pale and delicate creature endeavoured to rise

-and seize her sickle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thank you, Larsson," she said in a low but

-melodious voice, "I am better now.  I will work;

-father washes it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Father wishes it!" exclaimed the old man testily.

-"You see, I do not; I forbid you to work.  Even

-if your father turned me out of doors, and I had to

-beg my bread, you should not work any more to-day.

-Well, well, my child, don't take it so hard; your

-father is not so foolish.  He knows that you are not

-strong; you are like your dead mother, who was a

-lady by birth, and from your education in Stockholm

-... There, there; let us go home; don't be

-obstinate now, Meri!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let me go, Larsson; see, he comes himself!"

-cried Meri, tearing herself free and grasping the

-scythe, with which she again tried to mow the golden

-rye.  But as she stooped down, it grew dark before

-her eyes, and for the second time she sank fainting

-between the waving stalks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At that instant the efforts of all the workers

-redoubled; he approached in person, the severe and

-dreaded owner of Bertila farm.  Like a gloomy

-shadow he came slowly along the path&mdash;a tall old

-man of seventy, but little bent by age.  His costume

-was the same as that of the peasants in summer:

-wide shirt-sleeves, a long red-striped vest, short linen

-pantaloons, blue stockings, and bark-shoes.  He wore

-a high pointed cap of red yarn on his white head,

-which made his tall figure still more imposing.  In

-spite of his simple costume, his whole bearing was

-commanding.  The decided carriage, sharp penetrating

-look, resolute expression, love of authority

-around the tightly drawn upper lip, indicated the

-former political leader and the rich and powerful

-land-owner, accustomed to rule over many hundreds

-of subordinates.  Seeing this old man, one

-understood why he was known in many neighbouring

-parishes as the <i>Peasant King</i>.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Cold and calm, old Aron Bertila approached the

-spot where his only daughter lay in a dead faint.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Put her in the hay-wagon and take her up to

-the house," he said.  "In two hours she will be back

-to her work."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But, Bertila!" exclaimed Larsson excitedly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila looked round with a glance before which

-the other quailed; then he stalked on through the

-field as if nothing had occurred, observing with a

-keen eye the labours of the reapers; here and there

-breaking off an ear and closely examining the

-number and weight of the seeds.  From the barn the

-whole harvest-field was visible; it was new, and more

-than a hundred acres in extent.  The old man looked

-with great pride on the waving sea of golden ears;

-his carriage became more erect, his breast expanded,

-as he beckoned Larsson to him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you remember this tract thirty-four years ago,

-when Fleming's cavalry scoured the country like

-savages, the village lay in ruins, and the fields were

-trampled down by the horses' hoofs.  Here, close to

-the village, was the desert; naked, charred stumps

-stood between mud puddles and quagmires; no road

-or path led here, and even the forest wolves avoided

-the desolate spot."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I remember it well," said Larsson in a monotonous

-tone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Look now around, old friend, and say.  Who

-rebuilt this village, more lovely than ever before?

-Who tilled this wilderness, made roads and paths,

-measured the land, drained the morass, ploughed this

-fertile soil, and sowed this great field which now

-waves in the breeze, and will soon supply hundreds

-of human beings with its harvest?  Say, Larsson,

-who is the man who did this mighty work?" and

-the old man's eyes flamed with enthusiasm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the little, plump person at his side seemed to

-be possessed with quite another feeling.  He humbly

-took off his old hat, clasped his hands, and earnestly

-said,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nothing is he who sows; nothing is he who

-waters; God alone gives the growth!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila, absorbed in thought, heeded him not, and

-continued,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, by God!  I have seen evil times, days of

-want, misery, and despair, which the sword brought

-upon earth, and I have myself drawn the weapon to

-destroy my enemies.  I have had victory and defeat,

-both to my injury.  Hence I can rejoice in the work

-of peace.  I know the fruit of the sword, and what

-the plough produces.  In the sword lurks a spirit

-of evil, which revels in blood and tears; the sword

-kills and destroys, but the plough gives life and

-happiness.  You see, Larsson, the plough has made

-this field.  Over at Korsholm is the Finnish coat of

-arms, a lion with a naked sword.  Were I king, I

-would say, Away with the sword and take the plough.

-The latter is the true weapon of Finland; if we

-possess bread we have plenty of arms; with arms we

-can drive our enemies from our homes.  But without

-bread, Larsson, what use is steel and powder to us?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bertila," said Larsson, "you are a singular man.

-You hate war, but that I understand; in war they

-burnt your farm, and drove your first wife and her

-little children into the woods to perish.  You yourself

-have fought at the head of the peasantry, and barely

-escaped <i>the blood bath on Ilmola's ice</i>.  Such things

-are not easily forgotten; but what I cannot

-comprehend is, that you, a friend of the peasants, a

-soldier hater, first took me, an old starving soldier,

-as overseer on your farm, then equipped my Lasse&mdash;God

-bless the boy&mdash;for the war, and finally sent

-your own grandson, Meri's child, little Gösta,* yet

-beardless, to the field among the king's cavalry."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* From Gustaf.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-Old Bertila's look darkened.  Some sensitive chord

-had been touched, and he glanced around as if he

-feared a listener behind the barn walls.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who dares to speak to me of Meri's child?" he

-said in a low tone.  "I know none other than my

-son Gösta, born of my second wife during the

-journey to Stockholm; and God be merciful unto

-you if ever ... Let us forget that matter.  Why

-I took you?  Why I sent your boy into the field?

-H'm! it does not concern anyone."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, keep it to yourself; I know too much

-already."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Tell me, if you can, Larsson, what constituents

-are required for an honest Christian Government?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Larsson looked at him with surprise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will tell you.  The sword has two parts, the

-blade and the handle.  Two forces are likewise

-necessary for the plough: one that draws and one

-that drives.  And two forces united form a Christian

-Government, namely, the people and the king.  But

-that which comes between brings discord and ruin;

-it arrogates to itself the king's power and the people's

-property.  It is a monster."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I know you hate the nobles."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And therefore," Bertila laid an emphasis on his

-words, and uttered them with an almost ironical

-smile, which seemed to turn his meaning into a jest,

-"you see, <i>my</i> son must either be <i>peasant or king</i>;

-nothing more or less!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Larsson looked at him with dismay.  He had not

-imagined the depth of ambition which had hitherto

-glowed concealed in the old peasant's heart.  He

-thought it the extreme of crazy presumption.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You can certainly never hope," he timidly said,

-"that Meri's son, with his birth&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man's eyes flashed, but the words were

-inaudible that came from his lips, as if he tried to

-struggle against an inner impulse, to express for the

-first and perhaps for the last time, the bold idea

-which had already for many years grown in his

-tempestuous soul.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"King Gustaf Adolf has only a daughter," he

-said finally, with a peculiar look.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Princess Christina ... Yes."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But the kingdom at war with half the world, after

-his death, needs a man upon the throne."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bertila, what do you mean?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I mean that in my childhood I heard King Erik's

-son, in spite of his peasant wife, Karin, declared the

-successor to the crown."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you in your senses?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Again an ironical smile played around the old

-man's lips.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you not understand," he coldly said, "how it

-is possible to hate soldiers and aristocrats, and yet

-send one's son to war as the nearest road to

-distinction, under a king's eyes?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I beg of you, Bertila, put aside such wild fancies;

-you are a reasonable man when the demon of pride

-does not get possession of your restless mind.  Your

-plan will fail; it must fail."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It cannot fail."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What!  Not fail!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No!  Have I not told you that Gösta must be

-either king or peasant?  Either.  I do not care.  If

-he wishes to remain a peasant, so be it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But if he will not remain a peasant?  Supposing

-he wishes to fight for a coat of arms, and becomes

-a nobleman?  Remember, you have started him on

-the right road for that end; as an officer he is

-already an equal of the nobility."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila seemed to be cogitating.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No!" he cried, "it is impossible.  His blood

-... his education ... my will."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"His blood!  Then you no longer remember that

-nobility is in it from both sides?  His education! and

-you sent him to Stockholm at twelve, and allowed

-him to grow up amongst young aristocrats, whom he

-has constantly heard express themselves with contempt

-about the peasantry.  Your will! foolish father

-to think that you can bend a youth's desires from the

-direction given to them by such powerful influences."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man remained silent for a time, then he

-said, coldly,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Larsson, you are a credulous fool; I joke, and

-you take it seriously.  I will answer for the youth.

-Let us say no more about it; but take care, not a

-word of what has passed!  Do you understand?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am your old friend, Bertila.  Since the time

-when I, a horseman with Svidje Klas, helped you

-to escape from Ilmola, you have repaid me the

-service many times over; I shall never betray you.

-But, you see, I love your children as my own, and

-cannot bear to see you make the boy unhappy; and

-Meri ... are you a father, Bertila?  How do you

-treat your child, your only daughter, who attends to

-your lightest wish, and does everything to atone for

-the fault of her youth?  You treat her worse than

-any of your servants; you allow her frail and weak

-body to perform the hardest work; she sinks to the

-ground, and you do not raise her.  You are cruel,

-Bertila; you are an inhuman father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You do not understand the matter," answered the

-morose old man.  "You are too tender-hearted to

-comprehend what it means to go straight ahead without

-compunction.  Meri, like her mother, has the fine lady

-in her, and that must be uprooted.  She cannot

-become a queen; well, then, she shall be a thorough

-peasant.  I have said what I think about the

-intermediate class, and now you know the reason for my

-actions.  Come, let us return to the labourers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And Meri ... spare her to-day, at least."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She shall work with the rest this afternoon."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0202"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER II.

-<br /><br />

-ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The log-house of the East Bothnian peasant is now

-always more roomy, lighter, and more pretentious in

-its whole appearance than in any other part of

-Finland.  It sometimes consists of two storeys, or has

-at least a garret; the windows are of good size; it

-it almost always painted red or yellow, with white

-corners, and occasionally possesses window shutters.

-The whole bears evidence of mechanical skill and

-comfort.  The East Bothnian never builds such large

-and fine villages as the Tavastlander and the Abo

-peasants do, but in cases of necessity constructs good

-solitary farmhouses.  At the time of our story the

-smoke-huts were in use by nearly the whole Finnish

-population; only peasants of Swedish origin used

-fire-places and regular chimneys.  But even then one

-could see in East Bothnia, close to the coast, some

-buildings constructed in a more modern style, copied

-from their Swedish neighbours.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The newly settled towns had attracted the country

-people to the coast, and they had already begun to

-be accustomed to greater comfort; and the wealthier

-the peasant, the quicker his house and person

-assumed a more civilised aspect.  It is true that the

-luxury, against which the laws of the sixteenth

-century so severely protested, was found only on the

-estates of the nobility and among the wealthy Abo

-burghers&mdash;but the home-brewed ale foamed over in

-the tankards of the peasants, and the Holland spices

-were produced from his cupboards for festive

-occasions.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Since the fires of the Peasants' War had destroyed

-the huts of Storkyro village, one could often see the

-Swedish and Finnish styles of building side by side.

-Bertila's farm was the largest and the richest in the

-village, and was built in the new style, with steps

-and a small verandah, and two small chambers beside

-the large room; one for the master of the family and

-one for his daughter.  The rest of the people on the

-farm lived together in the large room, but in summertime

-the younger ones slept out of doors in the sheds

-and some in the lofts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this time one would not see the large clock,

-with its red and blue painted cover, which to-day is

-the chief ornament in every peasant's cottage.  The

-long plain table with its high seat for the master,

-stood surrounded by benches on the sides towards

-the door.  It was close to dinner-time, and in the big

-fire-place the porridge-kettle was boiling.  The room

-was nearly empty, only a large cat purred on a bench,

-and a girl of fourteen stirred the porridge; and Meri

-was sitting by the fire with her work.  Poor Meri

-had just recovered from her fainting attack, but she

-was still very pale.  Her long golden hair fell down

-over her almost bare shoulders; her eyes were often

-shyly turned towards the door, as if she feared the

-sudden entrance of her father.  She was knitting a

-girdle of the most beautiful colours, and sang at the

-same time an old Swedish song.

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "This girdle with roses fair<br />

-  Shall only my loved one wear,<br />

-  When he from the perils of war<br />

-  Returns to us from afar."<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-It has been said that Meri was no longer young.

-The traces which suffering had left on her finely

-formed features told of many a year of sorrow and

-pain; but at this moment as she watched the girdle,

-her face assumed an almost childish expression of

-delight.  One could see that her work was a joy to

-her, and that she sang of someone much beloved and

-far away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Her life with her severe father was full of hardship,

-and when she looked at the girdle she semed to read

-in its bright-coloured loops of a future full of joy

-and peace.  In this girdle she lived, it was the same

-to her as the thought of her only joy&mdash;her idolized son.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Again she sang:

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "I weave in beads so fine<br />

-  For this dear beloved of mine,<br />

-  And no king upon his throne<br />

-  Shall the like of this girdle own."<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-Just then Bertila, her father, entered, followed by

-Larsson and all the rest of the working people.  Old

-Bertila's looks were dark; he could not deny to

-himself that Larsson's predictions were only too likely

-to be true.  His son a nobleman.  This possibility

-was in his eyes a disgrace, and up to this time had

-not troubled his mind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The last words of Meri's song had just died away.

-At her father's entrance she quickly concealed the

-girdle under her apron; but the suspicious eyes of

-the old man fathomed her secret.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are again sitting with your dreams, lazy

-thing, instead of serving out the porridge," he said in

-a sharp tone.  "What have you underneath your

-apron?  Out with it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Meri was obliged in the presence of them all

-to reveal the unfinished girdle&mdash;her dearest secret.

-Her father snatched it from her, looked at it for a

-moment with contempt, then tore it in two, and threw

-the pieces behind the oven.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have told you many a time," he said severely,

-"that an honest peasant woman has nothing to do

-with fancy work.  Let us say grace."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man then clasped his hands in the usual

-way, and the rest followed suit.  But before the

-prayer could be uttered, Larsson stepped to the

-middle of the floor, his naturally good-humoured face

-purple with rage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bertila," he

-said, "to insult your own daughter in front of all the

-people!  She works like a slave night and day, more

-than anyone of us, yet you call her a lazy thing!  I

-tell you this straight in the face, that although you

-are my master, and I eat your bread, and without

-you I have nothing but the beggar's staff, that such

-an unrighteous father does not deserve to have such

-a good daughter; and rather than see this misery

-day after day, I will beg my bread.  But you will

-have to answer before the Almighty for your children.

-And may you now say your grace, and let the food

-taste well to you if you can.  Farewell, Bertila, I

-cannot stand this life any longer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Cast out the rascal who dares to speak against

-the master of the house," said Bertila with more than

-usual violence.  No one moved.  For the first time

-the peasant king saw his orders disobeyed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Dear master," began the oldest of the labourers,

-"we all think the same&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A terrible blow from the master struck the

-speaker to the ground before he finished his remarks.

-In vain Larsson offered to go of his own accord; in

-vain Meri tried to mediate between the disputants.

-So strong were the principles of right in these people,

-that without consulting anything but their own

-convictions, they arrayed themselves as one man against

-the master's tyranny.  Fourteen muscular men stood

-erect and resolute before the enraged Bertila, whose

-tall figure stood threateningly in the midst of the

-throng.  One more blow, and they would all have

-left his service, and perhaps shut him up in his own

-little chamber until his anger had subsided; for the

-farther towards the north one goes, the more sensitive

-is the Finnish peasant to blows.  Bertila, however,

-knew his people, and saw as a wise man that his

-anger had led him too far.  He sought a means of

-getting out of the dilemma without too great a

-humiliation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What is it you want?" he asked with regained

-self-possession.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The workers looked at each other in silence for a

-moment.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are wrong, master," said one of the boldest

-at last.  "You have insulted Meri for nothing.  You

-wished to turn Larsson out of the house, and struck

-Simeon; you have done wrong."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Meri, come here."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She did so.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are no longer a child, Meri.  If you cannot

-endure to live with your aged father, then you are

-at liberty to stay on my farm at Ilmola.  You are

-free&mdash;go, my child."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila knew his daughter.  These few words, "go,

-my child," pronounced in a milder tone than she

-was accustomed to hear, were sufficient to melt his

-daughter's heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not reject me, father," she said, "I will never

-desert you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These words made her defenders waver, and the

-old man saw his opportunity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bring hither the catechism," he said in a

-commanding voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The fourteen-year-old Greta stepped forward as

-was the custom on sacred days, and read aloud:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ye servants obey your temporal masters with fear

-and trembling, in the simplicity of your hearts!  Ye

-servants be submissive to your masters in all fear,

-not only the mild and good, but also the unworthy!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These words, thus uttered at the right time, did not

-fail in their effect.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In these times the power and authority of father

-and master were at their zenith, and were not only

-by word, but in deed, a power by "God's mercy."  The

-words of obedience heard from childhood, the

-old man's commanding tone, and Meri's example of

-ready submission to her father's authority, all

-combined to tone down the hot tempers of the rebels.

-They took their places at the table without another

-word.  Only old Larsson stood sad and hesitating

-with his hand on the door-latch.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Suddenly the door was opened, and a stranger

-entered.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The new-comer was a soldier, in a broad-brimmed

-hat, decorated with a gracefully fastened eagle's

-plume.  He wore a waistcoat of yellow wool, short

-top-boots, bore a cudgel in his hand, and a long sword

-hung at his side.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"By St. Lucifer," he said joyfully, "I have come

-at the right time.  God's peace, peasants, make room

-at the table; I am as hungry as a monk during mass,

-and I am not able to go to the vicarage on this

-damned heath.  Have you any ale?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man in the high seat, who had not yet

-quite overcome his temper, although he appeared to

-be calm, rose from his chair, but at once sat down

-again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Sit down, countryman," said the old man softly;

-"Aron Bertila has room at his table for self-invited

-guests also."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well," continued the new-comer, helping

-himself freely to the food, which seemed to be a

-familiar habit with him.  "You are Bertila, then.  I

-am glad to hear it, comrade.  Confidence for

-confidence, I will now tell you that I am Bengt

-Kristerson, from Limingo, sergeant in his Majesty's brave

-East Bothnians.  I am sent here to look after the

-conscripts.  Some more ale in the tankard, peasants

-... well, do not be afraid, girls, I will not bite you.

-Bertila," added the soldier with his mouth full, "what

-the deuce is this?  Are you Lieutenant Bertel's

-father, peasant?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do not know that name," replied the old man,

-who was nettled by the soldier's impudent remarks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you mad, old man?  You do not know Gustaf

-Bertel, who six months ago called himself Bertila?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My son! my son!" cried the old man in a voice

-of anguish.  "I am an unfortunate father!  He is

-ashamed of a peasant's name!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Peasant's name," said the soldier laughing, and

-striking the table violently, so that the tankards and

-dishes jumped.  "Do ye peasants also have names?

-I think I will go without mine.  You are a fine

-fellow, old man; tell me what the d&mdash;&mdash;l you want

-with a name?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He then looked at his host with such an air of

-naïve impudence, that the insulting words were

-somewhat modified in effect.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Old Bertila, however, scarcely honoured him with

-a glance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fool that I was!  I sent out a beardless boy and

-thought that I sent a man," he gloomily said to himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the sergeant, who had indulged in many drinks

-before, and had now seen the bottom of the jug, did

-not seem inclined to drop the subject.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not look so fierce, old boy," he said in the

-same aggravating tone.  "You peasants associate so

-much with oxen and sheep, that you become just

-like them yourselves.  If you were a bit civil you

-would send a pretty girl to fill my jug.  It is now

-empty, you see; as empty as your cranium.  But you

-turnip-peelers do not appreciate the honour which

-is conferred upon you, of having a royal sergeant

-for guest.  You see, old fellow, a soldier in these

-times is everything; he has a name that rings

-because he has a sword that rings.  But you, old

-ploughshare, have nothing but porridge in your head

-and a turnip in your breast; fill your mug, old fellow;

-here's to Lieutenant Bertel's success!  So you refuse

-to drink the health of an honest cavalier?  Out upon

-you, peasant."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the sergeant, in the consciousness of his

-dignity, struck the table with his fist, so that the

-wooden bowls jumped and seemed disposed to make

-for the floor with all their contents.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first effect of this martial joke was to induce

-six or seven of the men to rise from their benches,

-with the object of giving the uninvited guest a

-salutary lesson in politeness.  But old Bertila stopped

-them.  He rose composedly from his seat, approached

-the rowdy sergeant with a firm step, and without

-saying a word, grasped him by the neck with his

-left hand, and with his right on his back, he lifted

-the soldier from the bench, carried him to the

-door and threw him out on a heap of chips outside

-the steps.  The funny sergeant was so surprised at

-this unexpected attack, that he did not move a

-muscle to defend himself.  If he had, it was not

-likely that the seventy-year-old man would have

-gained the victory in the struggle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go," cried Bertila after him, "and keep your

-treatment as a remembrance of the peasants in

-Storkyro."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Nothing impresses the multitude so much as

-resolute courage combined with a strong arm.  When

-the old man entered the room again he was

-surrounded by his people, who now greatly admired

-him; and this feat destroyed the difference which

-had existed a few moments before between them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The conflict between the sword and the plough is

-as old as the world.  The Peasants' War was based

-on this rivalry, and served to keep it fresh and alive

-in the minds of all.  These independent peasants had

-not been subjected to the tyranny of the landed

-proprietors.  They witnessed with delight their honour

-defended against the soldier's outrageous insults;

-they forgot at the moment that they might shortly be

-compelled themselves to don the soldier's jacket, and

-fight for their country.  Even the old peasant chief,

-elated at his exploit, had surmounted his bad temper.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For the first time in a long while they saw a smile

-on his lips; and when the meal was over, he began

-to relate to them some of his former adventures.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never shall I forget how we cudgelled the rascal

-Abraham Melchiorson, the man who, here in Kyro,

-seized our best peasants, and had them broken on

-the wheel like malefactors.  With fifty men he had

-gone up north.  It was winter time.  He was a fine

-gentleman, muffled up from the cold, and rode so

-grandly in a splendid wolf-skin cloak.  But when he

-approached Karleby church we placed ourselves in

-ambush, and rushing upon him like Jehu, beat

-twenty-two of his men to death, and pommelled him black

-and blue; but every time he expected a rap he drew

-the wolf-skin cloak over his ears, so that no club could

-disable the traitor.  'Wait,' said Hans Krank, from

-Limingo, who led us on that wolf hunt, 'we will

-whip him out of his skin yet'; with this he drubbed

-Abraham so soundly that he was obliged to let go

-of his fine fur.  Krank had nothing on but a jacket,

-and it was cold enough, God knows; he thought the

-fur cloak a good thing, and drew it unobserved over

-his own shoulders.  But, as all this occurred in the

-twilight, we others did not notice who was now in

-the wolf-skin, and we kept on belabouring the cloak;

-it is very certain that Krank had a very warm time

-of it that evening.  But Abraham Melchiorson

-became so light and nimble after getting rid of his

-cloak, that he ran off to Huso farm; but there he was

-taken by Saka Jacob from Karleby, and the rascal

-was taken to Stockholm; but he did not get much

-time to mourn over the loss of his cloak, for the

-duke soon made him a head shorter."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," said Larsson, who always tried to defend

-Fleming and his people, "that time you had the best

-of it.  Eleven soldiers remained alive, but seeming

-to be dead, you took all their clothes.  And at

-midnight they crept half dead with cold to the vicarage,

-and were there taken in; but in the morning you

-wanted to put them in the water underneath the ice,

-alive, as you had done in Lappfjard's River.  You

-were wolves and not human beings.  The water was

-so low in the river that you had to push the men

-down with poles to keep them there; and when they

-tried to get up, the women knocked them on their

-heads with buckets."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Keep quiet, Larsson, you do not know all that

-Svidje Klas did," said Bertila angrily; "I say nothing

-about all the men that he and his people have killed

-and broken on the wheel.  Do you remember Severin

-Sigfridson at Sorsankoski?  He surrounded the

-peasants, and ordered his subaltern to behead them

-one by one; but he was not able to kill more than

-twenty-four, and asked the nobleman to finish the

-rest himself.  The gentleman got angry, and ordered

-the peasants to cut the subaltern into five parts, and

-then do the same to each other as long as one

-remained alive."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But what did you do, you mad brutes, on Peter

-Gumse's farm?  Your men destroyed the place, broke

-the windows, slaughtered all the cattle, and set their

-severed heads with wide open mouths in the windows

-as a scare.  Then the beams of the house were cut

-three parts through, so that when the folk came

-home it would fall upon their heads; and when you

-caught a horseman you used him as a target for your

-arrows."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is not worth while, Larsson, to try to take

-Svidje Klas' part.  Do you remember when Axel

-Kurk's men came and killed a woman's children before

-her eyes?  The poor mother could not stand this, she

-and her half-grown daughter seized the brute by the

-waist, hit him on the head with a pole, and pushed

-him fainting in the water.  Svidje Klas then came

-and had that same woman cut in two."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Loose talk, which has never been proven," replied

-Larsson gruffly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The dead keep silent like good children.  The

-5,000 killed at Ilmola do not speak."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Instead of molesting the sergeant, you should

-have asked him for news about your son and mine,"

-said Larsson, to get away from their usual

-contentious subject&mdash;the fatal Peasant War.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, you are right.  I must hear more about the

-boys and the war.  I am going to Vasa to-morrow."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Will he soon return?" asked Meri in a shy voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Gösta.  He will take his own time," said the father

-angrily.  "He has now became a nobleman; he is

-ashamed of his old father .... he blushes for a

-peasant's name."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0203"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER III.

-<br /><br />

-THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Some miles south of Vasa, on the sixty-third degree

-of latitude, the Bay of Finland, which has hitherto

-gone straight north and south, makes a perceptible

-bend towards the north-east.  The great blue Baltic

-following the same direction, narrows for a moment

-in the "Qvark," widens again, and leans its bright

-brow against Finland's breast.  Freer there than

-anywhere else, the winds from the Arctic Ocean sweep

-over these coasts and drive the waves with terrible

-violence against the rocks.  In the midst of this

-stormy sea, lie Gadden's bare flat ledges, with their

-warning lighthouse and far projecting reefs.  When

-the mountain winds shake their wings over these

-breakers, then woe unto the vessel which, without a

-sure rudder and lightly furled sails, ventures through

-the narrow passage at "Understen"&mdash;its destruction

-is certain.  But in the middle of summer it often

-happens that a slightly northern wind is the most

-welcome, and promises clear skies and fine weather.

-Then fly many hundreds of sails from the coast out

-towards "Qvark's" islands and reefs, to cast their

-nets for shoals of herrings; and the restless,

-murmuring sea dances like a loving mother, with her

-daughters, the green islands, resting upon her bosom.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With the exception of Aland and Ekenäs there is

-no part of Finland's coast so rich with luxuriant

-vegetation as "Qvark" and its neighbouring east

-shore.  These innumerable islets, of which the largest

-are Wallgrund and Björkö, are here sprinkled about

-like drops of green in the blue expanse, and formed

-a parish by themselves called "Replotchapel,"

-inhabited only by fishermen.  So numerous are these

-groups, so infinitely varied the sounds, so intricate the

-channels, that a strange vessel could not find its way

-out without a native pilot at the helm.  Thirty

-cruisers here would be insufficient to prevent

-smuggling; there is only one means of putting a stop to

-this inherited sin of the coast, and this method is a

-light tariff with but few prohibitions; Finland during

-later years has tried it with success and to her own

-advantage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the same period as described in the preceding

-chapter, therefore in the middle of August, 1632, the

-waters of the Baltic were divided by the royal

-man-of-war "Maria Eleonora," bound from Stockholm to

-Vasa to transport the recruits for the German War.

-It was a bright fine summer morning.  Over the wide

-sea played an indescribable glitter, which was at the

-same time grand and enchantingry beautiful.  A

-boundless field of snow, illumined by the spring sun,

-can rival it in splendour, but the snow is stillness and

-death, the shimmering waves are motion and life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A slumbering sea in its resplendency, is grandeur

-clothed in the smile of delight; he is a sleeping giant,

-who dreams of sunbeams and flowers.  Gently heaves

-his breast; then the plank rocks underneath thy feet,

-and thou tremblest not; he could swallow thee up

-in his abyss, but he mildly spreads his golden carpet

-under the keel, and he, the strong, bears the frail

-bark like a child in his arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was immediately after sunrise.  The monotonous

-silence of sea-life prevailed on board the vessel during

-the morning watch, as when no danger is feared.  Part

-of the crew were still asleep below the deck, only

-the mate, wrapped in a jacket of frieze, walked to

-and fro on the aft deck.  The helmsman stood

-motionless at the rudder, the man in the round top

-peered ahead, and here and there on the fore deck

-stood a sailor, fastening a loose rope end, carrying

-wood to the caboose, or polishing the guns which

-were to salute Korsholm when they entered that port.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The stern discipline of a modern man-of-war was

-at that time almost unknown.  There were no

-uniforms or steam whistles, nor any of the complex

-signals and commands which are now carried to such

-perfection.  Then a man-of-war scarcely differed from

-a merchant vessel, excepting in size, armament, and

-the number of officers and men she carried.  When

-one remembers that at that time there was neither

-whisky or coffee on board to protect against the chill

-morning air&mdash;they had, however, already learned from

-the Dutch to use an occasional quid of tobacco for

-this purpose&mdash;then it is readily perceived that life on

-the "Maria Eleonora" bore very little resemblance

-to that on board one of our modern men-of-war.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By the green gunwale of the deck stood two female

-figures, with wide travelling hoods of black wool on

-their heads.  One of these passengers was small in

-atature, and showed under her hood an old wrinkled

-face, with a pair of peering grey eyes; she had

-wrapped herself up in a thick wadded cloak of

-Nurberg cloth.  The other figure was tall and slender,

-and wore a tight-fitting capote of black velvet lined

-with ermine.  Leaning against the gunwale, she

-regarded with a gloomy air the fast receding waves

-left in the vessel's wake.  Her features could not be

-seen from the deck; but if one could have caught

-her countenance from the mirroring waves, it would

-have exhibited a classically beautiful pale face,

-illuminated by two black eyes, which surpassed in

-lustre the shining wave-mirrors themselves.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Mary!" cried the old woman in strongly

-pronounced Low German, "when will this misery

-come to an end, that the saints have imposed upon

-us on account of our sins?  Tell me, my little lady,

-in what part of the world we are now?  It appears

-to me as if a whole year had passed since we sailed

-from Stralsund; for since we left the heretic's

-Stockholm I have not kept account of the days.  Every

-morning when I rise, I say seven <i>aves</i> and seven <i>pater

-nosters</i>, as the revered Father Hieronymus taught

-us, as a protection against witchcraft and evil.  One

-can never know; the world might end here, and we

-have now come far away from the rule of the true

-believing Church and Christian people.  This sea

-has no end.  Oh, this horrible sea!  I now praise

-the River Main, which flows so peacefully underneath

-our turret windows in Würzburg.  Say, lady, what

-if over there, on the horizon, the earth ends, and that

-we are sailing straight into purgatory?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The tall slender girl did not seem to listen to her

-loquacious duenna.  Her dark brilliant eyes under

-the black eyelashes were resting pensively on the

-water, as if in the waves she could read an interpretation

-of the dream of her heart.  And when at times

-a long swell from former storms rolled forth under

-the smaller waves, and the ship gently careened, so

-that the gunwale dipped close to the water, and the

-image in the sea approached the girl on board, then

-a smile could be seen on her beautiful features, at

-once proud and melancholy, and her lips moved

-inaudibly, as if to confide her inmost thoughts to the

-waves.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is only the great and majestic in life that

-deserve to be loved."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then she added, transported by this thought:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Why should I not love a great man?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And she whispered these words with unbounded

-enthusiasm.  But instantly a shiver ran through her

-delicate frame, a bright flash shot from her dark eyes,

-and she said, almost trembling at the thought:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is only the great and majestic in life that

-deserve to be hated!  Why should I not hate&mdash;&mdash;?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She did not finish the sentence.  She bent her

-head towards the ground, the fire in her eyes

-disappeared, and in its place a tear was seen.  Two

-mighty opposing spirits fought with each other in

-this passionate soul.  One said to her "Love!" the

-other said to her "Hate!"  And her heart bled under

-this terrible struggle between the angel and the

-demon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is unnecessary to mention what the reader has

-already divined, that the slender girl on board the

-"Maria Eleonora" was no other than Lady Regina von

-Emmeritz, the beautiful fanatical girl who tried to

-convert King Gustaf Adolf to the Catholic faith at

-Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  The king who knew the

-human heart, considered with reason, that this religious

-enthusiast was capable of anything if left a prey

-to the Jesuit's influence.  It was, therefore, not from

-revenge, which was unknown to this great heart, but,

-on the contrary, from noble compassion for a young

-and richly endowed nature, that he had sent her away

-for a time to a far-off country, where the black monk's

-influence could not reach her.  The reader will

-remember that the king, on the night of the feast at

-Frankfurt, ordered the Lady Regina to be sent by

-Stralsund and Stockholm to the strict old lady Marta

-at Korsholm.  The noble king did not know that

-the dark power, from whom he was trying to save

-his beautiful prisoner, followed her even to the far-off

-coast of Finland.  Lady Regina had permission to

-choose one of her maids to accompany her; accordingly

-she selected the one in whom she had the

-greatest confidence; unfortunately this was not the

-bright and fair Ketchen&mdash;she had been sent back to

-her relations in Bavaria&mdash;but old Dorthe, who had

-been her nurse, and who was controlled by the Jesuit;

-for a long time this old woman had nourished the

-fanatical fire in the young girl's soul.  So the poor

-unprotected maiden was still given up to the dark

-powers that had warped her mind since childhood,

-and perverted her rich, sensitive heart with their

-terrible teachings.  And against this influence she

-could only place a single but mighty feeling: her

-admiration, her enthusiastic attachment to Gustaf

-Adolf, whom she loved and hated at the same

-time&mdash;whom she would have been able to kill, yet for

-whom she would herself have suffered death.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The shrewd Dorthe seemed to guess her mistress'

-thoughts; she leaned forward, and peering with her

-small eyes, said in the familiar tone which a

-subordinate in her position so easily assumes:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Aye, aye....  Is that the way it stands; do they

-come up again, the sinful thoughts about the heretic

-king and all his followers?  Yes, yes, the devil is

-cunning; he knows what he is about.  When he

-wishes to catch a little frivolous girl of the usual

-kind, he puts before her eyes a young handsome

-cavalier, with long silken curls.  But when he wishes

-to entangle a poor forsaken girl, with great proud

-thoughts and noble aspirations, he brings forward a

-great king, who gains castles and battles; and little

-does the poor child care that the stately conqueror

-is a sworn enemy to her Church and faith, and is

-working for the ruin of both."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina turned her tearful and glistening eyes away

-from the sea, and looked for a moment with

-indescribable doubt at her old counsellor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Say," said she, almost vehemently, "is it possible

-to be at once the greatest and the most hateful of

-human beings?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina looked again towards the sea.  The peaceful

-tranquility of the mornine lay over the glittering

-waters, and stilled the tempest within.  The young

-girl remained silent.  Dorthe continued:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"By their fruits ye shall know them.  Just think,

-what evil has not the godless king done to our Church

-and us?  He has slain many thousands of our

-warriors; he has plundered our cloisters and castles;

-he has driven out our nuns and holy fathers from

-their godly habitations, and the devout pater,

-Hieronymus, has been frightfully abused by his people,

-the heretic Finns; ourselves he has sent away to

-the ends of the earth..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Again Regina looked over at the islands and the

-inlets bathed in the mild morning effulgence.  While

-the dark demon whispered hatred in her ears, beaming

-nature seemed to preach only love.  On her lips

-hovered already the ravishing thought:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What matters it if he has slain thousands; if

-he has driven away monks and nuns; if he has

-forced us into exile!  What matters all this,

-if he is great as an individual, and acts according to

-the dictates of his faith!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But she kept silent from fear; she dared not break

-from all her preceding life.  She caught up, instead,

-one of Dorthe's words, as if to dispel the thunder-cloud

-of hatred and malice, which enveloped her

-heart in its dark mist, in the midst of this calm and

-lovely scene.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know, Dorthe," she said, "that the Finns

-whom you hate live on the coast of this sea?  Do you

-see that strip of land over there in the east?  It is

-Finland.  I have not yet seen its shores, and yet I

-cannot detest a country which is bathed by so glorious

-a sea.  I cannot think that evil people can grow up

-in the heart of such a land."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All saints protect us!" exclaimed the old woman,

-and her lenn hand hastily made the sign of the cross.

-"Is that Finland?  St. Patrick preserve us from ever

-setting foot upon its cursed soil; my dear lady, you

-have then never heard what is said of this land and

-its heathen people?  There prevails an eternal night;

-there the snow never melts; there the wild beasts

-and the still wilder men lie together in dens and

-caves.  The woods are so thick with hobgoblins and

-imps, that when one of them is called by name, a

-hundred monsters immediately come forth from the

-leaves and branches.  And among themselves, these

-people bewitch each other with all kinds of evils, so

-that when anyone carries food to another person, he

-changes his enemy into a wolf; and every word they

-speak takes life, so that when they wish to make a

-boat or an axe, they say it, and directly they have

-what they wish."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are drawing a fine picture," said Regina,

-smiling for the first time in a long period, for the

-freshness of the sea had a good influence on her

-dreamy soul.  "Happy is the land where the people

-can create all they wish for with a word.  If I am

-hungry, and desire a beautiful fruit, I have but to

-say, <i>peach</i>, and right away I have it.  If I feel thirsty,

-I say, <i>spring</i>, and instantly a spring gurgles at my

-feet.  If I have sorrow in my heart, I say, <i>hope</i>, and

-hope returns.  And if I long for a beloved friend, I

-mention his name, and he stands by my side.  A

-glorious land is Finland, were it such as you represent

-it to me.  Even if we lived with wild beasts in a

-cave under the eternal snows, we would look at each

-other and say, Fatherland, and at the same moment

-we would sit hand in hand on the banks of the Main,

-beneath the shadows of the lindens, where we often

-sat when I was a child, and the nightingales of our

-native land would sing to us as before."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dorthe turned angrily away.  The vessel steered

-between the rocks and islands, and moved with gentle

-speed past the outermost cliffs, many of which now

-stand high above the surface of the water, but at

-that time these were washed by the briny waves.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What is the name of the long, richly wooded

-stretch of land to the left?" asked Regina of the

-helmsman standing near.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wolf's Island," answered the man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There you have it yourself, dear lady ... Wolf's

-Island!  That is the first name we hear on Finland's

-coast, and shows us what we have to expect."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The vessel now turned to the north, and sailed

-between Langskär and Sundomland, again veered

-towards the east, passed Brändö, went safely over

-the shoals, which now exclude large vessels from

-its waters, into Vasa's at that time superb harbour,

-and then saluted with sixteen cannon the castle of

-Korsholm.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0204"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IV.

-<br /><br />

-THE PEASANT&mdash;THE BURGHERS&mdash;AND THE SOLDIER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-When the rich Aron Bertila seated himself in his

-nice chaise to take a short journey to Vasa, it was

-decided, as a pledge of the restored good feeling

-between father and daughter, that Meri should take

-the seat by his side, and purchase in town some salt

-fish, hops, and certain spices, ginger and cinnamon,

-which already began to be seen in the houses of the

-wealthiest peasants.  Both father and daughter had

-their private interests in the journey; but neither

-would confess that it was news from Germany which

-each sought.  Larsson had charge in the meantime

-of the home work.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was just when Gustaf Adolf and Wallenstein

-stood opposed at Nürnberg.  Soldiers were badly

-wanted, and Oxenstjerna wrote constantly from

-Saxony to hasten the arrival of additional reinforcements.

-The harvesting at its height, clashed with

-the harvesting of war, also at its greatest altitude.  A

-large number of conscripts were compelled to go down

-to Vasa from the neighbouring villages, then they

-were taken to Stockholm, and thence to the scene

-of war in Germany.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At that epoch military drill was not nearly so

-complicated as it is now; to stand fairly in the ranks,

-rush straight at the enemy on command, to aim

-well&mdash;as the East Bothnians had learned beforehand in

-the seal-hunts&mdash;and to hew away manfully, these

-were the chief things.  Thus one can understand

-why many of these peasant boys, just taken from

-the plough, were able to fall with honour by the

-side of their king at Lützen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The town of Vasa was then only twenty years old,

-and much smaller than now, not merely on account

-of its youth, but because all expansion was stopped

-on the south side by the crown fields of Korsholm.

-Around the old Mustasaari church, on the northern

-side of "Kopmans" and "Stora" streets, were a few

-rows of newly built one-storey houses, with six or

-eight small shops.  Near the harbour stood

-storehouses, and that neighbourhood was also filled with

-fishermen's and sailors' huts in groups, for regular

-streets were considered superfluous by the architects

-of that time, and the closer the houses stood together,

-the greater the mutual protection in stormy periods.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A borough, like Vasa, held one common family,

-and the inhabitants looked with pride on the high

-green battlements of Korsholm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The long-credited story, confirmed by Messenius,

-that Korsholm was built by Birger Jarl, and received

-its name from a large wooden cross raised as a

-symbol, refuge, and sign of victory, was founded on

-the old tradition that the great "Jarl," on his

-expedition to Finland, landed on this very coast.  Later

-researches have thrown some doubt on this story of

-Korsholm's origin; but it is certain that the fortress

-is very old, so old that it is beyond calculation.  It

-has never been besieged; its situation renders it of

-no importance to Finland; and after Uleä and

-Kajana castles were built, shortly before the time

-of our story, it had ceased to be considered a military

-position.  It now served as the residence of the

-Governor of the Northern districts, to lodge other

-crown officials, and serve as a prison; and its

-so-called "dairy" yielded a nice income to the Governor.

-The Stadtholder of Northern Finland, Johan

-Mansson Ulfsparre of Tusenhult, lived only at

-intervals at Korsholm, and it is said that his seventy-year-old

-mother, Mistress Marta, ruled with a stern hand

-over both castle and dairy in his absence.  Between

-the peasants and burghers an unnatural and injurious

-rivalry prevailed at that time, owing to the efforts

-of the Government to suppress the country trade

-for the benefit of the towns, and in a very ignorant

-way to regulate the exchange of commodities.

-Therefore, when the rich old peasant with his daughter

-drove in through the country toll-gate on the Lillkyro

-side, a few of the citizens, it is true, nodded a

-greeting to the well-known old man for the sake of his

-wealth; but the proudest amongst the merchants,

-who feared his influence with the king, gazed on him

-with hostile eyes, and gave vent to their ill-feelings

-in sarcastic words, uttered loud enough to reach the

-old man's ears.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Here comes the peasant king of Storkyro!" they

-said, "and Vasa has no triumphal arch!  He

-considers himself too good to thrash in the barn; he

-means to enter the army and become commander at

-once.  Take care!  Do you not see how angry he

-looks, the log-house king?  If he had his way, he

-would plough up the whole town and make it into

-a rye-field!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The hot-tempered Bertila concealed his resentment,

-and hurried up the horse, so as to arrive quickly

-at the widow's house, where he generally resided

-when in town.  He had not gone far, however, up

-Kopman Street, which was not one of the widest,

-before it was blocked by a crowd of drunken recruits,

-who, in an ale-house near by, had inaugurated their

-new comradeship and strengthened themselves for

-the long journey ahead.  Two sub-officers had joined

-the crowd as its self-appointed leaders, and rushed

-with a bold "out of the way, peasant!" towards the

-new-comer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila, already irritated and unable to control

-himself, answered the summons with a cut of the whip,

-which knocked off the foremost sub-officer's

-broad-brimmed hat with an eagle's feather.  At once the

-affray began.  The man struck rushed upon the

-chaise, and the whole crowd followed him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Aha, old fellow!" exclaimed the jovial serjeant,

-Bengt Kristerson, whom Bertila had so ignominiously

-expelled from his house, "now we have got you, and

-I will recompense you for your gracious treatment

-yesterday.  Make way, boys; the old fellow is mine;

-this fish I will scale myself."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila was too old to rely upon the power of his

-fists, and he looked around for a place of refuge.

-Whip in hand, he leaped from the chaise, which had

-stopped close to the entrance of a shop, and gave

-the horse a lash, so that the latter, chaise and

-daughter, rushed through the yielding crowd and

-galloped up the street.  But before Bertila could find

-a refuge in the shop, the door was slammed in his

-face by the timorous owner.  The old champion, seeing

-escape cut off, placed his back to the door, and

-menaced the assailants with his long whip.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us thrash the proud Storkyro peasant," cried

-a young Laihela boy, who, by carrying a musket for

-a week, had forgotten his peasant origin, but not his

-rustic language.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your father was a better man, Matts Hindrickson,"

-said Bertila contemptuously, "instead of assailing

-his own people, he helped us, like an honest peasant,

-to pommel Peder Gumse's cavalry in former days."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you hear that, boys?" cried one of the

-subalterns; "the dog boasts of thrashing brave

-soldiers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We will not allow anyone to lord it over us!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The peasant shall dance to our tune!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And not we to his."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And five or six of the most excited, who had lately

-worn the jacket of the peasants themselves, rushed

-to drag Bertila down the steps.  The old man would

-have got the worst of it, had not the aforesaid jolly

-sergeant thrown himself between him and the

-assailants.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold on, boys!" cried Bengt Kristerson in a

-stentorian voice.  "What the devil are you about?

-Are you honest soldiers?  Do you not see that the old

-man is seventy years old, and yet you go six to one at

-him!  Blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim (the sergeant

-had learned this potent oath in the proper school, and

-it never failed in its effect), is that warlike?  What

-would the king say about it?  Out of the way, boys;

-the old man is mine; I alone have the right to wash

-him clean.  You should have seen how he threw me

-down the steps yesterday like an old glove.  It was

-a fine stroke, and now it has to be repaid."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Courage and magnanimity seldom fail.  The

-nearest willingly gave way.  The sergeant advanced

-to the steps.  Bertila could reach him with his whip,

-but he did not strike.  He knew his people.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know what it means, peasant," cried the

-sergeant with an authoritative air, which would have

-become General Stälhandske himself, "to throw a

-soldier of the great king down the steps?  Do you

-know what it means to knock off the hat of a

-defender of the evangelical faith, and a conqueror

-who has gained fourteen battles and run his sword

-through sixteen or seventeen living generals?  Do

-you know, peasant, if I were in your place&mdash;&mdash;?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If I stood in the place of a soldier of his Majesty,"

-coolly answered Bertila, "I would respect an honest

-man in his own house, and a grandsire's old age.

-And if I stood in the shoes of Bengt Kristerson, and

-had conquered the Roman Emperor, and run my

-sword through seventeen living commanders, still I

-would not forget that Bengt Kristerson's father,

-Krister Nilsson, was a Limingo peasant, and fell on

-Ilmola's ice like an honest fighter against Fleming's

-tyranny."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sergeant was abashed for a moment.  Then

-he stepped close up to his opponent, and said in a

-bragging manner:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know, peasant, that I could impale you

-on this?" and so saying, he drew his long sword

-half-way from its sheath.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila looked calmly at him with folded arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Are you not afraid, old man?" resumed the hero

-of fourteen battles, evidently taken aback by the

-peasant's firm attitude.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did you ever see an honest Finn afraid?" said

-the old man, almost smiling.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sergeant was not malicious.  He suddenly

-felt much inclined to be generous; his fierce mien

-changed into the blustering, jovial air which became

-him so well.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know, boys," he said, with a look at his

-companions, "that the old ox has got both horns and

-hoofs?  He might have become something in the

-world if he had been in good society.  Yesterday,

-when they were fourteen to one&mdash;for you should

-know, boys, that all fourteen of the hands helped to

-lift me on the clodhopper's back, and then I gave

-everyone of them a remembrance of it&mdash;yes, as I say,

-yesterday I would have beaten the old fellow black

-and blue, had it not been for the presence of ladies

-at the table.  But to-day we are fifteen against one,

-and so I propose that we let the old fellow go."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"He is as rich as Beelzebub," shouted some of the

-conscripts; "he shall treat us to a cask of ale."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila produced a little purse, and threw some

-Carl IX. silver coins contemptuously among the

-crowd.  This irritated the soldiers afresh; and again

-the storm threatened to burst forth, when suddenly

-cannon-shots were heard, and the whole crowd rushed

-down to the harbour.  It was the Swedish man-of-war,

-"Maria Eleonora," saluting Korsholm.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0205"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER V.

-<br /><br />

-LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-All who had life and sound limbs in Vasa had gone

-down to the shore, to see the uncommon sight of a

-man-of-war.  Five or six hundred people lined the

-shore&mdash;rowed out in boats, climbed the masts of the

-vessels, or got on the roofs of the warehouses to get

-a better view.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Two hundred recruits regarded with mixed feelings

-the vessel which was perhaps destined to take

-them from their Fatherland for ever.  Behind them

-stood a large crowd of mothers, sisters, and

-sweethearts, crying bitterly at the thought of the

-approaching separation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Commissary-General, Ulfsparre, was away in

-Sweden.  The next authority, Steward Peder Thun,

-as well as the military commander, received the

-new-comers; the recruits formed in ranks, and the captain

-of the "Maria Eleonora" offered his arm courteously

-to Lady Regina, to escort her to Korsholm.  But at

-this moment the proud young girl felt that she was

-a prisoner; she declined the officer's arm, and walked

-alone with a royal bearing between the ranks of the

-recruits and the gaping crowd.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Such a strange sight put the whole town in a great

-commotion.  In a moment the strangest rumours

-about her arose and spread.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She is an Austrian princess," said some; "the

-Emperor's daughter, taken prisoner during the war,

-and sent here for safety."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Others pretended she was the Queen Maria

-Eleonora; but why did she come to Korsholm?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will tell you," said one, whispering with an

-important air to another.  "She is in league with her

-German countrymen against the king, and therefore

-she is to be confined in remote Korsholm."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That is not true," rejoined another, who had

-heard some vague stories of the conspiracies against

-the king's life.  "It is," added he in a low voice, as

-if fearing to be heard by the object of his remarks,

-"a nun from Walskland, hired by the Jesuits to

-make away with the king.  Six times she has given

-him deadly poison, and six times he has been warned

-in dreams not to drink.  When she offered him the

-draught for the seventh time, the king drew his

-sword and forced her to swallow her own poison."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then how can she be here alive?" said an old

-lady very innocently.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Alive!" repeated the story-teller, without being

-put out in any degree; "oh, that is another matter.

-These creatures can dissemble to such an extent...

-Yes, indeed; do you remember the Hollanders last

-year, how they bolted molten lead?  I do not wish

-to say anything, but just look&mdash;the black-haired nun

-is as pale as death!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Has she given the king poison?" cried a trembling

-female voice close behind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was Meri, who with bated breath had listened

-to every word.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What rubbish!" said a sea-captain with a

-mysterious knowing air.  "When I was at Stralsund,

-last spring, I saw those eyes, which one cannot easily

-forget.  The girl was then taken to Stockholm, and

-one of the guards told me the entire story.  She is

-a Spanish witch, who has sold herself to the evil

-one, in order to be the most beautiful woman on

-earth for seven years.  Look at her: do you not see

-that the devil has kept his word?  Take care; in

-those eyes there is something that charms and

-bewitches.  When she became as beautiful as she is

-now, she entered the Swedish camp, and gave the

-king a love-potion, so that he could neither see or hear

-anyone else but herself for seven whole weeks.  His

-generals thought this a sin and shame, and the enemy

-pressed them sorely; so one night they took her

-secretly and sent her to spend the seven enchanted

-years at Korsholm."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did the king love her?" asked Meri with emotion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Of course he did," answered the blunt sea-captain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did she also love the king?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What is there more curious than a woman?  How

-the deuce do you expect me to know all about it?  The

-foul-fiend is wiser than other folks, that is certain.

-She gave the king a copper ring..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"With seven circles inside each other, and three

-letters engraved on the plate..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What the devil do you know about that?  I

-have heard of the seven circles, but not of the plate."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri took a deep breath.  "He wears it still!"

-she said to herself with a great joy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri was superstitious, like all the people of that

-period.  She never doubted the existence of witches,

-enchantments, and love potions; but this strange

-dark girl, who loved the king and was beloved by

-him in return ... was she really guilty of the

-horrible things they said about her?  The poor

-forgotten one was seized with the most violent wish to

-approach this extraordinary being, who had been so

-near the great monarch.  Each moment was precious.

-In a few hours she must return to Storkyro.  She

-took heart and followed the stranger to Korsholm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old residence inside the ramparts, in spite of

-its fine outlook, was more sombre than magnificent.

-Frequent changes of Stadtholders, who only lived

-there a little while at a time, had given to the

-double-storied granite building, with its side wings for

-prisoners, a terribly deserted appearance.  It

-certainly more resembled a jail than a great governor's

-residence.  The dreariness was increased by its

-present inhabitants, stern Fru Marta, with her aged

-maid-servants, some invalid soldiers, and gruff jailors.

-Had Gustaf Adolf recollected the condition of the

-place, he would probably not have sent his young

-prisoner to such a depressing abode.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fru Marta expected her guest, who had been

-described to her as a dangerous and depraved young

-person, of superhuman cunning.  She had, therefore,

-prepared a little dark chamber within her own for

-Lady Regina and her attendant, and made up her

-mind to keep the closest watch on the wild young

-lady.  Fru Marta was a good, honest soul, but sharp

-and severe like a lady of the old school, who

-had brought up all her children with the rod.  It

-never entered her mind that a lonely, defenceless, and

-forsaken young girl, isolated in a strange land, needed

-a comforting, sympathetic hand and motherly kindness;

-Fru Marta felt that discipline ought to tame

-a spoilt child, and then milder treatment could be

-introduced.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Lady Regina, accustomed to the freedom

-of the sea, entered this gloomy dwelling, an involuntary

-shudder passed through her slight frame.  This

-feeling remained when she was received on the threshold

-by the old lady, in a close linen cap and a long

-dark woollen cloak.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-No doubt Lady Regina's inclination of the head

-was somewhat stiff, and her whole bearing somewhat

-reserved, when she greeted Fru Marta on the castle

-steps.  But Fru Marta was not intimidated by it.

-She took the young girl by both hands, shook them

-vigorously, and nodded a greeting, about half-way

-between a welcome and a menace.  Then she surveyed

-her guest from head to foot, and the result of

-the examination was muttered aloud:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Figure like a princess ... no harm; eyes black

-as a gipsy's ... no evil; skin as white as milk

-... no mischief; proud ... ah, ah, that is bad; we shall

-be two about that, my young friend."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina impatiently made a motion to proceed,

-but Fru Marta did not let go her hold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wait a bit, my dear," said the stern dame, as she

-endeavoured to recollect her ancient stock of German

-words; "it takes time to go a long way.  One who

-crosses my threshold must not be taller than the

-door-post.  Better to bend in youth than creep in old age.

-There ... that's the way for a young girl to greet

-one who is older and wiser..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And before Lady Regina knew it, the strong old

-lady had put her right hand on her neck, her left

-against her waist, and with a sudden pressure, forced

-her proud guest to bow as deeply as one could desire.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina's pale cheeks were covered with a

-flush as red as the sunset sky before a storm.  More

-erect and prouder than before rose the girl's slender

-figure, and her dark eyes flashed fire.  She said

-nothing, but old Dorthe was determined to give Fru

-Marta a lesson in politeness on her mistress' behalf.

-She advanced with lively southern gesticulations, and

-screamed, beside herself with anger:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Miserable Finnish witch, how dare you treat a

-high-born lady in such a manner?  Do you know,

-vile jailor, whom you have the honour of receiving

-in your house?  You do not!  Then I will tell you.

-This is the exalted Lady Regina von Emmeritz, <i>née</i>

-Princess of Emmeritz, Hohenloe, and Saalfield,

-Countess of Wertheim and Bischoffshöhe, heiress of

-Dettelsbach and Kissingen, &amp;c.  Her father was the

-Prince of Emmeritz, who owned more castles than

-you, miserable wretch, have huts in your town.  Her

-mother was Princess Würtemberg, related to the

-Electoral House of Bavaria, and her still living uncle,

-the Right Reverend Bishop of Würzburg, is lord

-of Marienburg, and the town of Würzburg, with all

-the lands belonging to it.  You take advantage of us

-because your heretic king has taken our land and town,

-and made us prisoners; but the day will come when

-St. George and the Holy Virgin will descend and

-destroy you, you heathen; and if you harm a hair of

-our heads, this castle shall be levelled to the ground,

-and you, miserable witch, and your whole town,

-annihilated ..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is probable that old Dorthe's outpourings would

-not have come to an end for some time, had not Fru

-Marta made a sign to her servants, at which they

-carried off the old woman without any ceremony, and

-in spite of her strenuous resistance, to one of the

-small rooms on the lower floor, where she was left

-to herself to further reflect upon the high lineage

-of her young lady.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Fru Marta took the astonished Regina, half

-by force, half voluntarily, by the arm, and led her to

-the allotted room near her own, with a view over

-the town.  Here the stern old lady left her for the

-present, yet not without adding the following

-admonitions at the door:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I can tell you, my young friend, to obey is better

-than to weep; the bird that sings too early in the

-morning is in the claws of the hawk before evening.

-Follow the laws of the country you are in.  It is now

-seven o'clock.  At eight supper is served, at nine you

-go to bed, and at four in the morning you get up, and

-if you don't know how to card and spin, I will give

-you some sewing, so that time shall not hang heavy

-on your hands.  Then we will talk together, and

-when your waiting woman learns to hold her tongue

-you may have her back again.  Good night; don't

-forget to say your prayers; a psalm Prayer Book

-lies on the dressing-table."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With these words Fru Marta shut the door, and

-Lady Regina was alone.  Solitary, imprisoned, in a

-foreign land, left to the mercy of a hard keeper

-... her thoughts were of the most depressing kind.  Lady

-Regina fell on her knees, and prayed to the saints,

-not from the heretic Prayer Book, but with the rosary

-of rubies which her uncle, the bishop, had formerly

-given her as sponsor.  What did she pray for?  Only

-Heaven and the black walls of Korsholm know that;

-but a sympathetic heart can imagine her petitions.

-She prayed for the saints' assistance; for the victory

-of her faith and the downfall of the heretics; she

-prayed also that the saints might convert King

-Gustaf Adolf to the only saving Church; that he,

-another Saul, might become another Paul.  Finally

-she prayed for freedom and protection ... the hours

-fled; her supper was brought in, and still she

-continued her supplications.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At last Lady Regina arose and looked out of the

-little window.  There lay a landscape in the sunset

-glow; it was not Franconia, with its luxuriant

-vineyards; it was not the rushing Main; the town yonder

-was not rich Würzburg, with its rows of cloisters

-and high turret spires.  It was poor, pale Finland,

-with an arm of its sea; it was young little Vasa, with

-its church, Mustasaari, the oldest in East Bothnia;

-one could plainly see the reflection of the sun on the

-small Gothic windows, of stained glass belonging to

-Catholic times, and it seemed to Regina as if she saw

-the transfigured saints looking out from their former

-temple.  And at this moment, had not the eye of the

-setting sun itself such a beatific look, as it serenely

-gazed down upon the world's strife!  All was silent

-and still&mdash;the evening glow, the landscape's pretty

-verdure, the newly mown fields with their rows of

-sheaves, the small red houses with their shining

-windows&mdash;all conduced to devotion and peace.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Suddenly, Lady Regina heard in the distance a

-mild, plaintive song, simple and unaffected, as if

-proceeding from nature's own heart, on a lonely evening,

-with a setting sun on the shore of a silent sea, when

-all sweet memories awaken in a longing breast.  At

-first she did not listen, but it came nearer ... now

-it was obstructed by a cottage wall, now by a group

-of hanging birches; now it was heard again, high,

-clear, and free; and finally one could distinguish the

-words.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0206"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VI.

-</h3>

-

-<h3>

-THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-When the lonely singer approached one could gradually

-understand the import of the song.  It was a

-gentle heart, which sang in uneven but impressive

-numbers, its longings and its sorrows on the shore

-in the glow of a beautiful August evening far off in

-the north country.

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "The sun shines bright and clear<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O'er the waters far and near,<br />

-  And the moon wanders in the night<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Above in the heavenly sphere.<br />

-  But never again will the sun supreme<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shine down on the forgotten troth,<br />

-  And never again shall the gentle moon's beam<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Illumine the brave knight's holy oath.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "The only one I loved so dear<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lives far away in a palace fine,<br />

-  Surrounded by splendour he leaves me here<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alone with grief and sorrow mine.<br />

-  He is served by many, I have but one knight,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He has castles, towns, and land.<br />

-  I spread my pearls in the evening light<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And sing to the waves on the strand.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "The bird flies to the south so fair,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Far away to the castle grand,<br />

-  And sings on the tree a sorrowful air,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As I in my lonely land.<br />

-  The brave knight listens to the song,<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;How strangely his heart doth beat,<br />

-  And before one knows the evening long<br />

-  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hath gone like the joys that never repeat."<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-The more Lady Regina listened to the simple

-strains, which to her were foreign and strange, and

-yet appealing through their deep melancholy, the

-more she was affected by this sorrow so like her

-own.  She wished to breathe the fresh evening air;

-the little window, however, long resisted her attempts

-to open it, but all Lady Marta's prudence could not

-prevent the hinges from being old and rusty, and at

-last they yielded to the young girl's persistent efforts.

-She had only been a guest in this castle for a few

-hours, and yet she inhaled the evening fragrance as

-a prisoner for long years finally breathes the air of

-his freedom.  Her heart expanded and her eyes

-regained their fire; her mind became filled with a

-dreamy ecstasy, and she sang softly, so as not to be

-heard by her custodian, but clearly and melodiously.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  REGINA'S SONG.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "Great as my sufferings are<br />

-  Still to thee I will repair.<br />

-  Holy Virgin, wilt thou bless<br />

-  What to thee I now confess,<br />

-  My soul's desire sincere<br />

-  To die without fear.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "Amongst the kings of the earth<br />

-  My loved one hath his birth,<br />

-  Far flash his dread strokes<br />

-  As the Almighty's lightnings rend the oaks.<br />

-  But victor and conqueror tho' he be<br />

-  Yet mild and merciful is he.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "I'll all forget, and firmly stand,<br />

-  If you give me the dread command<br />

-  To stop the hero's great career.<br />

-  O holy Virgin, bright and dear,<br />

-  God's mother, thou me hear,<br />

-  Spare the noble heart that knows no fear.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  "Make the heretic king his faults forswear,<br />

-  And that he will our glorious faith declare.<br />

-  Then my weary heart will gain its rest.<br />

-  O Mary, grant me this request,<br />

-  Spare his life, his throne,<br />

-  Let me with my death for his crime atone."<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-The solitary figure which had sung the first song

-now slowly approached the castle walls; it was a

-woman of the people, with once beautiful features,

-now pale and expressing a winning and sympathetic

-heart.  She tried to listen to the strange girl's song,

-but could not succeed on account of the foreign

-language and suppressed tones.  She then seated

-herself on a stone a short distance from the castle, and

-fixed her mild gaze on the prisoner at the window.

-In her turn, Regina also fastened her dark penetrating

-eyes on the visitor.  One would think that they

-perfectly understood each other, for the language

-of songs needs no other lexicon than the heart.  Or

-did a presentiment tell them, the girl of seventeen

-and the woman of thirty-six, that their loves were

-concentrated on the same object, and that both sang

-their shipwrecked hopes on the lonely shore, but in

-an infinitely differing way?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Up in the north the summer nights are clear until

-the beginning of August, then a light veil spreads

-itself over land and sea as soon as the sun goes

-down.  By the middle of August this veil has already

-become thicker, and casts a mild soft shade over the

-summer leaves and grass.  When the moon rises upon

-this world of vanishing green, then there is nothing

-more sadly beautiful to be found in all nature than

-one of these lovely evenings in August.  Then the

-eye accustomed to three months unbroken day,

-shrinks from the darkness and yet sees this darkness

-in its loveliest aspect, like a mild sorrow softened

-by a ray of heavenly glory.  This impression would

-return every year even if one lived for centuries;

-it is light and darkness which at the same moment

-are struggling in the world and in the human heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The two lonely singers felt the power of this

-impression; they both sat fixed and mute, quietly

-regarding each other in the twilight; neither of them

-spoke, and yet they understood each other's inmost

-thoughts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then the pale woman suddenly rose and turned

-her face towards the town.  She seemed to be listening

-to a noise which disturbed the holy peace of the

-evening.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina followed every movement of the

-stranger, and leaned out of the window so as to be

-able to see better.  All nature was calm and silent,

-only the strokes of oars were heard from the sea, or

-the melancholy prolonged note from some shepherd's

-horn.  This stillness increased by the first darkness

-of the autumn, had something solemn and inviting

-to worship about it, and made the noise which now

-came from the distant town still more singular.  It

-was not the surges of the sea, or the roar of the

-fors,* or the crackling of a fire in the wood.

-Although it resembled all these.  It was more like the

-murmur of an enraged populace, at once actuated by

-rage and want.  Directly afterwards the reflection

-of a fire was seen afar off in the northern portion of

-the town.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Fors, a stream peculiar to the north, like rapids.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-With the speed of the wind the lonely woman

-outside the wall hurried away in the direction of the

-sounds and light .... We will now precede her

-for a moment.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The arrival of the man-of-war, which was destined

-to transport the conscripts, had placed the latter in

-a state of excitement much augmented by sorrow,

-pride, and ale.  With their under officers at their

-head, they had thronged around the ale-shops, and

-at this time, when the soldier was all important, one

-was often obliged to overlook his irregularities and

-keep him in a good humour.  The superior officers

-consequently pretended not to notice that 200 young

-men, with the combative temperament of East

-Bothnia, were in a state of intoxication more or less;

-and it is possible that this policy might have been

-the right one at the time, had not a special

-circumstance detrimental to peace brought their

-unrestrained passions into full play.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The brave sergeant, Bengt Kristerson, did not neglect

-this opportunity to do himself every possible justice.

-Filled with a sense of his own great importance, he

-had jumped on a table and easily demonstrated

-to the crowd of conscripts: first, that he especially

-had conquered Germany; secondly, that long before

-this he would have driven the Emperor Ferdinand

-into the River Danube, had not the latter been in

-league with Satan and bewitched the whole Swedish

-army, and the king himself first of all; thirdly, that

-Bengt, on the night of the Frankfurt ball, was on

-guard outside the king's bed-chamber, and there he

-had plainly seen Beelzebub in the form of a young

-girl, who then made a terrible commotion; fourthly&mdash;this

-thought naturally struck him during his

-inspired address&mdash;that the weal or woe of the country,

-yes, of the whole world, depended upon the witch,

-who was a prisoner at Korsholm...

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You will see that the black-haired witch will bring

-the plague to the town," observed thoughtfully a

-Malax peasant, with very fair hair and shabby appearance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The wolf-cub!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king's murderess!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Shall we allow her to sit in peace and destroy

-both king and country with her witch-shots?" cried

-a drunken clerk of assizes, who had just joined the

-company.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us duck her in the sea!" shrieked a Nerpes

-peasant.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us club her on the spot!" yelled a Lappo

-cottager, with an eagle nose and dark bushy eyebrows.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And if they do not give her into our hands, we

-will set fire to Korsholm and burn the owl and the

-nest at the same time," said a ferocious Laihela

-peasant.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Better that, than to have the kingdom ruined,"

-remarked a grave-looking seal-hunter from Replot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Here, take brands!" shouted a Worä peasant.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"To Korsholm!" cried the whole crowd. And

-stimulated as usual by their own clamour, they rushed

-to the big open fire-place in the large room, and

-pulled out all the brands from it.  But, unfortunately,

-there was a lot of hemp hanging in bundles on the

-wall in the room.  One of the conscripts in the

-scramble swung his brand too high, and the hemp

-caught fire; the strong draught from the open door

-fanned the flame, and in a few minutes the ale-house

-was in full blaze.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All inside rushed out, and no one had time to

-realise how it happened.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is a witch-shot!" cried some of them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The witch at Korsholm will have to pay for all

-this!" shouted the others.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the whole raging mass rushed off at full speed

-towards the old castle.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0207"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VII.

-<br /><br />

-THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-As soon as Meri&mdash;for she was the lonely

-singer&mdash;understood the wild crowd's intention, she flew back

-to Korsholm.  By the silver rays of the moonlight,

-which shone over the landscape, she plainly

-distinguished Regina's dark locks, which, blacker

-than the night, stood in relief from the room

-in the background, like a shadow in the midst of

-the shade.  Under these locks shone two eyes,

-dreamy, deep, like the glimmer of the stars in the

-dusky mirror of a lake.  The words died on Meri's

-lips; all the strange rumours rose like spectres in

-her mind.  She who sat up there alone at the window,

-was she not, after all, a southern witch, weeping

-over her fate in being compelled to spend the seven

-years of her wondrous beauty within these walls, and

-then reassume her normal shape; a terrible monster,

-half-woman and half-serpent?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri stood as if petrified at the foot of the wall.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But nearer and nearer was heard the murmur of

-the wild crowd, and the light of the torches began to

-be reflected on the castle.  Then the superstitious

-countrywoman gathered courage, and raised her voice

-to the window.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fly, your grace," she said rapidly in Swedish;

-"fly, a great danger threatens you; the soldiers are

-intoxicated and frantic; they say that you have tried

-to kill the king, and they demand your life."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina saw the pale form in the moonlight, and

-before her imagination rose all the stories she had

-heard about this land of witchcraft.  During her ten

-months' stay in Sweden she had in some degree

-learned to understand the language; she did not

-immediately comprehend the other's meaning, but a

-single word sufficed to attract all her attention.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king?" she repeated in broken Swedish.

-"Who are you, and what can you tell me about the

-great Gustaf Adolf?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lose not a moment, your grace," continued Meri,

-ignoring Regina's question.  "They are already at

-the gates, and Fru Marta, with six soldiers, will not

-be able to protect you against two hundred.  Quick! don't

-come out by the door, but tie together sheets

-and shawls, and let yourself down through the

-window; I will receive you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina saw that a danger threatened, but far from

-being terrified by it, she heard it with a secret joy.

-Was she not a martyr to her faith, transported to this

-wild land for her zeal in trying to convert the

-mightiest enemy of her Church?  Perhaps the moment

-was at hand when the saints would grant her a

-martyr's-crown, richly earned by her devotion.  Was

-it not the tempter himself, who in this pale woman's

-form, tried to lure her from an imperishable glory?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Regina answered:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And Satan saith unto Him: 'Cast Thyself down:

-for it is written, He shall give His angels charge

-concerning Thee, that they may preserve Thee, so that

-no harm may befall Thee...'"*

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Compare Matthew iv. 6, where the Lutheran text differs from the

-Catholic.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-At these words the moon appeared round a corner

-of the wall and threw its pale beams on the beautiful

-girl's face.  Her cheeks glowed, and her eyes burned

-with an ecstatic fire.  Meri looked at her with wonder

-and dread ... and again it seemed to her that it

-was not well with a being, who possessed such a

-singular appearance, and uttered such strange sounds

-from her lips.  An overwhelming fear seized her, and

-she fled, without knowing why, back to the town.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meantime Regina heard the murmur from

-the castle yard up in her chamber.  The drunken

-horde had been checked by a stout gate, and stood

-clamouring outside, threatening to burn down the

-fortress, unless the witch was immediately given up

-to them.  But Fru Marta, just awakened from a sound

-sleep, was not one easily scared.  She had been in

-more than one siege in her younger days, and understood

-like a wise commander, that a fortress does not

-fall at big words.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"One who gains time, gains all," she thought, and

-therefore began to negotiate about the capitulation,

-wishing to know what the besiegers especially wanted,

-and why they wanted it.  In the meantime six old

-muskets were hunted up, with which the defenders

-were armed; the soldiers were also provided with

-clubs and pikes; the servant girls themselves received

-orders to take the poles, with which more than one

-of Fleming's horsemen received their doom during

-the Club or Peasants' War.  Thus prepared, Fru

-Marta thought that she could safely break off all

-negotiations; she therefore advanced to the inside

-of the gate, and began a tirade which meant action

-and no play.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ye crazy boors!" shrieked the brave dame with

-more energy than courtesy, "may the devil take you

-all, drunken ale-bibbers!  Be off this instant, or, as

-sure as my name is Marta Ulfsparre, you shall have

-a taste of 'Master Hans' on the back, you villains,

-sots, shameless knaves, and night loafers!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Master Hans" was a good-sized braided rattan,

-which seldom left Fru Marta's hand, and for which

-all the inmates of the castle entertained a profound

-respect.  But whether the noisy crowd did not know

-of "Master Hans'" fine qualities, or whether Fru

-Marta's words were only imperfectly heard in the

-uproar, the mob continued to press on with loud

-cries, and the strong gate shook on its hinges.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Out with the witch!" shouted the most excited,

-and some threw lighted brands against the gate,

-hoping to set it on fire.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fru Marta had on the ramparts two old cannon

-from Gustaf I.'s time, called "the hawk" and "the

-dove."  Their functions were to respond to the salutes

-of vessels arriving in the harbour, and to roar forth

-the delight of the people on royal christening days

-and nuptials.  It is true that the ramparts lay

-outside the high fence with its iron spikes, which

-constituted the only fortification of the castle, and were

-thus easily accessible to the besiegers.  But Fru

-Marta thought correctly, that a cannonade from the

-ramparts would frighten the enemy, and serve as a

-signal of distress, to summon assistance from the

-man-of-war and the town.  She therefore ordered

-two of her soldiers to steal out under cover of the

-night, load "the hawk" and "the dove," and directly

-after the blank charges were fired, to return quickly

-to the castle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The effect was instantaneous.  The uproar ceased

-at once, and Fru Marta did not let the opportunity

-slip from her grasp.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you hear, you pack of thieves?" she screamed,

-mounted on a ladder, so that her white night-cap was

-seen in the moonlight just above the gate, "if you

-don't take yourselves off this minute from his

-Majesty's castle, I will make my cannon shatter you

-into fragments, like cabbage stalks, you noisy, drunken

-swine!  Angry dogs get torn skins; and the chicken

-who sticks his neck in the jaws of the fox will have

-to look around to see where his head is.  I will cut

-you to pieces, you rowdy set," continued Fru Marta,

-getting more and more excited.  "I will let them

-make mince-meat of you, and throw you to the&mdash;&mdash;"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Unhappily the brave commander was not allowed

-to finish her heroic speech.  One of the crowd had

-found a rotten turnip on the ground, and hurled it

-with such good aim at the white night-cap, which

-shone in the moonlight, that Fru Marta, struck right

-on the brow, was obliged to retreat, and for the first

-time in her life had her tongue silenced.  A huge

-laugh now spread through the crowd, and with it

-Fru Marta's supremacy was at an end.  The enemy

-battered still more arrogantly against the gate, the

-hinges bent, the boards gave way, and finally half

-of the gate fell in with a great crash, and the whole

-crowd rushed into the courtyard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Now one would say that Fru Marta would have to

-surrender.  But no, she quickly withdrew with all

-her force to the interior of the castle, barred the

-entrance, and placed her musketeers at the windows,

-threatening to shoot down the first comers.  Such

-determined courage ought to have succeeded, but

-the infuriated mob neither heard or saw.  One of

-the front men, who had found a crowbar, began

-to batter the door...

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then confusion and outcries arose in the rear of

-the crowd ... those in the middle turned round and

-saw through the broken gate, as far as one could

-discern in the moonlight, the whole way filled with

-heads and muskets.  It was as if an army had sprung

-from the earth in order to annihilate the besiegers.

-Could it be the shades of all the dead champions of

-Korsholm, who had risen from their graves to avenge

-the violence offered against their old fortress?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In order to explain the unexpected sight which

-now alarmed the crowd, one must remember that a

-large portion of the country people from the adjacent

-hamlets had flocked to the town to witness the

-departure of the recruits.  It should also be mentioned

-that the peasant king had remained all night in Vasa,

-probably in the secret expectation of hearing some

-news about Bertel from the crew of the "Maria

-Eleonora."  The burning of the ale-house and the

-march of the intoxicated crowd towards Korsholm had

-set all Vasa in commotion, and when Meri arrived in

-breathless haste, imploring her father to rescue the

-imprisoned lady, she found everywhere willing ears.

-The East Bothnian is soon ready for battle, and

-when the peasants learned the insults put upon old

-Bertila, their best man, the ancient animosity arose

-within them against the soldiers.  They forgot that

-many of their own sons and brothers were conscripts;

-they could not neglect such a fine chance to give the

-soldiers a thrashing, both in the name of humanity

-and loyalty to the crown.  They marched therefore,

-with Bertila at their head, about a hundred strong, to

-the rescue of the castle, and what in the moonlight

-appeared to be pikes and muskets, were mostly poles

-and rails, which had been hastily snatched up, the

-usual weapons employed in the battles of that region.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As soon as the soldiers saw that they were attacked

-in the rear, they tried to conceal their alarm with loud

-shouts and cries.  Uncertain of the enemy's strength,

-some of them already wished to beat a dangerous

-retreat over the spiked fence; others imagined that

-they had to deal with an army of goblins, called up

-by the incantations of the foreign witch.  They were

-soon aroused from this delusion, however, by hearing

-the sounds of Malax Swedish, and Lillkyro Finnish,

-which could reasonably be thought to come from

-human and not spectral lips.  At the moment the

-outer enemy blocked the gate with his forces, a silence

-arose on both sides, during which one could hear

-two voices speaking, together: one from the castle

-window, and the other from the ramparts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What did I tell you?" shrieked Fru Marta from

-the window; "didn't I tell you, drunkards and

-vagabonds, that you ought to think seven times before

-putting your noses between the wedges of the tree,

-and if the tail has once got into the fox-trap, there

-is nothing left but to bite it off.  A large mouth

-needs a broad back, and now hold yourself in

-readiness to pay the fiddler."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With this outburst Fru Marta drew back; possibly

-from fear of another rotten turnip.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The other voice was that of an old man, who, in

-powerful tones, cried to the soldiers:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lay down your arms, and give up your leaders,

-then the rest may go in peace.  If not, there will be

-a dance, the like of which Korsholm has never seen,

-and we will see to it that the bows are well rosined."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May all the demons seize you, rascal peasant!"

-answered a voice from the courtyard, which clearly

-belonged to the jovial sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.

-"If I had you down here I would, blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim,

-teach you to insult brave soldiers

-with offers of surrender.  Go ahead, boys; clear the

-gateway, and drive the crew back to their porridge

-kettles!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fortunately none of the conscripts had muskets,

-which had not yet been distributed, and very few

-possessed swords.  Most of them had only

-extinguished brands, fragments of broken carriages, and

-faggots snatched from a wood-pile in the yard.  Thus

-armed, the warriors bore down upon the entrance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the first onset the recruits were received with

-such vigorous blows, that numbers had broken heads.

-Soon the press at the gate became so dense that no

-arm could be raised or blow dealt; those in front

-struggled furiously to extricate themselves, whilst the

-rest closed upon them and rendered all movement

-impossible.  Strong arms and broad shoulders

-exerted themselves fruitlessly to make a way through

-the crowd.  At last the pressure from within became

-so great, that the first ranks of the peasants were

-broken, and about half of the soldiers cleared a way

-towards the open plain outside the ramparts, whilst

-the remainder were again penned up in the courtyard.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A regular battle began.  Poles, sticks, whips, and

-fists were used.  Many a vigorous blow was delivered,

-which would have been much better bestowed on

-Isolani's Croats; many a fine exploit was performed,

-more in place on the German battlefields.  The soldiers

-were split in two parties by the gate, and although

-the most numerous, soon had the worst of it.  The

-youngest recruits took to flight, and ran towards the

-town; some were overpowered and badly beaten;

-others, including the old veterans, retired to the

-ramparts, and with backs to the wall defended

-themselves valiantly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Victory now seemed on the side of the peasants,

-when their opponents received new assistance.  The

-peasants at the gate, who on account of the struggle

-outside, forgot the enemy within, were surprised by

-the penned-up soldiers, who now rushed out to help

-their comrades.  The latter thus relieved, fell upon

-the peasants with redoubled ardour; the affray

-became more and more involved, and victory more

-and more uncertain; both parties had defeats to

-avenge, and the rage on both sides increased as their

-strength became equal.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Over this scene of tumult, confusion, and wild

-conflict, the silvery August moon beamed like a heavenly

-eye.  All the inlets shone in the moonlight; and in

-the tree-tops and the moist grass glittered millions

-of dewdrops, like pearls on summer's green robe.  All

-nature seemed at peace; a gentle breeze from the

-west rippled the surface of the sea, and passed softly

-over the land; the monotonous roll of the surf upon

-the beach was heard in the distance, and the twinkling,

-silent stars looked down into the dark waters.

-When the yard was empty, Fru Marta and her men

-ventured out again to behold the strife from the

-ramparts.  The courageous old lady undoubtedly

-wished to join in some way in the contest, for she

-cried to the peasants in a loud voice:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That's right, boys, go ahead; let the sticks fly;

-many have danced to worse tunes!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And to the soldiers she screamed:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good luck to you, my children; help yourselves

-to a little supper; Korsholm offers what it can give.

-Be at ease; your witch is in good keeping; Korsholm

-has bolts and bars for you too, miscreants!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But as if a capricious destiny wished to convict

-the old lady of error and put her to the blush, a tall,

-dark female figure now appeared on the top of the

-ramparts, and was outlined against the clear night sky.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Fru Marta's words froze on her lips from dismay,

-when she recognised the figure of her well-guarded

-prisoner.  How Lady Regina had got through locked

-doors and closed windows was an inexplicable

-problem, and for a moment she was infected by the

-common belief in the strange girl's alliance with the

-powers of darkness.  She renounced all idea of

-arresting the fugitive, and expected each moment to see

-large black wings grow out of her shoulders, that she

-might take flight like a monstrous raven, and soar

-aloft to the starry heavens.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The reader, however, can easily discover a natural

-solution of the difficulty.  The din of the conflict

-and the cannon-shots had reached Regina's isolated

-chamber.  Every moment she expected her room to be

-invaded, and herself seized by executioners and

-dragged to a certain death; and so glorious did this

-martyrdom seem to her, that her impatience increased

-to the highest point.  Then an hour passed, and whilst

-the noise below continued, no footsteps approached

-her door.  At last the thought took possession of her

-fanatical soul that the Prince of Darkness envied her

-so grand a fate, and that the strife was fomented by

-him to ensure her a languishing life in captivity,

-without profit to herself or the Holy Faith.  Then she

-remembered the advice of the singing woman, to let

-herself down through the open window by means of

-sheets and shawls; she took a sudden resolve, and

-in a few minutes stood on the ramparts in full view

-of all the combatants.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As soon as the latter saw the tall form in the

-moonlight, they were seized with the same

-superstitious dread which had just paralyzed Fru Marta's

-nimble tongue.  The conflict gradually subsided in

-the vicinity, and continued only at the most remote

-points; friend and foe were affected by a common

-horror, and near the ramparts rose a silence so

-profound, that one could hear in the distance the sea's

-low murmur on the pebbly beach.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina then spoke with a voice so strong

-and clear, that if her terribly imperfect Swedish had

-not stood in the way, she would have been understood

-by all those within hearing.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ye children of Belial," she said in tones, trembling

-at first, but soon calm and composed, "ye people

-of the heretic faith, why do ye delay to take my

-life?  I am defenceless, without human protection,

-with the high heavens above me, and the earth and

-sea at my feet, and say to you: Your Luther was a

-false prophet; there is no salvation except in the

-orthodox Catholic Church.  Be converted, therefore,

-to the Holy Virgin and all the saints, acknowledge

-the Pope to be Christ's vicegerent, as he truly is,

-that you may avert St. George's sword from your

-heads, which is already raised to destroy you.  But

-you can kill me in order to seal the veracity of my

-faith; here I stand; why do you hesitate?  I am

-ready to die for my faith."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was Lady Regina's good fortune that her speech

-was not understood by the crowd, for so strong was

-the power of Lutheranism at this fanatical time, when

-nations and individuals sacrificed life and welfare for

-their creed, that all were filled with flaming zeal, and a

-blind hatred for the Pope and his followers&mdash;of which

-our crabbed but pithy old psalm-books bear witness

-to-day.  Had this crowd, whether peasants or soldiers,

-heard Regina extol the Pope, and declare Luther a

-false prophet, they would have certainly torn her to

-pieces in their rage.  As it was, the young girl's

-meaning escaped them; they saw her bold bearing,

-and the respect which courage and misfortune

-together always inspire, did not fail to have its effect

-upon them; they now stood wavering, and at a loss

-what to think or do.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina again expected, in vain, to be dragged

-to death.  She descended from the rampart, and

-mingled with the irresolute crowd; they all saw that

-she was quite unprotected, and yet not a hand was

-put forth to seize her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She is not honest flesh and blood; she is a

-shadow," said an old Worä peasant doubtingly.  "It

-seems to me that I see the moon shine right through

-her."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We will soon prove that," exclaimed a rough

-fellow from Ilmola, laying his coarse hand rather

-heavily on Regina's shoulder.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was a critical moment; the young girl turned

-round and looked her molester right in the face

-with such deep, shining eyes, that the latter seized

-with a strange feeling, immediately drew back, and

-stole away abashed.  Some of the nearest bystanders

-followed him.  None could understand the power of

-these dark eyes in the moonlight, but all felt their

-wondrous influence.  In a few moments the space

-near Regina was empty, and the strife had ceased.

-A patrol, who now arrived, arrested the ringleaders.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Not long, however, did the rivalry engendered by

-the Club War continue between the peasants and

-the soldiers; between the peaceful <i>plough</i>, Finland's

-pride, and the conquering sword, which at this time

-was drawn to subdue the Roman Emperor himself.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Of Regina we need only say that she willingly

-allowed herself, yet with a sigh over the martyr's-crown

-she had missed, to be taken back to the dark,

-solitary prison-chamber.  But Bertila returned with

-his daughter to Storkyro; the old man with thoughts

-of coming greatness, the young woman with the

-memory of a past joy.  All this occurred during two

-days in the summer of 1632, thus, before King Gustaf

-Adolf's death.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Days and months elapsed, and human destinies

-changed their forms, so that the swift word is obliged

-to check its flight, and remain silent awhile in

-expectation of the evenings which are to come.  For

-the surgeon's stories, like a child's joy or sorrow,

-lasted but a brief time&mdash;long enough for those who

-with friendship listened to them, and perhaps

-sufficiently long for the others.  But never was the

-thread of the story clipped in the middle of its course

-without both young and old anticipating more.  And

-the surgeon had to promise this.  He had so much

-still left to relate about the half-spun skein of two

-family histories, that next time it will probably be

-spun; longer&mdash;if not to the end, at least to the knot,

-which says that the skein has reached its right length.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0300"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-III.&mdash;FIRE AND WATER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Six weeks passed before the surgeon and his circle

-of listeners gathered again.  During that time an

-accident had happened to old Bäck.  Most of us in

-this world possess hobbies, and old bachelors in

-particular.  Bäck had got it into his mind that he ought

-to have a certain comfort in his old age; he had in

-his garret a good-sized sack of feathers, which he

-increased in spring and autumn by bird-shooting.  To

-what use these feathers were to be put no one knew;

-when he was asked about it, he said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will do like Possen at the 'Wiborg explosion';

-if Finland is in need, I will go up some tower and

-shake my feathers into the air, then there will be as

-many soldiers as the sack has feathers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You talk like a goose, my brother," replied

-Captain Svanholm, the postmaster.  "In our days one

-must have different stuff to make soldiers of.  By

-my soul, I think you consider us warriors like

-chickens!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," added the surgeon, when the captain was

-about to continue, "I know what you wish to say:

-exactly like Fieandt at Karstula."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-However, the fact was, that the surgeon had one

-fine April day gone to the sea-shore on a shooting

-expedition, with artificial decoy ducks.  He was

-accompanied by an old one-eyed corporal called Ritsi

-(Finnish for Fritz), who had been a pedlar in

-his youth, and wandered over Germany with a pack

-on his back; but he brought home nothing except

-a change in his name.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The ice still remained in patches, with gaps

-between; both the old men strolled along the edge,

-and discharged a shot every now and then; but it

-amounted to very little, as both of them had rather

-poor eyesight.  It happened early one morning that

-Bäck thought he saw a pair of fine ducks at the

-further end of the ice, which could only be reached

-by making a long circuit.  He set off, and sure enough

-the ducks were there.  He crept as near as he dared,

-aimed, and fired ... the ducks' feathers were slightly

-agitated, but they did not stir from the spot.  "Those

-creatures are pretty tough," thought Bäck; he

-reloaded, and fired again at thirty paces.  The same

-result followed.  Much astonished, Bäck went nearer,

-and discovered for the first time that he had been

-shooting at his own decoy ducks, which the wind

-had imperceptibly driven from the inner to the outer

-edge of the ice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old gentleman now thought about returning;

-but this was easier said than done.  The wind had

-separated the ice on which <i>he</i> stood, from the ice

-which held Ritsi, and the loose block was drifting

-out to sea.  The two old friends looked sadly at

-each other; scarcely a dozen yards separated them,

-and yet the corporal could not assist his companion,

-for there was no boat.  Bäck was drifting slowly

-and steadily out to sea.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good-bye, now, comrade," cried the surgeon,

-whilst still within hearing.  "Tell Svenonius and

-Svanholm that my will is locked up in the bureau-drawer

-to the right.  Tell them to have the bells

-rung for me next Sunday.  As for the funeral, you

-need not give yourself any trouble; I will attend to

-that myself."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God have mercy!" yelled the corporal, putting

-the wrong side of his jacket to his eyes, and returning

-to the shore slowly and tranquilly, as if nothing

-had happened.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For the honour of the good town, it must be said,

-that the rest of the surgeon's friends were far from

-taking the matter like the corporal.  The postmaster

-cursed and swore; the schoolmaster marched out at

-the head of his boys; and the old grandmother quietly

-sent off a couple of able-bodied pilots in their boats

-to cruise between the blocks of ice.  The greatest

-excitement prevailed; confusion and running about

-everywhere; and those who made the most fuss

-accomplished the least.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Two days passed without any trace of the

-surgeon; on the third the pilots came back from a

-fruitless search.  All gave the surgeon up for lost.

-There was sincere mourning in the town for such

-an old institution as Bäck&mdash;everyone's friend, and

-everybody's confidant&mdash;he was one of the little town's

-house-spirits, without whom the community could

-not get on.  But what could be done?  When the

-third Sunday arrived, without any news of the

-unfortunate bird-hunter, the bells were rung for his

-soul, according to custom, and a fine eulogy composed

-by Svenonius, was read in the church, and the city

-magistrate appointed a day in the ensuing week for

-taking an inventory of his effects.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-I hope, however, that the reader, who has noticed

-the title of this veracious story, will not be alarmed.

-In reality it would be very hard if the surgeon should

-be called away just now, when Regina sits imprisoned

-at Korsholm, under Fru Marta's stern control, and

-Bertel lies bleeding on the battlefield of Lützen.  And

-what would become of the gentle Meri, of the peasant

-king of Storkyro, and of so many other important

-personages in this narrative?  Patience! the surgeon

-had certainly gone through worse experiences in his

-day ... he had not been born for nothing on the

-same day as Napoleon!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Everything was arranged to take the inventory.

-Astonishing order prevailed in Bäck's garret;

-something unusual had happened there; the place was

-swept and cleaned.  All his things were set out:

-medicine chest dusted, stuffed birds placed in a row,

-the collection of eggs exposed to view.  The

-silver-headed Spanish cane stood in a corner; the old

-peruke hung with a melancholy look on its hook;

-the innermost mysteries of Bäck's bureau, the pale

-locks of hair from former days, were drawn forth to

-be valued in roubles and kopeks; probably not at

-high amounts.  An alderman, with an official air, had

-taken his place at the old oak table, where a large

-sheet of official paper now occupied the space usually

-reserved for the surgeon's carpenter's tools; a clerk

-was sharpening his pencil opposite the alderman, and

-the old grandmother as hostess, had presented herself

-with moist eyes to deliver up Bäck's property, as the

-old man had no relations.  One thing, however, was

-still unopened: it was the old seal-skin trunk under

-the surgeon's bed.  The official's eyes occasionally

-wandered there with a pious thought of the profit

-to be derived from the inheritance; but no one knew

-what the trunk contained, and who was the rightful

-and legal heir.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was time to begin.  Svanholm and Svenonius

-were called as appraisers.  The alderman coughed

-once or twice, assumed a judicial air, and then said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the

-worthy magistrate that the deceased surgeon of the

-High Crown, Andreas Bäck, met his death on the

-ice whilst engaged in bird-shooting; and although

-not found in body, is in soul, rightfully and lawfully

-killed..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I would most humbly beg to contradict that!"

-suddenly interrupted a voice from the door.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The effect was truly marvellous.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The magistrate lost both his wits and official

-bearing; he turned his eyes upwards, and his eloquent

-tongue for the first time refused its office.  The

-secretary sprang up like a rocket, and knocked over

-the learned Svenonius, who, being somewhat deaf,

-had not heard the cause of the sudden commotion.

-The brave Svanholm was in a terrible plight; one

-could have sworn that not even at Karstula had he

-gone through such an ordeal.  He looked as white

-as a ghost, and tried in vain to compel his left foot

-to advance.  The old grandmother was the only one

-who showed self-possession; she put on her

-spectacles, went straight to the new-comer, and shook

-her ancient head dubiously, as if to say that it was

-very wrong of corpses to come to life again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But old Bäck&mdash;for who else could it be?&mdash;was not

-at all daunted.  His feelings had quite a different

-character.  When he beheld his dear old garret so

-altered, his precious effects on show, and the

-magistrate in full activity with what Bäck thought none

-of his business, he was seized, excusably enough, with

-righteous anger, and took the myrmidons of the law

-by the neck, one after the other, and threw them

-without ceremony from the room.  Then came the

-turn of brother Svenonius, who was not spared, and

-finally Svanholm, before he could utter a word, found

-himself rolling headlong down the stairs.  All this

-happened in the twinkling of an eye.  Only the

-grandmother remained.  When Bäck met her mild,

-reproachful glance, he was ashamed, and came to

-his senses.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, well," said he, "you must not take it ill,

-cousin; I shall teach brooms and dusters to disorder

-my room ... be so kind as to take a seat.  It would

-provoke a stone to see such actions.  See how these

-wretches have scrubbed my room and dusted my

-birds.  It is a positive crime!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Dear cousin," said the grandmother, at once

-vexed and delighted, "I am the one to be blamed;

-we thought you must be drowned."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Drowned, indeed!" muttered the surgeon.  "I

-tell you, cousin, that poor powder isn't so easily got

-rid of.  It is true that I floated around on that

-miserable ice-floe for three whole days and nights.

-It wasn't exactly a warm bed and spread table, but

-it served.  I shot a venturesome seal.  It was pretty

-oily, I assure you, but 'better that than nothing.'  I

-had a tinder-box and salt, too; so I made a fire of

-my game bag, and fried a steak.  On the fourth day

-I drifted to firm ice at West Bothnia, and marched

-ashore.  'Now it's time to go home,' I thought.

-Said and done; I sold my gun and hired a team.

-And I tell you what, cousin, they would have been

-spared from upsetting my room, and sticking their

-noses into my affairs, had not the Swedes quadrupled

-the rate, compared with old times.  My purse was

-empty before I came to Haparanda.  Then I thought,

-'let the Medical College go to the dogs!' and began

-my old practice with the lancet and 'essentia dulcis,'

-as I went along; and all the old women&mdash;God bless

-you, I thought you were going to sneeze&mdash;and all the

-old women were amazed to see former times revived.

-In this manner I was able to reach home&mdash;a little

-too late, but still in time to throw out my uninvited

-guests."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The surgeon had great difficulty in pardoning his

-friends for their invasion of his peaceful kingdom.

-Had they taken his treasures, or slandered his good

-name, he could have forgiven them, but to put his

-room in order was more than he could stand!  Little

-by little, however, the storm was allayed through

-the old grandmother's wise diplomacy; and so the

-day came when the reconciliation was celebrated with

-a third tale.  It is true that some plain people still

-looked upon the surgeon as a ghost; the magistrate

-doubted his right to live when he had been legally

-declared dead; the postmaster swore over his sore

-back, which still bore the marks of the meeting with

-brother Bäck; Svenonius sighed over a hole in his

-twenty-year-old black coat, which he had worn in

-honour of the solemn occasion.  But the old

-grandmother smiled as usual; Anne Sophie was friendly

-as ever; the little folks were as noisy; and&mdash;thus

-it happened that the sunshine scattered the morning

-mists, and the horizon was cleared for the captive

-Regina.

-</p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-* * * * *

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My dear friends," began the surgeon, "it may

-puzzle you why I call this story 'Fire and

-Water.'  You understand <i>The King's Ring</i>, and how <i>The

-Sword and the Plough</i> came into conflict.  Perhaps

-you think that I shall now treat you to natural

-history.  That would be well and good.  But I entertain

-the opinion that in a story, humanity is the great

-thing.  If we look at pictures, we heartily admire a

-fruit or a game painting, but I believe figure-painting,

-with fine human forms, is nevertheless superior.

-Therefore I do not intend to describe conflagrations

-and deluges, but have chosen my title from the fact

-that human temperaments correspond to the elements&mdash;some

-to fire, some to air, others to water and earth.

-I intend to tell you about four persons: two of whom

-possessed a fiery nature, and two a watery.  All is not

-said that could be said, for most titles have the fault

-of only giving one aspect of many.  I thought of

-calling this part 'The Coat of Arms,' when I realised

-that it might also be called 'The Axe.'  I might

-have alarmed you with the terrible title of 'The

-Curse'; but when I came to think it over, I found

-that it could just as well be styled 'The

-Blessing.'  Therefore you will have to be contented with the

-elements; I have now said all I wished, and I will

-leave you to guess the rest."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0301"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER I.

-<br /><br />

-THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The first thing to be borne in mind is, that the story

-of the Sword and the Plough happened before the

-Battle of Lützen.  On now going back to that

-combat, on the 6th of November, 1632, we may forget for

-a time that the "Sword and the Plough" ever existed,

-and imagine that we still stand by the great hero's

-dead body, as it lay embalmed in the village of

-Meuchen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was a fine but terrible spectacle when the

-Pappenheimers charged the Finns on the east of the

-River Rippach.  These splendid cuirassiers rushed

-upon Stälhandske; the tired Finns and their horses

-reeled and gave way before this terrific onslaught.

-But Stälhandske rallied them again, man to man,

-horse to horse; they fought to the death; and friends

-and foes were mixed together in one bleeding,

-confused mass.  Here fell Pappenheim and his bravest

-men; half of the Finnish cavalry were trampled

-under the horses' hoofs, and yet the battle raged till

-nightfall.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel rode at Stalhandske's side, and here he

-encountered Pappenheim.  The youth of twenty could

-not cope with this arm of steel; the brave general

-struck Bertel on the helmet with such tremendous

-force, that he reeled and became unconscious.  But

-in falling he mechanically grasped his horse by

-the mane, and the faithful Lapp galloped away,

-dragging his master with one foot in the stirrup.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Bertel opened his eyes he was in utter

-darkness.  He vaguely remembered the last incident of

-the combat, and Pappenheim's uplifted sword.  He

-thought he was now dead, and lay in his grave.  He

-then put his hand to his heart; it was beating: he

-bit his finger; it hurt him.  He realised that he was

-still in existence, but how and where it was impossible

-to guess.  He reached out his hand and picked up

-some straw.  He felt the damp ground under him,

-and the empty space above.  He tried to raise himself

-up, but his head was too heavy.  It still suffered

-from the blow of Pappenheim's sword.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then he heard a voice not far from him,

-half-complaining, half-mocking, saying in Swedish:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Saints and fiends!  Not a drop of wine!  Those

-rascally Wallachians have grabbed my flask; the

-miserable hen-thieves!  Hollo, Turk, or Jew&mdash;it is

-all one&mdash;here with a drop of wine!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is it you, Larsson?" said Bertel in a faint voice,

-for his tongue was also parched with a burning

-thirst.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What sort of a marmot is it whispering my

-name?" replied the voice in the darkness.  "Hurrah,

-boys, loose reins and a smart gallop!  Fire your

-pistols, fling them to the devil, and slash away with

-swords!  Cleave their skulls; peel them like turnips!

-Grind them to powder!  The king has fallen

-... Devils and heroism, what a king! ... to-day we

-bleed.  To-day we shall die, but first revenge.  That's

-the way, boys, hurrah ... pitch in, East Bothnians!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Larsson," repeated Bertel; but his comrade did

-not heed him.  He continued in his delirium to lead

-his Finns to the combat.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After a time a ray of the late autumn morning

-shone through the window of the miserable hut upon

-Bertel.  He could now distinguish the straw upon

-the bare ground, and two men asleep.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then the door opened, and a couple of uncouth,

-bearded men entered, and thrust roughly at the

-sleepers with the butts of their muskets.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Raus!</i>" they cried in Low German; "it is the

-signal to start!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And outside the hut was heard the well-known

-trumpet-blast, which at that time was the usual signal

-for breaking up the camp.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May they spear me like a frog," said one of the

-men in a bad humour, "if I can guess what the

-reverend father wishes to do with these heretic dogs.

-He should have given them a passport to the

-arch-fiend, their lord and master."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fool!" replied the other; "do you not know that

-the heretic king's death is going to be celebrated with

-a great festival at Ingolstadt?  The reverend father

-intends to hold a grand <i>auto-de-fé</i> in honour of the

-happy event."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The two sleepers now stood up half-awake, and

-Bertel could recognise by the faint morning light the

-little, thick-set Larsson and his own faithful Pekka.

-But there was no opportunity for explanations.  All

-three were brought out, bound, and put into a cart,

-and then the long caravan, composed of wagons for

-the wounded and baggage, under the charge of the

-Croats, began slowly to move.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel knew that he and his companions were now

-prisoners of the Imperialists.  He soon recovered his

-memory, and learned from his countrymen in

-captivity how it all happened.  When the faithful

-Lapp felt the reins loose, he galloped with his

-unconscious master back to camp.  But this was

-being plundered by the wild Croats, and when they

-saw a Swedish officer dragged along half dead by

-his horse, they took him prisoner, in the hope of a

-good ransom.  Pekka, who would not forsake his

-master, was also taken prisoner.  Larsson, on the

-other hand, had, at the Pappenheimers' attack,

-charged too far amongst the enemy, and having

-received a sabre thrust in the shoulder, and a wound

-in the arm, was unable to extricate himself.  Who

-had triumphed Larsson did not know with certainty.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was now the third day after the battle; they

-had marched for a day and night in a southerly

-direction, and then stopped for a few hours in a

-deserted village.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Accursed crew!" exclaimed the little captain,

-whose jovial disposition did not abandon him under

-any circumstances; "if they had not stolen my flask,

-we might now drink Finland's health together.  But

-these Croats are thieves of the first water, compared

-with whom our gipsies at home are innocent angels.

-I should like to hang a couple of hundred of them

-from the ramparts of Korsholm, as they hang petticoats

-on the walls of a Finnish garret."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The march continued with brief halts for several

-days, not without great suffering and discomfort to

-the wounded, who, improperly bandaged, were prevented

-by their fetters from helping each other.  At

-the outset they travelled through a desolated country,

-where provisions were obtained with great difficulty,

-and whose population took to flight at the sight of

-the dreaded Croats.  But they soon arrived in richer

-parts, where the Catholic inhabitants assembled to

-curse the heretics, and exult over their king's fall.

-The whole Catholic world shared this rejoicing.  It

-is stated that in Madrid brilliant performances took

-place, in which Gustave Adolf, another dragon, was

-conquered by Wallenstein as St. George.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After seven days' wearisome journeying, the cart

-with the captive Finns drove late one evening over

-a clattering drawbridge, and stopped in a small

-courtyard.  The wounded prisoners were led out, and

-conducted up two crumbling flights of stairs into a

-turret room in the form of a semi-circle.  It seemed

-to Bertel as if he had seen this place before, but

-darkness and fatigue prevented him from making

-sure.  The stars shone through the grated windows,

-and the prisoners were revived with a cup of wine.

-Larsson said with satisfaction:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will bet anything that the thieves have stolen

-their wine from our cellars, while we lay in Würzburg,

-for better stuff I have never tasted!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Würzburg!" said Bertel thoughtfully.  "Regina!"

-added he, almost unconsciously.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And the wine-cellar!" sighed Larsson, mocking

-him.  "I will tell you something.

-</p>

-

-<p class="poem">

-  'The greatest fool upon the earth<br />

-  Is he that believes in a girl's worth.<br />

-  When love comes, the little dear,<br />

-  Marry instead the cup of good cheer.'<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-"The black-eyed young Regina now sits and knits

-stockings at Korsholm.  Yes, yes, Fru Marta is not

-one of the folks who sit and weep in the moonlight.

-Since we last met I have had news from Vasa

-through the jolly sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.  He

-said he had fought with your father.  You had better

-believe that the old man is a trump; he carried

-Bengt out at arm's-length and threw him down the

-steps there at your home in Storkyro.  Bengt cursed

-and swore, declaring that he would put the old man

-and twelve of his hands into the windmill at once,

-and grind them to groats; but Meri begged for

-them.  Smart fellow, Bengt Kristerson! fights like

-a dragon, and lies like a skipper.  Your health!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What else did you hear from East Bothnia?"

-inquired Bertel, who with the bashfulness of youth,

-blushed at the thought of revealing to his prosaic

-friend the secret of his heart&mdash;his love for the

-dark-eyed and unhappy Lady Regina von Emmeritz.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Not much, except the bad harvests, immense

-drain caused by the war, and heavy conscriptions.

-The old men on the farm, your father and mine,

-quarrel as usual, and make it up again.  Meri pines

-for you and sings doleful songs.  Do you remember

-that splendid girl, Katri? round as a turnip, red as

-mountain-ash berries, and soft about the chin as a

-lump of butter.  She has run away with a soldier.

-Your health, my boy!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nothing more?" said Bertel abstractedly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nothing more!  What the devil do you want to

-know, when you don't care for the prettiest girl in

-the whole of Storkyro.  'Yes, <i>noch etivas</i>,' says

-the German.  There has been a great affray at

-Korsholm.  The conscripts got it into their heads

-that Lady Regina had tried to kill the king with

-'witch-shots,' and then they stormed Korsholm, and

-burned the girl alive.  Cursedly jolly! here's to the

-heretics!  We also know the art of holding <i>autos-da-fé</i>."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel started up, forgetting his wounds; but pain

-mastered him.  Without a cry he sank fainting into

-Larsson's arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The honest captain was both troubled and angry.

-While he bathed Bertel's temples with the remainder

-of the noble fluid in the tankard, and presently

-brought him to life once more, he gave vent to his

-feelings in the following manner, crescendo from

-piano to forte.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There, there, Bertel ... what next?  What the

-deuce, boy?  Are you in love with the girl?  Faint

-like a lady's maid!  Courage! did I say that they

-had burned her?  No, my lad, she was only a little

-scorched, according to what Bengt Kristerson says,

-and afterwards she tore Fru Marta's eyes out, and

-climbed like a squirrel to the top of the castle.  Such

-things happen every day in war ... Well, I declare,

-you have got both your eyes open at last.  You are

-still alive, you milk-baked wheat loaf ... are you

-not ashamed to behave like a poltroon?  You are

-a pretty soldier!  blitz-donnerwetter-kreutz-Pappenheim,

-you are a pomade pot!  D&mdash;n it, now the

-tankard is empty also!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The stout little warrior would perhaps have

-continued to vent his bad humour for some time longer,

-especially as there was no consolation now left in

-the cup, had not the door opened, and a female figure

-then stepped over the threshold.  At this sight the

-captain's pale and fluffy face brightened up.  Bertel

-was laid aside, and Larsson leaned eagerly forward,

-in order to see better, for the light of the single

-lamp was very faint.  But the result of his

-observation did not seem very satisfactory.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A nun!  Ah, by Heaven ... to convert us!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Peace be with you," said a youthful voice from

-underneath the veil.  "I am sent here by the worthy

-prioress of the cloister of 'Our Lady' to bind your

-wounds, and heal them, if it is the will of the saints."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Upon my honour, charming friend, I am much

-obliged; let us become better acquainted," said the

-captain, as he stretched out his hand to lift the nun's

-veil.  In a flash the latter retreated, and two soldiers

-appeared at the door.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The devil!" exclaimed Larsson, startled, "What

-proud nuns they have here!  When I was at

-Würzburg, I used to get a dozen kisses a day from the

-young sisters at the convent; such sins always obtain

-absolution.  Well," he continued, seeing the nun still

-hesitating at the door, "your venerableness must not

-take offence at a soldier's freedom of speech; an

-honest soldier is a born gallant.  Although an

-unbelieving heretic, I can talk Latin like a monk.

-When we stayed at Munich I was very intimate with

-a plump Bavarian nun, twenty-seven years old, with

-brown eyes and a Roman nose."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold your tongue!" impatiently whispered Bertel,

-"you will drive the nun away."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I haven't said a word.  Walk in; don't be frightened.

-I will bet it is a long time since you saw

-twenty-seven.  <i>Posito</i>, says the Frenchman, that your

-venerableness is an old woman."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The nun returned in silence, with two others, and

-examined Bertel's wounded head.  A delicate white

-hand drew out some scissors and cut his hair off

-on each side of the wound.  In a short time Bertel's

-wound was dressed by an experienced hand.  Bertel,

-touched by this compassion, kissed the nun's hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Upon my honour, charming matron," cried the

-voluble captain, "I am jealous of my friend, who is

-fifteen years younger than I.  Deign to stretch out

-your gentle hand and plaster this brave arm, which

-has conquered so many pious sisters' pity..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The silent nun began to undo the bandages which

-covered Larsson's wounds.  Her hand touched his.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Potz donnerwetter!</i>" burst out the captain in

-surprise.  "What a fine and soft little hand!  I beg

-your pardon, amiable Fru doctoress; <i>ex ungua

-leonem</i>, says one of the fathers of the church

-... that is to say in good Swedish: by the paw one

-knows the lion.  I will wager ten bottles of old Rhine

-against a cast-off stirrup, that this little white hand

-would much rather caress a knight's cheek than

-finger rosaries night and day."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The nun drew her hand away.  The gallant captain

-feared the consequences of his gallantry.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will say no more; I am silent as a <i>karthäuser</i>

-monk.  But I will say that this hand is not an old

-woman's ... well, well, your lovely venerableness

-hears that I keep silent."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Tempus est consummatum, itur in missam</i>," said

-a solemn voice at the door, and the nun hastened her

-task.  In a few moments the prisoners were again

-alone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have heard that voice before," said Bertel

-thoughtfully.  "We are surrounded by mysteries."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bah!" replied the captain, "it was a mangy and

-jealous monk.  Bless me, what a dear little hand!"

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0302"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER II.

-<br /><br />

-TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-When the autumn sun on the following morning

-spread its first rays into the turret room, Bertel arose

-and looked out of the iron-barred window.  It was

-a beautiful view that here met his eye.  Underneath

-the turret wound a lovely river, and on the other

-side of it lay a town with thirty spires, and beyond

-were seen a number of still verdant vineyards.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel at once recognised Würzburg.  The castle of

-Marienburg, where the prisoners were confined, had

-at the retreat of the Swedes fallen back into the

-bishop's hands; but his grace, on account of the

-insecurity of the times, did not return there himself,

-but remained in Vienna.  The castle had suffered

-much, from the last conquest, and the consequent

-plundering; one tower had been destroyed, and the

-moat was filled up in several places.  At present

-there were only fifty men in the garrison, guarding

-the sisters of charity from the cloisters in the town,

-and many sick and wounded.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Bertel had carefully examined his prison, he

-thought he recognised Regina's room, the same in

-which that beautiful young lady with her maids in

-waiting had watched the battle, and where the image

-of the Holy Virgin had been broken into fragments

-by the splinters from the cannon-shot.*

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* The surgeon forgets that this room was totally destroyed.&mdash;Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-"Here," thought the dreaming young man, "she

-slept the last night before the storm."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For Bertel this room was sacred; when he pressed

-his lips against the cold walls, he thought he kissed

-the marks of Regina's tears.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A wonderful thought struck him like lightning.  If

-the nun that visited them yesterday was a princess

-... if the white hand belonged to Regina!  It

-would be a miracle, but ... love believes in miracles.

-Bertel's heart beat fast.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-His neglected wounds had greatly improved under

-the gentle hands of his nurse.  He now felt much

-stronger.  His unfortunate comrades were still asleep

-after their terrible journey.  Then the door was

-quietly opened, and the nun softly entered with a

-drink for the wounded prisoners.  Bertel felt his

-head swim.  Overcome by his violent emotions, he

-fell on his knees before her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your name, you kind angel, who remembers the

-prisoners!" he cried.  "Tell me your name, let me

-see your face ... Ah!  I should have known you

-amongst thousands ... you are Regina, yourself!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You make a mistake," said the same kind voice

-that Bertel had heard the day before.  It was not

-Regina's voice, and still he knew the tones.  To

-whom then did it belong?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel rushed forward and pulled the veil from

-the nun's head.  In front of him stood the beautiful

-mild Ketchen with a smiling face.  The surprised

-Bertel drew back.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Imprudent one," she said, covering her face with

-her hands.  "I wished to have you in my care, but

-now you make me leave the place to another."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Ketchen disappeared.  On the evening of the same

-day another nun entered the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Larsson addressed a long speech to her, and put

-her hand to his lips, and impressed on it a loud kiss.

-He then swore fearfully.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Millions of devils!" he said, "that I should kiss

-an old shrivelled hand like that.  The skin was like

-a century-old parchment."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Verily, my dear Bertel," continued the chagrined

-captain with philosophical resignation, "there are

-secrets in nature which will for ever remain concealed

-from human sagacity.  This hand, for example&mdash;<i>manus

-mana, manum</i>&mdash;hand, as the old Roman used to say:

-this hand, my friend, would undoubtedly occupy a

-shining place in the Greek poet Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,'

-which we formerly studied in the Cathedral

-School at Abo, the time my father wanted to make

-me a priest.  Yesterday I could have sworn that it

-was the beautiful white hand of a young girl, and

-to-day I will be shaved as bare as a monk it it was

-not a hand that belongs to a seventy-year-old

-washerwoman.  <i>Sic unde ubi apud unquam post</i>, as

-the ancients used to say.  That is, so can a pretty

-girl be changed into a witch before anyone knows it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The prisoners' wounds healed rapidly under the

-care of the nuns.  The fierce autumn storms whistled

-around the castle turrets, and the heavy rain beat

-against the small panes.  The verdure of the

-vineyards faded, and a thick, heavy mist rose from the

-Main, and obscured the view of the town.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I cannot stand it any longer," growled Larsson.

-"The wretches! they do not give us either wine or

-dice.  And forgive me, Saint, the devil may kiss their

-hands or lips, not I.  No.  I have a great respect for

-old women.  I cannot stand this.  I will jump out

-of the window."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do it," said Bertel, provoked.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, I will not jump out of the window," said the

-captain.  "No, my dear friend&mdash;<i>micus ameus</i>, as we

-learned people used to express ourselves&mdash;I will

-instead honour our companion with a game."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the inventive captain for the thirtieth time

-summoned Pekka to a game of pitch and toss.  This

-uninteresting game, which was his only diversion, was

-played with a Carl IX. six-öre piece.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Tell me what they are building over there on

-the square of Würzburg, just opposite the bank of

-the Main?" said Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"An ale-house," said Larsson.  "Crown!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It looks to me like a pyre."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Tail!" repeated Larsson monotonously.  "Dash

-it, what ill luck I have; this damned Limingo peasant

-will win my horse, my saddle, and my stirrups."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The first morning after we were taken prisoners,

-I heard something about an <i>auto-de-fé</i>, to celebrate

-the battle of Lützen.  What do you think of it?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I?  What should I care; they might burn a dozen

-witches for our amusement."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But if we are concerned in it?  If they are

-waiting for the bishop's arrival?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Larsson dilated his small grey eyes, and took hold

-of his goatee.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Blitz-donner-kreutz ... the wretched Jesuits!

-They would cook us like turnips ... we ... the

-conquerors of the Holy Roman Empire ... I mean,

-my friend Bertel, that in such desperate straits, an

-honest soldier would not be to blame if he tried

-to escape in silence&mdash;for example, through the

-window..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There is a fall of seventy feet to the Main

-underneath."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The door," said the thoughtful captain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is guarded night and day by two armed men."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The captain fell into some melancholy reflections.

-Time passed on; it was evening; it became night.

-The nun with their suppers did not appear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The festival begins with a fast," muttered the

-captain in a gloomy tone.  "I am shaped like a fish,

-if I do not wring the head off our neglectful nun as

-soon as she appears."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this moment the door opened, and the nun

-entered alone.  Larsson exchanged a glance with his

-companions, suddenly approached the nun, caught her

-round the neck, and held her against the wall.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be still, like a good child, highly honoured

-abbess," mockingly said the captain; "if you make

-a sound you are lost.  By right I ought to throw you

-out of the window and let you have a swim in the

-Main, to teach you <i>punctum preciosum</i>, that is, a

-precise punctuality in your attendance.  But I will

-give you grace for this night.  Tell me, you most

-miserable of meal bringers, what is the meaning of

-that fire which they are preparing on the square;

-who is going to be roasted there?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"For the sake of all the saints, speak low,"

-whispered the nun.  "I am Ketchen, and have come to

-save you.  A great danger threatens you.

-To-morrow the bishop is expected, and Father Hieronymus,

-the implacable enemy of all the Finns, has sworn

-to burn you alive for the glory of the saints."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My fine little soft hand!" cried Larsson delighted.

-"Upon my honour, I am a fool not to recognise it

-at once.  Well, my beautiful friend, for the glory or

-St. Brita I will take a kiss on the spot..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The captain kept his word.  But Ketchen freed

-herself, and said quickly:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If you do not behave yourself, young man, you

-will afford fuel for the flames.  Hurry! bind me to

-the bedpost, and tie a handkerchief over my mouth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bind you..." replied the captain; "explain

-yourself."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Make haste! the guard are drunk and asleep, but

-in twenty minutes they will be inspected by the pater

-himself.  Seize their cloaks and hurry to get out.

-The passwords are Petrus and Paulus."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And yourself?" said the captain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They will find me bound.  I have been overpowered,

-and my mouth stopped."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Noble girl!  The crown of all Franconia's sisters

-of charity; had I not sworn never to marry....

-Very well, hasten, Bertel! hurry, Pekka, you lazy dog!

-Farewell, little rogue! another kiss ... Good-bye!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The three prisoners hastened out.  But scarcely

-were they outside the door when they were seized

-by iron fists, thrown down, and bound.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Take the dogs down into the treasury," said a

-well-known voice.  It was Father Hieronymus.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0303"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER III.

-<br /><br />

-THE TREASURY.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Bound hand and foot, the prisoners soon found

-themselves in the deep, dark, damp vault, blasted

-out of the rock, where the Bishop of Würzburg had

-kept his treasures before the Swedes delivered him

-from the trouble.  No ray of light penetrated the

-gloom, and the moisture from the rocks trickled

-through the crevices and dropped steadily on the

-ground.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lightning and Croats! may all the devils take

-you, cursed earless monk!" bawled the captain, as

-soon as he felt firm ground beneath him.  "To shut

-up officers of his Royal Highness and the Crown in

-this rat-trap.  <i>Diabolus infernalis multum plus

-plurimum!</i> ... Are you alive, Bertel?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes.  In order to be burned living to-morrow."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you believe that, Bertel?" asked the captain

-in a lugubrious tone.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I know this treasury.  On three sides is the solid

-rock, on the other a door of iron, and the man who

-guards us here is harder than either rock or metal.

-We shall never see Finland again!  Never shall I

-see <i>her</i> more..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Listen to me, Bertel; you are a smart chap, but

-that does not prevent you from talking like a

-milksop occasionally.  You are in love with the

-black-eyed lady; well, well, I will say nothing about that;

-love is a bandit, as Ovidius so truly says.  But I

-cannot stand whimpering.  If we live, there are other

-girls to kiss; if we die, then good-bye to them all.

-So you really fancy that they intend to roast us like

-picked woodcocks?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That entirely depends upon you yourselves,"

-answered a voice in the darkness.  All three prisoners

-started from fright.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The evil one is here in the midst of us!"

-exclaimed Larsson.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pekka began to say his prayers.  Then a clear ray

-from a dark lantern shot through the darkness, and

-they all saw the Jesuit Hieronymus standing alone

-near them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It depends upon you," he repeated.  "To escape

-is impossible.  Your king is dead; your army

-defeated; the whole world acknowledges the power of

-the Church and the Emperor.  The pile is ready, and

-your bodies shall burn in honour of the saints.  But

-the holy Church in its clemency wishes to save you,

-and has sent me here to offer you mercy."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Indeed!" exclaimed Larsson mockingly.  "Come,

-worthy father, loosen my bonds and let me embrace

-you.  I offer you my friendship, and of course you

-believe me.  How, says Seneca, <i>homo homini lupus</i>,

-we wolves are all brothers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I offer you mercy," continued the Jesuit coldly,

-"on <i>three</i> conditions, which you will certainly accept.

-The first is, that you abjure your heretic faith and

-publicly join the only saving Church."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never!" exclaimed Bertel hastily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be quiet!" said the captain.  "Well, <i>posito</i> that

-we abjure the Lutheran faith?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then," continued the Jesuit, "as prisoners of

-war you shall be exchanged for the high-born Lady

-and Princess Regina von Emmeritz, whom your king

-tyrannically sent a prisoner to the north."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It shall be done!" answered Bertel eagerly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be still!" cried Larsson.  "Well, go on; <i>posito</i>

-that we accomplish the lady's deliverance?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Only a trifle remains.  I demand of Lieutenant

-Bertel King Gustaf Adolf's ring."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your money or your life, like a highwayman!"

-said Larsson derisively.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You ask for that which I do not possess,"

-answered Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit gave him a suspicious glance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king ordered Duke Bernhard to give you

-the ring, and you must have received it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All this is quite unknown to me," said Bertel

-with truth, but surprised and delighted at this

-unexpected news.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit resumed his smiling composure.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If that is how it stands, my dear sons," said he, "let

-us talk no more about the ring.  As far as your

-conversion to the true believing Church is concerned..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel was just about to answer, but was interrupted

-by the captain, who, a moment before, had made a

-movement with the upper part of his body, which

-the light did not reach.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, as far as that matter is concerned," Larsson

-hastened to add; "you know, reverend father, that

-there are two sides to it: <i>questio an</i> and <i>questio

-quomodo</i>.  Now to speak of <i>questio an</i> first, my

-sainted rector, Vincentius Flachsenius, used to say,

-always place <i>negare</i> as <i>prima regula juris</i>.  Your

-reverence undoubtedly finds it unexpected and agreeable

-to hear a royal captain talk Latin like a cardinal.

-Your reverence should know that we, in Abo Cathedral

-School, studied Ciceronem, Senecam, and Ovidium,

-also called Naso; for my part I have always

-considered Cicero a great talker, and Seneca a

-blockhead; but as for Ovid ..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit moved towards the door, and said dryly,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then you choose the stake?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Rather than the disgrace of an apostasy!"

-exclaimed Bertel, who had not noticed Larsson's hints

-and motions.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My friend," the captain hastily added, "thinks

-very sensibly and naturally that the worst part of the

-matter is the public scandal.  Thus, worthy father,

-let us confer about <i>questio quomodo</i>.  <i>Posito</i> that we

-become good Catholics, and enter the Emperor's

-service ... but deign to come a little closer; my

-friend Bertel is rather hard of hearing ever since he

-had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the

-mighty Pappenheim."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit cautiously advanced a little nearer,

-after convincing himself with a glance that retreat

-stood open.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is I who decide the conditions," said he

-haughtily.  "Yes or no?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, yes, of course," replied Larsson quickly, as

-he continued to rub himself.  "Consequently we are

-on sound grounds both with <i>questio an</i> and <i>questio

-quomodo</i>.  Your reverence possesses a persuasive

-tongue.  We will now come to <i>questio ubi</i> and <i>questio

-quando</i>, for according to <i>logicam</i> and <i>meta-physicam</i>

-... Pardon me, worthy father, I don't say a word,

-I consent to it all.  But," continued the captain, as

-he lowered his voice, "deign to cast a glance at my

-friend Bertel's right forefinger.  I can tell your

-reverence my friend is a great rogue; I am very

-much mistaken if he has not got the king's ring on

-at this moment."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit, carried away by his curiosity, came a

-few steps nearer.  Swift as an eel Larsson rolled

-himself to the door, for he was unable to rise on account

-of his bonds; and when the monk wished to retreat,

-the captain, who had cut through the ligatures which

-held his right arm, against a sharp stone, suddenly

-seized the Jesuit's legs and threw him down.  Father

-Hieronymus made desperate efforts to free himself

-from the captain's grasp; the lantern was broken

-into fragments, the light extinguished, and a thick

-darkness enveloped the wrestlers.  Bertel and

-Pekka, both unable to get up and assist, rolled

-themselves at random towards the spot, but without

-reaching it.  Then the brave captain felt a sharp sensation

-in his shoulder, and directly afterwards a warm stream

-of blood.  With a mighty oath he wrenched the

-dagger from his enemy's hand, and returned the stab.

-The Jesuit now begged for mercy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"With the greatest pleasure, my son," answered

-the sarcastic captain.  "But only on three

-conditions: the first, that you renounce Loyola, your

-lord and master, and declare him to be an emissary

-of the devil.  Do you agree to it?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I agree to everything," murmured the pater.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The second: that you start off and hang yourself

-to the first hook you find in the ceiling."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, yes, only let me go."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The third: that you travel to Beelzebub, your

-patron," ... and with these words Larsson flung

-his enemy violently against the rocky wall, after

-which there was a dead silence.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The dagger was now used to quickly sever the

-prisoners' bonds, and then it only remained to find

-the door.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the three fugitives, after having secured the

-treasury door from the outside, reached the dark and

-narrow stairway, which led to the upper portion of

-the castle, they stayed a moment to consult together.

-Their situation even now was not enviable, for they

-knew of old that the stairs led to the bishop's former

-bed-chamber, from whence two or three rooms had

-to be crossed before they came to the large armoury,

-and through that to the courtyard, after which they

-still had to pass the closed drawbridge and the guard.

-All the rooms, except the bed-chamber, which the

-Jesuit himself had taken possession of, had, two hours

-before, when the prisoners were carried down, been

-filled partly with soldiers, and partly with the sick

-and their nurses.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"One thing grieves me," whispered Larsson, "and

-that is, that I did not draw the fur off the fox when

-I held him by the ears.  In the garments of piety

-I could have gone scot-free through purgatory like

-another <i>Saulus inter prophetas</i>.  But as it is, my

-friend Bertel, I ask, in my simplicity, how shall we

-get away from here?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We will cut our way out.  The garrison are

-asleep; the darkness of the night favours us."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I confess, my friend, that if anybody, even I,

-Larsson himself, should call you a poltroon, I would

-call that fellow a liar.  It is true that you once as

-good as <i>solo</i>, alone, <i>alienus</i>, all by yourself, took this

-fortress; but you had then at least a sword in your

-hand, and a few thousands of brave boys in the rear.

-Hush!  I heard a step on the stairs ... no, it was

-nothing.  Let us push on cautiously.  Here it will

-serve us to tread gingerly, like maidens; the heavy

-peasant's boots sound as if we were a squadron of

-cavalry."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The fugitives had ascended about thirty or forty

-steps, and yet there seemed more, until a faint ray

-of light glimmered at the top in the passage.  They

-then came to a door; it stood ajar.  They stopped,

-and held their breath; not a sound could be heard.

-The brave captain now ventured to put in his head,

-then his foot, and finally his whole stout person.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We are on the right track," he whispered; "boots

-off, the whole company must march in their stockinged

-feet&mdash;<i>posito</i> that the company has stockings.

-March!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The bishop's bed-chamber, into which the three

-now entered on tip-toe, was a large and magnificent

-room.  A flickering lamp faintly illumined the

-precious gobelin tapestry, the gilded images of the

-saints, and the ebony bedstead, inlaid with pearls,

-where the wealthy prelate used to fall asleep, with

-his goblet of Rhenish wine beside him.  No living

-creature was visible, but from one of the windows

-which overlooked the courtyard they could see the

-castle chapel opposite, brilliantly lighted and filled

-with people.  Even the courtyard was occupied by

-a crowd, visible owing to the reflection from the

-windows, and many of whom carried lighted candles.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will let them salt and pickle me like a cucumber

-if I understand what all these people are doing here

-in the dead of night," muttered the enraged captain.

-"You will find that they have assembled here to see

-three honest Finnish soldiers roasted by a slow fire

-like Aland herrings."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We must look for weapons, and die like men,"

-said Bertel, as he glanced through the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, "here are three swords,

-just what we require."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And three daggers," added Larsson, who, in a

-large niche behind the image of a saint, found a little

-arsenal of all kinds of weapons.  "The worthy fathers

-have a certain weakness for daggers, as the East

-Bothnians for 'punkkons,' or peasants' knives."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I think," joined in the taciturn Pekka, as he

-caught sight of a good-sized flask in a corner, "that

-to-night being Xmas eve..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Brave boy!" interrupted the captain, inspired also

-by this sight, "you have a wonderfully keen scent

-where good liquor is concerned.  Pious Jesuit, you

-have, anyhow, accomplished some good in the world!

-Xmas eve, did you say?  Stupid, why didn't you

-tell us at once?  It is clear as the day, that half of

-Würzburg is streaming to the chapel to hear Father

-Hieronymus say mass.  'Pon my honour, I fear that

-he will keep them waiting for some time, the good

-pater.  Here goes, my friend, I will drink to you;

-an officer ought to always set his troops a good

-example.  Your health, my boys ... damnation

-... the miserable monk has basely cheated us.  I have

-swallowed poison.  I am a dead man!"  And the

-honest captain turned pale as a corpse.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Both Bertel and Pekka had hard work to restrain

-their laughter, notwithstanding their critical

-position, when they saw Larsson at once white from

-fright and black from the fluid he had drank and

-spat out again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be more careful another time," said Bertel, "and

-you will avoid drinking ink."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ink!  I might have known that the earless scrawler

-would be up to some devilry.  Two things trouble me

-to-night more than all the <i>autos-da-fé</i>: that the sweet

-Ketchen, with the soft hands, deceived us, and that

-I have swallowed the most useless stuff in the

-world&mdash;ink, bah!"*

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Here Captain Svanholm trod on Cousin Svenonius' toes, and the

-latter thoughtfully took a pinch of snuff.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-"If we had nothing else to do I could show you

-something that ink has done," rejoined Bertel, as he

-hastily turned over a pile of papers on the writing-table.

-"Here is a letter from the archbishop

-... he is coming to-morrow ... we are to be solemnly

-burned ... they will tempt us to abjure our faith,

-and promise us grace ... but burn us, nevertheless!

-Infamous!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Roman!" observed the captain phlegmatically.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the meantime Larsson had drawn out three

-monks' cloaks and hoods; they put them on, and

-now ventured to proceed farther on their dangerous

-enterprise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The next two rooms were empty.  Two common

-beds indicated that some menial monks had here

-their abode, and were now gone to mass.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bravo," whispered Larsson, "they will take us

-for sheep in wolves' clothing, and believe that we

-are also going to attend mass.  Hist! didn't you hear

-something?  A woman's voice.  Be still!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They stopped, and heard in the darkness a young

-female's voice, praying:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Virgin, forgive me this time, and save me

-from death; I will to-morrow take the veil, and serve

-you for ever."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is Ketchen's voice," said the captain.  "She may

-be innocent, poor child!  Upon my honour, it would

-be base of a cavalier not to deliver a sweet girl with

-such a soft hand."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us be off!" whispered Bertel in vexation.

-But the captain had already discovered a little door,

-bolted on the outside; inside was a cell, and in the

-cell a trembling girl.  Her eyes, used to the darkness,

-saw the monk's garb, and she threw herself at the

-captain's feet, exclaiming,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Grace, my father, grace!  I will confess all; I have

-favoured the prisoners' flight; I have given wine to

-the guard.  But spare my life, have mercy upon me,

-I am so young.  I do not wish to die."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who the devil has said that you are to die, my

-brave girl?" interrupted the captain's voice.  "No,

-you shall live, with your soft hand, and your warm

-lips, as true as I'm not a Jesuit, but Lars Larsson,

-captain in his Royal Majesty's and the Crown's service,

-and herewith take you ... as my wedded wife, for

-better or for worse," continued the captain, no doubt

-because he thought that the well-known formula

-ought to be said to an end when he had once begun it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Away, away, with or without the girl, but away;

-they are coming, and we still have to pass the large

-armoury!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Allow me to tell you, my friend Bertel, that you

-are the greatest fidget I know, <i>maximus fiescus</i>, as

-the ancients so truly expressed themselves.  How is

-it, my girl, you are not a nun ... only a novice?

-Well, it makes no difference to me.  You shall be

-my wedded wife ... in case I ever marry.  Here

-is a cloak; there now, straighten yourself up and

-look bold."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is no cloak, it is a mass-robe," whispered

-Ketchen, who had scarcely time to recover from her

-amazement.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The deuce, a mass-robe!  Wait, you take my

-cloak, and I will take the robe.  I shall chant in

-their ears <i>dies irae</i>, so that all will be astonished."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sound of several voices in the armoury outside

-interrupted the captain in his priestly speculations.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They have missed the Jesuit, they are looking

-for him, and we are lost through your silly jabbering,"

-whispered the exasperated Bertel.  "We must be

-careful now not to betray ourselves.  Come along,

-all of you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And Latin first!" exclaimed the captain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All four went out.  In the armoury there were

-about thirty sick beds, but only two sisters in

-attendance.  This sight was reassuring, but much more

-dangerous was the meeting with two monks, who

-were in violent altercation in the doorway.  When

-they saw Larsson in the mass-robe, and three figures

-behind him in hooded cloaks, the pious fathers were

-evidently startled.  The captain raised his arm to

-bless them, uttered a solemn <i>pax vobiscum</i>, and was

-then going to steal by with a grave step, when he

-was checked by the foremost monk.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Worthy father," said the latter, as he surveyed

-the unknown prelate from head to foot, "what procures

-our castle the honour at so unusual a time...?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Pax vobiscum!</i>" repeated the captain devoutly.

-"The pious Father Hieronymus orders you to say

-mass with all your might ... his reverence is sick

-... he has toothache."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us go and wait upon him," said one of the

-monks, entering the smaller room.  But the other

-seized Larsson by the robe, and regarded him in a

-way which much alarmed the brave captain.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Quis vus et quid eltis!</i>" said the captain in a

-regular dilemma.  "<i>Qui quoe quod, meus tuus suus</i>

-... go to the devil, you bald-headed baboons!"

-roared Larsson, unable to restrain himself any longer,

-and pushing the obstinate monk into the chamber

-he bolted the door.  Then all four hastened at full

-speed down to the courtyard.  The alarm was

-immediately given behind them; the monks shouting

-at the top of their voices, and the nuns joining in,

-until the crowd of people who thronged the

-courtyard began to listen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We are lost!" whispered Ketchen, "if we do

-not reach the drawbridge by the back way."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They hurried there ... the tumult increased

-... they passed the guard at the large sally-port.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Halt! who's there?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Petrus and Paulus," promptly answered Bertel.

-They were allowed to pass.  Fortunately the

-drawbridge was down.  But the whole castle was now

-alarmed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We will jump into the river, the night is dark,

-they will not see us!" cried Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No," said Larsson, "I will not leave my girl, even

-if it should cost me my head."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Here stand three saddled horses, be quick and

-mount."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Up, you sweetest of all the nuns in Franconia, up

-in the saddle!" and the captain hastily swung the

-trembling Ketchen before him on the horse's back.

-They all galloped away into the darkness.  But

-behind them raged tumult and uproar, the alarm bells

-sounding in all the turrets, and the whole of

-Würzburg wondering greatly what could have happened

-on Xmas eve itself.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0304"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IV.

-<br /><br />

-DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Three months after the events related in the

-preceding chapter we find Lieutenant Bertel one day

-in one of the rooms at the martial court, which Duke

-Bernhard of Weimar kept sometimes at Kassel and

-sometimes at Nassau, or wherever the duties of the

-war compelled him to go.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was a spring day in March, 1633.  Officers came

-and departed, orderlies hastened in all directions;

-Duke Bernhard had the greatest share of the south

-and west of Germany to look after, and the times

-were most anxious.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-After having waited a good while, the young officer

-was conducted to the duke.  The latter looked up

-irritably from his maps and papers, and seemed to

-wait to be spoken to; but Bertel remained silent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who are you?" asked the duke in sharp, harsh

-tones.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Gustaf Bertel, Lieutenant in his Royal Majesty's

-Finnish cavalry."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What do you want?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The young man coloured up and remained silent.

-The duke noticed this and looked at him with a

-discontented air.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I understand," the latter said at last, "you have

-as usual been fighting with the German officers about

-the girls.  I will not allow this sort of thing.  A

-soldier's sword should be reserved for his country's

-enemies."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have not been fighting, your highness."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All the worse.  You came to ask for a furlough

-to go to Finland.  I refuse it to you.  I want all my

-men here.  You will stay, Lieutenant.  Good-bye!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do not come to ask for a furlough."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, What the devil do you want?  Can you not

-speak out?  Be short and quick!  Leave the clergy

-to say prayers, and the girls to blush."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your highness has received from his Majesty, the

-late king, a ring..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I cannot remember it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"... which his Majesty asked your highness to

-give to an officer in his life-guards."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The duke passed his hand over his high forehead.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That officer is dead," he said.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am that officer, your highness.  I was wounded

-at Lützen, and shortly after taken prisoner by the

-Imperialists."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Duke Bernhard beckoned Bertel to come nearer,

-and gave him a searching look; he seemed satisfied

-with his examination.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Close the door," he said, "and sit down by my side."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel obeyed.  His cheeks were burning with

-anxiety.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Young man," said the duke, "you carry on your

-forehead the marks of your origin, and I ask for no

-further evidence.  Your mother is a peasant's

-daughter of Storkyro, in Finland, and her name is

-Emerentia Aronsdotter Bertila."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, your highness, the person you speak of is

-my elder sister, born of my father's first marriage.  I

-have never seen my mother."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The duke looked at him with surprise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well," said he doubtfully, as he looked

-among some papers in his portfolio, "we will now

-speak of this sister of yours, Emerentia Aronsdotter.

-Her father had performed great services for Carl IX.,

-and he was urged to ask a favour.  He asked

-to be allowed to send his only daughter, then his

-only child, to Stockholm, to be educated with the

-young ladies of rank at the Court."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I know very little about this."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"At thirteen years of age the peasant girl was sent

-to Stockholm, where her father's vanity and wealth

-procured her an abode, appearance, and education, far

-above her station.  He was consumed with ambition,

-and as he himself could not gain a noble crest, he

-relied upon his daughter's high birth on her mother's

-side.  Bertila's first wife was an orphan of the noble

-family Stjernkors, deprived of her inheritance by the

-war, and then rejected by her proud family on account

-of her marriage with the rich peasant Bertila."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"This is all unknown to me."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The young Emerentia suffered a great deal in

-Stockholm from the envy and contempt of her

-aristocratic companions; for many of them were poorer

-than herself, and could not endure a plebeian at their

-side as an equal.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But her beauty was as extraordinary as her

-wisdom and goodness.  Within two years she had

-acquired the habits of the upper classes, whilst

-preserving the rustic simplicity of her heart.  This

-wonderful combination of mental and physical graces

-reminded old persons of a lovely picture of their

-youthful days&mdash;Karin Mansdotter."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As he said these words, the duke closely watched

-the young officer; but Bertel did not betray any

-agitation, and remained silent.  All this was

-something new and incomprehensible to him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Very well," continued the duke after a pause.

-"This beauty did not long remain unnoticed.  A very

-young man of high birth soon fell in love with the

-beautiful maiden, then only fifteen years old, and she

-returned his affection with the whole devotion of a

-first love.  This attachment soon became known to

-those who surrounded the noble youth; state policy

-was endangered, and the nobility were offended by the

-distinction thus conferred on a girl of low birth.  They

-resolved to marry the maiden to an officer of the same

-origin as herself, who had distinguished himself in

-the Danish War.  This intention came to the ears

-of the young people.  Poor children! they were so

-young; he seventeen, she fifteen, both inexperienced

-and in love.  Shortly after, the youth was sent

-to the war in Poland.  The young girl's marriage

-came to nothing, and she was sent back by the

-offended nobility in disgrace to her cabin in Finland.

-Do you wish to hear any more, Lieutenant Bertel?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do not understand, your highness, what this

-account of my sister's life has to do with..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"... the ring you ask for.  Patience.  When the

-young man had a secret meeting with his beloved

-for the last time, just before his departure, she gave

-him a ring, whose earlier history I do not know, but

-which was probably made by a Finnish sorcerer, and

-had all the qualities of a talisman.  She conjured her

-lover to always wear this ring on his finger, in war

-and danger, as he would thus become invulnerable.

-Twice this warning was forgotten, once at Dirschau..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Great God!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"... the second time at Lützen."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel's emotions were of such a violent nature that

-all the blood left his cheeks, and he sat pale as a

-marble statue.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Young man, you now know part of what you

-ought to know, but you do not know all.  We have

-spoken of your sister.  We will now speak of yourself.

-It was his Majesty's intention to offer you a

-nobleman's coat of arms, and which you with your

-good sword have so well deserved.  But old Aron

-Bertila, actuated by his hatred for the nobility had asked

-as a favour that the king would give you an

-opportunity to gain any other distinction than that one.

-The king could not refuse this request from a father,

-and therefore you are still a commoner by name.

-But I, who am not bound by any promise to your

-father, will offer you, young man, that which has

-hitherto been denied you: a knight's spur and coat

-of arms."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your highness ... this favour makes me wonder

-and mute; how have I deserved it?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Duke Bernhard smiled with a strange expression.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How, my friend? you have only half understood me."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel remained silent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, with or without your knowledge and will,

-my friend, I already regard you as a nobleman.  We

-will speak more about it another time.  Your ring

-... Ah!  I have forgotten it.  Do you remember

-what it was like?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The duke now searched zealously in his portfolio.

-"They say that the king wore a copper ring, and

-on the inside of it magic signs were engraved, and

-the letters R.R.R."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is possible that I have mislaid it, for I cannot

-find it.  And who the devil has time to think of such

-childish things?  The ring must have been stolen

-from my private casket.  If I find it again I will give

-it to you, and if not, you know that which is worth

-more.  Go, young man, and be worthy of my confidence

-and the great king's memory.  No one is to

-know what I have told you.  Farewell; we will see

-each other again."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0305"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER V.

-<br /><br />

-LOVE AND HATE AGREE.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Again we fly from Germany's spring back to the

-North's winter.  Before we go further on the bloody

-path of the Thirty Years' War, we will pay a visit

-to two of the chief personages of this narrative high

-up in East Bothnia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was about Advent time, 1632.  A violent storm

-with heavy snow beat against the old ramparts of

-Korsholm, and drove the waves of the Baltic against

-the ice-covered shores.  All navigation for the year

-had ceased.  The newly conscripted soldiers had

-gone to Stralsund by way of Stockholm, at the end

-of July, and were impatiently waiting for news from

-the war.  Then it happened in the middle of November

-that a rumour was spread about the country of

-the king's death.  Such reports fly through the air,

-one does not know how or where they come from.

-Great misfortunes are known at a distance as

-presentiments, just as an earthquake far beyond its own

-circle causes a qualm in the mind.  But this report

-had more than once been spread and refuted.  The

-people relied upon King Gustaf Adolf's good fortune,

-and when corroboration did not arrive, the whole

-matter was forgotten, all thinking it was a false story.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is an ordinary fact in life that, as we hate those

-to whom we have occasioned a wrong, so we feel well

-disposed towards persons whom we have had the

-opportunity of serving.  Lady Marta of Korsholm

-was not a little proud of her brave defence against

-the drunken soldiers, and did not hesitate to attribute

-the preservation of the castle to the heroism she had

-then displayed.  That she had saved Regina's life

-gave the latter great importance in her eyes; and

-neither could she refuse her admiration for the

-courage and self-sacrifice which the young girl had

-shown on the same occasion.  The high-born prisoner

-was her pride; and she did not omit to watch her

-steps like an Argus; but she gave Regina a larger

-room, let her have old Dorthe again as a waiting

-woman, and provided her with an abundance of good

-food.  Regina also was less proud and cold, she would

-sometimes answer Lady Marta with a word or a nod;

-but of all the nice things that were offered her, the

-choice meats, the strong beer, etc., she took little

-or nothing; she had sunk apparently into a state of

-indifference, told her beads devoutly, but in other

-respects let one day pass as another.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Marta held the deep conviction that her

-prisoner, if not precisely the Roman Emperor's own

-daughter, was, nevertheless, a princess of the highest

-birth.  She therefore hit upon the unlucky idea of

-trying to convert so distinguished a person from her

-papistical heresy, on the supposition that she would

-thereby accomplish something very remarkable when

-the war was ended and Regina was exchanged.

-Regina thus became exposed to the same proselytizing

-attempts which she herself had undertaken with

-the great Gustaf Adolf; but Lady Marta's were not

-so delicate or refined in their application as her own.

-She overwhelmed the poor girl with Lutheran

-sermons, psalm-books, and tracts, also often made

-long speeches interspersed with proverbs, and when

-this was without avail, she sent the castle chaplain

-to preach to the prisoner.  Of course all this occurred

-to deaf ears.  Regina was sufficiently firm in her faith

-to listen with patience, but she suffered from it; her

-stay at Korsholm became more unbearable every day,

-and who can blame her, if with secret longings she

-sighed for the day when she could regain her freedom.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Dorthe, on the contrary, flamed up every time the

-heretic preacher or the plucky old lady began their

-sermons, and rattled through a whole string of prayers

-and maledictions both in Latin and Low German, the

-result generally being that she was shut up for two

-or three days in the dungeon of the castle, until her

-longing for her lady's company once more made her

-tractable.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And so passed a half-year of Lady Regina's captivity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A better product of Lady Marta's goodwill was,

-that Regina was allowed to embroider, and fine

-materials were ordered for her in the autumn from

-Stockholm.  Thus it became possible for her to work

-a large piece of silk with the Virgin Mary and the

-infant Christ in silver and gold.  Lady Marta in her

-innocence considered the work a sacrament cloth,

-which Regina might present to Vasa church, as a

-proof of her change of sentiments.  A warrior's eyes,

-on the other hand, would have discerned in it an

-intended flag, a Catholic banner, which the imprisoned

-girl was quietly preparing in expectation of the day

-when her work would wave at the head of the Catholic

-hosts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Still Lady Marta was not quite satisfied with the

-Holy Virgin's image, which seemed to her surrounded

-by too large a halo to be truly Lutheran.  She therefore

-considered how she could procure her prisoner a

-more suitable occupation.  It happened now and then

-that the daughter of the Storkyro peasant king, Meri,

-when she was in town, made an errand to Korsholm,

-and in order to gain the favour of the lady of

-the castle, presented her with several skeins of the

-finest and silkiest linen floss, which no one in the

-whole vicinity could spin as well as Meri.  Lady

-Marta consequently got the idea one fine day to teach

-her prisoner to spin, and to give her Meri as a teacher

-in this art.  Meri on her part desired nothing better.

-The near connection in which the imprisoned lady

-had stood to the king, gave her an irresistible interest

-in Meri's eyes.  She wished to hear something about

-him&mdash;the hero, the king, the great, never-to-be-forgotten

-man, who stood before her mind's eye with

-more than earthly lustre.  She wished to know what

-he had said, what he had done, what he had loved

-and hated on earth; she wished for once to feel

-herself transported by his glory, and then to die

-herself&mdash;forgotten.  Poor Meri!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-So Meri made her second acquaintance with Lady

-Regina in the castle.  She was received at first with

-coldness and indifference, and her spinning scarcely

-pleased the proud young lady.  But gradually her

-submissive mild demeanour won Regina's goodwill,

-and a captive's natural desire to communicate with

-beings outside the prison walls finally made Regina

-more open.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They spun very little, it is true, but they talked

-together like mistress and maid, especially during

-the days when Dorthe was shut up on account of her

-wicked tongue, and it was quite opportune that Meri

-recollected some German from more brilliant days.

-Meri knew how to constantly lead the conversation

-on to the subject of the king, and she soon divined

-Regina's enthusiastic love.  But Regina was very far

-from having any idea of Meri's earlier experiences;

-she ascribed her questions to the natural curiosity

-which such high personages always excite in the

-minds of the common people.  Sometimes she seemed

-astonished at the delicacy and nobleness of the simple

-peasant woman's expressions and views.  There were

-moments when Meri's personality appeared to her as

-an enigma full of contradictions, and then she asked

-herself whether she ought not to consider this woman

-as a spy.  But the next instant she repented this

-thought; and when the spinner looked at her with her

-clear, mild, penetrating gaze, then there was something

-which said to Regina's heart, this woman does

-not dissemble.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They were sitting one day in the beginning of

-December, and Dorthe was again shut up for her

-unseasonable remarks to the chaplain.  There was a

-striking contrast between these two beings whom

-fate had brought together from such opposite directions,

-but who on one point shared the same interest.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first, young, proud, dark, flashing, and beautiful,

-a princess, even in captivity; the other of middle

-age, blonde, pale, mild, humble, and free, and yet

-very submissive.  Regina now seventeen, could be

-considered twenty; Meri now thirty-six, had something

-so childish and innocent in her whole appearance,

-that at certain moments she might be taken

-for seventeen.  She could have been Regina's mother,

-and yet she who had suffered so much, seemed almost

-like a child in comparison with the early matured

-southerner at her side.  Lady Regina had been

-spinning a little, and during the operation broken

-many threads.  Provoked and impatient, she pushed

-the distaff away and resumed her embroidery.  This

-happened very often, and her instructress was

-accustomed to it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That is a pretty image," said Meri, after a look

-at the piece of silk.  "What does it represent?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God's Holy Mother, Sancta Maria," answered

-Regina, as she made the sign of the cross, which she

-was always in the habit of doing when mentioning

-the name of the Holy Virgin.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And what is it for?" asked Meri with a naïve

-familiarity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina looked at her.  Again a suspicion came

-into her mind, but it immediately passed away.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am embroidering the banner of the Holy Faith

-for Germany," replied Regina proudly.  "When it

-one day waves, the heretics will flee before the wrath

-of the mother of God."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"When I think of the mother of God," said Meri,

-"I imagine her mild, good, and peaceful; I imagine

-her as a mother alone with her love."  Meri said these

-words with a peculiar tremor in her voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The mother of God is Heaven's queen; she will

-fight against the godless and destroy them."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But when the mother of God takes to strife, King

-Gustaf Adolf will meet her with uncovered head and

-lowered sword, bend his knee to her, and say: 'Holy

-Virgin, I am not fighting for thy glory, but for that

-of thy son, our Saviour.'  'He that fights for my son

-also fights for me,' she will reply, 'because I am a

-mother.'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your king is a heretic," excitedly answered

-Regina.  Nothing irritated her more than opposition

-to the Catholic faith, of which the doctrine of the

-Holy Virgin as Heaven's ruler is a constituent.  "Your

-king is a tyrant and unbeliever who deserves all the

-anger of the saints on his head.  Do you know, Meri,

-that I hate your king?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And I love him," said Meri in a scarcely audible

-voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," continued Regina, "I hate him like sin,

-death, and perdition.  If I were a man and had an

-arm and sword, it would be the aim of my life to

-destroy his hosts and his work.  You are happy,

-Meri, you know nothing about the war, you do not

-know what Gustaf Adolf has done to the poor

-Catholics.  But I have seen it, and my faith and my

-country cry out for revenge.  There are moments

-when I could kill him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And when Lady Regina lifts her white hand with

-the gleaming dagger over the king's head, then the

-king will expose his breast where the great heart

-beats; look at her little white hand with a glance of

-sublime calmness and say, 'Thou delicate white hand,

-which worketh the image of the mother of God, strike,

-if thou canst, my heart is here, and it beats for the

-freedom and enlightenment of the world;' then the

-white hand will sink slowly down, and the dagger

-will drop from it, unnoticed, and God's mother on

-the cloth will smile again.  She knew well that it

-would be so.  It would have been just the same with

-herself.  For King Gustaf Adolf none can kill, and

-none hate, because God's angel walks by his side and

-turns human beings' hate to love."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina forgot her work, and regarded Meri with

-her large, dark, moist eyes.  There was so much that

-surprised and astonished her in these words, but she

-kept silent.  Finally she said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king wears an amulet."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," said Meri, "he wears a talisman, but it is

-not the copper ring that the people speak of&mdash;it is

-his exalted human heart which gives up everything

-for what is good and noble on earth.  When he was

-still very young, and had not yet acquired fame or

-renown, he only possessed his blonde hair, his high

-brow, and his mild blue eyes.  Then he wore no

-amulet, and yet blessing and love and happiness

-walked by his side.  All the angels in Heaven and

-all human beings on earth loved him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina's eyes glistened with tears.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did you see him when he was young?" she asked.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did I see him! yes."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And you have loved him like all the others?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"More than all the others, lady."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And you love him still?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, I love him much.  Like you; but you would

-kill him and I would die for him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina sprang up, burst out weeping, clasped Meri

-in her arms and kissed her.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not think that I would kill him.  Oh, Holy

-Virgin, I would a thousand times give my life to save

-his!  But you do not know, Meri.  It is an anguish

-that you cannot understand, it is a fearful conflict

-when one loves a man, a hero, the personification of the

-highest and grandest in life, and yet is commanded

-by a Holy Faith to hate this man, to kill him, to

-persecute him to the grave.  You do not know, happy one,

-who only needs to love and bless, what it means to

-be tossed between love and hate, like a ship on the

-mighty waves; to be obliged to curse one whom you

-bless in your heart, to sit within the walls of a prison

-a prey to the battling emotions which incessantly

-struggle for mastery in your innermost soul.  Ah! that

-was the night, when I tried to reconcile my love

-with my faith, and bring him, the mighty one, to the

-way of salvation.  If the saints had then allowed my

-weak voice to convince him of his error ... Then

-poor Regina would have followed him with joy as

-his humblest servant through all his life, and received

-in her own breast all the lances and balls that sought

-his heart.  But the saints did not grant me&mdash;unworthy

-being&mdash;so great an honour, and therefore I

-now sit here a prisoner on account of my faith and

-my love; and if an angel broke down the walls of

-my prison and said to me, 'Fly, your country again

-awaits you,' I would answer: 'It is his will, the

-beloved; for his sake I suffer, for his sake I remain,' and

-yet you believe that I wish to kill him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina wept much and bitterly, with all the violence

-of an intense passion which had been pent up for a

-long time.  Meri with gentle hands removed the dark

-locks from her brow, and looking mildly and kindly

-into her tearful eyes, said with prophetic inspiration:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not weep so, the day will arrive when you

-will be able to love without being obliged to curse

-him at the same time!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That day will never come, Meri."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, that day will come, when Gustaf Adolf is

-dead."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, may it never come, then!  Rather would I

-suffer all my life ... It is still for his sake."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, lady, that day will come, not because you

-are younger and he is older.  But have you never

-heard anyone say of a child which is brighter, kinder,

-and better than others, 'that child will not live long;

-it is too good for this world?'  So does it seem to me

-about King Gustaf Adolf.  He is too great, too noble,

-too good, to live long.  God's angels wish to have

-him before his body withers and his soul grows weary.

-Believe me, they will take him from us."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina looked at her with an alarmed air.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who are you that speaks such words?  How your

-eyes shine! you are not what you seem! who are you

-then?  Oh, Holy Virgin, protect me!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Regina started up with all the superstitious

-terror that belonged to her time.  Probably she could

-not account for her fear, but Meri's conversation had

-all along seemed strange and unaccountable, coming

-from the mouth of an uncultivated peasant woman in

-this barbarous land.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who am I?" repeated Meri, with the same mild

-look.  "I am a woman who loves.  That is all."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And you say that the king will die?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God alone presides over human destinies, and the

-greatest among mortals is still but a mortal."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At that moment someone opened the door, and

-Lady Marta entered more solemnly than usual, and

-also somewhat paler.  She now wore, instead of her

-bright striped woollen jacket, a deep mourning attire,

-and her whole appearance indicated something

-unusual.  Regina and Meri both started at the sight.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri became pale as death, went straight to Lady

-Marta, looked her fixedly in the face, and said

-mechanically with a great effort,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king is dead."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you know it already?" answered Lady Marta,

-surprised.  "God preserve us, the bad news came an

-hour ago, with a courier from Tornea."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lady Regina sank down in a swoon.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri, with a broken heart, retained her

-self-possession, and tried to recall Regina to life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The king has then fallen on the battlefield in

-the midst of victory?" she asked.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"On the battlefield of Lützen, the 6th of November,

-and in the midst of a glorious victory," replied Lady

-Marta, more and more surprised at Meri's knowledge.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Awake, gracious lady, he has lived and died like

-a hero, worthy of the admiration of the whole world.

-He has fallen in the hour of triumph, in the highest

-lustre of his glory; his name will live in all times,

-and his name we will both bless."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina opened her dreamy eyes and clasped her

-hands in prayer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, Holy Virgin," she said, "I thank thee that

-thou hast let him go in his greatness from the world,

-and thus taken away the curse which rested upon my

-love!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Meri dropped down at her side in prayer.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But below in the castle yard stood a tall, white-haired

-old man, with his stiff features distorted by

-grief and despair.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A curse upon my work!" he cried; "my plan is

-frustrated beforehand, and the object for which I

-have lived slips from my grasp.  Oh, fool that I was,

-to count upon a human being's life, and trying to hope

-that the king would acknowledge his son, and live

-until the son of Aron Bertila's daughter had time to

-win a brilliant fame in war, and walk abreast with

-the heiress to the Swedish throne!  The king is dead,

-and my descendant is only a boy in his minority,

-who will soon be mixed with the multitude.  Now it

-is only wanting for him to gain a nobleman's coat of

-arms, and place himself amongst the vampires

-between the only true powers of the state, the king

-and the people.  Fool, fool that I was!  The king

-is dead!  Go, old Bertila, into the grave to fraternize

-with King John and the destroyer of aristocracy,

-King Carl, and bury thy proud plans among the same

-worms that have already consumed Prince Gustaf

-and Karin Mansdotter!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And the old man seized Meri, who just then came

-out, violently by the hand, and said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Come, we have neither of us anything more to

-do in the world!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," said Meri with suppressed grief, "we both

-still have a son!"

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0306"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VI.

-<br /><br />

-THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Until now the Swedish lion, through the wisdom

-and valour of Gustaf Adolf, and of the leaders and

-men trained under him, had hastened from victory

-to victory, and overthrown all his opponents.  At last

-a day of misfortune dawned; in a great battle the

-Swedish arms suffered a terrible defeat.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The brilliant Wallenstein had died the death of a

-traitor at Eger; now Gallas, the destroyer, overran

-central Germany, captured Regensburg, and advanced

-against the free city of Nördlingen, in

-Schwaben; Duke Bernhard and Gustaf Horn hurried

-with the Swedish army to its rescue.  They had,

-however, but 17,000 men, whilst Gallas had 33,000.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"We will attack," said the duke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let us wait," said Horn.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-They expected 5,000 men as a reinforcement, and

-fourteen days passed.  Then Nördlingen came to sore

-straits, and began to light beacon fires on the walls

-at night.  Again the duke wished to attack; again

-Horn preferred to entrench and assist the city

-without battle.  Then they called this brave soul a

-cowardly man; and, indignant, but with dark presentiments,

-he resolved to fight.  Repeated victories had

-made the Swedes over-confident, and they entered

-the conflict assured of success beforehand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1634.

-Outside Nördlingen is a height called Arensberg, and

-between it and the town a smaller one.  Upon the

-last the Imperialists had raised three redoubts.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Swedish army stood on Arensberg, Horn on

-the right and the duke on the left wing.  The battle-cry

-was the same as at Breitenfeld and Lützen: God

-with us!

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Early in the morning a heavy rain fell.  Once more

-the wise Horn wished to wait, but the duke, who held

-the supreme command, ordered an advance.  Horn

-obeyed, and the right wing marched down the valley

-between the two heights.  The impatience of the

-cavalry hastened the conflict, which resulted

-unfavourably even in the very beginning.  The cannon of the

-Imperialists in the redoubts made great gaps in the

-lines of the cavalry, and the enemy's superiority made

-them hesitate.  Horn sent two brigades to storm the

-middle redoubt.  They captured it and pursued the

-enemy.  Piccolomini checked their course and drove

-them back to the redoubt.  There the powder

-happened to take fire.  With a terrific explosion the

-earthwork flew into the air, and several hundreds of

-Swedes and Finns with it.  This was the first

-calamity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Upon this position, however, depended the victory.

-For a few moments the spot stood empty; Piccolomini's

-soldiers, alarmed by the report and destruction,

-could not be induced to advance and occupy it.  At

-last they did so.  Horn asked for help in order to

-expel them.  The duke sent the young Bohemian,

-Thurn, with the yellow regiment.  He made a

-mistake, attacked the wrong redoubt, and engaged with

-a greatly superior force.  Seventeen times he charged

-the enemy, and as often was he repulsed.  In vain

-did Horn try to storm the height.  Thurn's error was

-the second calamity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-On the left wing the duke had begun the conflict

-against the artillery and cavalry.  At the first

-encounter the Imperialists were hurled back, and the

-duke's German cavalry broke their ranks and pursued

-the enemy.  But Tilly's spirit seemed to-day to

-give the Imperialists courage.  They advanced their

-ordered and superior troops against the assailants,

-checked them, and drove them back with loss.  The

-duke tried to get reinforcements into Nördlingen, but

-failed.  In vain did he drive Gallas before him.  New

-masses of the enemy constantly opposed him, and in

-his rear the Croats plundered his baggage-wagons.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was about noon.  Horn's troops had been under

-fire for eight consecutive hours, and were worn out

-with fatigue.  With every hour their hopes of victory

-grew less and less, but their unflinching, indomitable

-courage remained the same.  They had observed the

-disorder in the left wing.  They themselves were in

-a desperate plight down in the valley, where Piccolomini's

-bullets fell every moment into the underbush,

-and sprinkled the fallen branches with blood.  Then

-Horn proposed to withdraw to Arensberg, and the

-duke at last consented.  He considered the matter,

-however, for nearly two hours; but these two hours

-he would afterwards have been glad to purchase with

-half a lifetime.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was three o'clock in the afternoon.  Horn made

-the Finnish cavalry make a feigned attack, so as to

-cover the retreat, and began like a prudent general to

-withdraw in good order.  The Imperialists perceiving

-his intention, pressed on with double force.  They

-began to hope, what they had not dared to entertain

-before, that even the Swedes might be conquered,

-and Piccolomini's stumpy figure flew through the

-ranks, urging his men to bear down with their

-collected forces upon the Swedes' exposed flanks, and

-totally crush them.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In the valley behind the Swedes and between the

-two heights flowed a stream with high banks, and

-swollen by the abundant rains.  At the little village

-of Hirnheim, the stream was spanned by a single

-bridge, and this point Horn had carefully guarded in

-order to secure the retreat.  The artillery passed first

-over the bridge, and were safe on Arensberg.  The

-first lines of Horn's wing had also reached the village,

-and the rest were only a short distance from it, when

-a new calamity occurred, the third and the worst on

-this most disastrous day.  Duke Bernhard had

-undertaken to detain the enemy with his left wing until

-Horn and his men had crossed the stream.  But he

-soon discovered that he had consulted valour rather

-than prudence.  The enemy concentrated their forces,

-and increased their terrible attacks.  Three times De

-Werth charged the duke's cavalry; three times was

-he repulsed.  The fourth time, however, he broke

-through the duke's lines.  In vain the latter sent a

-squadron to take him in flank.  Mad with rage, the

-duke snatched his gold-embroidered banner from an

-ensign's hand, and followed by his bravest men,

-rushed into the midst of the enemy.  It was all

-useless.  His best men were slain, his horse shot under

-him, and the banner wrenched from his hand;

-wounded and overpowered he was nearly taken

-prisoner, when a young officer at his side lent him

-his horse, and he escaped with great difficulty.  His

-infantry had already been routed, being unable to

-support the attacks of the cavalry on the open plain;

-and when the wounded leader galloped away, his

-whole wing followed in the utmost disorder,

-convinced that all was lost.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At that moment, Horn's infantry crossed the narrow

-bridge.  Then confused and loud cries arose, that

-the battle was lost, and the enemy close upon them.

-First single horsemen, then whole troops of the duke's

-cavalry rushed along the road to the bridge, and rode

-amongst the infantry, trampling some under their

-horses' hoofs, and throwing the rest into fearful

-confusion.  The efforts of Horn and his nearest officers

-to stay the frantic rout were fruitless.  On the narrow

-bridge everything was mixed pell-mell&mdash;men, horses,

-wagons, dead, and wounded; and finally the duke's

-whole wing rushed to this fatal spot.  Like a

-storm Piccolomini pressed upon the rear of the

-fugitives; he sent some light guns up on the heights,

-where they played with terrible effect on the retreating

-mass; every ball cut long lanes through it.  Then

-the Croats fell upon the rout, and as friend and foe

-became mixed together, the artillery fire had to cease.

-The long lances and swords of the Imperial cavalry

-made great slaughter.  All the Swedes and Finns

-seemed doomed to destruction.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Gustaf Horn, the wise and courageous Finnish

-general, whom Gustaf Adolf called "his right

-hand," was now the last to retain self-possession and

-courage at this terrible crisis.  With the remains of

-three regiments he had taken up a position by the

-bridge, and the fugitives fled past him without

-drawing his force into the current.  They implored him

-to save himself; but his stubborn, Finnish will

-refused to listen to these appeals, and he stayed where

-he was.  For a time the pursuit was checked, the

-only thing that Horn hoped to gain by his intrepid

-resistance.  Gallas sent one of his best Spanish

-brigades to oust him.  Horn drove them back with

-loss.  The victorious De Werth fell upon him with

-his dragoons.  The result was the same.  The enemy

-now concentrated their forces, and Horn was attacked

-on three sides at once.  They offered him his life if he

-would surrender.  He replied with a sword-thrust,

-and his men gave the same response.  Not one would

-ask for quarter.  At last, when nearly all those near

-him had fallen, he was overwhelmed by numbers and

-taken prisoner.  Then the few surviving heroes

-surrendered.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When the Swedish army in full flight rushed over

-Arensberg, Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tore his

-hair, and exclaimed that he was a fool, and Horn a

-wise man.  Later on the duke consoled himself with

-Elsas, but that day he had reason to repent of his

-rashness.  Six thousand Swedes, Finns, and Germans

-covered the blood-stained heights of Nordlingen;

-6,000 were taken prisoners, and amongst them the

-two Finns, Horn and Wittenberg, who were well

-treated by the enemy.  Of the other 10,000, half were

-wounded, and most of the remaining mercenaries

-deserted.  The army had lost 4,000 baggage-wagons,

-300 banners, and all their artillery.  A miserable

-remnant made its way to Mentz, plundering and

-pillaging as it fled, and suffering from extreme want.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-More disastrous to Sweden than the loss of these

-12,000 men was the damage to its prestige, and the

-enemy's regained belief in victory.  The battle of

-Nordlingen became the turning point in the Thirty

-Years' War, and excited both joy and consternation.

-throughout Europe, until Baner's genius and victories

-restored their lost lustre to the Swedish arms once

-more.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Amongst those who fought at Horn's side to the

-last, was our old friend, Captain Larsson.  The sturdy

-little captain had on this occasion no time to open

-his talkative mouth; he perspired profusely from the

-heat, and had fought since dawn; yet he had not

-received the least scratch upon his fleshy person.  Let

-it be said in his praise, that at Nordlingen he thought

-of neither Rhine wine or Bavarian nuns, but honestly

-plied his weapons as well as possible.  Nevertheless,

-we will not assert that he then cut down thirty

-Imperialists with his trusty sword, as he afterwards

-declared in good faith.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-He was taken prisoner with Horn; but it was not

-his capture that most provoked the captain, but the

-terrible vexation he experienced on seeing the Croats

-afterwards empty at their leisure the Swedish stock

-of wine which they had captured with the baggage-wagons.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Another of our friends, Lieutenant Bertel, fought

-at the duke's side all day, and was the one who

-offered him his horse.  We shall see, by-and-by, that

-the duke did not forget this service.  Bertel, like

-Larsson, was hotly engaged in the battle, but, less

-fortunate than the latter, received several wounds,

-and was finally borne along in the stream of fugitives

-to Arensberg.  Almost without knowing how, he

-found himself the next day far from the battlefield,

-and proceeded with the remnant of the duke's army

-to Mentz.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0307"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VII.

-<br /><br />

-THE LOST SON.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-It is Epiphany, in 1635, thus in mid-winter.  In Aron

-Bertila's "stuga,"* at Storkyro, a large fire of pine

-logs crackled on the spacious hearth, for at that time

-heavy forests still grew around the fertile fields.

-Outside rages a snow-storm, with a heavy blast; the

-wolves howl on the ice of the stream; the famished

-lynx prowls around to find shelter.  It is Twelfth-day

-evening, an hour or two after twilight.  The Storkyro

-peasant king sits in his high-backed chair, at a short

-distance from the hearth, listening with scattered

-thoughts to his daughter Meri, who by the firelight

-reads aloud a chapter of Agricola's Finnish New

-Testament, for at that period the whole Bible had not

-been translated into the Finnish tongue.  Bertila has

-grown very old since we last met him, then still

-vigorous in his old age.  The great ideas that

-constantly revolve in his bald head give him no peace,

-and yet these plans are now completely shattered by

-the king's death, like fragments from a shipwreck

-floating around on the stormy billows of a dark sea.

-Strong souls like his generally succumb only by

-destroying themselves.  All the changes and misfortunes

-of his turbulent life had not been able to break his

-iron will; but grief over a ruined hope, the vain

-attempt to reconstruct the vanished castles in the air,

-and the sorrow of seeing his own children themselves

-tear down his work, all this gnawed like a vulture

-upon his inner life.  A single thought had made him

-twenty years older in two years, and this idea was

-presumptuous even to madness.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* A large room, filling the entire house space with the exception of

-one or two small chambers.  Sleeping bunks are arranged round the

-walls.  The later peasants' houses have more rooms.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-"Why is not one of my own family at this moment

-King of Sweden?"  Thus it ran.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At times Meri raises her mild blue eyes from the

-Holy Book and regards her old father with anxious

-looks.  She, too, looks older; the quiet sorrow lies

-like the autumn over green groves; it neither breaks

-or kills, but makes the fresh leaves wither on the tree

-of life.  Meri's glance is full of peace and submission.

-The thought that shines forth from her soul like a

-sun at its setting, is none other than this:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beyond the grave I shall again meet the joy of my

-heart, and then he will no longer wear an earthly

-crown."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Near her, to the left, sits old Larsson, short and

-stout like his jovial son.  His good-natured, hearty

-face has for a time assumed a more solemn expression,

-as he listens to the reading of the sacred book.  His

-hands are folded as in prayer, and now and then he

-stirs the fire a little, with friendly attention, so that

-Meri can see better.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Behind him in a devotional attitude sit some of

-the field hands; and this group, illuminated by the

-reflection of the fire, is completed by a purring grey

-cat, and a large shaggy watch-dog, curled up under

-Meri's feet, to which he seems proud to serve as a

-footstool.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-When Meri in her reading came to the place in

-Luke, where it speaks of the Prodigal Son, old

-Bertila's eyes began to glitter with a sinister light.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The reprobate!" he muttered to himself.  "To

-waste one's inheritance, that is nothing!  But to

-forget one's old father ... by God, that is shameful!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri read until she came to the Prodigal Son's

-repentance: "And he arose and came to his father.

-But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw

-him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his

-neck, and kissed him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What a fool of a father!" again muttered Aron

-Bertila to himself.  "He ought to have bound him

-with cords, beaten him with rods, and then driven

-him away from his house back to the riotous living

-and the empty wine-cups!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Father!" whispered Meri reproachfully.  "Be

-merciful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful, and

-takes the lost children to His arms."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And if your son ever returns..." began Larsson

-in the same tone.  But Bertila stopped him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold your tongues, and don't trouble yourselves

-about me.  I have no longer any son ... who falls

-repentant at my feet," he added directly, when he

-saw two large, clear pearls glistening in Meri's

-eyelashes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-She continued: "And the son said unto him,

-Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy

-sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stop reading that!" burst out the old man, in a

-bad temper.  "See that my bed is in order, and let

-the folks go to sleep; it is now late."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At this moment horses' hoofs were heard outside

-on the creaking snow.  This unusual occurrence on

-the evening of a sacred day made Larsson go to the

-low window, and breathe on the frost-covered pane,

-so as to look out into the storm.  A sleigh, drawn by

-two horses, worked its way through the snow-drifts

-and drove into the yard.  Two men in sheep-skin

-cloaks jumped out.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Seized with a sudden intuition, Larsson hurried

-out to meet the travellers, and quick as lightning

-Meri followed him.  The door swung to behind them,

-and there was a moment's delay before it opened

-again.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But now a young man in a soldier's garb entered

-with bowed head, threw aside his plumed hat, white

-with snow, and going straight to old Bertila, knelt

-down, and bent his beautiful curly head still lower,

-as he said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Father, I am here, and ask your blessing!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And behind him stood Meri and old Larsson, both

-with clasped hands, and raising their pleading eyes

-to the stern old man, with the same words:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Father, here is thy son, give him thy blessing!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For a brief moment Bertila struggled with himself,

-his lips slightly trembled, and his hand was

-unconsciously stretched out, as if to lift up the young

-man at his feet.  But soon his bald head rose higher,

-his hand drew back, his keen eyes flashed darker

-than ever, and his lips trembled no more.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go!" said he, short and sharp; "go, you reprobate

-boy, back to your brother noblemen, and your

-sisters, the fine ladies.  What seek you in the plain

-peasant's 'stuga,' which you despise?  Go!  I have

-no longer a son!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the youth went not.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not be angry, my father," he said, "if in my

-youthful ambition I have at any time violated your

-commands.  Who sent me out amongst the great and

-illustrious ones of the earth, to win fame and honour?

-Who bade me go to the war to ennoble my peasant

-name with great deeds?  Who exposed me to the

-temptation of all the brilliant examples which

-surrounded the king?  You, and only you, my father;

-and now you thrust away your son, who for your sake

-twice refused a patent of nobility."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You!" exclaimed the old man with foaming rage.

-"You renounce a patent of nobility, you, who have

-blushed for your peasant name and taken another

-which would look more imposing?  No, on your

-knees have you begged for a coat of arms.  What do

-I know about its being offered you; what do I care.

-I only know that since your earliest childhood I have

-tried to implant in your soul, recreant, that there are

-no other rightful powers than the king and people,

-that all who place themselves between, whether they

-bear the name of aristocrats, ecclesiastics, or what

-not, are monstrosities, a ruin, a curse to State and

-country ... all this have I tried to teach you, and

-the fruit of my teachings has been that you have

-smuggled yourself among this nobility, which I hate

-and despise, that you have coveted its empty titles,

-paraded with its extravagant display, imbibed its

-prejudices, and now you stand here, in your father's

-house, with a lie on your lips, and aristocratic vanity

-in your heart.  Go, degenerate son!  Aron Bertila is

-what he has always been&mdash;a peasant!  He curses and

-rejects you, apostate!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With these words the old man turned away, rose

-and went with a firm step and a high head into the

-little bed-chamber, leaving Bertel still on his knees in

-the same place.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hear me, father, father!" cried Bertel after him,

-as he quickly unbuttoned his coat and took out a

-folded paper; "this paper I have intended to tear

-to pieces at your feet!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the old father did not hear him; the paper fell

-to the ground, and when Larsson, a moment later,

-unfolded and read it, he saw it contained a diploma

-from the Regency in Stockholm, conferring upon

-Gustaf Bertel, captain of horse in the "life-guards,"

-a patent of nobility, and a coat of arms with the name

-of <i>Bertelsköld</i>* at Duke Bernhard of Weimar's

-solicitation.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Bertila is a Finnish peasant name.  Bertel is a burgher name.

-Bertelsköld is a noble name, indicated

-by the termination sköld, always

-a sign of nobility in Sweden and Finland.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-While all in the "stuga" were still perfectly

-stupefied by old Bertila's conduct, three of Fru Marta's

-soldiers from Korsholm entered in great haste.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hullo, boys!" they exclaimed to the hands,

-"have you seen her?  Here is something that will

-pay.  Two hundred silver thalers reward to him who

-seizes and brings back, alive or dead, Lady Regina

-von Emmeritz, state prisoner at Korsholm."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the sound of this name Bertel was aroused from

-his stupefying grief, sprang up, and seized the speaker

-by the collar.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wretch, what did you say?" he exclaimed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ho, ho, if you please!  Be a little more careful

-when you speak to the people of the Royal Majesty

-and the Crown.  I tell you that the German

-traitress, the papistical sorceress, Lady von Emmeritz,

-succeeded in escaping last night from Korsholm

-castle, and that he who does not help to catch her is

-a traitor and a..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The man had no time to finish his speech, before

-a blow from Bertel's strong arm stretched him at

-full-length on the floor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ha, my father, you have wished it!" cried the

-young man, and in a flash was outside the door and

-in his sleigh, which at the next moment was heard

-driving off through the raging tempest.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0308"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER VIII.

-<br /><br />

-THE FUGITIVE LADY.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-We will now see what has become of Lady Regina,

-and what has induced her to exchange Fru Marta's

-tender care for the desperate adventure of fleeing in

-the middle of winter, through a strange country filled

-with desolate tracts, where she was profoundly

-ignorant of the roads and paths, and did not even

-know how to make herself understood in the language

-of the people.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-We must not overlook the fact that our story is

-laid in a period when Catholicism and Lutheranism

-were in the sharpest conflict; when Lutheranism,

-heated by the violent opposition, was as little inclined

-to religious tolerance as Catholicism itself.  Fru

-Marta had once for all been possessed by the idea

-that she was in duty bound to convert Lady Regina

-to the Lutheran faith, and from this well-meant but

-futile enterprise, no one could dissuade her.  She

-therefore persisted, in and out of season, to torment

-the poor girl with her views; sometimes with books,

-sometimes with exhortations, and at others with

-persuasions and threats, or promises of freedom; and

-when Regina refused to read the books, or listen to

-the preaching, the zealous old lady had prayers read

-in her prisoner's room every morning and evening,

-as well as services on Sundays.  All these means were

-thrown away on what Fru Marta considered Regina's

-stubbornness.  The more the former exerted herself,

-the calmer, colder, and more unyielding became her

-captive.  Regina naturally looked upon herself as a

-martyr for her faith, and suffered every humiliation

-with apparent fortitude for the sake of the holy cause.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But within the young girl's veins fermented the

-hot southern blood, and it was with great difficulty

-that she could always appear calm on the surface.

-There were times when Regina would have blown up

-the whole of Korsholm, if it had been in her power.

-But the old granite walls defied her silent rage, and

-flight finally became her only method of escape from

-the persecution.  Night and day she pondered over

-it; and at last she discovered a means of eluding

-Fru Marta's vigilance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In Kajaneborg castle was then confined the

-celebrated and unfortunate Johannes Messenius, who in

-his youth had been educated by the Jesuits in

-Braunsberg, and chosen by them to become the apostle

-of Catholicism in Sweden.  Imprisoned for his

-lampoons and conspiracies in the interest of Sigismund's

-party, he had now for nineteen years, under hard

-treatment, sat there like a mole in his hole, when the

-report of his learning, his misfortunes, and his Popish

-sentiments reached Lady Regina in her prison.  From

-this moment some bold plans began to ferment in

-the young girl's mind.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-One day, about New Year's time, a wandering

-German quack came to Korsholm with his medicine-chest

-on his back, just like peddling Jews at a later

-date.*  Such doctors and apothecaries combined in

-one individual did a lucrative business at the expense

-of the common people, and were frequently consulted

-even by the upper classes, for in the whole country

-there was not a single regular physician, and only

-one apothecary in Abo; and even this one was not

-well stocked.  No wonder, then, that our man found

-enough to do, even at Korsholm, what with pains,

-stomach-aches, and gout; nay, Fru Marta, who, every

-time she had thrashed her male servants, complained

-of colic and shortness of breath, received the foreign

-doctor with very good will.  In a few days the latter

-was quite at home, and thus it fell out that he was

-called in to prescribe for Lady Regina, who was

-suffering from a severe headache.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* It was peculiar that the surgeon always spoke of quacks with great

-contempt, although he had himself travelled about with a medicine

-chest on his back.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-This time, Fru Marta's usual perspicacity deserted

-her.  Two days afterwards the young lady, old

-Dorthe, and the quack doctor were all missing.  A

-grating which had been broken off from the outside,

-and a rope ladder, made it certain that the quack had

-been instrumental in procuring for the prisoner a free

-passage over wall and ramparts.  Fru Marta forgot

-both her colic and shortness of breath, from sheer

-amazement and anger, stirred up the castle and the

-town, and immediately dispatched her soldiers in all

-directions to capture the fugitives.  It will soon be

-seen how far she succeeded.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Let us now return for a moment to Bertel, whom

-we find driving ahead in the stormy night, attended

-by the faithful Pekka, and with a heart full of the

-most conflicting feelings.  The faithful attendant

-could not understand the enormous folly of leaving

-a cheerful fireside and good wholesome porridge, for

-snow-drifts and wolves in the wild woods, as soon

-as they had arrived.  Neither did Bertel comprehend

-it himself.  On returning to the north, by way of

-Tornel, on a furlough from Germany, while the army

-lay in winter quarters, he had hurried through

-Storkyro to Vasa, which was his secret destination.

-And now he had met in one place a father's anger,

-and in the other the empty walls, where she had

-been, but was no longer.  Regina had disappeared

-without leaving a trace.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Where shall I drive?" asked Pekka monotonously

-and gruffly, when they entered the broad highway.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wherever you like," answered his master just as

-testily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pekka turned his horses towards Vasa, about

-twenty miles away.  Bertel noticed this.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ass!" he cried, "have I not ordered you to drive

-north?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"North!" repeated Pekka mechanically, and with

-a heavy sigh turned his horses towards Ny-Karleby,

-to which town it was quite forty miles.  At that time

-they had no regular stations, with horses provided

-for the accommodation of travellers.  But there were

-farms at intervals, where all who travelled on Government

-business could reckon on finding horses, while

-other travellers were obliged to bargain as best they

-could.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The parsonages were the usual stopping-places for

-the night, and always had a room in order in an

-out-building, where beds of straw and a table with cold

-food stood hospitably prepared for travellers.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was, therefore, quite natural that Pekka, with his

-mind still full of the porridge-kettle, ventured to ask

-as a further question whether they would spend the

-night at Wort parsonage.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Drive to Ylihärmä," answered the captain of horse,

-provoked, and wrapping himself up in his long

-sheepskin cloak, for the night wind was icy cold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The devil take me if I understand the pranks

-of these noblemen!" murmured Pekka to himself, as

-he turned off into the narrow village road, which from

-Storkyro leads northward towards Lappo parish.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Here the snow had drifted several feet high

-between the fences, and the travellers could only

-advance step by step.  After an hour's efforts the

-horses were completely worn out, and stopped every

-few paces.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel, absorbed in his thoughts, was scarcely

-conscious of it.  They had left Kyro's wide plains

-behind them, and were now in the midst of Lappo's

-thick woods.  The silence of the wilderness,

-interrupted by the wailing of the storm, surrounded the

-travellers on all sides, and as far as the eye could

-reach there were no traces of human habitations.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pekka had for a time walked by the side of the

-sleigh, and with his broad shoulders lifted it up again,

-when it sank so deep in the snow that the horses'

-strength was insufficient to move it from the spot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Finally his sinewy arms also refused their services,

-and the sleigh stopped right in the midst of a

-mountain of snow.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well!" exclaimed Bertel impatiently, "what is

-the matter?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nothing," replied Pekka stolidly, "except that

-we need neither priest nor undertaker to find us a

-grave."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"How far is it from here to the nearest farm?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Between six and seven miles, I think."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you not see something resembling a light, far

-away there in the woods?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, yes, it looks like it..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Unharness the horses and let us ride there."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, dear master, it is of no use; these woods have

-been fearfully haunted, that I know of old, ever since

-the peasants beat the bailiff to death during the Club

-War, and burned his house and his innocent children."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Nonsense!  I tell you that we will ride there."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is all the same to me."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-In a few moments the horses were taken out of the

-traces, and the two travellers pushed on in the

-direction of the light, which sometimes disappeared and

-then again shone between the snow-covered pines.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But tell me, Pekka," resumed Bertel, "what is the

-story about this wilderness?  I remember that I often

-heard them speak of it in my childhood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, yes, your mother was born here."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"There used to be quite a little colony in this

-wood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, indeed, it was many hundreds of acres in

-extent.  The bailiffs had laid it all out for miles, as

-far back as Gustaf Vasa's time; and here many

-hundreds of tons of grain have been grown, so father

-has told me; and the noble bailiff had built a fine

-house here, and lived like a prince in the wilderness;

-and then, as I told you, the peasants came and set

-fire to the place in the night-time, destroying both

-people and cattle, with the exception of the young

-'Lady,' whom your father saved and afterwards took

-for his wife.  It is very certain that he had a finger

-in that pie."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And so the farm was never built up again."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You may depend upon it that the fields were a

-fat slice, and so there were plenty of people ready

-to move here and bid defiance to the devil.  But the

-old Evil One was too artful for them; he began to

-make such a rumpus here with supernatural performances

-day and night, so that no one was sure of his

-life, much less of his sinful soul.  If they sat in their

-homes, the chairs were pulled from under them, and the

-porridge-bowl rolled of its own accord down on the

-floor; the stones were torn from the walls and were

-showered around people's ears.  If they went out in

-the woods they were no better off; they had to keep

-a sharp look-out that the trees did not come crashing

-down upon their heads, although the weather might

-be perfectly quiet, and that the ground did not open

-under their feet, and draw them down into a bottomless

-pit.  And when I think that we are now travelling

-through the same woods ... Oh, oh, I am sinking..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You fool, it is only the pure snow!&mdash;and then you

-say people could not stand it any longer?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"They all moved away, so that there was not even

-a cat left, except an old cottager, but I suppose he

-died long ago.  The whole settlement was again

-deserted, the ditches filled up, the fields became

-covered with moss, and the pine-woods spread over

-the former grain lands.  It is now forty years since

-that time..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And Pekka, who was not in the habit of making

-long speeches, seemed astonished at his own loquacity,

-and came to a sudden stop as he reigned in his horse.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What is it now?" asked Bertel impatiently.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I don't see a glimpse of the light."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Neither do I.  It is hidden by the trees."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, dear master, it is not concealed by the trees;

-it has sunk into the earth after decoying us here into

-the depths of the forest.  Did not I tell you that it

-would be so?  We shall never get out of this alive."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"For the devil's sake ride on and do not stop, else

-both man and beast will stiffen with the cold.  It

-seems to me I see something like a hut over

-there."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fine hut; it is nothing but a granite rock with

-grey sides, from which the wind has blown away the

-snow.  It is all over with us."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold your tongue, and ride on!  Here we have

-an open space with young woods; I caught a glimpse

-of something there between the snow-drifts."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"All the saints be with us!  We are now on the

-very spot where the house stood.  Do you not see the

-old fire-place sticking out through the snow?  Not

-a step farther, master!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am not mistaken ... it is the hut."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel and his companion found themselves on very

-rough ground, where the horses stumbled at every

-step over large stones, or sank into great hollows

-covered with snow.  Deep snow-drifts and fallen

-trees made it worse still, as if to obstruct the passage

-to a dilapidated peasant's hut, which by design or

-chance was hidden behind two spreading firs, with

-branches hanging to the ground.  The only window

-of the hut had a shutter, which was at one moment

-blown open by the wind and then slammed to again,

-thus causing the light within to show itself and

-disappear by turns.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel dismounted from his horse, tied it to a

-branch of the fir, and approached the window to

-throw a glance inside.  A secret hope gave wings

-to his feet.  He took it for granted that unless the

-fugitives had gone in a northerly direction, they could

-not have followed the main highway, but had sought

-to escape their pursuers on the side roads.  But in

-this part of the plain of East Bothnia hundreds of

-small roads crossed each other at that time, all leading

-to the new settlements in the East.  Who told him

-that the fugitives would select just this road?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Still his heart beat faster when he approached the

-window.  Of the four small panes two were of horn,

-which was formerly used in default of glass; one of

-them was broken and stopped up with moss; only the

-fourth was of glass, but so covered with ice and snow

-that at first nothing could be seen.  Bertel breathed

-on the glass, but found to his vexation that the frost

-on the inside defied his curiosity.  Just then his horse

-neighed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It seemed ridiculous to Bertel to stand spying into

-a poor peasant's hut.  He was already on the point

-of knocking at the door, when at that instant a

-shadow obscured the light, and the frost on the

-inside of the glass was quickly melted by the breath

-of a human being, as eager to look out as he was to

-look in.  Bertel was soon able to discern a face with

-burning eyes, which stared out close to the window,

-to discover the cause of a horse's neighing so late

-at night in the wilderness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The sight of this face had the effect of an electric

-shock upon the inquisitive captain.  With his thoughts

-on the beautiful Regina, Bertel had expected a sight

-not involving so great a contrast.  But instead he

-beheld a corpse-like face surrounded by a black

-tight-fitting, leather hood, and this dark frame made the

-pale face seem still paler.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel had seen these features before, and when

-he searched his memory, the picture of a terrible

-night in the Bavarian woods rose before his mental

-vision.  Involuntarily he drew back, and hesitated for

-a moment.  This motion was observed by Pekka,

-who had remained on his horse so as to be ready to

-fly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Quick, away from here!" he cried.  "I have told

-you that nobody but the devil himself lives in these

-woods."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, you are right," said Bertel, now smiling at

-his own fears, and what he considered to be the

-offspring of his heated fancy.  "If ever the Prince

-of Darkness has assumed a human form, then he

-resides in this hut.  But that is just the reason why

-we will look the worthy gentleman in the face, and

-force him to give us lodgings for the night.  Hullo,

-there! open the door to some travellers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-These words were accompanied by some heavy

-blows on the door.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0309"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER IX.

-<br /><br />

-DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-After some time the door was opened, and an old

-man, bent with age, and with snow-white hair,

-disclosed himself.  Accustomed by the right of war to

-take whatever was necessary, when it was not given

-voluntarily, Bertel pushed the old man aside and

-entered the miserable hut without ceremony.  To his

-great astonishment he found it empty.  A half burnt

-"perta,"* stuck in between the bricks of the fire-place,

-threw a flickering light around this abode of poverty.

-There was no door except the entrance; no living

-being besides the old man and a large woolly dog,

-which lay outstretched on the hearth, and showed

-his teeth to the uninvited guest.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* A thin stick of pine-wood, a yard long and an inch thick, which

-the peasants sometimes use instead of candles.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-"Where is the man in the black leather hood, who

-was here a moment ago?" asked Bertel sharply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"God bless your grace," answered the old man

-humbly and evasively, "who could be here but your

-grace?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Out with the truth!  Somebody must be hidden

-here.  Under the bed ... no.  Behind the oven

-... no.  And yet you have just had a large fire kindled

-in the fire-place.  What?  I believe it is put out with

-water?  Answer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is so cold, your grace, and the hut is full of

-cracks..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel's aroused suspicions were not so easily

-dispelled.  His eyes searched every part of the room,

-and soon discovered a little object which had fallen

-under a bench.  It was a fine and soft lady's glove,

-lined with flannel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Will you now confess, old wretch?" burst out the

-excited young man.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man seemed dismayed, but only for a

-moment.  He suddenly changed his manner, nodded

-slyly, and pointed to the corner nearest the oven.

-Bertel followed the hint ... took a few steps

-... and suddenly felt himself precipitated downwards.

-He had fallen into the open hole of a cellar, whose

-entrance had been hidden by the heavy shadow of

-the fire-place.  Instantly a trap-door was closed over

-the opening, and he heard the rattling of an iron

-hook, which secured the trap and deprived him of

-all chance of opening the door from below.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel had fallen into one of those places under

-the floor in which poor people keep roots and

-home-brewed beer.  The cellar was not deep, nor his fall

-dangerous, but, nevertheless, Bertel's anger was quite

-natural.  The little glove had betrayed the whole

-story.  She must be here; she, the beautiful, proud,

-unfortunate princess, whom he had so long adored

-in secret.  Perhaps she had fallen into the hands of

-cruel robbers.  And just now, when he was near to

-her after years of longing, and when, perhaps, she

-most needed his help and protection, he had been

-caught in a miserable trap; imprisoned in a rat-hole,

-more miserable than the hut itself, of which the floor

-this moment served him for a ceiling.  In vain did

-he try to lift up the planks of the floor by the strength

-of his shoulders; they were as inexorable as the fate

-which had so long mocked his dearest hopes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then he heard the footsteps of several persons

-passing over the floor overhead.  Then all was silent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Pekka was now Bertel's only hope, but the former

-had not dared to enter the hut.  Nothing was heard

-of him, however, and three or four hours passed in

-torturing suspense, increased by the prospect of

-perishing from hunger and cold.  Then steps again

-sounded overhead; the iron hook was unfastened,

-and the trap-door raised.  Half-frozen, Bertel crawled

-up from the damp hole, in the firm belief that Pekka

-had at last spied out his prison.  He was met instead

-by the old man with the snow-white hair, who,

-humble and submissive as before, offered his hand

-to help him up.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The enraged young warrior seized him by his bony

-shoulders, and proceeded to catechise him in a

-thorough manner.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wretch," he exclaimed, "are you tired of life, or

-do you not know what you are doing, dotard?  What

-hinders me from crushing your miserable carcase

-against the walls of your own hut?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man looked at him with an unchanging

-countenance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do so, Bertila's son," he replied; "kill your

-mother's old faithful servant if you wish; why should

-he live any longer?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My mother's old servant, do you say?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am the last survivor of all those who formerly

-inhabited this fertile region, which is now a

-wilderness.  It was I who said to Aron Bertila, when my

-master's house was destroyed in blood and ashes:

-'Save my young mistress.'  And Bertila did it;

-cursed is he and blessed at the same time!  He

-carried my lovely young mistress out of the flames,

-and she, a noble maiden, became the haughty

-peasant's humble wife."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But are you mad, old man?  If you are, as you

-say, my mother's old servant, why did you shut me

-up in that damned hole?  You must admit that your

-friendship is of a strange kind."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Kill me, sir.  I am ninety years of age.  Kill me,

-I am a Catholic!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You!  Well, by my sword now I begin to understand you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am the last Catholic in this country.  I belong

-to King John's and King Sigismund's time.  I am

-one of the four who buried the last nun in Nadendal's

-cloister.  For twenty years I have not heard mass,

-or been sprinkled with holy water.  But all the saints

-be praised, an hour before your arrival, I had eaten

-of the holy wafer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A monk has been in your hut?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, sir, one of ours."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And with him a young girl and her old waiting-maid?

-Answer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, sir, they were in his company."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And on my arrival you concealed them..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"In the garret.  Yes, your grace."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then you decoyed me into that miserable rat-hole,

-while you allowed the women and the monk to

-escape."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do not deny that it is so."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And what do you think that your reward will be?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Anything&mdash;death, perhaps."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I will spare your life on one condition: you shall

-show me the way the fugitives have taken."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My life; I told you that I was ninety years old."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And you do not fear the torture?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The saints be praised, if I was worthy of so great

-an honour."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But if I burn you alive in your own hut?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The holy martyrs have been burnt at the stake."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, old man, I am not an executioner.  I have

-learnt in the service of my king to revere

-faithfulness."  And Bertel pressed the old man's hand with

-emotion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But I will tell you one thing," he continued, "you

-think that I have come to take the fugitives back to

-their prison.  It is not so.  I give you my word of

-honour, that I will defend Lady Regina's freedom

-with my life's blood, and do all in my power to favour

-her flight.  Will you now tell me which way she has

-gone?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No, your grace," said the calm old man; "the

-young lady is under the protection of the saints, and

-a wise man's guidance.  You are hot-blooded and

-young, and would bring them all to ruin.  Turn back,

-you will not find any trace of the fugitives."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bull-head," muttered Bertel indignantly.  "Farewell,

-I shall get along without your help."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Remain here quietly until to-morrow, your grace.

-To-night you are at liberty to walk, if you choose, six

-miles through the high snow-drifts, to the nearest

-farm.  To-morrow you can ride comfortably."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Wretch! you have sent my horses away?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, your grace ... you must be hungry.  Here

-is a kettle with boiled turnips; may they be to your

-taste."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ah!" thought Bertel to himself, as he impatiently

-paced the floor, "I would not let Larsson see me

-at this moment for ten bottles of Rhine wine.  He

-would certainly compare me to the wandering knight

-of La Mancha, who, on the way to his Dulcinea, fell

-into the most peculiar adventures.  How shall I get

-away from here through these terrible snow-drifts?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But," he added aloud, "I have an idea; I will

-try if one of the greatest amusements of my youth

-cannot serve me a good turn now.  Old man, where

-do you keep your snow-shoes?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My snow-shoes?" replied the old man, confused.

-"I have none."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You have, I see it in your face.  No Finn in the

-wilderness is without snow-shoes.  Out with them,

-quick!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-And without heeding the old man, Bertel pushed

-open the door which led to the garret, and drew out

-a fine pair of snow-shoes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, old friend," exclaimed the young cavalier,

-"what do you think of my horses? ... I call them

-mine, for I will bet anything that you will sell them

-to me for three hard silver thalers: swifter steeds

-have seldom hurried over high snow-drifts.  If you

-have any greeting for the monk or Lady Regina, I

-will take it with pleasure."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not go alone into the wilderness," said the

-old man.  "There is neither track or path; the woods

-extend for miles, and are filled with wolves.  It will

-be certain death to you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are wrong, my friend," replied Bertel.  "If

-I am not mistaken, there are traces in two directions:

-one from my horses, the other from the fugitives.

-Tell me, did they go in a sleigh, or on horseback?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I think they went on horseback."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then I am certain they drove.  You are a finished

-rogue.  But I forgive you for the sake of your

-excellent snow-shoes.  Farewell, in a couple of hours

-I will find those whom I seek."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-With these words Bertel hurried out.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was yet early in the morning, a short time before

-sunrise.  But fortunately the storm had ceased, the

-sky was clear, and the winter stars twinkled brightly

-in the blue firmament.  The cold had increased, and

-a sharp frost had covered all the branches and

-snowdrifts with those ice diamonds, which at once dazzle

-and charm the wanderer's eye.  The sight of woods

-and snow on a starry winter morning gives the

-Northerner a peculiar exhilarating feeling.  There

-is in this scene a grandeur, a splendour, a purity, a

-freshness, which carries him back to the impressions

-of his childhood and the brilliant illusions of youth.

-There is nothing to cramp the heart, or paralyze the

-soaring imagination; all is there so vast, so solemn,

-so free.  One might say that nature in this deep

-silence of winter and night is dead, and yet she lives,

-warm and rich, in the wanderer's heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is as if she had in this little spot, this solitary

-place in the wilderness, compressed all her throbbing

-life, only to let it exist all the more beautifully in the

-midst of silence, stillness, and the radiance of the

-stars.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel also experienced this feeling of freshness

-and life.  He was still young and open to every

-impression.  As he hastened along, light as the wind,

-between the trees and snow-drifts, he felt like a

-child.  It seemed to him that he was again the boy

-who flew over the snow on Storkyro plains to spread

-his snares for the black-cock in the woods.  It was

-true that he was a little unsteady in the beginning

-for lack of practice, and the snow-shoes slid merrily

-down the icy slopes; occasionally he made false

-pushes, and sometimes stumbled, but he soon regained

-his former skill, and stood firm on the uneven

-ground.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Now it was necessary to find the traces of the

-fugitives, and this was not easy.  Bertel had

-wandered about for more than an hour in the direction

-of Ylihärmä, but had not discovered the slightest

-sign.  The last outbreak of the storm had destroyed

-all indications; one could only see the fresh track

-of the wolf, where he had just trotted along, and now

-and then a frightened bird flew between the branches

-which were heavy with snow.  Want of sleep, hunger,

-and fatigue, exhausted the young man's strength.

-The cold increased as sunrise approached, and

-covered his moustache and plumed hat with frost.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At last he saw on a wood-path, which the broad

-pines had shielded from the blast, fresh traces of

-runners and horses' feet.  Bertel followed these with

-renewed energy; at times the tracks were lost in the

-snow, and then reappeared where the road was

-sheltered.  The sun rose deep red in the south-east

-over the tops of the trees.  The day was cold and

-clear.  In every direction nothing was to be seen

-but trees and snow-drifts, but far away in the north

-a little column of smoke rose towards the morning

-sky.  Bertel aimed at this point.  The snow-shoes

-regained their speed, the road seemed smoother, and

-at last the weary adventurer reached a solitary

-farmhouse by the side of the high road.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The first person he encountered was Pekka, who

-was going to feed his horses.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Scoundrel!" cried Bertel, with glad surprise,

-"who sent you here?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who?" repeated Pekka, equally delighted and

-astonished.  "Well, I shall tell you that the devil

-did it.  I waited and waited outside that accursed

-old shanty in the woods until my eyes and feet

-became heavy together, where I sat in the snow-drift.

-After a little while I was aroused by the neighing

-of horses.  And then I saw a sleigh just like ours

-harnessed to two horses, dashing away along the

-road.  It is either my master or the devil.  It is all

-the same to me.  I will follow him, I said.  Then I

-climbed up again on the horse's back.  I was so hungry

-that it is a shame to speak of it; but I went after him.

-Finally the horse became tired and I lost sight of

-the sleigh; and thanked are both Lutheran and

-Catholic saints that I came here to the farm and got

-a good bowl of porridge.  For was it not at Lützen

-and Nördlingen ... it is damned cold at Ylihärmä,

-that is sure."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Good," said Bertel, "they shall not escape us.

-But do you know one thing, Pekka: there are

-moments when hunger and want of sleep are even

-stronger than love itself.  Come, let us go in."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel entered, and drank a bowl of boiled milk,

-and threw himself, overcome by fatigue, on a straw

-bed in the "stuga."  Here we will leave our

-wandering knight for a couple of hours in peace.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0310"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER X.

-<br /><br />

-KAJANEBORG.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Far away in the North roar the mighty waters of the

-sea under vaults of ice; the <i>fors</i> never freezes, the

-green of the pine never withers, and the grey rocks,

-which confine the foaming floods in narrow ravines,

-never shake.  Here the powers of nature have

-pursued their incessant warfare for centuries without

-rest, without reconciliation; the flood never tires

-of battling with the rocks, and these persist in

-resisting the stream; the hills never seem to grow old,

-and the immense morasses defy cultivation; the

-frosty transparent atmosphere quivers as of old in

-the northern light, and the winter sky looks down

-with its imperturbable, majestic calm upon the

-scattered huts on the banks of the streams.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This is the home of night and terror; this is the

-shadow of Finnish poetry's golden pictures.  Here

-the light-shunning Black Art spins its webs around

-human beliefs; here are the graves of heroes; here

-the last giants spent their rude strength in the

-mountain wilderness; here stood Hüsis ancient fortress,

-of which the steps were each six feet in height; here

-the spirit of the middle ages brooded over its darkest

-thoughts; here it receded, step by step, before the

-light of a newer time, and here it has bled in its

-impotent rage; heathenism, fallen from its greatness,

-steals outlawed from place to place, in the sheep's

-clothing of Christendom, going restlessly around the

-country, and performing its miserable mummeries in

-churchyards at night.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Before the great northern waters, irritated by their

-battles in hundreds of <i>forssar</i>* go to seek a brief

-repose in Uleä Sea, they once more pour out their

-anger into the two mighty waterfalls of Koivukoski

-and Ämmä, near the little Kajana.  Like two

-immense surfs the torrents throw themselves headlong

-down the narrow pass, and so violent is their fall that

-human daring, accustomed to struggle with nature

-and conquer in the end, has here stopped with dismay

-and acknowledged its powerlessness.  Up to the

-latest times the boats which have steered down the

-<i>forssar</i> in their course towards Uleäborg, have

-always been obliged to land here and be drawn by

-horses through the streets of Kajana.**

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* Plural of fors.

-</p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-** After the surgeon's time, a lock was completed here at each fall,

-and the boats now continue on their way without much delay.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-In the stream, right between the two falls,

-Koivukoski and Ämmä, lies a flat rock, to which bridges

-are attached from both sides.  Here stand the grey

-walls of an ancient fortress, now in ruins, and

-constantly bathed by the waves of the flood.  This

-fortress of Kajaneborg was founded in 1607, during

-Carl IX.'s time, as a protection against Russian

-invasion.  Perhaps the time may come in our stories

-when we shall speak more of it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is now 1635, and the castle stands in its original

-strength.  Its form resembles an arrow with the point

-turned towards the stream.  Unless famine occurs, or

-the enemy can bring heavy artillery to the heights,

-it is considered impregnable.  But how can a hostile

-army find any road to Kajaneborg?  In the immense

-wilderness all around there is not a single road where

-a wheel can run.  In summer the traveller follows

-the narrow paths, and in winter the Laplander, with

-his reindeer and sleigh, drives over the frozen lakes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is winter; a thick crust of ice on the shores and

-over the walls of the castle shows that the cold has

-been severe, though it has not been able to bind the

-<i>fors</i> in its rapid course.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Some soldiers, clad in sheep-skin jackets, with the

-fur side turned inwards, are busy drawing home wood

-from the adjacent forest.  There is peace in the land,

-the drawbridge is down, and horses' feet thunder

-over the bridge.  Then a violent squabble arises in

-the castle yard.  An old woman, tall in stature, with

-rather disagreeable features, has taken possession of

-one of the loads of wood, and pushed away the

-soldiers, while she picks up as many pieces as she is

-able to carry, and commands another younger woman

-to do likewise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The soldiers utter coarse oaths, but the woman

-with the keen eyes does not deign to reply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A sub-officer, drawn there by the noise, informs

-himself of the cause, then addresses the woman with hard

-words, and orders her to return the wood she has

-taken.  The woman refuses to obey; the sub-officer

-endeavours to use force; the woman plants herself

-back to the wall, raises a small log of wood in the

-air, and threatens to break the head of the first man

-who approaches her.  The soldiers swear and laugh;

-the sub-officer hesitates; the old woman's courage

-holds them all in check.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then an elderly man appears on the steps, to

-whom all give way with reverence.  It is Governor

-Wernstedt.  As soon as the old woman sees him, she

-leaves her hostile attitude, and relates with a torrent

-of words all the injustice she has suffered.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, gracious Excellency," she said, "that is the

-way they dare to treat a man who is the pride and

-ornament of Sweden.  It is not sufficient to shut him

-up in this miserable out-of-the-way hole, but they

-let him freeze to death in the bargain.  What wood

-have they given us?  Great God! nothing but green

-and rotten chunks, which fill the room with smoke,

-and do not give out heat enough to thaw the ink on

-his table.  But I tell you, Excellency, that I, Lucia

-Grothusen, do not intend to be imposed upon any

-longer.  This wood is good, and I take it, as you see,

-Excellency, right before the face of these vagabonds,

-who deserve to all hang upon the highest pine in the

-Paldamo forest.  Pack yourselves off, you lazy,

-good-for-nothing rascals, and look out how you act before

-me and the Governor.  The wood is mine, and that

-is all to be said about it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Governor smiled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Let her keep the wood," he said to the soldiers,

-"or else there will be no peace in the castle.  And you,

-Lucia, I warn you to hold your wicked tongue, which

-has already done so much mischief; otherwise it may

-happen that I shall again put you and your husband

-in that basement you know of, where Erik Hare kept

-you, and where the stream rolls right under the floor.

-Is this the thanks I get for the mild treatment I have

-bestowed upon you, that you are eternally exciting

-quarrels in the castle?  The day before yesterday

-you gave rein to your tongue, because you did not

-receive enough soap for your washing; yesterday you

-took a leg of mutton by force from my kitchen, and

-to-day you make a noise about the wood.  Take care,

-Lucia; my patience may be exhausted."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The woman looked the Governor right in the face.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your patience!" she repeated.  "How long do

-you think that mine will last.  I have stayed

-now nearly nineteen years in this owl's nest.

-For nineteen long years has it cast a stain upon

-Sweden that its greatest man is confined here like

-a criminal! ... Mark what I say: Sweden's greatest

-man; for the day will arrive when you, and I, and

-all these souls of lard, all these wandering ale-jugs,

-will be food for worms, and no more thought of than

-the hogs you killed to-day; but the glorious name

-of Johannes Messenius will shine for all time.  Your

-patience!  Have I, then, had none&mdash;I who in these

-long weary years have been fighting with you for

-a bit of bread, for firewood, for a pillow for this great

-man, whom you abuse?  I, the only one who has

-kept his frail body alive, and strengthened his soul

-for the great work which he has now accomplished?

-Do you realise what it means to suffer as I have; to

-be snatched away from one's children, to go about

-with despair in the heart, and a smile on the lips, so

-as to seem to have a hope when none remains? ... Do

-you know, your Excellency, what all this means?

-And you stand there and talk about your patience!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The soldiers' loud laughter all at once interrupted

-the voluble old woman.  She now perceived for the

-first time that the Governor had chosen the wisest

-course, and gone his way.  It was not the first time

-that Lucia Grothusen had put the commander of a

-fortress to flight.  She felt able to drive a whole

-garrison to the woods.  But it vexed her that she

-could not fully relieve her heart.  She threw a stick

-of wood at the nearest and worst of her mockers,

-and then hurried with the wood in her arms, to reach

-a low back door.  The soldier, struck in the leg,

-seized the stick with an oath, and flung it in his turn

-after the old woman.  Lucia, hit in the heel, uttered

-a cry of pain and anger ... and then she disappeared

-through the door, followed by the soldiers'

-loud laughter.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-During this scene of self-sacrifice on one side, and

-rudeness on the other, a group of strangers had

-arrived over the left castle bridge, and asked to be

-conducted to the Governor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The soldiers regarded them with curiosity.  They

-wore the common garb of peasants, but their whole

-appearance betrayed their foreign origin.  An old

-man, with dark squinting eyes and sallow

-complexion, came first; his face partly hidden under a

-woolly cap of dog-skin, which with its ear-flaps covered

-the greater portion of the head.  After him followed

-a young woman in a striped home-spun skirt, and a

-tight-fitting jacket of new and fine white sheep-skin.

-Her face, also, is almost entirely concealed under a

-hood of coarse felt, bordered with squirrel-skin, the

-fine fur of which is covered with frost.  One only

-saw a pair of beautiful dark eyes of unusual

-brilliancy, which peeped forth from the hood.  The

-third of the company was a little old woman, so

-wrapped up in furs that her short figure had widened

-out into the shape of a well-stuffed cushion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All these persons were conducted to the Governor.

-The man in the dog-skin cap showed a passport,

-according to which, Albertus Simonis, in his royal

-Majesty's service, was appointed army physician to

-the troops which were to go to Germany the following

-spring, and was now, with his wife and daughter,

-on a journey from Dantzig to Stockholm, by way of

-the north road through Wiborg and Kajana.  The

-Governor closely examined both the document and

-the man, and seemed to find a satisfactory conclusion

-to his survey.  Then he sent the travellers to a room

-in the east wing of the castle, and gave orders

-for them to be provided with the necessary refreshments

-after such a long journey in the severe cold.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0311"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XI.

-<br /><br />

-THE PRISONER OF STATE.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-The room which we now enter is situated in the

-south tower of the castle, and is not very inviting.

-It is large and dark.  Although with a sunny aspect,

-the narrow window, with its thick iron gratings, only

-admits a few of the winter's day sunbeams.  A large

-open fire-place, with a granite hearth, occupies one

-corner of the room; a rough unpainted bed, a couple

-of benches, two chairs, a clothes-chest, a large table

-under the window, and a high cupboard next to it,

-make up the furniture of the room.  All these things

-have a new appearance, which to some degree

-reconciles the eye to their coarseness.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But the room is a curious combination of kitchen

-and study.  Learning has established its abode at

-the upper end nearest the window.  The table is

-adorned with ink spots, and covered with old

-yellow manuscripts and large folios of parchments.

-The door of the cupboard is open, and shows its use

-as a library.  The lower part of the room, near the

-fire-place, has a different appearance.  Here stands

-a wash-tub by a sack of flour; a kettle is waiting

-to receive some dried pike and bits of salt pork, and

-leaves room for a bucket of water, and a shelf filled

-with coarse stone dishes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Such was the habitation which Governor Wernstedt

-had assigned to the state prisoner, Johannes Messenius,

-his wife, and servant, instead of the horrible place

-where Messenius' tormentor, old Erik Hare, for so

-many years confined these unfortunate beings.  The

-room was at least high and dry above the ground,

-and its furniture was likewise a friendly gift from the

-Governor.  Messenius occupied the upper part, and

-the women of his household the lower.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By the large ink-spotted table sat a grey-haired

-man, with his body wrapped in furs, his feet clad

-with reindeer boots, and his head covered with a thick

-woollen cap.  One who had seen this man in the days

-of his prosperity, when he occupied the rostrum in

-Upsala "Consistorium," or proud as a king on his

-throne, exercising sole control over all the historical

-treasures of the Swedish state archives, would scarcely

-now recognise in this withered form, bent by age

-and misfortune, the man with the arrogant mind, the

-opponent of Rudbeck and Tegel, the learned, gifted,

-haughty, Jesuit conspirator, Johannes Messenius.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But if one looked deep into those keen, restless

-eyes, which seemed constantly trying to penetrate

-the future as they had done the past, and read the

-words which his shaking hand had just penned&mdash;words

-full of egotism even to presumption&mdash;then one

-could divine that within this decayed tenement toiled

-a soul unbroken by time and events, proud as it had

-always been, ambitious as it could never cease to be.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The old man's gaze was fixed upon the paper long

-after he had laid down his pen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," he said thoughtfully and reflectively, "so

-shall it be.  During my lifetime they have trampled

-me like a worm in the dust; once I am dead they will

-know upon whom they have trodden.  <i>Gloria, gloria

-in excelsis!</i>  The day will arrive, even if it be a

-century hence, when the miserable prisoner who, now

-forgotten by the whole world, pines away in the

-wilderness, shall with admiration and respect be

-called the father of Swedish history....

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then," he continued with a bitter smile, "they

-can do nothing more for me.  Then I shall be dead

-... Ah, it is strange! the dead man, whose bones

-have long mouldered in the grave, lives in his works;

-his spirit goes quickening and ennobling through the

-ages.  All that he has endured while he lived, all

-the ignominy, all the persecutions, all the prison

-gratings are forgotten; they exist no longer, provided

-his name still shines like a star through the night of

-time, and posterity, with its short memory and its

-ingratitude, says, with thoughtless admiration, he was

-a great man!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-During this soliloquy the old woman, whose

-acquaintance we made in the castle yard, entered the

-room.  She carefully opened the door, and walked

-on tip-toe, as if afraid of waking a sleeping babe.

-Then she carefully put down the wood she carried

-in her arms.  A little noise, however, was unavoidable;

-the old man at the table, startled from his

-thoughts, began to upbraid the intruder:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Woman!" he said, "how dare you disturb me!

-Have I not told you <i>iterum iterumque</i>, that you shall

-take away your <i>penates procul a parnasso</i>?  Do you

-understand it ... <i>lupa</i>?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Dear Messenius, I am only bringing you a little

-wood.  You have been so cold all these days.  Do

-not be angry now.  I shall make the room nice and

-warm for you; it is excellent wood..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Quid miki tecum</i>.  Go to the dogs.  You vex

-me, woman.  You are, as the late King Gustaf

-always said, <i>Messenü mala herba</i>; my wormwood,

-my nettle."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia Grothusen was an extremely quick-tempered

-woman, angry and quarrelsome with the whole world;

-but this time she kept quite still.  How strangely

-her domestic position had altered!  She had always

-idolized her husband, but as long as he was in the

-full strength of his manhood and prosperity, she had

-bent his unquiet, vacillating spirit like a reed under

-her will.  All that time the feared and learned

-Messenius was held in complete subjection.  Now

-the <i>rôles</i> were changed.  As his physical strength

-declined, indicating more and more that he approached

-the end of his life, his wife's idolatrous love

-came into conflict with her masterful disposition, and

-finally produced the extraordinary result of reducing

-this character to humble submission.  She nursed

-him as a mother nurses her sick child, for fear of

-losing him.  She bore everything patiently, and never

-had an angry word in reply to his querulous remarks.

-Even on this occasion, only a slight trembling of the

-lips gave evidence of the effort it cost her to check

-her anger.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never mind," she said kindly, as she went a few

-steps nearer, "do not feel angry about it, my dear,

-because it injures your health.  I will not do it

-again; next time I will lay a mat under the wood,

-so that it will not disturb you.  Now I will cook you

-a splendid leg of mutton for supper ... Believe me,

-I had trouble enough to get it.  I almost had to take

-it by force from the Governor's kitchen."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What, woman! have you dared to beg <i>beneficia</i>

-from tyrants?  By Jupiter, do you think me a dog,

-that I should eat the crumbs from their tables?  And

-then you limp.  Why do you do that?  Answer me;

-why do you limp?  I suppose you have been running

-around like a gossiping old woman, and tripped on

-the stairs."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do I limp?" repeated Lucia, with a forced smile.

-"I really believe I have hurt my foot ... Ungrateful!"

-added she silently to herself; "it is for your

-sake that I suffer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Go your way, and let me finish my epitaph."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Lucia did not go; she came closer to him.

-Her eyes filled with tears, and she folded both her

-arms around the old man's neck.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your epitaph!" she repeated in a voice so mild

-that one would never have expected it from those

-withered lips, used so very often for hard words and

-invective only.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Oh, my God!" she continued in a low tone, "shall,

-then, all that is great and glorious on earth finally

-become dust?  But that day is still far distant, my

-friend; yes, it must be so.  Let me see the epitaph

-of the great Johannes Messenius!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Certainly," said the old man, consoled by her

-sincere flattery, "you are decidedly the true <i>persona

-executrix</i> who ought to read my <i>epitaphium</i>, as you

-are also the one who will have to engrave it on my

-tombstone.  Look, my dear; what do you think of

-this?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Here lie the bones of Doctoris Johannes Messenii.

-His soul is in God's kingdom, but his fame is all over

-the world!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never," said Lucia, weeping, "have truer words

-been placed over a great man's grave.  But let us

-say no more about it.  Let us speak of your great

-work, your <i>Scondia</i>.  Do you know I have a feeling

-that its glory will in a short time prepare freedom for

-you..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Freedom!" repeated Messenius, in a melancholy

-tone.  "Yes, you are right; the freedom of the grave

-to decay wherever one chooses."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No," replied Lucia with eagerness and enthusiasm,

-"you shall yet receive the honour that is due to you.

-They will read your great <i>Scondia illustrata</i>, they

-will have it printed ... with your name in gilded

-letters on the title-page ... the whole world will

-say, full of admiration: 'never has his equal existed

-in the North'!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And never will exist again!" added Messenius,

-with confidence.  "Oh! who will restore me my

-freedom&mdash;freedom that I may behold my work and

-triumph over my enemies.  Hear me, Lord, I stretch

-out my hands before Thy face.  Save me from misery,

-for Thou hast said: 'I will prostrate thine enemies,

-to be trampled under thy feet.'  Who will give me

-freedom&mdash;freedom and ten years of life to witness

-the fruits of my labour?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I," answered a muffled voice at the lower end of

-the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the sound of this voice both Messenius and

-his wife looked around with superstitious terror.  The

-loneliness of the prison, and the associations of this

-wild country, which in all ages has been the fruitful

-soil of superstition, had in both increased the belief

-in superhuman things to a perfect conviction.  More

-than once had Messenius' brooding spirit been on

-the point of plunging into the enticing labyrinth of

-the Kabala and practical Magic; but his zealous

-labours and his wife's religious exhortations had held

-him back.  Now came an unexpected answer to his

-question ... from Heaven or the abyss, no matter

-which, but an answer, nevertheless&mdash;a straw for his

-drowning hopes.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The short winter day had drawn to a close, and

-twilight already spread its shadows over that part

-of the room which lay nearest the door.  From this

-obscurity advanced a man, in whose sallow features

-one recognised the same person who two hours before

-had gained an entrance to the castle, under the name

-of Albertus Simonis.  He had probably, in his

-capacity of physician, obtained permission to see the

-prisoner, for the whole medical faculty of the castle

-consisted of a barber, who practised chirurgery, and

-an old soldier's widow, whose skill in curing internal

-diseases was highly commended, especially when it

-was assisted by <i>luvut</i>, or incantations, which,

-although forbidden by the Church, were still used in

-the vapour-baths as powerful magical aids.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Pax vobiscum!</i>" said the stranger with a certain

-solemnity, and coming nearer the window.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May the Lord be with you also!" answered

-Messenius, in the same tone, and with curiosity

-mingled with inquietude.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"May the woman's tongue be far from the

-consultation!" continued the stranger also in Latin.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia, in whose youth the daughters of learned

-men knew Latin better than those of the nineteenth

-century read French, did not wait for a further

-reminder, and left the room with an inquisitive glance

-at the mysterious stranger.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Messenius made a sign to his visitor to take a seat

-near him.  The whole conversation was conducted in

-Latin.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Receive my greeting, great man, whom misfortune

-has only been able to elevate!" began the stranger,

-with artful discrimination attacking Messenius'

-weakest point.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be welcome, you who do not disdain to visit the

-forsaken!" replied Messenius with unusual courtesy.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you recognise me, Johannes Messenius?" said

-the stranger, as he let the light fall on his pale face.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It seems to me that I have seen your face before,"

-replied the prisoner hesitatingly; "but it must have

-been a long time ago."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do you remember a boy in Braunsberg, some

-years younger than yourself, who was educated with

-you in the school of the holy fathers, and afterwards

-in your company visited Rome and Ingolstadt?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, I remember ... a boy who gave great

-promise of one day becoming a pillar of the church

-... Hieronymus Mathiæ."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am Hieronymus Mathiæ."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Messenius felt a shudder run through his frame.

-Time, the experiences of life, and the soul destroying

-doctrines of the Jesuits, had completely changed the

-features of the once blooming boy.  Pater Hieronymus

-observed this impression, and hastened to add:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, my revered friend, thirty-five years' struggle

-for the welfare of the only saving Church has caused

-the roses in these cheeks to fade for ever.  I have

-laboured and suffered in these evil times.  Like you,

-great man, but with much lesser genius, I have dug

-in the vineyard, without any reward for my toil but

-the prospect of the holy martyr's crown in Paradise.

-You were very kind to me in my youth; now I will

-repay it so far as it lies in my power.  I will restore

-you to freedom and life."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ah, reverend father," replied the old man, with a

-deep sigh, "I am not worthy of this; you, the son

-of the holy Church, extending your hand to me, a

-poor apostate?  You do not know, then, that I have

-renounced our faith; that I, with my own hand and

-mouth, have embraced the accursed Lutheran religion,

-which I abhor in my heart; nay, even in my time

-persecuted your holy order with several godless

-libels."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Why should I not know all this, my honoured

-friend; have not the great Messenius' work and deeds

-flown on the wings of fame throughout Germany?

-But what you have done, has been done as a blind,

-so as to work in secret for the highest good of our

-holy Roman Church.  Do not the Scriptures teach

-us to meet craft with craft in these godless times?

-'Ye shall be as wily as serpents.'  The Holy Virgin

-will give you her absolution as soon as you have

-worked for her sake.  Yes, esteemed man, even had

-you seven times abjured your faith, and seven times

-seventy sinned against all the saints and the dogmas

-of the Church, it shall all be accounted to you for

-reward, and not for condemnation, provided you have

-done it with a mental reservation, and with the design

-of thereby serving the good cause.  Even if your

-tongue has lied, and your hand killed, it shall be

-deemed a pious and holy work, when it was for the

-purpose of bringing back the stray sheep.  Courage,

-great man, I absolve you in the name of the Church."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, good father, these teachings which the worthy

-Jesuit fathers, in Braunsberg so eloquently instilled

-into my young mind, I have faithfully followed in

-my life.  But now, in my old age, it sometimes seems

-to me as if my conscience raised some opposition

-in the matter..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Temptations of the devil! nothing else.  Drive

-them away!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"That may well be, pious father!  Yes, to calm

-my conscience, I have written a formal confession,

-in which I openly declare my profession of the

-Lutheran faith a hypocritical act, and as openly

-proclaim my adherence to the Catholic Church."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hide this confession, show it not to any mortal

-eye!" interrupted the Jesuit quickly.  "Its time

-will yet come."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I do not understand your reasons, pious father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Listen attentively to what I have to say!  Do

-you think, old man, that I, without important reasons,

-have ventured up here in the wilderness, daily

-exposed to hunger, cold, wild beasts, and the still wilder

-people in this country, who would burn me alive if

-they knew who I was, and what I was about?  Do

-you think I would have left the wide field in my

-native land, had I not hoped to accomplish more

-here?  Well, then, I will briefly explain to you my

-point ... Can anyone hear us?  Perhaps there are

-private passages in these walls."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Be sure no mortal can hear us."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Know, then," continued the Jesuit in a low voice,

-"that we have again before us the never-abandoned

-plan of bringing heretic Sweden back to the bosom

-of the Roman Church.  There are only two powers

-which can any longer resist us, and the saints be

-praised, these powers are becoming day by day more

-harmless.  The House of Stuart, in England, is

-surrounded by our nets, and in secret does everything

-for our cause.  Sweden still lies stunned by the

-terrible blow at Nördlingen, and cannot, without fresh

-miracles, retain its dominant position in Germany.

-The time has come when our plans are fully matured;

-we must avail ourselves of our enemies' powerlessness.

-In a few years England will fall into our hands like

-a ripe fruit.  Sweden, still proud of former victories,

-shall be forced to do the same.  The means to this

-end will be a change of dynasty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Christina, King Gustaf's daughter..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Is a nine-year-old child, and besides a girl!  We

-are not without allies in Sweden, who still remember

-the expelled royal family.  The weak Sigismund is

-dead; Uladislaus, his son, stretches out his hands,

-with all the impatience of youth, for the crown of

-his forefathers.  It shall be his."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0312"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XII.

-<br /><br />

-THE TEMPTER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-"Uladislaus on the Swedish throne?  I doubt

-whether we shall ever live to see that day," said

-Messenius incredulously.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hear me to the end," continued the Jesuit,

-engrossed by the stupendous plan his scheming head

-had concocted.  "You, Messenius, are the only one

-who can perform this miracle."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I ... a miserable prisoner!  Impossible."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"To the saints and genius nothing is impossible.

-The Swede is now well disposed towards royalty.

-The example of his kings leads him to good or evil.

-He has especially a great reverence for old King

-Gustaf Vasa.  If it could now be proved that the

-said king on his death-bed, with repentance, declared

-the Lutheran doctrine to be heterodox, that he had

-abjured and cursed the Reformation, and that he had

-charged his youngest son, the papistical Johan, to

-atone for his great errors..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What do you dare to say?" burst out Messenius,

-with undisguised surprise.  "Such an obvious lie

-is in direct opposition to Gustaf Vasa's last words

-at death, all of whose utterances have been so

-faithfully recorded..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Calm yourself, revered friend," interrupted the

-Jesuit coldly.  "Supposing it could be further

-demonstrated that the second founder of Lutheranism,

-Carolus IX., likewise on his death-bed declared the

-Reformation to be a blasphemy and a misfortune...?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Messenius regarded the Jesuit with dismay.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And if it can finally be proven that even Gustaf

-Adolf, before giving up the ghost at Lützen, was

-struck by a sudden inspiration, and died a heretic's

-death, under the greatest torment and anguish of

-soul...?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Messenius' pale cheeks were covered with a flush.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then," continued the Jesuit, with the same

-composed daring, "there remains of the Vasa dynasty

-only the demented Erik XIV., the admitted papist,

-Johan III., and the professed Catholic, Sigismund,

-with all of whom we need not trouble ourselves in

-the least.  Once convinced that all of their greatest

-kings either have been papistical, or have become so

-in their last moments, the scales will fall from the

-eyes of the Swedish people; they will penitently

-confess their guilt, and at last fall back into the

-bosom of the only saving Roman Catholic Church.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But how will you, revered father, in the face of

-all the facts, convince the Swedes of the apostasy

-of their kings?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I have already told you," replied the Jesuit

-flatteringly, "that such a great and meritorious mission

-can only be accomplished by the gifted Johannes

-Messenius.  All know that you are Sweden's most

-learned man and greatest historian.  They know that

-you possess and hold in your care more historical

-documents and secrets than anyone else in the whole

-kingdom.  Use these advantages skilfully and

-judiciously; compile documents that never existed;

-describe events that never happened..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What do you dare to say?" exclaimed Messenius

-with burning cheeks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit misunderstood his excitement.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," continued the Jesuit, "the undertaking is a

-bold one, but far from impossible.  A hasty flight to

-Poland will secure your safety."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And it is to me ... to me that you make this

-proposal?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes," added the monk, in the same tone.  "I

-realise that Gustaf Adolf will cause you the most

-trouble, and therefore I will be responsible for him.

-You will have therefore Gustaf I. and Carl IX. as

-your share, to present in such a light as will best

-serve the cause of the holy Church."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Abi a me, male spiritus!</i>" burst out Messenius in

-a fit of rage, which the Jesuit with all his sagacity

-was far from expecting.  "You arch-villain! you

-liar! you infamous traitor, to lay your hand on the

-holiest; do you think that I, Johannes Messenius,

-have worked for long years to become Sweden's

-greatest historian, to all of a sudden, in such an

-infamous way, violate the historical truth which I have

-re-established with such long and continuous efforts?

-Be off this moment, quick ... away, to <i>Gehenna</i>!"

-... and with these words the old scholar, wild with

-rage, flung everything that he could get hold of at

-the Jesuit's head&mdash;books, papers, inkstand,

-sand-box&mdash;with such violence that the monk started.  The

-latter's face became still paler ... then he took a

-few steps backwards, rose to his full height, and

-opened the plaited Spanish doublet which covered

-his breast.  A crucifix of flashing diamonds,

-surmounted by a crown of thorns set with rubies, glittered

-suddenly in the gathering twilight.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This sight seemed to have a magical effect upon

-Messenius.  His excited voice was suddenly hushed

-... his rage changed immediately to fear ... his

-knees trembled; he staggered, and was on the point

-of falling, but supported himself with difficulty against

-the chair at the table.  The Jesuit again advanced

-slowly, and looked steadily at the prisoner with his

-piercing eyes, which were like those of the rattlesnake.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Have you forgotten, old man," he said, in a

-measured and commanding tone, whilst every word

-was followed by a pause to increase its effect, "the

-penalty which the Church and the laws of our holy

-order inflict for sins like yours?  For apostasy:

-death ... and you have seven times apostatized!

-... For blasphemy: death ... and you have seven

-times blasphemed! ... For disobedience: death

-... and you have seven times disobeyed! ... For

-sin against the Holy Ghost: damnation ... and who

-has sinned like you? ... For heresy: the stake

-... and who has merited it like you? ... For

-offence and disrespect against the holy ones of the

-Lord: the eternal fire ... and who has given offence

-like you?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Grace, holy father, grace!" exclaimed Messenius,

-while he writhed like a worm under the Jesuit's

-terrible threats.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Father Hieronymus continued:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The celebrated Nicolaus Pragensis went over to

-Calvin's false doctrines, and dared to defy the Head

-of our order.  He fled to the farthest corner of

-Bohemia, but our revenge found him.  The dogs tore

-his body to pieces, and the spirits of hell obtained

-his soul..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Grace! mercy!" sighed the prisoner, completely

-crushed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, then," added the Jesuit in a haughty tone or

-superiority, "I have given you the choice between

-glory and perdition; I will once more place it before

-you, although you are undeserving.  Do you imagine,

-miserable apostate, that I, the head of the German

-and Northern Jesuits, who do not acknowledge any

-superior except the Holy Father at Rome&mdash;do you

-believe that I, who have braved myriads of dangers

-to seek you here in your miserable corner, will allow

-you to stop me, the invisible ruler of the whole North,

-with your disobedience and irresolution?  I ask you

-once more, in the name of our holy order, if you,

-Johannes Messenius, will be faithful to the oath you

-swore in your youth, and implicitly obey the behests

-and commands which I, your superior and judge,

-enjoin upon you?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, holy father," answered the trembling captive;

-"yes, I will."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hear, then, the penalty I impose.  You say that

-for your whole life you have striven for a single aim;

-that of gaining the name of the greatest historian in

-the North, and you think that you have at last

-attained your desire?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, holy father, that has been my object, and I

-have obtained it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your aim is evil!" exclaimed the Jesuit in stern

-tones, "and it is that of the devil, for you have worked

-for your own glory, and not for that of the holy

-Church, as you have sworn.  Therefore, I command

-you to destroy, with your own hands, the idol of your

-life&mdash;your great fame with posterity&mdash;by perverting

-history and writing it, not as it is, but as it ought

-to be.  I order you to cast away fame, to serve the

-cause of the Roman Church in the North.  You shall

-write the history of Gustaf I. and Carl IX. in such

-a manner that all they have done for the Reformation

-may redound as a ruin and curse both to them and

-their kingdom.  And I will that you base this new

-history on such reliable documents, that in the eyes

-of the people they will be above suspicion

-... documents which do not exist, but which you shall

-manufacture ... documents of which the falsity may

-possibly be discovered in a future generation, but

-which will at present produce the desired effect."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And thus," said Messenius, in a voice trembling

-with the most varied emotions&mdash;fear, anger, and

-humiliation&mdash;"I shall stand before posterity as a base

-falsifier, an infamous perverter of historical truth."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, and what then?" continued the Jesuit with

-a sardonic smile; "what matters it, if you, miserable

-tool, sacrifice your name, provided the Church gains

-its great victory?  Of what advantage is the praise

-of men, if your soul burns in the eternal fires of hell;

-and what matters humanity's contempt, if you,

-through this sacrifice, gain the martyr's crown in

-Heaven?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But the cause of truth ... the inflexible

-judgment of posterity."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Bah! what is historical truth?  Well, is it the

-obedient slave who follows at the heels of human

-errors ... the parrot which thoughtlessly repeats all

-their folly?  Or is it not rather truth, such as it <i>ought

-to be</i>, purified from error, freed from crime and folly

-... God's kingdom on earth, as wise as it is almighty,

-as good as it is holy and wise?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But is it then we who dictate to God what is

-good and right?  Has He not Himself told us that

-truth, <i>such as it is</i>?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ha! vacillating apostate, you still dare to argue

-with your superior about right and wrong.  Choose,

-obey or disobey!  Choose on one side temporal and

-eternal death, and on the other the joys of Paradise

-and the glory of the saints.  Yet a word, and upon

-this depends your weal or woe.  Will you obey my

-commands?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, I will obey," answered the crushed and

-terrified prisoner.  And the Jesuit went away silent

-and cold, with a ruler's nod that the slave had his

-good grace.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0313"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XIII.

-<br /><br />

-AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-About a week had passed since the private

-conversation to which we last listened.  The Jesuit

-during this time had not left the prisoner to himself.

-He was seen to enter Messenius' room every day,

-under the pretext of medical attendance, and spent

-some hours with him.  He was too acute to rely

-upon the prisoner's promise.  No one in the castle

-knew what they did together, and the Governor was

-unsuspicious.  The remote situation of Kajajneborg,

-far from the rest of the world, had lulled Wernstedt

-into security; he rather found pleasure in the society

-of the learned and experienced foreign doctor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-There was one, however, who with a constant and

-vigilant eye followed every motion of the stranger,

-and this was Lucia Grothusen, Messenius' wife.  A

-Catholic by education and conviction, she had always

-strengthened her husband in his faith; the Jesuit

-well knew this, and therefore felt sure of her

-co-operation, although he carefully avoided confiding his

-plans to the mercy of female gossip.  But the most

-artful plans are often frustrated by those hidden

-springs and motives in the human heart, especially

-in a woman's heart, which work in quite a different

-direction from that of cold reason.  The Jesuit, in

-spite of his astuteness, was mistaken in our Lucia.

-He did not know that when the fanaticism in her

-mind shouted, push on! love cried still louder in her

-heart, hold back! and love in women always gets

-the upper hand.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia was a very penetrating person; she had

-looked through the Jesuit before he knew it.  She

-saw the ruinous inward strife which raged in

-Messenius; a struggle for life and death between

-fanaticism on the one hand, which bade him sacrifice

-fame and posterity for the victory of the Church,

-and ambition on the other, which continually pleaded

-to him not to sacrifice with his own hand his whole

-life's work?  "Will you," it said, "blindly desecrate

-the sanctuary of history?  Will you expose to

-contempt the brilliant name, which in the night of

-captivity still constitutes your wealth and pride?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia saw all this with the discernment of love;

-she saw that the man for whom she lived an entire

-life of self-denial and restraint, would sink under

-this terrible internal battle, and she resolved to save

-him with a bold and decisive stroke.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Late one evening the lamp still burned on

-Messenius' writing-table, where he and the Jesuit

-had been working together ever since the morning.

-Lucia had received permission to retire to her bed,

-which stood at the other end of the room near the

-door, and pretended to be asleep.  The two men had

-finished their work, and were conversing together

-with low voices, in Latin, which Lucia well understood.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I am satisfied with you, my friend," said the

-Jesuit approvingly.  "These documents, which bear

-the stamp of truth, will be sufficient to prove the

-conversion of King Gustaf Vasa and King Carl, and

-this preface, signed by you, will further confirm their

-veracity.  I will now return to Germany through

-Sweden, and have these prayers printed, through our

-adherents in Stockholm, or if that is impossible, in

-Lübeck or Leyden."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Messenius involuntarily stretched out his hand, as

-if to snatch back a precious treasure from a robber's

-hands.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy father," he exclaimed with visible consternation,

-"is there no reprieve?  My name ... my

-reputation ... have mercy upon me, holy father,

-and give me back my name!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit smiled.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do I not give you a name," he said, "far greater

-and more abiding than the one you lose&mdash;a name

-in the chronicles of our holy order; a name among

-the martyrs and benefactors of the Church; a name

-which may one day be counted amongst the saints?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But, in spite of all this, a name without honour,

-a liar's, a forger's name!" burst out Messenius, with

-the despair of a condemned man, who is shown the

-glory of Heaven obscured by the scaffold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Weak, vain man, you do not know that great

-aims are never won by the fear or praise of

-humanity!" said the Jesuit in a contemptuous tone.

-"You might have taken back your word and forfeited

-your claims to the gratitude of all Christendom.  But

-happily it is now impossible.  These documents"&mdash;and

-he extended his hand triumphantly with the

-papers&mdash;"are now in a hand which will know how

-to keep them, and, against your will, use them for

-the glory of the Church, the victory of the faith, and

-your soul's eternal welfare."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Father Hieronymus had hardly uttered these words

-when a hand behind him swiftly and suddenly seized

-the papers, which he had so elatedly waved, crumpled

-them together, tore them in a hundred pieces, and

-strewed the bits over the floor.  This move was so

-unlooked for, and the Jesuit was so far from divining

-anything of the kind, that he lost his usual presence

-of mind for a moment, and thus gave the daring hand

-time to complete its work of destruction.  When the

-fragments lying around convinced him of the reality

-of his loss, he bit his lips with rage, raised his arms

-aloft, and with the ferocity of a wild beast, fell upon

-the presumptuous being who had dared to extinguish

-his plans at the very moment of consummation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia&mdash;for she owned the intruding hand&mdash;met

-the monk's outbreak of fury with the great courage

-which distinguishes a woman when she struggles for

-the holiest she possesses.  In her youth she had been

-one of those who could take a man by the collar;

-and this more than womanly strength of arm had

-gained practice during her constant squabbles with

-the rude soldiers of the castle.  She hastily clasped

-her sinewy fingers around the monk's outstretched

-arms, and held them fast as in a vice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well," she said in a mocking tone, "three paces

-from death, sir; what do you wish?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Mad woman!" screamed the Jesuit, foaming with

-rage, "you do not know what you have done!

-Miserable thief, you have stolen a kingdom from

-your Church, and Paradise from your husband."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And from you I have stolen your booty; his

-secure prey from the wolf; is it not so?" replied

-Lucia, whose voice began to glow with the fire of

-her hasty temper.  "Monk," she added, violently

-shaking the eminent Jesuit, who in vain tried to escape,

-"I know a vile thief, who, in the sheep's clothing of

-the Church, comes to steal the fame of a great man;

-also the history of a nation; and from a poor,

-forsaken woman, her sole pride; her husband's peace,

-honour, and life.  Tell me, holy and pious monk,

-what punishment such a thief deserves?  Would not

-Ämmä fall be shallow enough for his body, and the

-eternal fires cool enough for his soul?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit looked out of the window with a hasty

-movement towards the mighty torrent which

-descended with a terrible roar in the winter's night.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ha!" exclaimed Lucia with a bitter smile, "you

-fear me, you, the powerful one, who rules kingdoms

-and consciences.  You fear lest I conceal a man's

-arm under my grey frock, which could hurl you into

-the cataract's abyss.  Be reassured.  I am only a

-woman, and fight with a woman's arms.  You see

-... I do not throw you out of the window ... I will be

-content with chaining up the wild beast.  Tremble,

-monk, I know you!  Lucia Grothusen has followed

-your steps; you are betrayed, and she has done

-this."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Betrayed!" echoed the Jesuit; he well realised

-what this statement meant.  At a time so full of hate,

-when two great religions fought for worldly and

-spiritual supremacy, when the plots of the Jesuits

-irritated the Swedes to the highest extent, a member

-of this order, discovered in disguise, in the kingdom,

-was lost beyond redemption.  But the dire peril

-restored the equilibrium of this powerful character.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My daughter, betrayed by you," he said once

-more, as his arms relaxed, and his features assumed

-an expression of doubt and mild grief.  "That is

-impossible."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia regarded him with hate and suspicion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I your daughter!" she exclaimed, as she pushed

-the monk from her with repulsion.  "Falsehood is

-your daughter, and deceit your mother.  These are

-thy relatives."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Lucia Grothusen," said the Jesuit with much

-suavity, "when you were a child, and followed your

-father, Arnold Grothusen, who was expelled with

-King Sigismund, you came one day as an exile in

-need, and surrounded by enemies, to a peasant's hut.

-They refused you a refuge, and threatened to deliver

-you up.  Then your youthful eyes discovered an

-image of the Virgin in a corner of the hut, a relic

-from former times, and now profaned as a plaything

-for children.  You took the image and kissed it;

-you held it up before the harsh inmates of the hut,

-and said to them, 'See, the Virgin Mary is here, she

-will succour us!'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, what then?" said Lucia reluctantly in a

-softer voice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Your childish trust ... no, what do I say?  The

-Holy Virgin moved the stern peasants, they gave

-you shelter, and placed you all in security.  Still

-more, they gave you the image, which you have carefully

-preserved as your guardian angel, and there it

-hangs on your wall.  What you formerly said, you

-still say: 'The Virgin Mary is here, she will protect me!'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Lucia tried in vain to struggle against her emotions.

-She bit her lip and made no reply.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are right," continued the astute monk.  "I

-am a Catholic like you; persecuted like you; if they

-penetrated my disguise they would kill me.  My life

-is in your hands; denounce me; I flee not; I die

-for my faith, and I forgive you my death."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Fly from here," said Lucia, half vanquished; "I

-give you till to-morrow, but only on condition that

-you do not see my husband again."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, then," said the Jesuit sadly, "I fly and leave

-behind my beautiful dream of a glorious future.  Ah,

-I had imagined that the great Messenius and his

-noble wife would reinstate the Catholic Church in

-the North; I saw the time when millions of people

-would say: we were in darkness and blindness, until

-the historical light of the great Messenius revealed

-to us the falseness of the Reformation."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"If it could be done without injury to the truth,"

-exclaimed Lucia, whose ardent spirit was more and

-more elevated by the future, which the Jesuit so

-skilfully placed before her in perspective.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The truth!" repeated the Jesuit persuasively.

-"Oh, my friend, truth is our faith, falseness is the

-heretic's faith.  If you are convinced that I ask only

-the truth itself from your husband, will you assist

-instead of trying to destroy your Church?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, I will!" answered Lucia warmly and earnestly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Then listen..." added the Jesuit, but was just

-then interrupted by Messenius, who, hitherto stunned

-and crestfallen, now seemed to awaken from a horrible

-dream.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Abi, male spiritus!</i>" he frantically exclaimed, as

-if he feared that the Jesuit's serpent tongue would

-once more triumph.  "<i>Abi, Abi!</i> you are not a human

-being, you are the prince of lies himself, you are the

-tempter in Paradise!  Get ye gone, ye foul spirit, to

-the eternal fire, your abiding place, to the kingdom

-of lies, your realm!" he said in Latin.  And with

-this he pushed the Jesuit towards the door, without

-Lucia's making the least attempt to prevent it.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"<i>Insanit miser!</i>" ("the miserable raver") muttered

-the Jesuit as he disappeared.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thanks, my dear!" said Lucia, with a lightened

-heart, as if freed from a dangerous spell.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thanks, Lucia!" replied Messenius, with a milder

-manner than he had for a long time assumed towards

-his wife.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0314"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XIV.

-<br /><br />

-THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Early the next morning Father Hieronymus entered

-the room that was occupied by Lady Regina von

-Emmeritz and old Dorthe.  Pale from watching

-and suffering, the beautiful young girl sat by the

-bedside of her faithful servant.  When the Jesuit

-entered, Regina rose quickly.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Save Dorthe, my father!" she impetuously

-exclaimed ... "I have looked for you everywhere,

-and you have abandoned me!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hush!" said the Jesuit whispering.  "Speak low,

-the walls have ears.  So ... actually? ... Dorthe

-is sick?  Poor old woman, it is too bad, but I cannot

-help her.  They have penetrated our disguise.  They

-suspect us.  We must fly this day&mdash;this moment."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Not before you have made Dorthe well again.

-I beseech you, my father; you are wise, you know

-all the remedies; give her an immediate restorative,

-and we will follow you wherever you choose.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Impossible, we have not a moment to lose.  Come!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Not without Dorthe, my father!  Holy Virgin,

-how could I abandon her, my nurse, my motherly

-friend?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit went to the bed, took the old woman's

-hand, touched her forehead, and pointed to it in

-silence, with an air which Regina understood but

-too well.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She is dead!" cried the young girl with dismay.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, what then?" replied the Jesuit, a marked

-sinister smile on his lips fighting with the air of

-regret he tried to assume.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You see, my child," he added, "that the saints

-have wished to spare our faithful old friend a toilsome

-journey, and have taken her instead to heavenly

-glory.  There is nothing more to be done here.

-Come!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Regina had perceived the malignant smile

-through her tears, and it struck her with an indescribable

-horror.  She seemed to detect a dark secret.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Come!" he repeated hastily.  "I will give

-Messenius' wife, who is a Catholic, the charge of

-burying our friend."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina's dark eyes looked on the monk with fear

-and aversion.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"At seven o'clock yesterday evening," she said,

-"Dorthe was in good health.  Then she drank the

-beverage of strengthening herbs which you have

-prepared for her every evening.  At eight o'clock she

-was taken ill ... ten hours afterwards she has

-ceased to live."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The fatigue of the long journey ... a cold, an

-<i>inflammation</i> ... nothing more is wanted.  Come!"

-said the monk uneasily.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-But Regina did not move.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Monk," she said in a voice trembling with disgust

-and horror, "you have poisoned her."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My child, my daughter, what are you saying?

-Grief has clouded your reason; come, I forgive you."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"She was a burden to you ... I saw your

-impatience on our journey here.  And now you wish me

-to place myself in your power without protection.

-Holy Virgin, save me!  I will not go with you!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit's mobile features instantly changed

-their expression, and assumed that commanding air

-which had made Messenius yield.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Child," he said, "do not draw upon yourself the

-anger of the saints by listening to the voice of the

-tempter.  Remember <i>where</i> you are, unfortunate, and

-<i>who</i> you are.  A moment's delay, and I leave you

-here a prey to want, captivity, and death; a target

-for the heretic's scorn, a lost sheep abandoned by the

-Holy Virgin.  Here perdition and misery ... there

-in your Fatherland the favour of the saints.  Choose

-quickly, for the sleigh stands waiting; the morning

-dawns, and day must not find us in this nest of

-heretics."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina hesitated.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Swear," she said, "that you are innocent of

-Dorthe's death!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I swear it!" exclaimed the Jesuit, "by the cross

-and by the holy Loyola's bones.  May the firm

-ground open under my feet, and the abyss swallow

-me alive, if I have ever given this woman any drink

-but what was healthful and medicinal."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well, then," said Regina, "the saints have heard

-your oath, and written it down in the book of

-judgment.  Farewell, my mother, my friend!  Come, let

-us go!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Both hurried out.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It was still dark.  A pale ray of light appeared

-over the dark firs on the edge of Koivukoski fall.

-The horses stood harnessed.  The sleepy guard at

-the castle gate gave a free passage to the physician,

-who was well known to all.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The Jesuit already thought himself in safety, when

-a sleigh from the mainland met the fugitives on the

-narrow bridge, and drove close up to them in the

-darkness.  The monk's sleigh turned on the edge,

-and was only hindered by the half-rotten railing from

-upsetting into the depths.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina gave a cry of terror.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At the sound of this cry a man sprang from the

-other sleigh and approached the fugitives.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Regina!" cried a well-known voice, which

-trembled from surprise.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are mistaken, my friend," the Jesuit hastened

-to say in a disguised voice.  "Give way to Doctor

-Albertus Simonis, army physician in the service of

-his Royal Majesty."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Ha! it is you, accursed Jesuit!" cried the stranger.

-"Guard, to arms!  To arms! and seize the greatest

-villain on earth."  And so saying, he grasped the

-monk by his fur cloak.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-For an instant Hieronymus tried to disengage the

-sleigh and escape through the speed of the horses.

-But when he found that this was impossible, he left

-his fur cloak behind him, wriggled from his enemy's

-grasp, and, throwing himself quickly over the railing

-of the bridge, jumped down on the ice, which, in the

-terrible cold, had formed between the castle island

-and the mainland.  He soon vanished in the dim

-morning light.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Alarmed by the cry, the castle gate guard

-discharged his musket after the fugitive, but without

-effect.  Some of the soldiers seemed inclined to

-pursue him on the ice.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not do that, boys!" cried a bearded sergeant,

-"it has thawed during the night, and the stream has

-cut the ice underneath; I think it will break up

-to-day."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But the fellow jumped down there!" cried some.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The devil will get him," replied the sergeant,

-calmly lighting his morning pipe.  "I guess by this

-time he is not far from Ämmä."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What did you say?" cried the driver of the sleigh

-in alarm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I say that the old woman* has got her breakfast

-to-day," answered the sergeant with perfect composure.

-"Just listen, she barks like a chained dog;

-now she is satisfied."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="footnote">

-* The Finnish word ämmä means old woman.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p>

-All listened, appalled, to the din of the waters.  It

-seemed to them as if the mighty fall roared more

-wildly, more terribly than before, in the dreary winter

-dawn.  The sergeant was right, it was like the howl

-of an angry dog, when they have thrown him his prey.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0315"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XV.

-<br /><br />

-BERTEL AND REGINA.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep

-in a peasant's house at Ylihärmä.  We found him

-again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly trying

-to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had

-seen through the window-pane of the wretched

-hut.  Bertel's circuitous course during the days

-between can be perhaps imagined.  Led on a false

-scent in his chase after the fugitives, he had scoured

-all the roads in East Bothnia, and even went as far

-up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost every

-sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek

-the runaways in the far-off Kajana desert.  Why the

-young cavalier pursued them with such unconquerable

-perseverance will soon be manifest.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find

-Bertel in the apartment which the Governor had

-assigned to Lady Regina, under the protection of

-one of his female relatives.  More than three years

-have passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main,

-in the presence of the great king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty,

-and Regina an equally untrained girl of sixteen.

-Both had gone through many trials since then; in

-each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been

-cooled by struggles and sufferings.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The distance between the prince's daughter and

-the lieutenant had been lessened by Bertel's military

-fame and lately acquired coat of arms; nay, at this

-moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider

-herself honoured by a knight's attentions.  But the

-distance between their convictions, their sympathies,

-their hearts&mdash;had it been diminished by these trials,

-which generally steel a conviction instead of destroying it?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel approached the young girl with all the

-perfect courtesy which the etiquette of his time had

-retained as an inheritance from the chivalry of past

-centuries.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice,

-"since my hope of finding you at Korsholm failed, I

-have pursued you through forest and wilderness, as

-one pursues a criminal.  Perhaps you divine the cause

-that prompted me to do so."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted,

-and she looked inquiringly at Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated

-you, I am convinced that your reasons were noble

-and chivalrous.  You cannot have meant to take an

-unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have

-only wished to snatch her from a man whom the

-poor deceived one has ever since childhood regarded

-as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply

-concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time,

-learned to know and abhor."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly.  "It is

-true I shuddered when I found that you were under

-the escort of this villain, whose real character I knew

-before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver

-you from his hands.  But before I imagined any

-danger from that quarter, I flew to find you with the

-glad tidings of a justice ... late, but I hope not

-too late."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an

-emotion which sent the blood to her cheeks.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded

-her dazzling beauty with delight; "at last, after

-several years of fruitless efforts, I have succeeded in

-undoing this undeserved penalty.  You are free! you

-can now return to your Fatherland under the

-protection of the Swedish arms, and here"&mdash;with these

-words Bertel bent one knee and handed Regina a

-paper with the regency's seal attached&mdash;"is the

-document which ensures your freedom."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Regina had controlled her first emotion, and

-received the precious paper with almost haughty

-dignity.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones,

-"I know that you do not desire my thanks for having

-acted like a man of honour before any of your

-compatriots."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he,

-however, ought to have expected.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What I have done," he said, with a touch of

-coldness, "I have done to efface a wrong which might

-have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a great

-king.  Each and all of my countrymen would have

-done the same as I, had not the exigencies of war

-made them forget the reparation you had a right

-to demand.  First of all would the noble King Gustaf

-Adolf himself have hastened to repair a moment's

-indiscretion, had not Providence so suddenly cut short

-his career.  But," said Bertel, breaking off, "I forget

-that the king I love and admire, you, my lady, hate!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At these words the bright and beautiful colour

-again rose to Regina's cheeks.  Bertel had unknowingly

-touched one of the most sensitive chords in

-this ardent heart.  A new discovery, a wonderful

-resemblance in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in

-thought&mdash;a likeness which she had never before observed,

-and which these three years had developed in Bertel's

-whole personality, made an indescribable impression

-upon the young Southerner's soul.  It seemed to her

-as if she saw him himself, the greatest among mortals,

-the pride of her dreams, her life's delight and misery;

-he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's,

-and her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself

-had said to her in the well-remembered tones:

-"Regina, you hate me!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and

-with such a surprising power, that Regina suddenly

-grew pale, staggered, and was compelled to lean on

-Bertel's outstretched arm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and

-not knowing what she uttered, "should I hate you

-... you, whom I lo ...?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so

-full of meaning, with a surprise as sudden and

-unexpected as Regina's.  Beside himself with amazement,

-fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to

-avail himself of an involuntary confession.  Mute

-and respectful, he led the young girl to her

-protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her

-sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed

-emotions, which sought vent.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady

-Regina to Stockholm, from whence she could return

-to her Fatherland, at the first open waters.  He was,

-therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until

-she was ready for the journey, and this was again

-delayed through lack of a fitting female companion

-for the high-born prisoner.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time

-entirely new relations were formed, which one could

-hardly have predicted after Regina's proud coldness

-towards her deliverer.  Ah! this coldness was the

-ice over a glowing volcano; every day it grew

-thinner and melted away; every day the foundations

-of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and

-finally only one barrier remained, the strongest one

-of all, it is true, namely, that of religious convictions.

-Vain wall!  It, too, finally crumbled before the fire

-of a southern passion, and before these weeks were

-ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of

-twenty-three, had forgotten the great differences of

-faith and rank, and sworn each other fidelity for life.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory

-of Gustaf Adolf for his beautiful, proud, black-eyed

-bride?

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an

-unexpected and wonderful manner.  With a secret

-apprehension for his future happiness, Bertel had

-tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Since the morning when he leaped over the railing

-of the bridge, no one had heard or seen anything of

-him, until, three weeks afterwards, a peasant reported

-that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below

-Ämmä fall, they had discovered the body of a man

-without ears, clothed in a foreign garb, which the

-peasant brought with him, and which were recognised

-as those of Father Hieronymus.  In addition, the

-honest Paldamo peasant produced a small copper

-ring, which had been found hanging by a cord on the

-dead man's neck.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and

-delight.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I

-have so long sought ... and with you the certainty

-of this terrible man's death."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!"

-exclaimed Regina, awe-struck.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our

-happiness!" rejoined Bertel, and he placed on

-Regina's finger the <i>King's Ring</i>.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap0316"></a></p>

-

-<h3>

-CHAPTER XVI.

-<br /><br />

-THE KING'S RING&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE<br />

-PLOUGH&mdash;FIRE AND WATER.

-</h3>

-

-<p>

-Again we return to Storkyro, to Bertila's farm, and

-the old peasant king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It is a March day, in the year 1635.  The spring

-sun is already melting the snow, and the roofs drip

-on the sunny side; the icy crust bears one's weight on

-the north side of the hill, but breaks on the south.

-Aron Bertila has just come home from church with

-all his folks, his grey head is bent, and he leans on

-Meri's arm.  At his side walk two sturdy, thick-set

-figures&mdash;old Larsson, and his newly arrived son, the

-brave and learned captain, the faithful image of his

-father, except in age.  On the captain's arm is his

-young, light-hearted, and pretty little wife, whose

-features we recognise.  It is no other than Ketchen,

-the courageous and merry girl, whose soft hand once

-made the gallant captain lose his wits.  Since that

-day he has sworn by all the Greek and Roman

-authors, whom he formerly read in Abo Cathedral

-School, that the soft-handed novice among the

-Würzburg sisters of charity should some day become

-his.  And when the vicissitudes of war again brought

-them together, when Ketchen was without protection,

-and besides, had nothing against an honest, jovial

-soldier, this cheerful pair were formally wedded in

-the autumn at Stralsund, and then went to visit their

-kind-hearted father in Storkyro, where they were

-warmly welcomed, and received like children in the

-house.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-It must be added that Larsson had obtained his

-discharge from the service after much trouble, and

-without having a rise in rank.  It is to be regretted

-that he had not gathered a farthing from the booty

-in Germany, like many of his comrades.  All that he

-had earned&mdash;and if we can believe him, it must have

-amounted to millions&mdash;had taken wings; but where?

-At Nördlingen, he says.  By no means.  But in

-revels and sprees with jolly fellows like himself.  Now

-he meant to be as regular and steady as a gate-post;

-to succeed his father as inspector of Bertila's large

-farms; to plough, sow, harvest, and <i>pro modulo

-virium prolen copiosam in lucem proferre</i>, as those

-in olden times so truly said.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Old Bertila treats him with apparent favour.

-Significant words have escaped the old man, and he

-has just given his will into the hands of the

-judge.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-As for Meri, she has withered like a flower without

-roots, and clings to life only by one heart-thread:

-the banished, rejected Gustaf Bertel, now ennobled

-to Bertelskold.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-This domestic circle, composed of such differing

-elements, both light and shadows, are now gathered

-in the large "stuga," surrounded by the numerous

-field hands, and old Larsson now tries, in secret

-alliance with Meri, to bring the stern peasant king

-to a better state of mind towards Bertel.  But all

-their prayers and reasons break against the old man's

-unyielding firmness ... Larsson turns angrily away,

-and Meri conceals her tears in the darkest corner of

-the room.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Then sleigh-bells are again heard outside, as on

-Twelfth-day evening; a large sleigh stops in the

-yard, and two persons alight from it, an officer in his

-ample cloak, and a young and classically beautiful

-woman in a magnificent mantle of black velvet, lined

-with precious fur.  Meri and old Larsson turn pale

-at this sight; Larsson tries to hasten out, but it is

-too late.  Bertel and Regina enter the "stuga."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Both the Larssons and Meri surround Bertel with

-warm and apparently embarrassed greetings.  Ketchen

-flies and throws herself, without thinking of the

-difference between her burgher dress and the costly velvet

-cloak, into Regina's arms, who, with emotion, clasps

-her faithful friend to her heart.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel gently frees himself from Meri's embrace,

-and goes straight up to old Bertila with a firm step,

-who, cold and silent in his high chair at the end of

-the table, does not honour him with a word or glance.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All present await with dismayed looks the result

-of this decisive meeting.  The young officer has

-taken off his cloak and hat, his long fair hair falls

-in beautiful waves around his open brow, his cheeks

-are very pale, but the expressive blue eyes regard

-the grey-haired man's iron face with a firm and

-steadfast look.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel now, as before, bends a knee, and says in

-a voice at once humble and confident:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My father!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Who are you?  I know you not; I have no son!"

-said the old man in chilling tones.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My father!" continued Bertel, without allowing

-himself to be checked, "I come here once more, and

-for the last time, to ask your forgiveness and blessing.

-Thrust me not from you!  I am going to leave my

-Fatherland, to fight and perhaps die on German soil.

-It depends upon you whether I ever return.  Remember,

-my father, that your blessing gives you back

-a son; that your curse drives him into exile for ever."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The features of the old man did not change their

-expression, but the tones of his voice indicated an

-internal struggle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My answer is short," he said.  "I had a son; he

-became unworthy of me and all the principles which

-have governed my life.  He abandoned the cause of

-the people to pay homage to the pernicious power

-which I hate and detest.  I have no longer a son.

-I have to-day disinherited him."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-The faces of all the hearers turn pale at these

-words.  But Bertel colours slightly, and says:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My father, I do not ask for your property.  Give

-it to the one you consider more worthy than I.  I

-only ask your forgiveness ... your blessing, my

-father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-All around the old man, except Regina, fell on

-their knees and exclaimed:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Grace for Bertel!  Grace for your son!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And if I had a son, do you believe he would for

-my sake give up his desire for the false distinctions

-of nobility?  Do you think he would become a

-peasant like me, a man of the people, ready to live

-and die for their cause?  Do you fancy that he would

-plough the earth with his fine-gloved hands and

-choose a wife from my station, a simple plain woman,

-befitting the spouse of a husbandman?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My father," replied Bertel, in a voice more

-tremulous than before, "what you ask is impossible

-on account of the education you have yourself

-bestowed on me.  I honour and respect your station,

-but I have grown accustomed to the career of a

-soldier, which I neither can nor will abandon.  To

-choose a wife to your mind is equally impossible.

-Here is my wife; she is a prince's daughter, but she

-has chosen a peasant's son for her husband; this is

-a proof that she will not blush to call you father."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-At these words Regina humbly approached the

-old man as if to kiss his hand, and all rose except

-Bertel and his father.  But the peasant king's former

-fiery temper now burst forth.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Did I not say so!" he shouted.  "There stands

-the renegade who was born a peasant, and became

-the servant of lords.  Ha! by God!  I have in my

-day seen much strife and defiance between the sword

-and the plough, but a scene like this I have never

-beheld.  The boy who calls himself my son dares to

-bring before my eyes his high-born harlot and call

-her his wife."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertel sprang up and supported Regina, who nearly

-sank to the floor at these words.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Old man," he said in a voice full of anger, "thank

-your name of father and your grey head that you

-have been allowed to utter what no one else should

-have uttered and live an hour afterwards.  Here is

-the ring I placed on the hand of my lawfully wedded

-wife"&mdash;with this he took the king's ring from

-Regina's finger&mdash;"and I swear that her hand is as

-pure and worthy as that of any other mortal to wear

-this ring, which has for so many years been worn

-by the greatest of kings."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri's eyes stared at the ring, her pale cheeks

-coloured with a deep flush, and she had a violent

-internal struggle.  Finally she stepped nearer, took

-and pressed the ring with ecstasy to her lips, and

-said in a broken voice and with an emotion so strong

-that it dried her tears:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My ring which <i>he</i> has worn ... my ring which

-has protected <i>him</i> ... you are innocent of his death;

-he gave you away, and then came the bullets and

-death.  Do you know, Gustaf Bertel, and you, his

-wife, the power of this ring?  In my youth I one day

-went into the wilderness, and there found a dying

-man, who was languishing from thirst.  I gave him

-a drink from the spring, and cooled his tongue with

-the juice of berries.  He thanked me and said: 'My

-friend, I die, and have no other recompense to give

-you than this ring.  I found it in former days on

-an image of the Holy Virgin, which alone lay

-uninjured in the midst of the broken fragments of

-Popery in Storkyro Church; and when I took the

-ring from its finger the image fell to dust.  The ring

-has both the power of the saints and that of magic,

-for with me the greatness of the ancient occult

-knowledge goes into the silence.  He who wears this ring

-is secure against fire, water, steel, and all kinds of

-dangers, on the sole condition that he never swears

-a false oath, for that destroys the power of the ring;

-with this ring goes happiness in peace, and victory

-in war; love, honour, and wealth; and when it is

-worn by three successive generations, from father to

-son, then from that family shall come brilliant

-statesmen and generals...'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Here Meri paused; all listened with intense

-expectation.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But," she added, "if the ring is worn by six

-generations one after the other, then a mighty royal

-house will spring from that family.  'But,' said the

-old man to me, 'you ought to know that great

-dangers accompany great gifts.  False oaths and

-family enmity will constantly tempt the owner of the

-ring, and thus endeavour to neutralise its power; pride

-and inordinate ambition will constantly work within

-him to prepare his fall, and a great steadfastness in

-the right path will be necessary, joined with a meek

-and humble heart, to vanquish these temptations.

-He who wears this ring will enjoy all the prosperity

-of the world, and only have to conquer himself; but

-he will also be the most formidable enemy of his own

-happiness.  All this is signified: by the letters, R.R.R.,

-which are engraved on the inside of the ring, and

-interpreted thus: <i>Rex Regi Rebellis</i>&mdash;the king

-rebellious against the king; the happiest, the

-mightiest among men, has to fear the greatest danger

-within himself.'"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"And this ring, O Regina, is ours!" exclaimed

-Bertel, with both fear and joy.  "What a wealth and

-what a responsibility goes with this ring."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Power!  Honour!  Immortality!" caed Regina

-with transport.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beware, my daughter!" said Meri sadly.  "Behind

-these words lie the greatest dangers."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Old Bertila looked at the ring and the young

-people with a contemptuous smile.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"False gold!" he said.  "Vanity!  Useless ornament!

-False ambition!  This is a worthy gift to go

-in inheritance from generation to generation among

-the nobility.  Come, Larsson the younger, you, who

-are also of peasant origin, and who wish to return to

-your station, although you too have been a soldier.  I

-will give you something which is neither gold or

-a useless ornament, but which will bring you more

-blessings than all the kings' rings in the world.

-Take my old axe with the oak handle from the wall

-there; yes, fear not, there is no magic in that; my

-father forged it with his own hand, in Gustaf Vasa's

-time.  With it father and I have felled many a heavy

-tree in the forests, and cleared many a field.  May

-it pass in inheritance within your family, and I

-promise you that he who possesses my axe shall be

-blessed with happiness and contentment of mind in

-his honest labour."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Thanks, thanks, Father Bertila," answered the

-captain joyfully, and, with an air of importance, tried

-the edge of the old man's axe.  "If we took a fancy

-to engrave any inscription on it, I should propose

-R.R.R., <i>Ruris Rusticus Robustus</i>, which is to say

-briefly: 'The deuce, what a big, bulky chopper! a

-very beautiful and intellectual saying among those in

-olden times."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Larsson the elder now considered the opportunity

-at hand to give the bitter contest a more amicable

-turn.  He stepped up to old Bertila, leading by the

-hands the two newly married pairs, and said:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Dear old friend, let us not meddle in the Lord's

-business.  Your boy and mine are a couple of great

-rascals, that is granted; but are they to blame that

-our Lord created one of them of fire and the other

-of water?  Bertel is like a flame&mdash;burning hot,

-ambitious, high-reaching, brilliant, ephemeral, and I

-will bet anything that his little wife is of the same

-sort.  My boy, here, is of the purest water."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Stop!" cried the captain.  "Water has never

-been my weak side!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold your tongue!  My boy is the clear water

-... flowing and unstable, contentedly keeping itself

-to the ground, and created especially to put out the

-other youngster's poetical blaze with its prosaic

-philosophy.  As for his wife, she is of the same stuff.

-Do you not see, Bertila, that our Lord has intended

-the boys for friends? ... the fire to warm the water,

-and the water to quench the fire ... and you would

-make them enemies by taking from one and giving

-to the other.  No, Bertila, do not do it, this is my

-advice; give your son what belongs to him; my son

-will not starve for want of it."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Bertila remained silent for a moment.  Then he

-said vehemently:

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Do not teach me the meaning of the Lord.  Can

-you believe that he, the fresh-baked nobleman, whom

-you compare with the fire, could be induced to give

-away the ring and take the axe in its place?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Never!" excitedly exclaimed Bertel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri seized his hand, and looked beseechingly at

-him.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Give away the ring," she said.  "You know some

-of its dangers, but there is still one which I, from

-anguish, have not mentioned.  All who wear this

-ring will die a violent death."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What then!" exclaimed Bertel.  "The death of

-the soldier on the battlefield is grand, and full of

-honour.  I do not ask a better one."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Just listen to him," said Bertila bitterly.  "I knew

-it; he runs after fame even to the grave.  A peaceful

-death or a peaceful life is an abomination to him;

-but you, Larsson, tell me: have you a desire to give

-away the axe and take the ring?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"H'm!" thoughtfully replied the captain; "if the

-ring were of gold, I might sell it in town and get a

-good cask of ale for the money.  But as it is only

-of copper ... pshaw!  I send it to the deuce, and

-keep the axe, which is at least useful for cutting

-wood."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Well done!" said Bertila; "you are sprinkling

-water on fire, as your father said.  It is not I who

-have made fire and water eternally hostile to each

-other.  Come, Larsson, you, the sound, common-sense,

-practical man, be my son, and one day take

-my farms when I am no longer here.  My blessing

-on you and your descendants.  May they multiply,

-and work like ants on the land, and may there be

-eternal hostility between them and the nobility, the

-people with the fiery temperament.  May there be

-war and not peace between them and you until the

-useless glitter disappears from humanity.  May the

-axe and the ring live in open feud until both are

-melted in the same heat.  When this happens after

-a century or more, then it will be time to say, class

-distinctions have seen their last days, and a man's

-merit is his only coat of arms."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"But, my father," exclaimed Bertel in an entreating

-voice, "have you then no blessing to give me,

-and my posterity, at the moment when we separate

-for ever?"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"You!" repeated the old man, in still angry tones.

-"Go, you lost, vain, worm-eaten branch of the

-people's great trunk; go in your pitiful parade to

-certain ruin.  Until the day when, as I said, the axe

-and the ring, the false gold and the true steel melt

-together ... until then I give you my curse as an

-inheritance, even unto the tenth generation, and with

-it shall follow dissension, hatred, war, and finally a

-despicable fall."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hold there, Father Bertila," cried Larsson the

-younger.  "Grace for Bertel!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"No grace for nobility," replied the peasant king.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Beware, unnatural father!" cried Larsson the

-elder.  "The doom may fall on your own head."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"I no longer ask any grace," said Bertel, pale, but

-apparently calm.  "Farewell, my former father!

-Farewell, my Fatherland!  I go never to see you

-again!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"One moment," interrupted Meri, who with a

-violent effort placed herself in his way.  "You

-go! yes, go ... my heart's darling, my hope, my life,

-my all ... go, I shall no longer stand in your way.

-But before you leave me, you shall take with you

-the secret which has been both my life's highest joy

-and its greatest agony..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Hear her not!" cried old Bertila in a changed

-and alarmed tone.  "Listen not to what she says;

-madness speaks through her! ... Think of your

-honour and mine," he sternly whispered in his pale

-daughter's ear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"What do I care for your or my honour!" burst

-out Meri with an impetuosity never before witnessed.

-"Do you not see that he goes ... my life's joy

-leaves me, to return no more?  He goes, and you,

-hard, in-human parent, wish me to let him depart with

-a curse to foreign lands.  But it shall not be.  For

-every curse you throw upon his head, I will give him

-a hundred blessings, and we shall see which will

-avail the most before the throne of the Supreme

-Being&mdash;your hatred or my love&mdash;the grandfather's

-curse or the mother's blessing..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel beside himself

-with astonishment.  Duke Bernhard's obscure hints

-now suddenly became clear.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Believe her not; she knows not&mdash;she knows not

-what she says!" cried Bertila, with a vain attempt

-to appear calm.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Meri had sunk into Bertel's arms.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"It is now said," she whispered in a weak voice.

-"Gustaf ... my son.  Ah! it is so new and so sweet

-to call you so.  Now you know my life's secret ...

-and I have not long to blush over it.  Do you love

-me? ... Yes, yes!  Now I go from life rejoicing

-... the veil is lifted ... light comes ... My father,

-... I forgive you ... that you have hated and

-cursed your daughter's son ... Forgive me ... that

-I ... love ... bless ... my son!..."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel, "hear me, my

-mother!  I thank you ... I love you! ... You

-shall go with me, and I will never desert you.  But

-you do not hear me.  You are so pale ... Great

-God ... she is dead!"

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"My daughter! my only child!" exclaimed the old

-hard-hearted peasant king, completely crushed.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Judge not, lest ye be judged!" said old Larsson

-with clasped hands.  "And you, our children, go put

-into life with reconciled hearts.  Curse and blessing

-struggle for your future, and not only for yours, but

-for that of your posterity, unto the tenth generation.

-Pray to Heaven that blessing may conquer."

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"Amen!" said Larsson the younger and Ketchen.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-"So be it!" said Bertel and Regina.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-END OF THE FIRST CYCLE.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t4">

-Jarrold and Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-  SELECTIONS FROM

-<br />

-LIST OF FICTION

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-Maurus Jókai's Famous Novels.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Black Diamonds.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author of "The Green Book,"

-"Poor Plutocrats," etc.  Translated by Frances

-Gerard.  With Special Preface by the Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Green Book.  (FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW.)

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by Mrs. Waugh.

-With a finely engraved Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Pretty Michal.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of

-Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-A Hungarian Nabob.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Poor Plutocrats.  (AS WE GROW OLD.)

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Day of Wrath.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated from the Hungarian

-by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a Photogravure

-Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Dr. Dumany's Wife.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by F. Steinitz

-(under the author's personal supervision).  With

-specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Nameless Castle.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by S. E. Boggs

-(under the author's personal supervision).  With a

-Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Debts of Honor.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by A. B. Yolland.

-With a charming Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and

-Madame Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-'Midst the Wild Carpathians.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a specially engraved Portrait of Dr. Jokai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Lion of Janina.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a special Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Eyes Like the Sea.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Halil the Pedlar; THE WHITE ROSE.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.

-With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Carpathia Knox.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush," "That Little

-Girl," "A Romance of Modern London," etc.  With a

-charming Photogravure Portrait of the Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Jocelyn Erroll.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Once," "Dudley,"

-"The Wild Ruthvens," etc.  With a fine Photogravure

-Portrait of the Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Valentine: A STORY OF IDEALS.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "The Medlicotts,"

-"His Heart to Win," "Because of the Child," etc.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-In Tight Places.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of

-"Forbidden by Law," etc.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-St. Peter's Umbrella.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By KÁLMÁN MIKSZÁTH, Author of "The Good

-People of Palvez."  Translated from the original

-Hungarian by W. B. Worswick.  With Introduction

-by R. Nisbet Bain.  A charming Photogravure

-Portrait of the Author and three illustrations.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac.

-Captain Satan.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-From the French of Louis Gallet.  With specially

-engraved Portrait of Cyrano de Bergerac.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-A Woman's Burden,

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By FERGUS HUME, Author of "The Mystery of a

-Hansom Cab," "The Lone Inn," etc.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Vivian of Virginia.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John

-Vivian, of Middle Plantation, Virginia.  By Hulbert

-Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel."  With ten charming

-Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Anima Vilis.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe.  By MARYA

-RODZIEWICZ.  Translated from the Polish by Count

-S. C. de Soissons.  With a fine Photogravure Portrait

-of the Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Tone King.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A Romance of the Life of Mozart.  By Heribert

-Rau.  Translated by J. E. S. Rae.  With specially

-engraved Portrait of Mozart.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Golden Dog (LE CHIEN D'OR).

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec.

-By WILLIAM KIRBY, F.R.S.C.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-Memory Street.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By MARTHA BAKER DUNN, Author of "Sleeping

-Beauty," "Lias' Wife," etc.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-God's Rebel.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By HULBERT FULLER, Author of "Vivian of

-Virginia."

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-A Farcical Novel.  By HAL GODFREY (Miss C.

-O'Conor Eccles).

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="noindent">

-The Man Who Forgot.

-</p>

-

-<p>

-By JOHN MACKIE, Author of the "Prodigal's

-Brother," "Sinners Twain," etc.  With a special

-Photogravure Portrait of the Author.

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3b">

-  Jarrold &amp; Sons'<br />

-  New Six-Shilling Fiction<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By MAURUS JOKAI.<br />

-  Haiti the Pedlar.<br />

-  (The White Rose).<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By COUNT LEO TOLSTOI.<br />

-  Tales Prom Tolstoi.<br />

-  Translated from the Russian by R. NISBET-BAIN,<br />

-  and with Biography of the Author.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By the Author of "ANIMA VILIS."<br />

-  Distaff.<br />

-  By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.<br />

-  Translated from the Polish by COUNT STANISLAUS<br />

-  C. DE SOISSONS.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By RENÉ BAZIM.<br />

-  Autumn Glory.<br />

-  Translated by MRS. ELLEN WAUGH.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By the Author of<br />

-  "DUKE RODNEY'S SECRET."<br />

-  Ivy Cardew.<br />

-  By PERRINGTON PRIMM.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By HULBERT FULLER.<br />

-  God's Rebel.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  By MARTHA BAKER DUNN.<br />

-  Memory Street.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /></p>

-

-<p class="t3">

-  London:<br />

-  JARROLD &amp; SONS,<br />

-  Publishers,<br />

-  10 &amp; 11, Warwick Lane,<br />

-  E.C.<br />

-</p>

-

-<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

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-</pre>

-

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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The King's Ring
+       Being a Romance of the Days of Gustavus Adolphus and the
+              Thirty Years' War
+
+Author: Zacharias Topelius
+
+Translator: Sophie Öhrwall
+            Herbert Arnold
+
+Release Date: February 7, 2019 [EBook #58838]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S RING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>
+<br /><br />
+THE KING'S RING
+</h1>
+
+<p class="t3">
+BEING A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS
+<br />
+AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH OF
+<br />
+ZACHARIAS TOPELIUS
+<br />
+BY
+<br />
+SOPHIE ÖHRWALL AND HERBERT ARNOLD
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<i>With a Photogravure Portrait of Topelius</i><br />
+  (missing from source book)<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+LONDON
+<br />
+JARROLD &amp; SONS, 10 &amp; 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
+<br />
+[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+  <i>Copyright<br />
+  London: Jarrold &amp; Sons<br />
+  Boston: L. C. Page &amp; Company</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+  CONTENTS.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  <a href="#intro">INTRODUCTION&mdash;WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  I.&mdash;<a href="#chap0100">THE KING'S RING.</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  CHAPTER<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  I. <a href="#chap0101">THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD</a><br />
+  II. <a href="#chap0102">THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME</a><br />
+  III. <a href="#chap0103">LADY REGINA</a><br />
+  IV. <a href="#chap0104">LADY REGINA'S OATH</a><br />
+  V. <a href="#chap0105">JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES</a><br />
+  VI. <a href="#chap0106">THE FINNS AT LECH</a><br />
+  VII. <a href="#chap0107">NEW ADVENTURES</a><br />
+  VIII. <a href="#chap0108">NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  II.&mdash;<a href="#chap0200">THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  I. <a href="#chap0201">A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR</a><br />
+  II. <a href="#chap0202">ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME</a><br />
+  III. <a href="#chap0203">THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH</a><br />
+  IV. <a href="#chap0204">THE PEASANT&mdash;THE BURGHERS&mdash;AND THE SOLDIER</a><br />
+  V. <a href="#chap0205">LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM</a><br />
+  VI. <a href="#chap0206">THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH</a><br />
+  VII. <a href="#chap0207">THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  III.&mdash;<a href="#chap0300">FIRE AND WATER.</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+  I. <a href="#chap0301">THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD</a><br />
+  II. <a href="#chap0302">TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES</a><br />
+  III. <a href="#chap0303">THE TREASURY</a><br />
+  IV. <a href="#chap0304">DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL</a><br />
+  V. <a href="#chap0305">LOVE AND HATE AGREE</a><br />
+  VI. <a href="#chap0306">THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN</a><br />
+  VII. <a href="#chap0307">THE LOST SON</a><br />
+  VIII. <a href="#chap0308">THE FUGITIVE LADY</a><br />
+  IX. <a href="#chap0309">DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA</a><br />
+  X. <a href="#chap0310">KAJANEBORG</a><br />
+  XI. <a href="#chap0311">THE PRISONER OF STATE</a><br />
+  XII. <a href="#chap0312">THE TEMPTER</a><br />
+  XIII. <a href="#chap0313">AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT</a><br />
+  XIV. <a href="#chap0314">THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS</a><br />
+  XV. <a href="#chap0315">BERTEL AND REGINA</a><br />
+  XVI. <a href="#chap0316">THE KING'S RING&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH&mdash;FIRE AND WATER</a><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="intro"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+INTRODUCTION.
+</h3>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+WHICH TREATS OF THE SURGEON'S PERSON AND LIFE.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surgeon was born in a small town of East
+Bothnia, the same day as Napoleon I., August 15th,
+1769.  I well remember the day, as he always used to
+celebrate it with a little party of relatives and a dozen
+children; and as he was very fond of the latter, we
+were allowed to make as much noise as we pleased,
+and throw everything into absolute confusion on this
+anniversary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the pride of the surgeon's life that he was
+born on the same day as the Great Conqueror, and
+this coincidence was also the cause of several of his
+important experiences.  But his pride and ambition
+were of a mild and good-tempered kind, and quite
+different from the powerful desires which can force
+their way through a thousand obstacles to attain an
+exalted position.  How often does the famous one
+count all the victims who have bled for his glory on
+the battlefield, all the tears, all the human misery
+through which his way leads to an illusionary greatness,
+perhaps, doomed to last a few centuries at most?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surgeon used to say that he was a great rogue
+in his childhood; but exhibiting good intelligence,
+he was sent by a wealthy uncle to a school in Vasa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At eighteen, with a firkin of butter in a wagon, and
+seventeen thalers in his purse, he went to Abo to
+pass his examination.  This well accomplished, he
+was at liberty to strive for the gown and surplice of
+an ecclesiastic.  But his thoughts wandered far too
+often from his Hebrew Codex to the square where the
+troops frequently assembled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh!" thought he, "if I were only a soldier, standing
+there in the ranks, and ready to fight like my
+father, for king and country."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But his mother had placed an emphatic veto on the
+matter, and exacted a solemn promise from him that
+he would never become a warrior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before, however, he was through Genesis, an
+incident suddenly occurred which completely altered his
+good intentions.  This was an announcement in the
+daily paper from the Medical Faculty, which stated
+that students who wished to take service as surgeons
+during the war could present themselves for private
+medical instruction, after which they could reckon
+upon being ordered out with five or six thalers per
+month to begin with, as the war was at its height.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, young Bäck would no longer be denied; he
+wrote home that as a surgeon's duty is to take off
+the limbs of others, without losing his own, he wished
+to volunteer.  After some trouble he received the
+desired permission.  In a moment the Codex was
+thrown away.  He did not learn, he devoured surgery,
+and in a few months was as capable a chirurgeon as
+most others; for in those times they were not very
+particular.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our youthful surgeon was in the land campaigns
+of 1788 and 1789; but in 1790 at sea; was in many
+a hard battle, drank prodigiously (according to his own
+account), and cut off legs and arms wholesale in a most
+skilful way.  He then knew nothing about the coincidence
+of his birth with Napoleon's, and therefore did
+not yet consider himself as under a lucky star.  He
+often told the story of the eventful 3rd of July in
+Wiborg Bay, when on board the "Styrbjörn" with
+Stedingk, at the head of the fleet, they passed the
+enemy's battery at Krosserort's Point, and he was
+struck by a splinter on the right cheek, and carried
+the mark to his grave.  The same shot which caused
+this wound wrought great havoc in the ship, and
+whizzing by the admiral's ear, made him stone-deaf
+for a time; Bäck with his lancet and palsy drops
+restored Stedingk's hearing in three minutes.  Just
+then the danger was greatest and the balls flew thick
+as hail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The vessel ran aground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Boys, we are lost," cried a voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not so!" answered Henrik Fagel, from Ahlais
+village, in Ulfsby, "send all the men to the bow; it
+is the stern that has stuck."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All men to the prow," shouted the commander.
+Then the "Styrbjörn" was again afloat, and all the
+Swedish fleet followed in her wake.  Bäck used to
+say:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What the deuce would have become of the fleet
+if Stedingk had remained deaf?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everyone understood the old man; he had saved
+the entire squadron.  Then he used to laugh and add,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes!  You see, brother, I was born on the
+15th of August; that is the whole secret; I am not to
+be blamed for it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the war was over, Bäck went to Stockholm,
+and became devoted to the king.  He was young, and
+needed no reason for his attachment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Such a stately monarch," was his only idea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day, in the beginning of March, 1792, the
+surgeon, a handsome youth&mdash;to use his own expression&mdash;had
+through a chamber-maid at Countess Lantingshausen's,
+who in her turn stood on a confidential
+footing with Count Horn's favourite lackey, obtained
+a vague inkling of a conspiracy against the king's
+life.  The surgeon resolved to act Providence in
+Sweden's destiny, and reveal to the monarch all
+that he knew, and perhaps a little more.  He tried
+to obtain an audience of the king, but was denied
+by the chamberlain, De Besche.  A second attempt
+had the same result.  The third time, he stood in
+the road before the royal carriage, waving his written
+statement in the air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What does this man want?" asked Gustave III. of
+the chamberlain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is an unemployed surgeon," replied De Besche,
+"and begs your Majesty to begin another war, that
+he may go on lopping off legs and arms."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king laughed, and the forlorn surgeon was
+left behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few days afterwards the king was shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I was blameless," the surgeon used to say when
+speaking of this matter.  "Had not that damned De
+Besche been there&mdash;yes, I won't say anything more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everyone understood what he meant.  The "if"
+in the way was also due to his birthday on the 15th
+of August.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shortly afterwards Bäck represented his profession
+at a state execution.  Here his free tongue got him
+into trouble, and he fled on board a Pomeranian yacht.
+Next we find him tramping like a wandering quack
+to Paris.  He arrived at an opportune moment, and
+received a humble appointment in the army of Italy.
+One night, under the influence of his birthday, he
+left his hospital at Nissa, and hurried to Mantua to
+see Bonaparte; he wished to make of the 15th of
+August a ladder to eminence.  He managed to see
+the General, and presented a petition for an
+appointment as army physician.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," sighed the surgeon, every time he spoke of
+this remarkable incident, "the General was very busy,
+and asked one of his staff what I wanted."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Citizen General," answered the adjutant, "it is a
+surgeon, who requests the honour of sawing off your
+leg at the first opportunity."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Just then," added the surgeon, "the Austrian
+cannon began to thunder, and General Bonaparte
+told me to go to the devil."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the surgeon, who had preserved so many
+eminent personages, was deprived of the honour of
+saving Napoleon.  He got camp fever instead, and
+lay sick for some time at Brescia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When well he travelled to Zurich, and here fell
+in love with a rosy-cheeked Swiss girl; but before
+he could marry her, the city was overrun, first by
+the Russians, then French, and finally by Suvaroff.
+The surgeon's betrothed ran away, and never returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day he sat sorrowfully at his window, when
+two Cossacks came up, dismounted, seized him, and
+hurried him off at full speed.  The surgeon thought
+his last hour had arrived.  But the Cossacks brought
+him safely to a hut.  There sat some officers round a
+punch bowl, and among them a stern man in large
+boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surgeon," said the latter, short and sharp, "out
+with your forceps; I have toothache."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bäck ventured to ask which tooth it was that ached.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You argue," said the man impatiently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, I don't," replied the surgeon, and pulled out
+the first tooth he got hold of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good, my boy!  March," said the other, and the
+surgeon was dismissed with ten ducats.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had acquired another important merit by pulling
+out the tooth of the hero Suvaroff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surgeon's next considerable journey was to
+St. Petersburg, where he obtained an appointment
+in a hospital, and made a little fortune.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus passed four or five years.  The surgeon was
+now thirty-five.  He said to himself,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is not sufficient to have preserved the Swedish
+fleet, Gustave III., and Armfelt; to have had an
+interview with Napoleon, and pulled out a tooth for
+Suvaroff.  One must also have an aim in life."  And
+he began to realise that he had a Fatherland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the war of 1808 broke out, the surgeon
+became an assistant physician in one of the Finnish
+regiments; he no longer fought for glory and the
+15th of August.  He took part in the campaigns of
+1808 and 1809.  Then he fought manfully with
+misery, disease, and death; cut off arms and legs,
+dressed wounds, applied plasters, solaced the wounded,
+with whom he shared his flask, bread, purse, and what
+was much more, his unalterable good humour, and
+told a thousand funny stories gathered in his travels.
+He was called the "tobacco doctor," because he was
+always ready to share his pipe and quid.  One can
+be a Christian even with tobacco.  The surgeon was
+not so stuck up that he, like Konow's corporal, went
+about
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "With two quids from sheer pride."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+On the contrary, he went without himself when the
+need was great, and a wounded comrade had got the
+last bit of the roll in the pocket of his yellow nankeen
+vest.  Hence the soldiers loved the tobacco doctor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When peace was concluded between Russia and
+Sweden in 1809, the latter having lost Finland
+through a foreign traitor, who gave up Sveaborg to
+the enemy, and so many Finns went over to Sweden,
+the surgeon thought it more honourable to remain
+and share the fortunes of his native land.  He
+travelled round the country and practised amongst
+the peasantry.  But the Medical Faculty of Abo
+finally forbade him to continue, and he therefore
+settled down at Jacobstad, his native place, and took
+to fishing.  In the days of his prosperity the surgeon
+had been too liberal; he now only owned his old
+brown cloak, yellow nankeen vest, a hundred fish
+hooks, and his cheerful disposition.  But he now
+obtained the appointment of public vaccinator, which
+allowed him to roam about the country twice a year,
+like old times.  No one knew better than he how
+to lull the little children to rest, whilst he pricked the
+fine soft flesh of their arms; almost before they knew
+it the pain was over.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This gained for him the goodwill of all the
+mothers; they even forgave him the ugly habit of
+chewing tobacco&mdash;it was too late to cure it now.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the snow of old age stole gently o'er the
+surgeon's head.  He had gone through the storms of
+life without losing faith in humanity; never
+hardening under adversity, nor unduly puffed up when
+fortune smiled.  He was throughout a good soul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often in our childhood and first youth we sat up
+there in the old garret chamber around his leather-covered
+arm-chair, by the light of the crackling fire,
+listening to his tales from the world of fiction and
+from life.  His memory was inexhaustible, and as the
+old <i>runa</i> says, that even the wild stream does not
+let its waves flow by all at once, so had the surgeon
+continually new stories of his own time, and still
+more from periods which had long passed away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It sometimes happened after we had been listening
+to the old man, that he took out an electric
+battery, and drew from it a succession of sparks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In that way the world sparkled when I was young,"
+he said smiling; "one had only to apply a finger, and
+click it flashed in all directions.  But then it was our
+Lord who turned the machine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But rarely had he a story written like that of the
+Duchess of Finland.  Most of them were given orally.
+Many years have since passed; part I have forgotten,
+and some I have compared with traditions and books.
+If the reader finds a pleasure in them, then the
+surgeon will not have told his tales in vain during the
+long winter evenings.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0100"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+I.&mdash;THE KING'S RING.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Reader, as you sit in your peaceful home, surrounded
+by the calm of civilisation, can you recall the grand
+heroic memories of the past, which after centuries
+remain illuminated with a bright glow, and are also often
+darkened with blood and tragedy?  Can you transport
+yourself back to the joys and terrors of the past,
+and take a vital interest in those struggles and battles
+long since fought out, and become full of hopes or
+fears as fortune smiled or betrayed?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stand with me on the heights of History, and
+looking far around on the wild arena of human
+destiny, can you transfer yourself to the vale of the
+past, the physically dead and buried, but spiritually
+immortal life, which forms the being and substance
+of all History?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reader, have you ever seen History depicted as
+an aged man with a frozen heart and wise brow,
+trying all things in the balance of reason?  But is
+not the Genius of History like an ever youthful virgin,
+full of fire, with a living heart and a flaming
+soul&mdash;human, warm, and beautiful?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If then you have the capacity to suffer or rejoice
+with the generations that have passed away, to love,
+and hate with them, to admire, despise, and curse as
+they have done; in a word, to live amongst them
+with your whole heart, and not merely with your cold
+reflecting mentality, then follow me.  I will lead
+down the valley; but your heart will guide you better
+that I; upon that I rely&mdash;and begin.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0101"></a></p>
+
+<h2>
+THE KING'S RING.
+</h2>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br /><br />
+THE BATTLE OF BREITENFELD.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Through the histories of Germany and Sweden the
+fame of mighty names has resounded for centuries;
+at their mention the Swede raises his head aloft, and
+the free German uncovers his with admiration.  These
+are Leipzig, Breitenfeld, and the 7th of September,
+1631.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+King Gustaf Adolf, with his army of Swedes and
+Finns, stood on German soil to protect the holiest
+and highest things in life&mdash;Liberty and Faith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tilly, the terrible old corporal, had invaded Saxony,
+and the king pursued him.  Twice had they met;
+the tiger had challenged the lion to the combat, but
+the latter would not move.  Now for the third time
+they faced each other; the crushing blow must fall,
+and the fate of Germany trembled in the balance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At dawn the Swedes and Saxons crossed the Loder,
+and placed themselves in battle array at the village
+of Breitenfeld.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king rode along the lines, and inspected
+everything.  His eye beamed with delight on these brave
+men; the left wing was composed of Gustave Horn's
+cavalry, Teuffel was in the centre, and Torstensson
+with his leathern cannon in front.  The Livonians
+and Hepburn's Scots were both in the second line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king commanded the right wing, composed
+of several regiments of cavalry and the Finns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stälhandske," said he, checking his large steed
+at the last Finnish division, "I suppose you
+understand why you are here.  Pappenheim is opposite,
+and longs to make your acquaintance," he added
+smiling, "and I expect a vigorous attack from that
+quarter.  I rely upon you Finns to receive him right
+royally."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king then raised his voice and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Boys, do not blunt your swords upon those iron-clad
+fellows, but first tackle the horses, and then you
+will have light work with the riders."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Finns were proud of their danger and the
+honour of their position.  The king inspired all with
+courage and self-reliance.  But these short, sturdy
+fellows on their small horses seemed unequal to the
+onset of the big Wallachians upon their strong and
+heavy chargers.  Tilly held the same opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ride them down," he said, "and horse and man
+will fall powerless under the heels of your steeds."  But
+Tilly did not know his foes.  The outer bearing
+of the Finns was deceptive.  Their iron muscles and
+calm courage, with the hardihood of their horses, gave
+them a decided advantage over their enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, Bertila," said Stälhandske, turning to a
+young man who in the first rank rode a handsome
+black horse, and was noticeable from his height and
+bearing, "do you feel inclined to win the knight's
+spur to-day?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The one addressed seemed astonished, and
+coloured up to the brim of his helmet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have never dared to aspire so high," he
+answered.  "I&mdash;a peasant's son!" he added with
+hesitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thunder and lightning, the boy blushes like a
+bride at the altar!  A peasant's son?  What the
+devil, then, have we all come from in the beginning?
+Did you not provide four fully equipped horsemen?
+Has not our Lord placed a heart in your breast, and
+the king a weapon in your hand?  That is in itself a
+coat of arms; you must attend to the rest."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A multitude of thoughts passed quickly through
+the young man's mind.  He thought of the days of
+his childhood in far-off Finland.  He remembered
+his old father, whose name was also Bertila, and who
+during the peasant war was one of Duke Carl's best
+men.  When the latter became King Carl the Ninth,
+he gave his follower four large farms; each of these
+had to provide a man and horse for military service.
+Owing to this, old Bertila became one of the richest
+peasants in the country.  He thought of the time
+when his father first sent him to Stockholm, in the
+hope that he would some day attain honour and
+distinction by the king's side; then of his own ambition
+which had induced him to neglect study and take
+private lessons in riding and fencing.  At last his
+father gave him permission to join the king's Finnish
+cavalry.  Now he, a peasant's son, was about to strive
+to raise himself to the level of the haughty nobility.
+It was this thought that made him blush, and under
+its influence he felt he could face any danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, he was about to fight under the king's
+eye, for his faith and the honour of his country.  The
+whole army was animated by the same high principles,
+which rendered them invincible, and made
+them realise the victory before the battle had begun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the young horseman had time to reply to
+his generous leader, the king's high voice was heard
+in the distance calling to prayer.  The hero took off
+his helmet and lowered the point of his sword, and
+all the troops did the same.  The king prayed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thou all-merciful God, Who bearest victory and
+defeat in Thy hand, turn Thy beneficent countenance
+to us, Thy servants.  From distant lands and
+peaceful homes have we come, to fight for freedom,
+and Thy Gospel.  Give us victory for Thy Holy
+Name's sake.  Amen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A deep trust at these words filled every heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At noon the attacking Swedish army came within
+range of the Imperial cannon.  The Swedish artillery
+answered, and the conflict began.  As the sun shone
+right in the assailants' eyes, the king made his army
+wheel to the right, so as to get the wind and sun on
+the side.  Pappenheim tried to prevent this.  He
+rushed forward with the speed of lightning, and took
+the Swedish right in flank.  At once the king threw
+the Rhine Count's regiment and Baner's cavalry upon
+him.  The shock was terrific; horses and riders fell
+over each other in utter confusion.  Pappenheim drew
+back, but only to throw himself the next instant on
+the Finns.  But the furious charge of the Wallachians
+was in vain; they met a wall of steel; their front
+rank was crushed, and the next turned back.  The
+second attack was no better, and Pappenheim raged;
+for the third time he rushed to the assault; the
+Livonians and Courlanders now assisted the Finns.
+The latter received the enemy with calm courage;
+nothing could break through that living wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The heat of the conflict had gradually excited the
+Finns, and it was now scarcely possible to hold them
+in.  Stälhandske's mighty voice sounded high above
+the roar and din of the conflict; and once more the
+foe was thrown back.  Now the Finnish lines broke,
+but only to enclose the enemy.  Then it became a
+hand-to-hand struggle.  Twice more the Wallachians
+charged and were repulsed.  The seventh time
+Pappenheim was followed only by a few of the most
+determined of his followers, and when this last
+desperate effort failed all was over.  The remaining
+Wallachians scattered themselves in the wildest flight
+toward Breitenfeld.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Covered with blood and dust the Finns took breath.
+But as soon as the smoke cleared off, they saw other
+foes in front.  These were the Holsteiners, who had
+supported Pappenheim.  The Finns could not be
+checked.  With the East Goths they surrounded the
+Holsteiners and annihilated them; these brave fellows
+died in their ranks to a man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst this happened on the right, the left was in
+great danger.  Furstenberg's Croats had made the
+Saxons give ground, and Tilly then advanced his
+powerful centre.  Torstensson's cannon played havoc
+in the ranks; Tilly moved aside and charged the
+Saxons.  The ranks of the latter were immediately
+broken, and they fled in the greatest disorder.  Tilly
+now turned his victorious troops against the Swedish
+left wing.  The latter were slowly pressed back.  The
+king then hastened up and ordered Callenbach's
+reserve to the rescue.  Almost immediately both
+Callenbach and Teuffel fell.  Then Hepburn's Scots
+and the Smälanders came up; the Croats fell upon
+them, but the Scots opened their ranks, and several
+masked batteries played with terrible effect on the
+former.  Under the fire of the Scots whole ranks
+were shattered, and amidst the dense smoke and
+dust the combatants were mingled together in utter
+confusion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Victory still hung in the balance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But now a diversion occurred which decided the
+battle.  The king with his cavalry and the Finns had
+captured the Imperial artillery on the heights, and
+now turned it against the latter.  In vain Pappenheim
+tried to recapture the guns; he was repulsed in
+disorder.  Then the king, with his invincible right wing,
+charged the enemy in flank; the Imperialists were
+lost.  Tilly wept with rage: Pappenheim, who had
+hewed down fourteen men with his own hand, was
+mad with fury.  No one, however, could rally the
+Imperial troops, and Tilly, whose horse was shot
+under him, barely escaped being taken prisoner.  The
+king's victory was decisive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But a terrible sequel remained.  Four regiments
+of Tilly's veteran infantry had reformed, and now
+sought to check the pursuit.  The king charged them
+with Tott's cavalry, the Smälanders, and Finns.  It
+was a terrific combat; the Wallachians fought with
+the fury of despair; no quarter was asked or given.
+At last darkness saved the remnant of these brave
+men, who retreated on Leipzig.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The battle was over.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great results followed this victory; and in the
+evening the king rode from rank to rank, to thank
+his brave troops.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stälhandske," said he, when he came to the Finns,
+"you and your men have fought like heroes, as I
+expected.  I thank you, my children!  I am proud
+of you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The troops responded with a joyous cheer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," continued the king, "there was one among
+you who sprang from his horse, and first of all scaled
+the heights to seize the Imperial guns.  Where is he?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A young horseman rode from the ranks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pardon, your Majesty!" he stammered.  "I did it
+without orders, and therefore merit death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king smiled.  "Your name?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bertila."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"From East Bothnia?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good.  To-morrow morning, at seven o'clock, you
+may present yourself, to hear your doom."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king rode on, and the horseman returned to
+the ranks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Night broke over the awful field, covered with 9,000
+dead.  The Finnish cavalry encamped on the heights,
+where Tilly's guns were captured.  The dead were
+taken away, and fires of broken gun-carriages and
+musket-stocks spread their light in the September
+night; through a clear sky the eternal stars looked
+down upon the battlefield.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cavalry gave their horses fodder, and watered
+them at the muddy Loder.  Then they bivouacked,
+each in his division, around the fires, armed and
+ready to jump at the first call The ground was
+damp with dew, and slippery with blood, but many
+were so fatigued that they fell asleep as they sat
+around the fires.  Others kept themselves in good
+spirits by passing round cups of ale, of which they
+had a good stock.  They drank in jesting fashion to
+the health of the Imperialists.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "And that they to-night may die of thirst<br />
+  Or drink to their own funeral<br />
+  Eläköön kuningas!"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment a woeful voice was heard quite
+near, earnestly calling for help.  The soldiers,
+accustomed to such things, knew by the accent that the
+man was a foreigner, and did not trouble.  But the
+cries continued without ceasing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pekka, go and give the Austrian dog a final
+thrust," cried some of the men, who were irritated by
+these wailing sounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pekka, one of Bertila's four dragoons, short, but
+strong as a lion, went unwillingly to silence the
+offender's voice.  Superstitious, like all these soldiers,
+he was not at home amidst the dead on a dark night.
+Bertila, absorbed in thinking of the next morning,
+did not hear it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few minutes Pekka returned, dragging after
+him a dark body, which, to everyone's surprise, was
+found to be a monk, easily recognised by his tonsure.
+Around his common gown he wore a hempen rope,
+and to this hung the scabbard of a sword.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A monk!  A Jesuit!" exclaimed the soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, but what could I do," said Pekka, "he parried
+my thrust with a crucifix."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Kill him!  It is one of the devil's allies who
+prowl around to murder kings and burn faithful
+Christians at the stake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Away with him!  When we carried the heights,
+this same man stood with his crucifix among the
+Imperialists and fired off a cannon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let's find out if the precious object is of silver,"
+said one of the men, and pulling aside the monk's
+gown he drew forth, in spite of his struggles, a crucifix
+of silver, richly gilded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Just as I thought, the devil has plenty of gold."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let me see it," said an old veteran.  "I know
+something about monks' tricks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he pressed a little spring in the image's breast,
+a keen dagger sprang from it.  As if bitten by an
+adder, he threw the crucifix from him.  Rage and
+horror seized the bystanders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hang the serpent by his own rope," shouted the men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is no tree," said one, "and no one is
+allowed to leave the lines."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Drown him!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is no water."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stab him!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No one was willing, from aversion, to touch the
+monk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What shall we do with him?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Misericordia!  Gnade!" said the prisoner, who
+now began to recover his speech and strength.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give him a kick and let him go," said one.  "We
+are Christians, and fear no devilry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At least I will mark you first, so that we may
+know you if we meet again," cried one of the soldiers
+named Vitikka, renowned for his strength and
+brutality.  He flourished his sword several times round
+the monk's head, and then with two dexterous strokes
+cut off both the prisoner's ears, before he could be
+prevented by his comrades.  It was most skilfully
+accomplished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"St. Peter could not have done it better," said
+Vitikka laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those who were standing around turned away.
+Although they were accustomed to the cruelties of
+war, this was too savage even for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bleeding, the Jesuit crawled away on his hands and
+feet.  But long afterwards his voice was heard from
+the darkness:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Accursed Finns!  May the eternal fires consume
+you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Our Father, which art in Heaven," a voice
+exclaimed from the group of soldiers.  And all uttered
+the prayer with devotion.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0102"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br /><br />
+THE NOBLEMAN WITHOUT A NAME.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+At dawn on the 8th of September, the Swedish army
+was exercised.  They felt sure of complete victory.
+From all parts news arrived that the enemy's army
+was almost destroyed.  The king left one division
+of his troops to follow the Imperialists; whilst the
+rest received the agreeable order to loot Tilly's camp:
+the spoil was divided into lots.  The treasures were
+enormous, and many a man was enriched for life.
+The whole army wore a joyous look; the dead were
+quickly buried, and the wounded forgot their pains.
+In the bright September morning, the battlefield was
+covered with groups of delighted soldiers, and here,
+if ever, Beskow's words could be used, "The air was
+cooled with the waving of the flags gained in the
+victory."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had passed the night in a carriage.  After
+he had read the army prayers, and given orders for
+the first part of the day, he called for those who had
+most distinguished themselves in the battle.  And
+now many a brave deed was recognised with honours
+and promotion.  But higher than any other reward,
+was the inner satisfaction, and the praise they received
+from this hero, whom the whole of Europe had now
+learnt to admire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst those who were specially called was a
+young man, who plays a great part in this history.
+Gustaf Bertila was only twenty years old, and his
+heart was beating at this time more rapidly than it
+had ever done in the most terrible moments of the
+conflict.  He knew well that the noble king would
+not take any account of his crime, which was that
+he had disobeyed orders in battle; he blushed and
+grew pale by turns, as he thought of what the king
+might mean by this special summons, which was in
+itself a great honour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had erected his tent under one of the
+great elms, at Gross Wetteritz, because all the
+buildings in the neighbourhood were burnt or destroyed
+by friends or enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After waiting for half an hour, Bertila was
+introduced into the royal presence.  Gustaf Adolf was
+sitting on a low chair, and his arm was resting on a
+table, covered with maps and papers.  The king was
+tall and portly, and his tight-fitting buff coat made
+him look still more corpulent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Bertila entered, the king lifted up his mild
+and beautiful blue eyes; he had just signed an order,
+and looked sharply at the young man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gustaf Adolf was short sighted, and therefore had
+a difficulty in recognising persons, and when he met
+individuals only slightly known to him, it gave his
+look a peculiar sharpness, which, however, disappeared
+immediately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your name is Bertila," said the king, as if he
+wished to assure himself that he had heard it correctly
+the day before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aged twenty years," said the king, watching him
+closely with a strange look.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His son did you say?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man bowed his head and blushed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How strange!" the king muttered this to himself,
+and seemed for a moment to be in deep thought.  He
+then said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why have you not announced yourself to me
+before?  Your father has done my father and the
+country great service.  He is then still alive."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is alive, and thankful for your Majesty's goodness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Really so."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king said this more as if a secret thought had
+escaped him, than as a remark to the listener.  The
+young man felt the colour mount to his cheeks, and
+the king noticed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your father and I once had a quarrel," continued
+the king, and he smiled, but a cloud was seen on his
+brow.  "But this was all forgotten long ago, and I
+am glad that such a good man has such a brave
+son.  You were amongst the seventy Finns at
+Demmin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And no one has mentioned you for promotion?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My colonel has promised to remember me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your king never forgets a real service.  Gustaf
+Bertila, I have just signed your commission as
+sub-lieutenant.  Take it, and continue to serve with
+honour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty," said the young man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have something more to say to you.  Your
+action yesterday was against orders."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I want my soldiers to obey implicitly.  I have
+been told that you dismounted at the foot of the
+steepest hill, so that you could get up quicker."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is true your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And that you reached the top of the hill first,
+whilst the others had to ride round; and that you
+killed two of the enemy, and took the first cannon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is good, sub-lieutenant Bertila; I forgive you,
+and promote you to the rank of lieutenant in my
+Finnish cavalry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man could not speak.  The king himself
+laboured under considerable emotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come nearer, young man," said the king.  "You
+ought to know that once, in my youth, I did your
+father a considerable injury.  Heaven knows that I
+repent, and has at last given me an opportunity to
+repair to the son the injustice done to the father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lieutenant Bertila, you are brave and noble, and
+you have received a military education.  You have
+also brought into my service four soldiers.  In your
+position as officer in my army you are already
+considered a nobleman.  That none of my officers shall
+look down upon you as a peasant's son, I will give
+you a name, and the knight's spur."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go, young man.  Go, my son," repeated the king
+with great emotion, "and show that you are worth
+the king's favour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Until death."  And the young man bent his knee
+to the king.  The latter stood up.  The emotion
+which had for a moment passed over his fine face
+now disappeared, and he was again the royal leader.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young Bertila understood that the time had
+come to retire.  But he still remained in his kneeling
+position, and gave the king a letter, which he, until
+this day, had carried sewed in his coat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May I ask your Majesty to read this letter.
+When I said farewell to my old father he gave me
+this letter, and said, 'My son, go and try to win your
+king's favour, through your faithfulness and valour.
+And if some day you can obtain it for your own
+sake, and not only for the sake of your father's name,
+then give him this letter, and tell him that it is my
+last will.  His great heart will understand what I
+mean.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king opened the letter and read it, and on
+his face was seen that deep flush, which in his later
+years was the only sign of the struggles of a soul,
+able to control itself.  It came as a light cloud on the
+king's forehead, deepened for a moment, and then
+passed away without leaving any trace.  When he
+had finished reading, his eyes rested for a moment
+on the handsome youth who was still kneeling at
+his feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand up," said the king at last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila obeyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know what this letter contains?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king watched him closely, but was satisfied
+with the honest and truthful expression of his face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your father is a strange man.  He hates all noblemen
+since the days of the Peasants' War.  He fought
+many tough battles as their leader; and Fleming's
+troops took possession of his farm.  He forbids you
+ever to bear a noble name, if you wish to avoid his
+curse."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila did not reply.  A thunder-bolt from a clear
+sky had come down upon his happiness, and all his
+dreams of a noble and knightly name had been
+destroyed at one blow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A father's will must be obeyed," continued the
+king with great seriousness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The noble name which I had intended for you,
+you cannot accept.  Do not feel sad, my young friend,
+you shall keep your sword and your lieutenant's
+commission; with them, and your brave arm, the path
+to honour will always be open to you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king now dismissed him, and the young man
+left the tent with mixed feelings.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0103"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br /><br />
+LADY REGINA.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+In the beginning of October, 1631, it was a dull
+autumn day, about three or four weeks after the
+battle of Breitenfeld, and in one of the rooms of the
+tower of the castle of Würzburg the beautiful Regina
+von Emmeritz was sitting with several of her
+attendants; they were all working on a banner of white
+silk with the image of the Holy Virgin on it.  It
+was intended for a standard of victory to stimulate
+the troops defending the castle.  The young maidens
+indulged in an animated conversation, for the terror
+of the castle, the old, selfish bishop, had just started
+off, as he alleged, on a journey through the diocese,
+but in reality to escape Gustaf Adolf's approaching
+warriors.  Trembling for his treasures, he had
+previously entrusted the defence of the town and castle
+to the valiant and trustworthy captain of horse, Keller,
+with fifteen hundred men; and this commander, relying
+upon the impregnable position of the fortress on
+the banks of the Main, had assured his reverence that
+the heretic king should crush his head against the
+walls, before any of his godless host obtained an
+entrance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lovely Regina was scarcely sixteen, and her
+curls were dark as the night, cheeks rosy as the dawn,
+and black eyes shining like two stars which at midnight
+mirror themselves in a mountain lake.  She was
+the pet and idol of the aged bishop; he had therefore
+unwillingly left her with his other treasures in
+the castle, depending, however, upon Keller's
+assurance that the thick walls well mounted with heavy
+guns, were, in such uncertain times, the best harbour
+for beauty and gold; and Keller was a commander
+of fidelity and honour; with such a precious trust
+he would sooner bury himself underneath the ruins
+of the fortress than surrender.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina raised her brilliant eyes from the
+embroidery and glanced through the little turret
+window over the river, where at that moment a
+carriage, escorted by some troopers, was crossing the
+bridge from the town to the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who is this traveller?" she said, with the
+concentrated gaze which rarely fixed itself upon any
+object except the large and beautiful marble image
+of the Madonna in her sanctuary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah!" exclaimed Ketchen, the youngest and most
+talkative of the maidens, "ah, Holy Virgin, how
+charming it is to live in such times as these!  Every
+day, new faces, stately cavaliers, brave young knights,
+and now and then a little feast in town.  It is quite
+a different thing from sitting shut up in a cloister, and
+hearing the monks chant De Profundis from morn
+till eve.  Yes," continued she saucily, "may his
+grace, the bishop, only stay away a good long time!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ketchen," admonished Regina, "take care not to
+speak ill of the services and masses of the monks!
+Remember that our confessor, Father Hieronymus,
+is a member of the Holy Inquisition, and that the
+castle dungeons are deep and dark."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ketchen remained silent for a moment.  But
+directly afterwards she boldly said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I were in your place, lady, I would rather
+think of the handsome Count of Lichtenstein, than
+of that terrible Father Hieronymus.  He is a valiant
+knight; God grant that he may return victorious
+from the war against the heretics!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May they all be exterminated by fire and sword!"
+interjected one of the girls in a devout manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor heretics!" said Ketchen smiling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beware!" repeated Lady Regina, with naïve
+earnestness.  "A heretic deserves no mercy.  Anyone
+who kills a heretic has pardon for seven sins; Father
+Hieronymus has often thus instructed me.  To hate
+the heretics is the eighth sacrament, and to love a
+single one of them is to consign your soul to eternal
+torment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina's black eyes emitted fire with these words.
+One could easily see that the worthy father's
+teachings had taken deep root in her soul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still Ketchen did not refrain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is said that their king is good and noble, and
+that he shelters all the weak, and does not allow his
+soldiers to plunder and outrage their enemies."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Satan often assumes the disguise of an angel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They also say that his men are brave and humane.
+I myself heard an old Italian soldier tell the knights
+in the armoury how seventy men belonging to a
+heretic people called Finns, defended their king for
+more than an hour against fifteen hundred
+Neapolitans.  And when most of these Finns had fallen,
+the rest were succoured and finally triumphed;
+afterwards they bound up the wounds of their enemies as
+well as their own."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina rose, and was about to return a quick
+answer to this unpalatable speech, but at that moment
+a servant appeared at the door, and announced that
+the Count of Lichtenstein, sick and wounded, had
+arrived at the castle, and craved shelter.  The young
+lady, who, as the niece of the old bishop, took the
+part of hostess of the castle in his absence,
+immediately hastened down to welcome the new arrival,
+who was a distant relative of the family.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maidens now exchanged significant glances,
+as if they considered this event especially opportune.
+It had long been gossiped amongst them that the
+old bishop had chosen the count as the future husband
+of the young lady.  But in vain had they endeavoured
+to discover any signs of emotion on the part of their
+young mistress at the intelligence of his arrival.  If
+Lady Regina entertained any tender passion, she well
+knew how to conceal it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it true," asked one of the girls, "that the king
+of the heretics has won a great victory over the
+soldiers of the true faith, and is now approaching this
+castle with his godless army?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So it is said," answered another.  "But he is
+unable to come here.  Our people have erected the
+image of the Swedish saint, Brigitta, in his path, in
+Thüringer forest, and she will stop his progress."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meanwhile, Lady Regina had ordered one
+of the bishop's own apartments to be put in order for
+the guest, and provided in every way for his comfort.
+The young Count of Lichtenstein was a proud and
+stately youth, dark as a Spaniard, and with eyes
+almost as bright as Regina's.  He approached the
+beautiful hostess with faltering steps, and with an
+ardent glance, before which Regina cast down her
+eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How grateful I should be to heaven," he said, "for
+these wounds, which have procured me the happiness
+of having such a beautiful hostess!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The count's wounds were numerous, but not dangerous.
+Taken captive at Breitenfeld, he had shortly
+afterwards, still weak from his wounds, been
+exchanged, and immediately hastened here, to regain
+health and strength in the neighbourhood of his
+heart's mistress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," he added, "I heard with great alarm that
+the enemy, seeking whom they may devour, were on
+their march hither to the rich vales of Franconia.
+Then I hurried, quickly as I could, to share with you,
+beautiful Regina, all these dangers and terrors.  Be
+calm!  Königshofen will make a stand against them,
+and Father Hieronymus, who, also wounded, escaped
+from the disastrous field of Breitenfeld, is busy
+inciting the country people to resistance all along the
+enemy's advance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so you think," anxiously asked Regina, "that
+these terrible heretics will venture as far as this
+place?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The protection of the saints will be with beauty
+and faith," answered the count evasively.  "Besides,
+we shall soon receive more reliable news."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he spoke, Regina looked out of the window, and
+perceived a troop of horsemen, who were hurrying at
+full speed towards the fortress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot be mistaken," she exclaimed; "it is
+Father Hieronymus himself who returns here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A bad omen," muttered the count between his
+teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina was right; it was Father Hieronymus
+who at that moment rode over the drawbridge.  In
+appearance, the father was a little insignificant man,
+thin and pallid, with sharp features, and deeply sunk,
+hollow eyes, whose quick glance fled inquiringly from
+one object to another.  He still wore the long sword
+suspended from the rope round his waist.  But the
+bald spot no longer shone on the crown of his head;
+wounded at that place, he wore over it a sort of
+skull-cap or calotte of leather, the black colour of
+which made a ghastly contrast with his cadaverous-looking
+face.  Never had the dreaded Jesuit showed
+himself in so forbidding a form.  The men-at-arms
+stood at attention, and all the servants in the castle
+hastened to receive his commands.  A secret anxiety
+took possession of all the bystanders.  It looked as
+if terror and death had ridden in his train through
+the gates of Würzburg Castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monk hastily surveyed the garrison drawn up
+in the courtyard, and then greeted Lady Regina with
+a smile, which was probably intended to make him
+look more agreeable, but which had exactly the
+opposite effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"St. Petrus and all the saints protect you,
+gracious lady!  The times are very awful, very bad.
+The Holy Virgin has allowed the vile heretics to
+penetrate to our very gates&mdash;on account of our sins!"
+he added, crossing himself devoutly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Königshofen?" inquired Count Fritz, who
+anticipated the answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The treacherous commander has capitulated."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But did not the peasants oppose the enemy's
+march through the forest?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All scattered like chaff&mdash;on account of our sins."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the holy Brigitta's image?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The vile heretics have placed it as a scarecrow in
+a wheat-field.  But," continued the Jesuit, his voice
+acquiring suddenly a commanding tone, "what is this
+I see, my daughter?  Why are you still here, and
+the castle filled with women and children, while the
+enemy may arrive at any moment at your gates?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lady Regina shall never need a protector as long
+as I am alive," exclaimed Count Fritz.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The castle is provisioned for a whole year," said
+Regina timidly.  "But, worthy father, you are
+fatigued, you are wounded, and need rest.  Allow me
+to dress your wounds; you are hurt in the head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is nothing, my daughter.  Do not think of me.
+You must fly instantly to the impregnable fortress of
+Aschaffenburg."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ha!  I fear it is too late," exclaimed Count Fritz,
+who was looking out upon the river and town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Virgin, are they already here?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit and Lady Regina rushed to the window.
+The afternoon sun was shedding its rays over
+Würzburg and the surrounding country.  Horsemen could
+be seen riding at full gallop through the streets, and
+a whole host of panic-stricken people were rapidly
+moving towards the castle&mdash;monks and nuns, women
+and children, dragging after them a number of
+hand-carts containing the best of their household effects.
+Beyond the town, in the direction of Schweinfurter,
+on the east bank of the river, appeared a troop of
+cavalry, from whose threatening but cautious advance
+one could easily recognise the vanguard of the
+Swedish army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Accursed devils!" burst out the Jesuit, with an
+indescribable expression of hatred on his pallid face.
+"These heretics can fly.  May the earth open and
+devour them!"  And he ran out with frantic zeal to
+place himself at the head of the garrison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop's castle, also called Marienburg, raises
+its old walls high above the right bank of the Main.
+On the river side of the town the rock is high and
+precipitous, but on the other side sloping and easily
+ascended.  A rampart in the shape of a half moon
+formed a formidable outwork before the gates;
+and if the enemy surmounted this obstacle, a deep
+moat, cut in the solid rock, awaited him on the other
+side; and even if he crossed this successfully, the
+inner and higher castle wall blocked his way, lined
+with steel-clad defenders, prepared to receive him
+with a devastating fire, and crush him with the large
+stones collected on the walls.  The only passage over
+the river was a narrow bridge, and the forty-eight
+guns of the fortress commanded and swept the whole
+town and neighbourhood.  From this it will be seen
+that Keller at the head of 1,500 valiant troops, and
+well provided with all necessaries, had good reason
+in bidding the departing bishop to be of good
+heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Gustaf Adolf had an overwhelming reason for
+becoming master of this castle, cost what it would.
+Tilly had now drawn to himself large reinforcements,
+and stood, a few weeks after the battle of Breitenfeld,
+fully equipped and eager for revenge, with
+30,000 men on the march from Hessen, to assist
+Würzburg.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king summoned the town, and forced his way
+into the suburbs, but it was already late in the day,
+and the attack had to be postponed.  The next
+morning the town surrendered.  But Keller had profited
+by the darkness of the night to transfer his whole
+force, a large number of fugitives, and the portable
+property of the town, to the castle, after which he
+blew up two arches of the bridge, and thus blockaded
+the enemy's way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But to return to the fortress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That night none but the little children could sleep
+in the bishop's castle.  Crowds of soldiers, monks, and
+women, were constantly arriving; one baggage-wagon
+after the other rattled in through the castle gates;
+the vaults echoed with the cries of the watch, the
+orders of the officers, and the children's crying, and
+above all this noise and confusion one could plainly
+hear the masses of the monks, who were invoking
+in the chapel the protection of the Holy Virgin and
+all the saints, on behalf of the threatened fortress, the
+strongest castle of the Catholics in all Franconia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to provide for this human host, Lady
+Regina had not only opened the bishop's private
+rooms, but also the two spacious drawing-rooms set
+aside for her own use in the interior of the castle,
+and with her maids moved up to the small chambers
+in the east turret.  In vain it was represented to her
+that this point was exposed to the fire of the enemy.
+She here had the best and most extensive prospect
+in the whole fortress, and was not willing to forego it.
+"Do not interfere with me," she said to the
+cautious Jesuit; "I wish to see the heretics mown
+down by our guns.  It will be a fine spectacle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amen," answered Father Hieronymus.  "You
+remember, my daughter, that this castle is protected by
+two miraculous images of the Virgin, one of pure
+gold, the other of gilded wood.  I will hang up the
+latter in your apartment; it will avert the enemy's
+shot like so many puff-balls from your turret."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At daybreak, Lady Regina was on the look-out at
+her little turret window.  It was a glorious sight,
+when the sun rose over the autumn hills with their
+still verdant vineyards, through which the River Main
+wound like a glittering serpent of gold and silver in
+the morning light.  In the town all was activity; four
+Swedish regiments marched in with flags flying and
+drums beating, their armour shining in the bright
+sunlight, and the plumes of their officers waving in
+the wind.  At this sight, fear and curiosity came into
+conflict in the minds of the maidens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you see," said Lady Regina to Ketchen, "the
+two cavaliers in their yellow waistcoats, who ride at
+the head of the heretics?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How handsome they are!  Now they turn round
+the street corner&mdash;there they are again.  Just see how
+everyone makes way for them!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Send for Count Fritz.  He was in the Swedish
+camp for more than a fortnight, and knows their
+leaders."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The count, who was prevented by his wounds from
+taking part in the defence of the castle, immediately
+obeyed the Lady Regina's summons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Swedes had taken full
+possession of the town, and began to show
+themselves in scattered groups on the river banks.  At
+that moment the castle guns opened fire, and here
+and there a ball fell among the Swedes, who
+immediately sought shelter behind the houses by the
+river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Mary, a man was struck over there and does
+not move again!" cried Ketchen, who could not
+conceal her sympathy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"St. Francis be praised, there is one heretic less
+in the world!" rejoined old Dorthe, Lady Regina's
+duenna, who had been appointed by Father Hieronymus
+to guard all her steps.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But it is terrible to shoot a man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Count Fritz smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fräulein Ketchen, you should have been on the
+field of Breitenfeld.  Nine thousand corpses!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is horrible!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Count, can you inform me who those horsemen
+are, who, in spite of the storm of cannon-shot, keep on
+the river bank and seem to be closely examining the
+defences of our castle?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pardon me, charming cousin, the smoke blocks
+my sight.  Those cavaliers&mdash;upon my honour, it is
+the king himself, and Count Pehr Brahe.  I would
+not be in their shoes if Father Hieronymus sees them.
+He would undoubtedly bring all the guns of the
+fortress to bear upon them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words old Dorthe crept silently from the
+room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My cousin, why do you thus regard the heretic
+leader?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beautiful Regina, why do your eyes flash fire at
+the thought.  You are, yourself, so generous and
+noble, can you not understand my sympathy for a
+brave and chivalrous foe?  The king of Sweden is a
+hero, well worthy of our supreme admiration, as well
+as of our great enmity."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I fail to comprehend you.  A heretic!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God preserve you from some day seeing him
+within these walls; you will then understand me much
+better.  Ha! they are now preparing to assault the
+bridge; they are throwing planks over the destroyed
+arches.  By Heaven, that is courageous!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now, four fell at once!" exclaimed the excited
+Ketchen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know them well," said Count Fritz, growing
+more and more agitated by the sounds of the battle
+and the loud thunder of the cannonade, which made
+the fortress walls shake.  "They are the Scots.  There
+are no finer soldiers in the whole Swedish army; the
+Scots and Finns are always in the front of the battle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah! see there, my cousin, the Scots recoil; they
+dare not try to leap the abyss.  That truly requires
+superhuman courage.  Twenty-four feet underneath
+the planks rushes the flood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Two young officers dash out on the planks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They are the youthful brothers Ramsay.  I recognise
+them by their blue scarves.  They love the same
+lady, and both sport her colours, without loving each
+other any the less."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh God, guard them!  Ah, Holy Virgin, this is
+fearful!" and Ketchen hid her face in her apron.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the brave and intrepid Scots could reach
+the centre of the planks, they lost their balance,
+reeled, and then fell headlong into the river.  For a
+short time they struggled with the flood, but wounded
+by bullets from the castle, their strength soon failed
+them, and their heavy armour made them sink in
+the waters; another moment, and these gallant youths
+sank to rise no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You rejoiced at war not long ago," said Lady
+Regina to Ketchen, assuming a calmness which she
+did not feel in her agitated heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, yes, at the handsome young knights; the
+feasts and music, but not at this!" exclaimed the
+crying Ketchen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Scots retreat!" exclaimed another of the
+girls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," replied the reflecting count, "but the Swedes
+have begun to cross the river in boats."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Scots are returning to the attack."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Just as I imagined," said the count calmly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God preserve us! they have succeeded; they are
+now on this side.  Our troops attack them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lady Regina, do not expose yourself so much at
+the window.  The Swedes may aim their cannon at
+the turret."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Count, do you fear?" Regina smiled as she said
+this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lichtenstein coloured up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have satisfied myself that I have courage
+enough," he answered.  "Hearken, and you will every
+now and then distinguish a peculiar whizzing, and a
+rattling like the fall of stones; you do not know what
+this is.  I will tell you.  These are cannon-shot, Lady
+Regina; you would know this better if the noise
+outside was not so deafening.  For some time the
+balls have been shattering the walls of the turret, and
+almost always at the same place.  Fair cousin, these
+are no sugar-plums.  The Swedes must have been
+taught to shoot by the Wild Huntsman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you really think&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That the enemy intend to destroy this turret, and
+will fill the castle moat with the debris?  Yes, cousin,
+and I believe they will do it very soon.  You are in
+danger here, every moment, and must go somewhere
+else."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Immediately, good count, at once!  Come, lady!"
+cried Ketchen, trying with friendly violence to take
+her young mistress away with her.  But Regina was
+in an exalted mood.  In the habit of ruling, and
+perhaps from the defiant nature of her character, full of
+strange contrasts, joined to the burning fanaticism
+which the Jesuit had implanted in her mind from
+childhood ... she stepped backwards, grasped the
+gilded image of the Virgin, which Father Hieronymus
+had sent to guard her, and placed it in front of
+herself on the window-sill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go," she exclaimed; "you are weak in the faith;
+you doubt the protection of the holy saints.  I shall
+remain, and the efforts of the heretics will avail
+nothing against&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina's speech was not finished, when a
+ball struck the turret at an oblique angle, knocking
+away a piece of the facing.  A shower of stone
+fragments hurtled through the window, demolishing the
+image of the Holy Virgin, and enveloping Lady
+Regina in dust and dirt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You must away!  Now you see for yourself!"
+cried the count.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us go!" exclaimed all the girls nearly
+paralyzed with fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Regina, nearly overwhelmed for a moment,
+recovered her self-confidence, and stooped down to
+pick up the image, saying with faith,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They cannot triumph over the Holy Mother."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was deceived.  The wooden virgin had
+broken into several fragments.  A sceptical smile
+played around the count's lips, and he now led
+without any opposition his terror-stricken relative from
+the turret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this was happening, Keller, with the quickness
+and perception of a thorough soldier, had made
+every arrangement for a vigorous defence.  He was
+unable to stop the Swedes from crossing the river,
+but the nearer they came, the more destructive was
+the fire of his artillery.  The enemy's ranks were
+decimated by his shot; and the whole day they could
+do nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Father Hieronymus and his monks ran around
+the walls, deluging the guns with holy water, and
+making the sign of the cross over every touch-hole.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Dorthe had whispered in his ear, and the
+Jesuit's gaze was directed towards the place where
+someone had just seen the Swedish king and his
+companion.  The worthy priest now wished to aim,
+himself, one of the heavy guns towards the spot; but
+before firing he fell on his knees and repeated four
+<i>pater nosters</i> and <i>ave Marias</i>.  Then followed the shot;
+but in vain did the anxious Jesuit look for the effect.
+Unhurt, as before, the forms of the two horsemen
+were seen through the vanishing smoke.  The monk
+now thought that four <i>paters</i> and four <i>aves</i> were
+too little, and accordingly repeated eight of each sort,
+and then fired again.  Disgusting!  The balls would
+not touch the selected objects.  Providence had not
+yet rung the death-knell of Gustaf Adolf, and Pehr
+Brahe it wished to spare for the sake of Finland.
+Who can estimate what would have succeeded
+Sweden's victories, and Finland's learning, if the
+Jesuit's shots had reached their mark?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Father Hieronymus fumed.  Once more he resolved
+to try with twelve <i>paters</i> and twelve <i>aves</i>, when
+someone touched him on the back; he turned round and
+saw an old soldier, who had been exchanged with
+Count Lichtenstein.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cease your efforts," said the veteran in a firm tone,
+"it is a needless waste of powder; you are trying
+to kill a man with a charmed life; he is invulnerable."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The superstitious Jesuit muttered something with
+a low breath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I should have divined as much.  But how do you
+know this, my son?" he added.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I was told of it in the Swedish camp.  On the
+forefinger of his right hand the king wears a little
+copper ring, inscribed all over with magical signs.
+This was given to him in his youth by a Finnish
+witch, and as long as he wears this ring, neither fire,
+water, iron, or lead can injure him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing affects him, you believe?  Oh, <i>maledicti
+Fennones</i>, why do you follow me everywhere?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No iron or lead," whispered the veteran, "but I
+can tell you of something else."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say on, my son; you are absolved beforehand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, good father, it is a sinful method."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All means are justified for the benefit of our Holy
+Faith.  Speak, my son."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gold from a holy image."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never, my son, no; we dare not do that.  Had it
+been a dagger of glass, or an occult poison, it would
+do; but gold from a saint's image, no, my son, let us
+forget the unholy idea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the cloak of night had descended, and
+death's work for the time was finished.  The worn-out
+soldiers refreshed themselves with food and drink,
+and Keller passed around some fine liquors to sustain
+their courage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina had moved down to one of the inner
+apartments; Count Fritz had gone to bed.  Soon all
+was silent, except the call of the sentinels, the songs of
+drunken soldiers, and the murmur of the feast which
+Keller gave to his officers in the armoury.  But in
+the fine chapel, where stood the pure golden statues
+of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the midnight mass
+was over, and all the monks except one had gone to
+rest, or&mdash;the wine-cup.  This lonely figure was still
+kneeling before the altar, and the perpetually burning
+lamp shed its dim rays over the praying pallid Jesuit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Virgin," prayed he, "forgive thy humble
+servant for daring to take from thee a small piece of
+thy golden robe.  Thou knowest, oh sanctissima, that
+it is for a holy and sacred end, in order to kill the
+sworn enemy of the holy church, the heretic king,
+whom the heathen Finns with their devilish arts have
+rendered invulnerable to the steel and lead of the true
+believers.  Grant that the gold, which I, in thy
+honour, take from thy glorious mantle, may pierce
+the wicked heart of the godless king, and I promise
+thee, holy mother, to replace what thou hast lost by
+a costly robe of velvet and pearls.  Three gilded
+candles will I cause to burn also, night and day,
+before thy image.  Amen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Father Hieronymus had finished his devotions,
+he looked up, and it appeared to him as if the
+image in the light of the eternal lamp smiled its
+approval to the fanatical petition.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0104"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br /><br />
+LADY REGINA'S OATH.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The next day was one of hot and furious battle.  The
+Swedes bombarded the castle with a heavy fire, and
+drew near to the walls under the cover of earthworks.
+The Imperial troops fought well.  Time was precious
+for both sides; in a few days Tilly would be in the
+rear of Gustaf Adolf; a possible thunder-bolt to the
+Swedes; a certain relief for the garrison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina and her attendants were now shut
+up in the inner rooms, and could no longer view the
+extraordinary spectacle of the siege.  But there was
+much to do within.  Large numbers of wounded had
+to be nursed; the young lady moved like a spirit of
+light from couch to couch in the armoury, where the
+wounded had been placed; her healing hands poured
+balm on their wounds; her compassionate voice
+poured consolation into their hearts.  She spoke of
+the Holy Faith for which they suffered; promised
+honours and rewards to those who recovered, and
+eternal salvation to the dying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The heavy artillery thunder made the walls tremble.
+Lady Regina suddenly remembered that she had
+left her rosary up in the little turret, and it was now
+needed for the prayers of the dying.  She had already
+reached the threshold of the armoury, when a terrific
+crash shook the castle to its very base.  Pale with
+fear, she hesitated, and at the same moment the Count
+of Lichtenstein rushed in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What has happened?" exclaimed the young lady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thank the saints, my fair cousin, that you took
+my advice yesterday.  The turret has fallen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then we are lost."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not yet.  The Swedes thought it would fall into
+the moat, but it has fallen inside.  The enemy will
+soon try an assault.  Come to this window which
+overlooks the walls.  Can you see?  Father Hieronymus
+is on his knees by the large gun.  I will wager
+that he sees the Swedish king."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The count was right.  The Jesuit's keen glance
+was fixed on one spot, and his lips hastily muttered
+prayer after prayer.  He had discovered Gustaf
+Adolf on horseback with Pehr Brahe.  The two kept
+near the outworks, sheltered somewhat by a heap of
+debris.  Father Hieronymus relied upon the heavy
+shot, into which, with prayers and fasting, he had run
+the gold from the Holy Mother's mantle.  He
+stooped to direct the cannon, and the pupils of his
+eyes contracted, his nostrils expanded, while Latin
+prayers continued to flow from his lips.  Then he
+rose quickly, and after swinging the lighted match
+in the form of a cross, fired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gun belched forth flame and smoke.  Oh, hate
+and fury!  When the smoke cleared off, the two
+horsemen still rode unharmed side by side.  But this
+time Gustaf Adolf had a narrow escape, for the
+ball had struck the debris, and covered both with
+dust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tired, weary, and quite exasperated, the Jesuit left
+the ramparts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wait, ruler of Belial, until I succeed in taking
+your ring from you, and then you shalt be destroyed!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king now commanded an assault on the
+outworks.  Axel Lilje, Jacob Ramsay, and Hamilton,
+pressed on with their men.  Frightful difficulties were
+here encountered.  They were obliged to climb up
+the steep rocks under a heavy fire, and then cross
+the moat and scale the walls.  The irresistible Scots
+and Finns led the way.  Those who fell were
+immediately replaced by others, with their swords
+between their teeth.  The king himself rode as near
+as possible in order to encourage his troops.  A bullet
+tore away a piece of his glove, without wounding him.
+It was now a common belief that Gustaf Adolf was
+invulnerable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, after two hours desperate conflict, the
+Scots and the Finns triumphed.  The outworks were
+captured, and the defenders driven back into the
+castle.  It was then four in the afternoon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few hours rest ensued.  At a council of war it
+was resolved to storm the castle at daybreak, and the
+Finns were to lead the forlorn hope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The position of the garrison was far from hopeless.
+They could still concentrate 1,000 men at any
+threatened point.  But they had lost their moral
+courage.  In vain did Keller try to restore their
+spirits; in vain did the monks carry the golden image
+of the Virgin around the ramparts.  At nightfall
+disorder reigned; the troops refused to obey orders,
+and some wished to escape in the darkness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At midnight, Lady Regina was praying before the
+altar in the chapel to the mother of God.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Mary," she whispered, "guard this castle
+against the heretics.  But if it be thy will that the
+fortress shall fall, then also bury in its ruins all thy
+enemies: the godless king, and his heathen Finns
+who have fought the most to-day against thy Holy
+Cause."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amen!" said the voice of Father Hieronymus
+behind her.  A dark smile played over his pale
+countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you realise what you are asking for, my
+daughter?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Victory for the Catholic faith.  Death to the
+heretics."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The youthful mind is subject to change.  Have
+you sufficient devotion to hate the enemies of the
+faith, even if ever, as a woman, you felt tempted to
+love one of them?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have, my father; yes, I declare it!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are my penitent, and I would save your soul
+from eternal damnation.  Have you courage to sacrifice
+yourself for the holy faith, and thereby secure
+the eternal crown of a martyr?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, my father!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well; then know that the fortress will be
+taken in a short time.  You will be a prisoner; you
+are young and beautiful, and may easily win the
+king's favour.  When you can approach his person,
+and the Holy Virgin grants an opportunity, you
+must&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit now took out a crucifix of silver, and
+when he pressed a spring in the breast of the
+image, a keen dagger flew out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grace, my father; this task is terrible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No respite.  The Holy Church demands a blind
+obedience.  <i>Perinde ac cadaver</i>.  As a corpse which
+has no will of its own.  Do you love the Holy
+Virgin?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You know that I do."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Look at her golden robe.  She has lost a part
+of it during the night.  It is a bad omen, and indicates
+her anger.  Do you love me also, my daughter?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I revere you more than anyone else, my father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then look at this mutilated head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit removed his black leather cap, and
+exposed the horrible stumps of two severed ears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thus have the blasphemous king's Finns treated
+your confessor and friend.  Do you still hesitate to
+avenge the mother of God and myself?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What must I do, my father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen!  The heretic king wears on his right
+forefinger a ring of copper; this is a talisman against
+death and injury.  You must gain possession of this
+ring by some artifice, and then if your arm is too weak
+to deal the blow, call upon me.  We will reach his
+heart, even if it was guarded by a dragon's scales."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If it is the will of the saints ... so be it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Place two fingers on this crucifix, and repeat this
+oath.  I swear by this cross, and by all the saints, to
+accomplish what I now vow before the image of the
+Holy Virgin.  If I ever break this oath, may a curse
+rest upon me and my posterity to the seventh
+generation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in
+Heaven.  Amen!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina faithfully repeated these words after
+the monk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night's silence sealed this terrible oath, which,
+with iron fetters, chained the coming generations to
+the hesitating decision of a girl of sixteen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this passed, the troops of stormers assembled
+in the outworks.  A number of volunteers had
+obtained permission to join them.  All relied upon
+victory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the volunteers appeared Lieutenant Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thunder and lightning! is that you, Bertel?"
+exclaimed Lieutenant Larsson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"As you see," said the youth, shaking his hand
+cordially.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, I declare, the good boy wishes to sport his
+new commission.  There's not a single drop left in
+my flask.  But say, why have you changed your
+name, Bertel?  What sort of a mixture is it? neither
+Swedish or Finnish."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It was done at Breitenfeld," said Bertel, slightly
+blushing.  "The comrades have long called me so,
+and&mdash;it is shorter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, I hope you are not too proud to bear a
+peasant's name, now you are an officer?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have the lots already been drawn?" said Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No.  You are just in time to try your luck."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As all the younger officers desired the honour of
+leading the forlorn hope, the difficulty was settled
+by drawing lots.  After these were shaken up in a
+helmet, Bertel was the successful competitor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Look out for yourself, my boy!" cried little
+Larsson.  "Thunder and lightning, remember that
+the castle is full of Jesuits.  Trap-doors everywhere,
+a dagger in every crucifix, and at the moment of
+victory the castle will be blown up."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was half an hour to the dawn.  Bertel with
+seven men was ordered to closely reconnoitre the
+fortress.  The rest of the troops were held in readiness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night was pitch dark.  Bertel's men approached
+the drawbridge without being challenged: To their
+complete astonishment they found it down.*
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Some authors say that the drawbridge could not be drawn up on
+account of the weight of the many dead who were left there after the
+strife.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel stopped for an instant, remembering
+Larsson's warnings.  Was this a trap?  All was
+silent.  Then Bertel and his men stepped softly over
+the bridge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who goes there?" thundered a German sentinel
+through the darkness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Swede!" cried Bertel, cleaving his head.  "Comrades,
+the castle is ours!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the seven pushed on resolutely after him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Inside the drawbridge stood two hundred
+Imperialists on guard.  These became panic-stricken
+and thought the whole Swedish army was upon them.
+They tried to regain the sally-port, but the bold
+lieutenant and his seven men opposed them.  The
+darkness in the arched gateway was impenetrable;
+friend could not be distinguished from foe.  The
+press soon became so great that no sword could be
+used, and the rash assailants were in danger of being
+crushed to death by the rushing host of mailed
+warriors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But those in the outworks had heard Bertel's cry,
+and the whole Swedish force now rushed against the
+castle; the rest of the garrison seized their weapons
+and hastened to defend the entrance.  But the Finns
+had obtained a footing, and in a short time stood
+inside the castle yard.  Keller and his men fought
+desperately, and many Swedes and Finns fell here,
+at the very moment of victory.  Their fall excited
+their countrymen to revenge.  They began to cry,
+"Magdeburger pardon," and this shout meant death
+without quarter to all the Imperialists.  The carnage
+became awful.  Many monks threw themselves into
+the mêlée, some with torches, some sword in hand.
+Most were cut down, others cast themselves on the
+ground feigning death.  Day had broken over the
+sanguinary scene.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Lennart Torstensson started forward, seized
+the madly struggling Keller round the waist, and took
+him prisoner.  The remainder of the Imperialists
+laid down their arms, and all was over.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0105"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br /><br />
+JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+When the first rays of the sun glittered in the waves
+of the River Main, the castle of Marienburg was in
+the hands of the Swedes.  The king rode up to the
+courtyard, which was covered with killed and wounded
+enemies, and amongst these were more than a score
+of monks.  Some of these appeared to the king to be
+shamming death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand up," he said to them, "and no evil shall
+befall you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately many of those who were pretending
+to be dead stood on their feet sound and well, and
+bowed low, full of joy and gratitude to the king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The castle had been taken by storm, and the
+soldiers were allowed to plunder.  The quantity of
+silver, and gold, and weapons, and other valuable
+things was enormous.  The king reserved the
+armoury, with its complete equipments for 7,000
+infantry and 4,000 cavalry, 48 guns and 4 mortars,
+the stables with fine and valuable horses, and the
+wine cellar filled with the very best wines.  The
+library was sent to Upsala, and donated to the
+university.  The sacred statues of gold and silver
+found their way to the Treasury.  Although many of
+the inhabitants of the town were allowed to take away
+their property, the booty was so great that when the
+soldiers divided it, the money was measured in
+helmets.  At last Keller had to lead the way to the
+concealed treasure vault.  This was deep down in
+the rock underneath the cellar of the castle; here the
+bishop kept his treasures.  Fryxell relates, that when
+the soldiers carried up the heavy chests, the bottom
+fell out of one of them, and the gold rolled over the
+courtyard.  The soldiers hurried to pick it up.  Some
+they gave to the king, but most of it went into their
+own pockets.  Gustaf Adolf saw this, and said,
+laughing, "Never mind, boys; now that it has once come
+into your hands, you may as well keep it."  The
+spoil was so great that after that day there was
+scarcely a soldier in the whole army who did not
+have a new suit of clothes.  In the camp a cow was
+sold for a riks thaler, a sheep for a few stivers, and
+the learned Salvius writes, "Our Finnish boys, who
+are now accustomed to the winelands down here, are
+not likely to wish to return to Savolax.  In the
+Livonian war they often had to put up with water
+and mouldy bread, now the Finns can concoct a
+beverage in their helmets with wine and spices."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst the prisoners was the Count of Lichtenstein
+and Lady Regina.  The king ordered that they
+should both be treated with the greatest respect.  He
+offered the young lady a safe conduct to go to the
+bishop, her uncle.  Lady Regina rejected this on
+account of the insecurity of the times, and asked as
+a favour to be allowed to remain under the king's
+protection for the present.  Gustaf Adolf agreed to
+this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do this unwillingly," said the king, smiling, to
+the Margrave of Baden Durlach, who was riding by
+his side.  "Young ladies are a luxury in the camp,
+and they turn the heads of my attendants; but she
+may come with me to Frankfurt, as a hostage; it will
+bind the hands of the bishop."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty knows how to attract everybody
+through your generosity," replied the Margrave with
+the politeness of a courtier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lieutenant Bertel," said the king, turning to the
+officer close to him, who had the command of a troop
+of Finnish cavalry, "I give Lady Regina von
+Emmeritz into your charge.  She has my permission
+to bring with her an elderly lady, a young girl, and
+her father confessor.  See to it, that you are not
+smitten, lieutenant, and above all give close heed to
+the monk; that set is not to be relied upon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel saluted with his sword, and remained silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One thing more," continued the king.  "I have
+not forgotten that you were the first one who entered
+the sally-port.  When you have brought the young
+lady to safety, you must appear on duty in my
+life-guards.  Have you understood me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good."  And the king then said to the Margrave
+with a smile, "Believe me, it would have been serious
+to leave this beautiful dark-eyed girl in the charge
+of one of my susceptible Swedes.  This boy is a
+Finn; they are the most phlegmatic people I know
+of.  They are poor gallants; they need a year to
+catch fire.  A girl can drive twenty of them out of
+a ball-room; but if it comes to a battle with
+Pappenheim, then your grace knows what they can do."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gustaf Adolf gained victory after victory in the
+late autumn.  Tilly, who had come too late to save
+Würzburg, did not dare to attack him, and irritated
+by his bad luck and constant defeats, drew back to
+the Bavarian frontier.  Gustaf Adolf marched down
+the Main, entered Aschaffenburg, and compelled
+the cautious Frankfurters to open their gates.  On
+December the 6th the king forced a march over the
+Rhine near Oppenheim, and entered Mainz on the
+9th, which the Spaniard de Sylva had so proudly
+thought that he could defend against three Swedish
+kings.  The victorious Swedish army was now spread
+over the north and west part of Germany, and the
+conqueror had chosen his winter quarters in
+Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  A splendid court here assembled
+around the hero; it was here that flattery had
+previously adorned his head with the crown of the
+German Empire.  It was here that Maria Elenora
+came flying on longing wings to embrace her
+husband; in Henau, where he had come to meet her,
+she clasped him in her arms and said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At last the great Gustaf Adolf is captured."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day at the end of December, 1631, the king
+gave a splendid banquet in Frankfurt on account of
+the queen's arrival.  Great crowds of people filled the
+place outside the castle, the high Gothic windows at
+night shone bright as day.  Ale and wines flowed
+constantly from big casks for the people's entertainment;
+around the tap-holes workmen and soldiers
+jostled each other, holding out tankards and goblets,
+which were quickly filled and as suddenly empty
+again.  The good citizens of Frankfurt were beside
+themselves with admiration for the great king.  From
+man to man, the famous tales of his justice and
+mildness circulated: now he had ordered a soldier to be
+hanged because he had taken with force a burgher's
+hen; now he had stopped in the streets and spoken
+familiarly with those whom he met.  They imagined
+that they saw his shadow reflected by the small
+window-panes and wondered whether the German
+crown would not be placed upon that mighty head
+that very evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the saloon of the castle a royal magnificence
+prevailed.  Gustaf Adolf knew his consort's weakness
+for display, and probably wished to produce an effect
+on the assembled German nobility.  The floor was
+covered with rich Flemish carpets, and over the
+windows were draperies of crimson velvet with tassels
+of gold; costly chandeliers, heavy with a thousand
+wax-lights, hung from the ceiling, which was adorned
+with arabesques.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had just finished one of those measured and
+stately Spanish dances, which were at that time in
+vogue, and the heavy-footed Northmen had tried in
+vain to compete with the German and French aristocracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had offered his arm to the queen, and
+they made a promenade through the magnificent
+saloons.  His tall and corpulent figure, and simple
+dignity of manner, which at once inspired reverence
+and love, seemed still more majestic by the side of
+the slender and delicate queen, who with sincere
+devotion leaned on his arm.  Maria Elenora was then
+thirty-two years of age, and had retained a great
+portion of her beauty, which had gained her so many
+admirers in her youth.  On her black hair, which was
+arranged in small curls about her snow-white temples,
+flashed a diadem of fabulous value, which was a recent
+gift from the king; her expressive blue eyes rested
+with indescribable affection upon her royal spouse;
+she seemed to forget herself, absorbed in the
+admiration which the king excited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the wake of the royal couple followed a crowd
+of all the illustrious personages of whom Protestant
+Germany could boast at that time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One saw here the deposed King Frederick of
+Bohemia, the Duke of Weimar and Würtemberg, the
+Landgrave of Hesse, the Margrave of Baden Durlach,
+the Count of Wetterau, as well as other distinguished
+chevaliers; not less than twelve ambassadors from
+foreign courts had assembled here round the hero
+feared by all Europe.  Of the king's own, Tott,
+Baner, and Gustaf Horn were occupied in other
+directions with affairs of war; but here at Gustaf
+Adolf's side, great as himself, even in outer form, was
+the gifted Oxenstjerna, and behind him the man with
+the pale, unpretending aspect, the calm, penetrating,
+and commanding look, Lennart Torstensson, as well
+as the proud Finn, Wittenberg, then colonel.  Many
+of the Swedish generals, and almost all the Finns,
+Stälhandske, Ruuth, Forbus, and others, did not
+thrive well amidst the ceremonial of the royal saloon
+and amongst this haughty nobility whose court
+etiquette appeared to the stern warriors unbearably
+tedious, and had therefore withdrawn in good time
+to one of the smaller saloons, where pages in
+gold-embroidered velvet suits profusely poured the
+choicest Rhine wines into silver goblets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among this brilliant assemblage ought to be
+included the members of the common council of the
+city of Frankfurt, and many of its most prominent
+citizens, with their wives and daughters, as well as a
+large number of ladies, from the high-born duchess
+down to the scarcely less proud councillor's wife.
+Yes, and one saw here even a small number of
+Catholic prelates, easily recognisable by their bald
+heads; for the king wished to proclaim religious
+freedom by word and deed; the prelates, although
+in their hearts cursing the paltry <i>rôle</i> they played
+here, once invited, did not dare to stay away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This scene was doubly gorgeous from the
+splendour of the attire.  The king, however, wore a
+tight-fitting suit of black velvet stitched with silver,
+a Spanish cape of white satin, embroidered by the
+queen's hands, short yellow leather top-boots, and the
+broad lace collar which one sees in all his portraits,
+with the short hair and long goatee.  The luxury-loving
+queen wore a richly jewelled dress of silver
+brocade with a short waist and half-bare arms; even
+the little white satin slippers glittered with brilliants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ladies of the aristocracy and the rich burghers'
+wives vied with each other in display; silver
+and gold fabrics, velvet, satin, and costly Brabant
+laces; also ribbons of all sorts of colours, buckles,
+rosettes, and long sashes, which, fluttering in the air,
+gave a picturesque effect.  Princes and knights, some
+in wide German, others in close-fitting Spanish
+costumes, with their plumed hats under their arms, and
+attendant pages in silver and velvet, completed this
+bright scene in a time when uniforms were unknown.
+Flattery and admiration followed the king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sire," said the artful king of Bohemia to him,
+"your Majesty can only be compared to Alexander
+of Macedon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My cousin," answered Gustaf Adolf, smiling, "you
+do not mean to liken the good city of Frankfurt to
+Babylon?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, sire," joined in the French ambassador, Breze,
+who walked by their side; "his Bohemian Majesty
+only wishes to liken the Rhine to Granicus, and hopes
+that the new Alexander's Hyphasis may lie beyond
+the frontiers of Bohemia."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You must confess, Count Breze," said the king,
+changing the conversation, "that our Northern
+beauties and your French beauties have been
+conquered to-day by a German."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sire, I am of your opinion, that her Majesty the
+Queen does not need the enviable position by your
+side to be truly victorious," replied the courteous
+Frenchman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My consort will be grateful for your politeness,
+minister, but she resigns to Lady von Emmentz the
+preference that belongs to youth."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty flatters to a great extent our
+national German pride," said the Duke of
+Würtemberg bowing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beauty is cosmopolitan, your grace.  It was truly
+a great booty my soldiers took at Würzburg."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king then approached Lady Regina.  Her
+radiant beauty was still more charming through the
+tight-fitting black velvet dress strewed with silver
+stars in which she was robed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My lady," he said courteously.  "I should be happy
+if the mourning you wear covered a heart that could
+forget all sad memories and only live in the hope of
+a brighter future, when war and battles no longer
+frighten the colour away from your beautiful cheeks.
+Believe me, lady, the time will come, and I am wishing
+for it with all my heart as much as you are, and let
+this hope bring joy to these lips where it always
+ought to remain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By your Majesty's side one forgets everything,"
+replied Lady Regina, and rose respectfully from her
+high crimson-covered chair.  But her cheeks grew
+still paler while she spoke, which showed that
+she could not forget the past and her present
+captivity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you not well, lady?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Perhaps you have something to complain of?
+Have confidence in me&mdash;as a friend!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty is very kind&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina struggled with herself.  At last she said,
+with her eyes on the floor,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty's goodness leaves nothing to wish for."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We shall meet again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king continued his walk through the saloon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina withdrew to a deep window recess in
+one of the other rooms and wept.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Virgin," she prayed, "forgive me, that my
+heart does not belong to you alone.  You who can see
+into my inmost being, you know that I have not
+enough strength to hate this heretic king as you
+demand of me.  He is so great, so noble.  Woe unto
+me, I shudder to think of the holy charge you have
+given me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Courage, my daughter," whispered a voice close
+by, and Lady Regina's evil spirit, the pale Jesuit,
+stood behind her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The hour is approaching," he said in a low tone.
+"The godless king has been taken by your beauty;
+rejoice, my child.  The Holy Virgin has decided his
+destruction.  This night he shall die."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, my father, my father, what do you demand
+of me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen to me, my daughter.  When Holofernes,
+the King of Assyria, besieged Bethulia, there was
+a widow, Judith, the daughter of Merari, beautiful as
+you, my child, devoted as you.  She fasted three
+times, and then she walked out and gained the
+favour of the enemy of her faith and people.  The
+saints gave his life into her hands, she drew his
+sword and cut off his head, and delivered her people."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mercy, my father!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It was counted unto her great honour and
+ever-lasting salvation, and her name was mentioned among
+the greatest in Israel.  You will some day be mentioned
+like that, my daughter, amongst the saints of
+the Holy Catholic Church.  Last night the Holy
+Franciscus was visible by my bedside.  He said, the
+time has come, go to Judith, tell her that I will give
+Holofernes' head into her hands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What shall I do, my father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mark closely how you ought to deport yourself.
+This very evening you must request a private audience
+of the king."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Impossible!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You shall reveal to him a fictitious plot against
+his life.  He will listen to you.  You shall entice the
+ring from him.  Once in possession of it, I will be
+ready to assist you.  But if he refuses you the ring,
+then take this paper, it contains a deadly poison;
+St. Franciscus has given it himself to me.  You
+shall mix it in the beverage which the king drinks
+at night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina took the paper, and leaned her curly
+head against the window-frame, and she hardly
+seemed to have taken any notice of the Jesuits
+terrible injunction.  An entirely new thought had
+seized this ardent soul, and was working itself to
+clearness.  The Jesuit misunderstood her; he
+supposed that her silence proceeded from submission to
+his despotism, from fanatic ecstasy over the
+martyr-crown he had held up to her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have you understood me, my daughter?" asked he.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, my father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will, then, this evening, ask the king for a
+private audience?  You will..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, my father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Benedicta, ten benedicta, thou thrice-blessed
+instrument, go to thy heavenly glory!"  And the Jesuit
+disappeared in the throng.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The large clock in the coronation chamber pointed
+to midnight.  Through an ingenious mechanism,
+invented by a Nuremberger, two immense tables, set
+with elegant silver service, rolled out from an
+adjoining room at the twelfth stroke, and stood at once,
+as if risen from the floor, in the centre of the saloon.
+Upon a given sign from the master of the ceremonies,
+the king and queen placed themselves before two
+crimson chairs at the middle of the upper table, and
+all the guests in rows, according to rank and dignity,
+around the festive boards.  One of the prelates
+present said grace in a loud voice, after which the
+king himself recited a short psalm, and the rest with
+practised voices joined in.  They now seated
+themselves with considerable bustle, and once arrived so
+far, they did not allow themselves to be too much
+incommoded by ceremony.  The courses were both
+many and savoury.  Richelieu had sent Gustaf Adolf
+a French cook; but the king, far from spoiled by
+good living, only employed the fine Frenchman for
+ornamental dishes on occasions like this; perhaps
+he did not rely fully upon the cardinal's gift, for it
+was said that Richelieu's dinners were scarcely less
+dangerous than those of the former Borgias.  And
+besides, the Netherland and German cooking was at
+that time more praised than the French.  The tables'
+greatest ornaments at this banquet were a wild boar
+roasted whole, decorated with flowers and laurel
+leaves, and a piece of pastry, presented by a baker
+of Frankfurt, and representing the triumphant march
+of a Roman Emperor.  Everyone believed that they
+recognised in this small hero, Gustaf Adolf's features,
+and many jesting words were exchanged, when each
+found a resemblance between the attending Romans
+and his neighbour.  The queen, whose delicate hand
+was destined to break this masterpiece of culinary
+art, with a smile put one of the last slaves in the
+triumphal march on her silver plate; but Gustaf
+Adolf, generally endowed with a good appetite, seized
+the great pastry hero rather ungently with his warrior
+hand, and placed a considerable portion of his person
+upon his plate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the goblets were filled with the
+best Rhenish and Spanish wines, and the king drank
+the queen's health in a plain simple manner, and all
+the other guests followed his example.  At the top
+of the table stood the royal pages in glittering
+uniforms, one behind each chair, and at the lower end
+one stood behind every other chair.  They refilled
+the goblets, and the king then drank to Frankfurt's
+welfare; immediately afterwards he rose from the
+table and left the room with the queen on his arm,
+and they retired to their own apartments.  Gustaf
+Adolf always lived as a plain soldier ought to do, and
+was generally quick at his meals, but under favourable
+circumstances would stay an hour at the table.  The
+king, however, did not ask the others to follow his
+example, and left in his place as host a high officer
+of the court.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This time it was the old Scotchman, Patrick
+Ruthwen, who was a good boon companion, and he
+filled his post with great credit.  Oxenstjerna left
+the room with the king.  The ladies also left the hall,
+but the gentlemen remained behind enjoying themselves
+over their wine and the nuts which had been
+handed round on silver dishes; amongst the latter
+were artificial ones made of stone, which looked so
+natural that they were constantly mistaken for real
+From this joke came the saying, "it is a hard nut to
+crack."  The heroes of the Thirty Years' War were
+nearly all great topers; to empty at a draught one
+of the large beakers of Rhenish wine was a small
+matter to them.  But on this occasion they had to
+restrain themselves, because they all knew the high
+moral principles of the king, and hence did not dare
+to turn their goblets upside down too often.  They
+did not break up until a late hour, and some of the
+commanders treated each other to a rare product just
+imported from the Low Countries, and it was passed
+from hand to hand in small boxes; each man bit
+off a piece, and some with frightful grimaces spat it
+out again, whilst others kept it in their mouths with
+evident enjoyment.  Doubtless, the reader has already
+guessed, this was tobacco.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this feasting was going on in the hall, the
+queen had gone to rest with her ladies in waiting,
+but the king was still talking to Axel Oxenstjerna.
+What these two great men were conversing about is
+easier to guess than to tell.  Perhaps it was about
+Sweden's poverty, or the Emperor's power, or
+the power of God, which is still greater, or the
+victory of the Light, or the crown of the Roman
+kingdom, or a German Protestant empire in the
+future.  No one knows this for certain; for after the
+king's death all his secrets followed Oxenstjerna to
+the grave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was very late, and Oxenstjerna was about to
+leave, when Bertel, the officer on duty, announced
+that a closely veiled lady requested an audience of
+the king.  It was a strange favour to ask at this time
+of the night, and both Gustaf Adolf and his minister
+were greatly surprised; but that there must be an
+important reason for such a secret visit was obvious
+to them both, and the king ordered Bertel to bring
+the lady in, and told Oxenstjerna to remain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel left the room, and returned in a few moments
+with a tall lady thickly veiled, and dressed in black.
+She seemed greatly agitated and surprised not to
+find the king alone; she was unable to utter a
+word.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Madam," said the king in a somewhat irritable
+tone&mdash;he did not like such a visit at this late hour;
+for if it was known it would tend to excite gossip
+amongst the courtiers, and perhaps awaken the
+jealousy of his sensitive wife&mdash;"a visit at this hour
+of the night must have some important object in
+order to justify it.  I should first of all like to know
+who you are."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lady was still silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king thought he could guess the cause of her
+silence, and continued, pointing to his companion:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is minister Oxenstjerna, my friend, and I
+have no secrets from him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lady dressed in black then threw herself at the
+king's feet and drew back her veil.  The king
+retreated several paces when he recognised Lady Regina
+von Emmeritz; her dark eyes flashed with an
+enthusiastic fire, but her face was as pale as that of a
+marble statue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand up, lady," said Gustaf Adolf in a kind tone,
+and stretched out his hand to lift her up.  "What
+now leads you to seek an audience with me?  Speak,
+I beg of you; tell me without fear what troubles you
+have in your heart; will you not comply with my
+wish?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina sighed deeply, and began to speak
+in a low voice almost impossible to hear, but she
+gradually assumed a louder tone, supported by her
+enthusiasm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty, I have come to you because you
+asked me to come.  I come to you because I have
+hated you, sire; for a long time I have prayed daily
+to the Holy Virgin, that she would destroy you, and
+your whole army.  Your Majesty, I am only a weak
+girl, but an honest Catholic; you have pursued our
+Church with war, and plundered our convents; driven
+away our holy fathers, and melted down our holy
+golden images; you have slain our soldiers, and
+dealt our cause deadly blows that can never be
+repaired.  Therefore I have taken a Holy Oath to bring
+about your destruction, and relying upon the Holy
+Virgin's help I have followed your steps from
+Würzburg in order to kill you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king and Oxenstjerna looked at each other as
+if they doubted the young girl's sanity.  Lady Regina
+saw this, and continued to speak with more vehemence
+than before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sire, you think me mad, because I speak thus
+to the conqueror of Germany.  But listen to me
+further.  When I saw you for the first time in the
+castle of Würzburg, and how kindly and generously
+you sheltered the weak, and spared those who had
+been captured, I then said to myself, 'This conduct
+seems to be inspired from Heaven, but nevertheless
+it must come from hell.'  But when I followed you
+here, and saw your greatness as a man combined with
+your heroic qualities, sire, I hesitated to carry out
+my vow, and my hatred became a burden to me.  I
+struggled with myself, and your kindness to-night has
+conquered my resolve.  Sire, now I love you as much
+as I have hated you before.  I admire you, and am
+devoted to you&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beautiful girl let her eyes sink to the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," said the king, hesitating with great emotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty, I have made this confession
+because you are great and noble enough not to
+misunderstand me.  But I have not come to you at this
+late hour only to confess an unhappy girl's feelings.
+I have come here to save you, sire."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Explain yourself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hear me, your Majesty.  I am disarmed, but
+others much more dangerous remain.  Some of our
+body, men without mercy, have sworn to kill you.
+Oh! you do not know what these men are capable
+of doing.  They have drawn lots in order to decide
+who shall kill you, and the most dangerous of them
+is near you in disguise daily.  Your Majesty cannot
+escape from them.  To-day or to-morrow, perhaps,
+you may be assassinated or poisoned.  Your death is
+sure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My life is in the hand of God, and not at the
+mercy of a murderous fanatic," said Gustaf Adolf in
+a very calm voice.  "The evil have not as much
+power as Will.  Be assured, Lady von Emmeritz, I
+do not fear them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, sire, the saints have decided your death.  I
+know that you rely upon this ring"&mdash;and Regina
+grasped the king's hand&mdash;"but it will not help you.
+Sire, I say to you that your death is certain, and I
+have not come here to save your life and thus betray
+the cause of our Holy Church."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then why, lady, did you come here now?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina again threw herself at the king's
+feet with almost adoration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sire, I have come to save your soul.  I cannot
+bear to think that a hero like yourself, so noble, so
+great, should be lost for ever.  Hear me, I beg, I
+implore you by your eternal salvation, with certain
+death staring you in the face, do not continue in
+your heretical faith, whose fruit is eternal damnation.
+I pray you, abjure these evil doctrines while there
+is still time, and come back to the only way of
+redemption, the Holy Catholic Church; give up your
+faith and go to the Holy Father in Rome; confess
+your sins to him, and use your victorious sword in
+the service of the true Church, instead of using it for
+her destruction.  She will receive you with open arms,
+and whether your Majesty lives or dies, your Majesty
+can always depend upon being placed among the
+chosen saints in Heaven."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king for the second time raised the young
+girl from the ground, and looked straight into her
+burning eyes, and said in an impressive voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When I was as young as you are, Lady von
+Emmeritz, my teacher, old Skytte, brought me up
+with the same enthusiastic devotion to the Protestant
+faith that you have for the Catholic.  At that time
+I hated the Pope with all my soul, as you now hate
+Luther, and I prayed to God that the time might
+come when I could destroy Antichrist and convert all
+those that believed in him to the true light.  Since
+then I have not altered my principles, but I have
+learned through experience that the paths are many,
+although the goal is One.  I stand steadily by my
+faith, and am prepared to die for it, if God so decides.
+But I respect the faith of a Christian, even if it is
+quite different from my own, and I know that God's
+mercy can bring a soul to salvation, even if its way
+is obscured by dark mists and illusions.  Go, Lady
+von Emmeritz, I forgive you; although deluded by the
+fanatical teachings of the monks, you have tried to
+draw me from the battle for the Light.  Go, poor
+child, and let the Word of God, and the lessons of
+Life, teach you not to rely upon saints, who are no
+better than we are, or images, or rings, as they cannot
+alter the highest law.  I thank you because your
+intentions are good, although you are inexperienced.
+Be without fear for my life, which is in the hand of
+Him who knows how to use it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+King Gustaf Adolf was truly great when he spoke
+these words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina stood there, at the same time crushed
+and uplifted by the king's magnanimous spirit.
+Perhaps she remembered his answer to the burghers of
+Frankfurt, when they asked him to be allowed to
+remain neutral; "neutrality is a word which I cannot
+bear to hear, least of all amidst the battle between
+light and darkness, betwixt liberty and slavery."  Brought
+up to hate the Protestant faith, she could
+not understand how it was possible for the sword
+which had destroyed the worldly power of the church
+to be laid aside in the presence of its spiritual power
+over the hearts and minds of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fanatical young girl raised her tear-stained
+eyes towards the king.  Her cheeks turned pale, on
+which had before burned the fire of enthusiasm, and
+her eyes were fixed with terror on the scarlet-coloured
+hangings which surrounded the king's bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oxenstjerna, who was more suspicious than Gustaf
+Adolf, had closely watched the young lady the whole
+time, and at once noticed her agitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty," said he in Swedish to the king,
+"be on your guard, there are owls in the marshes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then without waiting for an answer he drew his
+sword and walked steadily towards the magnificent
+bed, which was a gift from the burghers of Frankfurt;
+the royal hero had exchanged the eider-down pillows
+for a simple mattress, and a coarse blanket of Saxon
+wool, the same as his soldiers used in their winter
+camps.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stop!" cried Regina with evident reluctance.  But
+it was too late.  Oxenstjerna had with a sudden
+movement pulled back the hangings, and revealed
+a pale face with dark burning eyes, surmounted by a
+black leather skull-cap.  The hangings were still
+further drawn back, and the whole features of the
+monk became visible; his hands were clasped round
+a crucifix of silver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Step forward, devoted father," said Oxenstjerna
+in a satirical tone.  "A man of your merits should not
+remain in concealment.  Your reverence has chosen
+a peculiar place for your evening devotions.  With
+his Majesty's permission I will furnish you with a
+larger audience."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sound of the bell, Lieutenant Bertel with
+two men from the life-guards entered, and placed
+themselves on both sides of the exit with their long
+halberts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king looked at Lady Regina, but more sadness
+than anger was to be seen in his eyes.  It pained
+him that so young and beautiful a girl could take
+part in such a detestable plot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mercy, your Majesty! mercy for my father
+confessor!  He is innocent!" cried the unhappy girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Will your Majesty allow me to ask a few questions
+in your place?" said Oxenstjerna.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do as you think best, minister," said the king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well.  What did your reverence come here for?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To bring back a great sinner to the true fold,"
+said the monk hypocritically, with his eyes turned
+upwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Really, one must say that you are very zealous.
+And for such a holy purpose you carry with you the
+image of the crucified Saviour?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monk bowed whilst devoutly making the sign
+of the cross.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your reverence is very humble.  Give me the
+crucifix, that I may admire this work of art."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monk unwillingly handed it to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A beautiful object.  It required a clever artist to
+design this holy image."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The minister passed his hands over all parts of the
+crucifix.  At last, when he touched the breast of the
+image, a sharp dagger sprang forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"See, your reverence carries a very innocent-looking
+toy.  A keen dagger, just suitable to thrust through
+a noble king's heart!  Miserable monk," said
+Oxenstjerna in a terrible voice, "do you know that your
+horrible crime becomes a hundred times more detestable
+through the blasphemous method you wish to
+employ?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Like all the kings of the Vasa line, Gustaf Adolf
+had a hasty temper in his youth, which more than
+once brought him into trouble.  But the experience
+of manhood had cooled his blood; still one could
+sometimes see the quick Vasa disposition get
+beyond control.  This now happened.  He was quite
+great enough, however, to look calmly upon this
+treacherous attempt against his life, although the
+preservation of Germany depended upon it, and
+he looked down with great disgust upon the
+discovered traitor, who now stood trembling before his
+indignant judge.  But the horrible misuse of the
+Saviour's holy image as a weapon against his life&mdash;he
+who was prepared to sacrifice himself for the
+pure teachings of Jesus Christ&mdash;appeared to him to
+be such a terrible blasphemy against all in life that
+he considered holy and right, that his calmness was
+instantly changed to the most terrible anger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Noble and great as a lion in his wrath, he stood in
+front of the cringing Jesuit, who was unable to bear
+the glance of his eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On your knees," said the king in a thunderous
+voice, stamping violently with his foot on the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit fell down as if struck by lightning, and
+crawled in mortal terror to the king's feet, like a
+poisonous reptile, spell-bound by the king's look:
+powerless at the conqueror's feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ye serpent's brood," continued the king beside
+himself with anger, "how long do ye think that the
+Almighty will endure your iniquities?  By God!  I
+have seen much; I have seen your Antichrist and
+Romish rule cover the world with all the deeds of
+darkness; I have seen ye, monks and Jesuits, poison
+frightened consciences with your devil's teachings
+about murder and crimes committed for the glory of
+Heaven; but a deed so black as this, a blasphemy
+against everything that is holy in Heaven and upon
+earth, I have never before dreamed of.  I have forgiven
+ye all; ye have plotted against my life at Demmin
+and other places; I have not taken revenge; ye have
+acted worse than Turks and barbarians towards the
+innocent Lutherans; wherever ye have had the
+power ye have destroyed their churches, and burned
+them at the stake, driven them away from house and
+home; and what is worse, ye have tried to draw
+them from their faith with arguments and force to
+your idolatrous religion, which worships deeds and
+miserable images instead of the living God and His
+only Son.  For all this, I have not retaliated upon
+your cloisters and churches and consciences; ye
+have gone free in your faith, and no one has touched
+a hair of your heads.  But now I know you, servants
+of the devil; the Almighty God has delivered ye
+into my hand; I shall scatter ye like chaff; I shall
+punish you, ye desecrators of the temple; I shall
+follow you to the end of the world, as long as this
+arm is able to wield the Lord's sword.  Ye have
+hitherto seen me mild and merciful, ye will now see
+me hard and terrible; I will destroy you and your
+accursed faith on earth; it will be such a judgment
+as the world has not seen since the destruction of
+Rome."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king walked up and down the room with
+hasty steps, without deigning to bestow a glance on
+the prostrate Jesuit or the trembling Regina, who
+was standing by the window covering her face with
+her hands.  Oxenstjerna, always calm and collected,
+was alarmed at the king's anger, and feared that he
+would go too far, and now tried to modify it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Will your Majesty deign to order Lieutenant
+Bertel to take the monk into safe custody, and let
+a court-martial make a terrible example of him?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mercy, your Majesty!" cried Regina, who was
+blindly devoted to her father confessor.  "Mercy!  I
+am the guilty one.  I have advised him to take this
+terrible step.  I alone deserve to be punished for it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this noble self-sacrifice a faint ray of hope
+illumined the Jesuit's pale features, but he did not
+dare to rise up.  The king took no notice of this
+appeal.  Instead, he turned all his wrath upon the
+guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lieutenant Bertel," he said sharply, "you have
+commanded my life-guard to-night; through your
+neglect this wretch has slipped into the room.  Take
+him at once to prison, and you shall answer for his
+safety with your head.  Then you can go and take
+your place in the ranks.  From this moment you are
+degraded to the position of a private soldier."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel saluted, but did not speak.  What pained
+him more than the loss of his commission was the
+sacrifice of the king's favour, especially as he knew
+that he had kept a ceaseless watch.  It was a
+complete mystery to him how the Jesuit had got in.
+The latter had now grasped the king's knees and
+prayed for mercy.  But in vain.  The king pushed
+him backwards, and he was taken away gnashing his
+teeth and his heart full of revenge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gustaf Adolf then turned to the trembling girl at
+the window, took her hand and looked straight into
+her eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lady," he said with asperity, "it is said that when
+the king of the darkness wishes to do a terrible evil
+deed on earth, he sends his instruments dressed as
+angels of light.  What do you wish me to think of
+you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina had courage enough to lift up her
+eyes once more to the great king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have nothing more to say.  Kill me, sire, but
+save my father confessor!" she said with fanatical
+resolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king, still looking angrily into her eyes, could
+not yet control himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If your father, lady, had been an honest man, he
+would have taught his daughter to fear God, honour
+the king, and speak the truth to every man.  You
+wished to convert me; I will instead educate you, you
+seem to be in great want of it.  Go, you remain my
+prisoner until you have learned to speak the truth.
+Oxenstjerna, is the severe old Lady Marta at
+Korsholm still alive?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She will have a pupil to educate.  At the first
+opportunity this girl is to be sent to Finland."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina, proud and silent, left the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your Majesty!" said Oxenstjerna reproachfully.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0106"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+<br /><br />
+THE FINNS AT LECH.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Before our story proceeds further, it is necessary to
+bestow one more look on Frankfurt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina was closely guarded after her midnight
+visit to the king; and later in the spring,
+when the waters were released from their icy fetters,
+she was sent to Finland, where we may find her again.
+No religious hatred, still less revenge, prompted the
+anger of the usually generous Gustaf Adolf towards
+the young girl; abused confidence deeply stabs a
+noble heart, and Regina said nothing to remove the
+idea of her guilt from the king's mind; in fact, she
+strengthened it more and more by her fanaticism, and
+hatred still possessed her young heart, which ought to
+have been given to love alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An extraordinary incident increased the king's
+resentment.  On the night that the Jesuit was taken to
+prison, to be executed next day, the terrible monk
+escaped; no one knew how.  These fearful men had
+allies and secret emissaries and passages everywhere;
+that very night a hitherto concealed door was
+discovered in the king's bed-chamber.  Bertel's
+innocence came to light through this, but the mysterious
+escape of the monk again excited the king's wrath,
+and the late lieutenant had still to remain a private
+soldier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the middle of February, 1632, the king was
+ready for departure; he then took the stronghold at
+Kreutznach in March, after a short siege, and left
+the queen, as well as Axel Oxenstjerna, in Mayence.
+But Tilly had in the meantime surprised Gustaf Horn
+at Bamberg, and done great mischief.  The king
+pursued him down the Danube, and wished to invade
+Bavaria by crossing the Lech.  In vain did his
+generals object that the river was too deep and rapid,
+and that the Elector, with Tilly, Altringer, and 22,000
+men, stood on the opposite side.  The king spoke
+like Alexander at the passage of the Granicus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall we, who have crossed the Elbe, Oder, and
+Rhine, nay, even the Baltic, stop alarmed at the
+River Lech?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The passage was decided upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king tried for some time to find a suitable
+crossing.  At last he discovered it near a bend in the
+stream; a dragoon disguised as a peasant heard that
+the Lech was twenty-two feet deep.  Trestles were
+made of timber torn from cabins; four batteries of
+seventy cannon in all, were erected on the bank, and
+breastworks thrown up for the skirmishers, while fires
+of damp straw and green wood enveloped the
+neighbourhood in thick smoke.  Still, Tilly was old and
+experienced; he soon occupied the wood on the other
+side with his force; dug trenches and made fortifications,
+from which he directed a heavy fire.  On the
+3rd of April the Swedish cannon replied with terrific
+effect.  On April 5th the trestles for a bridge were
+laid in spite of the fire of the enemy; planks were
+then thrown across, and, as usual, the Finns led the
+attack.  Three hundred infantry, headed by little
+Larsson, and the brave Savolaxen Paavo Lyydikain,
+were ordered to cross the planks, and defend the
+bridge on the opposite shore; each was promised a
+reward of ten riks thalers.  In a few moments the
+fate of Bavaria would be decided.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Finns carried spades and trenching tools, and
+cheering as they advanced, rushed at the double over
+the bridge.  Immediately a tremendous cross-fire from
+all Tilly's batteries was directed upon them; every
+moment balls dropped splashing into the foaming
+waters, or flew over the charging Finns, and now
+and then fell amongst them, scattering death on every
+side.  Those who got over worked vigorously at
+throwing up earthworks, which soon protected their
+front, although their flanks were still exposed to the
+enemy's fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tilly realised the importance of this position, and
+his fire redoubled.  The Swedes riddled the opposite
+wood with a storm of shot, which struck the stones
+and tree-tops, scattering fragments and branches
+far and wide upon the Bavarians, who stood
+underneath awaiting the order to charge.  The king, in
+order to encourage his men, hastened to the front,
+and himself fired sixty shots.  The cannon thunder
+was heard for miles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More than half of the Finns had now been killed,
+wounded, or drowned, but the entrenchments were
+completed.  And at that instant the king ordered the
+afterwards celebrated Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel to
+go to their assistance.  The Finns, exalted with pride
+by their countrymen's success, and also anxious for
+the safety of their comrades, begged eagerly to be
+led into the midst of the fight, and in a moment
+Wrangel was surrounded by 300 Finnish volunteers,
+with whom he heroically charged across the shaking
+planks.  The gallant Duke Bernhard, who, like the
+king, had a certain partiality for the Finns, received
+permission to make a diversion in their favour.
+Followed by a troop of Finnish cavalry, he found and
+passed over a ford, and fell upon the enemy's right
+flank.  The surprised Bavarians fell into disorder, and
+in spite of their numerical superiority, gave ground
+before the attack.  Duke Bernhard's troop played
+havoc with the enemy, and soon cut their way through
+to their comrades at the end of the bridge.  Through
+this daring exploit the Finns obtained the dreaded
+name, "Hackapeliter," from the words "hakkaa
+päälle!"  Go Ahead! which they shouted as they
+charged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stimulated by the Finns' success, the Swedish and
+German infantry now began to cross the bridge.
+Tilly, avoiding exposing his troops to the murderous
+Swedish fire till the last moment, now sent Altringer's
+infantry to take the fortifications, and drive the enemy
+into the river.  The Bavarians advanced at the double,
+and although decimated by the hail of bullets, threw
+themselves furiously on the earthworks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wrangel's men stood firm.  Almost enveloped by
+the enemy's massive column, the Finns gave them
+a hot reception.  Pouring in a deadly volley at fifty
+yards, every bullet told.  The Bavarians wavered for
+a moment; most of them were new recruits; they
+faltered.  The Finns got time to reload; another
+volley; and the assailants fled in disorder along the
+bank.  Altringer rallied them with great difficulty,
+and again led them to the onset; at that moment a
+cannon-shot whizzed so close to his head that he
+fell senseless to the ground.  Again the Bavarians
+gave way.  Tilly saw this, and sent his favourite
+Wallachians to their assistance.  But even these
+veterans had to retreat, so terrific was the fire.  Then
+Tilly seized a banner, and led the attack in person.
+Before, however, he had taken many steps, he fell,
+struck down by a falconet ball, which had smashed
+one leg.  The old general was carried from the field,
+and died a fortnight afterwards at Ingolstadt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bavarian army now became utterly demoralised.
+The Elector retreated under cover of the
+darkness, leaving 2,000 dead on the field, and the
+way open to the heart of Bavaria.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day the entire Swedish army crossed the
+Lech.  The king with a liberal hand distributed
+rewards to his brave troops.  Amongst these was a
+horseman who had accompanied Duke Bernhard, who
+praised him in the highest terms.  This was Bertel;
+three slight wounds attested the duke's account.
+Bertel regained his rank, but not the king's
+confidence, which he valued above everything.  But he
+resolved to win this back at all costs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gustaf Adolf then marched to Augsburg, which
+took the oath of allegiance, and gave brilliant festivals
+in his honour.  Here report, which joined the names
+Gustafva Augusta, whispered that the king had
+abandoned himself, like another Hannibal in Capua,
+to effeminacy and pleasure.  Rumour was wrong.
+Gustaf Adolf was merely resting, and revolving still
+more daring enterprises in his mind.  But from this
+time the king's pathway began to darken.  The death
+angel went before him with drawn sword, and aimed
+now here, now there, a blow at his life, as if to cry
+constantly in his ear, "Mortal, thou art not a god."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One could almost think that the powers of darkness
+had obtained more power over him; now ambition
+began to gain ground in his mind, and he was no longer
+solely animated by the sacred cause of Liberty and
+Faith.  A secret and terrible enemy seemed everywhere
+in his path, dealing deadly blows which could
+not as yet reach their mark.  At the bold but
+unsuccessful attack on Ingolstadt there was, relates
+Fryxell, a cannon on the ramparts called a "Fikonet,"
+and celebrated for shooting both far and true.  The
+gunner on the ramparts saw out on the field a man
+with a waving plume riding a fine charger, and
+surrounded by attentive followers.  "There," he said,
+"rides a great lord, but this will stop his career;"
+then he aimed and fired the "Fikonet."  The ball
+brought down horse and rider, and the others
+hastened to the place in great dread; but the king,
+for it was he, raised himself up, covered with blood
+and dust, but unharmed, from underneath the dead
+horse, exclaiming,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The apple is not yet ripe."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The citizens of Ingolstadt buried the horse, and
+stuffed his skin as a remembrance.  Shortly afterwards
+the king was riding at the side of the young
+Margrave of Baden Durlach, who had just before
+been one of the most brilliant figures at the Augsburg
+balls.  A cannon-shot passed very near the king, and
+as he looked round, a headless horseman rode by his
+side and then sank to the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0107"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br /><br />
+NEW ADVENTURES.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+From Ingolstadt the king turned to Landshut, in the
+centre of Bavaria.  The farther he advanced into this
+country, where they had never seen an army of
+heretics before, the people became more fanatical,
+wild, and bloodthirsty.  Large bands of peasants
+assembled, commanded by the monks, lying in ambush
+everywhere for the Swedes, and cutting off every
+straggler; they also tortured their prisoners in the
+most horrible manner.  The king's army on their
+side, inebriated by their successes, were infuriated by
+this cruel guerilla warfare, and began to burn and
+destroy all the places they passed through.  Hitherto
+the Swedish army had been remarkable for its good
+conduct in the field, but now they left in their rear
+a broad track of murder and crime; and woe to
+those troops who in insufficient numbers wandered
+far from the main body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had now marched far into the country,
+and wished to send some new important orders to
+Baner, who followed slowly in his steps from Ingolstadt.
+On account of the lawless state of the country
+this was attended with great risk, and the king would
+not order a large body to go.  A young officer, a
+Finn, volunteered to try, accompanied by two
+horsemen.  The king agreed to this, and the three
+horsemen set out one evening in May on this dangerous
+journey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young officer was no other than our friend
+Bertel, and his companions were Pekka from East
+Bothnia, and Vitikka from Tavastland.  The night
+was dark and gloomy, and the three horsemen rode
+carefully in the middle of the road, much afraid of
+missing their way in this strange country, and
+dreading an ambush from their enemies.  It began to rain,
+which made the roads still worse; these had already
+been much damaged by the passage of the heavy
+baggage-wagons, and at every step they risked an
+accident.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here," said Vitikka ironically to his companion,
+"you are a northern Finn, and ought to be able to
+practise witchcraft."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I should not be worth much if I could not do
+it," responded Pekka in the same bantering tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Try, then, and take us in a minute to Hattelmala
+mountain and let us see the light shining from
+Hämeenlinna's castle.  There is a little gipsy girl
+whom I once loved, and I would rather be by her
+side to-night, than here in the ruts of this damned
+forest."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That will be easy for me to do," said Pekka; "see,
+you can already see the lights shining from Hämeenlinna."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His comrade looked sharply around, uncertain if
+Pekka was joking or in earnest; he thought the latter
+quite as likely as the former.  And truly, in the
+brushwood underneath, a light appeared, but he soon
+understood that he was still hundreds of miles away
+from his home.  Suddenly their horses stopped, and
+would not move.  A barrier of tree trunks was
+stretched across the road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hush!" whispered Bertel, "I hear a noise in the
+wood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The horsemen leaned forward and listened attentively.
+On the opposite side of the wood they heard
+footsteps and the breaking of branches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They must be here in a quarter of an hour," said
+a voice in the well-known Bavarian dialect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How many of them are there?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thirty horsemen, and ten or twelve baggage
+animals.  They left Geisenfeld at dusk, and they have
+a young girl with them as a prisoner."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How many are we?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"About fifty musketeers, and seventy or eighty
+armed with pitchforks and axes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good.  No firing is allowed until they are within
+three paces."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment Bertel's horse neighed, whose name
+was Lapp; he was small but strong and active.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who is there?" sounded from the road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Swedes!" cried Bertel boldly, just as he did at
+the Würzburg sally-port, and fired off a pistol in the
+direction of the voice, and saw by the flash a large
+band of peasants, who had encamped by the barricade.
+He then turned his horse, and, calling upon
+his companions to follow him, rode at full gallop on
+the road back to Landshut.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the peasants had by the flash also seen the
+three horsemen, and now hurried to cut off their
+retreat.  Bertel's horse easily distanced the pursuers,
+but Vitikka's fell over the stump of a tree, and Pekka's
+clumsy animal was hurt by the thrust of a pitchfork
+in his neck as he tried to get out of the marsh.
+Bertel saw his followers' danger, and would not leave
+them; he turned back and killed the nearest peasants,
+and caught Pekka's horse by the bridle and tried to
+pull him up, calling also to Vitikka to leave his horse
+and jump on the back of Lapp.  This brave effort
+was successful, and the three were on their way to
+safety, when suddenly a whizzing noise was heard,
+and a lasso settled upon Bertel's shoulders, tightened,
+and jerked him from his saddle.  Vitikka fell at the
+same moment, and Lapp, thus delivered from his
+heavy burden, galloped off, and Pekka followed with
+or without his will.  Bertel and Vitikka were taken
+prisoners and bound with their hands behind their
+backs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hang the dogs before the others arrive!" cried
+one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hang them by the heels!" suggested another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With a little fire underneath!" said a third.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No fire! no noise!" ordered a fourth, who
+appeared to be in command.  "Listen, comrades,"
+whispered he Ito the prisoners lying on the ground,
+"was it Finnish you spoke?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go to the devil!" said Vitikka in a rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Maledicti, maledicti Fennones!</i>" said the former
+speaker in the darkness.  "You are mine!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now they are coming!" cried one of the band,
+and the trampling of horses was heard on the road to
+Ingolstadt.  The peasants remained still, and for
+greater safety gagged the prisoners.  The approaching
+troop were provided with torches, and seemed
+to be Germans, who were returning from a marauding
+expedition.  They were riding so quickly that they
+did not notice the barricade until they were close
+upon it; at the same moment a murderous fire opened
+upon them from behind this obstruction.  Ten or
+twelve of the foremost fell to the ground, and their
+riderless horses reared and dragged them along by
+the stirrups; the greatest confusion prevailed amongst
+them, some turned back, riding over their comrades
+and the pack-horses; others fired off their pistols
+towards the enemy behind the barricade.  The
+peasants rushed from their ambush and furiously
+attacked those that remained, and pulled them off
+their horses with lassos.  In vain the horsemen
+endeavoured to defend themselves; in less than ten
+minutes the whole troop was scattered; eight or ten
+had escaped, fifteen were lying wounded on the road,
+and six or seven were made prisoners.  Only four
+of the peasants had fallen.  The revenge of the
+Bavarians was inhuman.  They fired blank charges
+in the prisoners' faces, which burnt them black, and
+partially buried some of them in the ground and
+stoned them slowly to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When this terrible work was finished, they carried
+away the booty to a place of safety.  Bertel and his
+companion were thrown across one of the horses, and
+they marched deep into the forest.  After some time
+they stopped at a lonely farm, and the prisoners were
+dragged in and thrown on the floor in a separate
+room, while the peasants in the next room rejoiced
+over their victory, and drank captured wine.  A
+deathly pale monk now entered the room, carrying
+a sword by his side with a rope.  He held up a
+torch to the prisoners' faces, took away their gags,
+and looked at them in silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Am I right," said he at last, sarcastically; "this
+is Lieutenant Bertel, of the king's life-guards."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel looked up and recognised the Jesuit Hieronymus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are welcome to me, lieutenant, and thank you
+for our last meeting.  Such an important guest must
+be well entertained.  I fancy I have seen this comrade
+before, also," he said, pointing to Vitikka.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wild Finn looked him straight in the eyes and
+opened his mouth with an obstinate grin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What have you done with your ears, monk?" he
+said tauntingly.  "Take away your skull-cap, foul
+thief, and let us see if you have grown any ass's
+ears in their place."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this daring remark about the incident at Breitenfeld
+a dark frown contracted the Jesuit's eyebrows,
+and a blush arose on his pale features; he bit his
+lips with rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Think of your own ears, comrade," said he.
+"<i>Anathema maranatha</i>!  They will soon have heard
+enough in this world."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words the Jesuit clapped his hands
+twice, and a blacksmith with his leather apron entered,
+carrying a pair of red-hot pincers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, comrade, do your ears begin to burn?" said
+the monk cruelly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Vitikka replied stubbornly, "Now you think you
+are clever, but you are only a fumbler in comparison
+with the devil.  Your lord and master does not need
+any pincers, he uses his claws."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The right ear," said the Jesuit.  The smith
+approached the Finn and put the pincers to his head.
+Vitikka smiled disdainfully.  A sudden blush coloured
+his brown cheeks, but only for a moment.  He had
+now only one ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Will you now abjure your faith, and believe in
+the Holy Father and damn Luther, and you shall
+keep your other ear?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Niggard!" cried the Finn.  "Your lord and
+master generally offers countries and kingdoms, and
+you only offer me a wretched ear!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The left ear," continued the Jesuit coldly.
+The smith carried out the order.  The mutilated
+soldier smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Monk, it is shameful!" said Bertel, who was lying
+close by.  "Kill us, if you like, but do it quickly!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who has said that I intend to kill you?" replied
+the Jesuit, smirking.  "Never; it entirely depends
+upon yourself whether you regain your freedom this
+very night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do you ask of me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are a brave young man, Lieutenant Bertel!
+I am sorry that the king so shamefully and unjustly
+deprived you of your rank, which you had gained
+with your blood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you really sorry?  And what then?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I was in your place I should take revenge."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take revenge?  Oh yes, I have thought of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You belong to Gustaf Adolf's life-guards.  Do you
+know, young friend, what the Catholic princes would
+give to anyone who brought the king, dead or alive,
+into their power?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How could I know that, holy father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A kingdom if he was a nobleman; 50,000 ducats
+if he was a man of the people."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy father, it is a small reward for such a great
+service."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You have your choice between death and a royal
+reward!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is the point you were trying to reach, holy
+father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do as you please; think it over, and we will
+talk about it again.  This time you can buy your life
+and freedom for a less price; yes, a very small
+service."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What would that be, holy father?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen to me.  I wish you to swear that you will
+do me a very small favour.  King Gustaf Adolf wears
+on the forefinger of his right hand a small copper
+ring.  It is of no value to him, but it is of great
+importance to me, young friend; as I am an antiquary,
+I should like to have a remembrance of a king,
+whom I must hate as an enemy, but admire as a man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the ring?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The ring; you must swear to deliver it into my
+hands before the next new moon.  Do this, and you
+are free!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, only a small sin against the seventh commandment?
+And you have the absolution ready before-hand;
+is it not so?  Go, miserable thief, and thank
+your stars that my arm is bound; or by Heaven, it
+would teach you to have respect for a Christian's
+honour!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be still, young man, remember that your life is
+in my hands.  When I have finished with your
+comrade I shall begin with you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel looked at him with contempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Smith, go on with your work!" said the Jesuit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the smith again took the pincers from the fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same instant a great confusion and noise
+arose in the next room.  They shouted:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To arms!  The Swedes are upon us!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The door flew open.  Some of the peasants seized
+their guns, others were lying in a drunken sleep on
+the floor.  Outside one could plainly hear the Swedish
+officer's commands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Set the house on fire, boys, we have them all in
+a trap!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words the Jesuit jumped out of the window.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A hot but short skirmish began by the door.  The
+peasants were overpowered in a few moments and
+begged for mercy.  In reply to this appeal, the
+foremost were killed, and the rest taken prisoners and
+bound; the house and booty were taken, and Bertel
+and his mutilated comrade were released.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it you, Larsson?" cried Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thunder and lightning, is it you, Bertel?  Is it
+here you intend to leave the king's orders?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And yourself?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, damn it, you know that I am always a lucky
+child!  I was sent to guard a convoy, and met on
+the road some rascally marauders, who told me that
+there was an ambush in the forest.  I hurried after
+them, and delivered a brave boy and a beautiful girl.
+Look at her: cheeks like a poppy, and eyes to buy
+fish with!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel turned round, and by his side stood a
+trembling girl, paralyzed with fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is Ketchen, Lady Regina's maid!" cried
+Bertel, who had often seen the bright girl in the
+company of her dull mistress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Save me, lieutenant, save me!" cried the girl, and
+caught hold of his arm.  "They have taken me by
+force from my aunt's house."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Larsson, I beg you to give me the girl!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What the devil are you thinking of?  Do you
+want to take the girl from me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let her go free, I beg of you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Later on, perhaps, yes.  Let her go, I say, or..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hot-tempered Finn drew his sword again, with
+which he had just before killed a peasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The cottage is on fire!" was heard from all
+directions, and a thick smoke proved that it was true.
+Bertel rushed out with the girl, and Larsson followed,
+and the heat of his temper gave way before the heat
+of the fire.  When Bertel got outside and saw the
+flames, he remembered that the cottage was filled
+with people; about thirty peasants were bound inside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, hurry, let us save the unfortunate
+prisoners!" he cried.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you mad?" said Larsson, laughing; "it is
+only a few of the rascals who have killed so many
+of our brave comrades.  Let it burn, boys!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was now too late to help.  The unfortunate
+Bavarians were sacrificed to the barbarities with
+which wars were then carried on; too often one
+terrible deed was followed by another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We turn with disgust from these wild scenes, which
+essentially belong to the times in which they occurred,
+and hasten to the grand picture of the Swedish lion's
+last struggle.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0108"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+<br /><br />
+NÜRNBERG AND LÜTZEN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The incidents of the campaign followed each other
+quickly, like wave after wave on a stormy sea, and
+history compressed into a narrow frame is obliged
+to pursue the same course.  Hence we must hurry
+over these marvellous occurrences and into a still
+more extraordinary period, to find the thread of our
+story, "The King's Ring," which passes through ages
+and the destinies of great characters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The terrible Wallenstein had become reconciled
+to the emperor, and gathering a formidable army,
+turned like a dark cloud upon the rich city of
+Nürnberg.  Gustaf Adolf cut short his victorious
+career in Bavaria, and hurried to meet him; and
+here the two armies remained in entrenched camps
+facing each other for eleven weeks&mdash;the panther and
+the lion, ready to spring, sharply watched each other's
+movements.  The surrounding country was stripped
+bare to provide for the wants of the two hosts, and
+foraging parties were constantly dispatched to more
+remote places to get supplies.  Among the Imperialists
+those mostly employed in this task were Isolani's
+Croats; the Swedes generally sent Taupadel's
+dragoons and Stälhandske's Finnish cavalry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Famine, heat, and plague, and the plundering
+German soldiers, spread want and misery everywhere.
+Gustaf Adolf, having united himself with Oxenstjerna's
+and Baner's forces, could now muster 50,000
+men.  On the 24th of August, 1632, he marched
+against Wallenstein, who stood behind impregnable
+entrenchments.  Long before daylight the thunder of
+Torstensson's guns was heard against Alte Veste.  In
+the darkness of the night 500 musketeers of the
+white brigade were climbing up the steep redoubts,
+and reached the tops under a terrible fire.  For a
+moment victory seemed to reward their strenuous
+efforts; confusion reigned amongst the half-awakened
+enemy; the cries of the women, and the fire from
+the Swedes, added to the disorder, and made the
+attack easy.  But Wallenstein, calm and unmoved,
+sent away the women, and directed a murderous fire
+on the assailants.  The brave brigade was driven
+back with heavy losses.  The king, however, would
+not give way; once more the white brigade renewed
+the attack; but in vain.  Gustaf Adolf then called
+his Finns, for, as Schiller relates, "the courage of the
+Northmen puts the Germans to shame."  It was the
+East Bothnians in the ranks of the Swedish brigade.
+Death stared them in the face in the form of
+hundreds of guns; with unsurpassed courage and
+determination they climbed up the entrenchments,
+slippery with rain and blood.  But against these
+strong works and the deadly fire, nothing could
+prevail; in the midst of death and destruction they tried
+again to reach the top of the redoubts, but in vain;
+those who escaped the shot and pikes were hurled
+back; for the first time one saw Gustaf Adolf's Finns
+retreat; and the attempts made by the other troops
+were also in vain.  The Imperialists hastened out in
+pursuit, but were driven back; again they sallied
+forth with the same result.  With heavy losses on
+both sides the battle continued all day, and many of
+the bravest commanders were killed.  The angel of
+death again sent a bullet towards the king, but it only
+touched the sole of his boot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Imperial cavalry fought with the Swedish on
+the left flank.  Cronenberg, with his cuirassiers, clad
+in iron mail from head to feet, who were called
+"the invincibles," overthrew the Hessians.  The
+Landgrave of Hessen remarked with anger that the
+king by the sacrifice of the German troops tried to
+save his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well," said Gustaf Adolf, "I will send my
+Finns, and hope that the change of troops will bring a
+change of fortune."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stälhandske, with the Finns, was now sent against
+Cronenberg and his invincibles.  A grand contest,
+which will never be forgotten, then started between
+these two powerful forces; on the shore of the River
+Regnitz, which was covered with bushes, these troops
+met in conflict, man to man, horse to horse; swords
+were blunted on helmets, long pistols flashed, and
+many a brave horseman was driven into the river.
+The Finns' horses were hardier than the beautiful
+Hungarian chargers, and thus they shared in the
+victory.  The brave Cronenberg fell, and his invincibles
+then fled from the Finns.  In his place, Fugger
+appeared with a great force, and drew the Finns in
+continuous battle slowly towards the enemy in the
+forest.  But here the Imperialists were met with the
+fire from the Swedish infantry.  Fugger fell, and his
+horsemen were again routed by the exhausted Finns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the close of the day more than three thousand
+killed covered the hills and the fields.  "In the battle
+at Alte Veste, Gustaf Adolf was considered worsted,
+because the attack failed," says Schiller.  The
+following day he altered his position, and on the 8th of
+September he marched away to Bavaria.  Forty-four
+thousand men, both friends and foes, had been
+destroyed by plague and war during these terrible
+weeks in and around Nürnberg.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The darkness of the autumn increased, and its
+fogs covered the blood-stained fields of Germany, and
+still the battles did not cease.  Here it was ordained
+that only one great spirit should find everlasting rest,
+after many storms, and pass from life's dark night to
+eternal light.  The angel of death came closer over
+Gustaf Adolf's noble head, and threw over him a
+gleam of light from a higher world, which is
+sometimes seen shining around the great souls of the
+earth in their last moments.  The bystanders do not
+understand it, but the departing ones know what it
+means.  Two days before his death, Gustaf Adolf
+received the homage of a god from the people of
+Naumburg, but through his soul fled the shadow of
+the coming change, and he said to the royal chaplain,
+Fabricius:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Perhaps God will soon punish them for their
+foolishness, and myself also, the object of it; and
+show that I am only a weak mortal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king had marched into Saxony to follow the
+traces of the destructive Wallenstein.  At Arnstadt
+he bade farewell to Axel Oxenstjerna; in Erfurt he
+said good-bye to the queen.  There, and in Naumburg,
+one could see by his arrangements that he was
+prepared for what would come.  Wallenstein, who
+thought he had gone into winter quarters, sent
+Pappenheim away to Halle with 12,000 men; he himself
+stood at Lützen with 28,000, and the king was in
+Naumburg with 20,000 men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But on the 4th of November, when Gustaf Adolf
+heard of Pappenheim's departure, he broke up his
+camp and hurried to surprise his weakened enemy,
+in which he would have succeeded if he had made
+his attack on the 5th.  But Providence had thrown
+in the way of his victorious career a small obstacle,
+the brook Rippach, which with many newly ploughed
+fields delayed his march.  It was late in the evening
+on the 5th of November when the king approached
+Lützen; thus Wallenstein had time, and he knew how
+to make use of it.  Along the broad road to Leipzig
+he deepened the ditches, and made redoubts on both
+sides, which he filled with his best sharpshooters, and
+it was decided that with their cross-fire they could
+destroy the attacking Swedes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The king's war council advised him not to make
+the attack; Duke Bernhard was the only one who
+advised him to the contrary, and the king shared his
+opinion, "because," he said, "it is necessary to wash
+one's self perfectly clean once you are in the bath."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night was dull and dark.  The king spent it
+in an old carriage with Kniephausen and Duke
+Bernhard.  His restless soul had time to think of
+everything, and then history says, he drew from the
+forefinger of his right hand a small copper ring, and
+gave it to Duke Bernhard, and asked him to give it
+to a young officer in his Finnish cavalry, in case
+anything should happen to himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in the morning Gustaf Adolf rode out to
+inspect the positions of his troops.  He was dressed
+in a buff waistcoat made of elk's skin, and wore a
+grey great coat over it; when he was told to wear
+harness on a day like this, he replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God is my armour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A heavy mist delayed the attack.  At dawn the
+whole army sang a hymn.  The fog continued, and
+the king began another hymn, which he had written
+himself just before.  He then rode along the lines,
+calling out:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To-day, boys, we shall put an end to all our
+trouble;" and his horse stumbled twice as he said
+this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fog did not clear off till eleven o'clock through
+a strong breeze.  The Swedish army at once advanced
+to the attack; under the king in the right
+wing was Stälhandske and the Finns, next came the
+Swedish troops; in the centre were the Swedish
+yellow and green brigades, commanded by Nils
+Brahe; on the left wing the German cavalry, under
+Duke Bernhard.  Against the duke was Colloredo,
+with his strong cavalry, while in the centre was
+Wallenstein, with four heavy columns of infantry and seven
+cannon in front; against Stälhandske stood Isolani,
+with his wild but brave Croats.  The war-cries on
+both sides were the same as at Breitenfeld.  When
+the king ordered the attack he clasped his hands, and
+cried out:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jesus, help me to-day to fight for the glory of
+Thy Holy Name!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Imperialists started firing, and the Swedish
+army advanced and suffered heavy losses from the
+beginning.  At last the Swedish centre passed the
+redoubts, took the seven guns, and routed the two
+first brigades of the enemy.  The third was preparing
+for flight when Wallenstein rallied them.  The
+Swedish left wing was attacked by the cavalry, and
+the Finns, who had sent the Croats and the Polacks
+flying, had not yet reached the redoubts.  The king
+then rushed to the front with the troops from
+Smaländ; but only a few were well-mounted enough to
+follow him.  It is said that an Imperial musketeer
+fired at him with a silver bullet; it is true that the
+king's left arm was smashed, and that he tried to
+conceal his wound; but soon he became so weak
+from loss of blood, that he asked the Duke of Lauenburg,
+who was riding by his side, to bring him unseen
+out of the battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of the conflict Gotz's cuirassiers rushed
+forward, and at the head of them was Moritz von
+Falkenberg, who recognised the king and fired
+point-blank at him, crying out:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have long sought for you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon afterwards Falkenberg himself fell from a
+bullet.  The king was shot underneath the heart, and
+reeled in his saddle; he told the duke to save his
+own life; the latter had placed his arm around the
+king's waist to support him, but the next moment
+the rush of the enemy had separated them.  The
+duke's hair was singed by the close discharge of a
+pistol, and the king's horse was wounded in the
+throat and staggered.  The king sunk from the
+saddle, and was dragged a short distance along the
+ground; his foot caught in the stirrup.  The young
+page, Leubelfingen, from Nürnberg, offered him his
+horse, but could not raise him up.  Some of the
+Imperialists now came to the spot, and inquired who
+the wounded man was, and when Leubelfingen would
+not reply, one of them ran him through with a
+sword-thrust, while another shot the king through the head;
+others then shot at them, and both remained on the
+field.  But Leubelfingen lived for a few days afterwards,
+to relate for the benefit of future generations
+the never-to-be-forgotten sad death of the great
+hero, Gustaf Adolf.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime the Swedish centre was driven
+back, the battlefield was covered with thousands of
+mutilated corpses, and they had not yet gained a
+foot of ground.  Both the armies occupied nearly the
+same positions as before the battle.  The king's
+wounded horse was then seen galloping between the
+lines, with an empty saddle, covered with blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king has fallen!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Schiller has so beautifully put it, "Life was not
+worth anything, when the most holy of all lives had
+ceased to exist; death no longer had any terror for
+the lowliest, since it had not spared this royal head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duke Bernhard flew from line to line, saying,
+"Swedes, Finns, and Germans, yours, ours, and
+Freedom's protector has fallen.  Well then, those who
+love the king will rush forward to avenge his death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first to obey this order was Stälhandske, with
+the Finns; with great difficulty they crossed the
+ditches and drove the enemy in front of them; before
+their terrific onslaught all fell or fled.  Isolani turned
+back and attacked the baggage train, but was again
+routed.  The centre of the Swedish army advanced
+under Brahe, and Duke Bernhard, disregarding his
+wounded arm, took one of the enemy's batteries.
+The whole of the Imperial army was broken by this
+terrible attack; its ammunition wagons exploded;
+Wallenstein's orders, and brave Piccolomini's efforts,
+could not stay the rout.  Just then a joyful cry arose
+from the battlefield: "Pappenheim is here!" and
+this leader, the bravest of the brave, appeared with
+his horsemen; his first question was, "Where is the
+King of Sweden?"  Someone pointed to the Finns,
+and Pappenheim rushed to the spot.  Here began a
+terrible battle.  The Imperialists, filled with new
+courage, turned back and attacked on three sides at
+once.  Not a man of the Swedes gave ground.  Brahe
+died with the yellow brigade, who fell nearly to the
+last man; Winckel with the blue, died in the same
+order, man for man, as they stood in the ranks.  The
+rest of the Swedish infantry slowly retreated, and
+victory seemed to smile on the destructive Pappenheim.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he, the Ajax of his time, the man of a hundred
+scars, did not live to see success.  In the first attack
+on the Finns, a falconet bullet smashed his hip; and
+two musket balls pierced his chest; it was also said
+that Stälhandske wounded him with his own hand.
+He fell, but still in death rejoiced over Gustaf Adolf's
+fall, and the news of his loss spread consternation
+amongst the Imperialists.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pappenheim is dead; everything is lost!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once more the Swedes advanced; Duke Bernhard,
+Kniephausen, and Stälhandske, performed prodigies
+of valour.  But Piccolomini, with six wounds, mounted
+his seventh horse, and fought with more than mortal
+valour; the Imperialist centre held its ground, and
+only the darkness stopped the battle.  Wallenstein
+retired, and the exhausted Swedish army encamped
+on the battlefield.  Nine thousand slain covered the
+field of Lützen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The result of this battle was disastrous to the
+Imperialists.  They had lost all their artillery;
+Pappenheim and Wallenstein had lost their invincible
+names.  The latter raged with anger; he executed
+the cowards with the same facility as he bestowed
+gold on the brave.  Ill and disheartened he retired
+with the rest of his army to Bohemia, where the
+stars were his nightly companions, and treacherous
+plans his only solace; and his death from Buttler's
+hand was the end of his glorious life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A thrill of joy passed over the whole Catholic
+world, because the faith of Luther and the Swedes
+had lost a great deal more than their enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arm was paralyzed which had so powerfully
+wielded the victorious sword of light and freedom;
+the grief of the Protestants was deep and universal,
+mixed with fear for the future.  It was not for
+nothing that the Te Deum was sung in the churches
+of Vienna, Brussels, and Madrid; twelve days'
+bull-fighting gratified Madrid on account of the dreaded
+hero's fall.  But it is said that the Emperor
+Ferdinand, who was greater than the men of his time,
+shed bitter tears at the sight of his slain enemy's
+bloody buff waistcoat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many stories circulated about the great Gustaf
+Adolf's death.  Duke Franz Albert of Lauenburg,
+Richelieu, and Duke Bernhard, were all said to have
+had a share in his fall; but none of these surmises
+have been verified by history.  A later German
+author tells the following popular story:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gustaf Adolf, King of Sweden, received in his
+youth, from a young woman whom he loved, a ring
+of iron, which he ever afterwards wore.  The ring
+was composed of seven circles, which formed the
+letters Gustaf Adolf.  Seven days before his death
+he missed the ring."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reader knows that the threads of this story
+are tied to the same ring, but we have several
+reasons for saying that this ring was made of
+copper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the evening after the battle, Duke Bernhard
+sent his soldiers with torches to find the king's body;
+and they found it plundered and hardly recognisable
+under heaps of slain.  It was taken to the village of
+Meuchen, and there embalmed.  The soldiers were
+all allowed to see the dead body of their king and
+leader.  Bitter tears were here shed, but tears full
+of pride, for even the lowest considered it an honour
+to have fought by the side of such a hero.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"See," said one of Stälhandske's old Finns, loudly
+sniffing, "they have stolen his golden chain and his
+copper ring; I still see the white mark on his forefinger."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why should they care about a copper ring?"
+asked a Scotchman, who had lately joined the army,
+and had not heard the stories which passed from
+man to man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His ring!" said a Pomeranian.  "Be sure that
+the Jesuits knew what is was good for.  The ring
+was charmed by a Finnish witch, and as long as the
+king wore it, he could not be hurt by steel or lead."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But see to-day he has lost it, and therefore&mdash;you
+understand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is that fruit-eating Pomeranian saying?"
+said the Finn angrily.  "The power of the Almighty,
+and nothing else, has protected our great king, but
+the ring was given to him long ago by a young
+Finnish girl, whom he loved in his youth; I know
+more about this than you do."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duke Bernhard, who, sad and sorrowful, was watching
+the king's pale features, turned round at these
+words; he put his sound hand underneath his open
+buff waistcoat, and said to the Finn:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Comrade, do you know one of Stälhandske's
+officers named Bertel?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your grace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is he alive?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, your grace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke turned to another and gave several orders
+abstractedly.  A few moments later, when he again
+looked at the king, he seemed to remember something.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Was he a brave man?" he asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He was one of Stälhandske's horsemen!" said the
+Finn with great pride.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When did he fall, and where?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In the last struggle with the Pappenheimers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go and search for him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke's order was promptly obeyed by these
+exhausted soldiers, who had reason to wonder why
+one of the youngest officers should be searched for
+this night, when Nils Brahe, Winckel, and many
+other old leaders were lying uncared for in their blood
+on the battlefield.  It was nearly morning when the
+searchers returned and reported that Bertel's dead
+body could not be found anywhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hum!" said the duke discontentedly; "great men
+have sometimes funny ideas.  What shall I now do
+with the king's ring?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The November sun rose blood-red over the field
+of Lützen.  A new time had come; the Master had
+left, and the disciples had now to carry out his work
+alone.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0200"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+II.&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE PLOUGH.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Silence reigned after the conclusion of the narrative;
+everyone was thinking of the great hero's fall,
+and not realising that the tale was ended.  The old
+grandmother sat on the stuffed sofa in her brown
+woollen shawl, and near her the schoolmaster,
+Svenonius, with his blue handkerchief and brass
+spectacles.  Captain Svanholm, the postmaster, who
+had lost a finger in the last war, was on the right;
+on the left pretty Anne Sophie, eighteen years old,
+with a high tortoise-shell comb in her long brown
+hair; and around them, on the floor or on stools, sat
+six or seven playful children, with mouths now wide
+open, as if they had heard a ghost story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first to disturb the silence was Anne Sophie,
+who sprang with a cry from her chair, stumbled, and
+fell into the schoolmaster's arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The entranced company, who were still at Lützen,
+were as much disturbed by this interruption as if
+Isolani's Croats had suddenly broken into the room.
+The postmaster, still in the midst of the battle, sprang
+up and trod heavily upon old grandma's sore foot
+with his iron heel.  The schoolmaster was quite upset,
+not at all realising the value of the burden in his
+arms&mdash;perhaps the first and also the prettiest in his whole
+life; the children fled in all directions, and some
+crept behind the surgeon's high chair.  But Andreas,
+who had just followed the Finnish cavalry in their
+charge over the trenches, seized the surgeon's
+silver-headed Spanish cane, and prepared to receive the
+Croats at the point of the bayonet.  Old Bäck was
+undisturbed; he produced his tobacco box, bit off a
+piece, and mildly said, "What is the matter with you,
+Anne Sophie?"  The latter freed herself, blushing
+and embarrassed, from the schoolmaster's arms, and
+declaring that someone had pricked her with a pin,
+looked around for the culprit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old grandma, always quick to scent out mischief,
+immediately practised a method, and discovered that
+Jonathan had inserted a pin at the top of his rattan,
+and therewith upset his eldest sister, with the results
+just indicated.  The punishment, like that under
+martial law, was quick and short, and Jonathan had
+then to retire to the nursery, and learn an extra
+lesson for the next day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the principal power had thus restored order
+without bloodshed, the company began to talk of the
+surgeon's story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is too violent a tale, my dear cousin," said the
+old grandmother, whilst looking at the teller with
+one of those mild and speaking glances, which captured
+all hearts with their expression of intelligence
+and sympathy; "altogether too turbulent.  It seems
+to me that I still hear the noise of the cannon.  War
+is frightful and detestable, when we consider all the
+blood shed on the battlefield, and all the tears at
+home.  When will the day arrive when men, instead
+of destroying each other, will share the earth and our
+Lord's good gifts together in Harmony and Universal
+Brotherhood?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the postmaster's martial spirit rose in arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Peace?  Share?  No war?  Pshaw! cousin, pshaw! would
+you make an ant's nest of the world?  What
+a state of things!  Scribblers would smother everything
+with ink; cowards and petty tyrants would sit
+on honest men; and when one nation domineered
+over another, people would lowly bow, thank them,
+and act like sheep.  No; the devil take me! men like
+Gustaf Adolf and Napoleon move nations and things;
+they tap a little blood which has been spoilt by gross
+living, and then the world improves.  I still remember
+the 21st of August, at Karstula; Fieandt stood on
+the left, and I at the right&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I may interrupt the speech of my honoured
+brother," said the schoolmaster, who had heard this
+story one hundred and seventy times before, "I would
+prove that the world would progress much better
+through spilling ink than blood.  <i>Inter arma silent
+leges</i>.  In war times we could not sit here by the
+fire, and drink our toddy in Bäck's room; we should
+be serving a cannon on the ramparts; linstock in
+hand, instead of a glass; powder in our pouches, and
+not even a pinch of snuff.  Ink has made you, brother,
+a postmaster; in ink you live and have your being;
+ink brings your daily bread, and what would you
+be with blood alone, and no ink, may I ask?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What should I be?  Devils and heretics ... I?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cousin Svanholm!" said the old grandmother,
+with a warning glance at the children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The postmaster stopped at once.  The surgeon
+saw the necessity of re-establishing peace and concord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think," he said, "that nations go through the
+world like the individuals of which they are
+composed.  In youth they are wild and passionate, fight,
+rage, and tear each other to pieces.  When older and
+wiser, they invent gunpowder, place host against host,
+and let them destroy each other in cold blood at long
+distances.  Finally the world comes to reason, and
+seizes the pen which is very sharp when necessary.
+And then begins the reign of universal knowledge,
+which is certainly the best, according to my mind."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It would be ... seven devils ... all right, cousin, I
+will be as quiet as a wall," said the postmaster.  "I
+only ask what kind of a man was Gustaf Adolf?  What
+kind of a man was Napoleon?  Were they only
+birthday eaters of sweetmeats?  What do you think?
+Were they fools or savages?  I pray you.  Do you
+hear, cousin?  I do not swear, cousin; you should
+have heard Fieandt, how devilishly he swore at
+Karstula."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surgeon continued, without paying any attention
+to the postmaster.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Therefore, the youthful history of all nations
+begins with war, and the first soldier in the world's
+company was called Cain.  But as war is as old as
+the world, it is likely to exist as long as it lasts.
+I do not believe in the new ideas about a perpetual
+peace.  I believe that as long as human hearts retain
+selfish desires, the curse of war will prevail.  Eternal
+peace consists in no longer fighting blindly, slavishly,
+as before, but with glad courage comprehending the
+reason why, and for a righteous cause; then one can
+hack away with right goodwill."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then we should always fight for an idea," said the
+schoolmaster thoughtfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That's it, for an idea.  It is to the honour of the
+Finnish soldier that with one exception he has always
+fought for the defence of his fatherland.  Then he
+has gone out to fight on foreign soil; and our Lord
+has mercifully chosen that this should be for the
+greatest and most righteous cause of all, namely, to
+defend the pure Protestant faith and freedom of
+conscience for the whole world.  The Finn was
+proud to know this in the Thirty Years' War.  He
+felt within himself that his heart was the same as
+Gustaf Adolf's, who, I think, was the greatest
+general who ever lived, whilst he fought and won
+victories for one of the few causes that are worth
+bleeding for."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell us more about Gustaf Adolf!" exclaimed
+Andreas, who could think only of that one name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear uncle, a little more about Gustaf Adolf,"
+chimed in the rest of the children, who, with the
+greatest trouble, had been held in check by grandma's
+admonitions and sister Anne Sophie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thank you.  No.  The great king is dead, and we
+will allow him to peacefully slumber in the royal vault
+of the church at Riddarholm, Stockholm.  And if
+the story in future loses something from this, it will
+also gain something, namely, that the other characters
+will become more prominent.  Hitherto, we have
+been compelled to almost exclusively fix our eyes
+on the heroic king, and grandmother was right in
+saying that we have been deafened by the thunder
+of the cannon.  Thus, Lady Regina, and the Jesuit,
+and especially Bertel, who is the real hero, have all
+been kept in the background."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Ketchen," said the grandmother; "for my
+part, I would like much to know more of the good,
+charming child.  I will leave Regina alone, but this
+I will maintain that such a black-eyed wild cat, who
+would tear one's eyes out at any moment, cannot
+come to any good."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the lordly Count of Lichtenstein, whom we
+have not heard of lately," added Sophie.  "I am
+certain he will become Regina's betrothed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aha! little cousin listens with delight to that part
+of it," said the postmaster with a sly smile.  "But
+say, brother Bäck, do not busy yourself with
+sentimentalities; let us hear more about Stälhandske, the
+stout little Larsson, and the Tavastlander Vitikka.
+How the d&mdash;&mdash;l did the man get along without ears?
+I remember to this day, that on the 21st of August,
+there was a corporal at Karstula&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Brother Bäck," interrupted the schoolmaster,
+"who has <i>justitia mundi</i>, the sword of justice in his
+hand, will not fail to hoist the Jesuit Hieronymus up
+to the top of the highest pine on the Hartz mountains."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take care, brother Svenonius," retorted the
+post-master maliciously, "the Jesuit was very learned, and
+knew a heap of Latin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will tell you what I know about the Finns," said
+the surgeon; "but I assure you beforehand that it
+is altogether too little.  Wait ten or twenty years
+longer, when some industrious man will take the
+trouble to glean from the old chronicles our brave
+countrymen's exploits."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what became of the king's ring?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, that we shall hear to-morrow evening."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0201"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br /><br />
+A MAN FROM THE PEASANTS' WAR.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Beyond the fertile plains of Germany a wild sea
+extends itself towards the north, whose shores are
+annually covered with the ice of winter, and whose
+straits have sometimes borne entire armies on their
+ice-bridges.  For ages the surrounding nations have
+fought for the possession of this sea; but at the
+time of our story the greatest power in the north
+triumphed over nine-tenths of its wide shores, the
+Baltic had almost become a Swedish lake; stretching
+its mighty blue arms north and east, it folded in
+its embrace a daughter of the sea, a land which had
+arisen from its bosom, and elevated its granite rocks
+high above its mother's heart.  <i>Finland</i> is the most
+favoured child of the Baltic; she empties her
+treasures into the lap of her mother, and the great
+sea does not disdain the offering, but withdraws
+lovingly and tenderly like an indulgent mother, that
+her daughter may develop, and every season clothes
+the shores with grass and flowers.  Fortunate the
+land which lulls to sleep in its bosom the waters of
+a thousand lakes, and stretches one hundred and forty
+Swedish miles along the shore.  The sea bears power,
+freedom, and enlightenment; the ocean is an active
+civilising element in the world; and a sea communicating
+nation can never stagnate in need and under
+oppression except by its own fault.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far away in the north of Finland a region exists
+which more than any other is the fostered child of
+the sea, for from time unknown it has risen with a
+gentle slope from the waters.  Numerous green isles
+rise along this coast.  "In my youth," says the
+grey-haired old salt, "fine ships floated where now the
+water is quite shallow, and in a few years the cattle
+will graze on the former sea-bottom.  The playing
+child launches its little boat from the beach; look
+around you, little one, and see well the point where
+the waters trace their edges; when you become a
+man, you will look in vain for your present
+strand&mdash;beyond the green fields you will hear their distant
+murmur; and when you are an old man, a village
+may appear on the spot once occupied by the waves."  A
+strange region, where the towns built hard by
+deep sounds and tributaries, are twelve miles from
+the waters in two hundred years, while the keels and
+anchors of vessels are drawn up from the bogs fifty
+miles inland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This region is East Bothnia; greater than many
+kingdoms, and extending to the verge of Lapland in
+the north, where the sun never sets at midsummer,
+and never rises during the Christmas darkness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nature is awake for three months of the year in
+an unbroken day, and then at midnight you can read
+the finest print; three months of night, but a night
+of moonlight and glittering snow&mdash;clear, cold, and
+solemn.  The flower's beauty perishes sooner there
+than human joy; for seven months the plains are
+covered with snow and the lakes with solid ice;
+but never is spring more delightful than such a
+winter; still a melancholy mingles with this joy,
+which the heart well understands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two races live on the coasts of this land, unmixed
+and unlike; a variegated picture of national and
+local peculiarities of language and habits; one parish
+sharply contrasting with another.  Certain common
+traits exist, however, which all present.  It is not a
+historical accident that the greatest and bloodiest
+battles of Finland have been fought on the soil of
+East Bothnia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twenty-five miles east of Vasa, on the banks of
+Kyro River, is the rich Storkyro parish&mdash;the granary
+of East Bothnia.  Here grows the well-known rye-seed,
+which is exported in large quantities to Sweden.
+The parish presents a plain of waving grain-fields,
+from which arose the saying, "that Storkyro fields
+and Limingo meadows have no equals in length and
+breadth."  The people are Finns, of Tavastlandish
+origin in remote times.  Their old church, built in
+1304, is one of the oldest in the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We now ask our reader to follow us there.  At the
+time of our story this region was badly cultivated,
+compared with later times.  The ravages of the
+Peasants' War had retarded its growth, so that for
+a generation traces of this disastrous struggle were
+visible, whilst other wars, with heavy conscriptions,
+prevented time from healing these wounds.  Hence,
+in the summer of 1632, many farmhouses still stood
+empty; the grain-fields did not spread far from the
+river banks, and unhealthy fogs covered the country
+when the nights were cool.  The forests, then already
+thinned, still yielded fuel for the tar pits; part of
+the peasantry fished among the Michel Islands, and
+the worthy pastor, Herr Georgius Thomoe Patur, had
+not then, like his present successor, a yearly income
+of 4,000 silver roubles.  Therefore the eye lingered
+with delight on Bertila's farmhouse close to the
+church, finer and better built than any of the others,
+and surrounded by the most fertile fields.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The summer had advanced to the middle of August,
+and the harvesting had just begun.  More than sixty
+persons, men, women, and children&mdash;for the East
+Bothnian peasant women work the whole summer out
+of doors&mdash;were busily cutting the golden rye, which
+they gathered into sheaves and placed with skilful
+hands in high, handsome ricks.  The day was hot,
+and the stooping posture of the work wearisome;
+so it often happened that the petted boys amongst
+the reapers threw longing glances at the soft grass
+round the edge of the field, which evidently seemed
+intended for a resting-place.  At the same time they
+did not forget to look for the overseer, an old man
+in a loose, grey homespun jacket.  Whenever anyone
+stopped, he heard his neighbour whisper, "Larsson
+is coming!" which had an instantaneous effect, like
+the stroke of a whip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Larsson, a small man, between whose bushy
+head and eyebrows a good-hearted look glanced forth,
+was now concerned with one of the women, who, on
+account of the heat and work, had sunk to the
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Judging from her features this woman was no
+longer young; perhaps about thirty-six; but to look
+at her slender figure, and the mild sympathetic
+expression of her blue eyes, she seemed no more than
+twenty.  She exhibited a rare but prematurely faded
+beauty, with much suffering and resignation.  She
+wore a fine white flannel jacket, which being
+thrown aside on account of the sun, showed sleeves
+of the finest linen, a red bodice, like the peasantry
+wore, with a short striped woollen skirt, and a little
+plaid handkerchief tied around her head, to support
+her long flaxen hair.  She had worked hard, but her
+strength was insufficient; she had fallen with her
+scythe in her hand, and those nearest to her, with
+respect and love, had carried her to the soft turf,
+and tried with fresh water from the spring to bring
+her back to life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There now, Meri!" said old Larsson with fatherly
+sympathy, as he held the fainting woman's head on
+his knees and bathed her forehead with cold water;
+"there, my child, don't be foolish enough to die and
+leave your old friend; what joy would he then have
+on earth? ... She cannot hear me, poor child!
+Who ever had such a father as hers?  To compel
+this delicate thing to work in such heat! ... Drink
+a little&mdash;that's right ... it is very good of you;
+now open your lovely eyes once more.  Do not
+trouble, Meri; we will go to the house, and you shall
+not work any more to-day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pale and delicate creature endeavoured to rise
+and seize her sickle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thank you, Larsson," she said in a low but
+melodious voice, "I am better now.  I will work;
+father washes it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Father wishes it!" exclaimed the old man testily.
+"You see, I do not; I forbid you to work.  Even
+if your father turned me out of doors, and I had to
+beg my bread, you should not work any more to-day.
+Well, well, my child, don't take it so hard; your
+father is not so foolish.  He knows that you are not
+strong; you are like your dead mother, who was a
+lady by birth, and from your education in Stockholm
+... There, there; let us go home; don't be
+obstinate now, Meri!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let me go, Larsson; see, he comes himself!"
+cried Meri, tearing herself free and grasping the
+scythe, with which she again tried to mow the golden
+rye.  But as she stooped down, it grew dark before
+her eyes, and for the second time she sank fainting
+between the waving stalks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that instant the efforts of all the workers
+redoubled; he approached in person, the severe and
+dreaded owner of Bertila farm.  Like a gloomy
+shadow he came slowly along the path&mdash;a tall old
+man of seventy, but little bent by age.  His costume
+was the same as that of the peasants in summer:
+wide shirt-sleeves, a long red-striped vest, short linen
+pantaloons, blue stockings, and bark-shoes.  He wore
+a high pointed cap of red yarn on his white head,
+which made his tall figure still more imposing.  In
+spite of his simple costume, his whole bearing was
+commanding.  The decided carriage, sharp penetrating
+look, resolute expression, love of authority
+around the tightly drawn upper lip, indicated the
+former political leader and the rich and powerful
+land-owner, accustomed to rule over many hundreds
+of subordinates.  Seeing this old man, one
+understood why he was known in many neighbouring
+parishes as the <i>Peasant King</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cold and calm, old Aron Bertila approached the
+spot where his only daughter lay in a dead faint.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Put her in the hay-wagon and take her up to
+the house," he said.  "In two hours she will be back
+to her work."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, Bertila!" exclaimed Larsson excitedly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila looked round with a glance before which
+the other quailed; then he stalked on through the
+field as if nothing had occurred, observing with a
+keen eye the labours of the reapers; here and there
+breaking off an ear and closely examining the
+number and weight of the seeds.  From the barn the
+whole harvest-field was visible; it was new, and more
+than a hundred acres in extent.  The old man looked
+with great pride on the waving sea of golden ears;
+his carriage became more erect, his breast expanded,
+as he beckoned Larsson to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you remember this tract thirty-four years ago,
+when Fleming's cavalry scoured the country like
+savages, the village lay in ruins, and the fields were
+trampled down by the horses' hoofs.  Here, close to
+the village, was the desert; naked, charred stumps
+stood between mud puddles and quagmires; no road
+or path led here, and even the forest wolves avoided
+the desolate spot."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I remember it well," said Larsson in a monotonous
+tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Look now around, old friend, and say.  Who
+rebuilt this village, more lovely than ever before?
+Who tilled this wilderness, made roads and paths,
+measured the land, drained the morass, ploughed this
+fertile soil, and sowed this great field which now
+waves in the breeze, and will soon supply hundreds
+of human beings with its harvest?  Say, Larsson,
+who is the man who did this mighty work?" and
+the old man's eyes flamed with enthusiasm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the little, plump person at his side seemed to
+be possessed with quite another feeling.  He humbly
+took off his old hat, clasped his hands, and earnestly
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing is he who sows; nothing is he who
+waters; God alone gives the growth!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila, absorbed in thought, heeded him not, and
+continued,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, by God!  I have seen evil times, days of
+want, misery, and despair, which the sword brought
+upon earth, and I have myself drawn the weapon to
+destroy my enemies.  I have had victory and defeat,
+both to my injury.  Hence I can rejoice in the work
+of peace.  I know the fruit of the sword, and what
+the plough produces.  In the sword lurks a spirit
+of evil, which revels in blood and tears; the sword
+kills and destroys, but the plough gives life and
+happiness.  You see, Larsson, the plough has made
+this field.  Over at Korsholm is the Finnish coat of
+arms, a lion with a naked sword.  Were I king, I
+would say, Away with the sword and take the plough.
+The latter is the true weapon of Finland; if we
+possess bread we have plenty of arms; with arms we
+can drive our enemies from our homes.  But without
+bread, Larsson, what use is steel and powder to us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bertila," said Larsson, "you are a singular man.
+You hate war, but that I understand; in war they
+burnt your farm, and drove your first wife and her
+little children into the woods to perish.  You yourself
+have fought at the head of the peasantry, and barely
+escaped <i>the blood bath on Ilmola's ice</i>.  Such things
+are not easily forgotten; but what I cannot
+comprehend is, that you, a friend of the peasants, a
+soldier hater, first took me, an old starving soldier,
+as overseer on your farm, then equipped my Lasse&mdash;God
+bless the boy&mdash;for the war, and finally sent
+your own grandson, Meri's child, little Gösta,* yet
+beardless, to the field among the king's cavalry."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* From Gustaf.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Old Bertila's look darkened.  Some sensitive chord
+had been touched, and he glanced around as if he
+feared a listener behind the barn walls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who dares to speak to me of Meri's child?" he
+said in a low tone.  "I know none other than my
+son Gösta, born of my second wife during the
+journey to Stockholm; and God be merciful unto
+you if ever ... Let us forget that matter.  Why
+I took you?  Why I sent your boy into the field?
+H'm! it does not concern anyone."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, keep it to yourself; I know too much
+already."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, if you can, Larsson, what constituents
+are required for an honest Christian Government?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Larsson looked at him with surprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will tell you.  The sword has two parts, the
+blade and the handle.  Two forces are likewise
+necessary for the plough: one that draws and one
+that drives.  And two forces united form a Christian
+Government, namely, the people and the king.  But
+that which comes between brings discord and ruin;
+it arrogates to itself the king's power and the people's
+property.  It is a monster."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know you hate the nobles."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And therefore," Bertila laid an emphasis on his
+words, and uttered them with an almost ironical
+smile, which seemed to turn his meaning into a jest,
+"you see, <i>my</i> son must either be <i>peasant or king</i>;
+nothing more or less!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Larsson looked at him with dismay.  He had not
+imagined the depth of ambition which had hitherto
+glowed concealed in the old peasant's heart.  He
+thought it the extreme of crazy presumption.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You can certainly never hope," he timidly said,
+"that Meri's son, with his birth&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man's eyes flashed, but the words were
+inaudible that came from his lips, as if he tried to
+struggle against an inner impulse, to express for the
+first and perhaps for the last time, the bold idea
+which had already for many years grown in his
+tempestuous soul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"King Gustaf Adolf has only a daughter," he
+said finally, with a peculiar look.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Princess Christina ... Yes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the kingdom at war with half the world, after
+his death, needs a man upon the throne."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bertila, what do you mean?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I mean that in my childhood I heard King Erik's
+son, in spite of his peasant wife, Karin, declared the
+successor to the crown."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you in your senses?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again an ironical smile played around the old
+man's lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you not understand," he coldly said, "how it
+is possible to hate soldiers and aristocrats, and yet
+send one's son to war as the nearest road to
+distinction, under a king's eyes?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I beg of you, Bertila, put aside such wild fancies;
+you are a reasonable man when the demon of pride
+does not get possession of your restless mind.  Your
+plan will fail; it must fail."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It cannot fail."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What!  Not fail!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No!  Have I not told you that Gösta must be
+either king or peasant?  Either.  I do not care.  If
+he wishes to remain a peasant, so be it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But if he will not remain a peasant?  Supposing
+he wishes to fight for a coat of arms, and becomes
+a nobleman?  Remember, you have started him on
+the right road for that end; as an officer he is
+already an equal of the nobility."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila seemed to be cogitating.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No!" he cried, "it is impossible.  His blood
+... his education ... my will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His blood!  Then you no longer remember that
+nobility is in it from both sides?  His education! and
+you sent him to Stockholm at twelve, and allowed
+him to grow up amongst young aristocrats, whom he
+has constantly heard express themselves with contempt
+about the peasantry.  Your will! foolish father
+to think that you can bend a youth's desires from the
+direction given to them by such powerful influences."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man remained silent for a time, then he
+said, coldly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Larsson, you are a credulous fool; I joke, and
+you take it seriously.  I will answer for the youth.
+Let us say no more about it; but take care, not a
+word of what has passed!  Do you understand?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am your old friend, Bertila.  Since the time
+when I, a horseman with Svidje Klas, helped you
+to escape from Ilmola, you have repaid me the
+service many times over; I shall never betray you.
+But, you see, I love your children as my own, and
+cannot bear to see you make the boy unhappy; and
+Meri ... are you a father, Bertila?  How do you
+treat your child, your only daughter, who attends to
+your lightest wish, and does everything to atone for
+the fault of her youth?  You treat her worse than
+any of your servants; you allow her frail and weak
+body to perform the hardest work; she sinks to the
+ground, and you do not raise her.  You are cruel,
+Bertila; you are an inhuman father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You do not understand the matter," answered the
+morose old man.  "You are too tender-hearted to
+comprehend what it means to go straight ahead without
+compunction.  Meri, like her mother, has the fine lady
+in her, and that must be uprooted.  She cannot
+become a queen; well, then, she shall be a thorough
+peasant.  I have said what I think about the
+intermediate class, and now you know the reason for my
+actions.  Come, let us return to the labourers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Meri ... spare her to-day, at least."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She shall work with the rest this afternoon."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0202"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br /><br />
+ASHAMED OF A PEASANT'S NAME.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The log-house of the East Bothnian peasant is now
+always more roomy, lighter, and more pretentious in
+its whole appearance than in any other part of
+Finland.  It sometimes consists of two storeys, or has
+at least a garret; the windows are of good size; it
+it almost always painted red or yellow, with white
+corners, and occasionally possesses window shutters.
+The whole bears evidence of mechanical skill and
+comfort.  The East Bothnian never builds such large
+and fine villages as the Tavastlander and the Abo
+peasants do, but in cases of necessity constructs good
+solitary farmhouses.  At the time of our story the
+smoke-huts were in use by nearly the whole Finnish
+population; only peasants of Swedish origin used
+fire-places and regular chimneys.  But even then one
+could see in East Bothnia, close to the coast, some
+buildings constructed in a more modern style, copied
+from their Swedish neighbours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The newly settled towns had attracted the country
+people to the coast, and they had already begun to
+be accustomed to greater comfort; and the wealthier
+the peasant, the quicker his house and person
+assumed a more civilised aspect.  It is true that the
+luxury, against which the laws of the sixteenth
+century so severely protested, was found only on the
+estates of the nobility and among the wealthy Abo
+burghers&mdash;but the home-brewed ale foamed over in
+the tankards of the peasants, and the Holland spices
+were produced from his cupboards for festive
+occasions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since the fires of the Peasants' War had destroyed
+the huts of Storkyro village, one could often see the
+Swedish and Finnish styles of building side by side.
+Bertila's farm was the largest and the richest in the
+village, and was built in the new style, with steps
+and a small verandah, and two small chambers beside
+the large room; one for the master of the family and
+one for his daughter.  The rest of the people on the
+farm lived together in the large room, but in summertime
+the younger ones slept out of doors in the sheds
+and some in the lofts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this time one would not see the large clock,
+with its red and blue painted cover, which to-day is
+the chief ornament in every peasant's cottage.  The
+long plain table with its high seat for the master,
+stood surrounded by benches on the sides towards
+the door.  It was close to dinner-time, and in the big
+fire-place the porridge-kettle was boiling.  The room
+was nearly empty, only a large cat purred on a bench,
+and a girl of fourteen stirred the porridge; and Meri
+was sitting by the fire with her work.  Poor Meri
+had just recovered from her fainting attack, but she
+was still very pale.  Her long golden hair fell down
+over her almost bare shoulders; her eyes were often
+shyly turned towards the door, as if she feared the
+sudden entrance of her father.  She was knitting a
+girdle of the most beautiful colours, and sang at the
+same time an old Swedish song.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "This girdle with roses fair<br />
+  Shall only my loved one wear,<br />
+  When he from the perils of war<br />
+  Returns to us from afar."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+It has been said that Meri was no longer young.
+The traces which suffering had left on her finely
+formed features told of many a year of sorrow and
+pain; but at this moment as she watched the girdle,
+her face assumed an almost childish expression of
+delight.  One could see that her work was a joy to
+her, and that she sang of someone much beloved and
+far away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her life with her severe father was full of hardship,
+and when she looked at the girdle she semed to read
+in its bright-coloured loops of a future full of joy
+and peace.  In this girdle she lived, it was the same
+to her as the thought of her only joy&mdash;her idolized son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again she sang:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "I weave in beads so fine<br />
+  For this dear beloved of mine,<br />
+  And no king upon his throne<br />
+  Shall the like of this girdle own."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Just then Bertila, her father, entered, followed by
+Larsson and all the rest of the working people.  Old
+Bertila's looks were dark; he could not deny to
+himself that Larsson's predictions were only too likely
+to be true.  His son a nobleman.  This possibility
+was in his eyes a disgrace, and up to this time had
+not troubled his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last words of Meri's song had just died away.
+At her father's entrance she quickly concealed the
+girdle under her apron; but the suspicious eyes of
+the old man fathomed her secret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are again sitting with your dreams, lazy
+thing, instead of serving out the porridge," he said in
+a sharp tone.  "What have you underneath your
+apron?  Out with it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Meri was obliged in the presence of them all
+to reveal the unfinished girdle&mdash;her dearest secret.
+Her father snatched it from her, looked at it for a
+moment with contempt, then tore it in two, and threw
+the pieces behind the oven.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have told you many a time," he said severely,
+"that an honest peasant woman has nothing to do
+with fancy work.  Let us say grace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man then clasped his hands in the usual
+way, and the rest followed suit.  But before the
+prayer could be uttered, Larsson stepped to the
+middle of the floor, his naturally good-humoured face
+purple with rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bertila," he
+said, "to insult your own daughter in front of all the
+people!  She works like a slave night and day, more
+than anyone of us, yet you call her a lazy thing!  I
+tell you this straight in the face, that although you
+are my master, and I eat your bread, and without
+you I have nothing but the beggar's staff, that such
+an unrighteous father does not deserve to have such
+a good daughter; and rather than see this misery
+day after day, I will beg my bread.  But you will
+have to answer before the Almighty for your children.
+And may you now say your grace, and let the food
+taste well to you if you can.  Farewell, Bertila, I
+cannot stand this life any longer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cast out the rascal who dares to speak against
+the master of the house," said Bertila with more than
+usual violence.  No one moved.  For the first time
+the peasant king saw his orders disobeyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear master," began the oldest of the labourers,
+"we all think the same&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A terrible blow from the master struck the
+speaker to the ground before he finished his remarks.
+In vain Larsson offered to go of his own accord; in
+vain Meri tried to mediate between the disputants.
+So strong were the principles of right in these people,
+that without consulting anything but their own
+convictions, they arrayed themselves as one man against
+the master's tyranny.  Fourteen muscular men stood
+erect and resolute before the enraged Bertila, whose
+tall figure stood threateningly in the midst of the
+throng.  One more blow, and they would all have
+left his service, and perhaps shut him up in his own
+little chamber until his anger had subsided; for the
+farther towards the north one goes, the more sensitive
+is the Finnish peasant to blows.  Bertila, however,
+knew his people, and saw as a wise man that his
+anger had led him too far.  He sought a means of
+getting out of the dilemma without too great a
+humiliation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is it you want?" he asked with regained
+self-possession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The workers looked at each other in silence for a
+moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are wrong, master," said one of the boldest
+at last.  "You have insulted Meri for nothing.  You
+wished to turn Larsson out of the house, and struck
+Simeon; you have done wrong."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Meri, come here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are no longer a child, Meri.  If you cannot
+endure to live with your aged father, then you are
+at liberty to stay on my farm at Ilmola.  You are
+free&mdash;go, my child."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila knew his daughter.  These few words, "go,
+my child," pronounced in a milder tone than she
+was accustomed to hear, were sufficient to melt his
+daughter's heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not reject me, father," she said, "I will never
+desert you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These words made her defenders waver, and the
+old man saw his opportunity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bring hither the catechism," he said in a
+commanding voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fourteen-year-old Greta stepped forward as
+was the custom on sacred days, and read aloud:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ye servants obey your temporal masters with fear
+and trembling, in the simplicity of your hearts!  Ye
+servants be submissive to your masters in all fear,
+not only the mild and good, but also the unworthy!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These words, thus uttered at the right time, did not
+fail in their effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In these times the power and authority of father
+and master were at their zenith, and were not only
+by word, but in deed, a power by "God's mercy."  The
+words of obedience heard from childhood, the
+old man's commanding tone, and Meri's example of
+ready submission to her father's authority, all
+combined to tone down the hot tempers of the rebels.
+They took their places at the table without another
+word.  Only old Larsson stood sad and hesitating
+with his hand on the door-latch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly the door was opened, and a stranger
+entered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The new-comer was a soldier, in a broad-brimmed
+hat, decorated with a gracefully fastened eagle's
+plume.  He wore a waistcoat of yellow wool, short
+top-boots, bore a cudgel in his hand, and a long sword
+hung at his side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By St. Lucifer," he said joyfully, "I have come
+at the right time.  God's peace, peasants, make room
+at the table; I am as hungry as a monk during mass,
+and I am not able to go to the vicarage on this
+damned heath.  Have you any ale?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man in the high seat, who had not yet
+quite overcome his temper, although he appeared to
+be calm, rose from his chair, but at once sat down
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sit down, countryman," said the old man softly;
+"Aron Bertila has room at his table for self-invited
+guests also."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well," continued the new-comer, helping
+himself freely to the food, which seemed to be a
+familiar habit with him.  "You are Bertila, then.  I
+am glad to hear it, comrade.  Confidence for
+confidence, I will now tell you that I am Bengt
+Kristerson, from Limingo, sergeant in his Majesty's brave
+East Bothnians.  I am sent here to look after the
+conscripts.  Some more ale in the tankard, peasants
+... well, do not be afraid, girls, I will not bite you.
+Bertila," added the soldier with his mouth full, "what
+the deuce is this?  Are you Lieutenant Bertel's
+father, peasant?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not know that name," replied the old man,
+who was nettled by the soldier's impudent remarks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you mad, old man?  You do not know Gustaf
+Bertel, who six months ago called himself Bertila?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My son! my son!" cried the old man in a voice
+of anguish.  "I am an unfortunate father!  He is
+ashamed of a peasant's name!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Peasant's name," said the soldier laughing, and
+striking the table violently, so that the tankards and
+dishes jumped.  "Do ye peasants also have names?
+I think I will go without mine.  You are a fine
+fellow, old man; tell me what the d&mdash;&mdash;l you want
+with a name?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He then looked at his host with such an air of
+naïve impudence, that the insulting words were
+somewhat modified in effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Bertila, however, scarcely honoured him with
+a glance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fool that I was!  I sent out a beardless boy and
+thought that I sent a man," he gloomily said to himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the sergeant, who had indulged in many drinks
+before, and had now seen the bottom of the jug, did
+not seem inclined to drop the subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not look so fierce, old boy," he said in the
+same aggravating tone.  "You peasants associate so
+much with oxen and sheep, that you become just
+like them yourselves.  If you were a bit civil you
+would send a pretty girl to fill my jug.  It is now
+empty, you see; as empty as your cranium.  But you
+turnip-peelers do not appreciate the honour which
+is conferred upon you, of having a royal sergeant
+for guest.  You see, old fellow, a soldier in these
+times is everything; he has a name that rings
+because he has a sword that rings.  But you, old
+ploughshare, have nothing but porridge in your head
+and a turnip in your breast; fill your mug, old fellow;
+here's to Lieutenant Bertel's success!  So you refuse
+to drink the health of an honest cavalier?  Out upon
+you, peasant."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the sergeant, in the consciousness of his
+dignity, struck the table with his fist, so that the
+wooden bowls jumped and seemed disposed to make
+for the floor with all their contents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first effect of this martial joke was to induce
+six or seven of the men to rise from their benches,
+with the object of giving the uninvited guest a
+salutary lesson in politeness.  But old Bertila stopped
+them.  He rose composedly from his seat, approached
+the rowdy sergeant with a firm step, and without
+saying a word, grasped him by the neck with his
+left hand, and with his right on his back, he lifted
+the soldier from the bench, carried him to the
+door and threw him out on a heap of chips outside
+the steps.  The funny sergeant was so surprised at
+this unexpected attack, that he did not move a
+muscle to defend himself.  If he had, it was not
+likely that the seventy-year-old man would have
+gained the victory in the struggle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go," cried Bertila after him, "and keep your
+treatment as a remembrance of the peasants in
+Storkyro."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing impresses the multitude so much as
+resolute courage combined with a strong arm.  When
+the old man entered the room again he was
+surrounded by his people, who now greatly admired
+him; and this feat destroyed the difference which
+had existed a few moments before between them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The conflict between the sword and the plough is
+as old as the world.  The Peasants' War was based
+on this rivalry, and served to keep it fresh and alive
+in the minds of all.  These independent peasants had
+not been subjected to the tyranny of the landed
+proprietors.  They witnessed with delight their honour
+defended against the soldier's outrageous insults;
+they forgot at the moment that they might shortly be
+compelled themselves to don the soldier's jacket, and
+fight for their country.  Even the old peasant chief,
+elated at his exploit, had surmounted his bad temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the first time in a long while they saw a smile
+on his lips; and when the meal was over, he began
+to relate to them some of his former adventures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never shall I forget how we cudgelled the rascal
+Abraham Melchiorson, the man who, here in Kyro,
+seized our best peasants, and had them broken on
+the wheel like malefactors.  With fifty men he had
+gone up north.  It was winter time.  He was a fine
+gentleman, muffled up from the cold, and rode so
+grandly in a splendid wolf-skin cloak.  But when he
+approached Karleby church we placed ourselves in
+ambush, and rushing upon him like Jehu, beat
+twenty-two of his men to death, and pommelled him black
+and blue; but every time he expected a rap he drew
+the wolf-skin cloak over his ears, so that no club could
+disable the traitor.  'Wait,' said Hans Krank, from
+Limingo, who led us on that wolf hunt, 'we will
+whip him out of his skin yet'; with this he drubbed
+Abraham so soundly that he was obliged to let go
+of his fine fur.  Krank had nothing on but a jacket,
+and it was cold enough, God knows; he thought the
+fur cloak a good thing, and drew it unobserved over
+his own shoulders.  But, as all this occurred in the
+twilight, we others did not notice who was now in
+the wolf-skin, and we kept on belabouring the cloak;
+it is very certain that Krank had a very warm time
+of it that evening.  But Abraham Melchiorson
+became so light and nimble after getting rid of his
+cloak, that he ran off to Huso farm; but there he was
+taken by Saka Jacob from Karleby, and the rascal
+was taken to Stockholm; but he did not get much
+time to mourn over the loss of his cloak, for the
+duke soon made him a head shorter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," said Larsson, who always tried to defend
+Fleming and his people, "that time you had the best
+of it.  Eleven soldiers remained alive, but seeming
+to be dead, you took all their clothes.  And at
+midnight they crept half dead with cold to the vicarage,
+and were there taken in; but in the morning you
+wanted to put them in the water underneath the ice,
+alive, as you had done in Lappfjard's River.  You
+were wolves and not human beings.  The water was
+so low in the river that you had to push the men
+down with poles to keep them there; and when they
+tried to get up, the women knocked them on their
+heads with buckets."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Keep quiet, Larsson, you do not know all that
+Svidje Klas did," said Bertila angrily; "I say nothing
+about all the men that he and his people have killed
+and broken on the wheel.  Do you remember Severin
+Sigfridson at Sorsankoski?  He surrounded the
+peasants, and ordered his subaltern to behead them
+one by one; but he was not able to kill more than
+twenty-four, and asked the nobleman to finish the
+rest himself.  The gentleman got angry, and ordered
+the peasants to cut the subaltern into five parts, and
+then do the same to each other as long as one
+remained alive."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But what did you do, you mad brutes, on Peter
+Gumse's farm?  Your men destroyed the place, broke
+the windows, slaughtered all the cattle, and set their
+severed heads with wide open mouths in the windows
+as a scare.  Then the beams of the house were cut
+three parts through, so that when the folk came
+home it would fall upon their heads; and when you
+caught a horseman you used him as a target for your
+arrows."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is not worth while, Larsson, to try to take
+Svidje Klas' part.  Do you remember when Axel
+Kurk's men came and killed a woman's children before
+her eyes?  The poor mother could not stand this, she
+and her half-grown daughter seized the brute by the
+waist, hit him on the head with a pole, and pushed
+him fainting in the water.  Svidje Klas then came
+and had that same woman cut in two."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Loose talk, which has never been proven," replied
+Larsson gruffly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The dead keep silent like good children.  The
+5,000 killed at Ilmola do not speak."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Instead of molesting the sergeant, you should
+have asked him for news about your son and mine,"
+said Larsson, to get away from their usual
+contentious subject&mdash;the fatal Peasant War.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, you are right.  I must hear more about the
+boys and the war.  I am going to Vasa to-morrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Will he soon return?" asked Meri in a shy voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gösta.  He will take his own time," said the father
+angrily.  "He has now became a nobleman; he is
+ashamed of his old father .... he blushes for a
+peasant's name."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0203"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br /><br />
+THE SOUTHERN FLOWER COMES TO THE NORTH.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Some miles south of Vasa, on the sixty-third degree
+of latitude, the Bay of Finland, which has hitherto
+gone straight north and south, makes a perceptible
+bend towards the north-east.  The great blue Baltic
+following the same direction, narrows for a moment
+in the "Qvark," widens again, and leans its bright
+brow against Finland's breast.  Freer there than
+anywhere else, the winds from the Arctic Ocean sweep
+over these coasts and drive the waves with terrible
+violence against the rocks.  In the midst of this
+stormy sea, lie Gadden's bare flat ledges, with their
+warning lighthouse and far projecting reefs.  When
+the mountain winds shake their wings over these
+breakers, then woe unto the vessel which, without a
+sure rudder and lightly furled sails, ventures through
+the narrow passage at "Understen"&mdash;its destruction
+is certain.  But in the middle of summer it often
+happens that a slightly northern wind is the most
+welcome, and promises clear skies and fine weather.
+Then fly many hundreds of sails from the coast out
+towards "Qvark's" islands and reefs, to cast their
+nets for shoals of herrings; and the restless,
+murmuring sea dances like a loving mother, with her
+daughters, the green islands, resting upon her bosom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the exception of Aland and Ekenäs there is
+no part of Finland's coast so rich with luxuriant
+vegetation as "Qvark" and its neighbouring east
+shore.  These innumerable islets, of which the largest
+are Wallgrund and Björkö, are here sprinkled about
+like drops of green in the blue expanse, and formed
+a parish by themselves called "Replotchapel,"
+inhabited only by fishermen.  So numerous are these
+groups, so infinitely varied the sounds, so intricate the
+channels, that a strange vessel could not find its way
+out without a native pilot at the helm.  Thirty
+cruisers here would be insufficient to prevent
+smuggling; there is only one means of putting a stop to
+this inherited sin of the coast, and this method is a
+light tariff with but few prohibitions; Finland during
+later years has tried it with success and to her own
+advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same period as described in the preceding
+chapter, therefore in the middle of August, 1632, the
+waters of the Baltic were divided by the royal
+man-of-war "Maria Eleonora," bound from Stockholm to
+Vasa to transport the recruits for the German War.
+It was a bright fine summer morning.  Over the wide
+sea played an indescribable glitter, which was at the
+same time grand and enchantingry beautiful.  A
+boundless field of snow, illumined by the spring sun,
+can rival it in splendour, but the snow is stillness and
+death, the shimmering waves are motion and life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A slumbering sea in its resplendency, is grandeur
+clothed in the smile of delight; he is a sleeping giant,
+who dreams of sunbeams and flowers.  Gently heaves
+his breast; then the plank rocks underneath thy feet,
+and thou tremblest not; he could swallow thee up
+in his abyss, but he mildly spreads his golden carpet
+under the keel, and he, the strong, bears the frail
+bark like a child in his arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was immediately after sunrise.  The monotonous
+silence of sea-life prevailed on board the vessel during
+the morning watch, as when no danger is feared.  Part
+of the crew were still asleep below the deck, only
+the mate, wrapped in a jacket of frieze, walked to
+and fro on the aft deck.  The helmsman stood
+motionless at the rudder, the man in the round top
+peered ahead, and here and there on the fore deck
+stood a sailor, fastening a loose rope end, carrying
+wood to the caboose, or polishing the guns which
+were to salute Korsholm when they entered that port.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The stern discipline of a modern man-of-war was
+at that time almost unknown.  There were no
+uniforms or steam whistles, nor any of the complex
+signals and commands which are now carried to such
+perfection.  Then a man-of-war scarcely differed from
+a merchant vessel, excepting in size, armament, and
+the number of officers and men she carried.  When
+one remembers that at that time there was neither
+whisky or coffee on board to protect against the chill
+morning air&mdash;they had, however, already learned from
+the Dutch to use an occasional quid of tobacco for
+this purpose&mdash;then it is readily perceived that life on
+the "Maria Eleonora" bore very little resemblance
+to that on board one of our modern men-of-war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the green gunwale of the deck stood two female
+figures, with wide travelling hoods of black wool on
+their heads.  One of these passengers was small in
+atature, and showed under her hood an old wrinkled
+face, with a pair of peering grey eyes; she had
+wrapped herself up in a thick wadded cloak of
+Nurberg cloth.  The other figure was tall and slender,
+and wore a tight-fitting capote of black velvet lined
+with ermine.  Leaning against the gunwale, she
+regarded with a gloomy air the fast receding waves
+left in the vessel's wake.  Her features could not be
+seen from the deck; but if one could have caught
+her countenance from the mirroring waves, it would
+have exhibited a classically beautiful pale face,
+illuminated by two black eyes, which surpassed in
+lustre the shining wave-mirrors themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Mary!" cried the old woman in strongly
+pronounced Low German, "when will this misery
+come to an end, that the saints have imposed upon
+us on account of our sins?  Tell me, my little lady,
+in what part of the world we are now?  It appears
+to me as if a whole year had passed since we sailed
+from Stralsund; for since we left the heretic's
+Stockholm I have not kept account of the days.  Every
+morning when I rise, I say seven <i>aves</i> and seven <i>pater
+nosters</i>, as the revered Father Hieronymus taught
+us, as a protection against witchcraft and evil.  One
+can never know; the world might end here, and we
+have now come far away from the rule of the true
+believing Church and Christian people.  This sea
+has no end.  Oh, this horrible sea!  I now praise
+the River Main, which flows so peacefully underneath
+our turret windows in Würzburg.  Say, lady, what
+if over there, on the horizon, the earth ends, and that
+we are sailing straight into purgatory?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tall slender girl did not seem to listen to her
+loquacious duenna.  Her dark brilliant eyes under
+the black eyelashes were resting pensively on the
+water, as if in the waves she could read an interpretation
+of the dream of her heart.  And when at times
+a long swell from former storms rolled forth under
+the smaller waves, and the ship gently careened, so
+that the gunwale dipped close to the water, and the
+image in the sea approached the girl on board, then
+a smile could be seen on her beautiful features, at
+once proud and melancholy, and her lips moved
+inaudibly, as if to confide her inmost thoughts to the
+waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is only the great and majestic in life that
+deserve to be loved."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she added, transported by this thought:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why should I not love a great man?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And she whispered these words with unbounded
+enthusiasm.  But instantly a shiver ran through her
+delicate frame, a bright flash shot from her dark eyes,
+and she said, almost trembling at the thought:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is only the great and majestic in life that
+deserve to be hated!  Why should I not hate&mdash;&mdash;?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She did not finish the sentence.  She bent her
+head towards the ground, the fire in her eyes
+disappeared, and in its place a tear was seen.  Two
+mighty opposing spirits fought with each other in
+this passionate soul.  One said to her "Love!" the
+other said to her "Hate!"  And her heart bled under
+this terrible struggle between the angel and the
+demon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is unnecessary to mention what the reader has
+already divined, that the slender girl on board the
+"Maria Eleonora" was no other than Lady Regina von
+Emmeritz, the beautiful fanatical girl who tried to
+convert King Gustaf Adolf to the Catholic faith at
+Frankfurt-on-the-Main.  The king who knew the
+human heart, considered with reason, that this religious
+enthusiast was capable of anything if left a prey
+to the Jesuit's influence.  It was, therefore, not from
+revenge, which was unknown to this great heart, but,
+on the contrary, from noble compassion for a young
+and richly endowed nature, that he had sent her away
+for a time to a far-off country, where the black monk's
+influence could not reach her.  The reader will
+remember that the king, on the night of the feast at
+Frankfurt, ordered the Lady Regina to be sent by
+Stralsund and Stockholm to the strict old lady Marta
+at Korsholm.  The noble king did not know that
+the dark power, from whom he was trying to save
+his beautiful prisoner, followed her even to the far-off
+coast of Finland.  Lady Regina had permission to
+choose one of her maids to accompany her; accordingly
+she selected the one in whom she had the
+greatest confidence; unfortunately this was not the
+bright and fair Ketchen&mdash;she had been sent back to
+her relations in Bavaria&mdash;but old Dorthe, who had
+been her nurse, and who was controlled by the Jesuit;
+for a long time this old woman had nourished the
+fanatical fire in the young girl's soul.  So the poor
+unprotected maiden was still given up to the dark
+powers that had warped her mind since childhood,
+and perverted her rich, sensitive heart with their
+terrible teachings.  And against this influence she
+could only place a single but mighty feeling: her
+admiration, her enthusiastic attachment to Gustaf
+Adolf, whom she loved and hated at the same
+time&mdash;whom she would have been able to kill, yet for
+whom she would herself have suffered death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shrewd Dorthe seemed to guess her mistress'
+thoughts; she leaned forward, and peering with her
+small eyes, said in the familiar tone which a
+subordinate in her position so easily assumes:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aye, aye....  Is that the way it stands; do they
+come up again, the sinful thoughts about the heretic
+king and all his followers?  Yes, yes, the devil is
+cunning; he knows what he is about.  When he
+wishes to catch a little frivolous girl of the usual
+kind, he puts before her eyes a young handsome
+cavalier, with long silken curls.  But when he wishes
+to entangle a poor forsaken girl, with great proud
+thoughts and noble aspirations, he brings forward a
+great king, who gains castles and battles; and little
+does the poor child care that the stately conqueror
+is a sworn enemy to her Church and faith, and is
+working for the ruin of both."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina turned her tearful and glistening eyes away
+from the sea, and looked for a moment with
+indescribable doubt at her old counsellor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say," said she, almost vehemently, "is it possible
+to be at once the greatest and the most hateful of
+human beings?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina looked again towards the sea.  The peaceful
+tranquility of the mornine lay over the glittering
+waters, and stilled the tempest within.  The young
+girl remained silent.  Dorthe continued:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By their fruits ye shall know them.  Just think,
+what evil has not the godless king done to our Church
+and us?  He has slain many thousands of our
+warriors; he has plundered our cloisters and castles;
+he has driven out our nuns and holy fathers from
+their godly habitations, and the devout pater,
+Hieronymus, has been frightfully abused by his people,
+the heretic Finns; ourselves he has sent away to
+the ends of the earth..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again Regina looked over at the islands and the
+inlets bathed in the mild morning effulgence.  While
+the dark demon whispered hatred in her ears, beaming
+nature seemed to preach only love.  On her lips
+hovered already the ravishing thought:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What matters it if he has slain thousands; if
+he has driven away monks and nuns; if he has
+forced us into exile!  What matters all this,
+if he is great as an individual, and acts according to
+the dictates of his faith!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But she kept silent from fear; she dared not break
+from all her preceding life.  She caught up, instead,
+one of Dorthe's words, as if to dispel the thunder-cloud
+of hatred and malice, which enveloped her
+heart in its dark mist, in the midst of this calm and
+lovely scene.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know, Dorthe," she said, "that the Finns
+whom you hate live on the coast of this sea?  Do you
+see that strip of land over there in the east?  It is
+Finland.  I have not yet seen its shores, and yet I
+cannot detest a country which is bathed by so glorious
+a sea.  I cannot think that evil people can grow up
+in the heart of such a land."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All saints protect us!" exclaimed the old woman,
+and her lenn hand hastily made the sign of the cross.
+"Is that Finland?  St. Patrick preserve us from ever
+setting foot upon its cursed soil; my dear lady, you
+have then never heard what is said of this land and
+its heathen people?  There prevails an eternal night;
+there the snow never melts; there the wild beasts
+and the still wilder men lie together in dens and
+caves.  The woods are so thick with hobgoblins and
+imps, that when one of them is called by name, a
+hundred monsters immediately come forth from the
+leaves and branches.  And among themselves, these
+people bewitch each other with all kinds of evils, so
+that when anyone carries food to another person, he
+changes his enemy into a wolf; and every word they
+speak takes life, so that when they wish to make a
+boat or an axe, they say it, and directly they have
+what they wish."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are drawing a fine picture," said Regina,
+smiling for the first time in a long period, for the
+freshness of the sea had a good influence on her
+dreamy soul.  "Happy is the land where the people
+can create all they wish for with a word.  If I am
+hungry, and desire a beautiful fruit, I have but to
+say, <i>peach</i>, and right away I have it.  If I feel thirsty,
+I say, <i>spring</i>, and instantly a spring gurgles at my
+feet.  If I have sorrow in my heart, I say, <i>hope</i>, and
+hope returns.  And if I long for a beloved friend, I
+mention his name, and he stands by my side.  A
+glorious land is Finland, were it such as you represent
+it to me.  Even if we lived with wild beasts in a
+cave under the eternal snows, we would look at each
+other and say, Fatherland, and at the same moment
+we would sit hand in hand on the banks of the Main,
+beneath the shadows of the lindens, where we often
+sat when I was a child, and the nightingales of our
+native land would sing to us as before."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorthe turned angrily away.  The vessel steered
+between the rocks and islands, and moved with gentle
+speed past the outermost cliffs, many of which now
+stand high above the surface of the water, but at
+that time these were washed by the briny waves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is the name of the long, richly wooded
+stretch of land to the left?" asked Regina of the
+helmsman standing near.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wolf's Island," answered the man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There you have it yourself, dear lady ... Wolf's
+Island!  That is the first name we hear on Finland's
+coast, and shows us what we have to expect."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The vessel now turned to the north, and sailed
+between Langskär and Sundomland, again veered
+towards the east, passed Brändö, went safely over
+the shoals, which now exclude large vessels from
+its waters, into Vasa's at that time superb harbour,
+and then saluted with sixteen cannon the castle of
+Korsholm.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0204"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br /><br />
+THE PEASANT&mdash;THE BURGHERS&mdash;AND THE SOLDIER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+When the rich Aron Bertila seated himself in his
+nice chaise to take a short journey to Vasa, it was
+decided, as a pledge of the restored good feeling
+between father and daughter, that Meri should take
+the seat by his side, and purchase in town some salt
+fish, hops, and certain spices, ginger and cinnamon,
+which already began to be seen in the houses of the
+wealthiest peasants.  Both father and daughter had
+their private interests in the journey; but neither
+would confess that it was news from Germany which
+each sought.  Larsson had charge in the meantime
+of the home work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was just when Gustaf Adolf and Wallenstein
+stood opposed at Nürnberg.  Soldiers were badly
+wanted, and Oxenstjerna wrote constantly from
+Saxony to hasten the arrival of additional reinforcements.
+The harvesting at its height, clashed with
+the harvesting of war, also at its greatest altitude.  A
+large number of conscripts were compelled to go down
+to Vasa from the neighbouring villages, then they
+were taken to Stockholm, and thence to the scene
+of war in Germany.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that epoch military drill was not nearly so
+complicated as it is now; to stand fairly in the ranks,
+rush straight at the enemy on command, to aim
+well&mdash;as the East Bothnians had learned beforehand in
+the seal-hunts&mdash;and to hew away manfully, these
+were the chief things.  Thus one can understand
+why many of these peasant boys, just taken from
+the plough, were able to fall with honour by the
+side of their king at Lützen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town of Vasa was then only twenty years old,
+and much smaller than now, not merely on account
+of its youth, but because all expansion was stopped
+on the south side by the crown fields of Korsholm.
+Around the old Mustasaari church, on the northern
+side of "Kopmans" and "Stora" streets, were a few
+rows of newly built one-storey houses, with six or
+eight small shops.  Near the harbour stood
+storehouses, and that neighbourhood was also filled with
+fishermen's and sailors' huts in groups, for regular
+streets were considered superfluous by the architects
+of that time, and the closer the houses stood together,
+the greater the mutual protection in stormy periods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A borough, like Vasa, held one common family,
+and the inhabitants looked with pride on the high
+green battlements of Korsholm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The long-credited story, confirmed by Messenius,
+that Korsholm was built by Birger Jarl, and received
+its name from a large wooden cross raised as a
+symbol, refuge, and sign of victory, was founded on
+the old tradition that the great "Jarl," on his
+expedition to Finland, landed on this very coast.  Later
+researches have thrown some doubt on this story of
+Korsholm's origin; but it is certain that the fortress
+is very old, so old that it is beyond calculation.  It
+has never been besieged; its situation renders it of
+no importance to Finland; and after Uleä and
+Kajana castles were built, shortly before the time
+of our story, it had ceased to be considered a military
+position.  It now served as the residence of the
+Governor of the Northern districts, to lodge other
+crown officials, and serve as a prison; and its
+so-called "dairy" yielded a nice income to the Governor.
+The Stadtholder of Northern Finland, Johan
+Mansson Ulfsparre of Tusenhult, lived only at
+intervals at Korsholm, and it is said that his seventy-year-old
+mother, Mistress Marta, ruled with a stern hand
+over both castle and dairy in his absence.  Between
+the peasants and burghers an unnatural and injurious
+rivalry prevailed at that time, owing to the efforts
+of the Government to suppress the country trade
+for the benefit of the towns, and in a very ignorant
+way to regulate the exchange of commodities.
+Therefore, when the rich old peasant with his daughter
+drove in through the country toll-gate on the Lillkyro
+side, a few of the citizens, it is true, nodded a
+greeting to the well-known old man for the sake of his
+wealth; but the proudest amongst the merchants,
+who feared his influence with the king, gazed on him
+with hostile eyes, and gave vent to their ill-feelings
+in sarcastic words, uttered loud enough to reach the
+old man's ears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here comes the peasant king of Storkyro!" they
+said, "and Vasa has no triumphal arch!  He
+considers himself too good to thrash in the barn; he
+means to enter the army and become commander at
+once.  Take care!  Do you not see how angry he
+looks, the log-house king?  If he had his way, he
+would plough up the whole town and make it into
+a rye-field!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hot-tempered Bertila concealed his resentment,
+and hurried up the horse, so as to arrive quickly
+at the widow's house, where he generally resided
+when in town.  He had not gone far, however, up
+Kopman Street, which was not one of the widest,
+before it was blocked by a crowd of drunken recruits,
+who, in an ale-house near by, had inaugurated their
+new comradeship and strengthened themselves for
+the long journey ahead.  Two sub-officers had joined
+the crowd as its self-appointed leaders, and rushed
+with a bold "out of the way, peasant!" towards the
+new-comer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila, already irritated and unable to control
+himself, answered the summons with a cut of the whip,
+which knocked off the foremost sub-officer's
+broad-brimmed hat with an eagle's feather.  At once the
+affray began.  The man struck rushed upon the
+chaise, and the whole crowd followed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aha, old fellow!" exclaimed the jovial serjeant,
+Bengt Kristerson, whom Bertila had so ignominiously
+expelled from his house, "now we have got you, and
+I will recompense you for your gracious treatment
+yesterday.  Make way, boys; the old fellow is mine;
+this fish I will scale myself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila was too old to rely upon the power of his
+fists, and he looked around for a place of refuge.
+Whip in hand, he leaped from the chaise, which had
+stopped close to the entrance of a shop, and gave
+the horse a lash, so that the latter, chaise and
+daughter, rushed through the yielding crowd and
+galloped up the street.  But before Bertila could find
+a refuge in the shop, the door was slammed in his
+face by the timorous owner.  The old champion, seeing
+escape cut off, placed his back to the door, and
+menaced the assailants with his long whip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us thrash the proud Storkyro peasant," cried
+a young Laihela boy, who, by carrying a musket for
+a week, had forgotten his peasant origin, but not his
+rustic language.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your father was a better man, Matts Hindrickson,"
+said Bertila contemptuously, "instead of assailing
+his own people, he helped us, like an honest peasant,
+to pommel Peder Gumse's cavalry in former days."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you hear that, boys?" cried one of the
+subalterns; "the dog boasts of thrashing brave
+soldiers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will not allow anyone to lord it over us!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The peasant shall dance to our tune!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And not we to his."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And five or six of the most excited, who had lately
+worn the jacket of the peasants themselves, rushed
+to drag Bertila down the steps.  The old man would
+have got the worst of it, had not the aforesaid jolly
+sergeant thrown himself between him and the
+assailants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold on, boys!" cried Bengt Kristerson in a
+stentorian voice.  "What the devil are you about?
+Are you honest soldiers?  Do you not see that the old
+man is seventy years old, and yet you go six to one at
+him!  Blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim (the sergeant
+had learned this potent oath in the proper school, and
+it never failed in its effect), is that warlike?  What
+would the king say about it?  Out of the way, boys;
+the old man is mine; I alone have the right to wash
+him clean.  You should have seen how he threw me
+down the steps yesterday like an old glove.  It was
+a fine stroke, and now it has to be repaid."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Courage and magnanimity seldom fail.  The
+nearest willingly gave way.  The sergeant advanced
+to the steps.  Bertila could reach him with his whip,
+but he did not strike.  He knew his people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know what it means, peasant," cried the
+sergeant with an authoritative air, which would have
+become General Stälhandske himself, "to throw a
+soldier of the great king down the steps?  Do you
+know what it means to knock off the hat of a
+defender of the evangelical faith, and a conqueror
+who has gained fourteen battles and run his sword
+through sixteen or seventeen living generals?  Do
+you know, peasant, if I were in your place&mdash;&mdash;?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If I stood in the place of a soldier of his Majesty,"
+coolly answered Bertila, "I would respect an honest
+man in his own house, and a grandsire's old age.
+And if I stood in the shoes of Bengt Kristerson, and
+had conquered the Roman Emperor, and run my
+sword through seventeen living commanders, still I
+would not forget that Bengt Kristerson's father,
+Krister Nilsson, was a Limingo peasant, and fell on
+Ilmola's ice like an honest fighter against Fleming's
+tyranny."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sergeant was abashed for a moment.  Then
+he stepped close up to his opponent, and said in a
+bragging manner:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know, peasant, that I could impale you
+on this?" and so saying, he drew his long sword
+half-way from its sheath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila looked calmly at him with folded arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Are you not afraid, old man?" resumed the hero
+of fourteen battles, evidently taken aback by the
+peasant's firm attitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did you ever see an honest Finn afraid?" said
+the old man, almost smiling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sergeant was not malicious.  He suddenly
+felt much inclined to be generous; his fierce mien
+changed into the blustering, jovial air which became
+him so well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know, boys," he said, with a look at his
+companions, "that the old ox has got both horns and
+hoofs?  He might have become something in the
+world if he had been in good society.  Yesterday,
+when they were fourteen to one&mdash;for you should
+know, boys, that all fourteen of the hands helped to
+lift me on the clodhopper's back, and then I gave
+everyone of them a remembrance of it&mdash;yes, as I say,
+yesterday I would have beaten the old fellow black
+and blue, had it not been for the presence of ladies
+at the table.  But to-day we are fifteen against one,
+and so I propose that we let the old fellow go."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He is as rich as Beelzebub," shouted some of the
+conscripts; "he shall treat us to a cask of ale."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila produced a little purse, and threw some
+Carl IX. silver coins contemptuously among the
+crowd.  This irritated the soldiers afresh; and again
+the storm threatened to burst forth, when suddenly
+cannon-shots were heard, and the whole crowd rushed
+down to the harbour.  It was the Swedish man-of-war,
+"Maria Eleonora," saluting Korsholm.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0205"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br /><br />
+LADY REGINA ARRIVES AT KORSHOLM.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+All who had life and sound limbs in Vasa had gone
+down to the shore, to see the uncommon sight of a
+man-of-war.  Five or six hundred people lined the
+shore&mdash;rowed out in boats, climbed the masts of the
+vessels, or got on the roofs of the warehouses to get
+a better view.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two hundred recruits regarded with mixed feelings
+the vessel which was perhaps destined to take
+them from their Fatherland for ever.  Behind them
+stood a large crowd of mothers, sisters, and
+sweethearts, crying bitterly at the thought of the
+approaching separation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Commissary-General, Ulfsparre, was away in
+Sweden.  The next authority, Steward Peder Thun,
+as well as the military commander, received the
+new-comers; the recruits formed in ranks, and the captain
+of the "Maria Eleonora" offered his arm courteously
+to Lady Regina, to escort her to Korsholm.  But at
+this moment the proud young girl felt that she was
+a prisoner; she declined the officer's arm, and walked
+alone with a royal bearing between the ranks of the
+recruits and the gaping crowd.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such a strange sight put the whole town in a great
+commotion.  In a moment the strangest rumours
+about her arose and spread.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is an Austrian princess," said some; "the
+Emperor's daughter, taken prisoner during the war,
+and sent here for safety."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Others pretended she was the Queen Maria
+Eleonora; but why did she come to Korsholm?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will tell you," said one, whispering with an
+important air to another.  "She is in league with her
+German countrymen against the king, and therefore
+she is to be confined in remote Korsholm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is not true," rejoined another, who had
+heard some vague stories of the conspiracies against
+the king's life.  "It is," added he in a low voice, as
+if fearing to be heard by the object of his remarks,
+"a nun from Walskland, hired by the Jesuits to
+make away with the king.  Six times she has given
+him deadly poison, and six times he has been warned
+in dreams not to drink.  When she offered him the
+draught for the seventh time, the king drew his
+sword and forced her to swallow her own poison."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then how can she be here alive?" said an old
+lady very innocently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Alive!" repeated the story-teller, without being
+put out in any degree; "oh, that is another matter.
+These creatures can dissemble to such an extent...
+Yes, indeed; do you remember the Hollanders last
+year, how they bolted molten lead?  I do not wish
+to say anything, but just look&mdash;the black-haired nun
+is as pale as death!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Has she given the king poison?" cried a trembling
+female voice close behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Meri, who with bated breath had listened
+to every word.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What rubbish!" said a sea-captain with a
+mysterious knowing air.  "When I was at Stralsund,
+last spring, I saw those eyes, which one cannot easily
+forget.  The girl was then taken to Stockholm, and
+one of the guards told me the entire story.  She is
+a Spanish witch, who has sold herself to the evil
+one, in order to be the most beautiful woman on
+earth for seven years.  Look at her: do you not see
+that the devil has kept his word?  Take care; in
+those eyes there is something that charms and
+bewitches.  When she became as beautiful as she is
+now, she entered the Swedish camp, and gave the
+king a love-potion, so that he could neither see or hear
+anyone else but herself for seven whole weeks.  His
+generals thought this a sin and shame, and the enemy
+pressed them sorely; so one night they took her
+secretly and sent her to spend the seven enchanted
+years at Korsholm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did the king love her?" asked Meri with emotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Of course he did," answered the blunt sea-captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did she also love the king?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is there more curious than a woman?  How
+the deuce do you expect me to know all about it?  The
+foul-fiend is wiser than other folks, that is certain.
+She gave the king a copper ring..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With seven circles inside each other, and three
+letters engraved on the plate..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What the devil do you know about that?  I
+have heard of the seven circles, but not of the plate."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri took a deep breath.  "He wears it still!"
+she said to herself with a great joy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri was superstitious, like all the people of that
+period.  She never doubted the existence of witches,
+enchantments, and love potions; but this strange
+dark girl, who loved the king and was beloved by
+him in return ... was she really guilty of the
+horrible things they said about her?  The poor
+forgotten one was seized with the most violent wish to
+approach this extraordinary being, who had been so
+near the great monarch.  Each moment was precious.
+In a few hours she must return to Storkyro.  She
+took heart and followed the stranger to Korsholm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old residence inside the ramparts, in spite of
+its fine outlook, was more sombre than magnificent.
+Frequent changes of Stadtholders, who only lived
+there a little while at a time, had given to the
+double-storied granite building, with its side wings for
+prisoners, a terribly deserted appearance.  It
+certainly more resembled a jail than a great governor's
+residence.  The dreariness was increased by its
+present inhabitants, stern Fru Marta, with her aged
+maid-servants, some invalid soldiers, and gruff jailors.
+Had Gustaf Adolf recollected the condition of the
+place, he would probably not have sent his young
+prisoner to such a depressing abode.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fru Marta expected her guest, who had been
+described to her as a dangerous and depraved young
+person, of superhuman cunning.  She had, therefore,
+prepared a little dark chamber within her own for
+Lady Regina and her attendant, and made up her
+mind to keep the closest watch on the wild young
+lady.  Fru Marta was a good, honest soul, but sharp
+and severe like a lady of the old school, who
+had brought up all her children with the rod.  It
+never entered her mind that a lonely, defenceless, and
+forsaken young girl, isolated in a strange land, needed
+a comforting, sympathetic hand and motherly kindness;
+Fru Marta felt that discipline ought to tame
+a spoilt child, and then milder treatment could be
+introduced.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Lady Regina, accustomed to the freedom
+of the sea, entered this gloomy dwelling, an involuntary
+shudder passed through her slight frame.  This
+feeling remained when she was received on the threshold
+by the old lady, in a close linen cap and a long
+dark woollen cloak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No doubt Lady Regina's inclination of the head
+was somewhat stiff, and her whole bearing somewhat
+reserved, when she greeted Fru Marta on the castle
+steps.  But Fru Marta was not intimidated by it.
+She took the young girl by both hands, shook them
+vigorously, and nodded a greeting, about half-way
+between a welcome and a menace.  Then she surveyed
+her guest from head to foot, and the result of
+the examination was muttered aloud:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Figure like a princess ... no harm; eyes black
+as a gipsy's ... no evil; skin as white as milk
+... no mischief; proud ... ah, ah, that is bad; we shall
+be two about that, my young friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina impatiently made a motion to proceed,
+but Fru Marta did not let go her hold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wait a bit, my dear," said the stern dame, as she
+endeavoured to recollect her ancient stock of German
+words; "it takes time to go a long way.  One who
+crosses my threshold must not be taller than the
+door-post.  Better to bend in youth than creep in old age.
+There ... that's the way for a young girl to greet
+one who is older and wiser..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And before Lady Regina knew it, the strong old
+lady had put her right hand on her neck, her left
+against her waist, and with a sudden pressure, forced
+her proud guest to bow as deeply as one could desire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina's pale cheeks were covered with a
+flush as red as the sunset sky before a storm.  More
+erect and prouder than before rose the girl's slender
+figure, and her dark eyes flashed fire.  She said
+nothing, but old Dorthe was determined to give Fru
+Marta a lesson in politeness on her mistress' behalf.
+She advanced with lively southern gesticulations, and
+screamed, beside herself with anger:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Miserable Finnish witch, how dare you treat a
+high-born lady in such a manner?  Do you know,
+vile jailor, whom you have the honour of receiving
+in your house?  You do not!  Then I will tell you.
+This is the exalted Lady Regina von Emmeritz, <i>née</i>
+Princess of Emmeritz, Hohenloe, and Saalfield,
+Countess of Wertheim and Bischoffshöhe, heiress of
+Dettelsbach and Kissingen, &amp;c.  Her father was the
+Prince of Emmeritz, who owned more castles than
+you, miserable wretch, have huts in your town.  Her
+mother was Princess Würtemberg, related to the
+Electoral House of Bavaria, and her still living uncle,
+the Right Reverend Bishop of Würzburg, is lord
+of Marienburg, and the town of Würzburg, with all
+the lands belonging to it.  You take advantage of us
+because your heretic king has taken our land and town,
+and made us prisoners; but the day will come when
+St. George and the Holy Virgin will descend and
+destroy you, you heathen; and if you harm a hair of
+our heads, this castle shall be levelled to the ground,
+and you, miserable witch, and your whole town,
+annihilated ..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is probable that old Dorthe's outpourings would
+not have come to an end for some time, had not Fru
+Marta made a sign to her servants, at which they
+carried off the old woman without any ceremony, and
+in spite of her strenuous resistance, to one of the
+small rooms on the lower floor, where she was left
+to herself to further reflect upon the high lineage
+of her young lady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Fru Marta took the astonished Regina, half
+by force, half voluntarily, by the arm, and led her to
+the allotted room near her own, with a view over
+the town.  Here the stern old lady left her for the
+present, yet not without adding the following
+admonitions at the door:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I can tell you, my young friend, to obey is better
+than to weep; the bird that sings too early in the
+morning is in the claws of the hawk before evening.
+Follow the laws of the country you are in.  It is now
+seven o'clock.  At eight supper is served, at nine you
+go to bed, and at four in the morning you get up, and
+if you don't know how to card and spin, I will give
+you some sewing, so that time shall not hang heavy
+on your hands.  Then we will talk together, and
+when your waiting woman learns to hold her tongue
+you may have her back again.  Good night; don't
+forget to say your prayers; a psalm Prayer Book
+lies on the dressing-table."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words Fru Marta shut the door, and
+Lady Regina was alone.  Solitary, imprisoned, in a
+foreign land, left to the mercy of a hard keeper
+... her thoughts were of the most depressing kind.  Lady
+Regina fell on her knees, and prayed to the saints,
+not from the heretic Prayer Book, but with the rosary
+of rubies which her uncle, the bishop, had formerly
+given her as sponsor.  What did she pray for?  Only
+Heaven and the black walls of Korsholm know that;
+but a sympathetic heart can imagine her petitions.
+She prayed for the saints' assistance; for the victory
+of her faith and the downfall of the heretics; she
+prayed also that the saints might convert King
+Gustaf Adolf to the only saving Church; that he,
+another Saul, might become another Paul.  Finally
+she prayed for freedom and protection ... the hours
+fled; her supper was brought in, and still she
+continued her supplications.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last Lady Regina arose and looked out of the
+little window.  There lay a landscape in the sunset
+glow; it was not Franconia, with its luxuriant
+vineyards; it was not the rushing Main; the town yonder
+was not rich Würzburg, with its rows of cloisters
+and high turret spires.  It was poor, pale Finland,
+with an arm of its sea; it was young little Vasa, with
+its church, Mustasaari, the oldest in East Bothnia;
+one could plainly see the reflection of the sun on the
+small Gothic windows, of stained glass belonging to
+Catholic times, and it seemed to Regina as if she saw
+the transfigured saints looking out from their former
+temple.  And at this moment, had not the eye of the
+setting sun itself such a beatific look, as it serenely
+gazed down upon the world's strife!  All was silent
+and still&mdash;the evening glow, the landscape's pretty
+verdure, the newly mown fields with their rows of
+sheaves, the small red houses with their shining
+windows&mdash;all conduced to devotion and peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly, Lady Regina heard in the distance a
+mild, plaintive song, simple and unaffected, as if
+proceeding from nature's own heart, on a lonely evening,
+with a setting sun on the shore of a silent sea, when
+all sweet memories awaken in a longing breast.  At
+first she did not listen, but it came nearer ... now
+it was obstructed by a cottage wall, now by a group
+of hanging birches; now it was heard again, high,
+clear, and free; and finally one could distinguish the
+words.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0206"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+</h3>
+
+<h3>
+THE LOVE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+When the lonely singer approached one could gradually
+understand the import of the song.  It was a
+gentle heart, which sang in uneven but impressive
+numbers, its longings and its sorrows on the shore
+in the glow of a beautiful August evening far off in
+the north country.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "The sun shines bright and clear<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O'er the waters far and near,<br />
+  And the moon wanders in the night<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Above in the heavenly sphere.<br />
+  But never again will the sun supreme<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shine down on the forgotten troth,<br />
+  And never again shall the gentle moon's beam<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Illumine the brave knight's holy oath.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "The only one I loved so dear<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lives far away in a palace fine,<br />
+  Surrounded by splendour he leaves me here<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alone with grief and sorrow mine.<br />
+  He is served by many, I have but one knight,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He has castles, towns, and land.<br />
+  I spread my pearls in the evening light<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And sing to the waves on the strand.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "The bird flies to the south so fair,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Far away to the castle grand,<br />
+  And sings on the tree a sorrowful air,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As I in my lonely land.<br />
+  The brave knight listens to the song,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;How strangely his heart doth beat,<br />
+  And before one knows the evening long<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hath gone like the joys that never repeat."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+The more Lady Regina listened to the simple
+strains, which to her were foreign and strange, and
+yet appealing through their deep melancholy, the
+more she was affected by this sorrow so like her
+own.  She wished to breathe the fresh evening air;
+the little window, however, long resisted her attempts
+to open it, but all Lady Marta's prudence could not
+prevent the hinges from being old and rusty, and at
+last they yielded to the young girl's persistent efforts.
+She had only been a guest in this castle for a few
+hours, and yet she inhaled the evening fragrance as
+a prisoner for long years finally breathes the air of
+his freedom.  Her heart expanded and her eyes
+regained their fire; her mind became filled with a
+dreamy ecstasy, and she sang softly, so as not to be
+heard by her custodian, but clearly and melodiously.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  REGINA'S SONG.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "Great as my sufferings are<br />
+  Still to thee I will repair.<br />
+  Holy Virgin, wilt thou bless<br />
+  What to thee I now confess,<br />
+  My soul's desire sincere<br />
+  To die without fear.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "Amongst the kings of the earth<br />
+  My loved one hath his birth,<br />
+  Far flash his dread strokes<br />
+  As the Almighty's lightnings rend the oaks.<br />
+  But victor and conqueror tho' he be<br />
+  Yet mild and merciful is he.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "I'll all forget, and firmly stand,<br />
+  If you give me the dread command<br />
+  To stop the hero's great career.<br />
+  O holy Virgin, bright and dear,<br />
+  God's mother, thou me hear,<br />
+  Spare the noble heart that knows no fear.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  "Make the heretic king his faults forswear,<br />
+  And that he will our glorious faith declare.<br />
+  Then my weary heart will gain its rest.<br />
+  O Mary, grant me this request,<br />
+  Spare his life, his throne,<br />
+  Let me with my death for his crime atone."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+The solitary figure which had sung the first song
+now slowly approached the castle walls; it was a
+woman of the people, with once beautiful features,
+now pale and expressing a winning and sympathetic
+heart.  She tried to listen to the strange girl's song,
+but could not succeed on account of the foreign
+language and suppressed tones.  She then seated
+herself on a stone a short distance from the castle, and
+fixed her mild gaze on the prisoner at the window.
+In her turn, Regina also fastened her dark penetrating
+eyes on the visitor.  One would think that they
+perfectly understood each other, for the language
+of songs needs no other lexicon than the heart.  Or
+did a presentiment tell them, the girl of seventeen
+and the woman of thirty-six, that their loves were
+concentrated on the same object, and that both sang
+their shipwrecked hopes on the lonely shore, but in
+an infinitely differing way?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up in the north the summer nights are clear until
+the beginning of August, then a light veil spreads
+itself over land and sea as soon as the sun goes
+down.  By the middle of August this veil has already
+become thicker, and casts a mild soft shade over the
+summer leaves and grass.  When the moon rises upon
+this world of vanishing green, then there is nothing
+more sadly beautiful to be found in all nature than
+one of these lovely evenings in August.  Then the
+eye accustomed to three months unbroken day,
+shrinks from the darkness and yet sees this darkness
+in its loveliest aspect, like a mild sorrow softened
+by a ray of heavenly glory.  This impression would
+return every year even if one lived for centuries;
+it is light and darkness which at the same moment
+are struggling in the world and in the human heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two lonely singers felt the power of this
+impression; they both sat fixed and mute, quietly
+regarding each other in the twilight; neither of them
+spoke, and yet they understood each other's inmost
+thoughts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the pale woman suddenly rose and turned
+her face towards the town.  She seemed to be listening
+to a noise which disturbed the holy peace of the
+evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina followed every movement of the
+stranger, and leaned out of the window so as to be
+able to see better.  All nature was calm and silent,
+only the strokes of oars were heard from the sea, or
+the melancholy prolonged note from some shepherd's
+horn.  This stillness increased by the first darkness
+of the autumn, had something solemn and inviting
+to worship about it, and made the noise which now
+came from the distant town still more singular.  It
+was not the surges of the sea, or the roar of the
+fors,* or the crackling of a fire in the wood.
+Although it resembled all these.  It was more like the
+murmur of an enraged populace, at once actuated by
+rage and want.  Directly afterwards the reflection
+of a fire was seen afar off in the northern portion of
+the town.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Fors, a stream peculiar to the north, like rapids.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+With the speed of the wind the lonely woman
+outside the wall hurried away in the direction of the
+sounds and light .... We will now precede her
+for a moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arrival of the man-of-war, which was destined
+to transport the conscripts, had placed the latter in
+a state of excitement much augmented by sorrow,
+pride, and ale.  With their under officers at their
+head, they had thronged around the ale-shops, and
+at this time, when the soldier was all important, one
+was often obliged to overlook his irregularities and
+keep him in a good humour.  The superior officers
+consequently pretended not to notice that 200 young
+men, with the combative temperament of East
+Bothnia, were in a state of intoxication more or less;
+and it is possible that this policy might have been
+the right one at the time, had not a special
+circumstance detrimental to peace brought their
+unrestrained passions into full play.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brave sergeant, Bengt Kristerson, did not neglect
+this opportunity to do himself every possible justice.
+Filled with a sense of his own great importance, he
+had jumped on a table and easily demonstrated
+to the crowd of conscripts: first, that he especially
+had conquered Germany; secondly, that long before
+this he would have driven the Emperor Ferdinand
+into the River Danube, had not the latter been in
+league with Satan and bewitched the whole Swedish
+army, and the king himself first of all; thirdly, that
+Bengt, on the night of the Frankfurt ball, was on
+guard outside the king's bed-chamber, and there he
+had plainly seen Beelzebub in the form of a young
+girl, who then made a terrible commotion; fourthly&mdash;this
+thought naturally struck him during his
+inspired address&mdash;that the weal or woe of the country,
+yes, of the whole world, depended upon the witch,
+who was a prisoner at Korsholm...
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will see that the black-haired witch will bring
+the plague to the town," observed thoughtfully a
+Malax peasant, with very fair hair and shabby appearance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The wolf-cub!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king's murderess!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall we allow her to sit in peace and destroy
+both king and country with her witch-shots?" cried
+a drunken clerk of assizes, who had just joined the
+company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us duck her in the sea!" shrieked a Nerpes
+peasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us club her on the spot!" yelled a Lappo
+cottager, with an eagle nose and dark bushy eyebrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And if they do not give her into our hands, we
+will set fire to Korsholm and burn the owl and the
+nest at the same time," said a ferocious Laihela
+peasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Better that, than to have the kingdom ruined,"
+remarked a grave-looking seal-hunter from Replot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here, take brands!" shouted a Worä peasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To Korsholm!" cried the whole crowd. And
+stimulated as usual by their own clamour, they rushed
+to the big open fire-place in the large room, and
+pulled out all the brands from it.  But, unfortunately,
+there was a lot of hemp hanging in bundles on the
+wall in the room.  One of the conscripts in the
+scramble swung his brand too high, and the hemp
+caught fire; the strong draught from the open door
+fanned the flame, and in a few minutes the ale-house
+was in full blaze.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All inside rushed out, and no one had time to
+realise how it happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is a witch-shot!" cried some of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The witch at Korsholm will have to pay for all
+this!" shouted the others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the whole raging mass rushed off at full speed
+towards the old castle.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0207"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br /><br />
+THE SIEGE OF KORSHOLM.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+As soon as Meri&mdash;for she was the lonely
+singer&mdash;understood the wild crowd's intention, she flew back
+to Korsholm.  By the silver rays of the moonlight,
+which shone over the landscape, she plainly
+distinguished Regina's dark locks, which, blacker
+than the night, stood in relief from the room
+in the background, like a shadow in the midst of
+the shade.  Under these locks shone two eyes,
+dreamy, deep, like the glimmer of the stars in the
+dusky mirror of a lake.  The words died on Meri's
+lips; all the strange rumours rose like spectres in
+her mind.  She who sat up there alone at the window,
+was she not, after all, a southern witch, weeping
+over her fate in being compelled to spend the seven
+years of her wondrous beauty within these walls, and
+then reassume her normal shape; a terrible monster,
+half-woman and half-serpent?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri stood as if petrified at the foot of the wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But nearer and nearer was heard the murmur of
+the wild crowd, and the light of the torches began to
+be reflected on the castle.  Then the superstitious
+countrywoman gathered courage, and raised her voice
+to the window.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fly, your grace," she said rapidly in Swedish;
+"fly, a great danger threatens you; the soldiers are
+intoxicated and frantic; they say that you have tried
+to kill the king, and they demand your life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina saw the pale form in the moonlight, and
+before her imagination rose all the stories she had
+heard about this land of witchcraft.  During her ten
+months' stay in Sweden she had in some degree
+learned to understand the language; she did not
+immediately comprehend the other's meaning, but a
+single word sufficed to attract all her attention.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king?" she repeated in broken Swedish.
+"Who are you, and what can you tell me about the
+great Gustaf Adolf?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lose not a moment, your grace," continued Meri,
+ignoring Regina's question.  "They are already at
+the gates, and Fru Marta, with six soldiers, will not
+be able to protect you against two hundred.  Quick! don't
+come out by the door, but tie together sheets
+and shawls, and let yourself down through the
+window; I will receive you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina saw that a danger threatened, but far from
+being terrified by it, she heard it with a secret joy.
+Was she not a martyr to her faith, transported to this
+wild land for her zeal in trying to convert the
+mightiest enemy of her Church?  Perhaps the moment
+was at hand when the saints would grant her a
+martyr's-crown, richly earned by her devotion.  Was
+it not the tempter himself, who in this pale woman's
+form, tried to lure her from an imperishable glory?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Regina answered:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Satan saith unto Him: 'Cast Thyself down:
+for it is written, He shall give His angels charge
+concerning Thee, that they may preserve Thee, so that
+no harm may befall Thee...'"*
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Compare Matthew iv. 6, where the Lutheran text differs from the
+Catholic.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+At these words the moon appeared round a corner
+of the wall and threw its pale beams on the beautiful
+girl's face.  Her cheeks glowed, and her eyes burned
+with an ecstatic fire.  Meri looked at her with wonder
+and dread ... and again it seemed to her that it
+was not well with a being, who possessed such a
+singular appearance, and uttered such strange sounds
+from her lips.  An overwhelming fear seized her, and
+she fled, without knowing why, back to the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime Regina heard the murmur from
+the castle yard up in her chamber.  The drunken
+horde had been checked by a stout gate, and stood
+clamouring outside, threatening to burn down the
+fortress, unless the witch was immediately given up
+to them.  But Fru Marta, just awakened from a sound
+sleep, was not one easily scared.  She had been in
+more than one siege in her younger days, and understood
+like a wise commander, that a fortress does not
+fall at big words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One who gains time, gains all," she thought, and
+therefore began to negotiate about the capitulation,
+wishing to know what the besiegers especially wanted,
+and why they wanted it.  In the meantime six old
+muskets were hunted up, with which the defenders
+were armed; the soldiers were also provided with
+clubs and pikes; the servant girls themselves received
+orders to take the poles, with which more than one
+of Fleming's horsemen received their doom during
+the Club or Peasants' War.  Thus prepared, Fru
+Marta thought that she could safely break off all
+negotiations; she therefore advanced to the inside
+of the gate, and began a tirade which meant action
+and no play.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ye crazy boors!" shrieked the brave dame with
+more energy than courtesy, "may the devil take you
+all, drunken ale-bibbers!  Be off this instant, or, as
+sure as my name is Marta Ulfsparre, you shall have
+a taste of 'Master Hans' on the back, you villains,
+sots, shameless knaves, and night loafers!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Master Hans" was a good-sized braided rattan,
+which seldom left Fru Marta's hand, and for which
+all the inmates of the castle entertained a profound
+respect.  But whether the noisy crowd did not know
+of "Master Hans'" fine qualities, or whether Fru
+Marta's words were only imperfectly heard in the
+uproar, the mob continued to press on with loud
+cries, and the strong gate shook on its hinges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Out with the witch!" shouted the most excited,
+and some threw lighted brands against the gate,
+hoping to set it on fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fru Marta had on the ramparts two old cannon
+from Gustaf I.'s time, called "the hawk" and "the
+dove."  Their functions were to respond to the salutes
+of vessels arriving in the harbour, and to roar forth
+the delight of the people on royal christening days
+and nuptials.  It is true that the ramparts lay
+outside the high fence with its iron spikes, which
+constituted the only fortification of the castle, and were
+thus easily accessible to the besiegers.  But Fru
+Marta thought correctly, that a cannonade from the
+ramparts would frighten the enemy, and serve as a
+signal of distress, to summon assistance from the
+man-of-war and the town.  She therefore ordered
+two of her soldiers to steal out under cover of the
+night, load "the hawk" and "the dove," and directly
+after the blank charges were fired, to return quickly
+to the castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The effect was instantaneous.  The uproar ceased
+at once, and Fru Marta did not let the opportunity
+slip from her grasp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you hear, you pack of thieves?" she screamed,
+mounted on a ladder, so that her white night-cap was
+seen in the moonlight just above the gate, "if you
+don't take yourselves off this minute from his
+Majesty's castle, I will make my cannon shatter you
+into fragments, like cabbage stalks, you noisy, drunken
+swine!  Angry dogs get torn skins; and the chicken
+who sticks his neck in the jaws of the fox will have
+to look around to see where his head is.  I will cut
+you to pieces, you rowdy set," continued Fru Marta,
+getting more and more excited.  "I will let them
+make mince-meat of you, and throw you to the&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unhappily the brave commander was not allowed
+to finish her heroic speech.  One of the crowd had
+found a rotten turnip on the ground, and hurled it
+with such good aim at the white night-cap, which
+shone in the moonlight, that Fru Marta, struck right
+on the brow, was obliged to retreat, and for the first
+time in her life had her tongue silenced.  A huge
+laugh now spread through the crowd, and with it
+Fru Marta's supremacy was at an end.  The enemy
+battered still more arrogantly against the gate, the
+hinges bent, the boards gave way, and finally half
+of the gate fell in with a great crash, and the whole
+crowd rushed into the courtyard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now one would say that Fru Marta would have to
+surrender.  But no, she quickly withdrew with all
+her force to the interior of the castle, barred the
+entrance, and placed her musketeers at the windows,
+threatening to shoot down the first comers.  Such
+determined courage ought to have succeeded, but
+the infuriated mob neither heard or saw.  One of
+the front men, who had found a crowbar, began
+to batter the door...
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then confusion and outcries arose in the rear of
+the crowd ... those in the middle turned round and
+saw through the broken gate, as far as one could
+discern in the moonlight, the whole way filled with
+heads and muskets.  It was as if an army had sprung
+from the earth in order to annihilate the besiegers.
+Could it be the shades of all the dead champions of
+Korsholm, who had risen from their graves to avenge
+the violence offered against their old fortress?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to explain the unexpected sight which
+now alarmed the crowd, one must remember that a
+large portion of the country people from the adjacent
+hamlets had flocked to the town to witness the
+departure of the recruits.  It should also be mentioned
+that the peasant king had remained all night in Vasa,
+probably in the secret expectation of hearing some
+news about Bertel from the crew of the "Maria
+Eleonora."  The burning of the ale-house and the
+march of the intoxicated crowd towards Korsholm had
+set all Vasa in commotion, and when Meri arrived in
+breathless haste, imploring her father to rescue the
+imprisoned lady, she found everywhere willing ears.
+The East Bothnian is soon ready for battle, and
+when the peasants learned the insults put upon old
+Bertila, their best man, the ancient animosity arose
+within them against the soldiers.  They forgot that
+many of their own sons and brothers were conscripts;
+they could not neglect such a fine chance to give the
+soldiers a thrashing, both in the name of humanity
+and loyalty to the crown.  They marched therefore,
+with Bertila at their head, about a hundred strong, to
+the rescue of the castle, and what in the moonlight
+appeared to be pikes and muskets, were mostly poles
+and rails, which had been hastily snatched up, the
+usual weapons employed in the battles of that region.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the soldiers saw that they were attacked
+in the rear, they tried to conceal their alarm with loud
+shouts and cries.  Uncertain of the enemy's strength,
+some of them already wished to beat a dangerous
+retreat over the spiked fence; others imagined that
+they had to deal with an army of goblins, called up
+by the incantations of the foreign witch.  They were
+soon aroused from this delusion, however, by hearing
+the sounds of Malax Swedish, and Lillkyro Finnish,
+which could reasonably be thought to come from
+human and not spectral lips.  At the moment the
+outer enemy blocked the gate with his forces, a silence
+arose on both sides, during which one could hear
+two voices speaking, together: one from the castle
+window, and the other from the ramparts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What did I tell you?" shrieked Fru Marta from
+the window; "didn't I tell you, drunkards and
+vagabonds, that you ought to think seven times before
+putting your noses between the wedges of the tree,
+and if the tail has once got into the fox-trap, there
+is nothing left but to bite it off.  A large mouth
+needs a broad back, and now hold yourself in
+readiness to pay the fiddler."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this outburst Fru Marta drew back; possibly
+from fear of another rotten turnip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other voice was that of an old man, who, in
+powerful tones, cried to the soldiers:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lay down your arms, and give up your leaders,
+then the rest may go in peace.  If not, there will be
+a dance, the like of which Korsholm has never seen,
+and we will see to it that the bows are well rosined."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May all the demons seize you, rascal peasant!"
+answered a voice from the courtyard, which clearly
+belonged to the jovial sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.
+"If I had you down here I would, blitz-donner-kreutz-Pappenheim,
+teach you to insult brave soldiers
+with offers of surrender.  Go ahead, boys; clear the
+gateway, and drive the crew back to their porridge
+kettles!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately none of the conscripts had muskets,
+which had not yet been distributed, and very few
+possessed swords.  Most of them had only
+extinguished brands, fragments of broken carriages, and
+faggots snatched from a wood-pile in the yard.  Thus
+armed, the warriors bore down upon the entrance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the first onset the recruits were received with
+such vigorous blows, that numbers had broken heads.
+Soon the press at the gate became so dense that no
+arm could be raised or blow dealt; those in front
+struggled furiously to extricate themselves, whilst the
+rest closed upon them and rendered all movement
+impossible.  Strong arms and broad shoulders
+exerted themselves fruitlessly to make a way through
+the crowd.  At last the pressure from within became
+so great, that the first ranks of the peasants were
+broken, and about half of the soldiers cleared a way
+towards the open plain outside the ramparts, whilst
+the remainder were again penned up in the courtyard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A regular battle began.  Poles, sticks, whips, and
+fists were used.  Many a vigorous blow was delivered,
+which would have been much better bestowed on
+Isolani's Croats; many a fine exploit was performed,
+more in place on the German battlefields.  The soldiers
+were split in two parties by the gate, and although
+the most numerous, soon had the worst of it.  The
+youngest recruits took to flight, and ran towards the
+town; some were overpowered and badly beaten;
+others, including the old veterans, retired to the
+ramparts, and with backs to the wall defended
+themselves valiantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Victory now seemed on the side of the peasants,
+when their opponents received new assistance.  The
+peasants at the gate, who on account of the struggle
+outside, forgot the enemy within, were surprised by
+the penned-up soldiers, who now rushed out to help
+their comrades.  The latter thus relieved, fell upon
+the peasants with redoubled ardour; the affray
+became more and more involved, and victory more
+and more uncertain; both parties had defeats to
+avenge, and the rage on both sides increased as their
+strength became equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Over this scene of tumult, confusion, and wild
+conflict, the silvery August moon beamed like a heavenly
+eye.  All the inlets shone in the moonlight; and in
+the tree-tops and the moist grass glittered millions
+of dewdrops, like pearls on summer's green robe.  All
+nature seemed at peace; a gentle breeze from the
+west rippled the surface of the sea, and passed softly
+over the land; the monotonous roll of the surf upon
+the beach was heard in the distance, and the twinkling,
+silent stars looked down into the dark waters.
+When the yard was empty, Fru Marta and her men
+ventured out again to behold the strife from the
+ramparts.  The courageous old lady undoubtedly
+wished to join in some way in the contest, for she
+cried to the peasants in a loud voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That's right, boys, go ahead; let the sticks fly;
+many have danced to worse tunes!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to the soldiers she screamed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good luck to you, my children; help yourselves
+to a little supper; Korsholm offers what it can give.
+Be at ease; your witch is in good keeping; Korsholm
+has bolts and bars for you too, miscreants!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as if a capricious destiny wished to convict
+the old lady of error and put her to the blush, a tall,
+dark female figure now appeared on the top of the
+ramparts, and was outlined against the clear night sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fru Marta's words froze on her lips from dismay,
+when she recognised the figure of her well-guarded
+prisoner.  How Lady Regina had got through locked
+doors and closed windows was an inexplicable
+problem, and for a moment she was infected by the
+common belief in the strange girl's alliance with the
+powers of darkness.  She renounced all idea of
+arresting the fugitive, and expected each moment to see
+large black wings grow out of her shoulders, that she
+might take flight like a monstrous raven, and soar
+aloft to the starry heavens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reader, however, can easily discover a natural
+solution of the difficulty.  The din of the conflict
+and the cannon-shots had reached Regina's isolated
+chamber.  Every moment she expected her room to be
+invaded, and herself seized by executioners and
+dragged to a certain death; and so glorious did this
+martyrdom seem to her, that her impatience increased
+to the highest point.  Then an hour passed, and whilst
+the noise below continued, no footsteps approached
+her door.  At last the thought took possession of her
+fanatical soul that the Prince of Darkness envied her
+so grand a fate, and that the strife was fomented by
+him to ensure her a languishing life in captivity,
+without profit to herself or the Holy Faith.  Then she
+remembered the advice of the singing woman, to let
+herself down through the open window by means of
+sheets and shawls; she took a sudden resolve, and
+in a few minutes stood on the ramparts in full view
+of all the combatants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as the latter saw the tall form in the
+moonlight, they were seized with the same
+superstitious dread which had just paralyzed Fru Marta's
+nimble tongue.  The conflict gradually subsided in
+the vicinity, and continued only at the most remote
+points; friend and foe were affected by a common
+horror, and near the ramparts rose a silence so
+profound, that one could hear in the distance the sea's
+low murmur on the pebbly beach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina then spoke with a voice so strong
+and clear, that if her terribly imperfect Swedish had
+not stood in the way, she would have been understood
+by all those within hearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ye children of Belial," she said in tones, trembling
+at first, but soon calm and composed, "ye people
+of the heretic faith, why do ye delay to take my
+life?  I am defenceless, without human protection,
+with the high heavens above me, and the earth and
+sea at my feet, and say to you: Your Luther was a
+false prophet; there is no salvation except in the
+orthodox Catholic Church.  Be converted, therefore,
+to the Holy Virgin and all the saints, acknowledge
+the Pope to be Christ's vicegerent, as he truly is,
+that you may avert St. George's sword from your
+heads, which is already raised to destroy you.  But
+you can kill me in order to seal the veracity of my
+faith; here I stand; why do you hesitate?  I am
+ready to die for my faith."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Lady Regina's good fortune that her speech
+was not understood by the crowd, for so strong was
+the power of Lutheranism at this fanatical time, when
+nations and individuals sacrificed life and welfare for
+their creed, that all were filled with flaming zeal, and a
+blind hatred for the Pope and his followers&mdash;of which
+our crabbed but pithy old psalm-books bear witness
+to-day.  Had this crowd, whether peasants or soldiers,
+heard Regina extol the Pope, and declare Luther a
+false prophet, they would have certainly torn her to
+pieces in their rage.  As it was, the young girl's
+meaning escaped them; they saw her bold bearing,
+and the respect which courage and misfortune
+together always inspire, did not fail to have its effect
+upon them; they now stood wavering, and at a loss
+what to think or do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina again expected, in vain, to be dragged
+to death.  She descended from the rampart, and
+mingled with the irresolute crowd; they all saw that
+she was quite unprotected, and yet not a hand was
+put forth to seize her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is not honest flesh and blood; she is a
+shadow," said an old Worä peasant doubtingly.  "It
+seems to me that I see the moon shine right through
+her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will soon prove that," exclaimed a rough
+fellow from Ilmola, laying his coarse hand rather
+heavily on Regina's shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a critical moment; the young girl turned
+round and looked her molester right in the face
+with such deep, shining eyes, that the latter seized
+with a strange feeling, immediately drew back, and
+stole away abashed.  Some of the nearest bystanders
+followed him.  None could understand the power of
+these dark eyes in the moonlight, but all felt their
+wondrous influence.  In a few moments the space
+near Regina was empty, and the strife had ceased.
+A patrol, who now arrived, arrested the ringleaders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long, however, did the rivalry engendered by
+the Club War continue between the peasants and
+the soldiers; between the peaceful <i>plough</i>, Finland's
+pride, and the conquering sword, which at this time
+was drawn to subdue the Roman Emperor himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Regina we need only say that she willingly
+allowed herself, yet with a sigh over the martyr's-crown
+she had missed, to be taken back to the dark,
+solitary prison-chamber.  But Bertila returned with
+his daughter to Storkyro; the old man with thoughts
+of coming greatness, the young woman with the
+memory of a past joy.  All this occurred during two
+days in the summer of 1632, thus, before King Gustaf
+Adolf's death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Days and months elapsed, and human destinies
+changed their forms, so that the swift word is obliged
+to check its flight, and remain silent awhile in
+expectation of the evenings which are to come.  For
+the surgeon's stories, like a child's joy or sorrow,
+lasted but a brief time&mdash;long enough for those who
+with friendship listened to them, and perhaps
+sufficiently long for the others.  But never was the
+thread of the story clipped in the middle of its course
+without both young and old anticipating more.  And
+the surgeon had to promise this.  He had so much
+still left to relate about the half-spun skein of two
+family histories, that next time it will probably be
+spun; longer&mdash;if not to the end, at least to the knot,
+which says that the skein has reached its right length.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0300"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+III.&mdash;FIRE AND WATER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Six weeks passed before the surgeon and his circle
+of listeners gathered again.  During that time an
+accident had happened to old Bäck.  Most of us in
+this world possess hobbies, and old bachelors in
+particular.  Bäck had got it into his mind that he ought
+to have a certain comfort in his old age; he had in
+his garret a good-sized sack of feathers, which he
+increased in spring and autumn by bird-shooting.  To
+what use these feathers were to be put no one knew;
+when he was asked about it, he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will do like Possen at the 'Wiborg explosion';
+if Finland is in need, I will go up some tower and
+shake my feathers into the air, then there will be as
+many soldiers as the sack has feathers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You talk like a goose, my brother," replied
+Captain Svanholm, the postmaster.  "In our days one
+must have different stuff to make soldiers of.  By
+my soul, I think you consider us warriors like
+chickens!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," added the surgeon, when the captain was
+about to continue, "I know what you wish to say:
+exactly like Fieandt at Karstula."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, the fact was, that the surgeon had one
+fine April day gone to the sea-shore on a shooting
+expedition, with artificial decoy ducks.  He was
+accompanied by an old one-eyed corporal called Ritsi
+(Finnish for Fritz), who had been a pedlar in
+his youth, and wandered over Germany with a pack
+on his back; but he brought home nothing except
+a change in his name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ice still remained in patches, with gaps
+between; both the old men strolled along the edge,
+and discharged a shot every now and then; but it
+amounted to very little, as both of them had rather
+poor eyesight.  It happened early one morning that
+Bäck thought he saw a pair of fine ducks at the
+further end of the ice, which could only be reached
+by making a long circuit.  He set off, and sure enough
+the ducks were there.  He crept as near as he dared,
+aimed, and fired ... the ducks' feathers were slightly
+agitated, but they did not stir from the spot.  "Those
+creatures are pretty tough," thought Bäck; he
+reloaded, and fired again at thirty paces.  The same
+result followed.  Much astonished, Bäck went nearer,
+and discovered for the first time that he had been
+shooting at his own decoy ducks, which the wind
+had imperceptibly driven from the inner to the outer
+edge of the ice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old gentleman now thought about returning;
+but this was easier said than done.  The wind had
+separated the ice on which <i>he</i> stood, from the ice
+which held Ritsi, and the loose block was drifting
+out to sea.  The two old friends looked sadly at
+each other; scarcely a dozen yards separated them,
+and yet the corporal could not assist his companion,
+for there was no boat.  Bäck was drifting slowly
+and steadily out to sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good-bye, now, comrade," cried the surgeon,
+whilst still within hearing.  "Tell Svenonius and
+Svanholm that my will is locked up in the bureau-drawer
+to the right.  Tell them to have the bells
+rung for me next Sunday.  As for the funeral, you
+need not give yourself any trouble; I will attend to
+that myself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God have mercy!" yelled the corporal, putting
+the wrong side of his jacket to his eyes, and returning
+to the shore slowly and tranquilly, as if nothing
+had happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the honour of the good town, it must be said,
+that the rest of the surgeon's friends were far from
+taking the matter like the corporal.  The postmaster
+cursed and swore; the schoolmaster marched out at
+the head of his boys; and the old grandmother quietly
+sent off a couple of able-bodied pilots in their boats
+to cruise between the blocks of ice.  The greatest
+excitement prevailed; confusion and running about
+everywhere; and those who made the most fuss
+accomplished the least.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two days passed without any trace of the
+surgeon; on the third the pilots came back from a
+fruitless search.  All gave the surgeon up for lost.
+There was sincere mourning in the town for such
+an old institution as Bäck&mdash;everyone's friend, and
+everybody's confidant&mdash;he was one of the little town's
+house-spirits, without whom the community could
+not get on.  But what could be done?  When the
+third Sunday arrived, without any news of the
+unfortunate bird-hunter, the bells were rung for his
+soul, according to custom, and a fine eulogy composed
+by Svenonius, was read in the church, and the city
+magistrate appointed a day in the ensuing week for
+taking an inventory of his effects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hope, however, that the reader, who has noticed
+the title of this veracious story, will not be alarmed.
+In reality it would be very hard if the surgeon should
+be called away just now, when Regina sits imprisoned
+at Korsholm, under Fru Marta's stern control, and
+Bertel lies bleeding on the battlefield of Lützen.  And
+what would become of the gentle Meri, of the peasant
+king of Storkyro, and of so many other important
+personages in this narrative?  Patience! the surgeon
+had certainly gone through worse experiences in his
+day ... he had not been born for nothing on the
+same day as Napoleon!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything was arranged to take the inventory.
+Astonishing order prevailed in Bäck's garret;
+something unusual had happened there; the place was
+swept and cleaned.  All his things were set out:
+medicine chest dusted, stuffed birds placed in a row,
+the collection of eggs exposed to view.  The
+silver-headed Spanish cane stood in a corner; the old
+peruke hung with a melancholy look on its hook;
+the innermost mysteries of Bäck's bureau, the pale
+locks of hair from former days, were drawn forth to
+be valued in roubles and kopeks; probably not at
+high amounts.  An alderman, with an official air, had
+taken his place at the old oak table, where a large
+sheet of official paper now occupied the space usually
+reserved for the surgeon's carpenter's tools; a clerk
+was sharpening his pencil opposite the alderman, and
+the old grandmother as hostess, had presented herself
+with moist eyes to deliver up Bäck's property, as the
+old man had no relations.  One thing, however, was
+still unopened: it was the old seal-skin trunk under
+the surgeon's bed.  The official's eyes occasionally
+wandered there with a pious thought of the profit
+to be derived from the inheritance; but no one knew
+what the trunk contained, and who was the rightful
+and legal heir.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was time to begin.  Svanholm and Svenonius
+were called as appraisers.  The alderman coughed
+once or twice, assumed a judicial air, and then said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the
+worthy magistrate that the deceased surgeon of the
+High Crown, Andreas Bäck, met his death on the
+ice whilst engaged in bird-shooting; and although
+not found in body, is in soul, rightfully and lawfully
+killed..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would most humbly beg to contradict that!"
+suddenly interrupted a voice from the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The effect was truly marvellous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The magistrate lost both his wits and official
+bearing; he turned his eyes upwards, and his eloquent
+tongue for the first time refused its office.  The
+secretary sprang up like a rocket, and knocked over
+the learned Svenonius, who, being somewhat deaf,
+had not heard the cause of the sudden commotion.
+The brave Svanholm was in a terrible plight; one
+could have sworn that not even at Karstula had he
+gone through such an ordeal.  He looked as white
+as a ghost, and tried in vain to compel his left foot
+to advance.  The old grandmother was the only one
+who showed self-possession; she put on her
+spectacles, went straight to the new-comer, and shook
+her ancient head dubiously, as if to say that it was
+very wrong of corpses to come to life again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But old Bäck&mdash;for who else could it be?&mdash;was not
+at all daunted.  His feelings had quite a different
+character.  When he beheld his dear old garret so
+altered, his precious effects on show, and the
+magistrate in full activity with what Bäck thought none
+of his business, he was seized, excusably enough, with
+righteous anger, and took the myrmidons of the law
+by the neck, one after the other, and threw them
+without ceremony from the room.  Then came the
+turn of brother Svenonius, who was not spared, and
+finally Svanholm, before he could utter a word, found
+himself rolling headlong down the stairs.  All this
+happened in the twinkling of an eye.  Only the
+grandmother remained.  When Bäck met her mild,
+reproachful glance, he was ashamed, and came to
+his senses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, well," said he, "you must not take it ill,
+cousin; I shall teach brooms and dusters to disorder
+my room ... be so kind as to take a seat.  It would
+provoke a stone to see such actions.  See how these
+wretches have scrubbed my room and dusted my
+birds.  It is a positive crime!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear cousin," said the grandmother, at once
+vexed and delighted, "I am the one to be blamed;
+we thought you must be drowned."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Drowned, indeed!" muttered the surgeon.  "I
+tell you, cousin, that poor powder isn't so easily got
+rid of.  It is true that I floated around on that
+miserable ice-floe for three whole days and nights.
+It wasn't exactly a warm bed and spread table, but
+it served.  I shot a venturesome seal.  It was pretty
+oily, I assure you, but 'better that than nothing.'  I
+had a tinder-box and salt, too; so I made a fire of
+my game bag, and fried a steak.  On the fourth day
+I drifted to firm ice at West Bothnia, and marched
+ashore.  'Now it's time to go home,' I thought.
+Said and done; I sold my gun and hired a team.
+And I tell you what, cousin, they would have been
+spared from upsetting my room, and sticking their
+noses into my affairs, had not the Swedes quadrupled
+the rate, compared with old times.  My purse was
+empty before I came to Haparanda.  Then I thought,
+'let the Medical College go to the dogs!' and began
+my old practice with the lancet and 'essentia dulcis,'
+as I went along; and all the old women&mdash;God bless
+you, I thought you were going to sneeze&mdash;and all the
+old women were amazed to see former times revived.
+In this manner I was able to reach home&mdash;a little
+too late, but still in time to throw out my uninvited
+guests."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The surgeon had great difficulty in pardoning his
+friends for their invasion of his peaceful kingdom.
+Had they taken his treasures, or slandered his good
+name, he could have forgiven them, but to put his
+room in order was more than he could stand!  Little
+by little, however, the storm was allayed through
+the old grandmother's wise diplomacy; and so the
+day came when the reconciliation was celebrated with
+a third tale.  It is true that some plain people still
+looked upon the surgeon as a ghost; the magistrate
+doubted his right to live when he had been legally
+declared dead; the postmaster swore over his sore
+back, which still bore the marks of the meeting with
+brother Bäck; Svenonius sighed over a hole in his
+twenty-year-old black coat, which he had worn in
+honour of the solemn occasion.  But the old
+grandmother smiled as usual; Anne Sophie was friendly
+as ever; the little folks were as noisy; and&mdash;thus
+it happened that the sunshine scattered the morning
+mists, and the horizon was cleared for the captive
+Regina.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+* * * * *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My dear friends," began the surgeon, "it may
+puzzle you why I call this story 'Fire and
+Water.'  You understand <i>The King's Ring</i>, and how <i>The
+Sword and the Plough</i> came into conflict.  Perhaps
+you think that I shall now treat you to natural
+history.  That would be well and good.  But I entertain
+the opinion that in a story, humanity is the great
+thing.  If we look at pictures, we heartily admire a
+fruit or a game painting, but I believe figure-painting,
+with fine human forms, is nevertheless superior.
+Therefore I do not intend to describe conflagrations
+and deluges, but have chosen my title from the fact
+that human temperaments correspond to the elements&mdash;some
+to fire, some to air, others to water and earth.
+I intend to tell you about four persons: two of whom
+possessed a fiery nature, and two a watery.  All is not
+said that could be said, for most titles have the fault
+of only giving one aspect of many.  I thought of
+calling this part 'The Coat of Arms,' when I realised
+that it might also be called 'The Axe.'  I might
+have alarmed you with the terrible title of 'The
+Curse'; but when I came to think it over, I found
+that it could just as well be styled 'The
+Blessing.'  Therefore you will have to be contented with the
+elements; I have now said all I wished, and I will
+leave you to guess the rest."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0301"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I.
+<br /><br />
+THE TREASURE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The first thing to be borne in mind is, that the story
+of the Sword and the Plough happened before the
+Battle of Lützen.  On now going back to that
+combat, on the 6th of November, 1632, we may forget for
+a time that the "Sword and the Plough" ever existed,
+and imagine that we still stand by the great hero's
+dead body, as it lay embalmed in the village of
+Meuchen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a fine but terrible spectacle when the
+Pappenheimers charged the Finns on the east of the
+River Rippach.  These splendid cuirassiers rushed
+upon Stälhandske; the tired Finns and their horses
+reeled and gave way before this terrific onslaught.
+But Stälhandske rallied them again, man to man,
+horse to horse; they fought to the death; and friends
+and foes were mixed together in one bleeding,
+confused mass.  Here fell Pappenheim and his bravest
+men; half of the Finnish cavalry were trampled
+under the horses' hoofs, and yet the battle raged till
+nightfall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel rode at Stalhandske's side, and here he
+encountered Pappenheim.  The youth of twenty could
+not cope with this arm of steel; the brave general
+struck Bertel on the helmet with such tremendous
+force, that he reeled and became unconscious.  But
+in falling he mechanically grasped his horse by
+the mane, and the faithful Lapp galloped away,
+dragging his master with one foot in the stirrup.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Bertel opened his eyes he was in utter
+darkness.  He vaguely remembered the last incident of
+the combat, and Pappenheim's uplifted sword.  He
+thought he was now dead, and lay in his grave.  He
+then put his hand to his heart; it was beating: he
+bit his finger; it hurt him.  He realised that he was
+still in existence, but how and where it was impossible
+to guess.  He reached out his hand and picked up
+some straw.  He felt the damp ground under him,
+and the empty space above.  He tried to raise himself
+up, but his head was too heavy.  It still suffered
+from the blow of Pappenheim's sword.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he heard a voice not far from him,
+half-complaining, half-mocking, saying in Swedish:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Saints and fiends!  Not a drop of wine!  Those
+rascally Wallachians have grabbed my flask; the
+miserable hen-thieves!  Hollo, Turk, or Jew&mdash;it is
+all one&mdash;here with a drop of wine!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it you, Larsson?" said Bertel in a faint voice,
+for his tongue was also parched with a burning
+thirst.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What sort of a marmot is it whispering my
+name?" replied the voice in the darkness.  "Hurrah,
+boys, loose reins and a smart gallop!  Fire your
+pistols, fling them to the devil, and slash away with
+swords!  Cleave their skulls; peel them like turnips!
+Grind them to powder!  The king has fallen
+... Devils and heroism, what a king! ... to-day we
+bleed.  To-day we shall die, but first revenge.  That's
+the way, boys, hurrah ... pitch in, East Bothnians!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Larsson," repeated Bertel; but his comrade did
+not heed him.  He continued in his delirium to lead
+his Finns to the combat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a time a ray of the late autumn morning
+shone through the window of the miserable hut upon
+Bertel.  He could now distinguish the straw upon
+the bare ground, and two men asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the door opened, and a couple of uncouth,
+bearded men entered, and thrust roughly at the
+sleepers with the butts of their muskets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Raus!</i>" they cried in Low German; "it is the
+signal to start!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And outside the hut was heard the well-known
+trumpet-blast, which at that time was the usual signal
+for breaking up the camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May they spear me like a frog," said one of the
+men in a bad humour, "if I can guess what the
+reverend father wishes to do with these heretic dogs.
+He should have given them a passport to the
+arch-fiend, their lord and master."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fool!" replied the other; "do you not know that
+the heretic king's death is going to be celebrated with
+a great festival at Ingolstadt?  The reverend father
+intends to hold a grand <i>auto-de-fé</i> in honour of the
+happy event."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two sleepers now stood up half-awake, and
+Bertel could recognise by the faint morning light the
+little, thick-set Larsson and his own faithful Pekka.
+But there was no opportunity for explanations.  All
+three were brought out, bound, and put into a cart,
+and then the long caravan, composed of wagons for
+the wounded and baggage, under the charge of the
+Croats, began slowly to move.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel knew that he and his companions were now
+prisoners of the Imperialists.  He soon recovered his
+memory, and learned from his countrymen in
+captivity how it all happened.  When the faithful
+Lapp felt the reins loose, he galloped with his
+unconscious master back to camp.  But this was
+being plundered by the wild Croats, and when they
+saw a Swedish officer dragged along half dead by
+his horse, they took him prisoner, in the hope of a
+good ransom.  Pekka, who would not forsake his
+master, was also taken prisoner.  Larsson, on the
+other hand, had, at the Pappenheimers' attack,
+charged too far amongst the enemy, and having
+received a sabre thrust in the shoulder, and a wound
+in the arm, was unable to extricate himself.  Who
+had triumphed Larsson did not know with certainty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was now the third day after the battle; they
+had marched for a day and night in a southerly
+direction, and then stopped for a few hours in a
+deserted village.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Accursed crew!" exclaimed the little captain,
+whose jovial disposition did not abandon him under
+any circumstances; "if they had not stolen my flask,
+we might now drink Finland's health together.  But
+these Croats are thieves of the first water, compared
+with whom our gipsies at home are innocent angels.
+I should like to hang a couple of hundred of them
+from the ramparts of Korsholm, as they hang petticoats
+on the walls of a Finnish garret."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The march continued with brief halts for several
+days, not without great suffering and discomfort to
+the wounded, who, improperly bandaged, were prevented
+by their fetters from helping each other.  At
+the outset they travelled through a desolated country,
+where provisions were obtained with great difficulty,
+and whose population took to flight at the sight of
+the dreaded Croats.  But they soon arrived in richer
+parts, where the Catholic inhabitants assembled to
+curse the heretics, and exult over their king's fall.
+The whole Catholic world shared this rejoicing.  It
+is stated that in Madrid brilliant performances took
+place, in which Gustave Adolf, another dragon, was
+conquered by Wallenstein as St. George.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After seven days' wearisome journeying, the cart
+with the captive Finns drove late one evening over
+a clattering drawbridge, and stopped in a small
+courtyard.  The wounded prisoners were led out, and
+conducted up two crumbling flights of stairs into a
+turret room in the form of a semi-circle.  It seemed
+to Bertel as if he had seen this place before, but
+darkness and fatigue prevented him from making
+sure.  The stars shone through the grated windows,
+and the prisoners were revived with a cup of wine.
+Larsson said with satisfaction:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will bet anything that the thieves have stolen
+their wine from our cellars, while we lay in Würzburg,
+for better stuff I have never tasted!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Würzburg!" said Bertel thoughtfully.  "Regina!"
+added he, almost unconsciously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the wine-cellar!" sighed Larsson, mocking
+him.  "I will tell you something.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+  'The greatest fool upon the earth<br />
+  Is he that believes in a girl's worth.<br />
+  When love comes, the little dear,<br />
+  Marry instead the cup of good cheer.'<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"The black-eyed young Regina now sits and knits
+stockings at Korsholm.  Yes, yes, Fru Marta is not
+one of the folks who sit and weep in the moonlight.
+Since we last met I have had news from Vasa
+through the jolly sergeant, Bengt Kristerson.  He
+said he had fought with your father.  You had better
+believe that the old man is a trump; he carried
+Bengt out at arm's-length and threw him down the
+steps there at your home in Storkyro.  Bengt cursed
+and swore, declaring that he would put the old man
+and twelve of his hands into the windmill at once,
+and grind them to groats; but Meri begged for
+them.  Smart fellow, Bengt Kristerson! fights like
+a dragon, and lies like a skipper.  Your health!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What else did you hear from East Bothnia?"
+inquired Bertel, who with the bashfulness of youth,
+blushed at the thought of revealing to his prosaic
+friend the secret of his heart&mdash;his love for the
+dark-eyed and unhappy Lady Regina von Emmeritz.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not much, except the bad harvests, immense
+drain caused by the war, and heavy conscriptions.
+The old men on the farm, your father and mine,
+quarrel as usual, and make it up again.  Meri pines
+for you and sings doleful songs.  Do you remember
+that splendid girl, Katri? round as a turnip, red as
+mountain-ash berries, and soft about the chin as a
+lump of butter.  She has run away with a soldier.
+Your health, my boy!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing more?" said Bertel abstractedly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing more!  What the devil do you want to
+know, when you don't care for the prettiest girl in
+the whole of Storkyro.  'Yes, <i>noch etivas</i>,' says
+the German.  There has been a great affray at
+Korsholm.  The conscripts got it into their heads
+that Lady Regina had tried to kill the king with
+'witch-shots,' and then they stormed Korsholm, and
+burned the girl alive.  Cursedly jolly! here's to the
+heretics!  We also know the art of holding <i>autos-da-fé</i>."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel started up, forgetting his wounds; but pain
+mastered him.  Without a cry he sank fainting into
+Larsson's arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The honest captain was both troubled and angry.
+While he bathed Bertel's temples with the remainder
+of the noble fluid in the tankard, and presently
+brought him to life once more, he gave vent to his
+feelings in the following manner, crescendo from
+piano to forte.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There, there, Bertel ... what next?  What the
+deuce, boy?  Are you in love with the girl?  Faint
+like a lady's maid!  Courage! did I say that they
+had burned her?  No, my lad, she was only a little
+scorched, according to what Bengt Kristerson says,
+and afterwards she tore Fru Marta's eyes out, and
+climbed like a squirrel to the top of the castle.  Such
+things happen every day in war ... Well, I declare,
+you have got both your eyes open at last.  You are
+still alive, you milk-baked wheat loaf ... are you
+not ashamed to behave like a poltroon?  You are
+a pretty soldier!  blitz-donnerwetter-kreutz-Pappenheim,
+you are a pomade pot!  D&mdash;n it, now the
+tankard is empty also!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The stout little warrior would perhaps have
+continued to vent his bad humour for some time longer,
+especially as there was no consolation now left in
+the cup, had not the door opened, and a female figure
+then stepped over the threshold.  At this sight the
+captain's pale and fluffy face brightened up.  Bertel
+was laid aside, and Larsson leaned eagerly forward,
+in order to see better, for the light of the single
+lamp was very faint.  But the result of his
+observation did not seem very satisfactory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A nun!  Ah, by Heaven ... to convert us!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Peace be with you," said a youthful voice from
+underneath the veil.  "I am sent here by the worthy
+prioress of the cloister of 'Our Lady' to bind your
+wounds, and heal them, if it is the will of the saints."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Upon my honour, charming friend, I am much
+obliged; let us become better acquainted," said the
+captain, as he stretched out his hand to lift the nun's
+veil.  In a flash the latter retreated, and two soldiers
+appeared at the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The devil!" exclaimed Larsson, startled, "What
+proud nuns they have here!  When I was at
+Würzburg, I used to get a dozen kisses a day from the
+young sisters at the convent; such sins always obtain
+absolution.  Well," he continued, seeing the nun still
+hesitating at the door, "your venerableness must not
+take offence at a soldier's freedom of speech; an
+honest soldier is a born gallant.  Although an
+unbelieving heretic, I can talk Latin like a monk.
+When we stayed at Munich I was very intimate with
+a plump Bavarian nun, twenty-seven years old, with
+brown eyes and a Roman nose."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold your tongue!" impatiently whispered Bertel,
+"you will drive the nun away."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I haven't said a word.  Walk in; don't be frightened.
+I will bet it is a long time since you saw
+twenty-seven.  <i>Posito</i>, says the Frenchman, that your
+venerableness is an old woman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The nun returned in silence, with two others, and
+examined Bertel's wounded head.  A delicate white
+hand drew out some scissors and cut his hair off
+on each side of the wound.  In a short time Bertel's
+wound was dressed by an experienced hand.  Bertel,
+touched by this compassion, kissed the nun's hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Upon my honour, charming matron," cried the
+voluble captain, "I am jealous of my friend, who is
+fifteen years younger than I.  Deign to stretch out
+your gentle hand and plaster this brave arm, which
+has conquered so many pious sisters' pity..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The silent nun began to undo the bandages which
+covered Larsson's wounds.  Her hand touched his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Potz donnerwetter!</i>" burst out the captain in
+surprise.  "What a fine and soft little hand!  I beg
+your pardon, amiable Fru doctoress; <i>ex ungua
+leonem</i>, says one of the fathers of the church
+... that is to say in good Swedish: by the paw one
+knows the lion.  I will wager ten bottles of old Rhine
+against a cast-off stirrup, that this little white hand
+would much rather caress a knight's cheek than
+finger rosaries night and day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The nun drew her hand away.  The gallant captain
+feared the consequences of his gallantry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will say no more; I am silent as a <i>karthäuser</i>
+monk.  But I will say that this hand is not an old
+woman's ... well, well, your lovely venerableness
+hears that I keep silent."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Tempus est consummatum, itur in missam</i>," said
+a solemn voice at the door, and the nun hastened her
+task.  In a few moments the prisoners were again
+alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have heard that voice before," said Bertel
+thoughtfully.  "We are surrounded by mysteries."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bah!" replied the captain, "it was a mangy and
+jealous monk.  Bless me, what a dear little hand!"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0302"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II.
+<br /><br />
+TWO OLD ACQUAINTANCES.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+When the autumn sun on the following morning
+spread its first rays into the turret room, Bertel arose
+and looked out of the iron-barred window.  It was
+a beautiful view that here met his eye.  Underneath
+the turret wound a lovely river, and on the other
+side of it lay a town with thirty spires, and beyond
+were seen a number of still verdant vineyards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel at once recognised Würzburg.  The castle of
+Marienburg, where the prisoners were confined, had
+at the retreat of the Swedes fallen back into the
+bishop's hands; but his grace, on account of the
+insecurity of the times, did not return there himself,
+but remained in Vienna.  The castle had suffered
+much, from the last conquest, and the consequent
+plundering; one tower had been destroyed, and the
+moat was filled up in several places.  At present
+there were only fifty men in the garrison, guarding
+the sisters of charity from the cloisters in the town,
+and many sick and wounded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Bertel had carefully examined his prison, he
+thought he recognised Regina's room, the same in
+which that beautiful young lady with her maids in
+waiting had watched the battle, and where the image
+of the Holy Virgin had been broken into fragments
+by the splinters from the cannon-shot.*
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* The surgeon forgets that this room was totally destroyed.&mdash;Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Here," thought the dreaming young man, "she
+slept the last night before the storm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For Bertel this room was sacred; when he pressed
+his lips against the cold walls, he thought he kissed
+the marks of Regina's tears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A wonderful thought struck him like lightning.  If
+the nun that visited them yesterday was a princess
+... if the white hand belonged to Regina!  It
+would be a miracle, but ... love believes in miracles.
+Bertel's heart beat fast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His neglected wounds had greatly improved under
+the gentle hands of his nurse.  He now felt much
+stronger.  His unfortunate comrades were still asleep
+after their terrible journey.  Then the door was
+quietly opened, and the nun softly entered with a
+drink for the wounded prisoners.  Bertel felt his
+head swim.  Overcome by his violent emotions, he
+fell on his knees before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your name, you kind angel, who remembers the
+prisoners!" he cried.  "Tell me your name, let me
+see your face ... Ah!  I should have known you
+amongst thousands ... you are Regina, yourself!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You make a mistake," said the same kind voice
+that Bertel had heard the day before.  It was not
+Regina's voice, and still he knew the tones.  To
+whom then did it belong?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel rushed forward and pulled the veil from
+the nun's head.  In front of him stood the beautiful
+mild Ketchen with a smiling face.  The surprised
+Bertel drew back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Imprudent one," she said, covering her face with
+her hands.  "I wished to have you in my care, but
+now you make me leave the place to another."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ketchen disappeared.  On the evening of the same
+day another nun entered the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Larsson addressed a long speech to her, and put
+her hand to his lips, and impressed on it a loud kiss.
+He then swore fearfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Millions of devils!" he said, "that I should kiss
+an old shrivelled hand like that.  The skin was like
+a century-old parchment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Verily, my dear Bertel," continued the chagrined
+captain with philosophical resignation, "there are
+secrets in nature which will for ever remain concealed
+from human sagacity.  This hand, for example&mdash;<i>manus
+mana, manum</i>&mdash;hand, as the old Roman used to say:
+this hand, my friend, would undoubtedly occupy a
+shining place in the Greek poet Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,'
+which we formerly studied in the Cathedral
+School at Abo, the time my father wanted to make
+me a priest.  Yesterday I could have sworn that it
+was the beautiful white hand of a young girl, and
+to-day I will be shaved as bare as a monk it it was
+not a hand that belongs to a seventy-year-old
+washerwoman.  <i>Sic unde ubi apud unquam post</i>, as
+the ancients used to say.  That is, so can a pretty
+girl be changed into a witch before anyone knows it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The prisoners' wounds healed rapidly under the
+care of the nuns.  The fierce autumn storms whistled
+around the castle turrets, and the heavy rain beat
+against the small panes.  The verdure of the
+vineyards faded, and a thick, heavy mist rose from the
+Main, and obscured the view of the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot stand it any longer," growled Larsson.
+"The wretches! they do not give us either wine or
+dice.  And forgive me, Saint, the devil may kiss their
+hands or lips, not I.  No.  I have a great respect for
+old women.  I cannot stand this.  I will jump out
+of the window."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do it," said Bertel, provoked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, I will not jump out of the window," said the
+captain.  "No, my dear friend&mdash;<i>micus ameus</i>, as we
+learned people used to express ourselves&mdash;I will
+instead honour our companion with a game."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the inventive captain for the thirtieth time
+summoned Pekka to a game of pitch and toss.  This
+uninteresting game, which was his only diversion, was
+played with a Carl IX. six-öre piece.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me what they are building over there on
+the square of Würzburg, just opposite the bank of
+the Main?" said Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An ale-house," said Larsson.  "Crown!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It looks to me like a pyre."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tail!" repeated Larsson monotonously.  "Dash
+it, what ill luck I have; this damned Limingo peasant
+will win my horse, my saddle, and my stirrups."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The first morning after we were taken prisoners,
+I heard something about an <i>auto-de-fé</i>, to celebrate
+the battle of Lützen.  What do you think of it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I?  What should I care; they might burn a dozen
+witches for our amusement."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But if we are concerned in it?  If they are
+waiting for the bishop's arrival?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Larsson dilated his small grey eyes, and took hold
+of his goatee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Blitz-donner-kreutz ... the wretched Jesuits!
+They would cook us like turnips ... we ... the
+conquerors of the Holy Roman Empire ... I mean,
+my friend Bertel, that in such desperate straits, an
+honest soldier would not be to blame if he tried
+to escape in silence&mdash;for example, through the
+window..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is a fall of seventy feet to the Main
+underneath."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The door," said the thoughtful captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is guarded night and day by two armed men."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The captain fell into some melancholy reflections.
+Time passed on; it was evening; it became night.
+The nun with their suppers did not appear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The festival begins with a fast," muttered the
+captain in a gloomy tone.  "I am shaped like a fish,
+if I do not wring the head off our neglectful nun as
+soon as she appears."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment the door opened, and the nun
+entered alone.  Larsson exchanged a glance with his
+companions, suddenly approached the nun, caught her
+round the neck, and held her against the wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be still, like a good child, highly honoured
+abbess," mockingly said the captain; "if you make
+a sound you are lost.  By right I ought to throw you
+out of the window and let you have a swim in the
+Main, to teach you <i>punctum preciosum</i>, that is, a
+precise punctuality in your attendance.  But I will
+give you grace for this night.  Tell me, you most
+miserable of meal bringers, what is the meaning of
+that fire which they are preparing on the square;
+who is going to be roasted there?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For the sake of all the saints, speak low,"
+whispered the nun.  "I am Ketchen, and have come to
+save you.  A great danger threatens you.
+To-morrow the bishop is expected, and Father Hieronymus,
+the implacable enemy of all the Finns, has sworn
+to burn you alive for the glory of the saints."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My fine little soft hand!" cried Larsson delighted.
+"Upon my honour, I am a fool not to recognise it
+at once.  Well, my beautiful friend, for the glory or
+St. Brita I will take a kiss on the spot..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The captain kept his word.  But Ketchen freed
+herself, and said quickly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If you do not behave yourself, young man, you
+will afford fuel for the flames.  Hurry! bind me to
+the bedpost, and tie a handkerchief over my mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bind you..." replied the captain; "explain
+yourself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Make haste! the guard are drunk and asleep, but
+in twenty minutes they will be inspected by the pater
+himself.  Seize their cloaks and hurry to get out.
+The passwords are Petrus and Paulus."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And yourself?" said the captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They will find me bound.  I have been overpowered,
+and my mouth stopped."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Noble girl!  The crown of all Franconia's sisters
+of charity; had I not sworn never to marry....
+Very well, hasten, Bertel! hurry, Pekka, you lazy dog!
+Farewell, little rogue! another kiss ... Good-bye!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The three prisoners hastened out.  But scarcely
+were they outside the door when they were seized
+by iron fists, thrown down, and bound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take the dogs down into the treasury," said a
+well-known voice.  It was Father Hieronymus.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0303"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III.
+<br /><br />
+THE TREASURY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Bound hand and foot, the prisoners soon found
+themselves in the deep, dark, damp vault, blasted
+out of the rock, where the Bishop of Würzburg had
+kept his treasures before the Swedes delivered him
+from the trouble.  No ray of light penetrated the
+gloom, and the moisture from the rocks trickled
+through the crevices and dropped steadily on the
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lightning and Croats! may all the devils take
+you, cursed earless monk!" bawled the captain, as
+soon as he felt firm ground beneath him.  "To shut
+up officers of his Royal Highness and the Crown in
+this rat-trap.  <i>Diabolus infernalis multum plus
+plurimum!</i> ... Are you alive, Bertel?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes.  In order to be burned living to-morrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you believe that, Bertel?" asked the captain
+in a lugubrious tone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know this treasury.  On three sides is the solid
+rock, on the other a door of iron, and the man who
+guards us here is harder than either rock or metal.
+We shall never see Finland again!  Never shall I
+see <i>her</i> more..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen to me, Bertel; you are a smart chap, but
+that does not prevent you from talking like a
+milksop occasionally.  You are in love with the
+black-eyed lady; well, well, I will say nothing about that;
+love is a bandit, as Ovidius so truly says.  But I
+cannot stand whimpering.  If we live, there are other
+girls to kiss; if we die, then good-bye to them all.
+So you really fancy that they intend to roast us like
+picked woodcocks?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That entirely depends upon you yourselves,"
+answered a voice in the darkness.  All three prisoners
+started from fright.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The evil one is here in the midst of us!"
+exclaimed Larsson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pekka began to say his prayers.  Then a clear ray
+from a dark lantern shot through the darkness, and
+they all saw the Jesuit Hieronymus standing alone
+near them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It depends upon you," he repeated.  "To escape
+is impossible.  Your king is dead; your army
+defeated; the whole world acknowledges the power of
+the Church and the Emperor.  The pile is ready, and
+your bodies shall burn in honour of the saints.  But
+the holy Church in its clemency wishes to save you,
+and has sent me here to offer you mercy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Larsson mockingly.  "Come,
+worthy father, loosen my bonds and let me embrace
+you.  I offer you my friendship, and of course you
+believe me.  How, says Seneca, <i>homo homini lupus</i>,
+we wolves are all brothers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I offer you mercy," continued the Jesuit coldly,
+"on <i>three</i> conditions, which you will certainly accept.
+The first is, that you abjure your heretic faith and
+publicly join the only saving Church."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never!" exclaimed Bertel hastily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be quiet!" said the captain.  "Well, <i>posito</i> that
+we abjure the Lutheran faith?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then," continued the Jesuit, "as prisoners of
+war you shall be exchanged for the high-born Lady
+and Princess Regina von Emmeritz, whom your king
+tyrannically sent a prisoner to the north."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It shall be done!" answered Bertel eagerly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be still!" cried Larsson.  "Well, go on; <i>posito</i>
+that we accomplish the lady's deliverance?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Only a trifle remains.  I demand of Lieutenant
+Bertel King Gustaf Adolf's ring."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your money or your life, like a highwayman!"
+said Larsson derisively.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You ask for that which I do not possess,"
+answered Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit gave him a suspicious glance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king ordered Duke Bernhard to give you
+the ring, and you must have received it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All this is quite unknown to me," said Bertel
+with truth, but surprised and delighted at this
+unexpected news.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit resumed his smiling composure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If that is how it stands, my dear sons," said he, "let
+us talk no more about the ring.  As far as your
+conversion to the true believing Church is concerned..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel was just about to answer, but was interrupted
+by the captain, who, a moment before, had made a
+movement with the upper part of his body, which
+the light did not reach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, as far as that matter is concerned," Larsson
+hastened to add; "you know, reverend father, that
+there are two sides to it: <i>questio an</i> and <i>questio
+quomodo</i>.  Now to speak of <i>questio an</i> first, my
+sainted rector, Vincentius Flachsenius, used to say,
+always place <i>negare</i> as <i>prima regula juris</i>.  Your
+reverence undoubtedly finds it unexpected and agreeable
+to hear a royal captain talk Latin like a cardinal.
+Your reverence should know that we, in Abo Cathedral
+School, studied Ciceronem, Senecam, and Ovidium,
+also called Naso; for my part I have always
+considered Cicero a great talker, and Seneca a
+blockhead; but as for Ovid ..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit moved towards the door, and said dryly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then you choose the stake?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Rather than the disgrace of an apostasy!"
+exclaimed Bertel, who had not noticed Larsson's hints
+and motions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My friend," the captain hastily added, "thinks
+very sensibly and naturally that the worst part of the
+matter is the public scandal.  Thus, worthy father,
+let us confer about <i>questio quomodo</i>.  <i>Posito</i> that we
+become good Catholics, and enter the Emperor's
+service ... but deign to come a little closer; my
+friend Bertel is rather hard of hearing ever since he
+had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the
+mighty Pappenheim."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit cautiously advanced a little nearer,
+after convincing himself with a glance that retreat
+stood open.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is I who decide the conditions," said he
+haughtily.  "Yes or no?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes, of course," replied Larsson quickly, as
+he continued to rub himself.  "Consequently we are
+on sound grounds both with <i>questio an</i> and <i>questio
+quomodo</i>.  Your reverence possesses a persuasive
+tongue.  We will now come to <i>questio ubi</i> and <i>questio
+quando</i>, for according to <i>logicam</i> and <i>meta-physicam</i>
+... Pardon me, worthy father, I don't say a word,
+I consent to it all.  But," continued the captain, as
+he lowered his voice, "deign to cast a glance at my
+friend Bertel's right forefinger.  I can tell your
+reverence my friend is a great rogue; I am very
+much mistaken if he has not got the king's ring on
+at this moment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit, carried away by his curiosity, came a
+few steps nearer.  Swift as an eel Larsson rolled
+himself to the door, for he was unable to rise on account
+of his bonds; and when the monk wished to retreat,
+the captain, who had cut through the ligatures which
+held his right arm, against a sharp stone, suddenly
+seized the Jesuit's legs and threw him down.  Father
+Hieronymus made desperate efforts to free himself
+from the captain's grasp; the lantern was broken
+into fragments, the light extinguished, and a thick
+darkness enveloped the wrestlers.  Bertel and
+Pekka, both unable to get up and assist, rolled
+themselves at random towards the spot, but without
+reaching it.  Then the brave captain felt a sharp sensation
+in his shoulder, and directly afterwards a warm stream
+of blood.  With a mighty oath he wrenched the
+dagger from his enemy's hand, and returned the stab.
+The Jesuit now begged for mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With the greatest pleasure, my son," answered
+the sarcastic captain.  "But only on three
+conditions: the first, that you renounce Loyola, your
+lord and master, and declare him to be an emissary
+of the devil.  Do you agree to it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I agree to everything," murmured the pater.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The second: that you start off and hang yourself
+to the first hook you find in the ceiling."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes, only let me go."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The third: that you travel to Beelzebub, your
+patron," ... and with these words Larsson flung
+his enemy violently against the rocky wall, after
+which there was a dead silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dagger was now used to quickly sever the
+prisoners' bonds, and then it only remained to find
+the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the three fugitives, after having secured the
+treasury door from the outside, reached the dark and
+narrow stairway, which led to the upper portion of
+the castle, they stayed a moment to consult together.
+Their situation even now was not enviable, for they
+knew of old that the stairs led to the bishop's former
+bed-chamber, from whence two or three rooms had
+to be crossed before they came to the large armoury,
+and through that to the courtyard, after which they
+still had to pass the closed drawbridge and the guard.
+All the rooms, except the bed-chamber, which the
+Jesuit himself had taken possession of, had, two hours
+before, when the prisoners were carried down, been
+filled partly with soldiers, and partly with the sick
+and their nurses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One thing grieves me," whispered Larsson, "and
+that is, that I did not draw the fur off the fox when
+I held him by the ears.  In the garments of piety
+I could have gone scot-free through purgatory like
+another <i>Saulus inter prophetas</i>.  But as it is, my
+friend Bertel, I ask, in my simplicity, how shall we
+get away from here?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will cut our way out.  The garrison are
+asleep; the darkness of the night favours us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I confess, my friend, that if anybody, even I,
+Larsson himself, should call you a poltroon, I would
+call that fellow a liar.  It is true that you once as
+good as <i>solo</i>, alone, <i>alienus</i>, all by yourself, took this
+fortress; but you had then at least a sword in your
+hand, and a few thousands of brave boys in the rear.
+Hush!  I heard a step on the stairs ... no, it was
+nothing.  Let us push on cautiously.  Here it will
+serve us to tread gingerly, like maidens; the heavy
+peasant's boots sound as if we were a squadron of
+cavalry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fugitives had ascended about thirty or forty
+steps, and yet there seemed more, until a faint ray
+of light glimmered at the top in the passage.  They
+then came to a door; it stood ajar.  They stopped,
+and held their breath; not a sound could be heard.
+The brave captain now ventured to put in his head,
+then his foot, and finally his whole stout person.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We are on the right track," he whispered; "boots
+off, the whole company must march in their stockinged
+feet&mdash;<i>posito</i> that the company has stockings.
+March!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop's bed-chamber, into which the three
+now entered on tip-toe, was a large and magnificent
+room.  A flickering lamp faintly illumined the
+precious gobelin tapestry, the gilded images of the
+saints, and the ebony bedstead, inlaid with pearls,
+where the wealthy prelate used to fall asleep, with
+his goblet of Rhenish wine beside him.  No living
+creature was visible, but from one of the windows
+which overlooked the courtyard they could see the
+castle chapel opposite, brilliantly lighted and filled
+with people.  Even the courtyard was occupied by
+a crowd, visible owing to the reflection from the
+windows, and many of whom carried lighted candles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will let them salt and pickle me like a cucumber
+if I understand what all these people are doing here
+in the dead of night," muttered the enraged captain.
+"You will find that they have assembled here to see
+three honest Finnish soldiers roasted by a slow fire
+like Aland herrings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must look for weapons, and die like men,"
+said Bertel, as he glanced through the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hurrah!" he exclaimed, "here are three swords,
+just what we require."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And three daggers," added Larsson, who, in a
+large niche behind the image of a saint, found a little
+arsenal of all kinds of weapons.  "The worthy fathers
+have a certain weakness for daggers, as the East
+Bothnians for 'punkkons,' or peasants' knives."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think," joined in the taciturn Pekka, as he
+caught sight of a good-sized flask in a corner, "that
+to-night being Xmas eve..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Brave boy!" interrupted the captain, inspired also
+by this sight, "you have a wonderfully keen scent
+where good liquor is concerned.  Pious Jesuit, you
+have, anyhow, accomplished some good in the world!
+Xmas eve, did you say?  Stupid, why didn't you
+tell us at once?  It is clear as the day, that half of
+Würzburg is streaming to the chapel to hear Father
+Hieronymus say mass.  'Pon my honour, I fear that
+he will keep them waiting for some time, the good
+pater.  Here goes, my friend, I will drink to you;
+an officer ought to always set his troops a good
+example.  Your health, my boys ... damnation
+... the miserable monk has basely cheated us.  I have
+swallowed poison.  I am a dead man!"  And the
+honest captain turned pale as a corpse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both Bertel and Pekka had hard work to restrain
+their laughter, notwithstanding their critical
+position, when they saw Larsson at once white from
+fright and black from the fluid he had drank and
+spat out again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be more careful another time," said Bertel, "and
+you will avoid drinking ink."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ink!  I might have known that the earless scrawler
+would be up to some devilry.  Two things trouble me
+to-night more than all the <i>autos-da-fé</i>: that the sweet
+Ketchen, with the soft hands, deceived us, and that
+I have swallowed the most useless stuff in the
+world&mdash;ink, bah!"*
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Here Captain Svanholm trod on Cousin Svenonius' toes, and the
+latter thoughtfully took a pinch of snuff.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"If we had nothing else to do I could show you
+something that ink has done," rejoined Bertel, as he
+hastily turned over a pile of papers on the writing-table.
+"Here is a letter from the archbishop
+... he is coming to-morrow ... we are to be solemnly
+burned ... they will tempt us to abjure our faith,
+and promise us grace ... but burn us, nevertheless!
+Infamous!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Roman!" observed the captain phlegmatically.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime Larsson had drawn out three
+monks' cloaks and hoods; they put them on, and
+now ventured to proceed farther on their dangerous
+enterprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next two rooms were empty.  Two common
+beds indicated that some menial monks had here
+their abode, and were now gone to mass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bravo," whispered Larsson, "they will take us
+for sheep in wolves' clothing, and believe that we
+are also going to attend mass.  Hist! didn't you hear
+something?  A woman's voice.  Be still!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They stopped, and heard in the darkness a young
+female's voice, praying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Virgin, forgive me this time, and save me
+from death; I will to-morrow take the veil, and serve
+you for ever."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is Ketchen's voice," said the captain.  "She may
+be innocent, poor child!  Upon my honour, it would
+be base of a cavalier not to deliver a sweet girl with
+such a soft hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us be off!" whispered Bertel in vexation.
+But the captain had already discovered a little door,
+bolted on the outside; inside was a cell, and in the
+cell a trembling girl.  Her eyes, used to the darkness,
+saw the monk's garb, and she threw herself at the
+captain's feet, exclaiming,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grace, my father, grace!  I will confess all; I have
+favoured the prisoners' flight; I have given wine to
+the guard.  But spare my life, have mercy upon me,
+I am so young.  I do not wish to die."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who the devil has said that you are to die, my
+brave girl?" interrupted the captain's voice.  "No,
+you shall live, with your soft hand, and your warm
+lips, as true as I'm not a Jesuit, but Lars Larsson,
+captain in his Royal Majesty's and the Crown's service,
+and herewith take you ... as my wedded wife, for
+better or for worse," continued the captain, no doubt
+because he thought that the well-known formula
+ought to be said to an end when he had once begun it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Away, away, with or without the girl, but away;
+they are coming, and we still have to pass the large
+armoury!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Allow me to tell you, my friend Bertel, that you
+are the greatest fidget I know, <i>maximus fiescus</i>, as
+the ancients so truly expressed themselves.  How is
+it, my girl, you are not a nun ... only a novice?
+Well, it makes no difference to me.  You shall be
+my wedded wife ... in case I ever marry.  Here
+is a cloak; there now, straighten yourself up and
+look bold."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is no cloak, it is a mass-robe," whispered
+Ketchen, who had scarcely time to recover from her
+amazement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The deuce, a mass-robe!  Wait, you take my
+cloak, and I will take the robe.  I shall chant in
+their ears <i>dies irae</i>, so that all will be astonished."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sound of several voices in the armoury outside
+interrupted the captain in his priestly speculations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They have missed the Jesuit, they are looking
+for him, and we are lost through your silly jabbering,"
+whispered the exasperated Bertel.  "We must be
+careful now not to betray ourselves.  Come along,
+all of you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Latin first!" exclaimed the captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All four went out.  In the armoury there were
+about thirty sick beds, but only two sisters in
+attendance.  This sight was reassuring, but much more
+dangerous was the meeting with two monks, who
+were in violent altercation in the doorway.  When
+they saw Larsson in the mass-robe, and three figures
+behind him in hooded cloaks, the pious fathers were
+evidently startled.  The captain raised his arm to
+bless them, uttered a solemn <i>pax vobiscum</i>, and was
+then going to steal by with a grave step, when he
+was checked by the foremost monk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Worthy father," said the latter, as he surveyed
+the unknown prelate from head to foot, "what procures
+our castle the honour at so unusual a time...?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Pax vobiscum!</i>" repeated the captain devoutly.
+"The pious Father Hieronymus orders you to say
+mass with all your might ... his reverence is sick
+... he has toothache."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us go and wait upon him," said one of the
+monks, entering the smaller room.  But the other
+seized Larsson by the robe, and regarded him in a
+way which much alarmed the brave captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Quis vus et quid eltis!</i>" said the captain in a
+regular dilemma.  "<i>Qui quoe quod, meus tuus suus</i>
+... go to the devil, you bald-headed baboons!"
+roared Larsson, unable to restrain himself any longer,
+and pushing the obstinate monk into the chamber
+he bolted the door.  Then all four hastened at full
+speed down to the courtyard.  The alarm was
+immediately given behind them; the monks shouting
+at the top of their voices, and the nuns joining in,
+until the crowd of people who thronged the
+courtyard began to listen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We are lost!" whispered Ketchen, "if we do
+not reach the drawbridge by the back way."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They hurried there ... the tumult increased
+... they passed the guard at the large sally-port.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Halt! who's there?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Petrus and Paulus," promptly answered Bertel.
+They were allowed to pass.  Fortunately the
+drawbridge was down.  But the whole castle was now
+alarmed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will jump into the river, the night is dark,
+they will not see us!" cried Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," said Larsson, "I will not leave my girl, even
+if it should cost me my head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here stand three saddled horses, be quick and
+mount."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Up, you sweetest of all the nuns in Franconia, up
+in the saddle!" and the captain hastily swung the
+trembling Ketchen before him on the horse's back.
+They all galloped away into the darkness.  But
+behind them raged tumult and uproar, the alarm bells
+sounding in all the turrets, and the whole of
+Würzburg wondering greatly what could have happened
+on Xmas eve itself.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0304"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV.
+<br /><br />
+DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Three months after the events related in the
+preceding chapter we find Lieutenant Bertel one day
+in one of the rooms at the martial court, which Duke
+Bernhard of Weimar kept sometimes at Kassel and
+sometimes at Nassau, or wherever the duties of the
+war compelled him to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a spring day in March, 1633.  Officers came
+and departed, orderlies hastened in all directions;
+Duke Bernhard had the greatest share of the south
+and west of Germany to look after, and the times
+were most anxious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having waited a good while, the young officer
+was conducted to the duke.  The latter looked up
+irritably from his maps and papers, and seemed to
+wait to be spoken to; but Bertel remained silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who are you?" asked the duke in sharp, harsh
+tones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Gustaf Bertel, Lieutenant in his Royal Majesty's
+Finnish cavalry."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do you want?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man coloured up and remained silent.
+The duke noticed this and looked at him with a
+discontented air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I understand," the latter said at last, "you have
+as usual been fighting with the German officers about
+the girls.  I will not allow this sort of thing.  A
+soldier's sword should be reserved for his country's
+enemies."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have not been fighting, your highness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All the worse.  You came to ask for a furlough
+to go to Finland.  I refuse it to you.  I want all my
+men here.  You will stay, Lieutenant.  Good-bye!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not come to ask for a furlough."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, What the devil do you want?  Can you not
+speak out?  Be short and quick!  Leave the clergy
+to say prayers, and the girls to blush."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your highness has received from his Majesty, the
+late king, a ring..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot remember it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"... which his Majesty asked your highness to
+give to an officer in his life-guards."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke passed his hand over his high forehead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That officer is dead," he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am that officer, your highness.  I was wounded
+at Lützen, and shortly after taken prisoner by the
+Imperialists."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duke Bernhard beckoned Bertel to come nearer,
+and gave him a searching look; he seemed satisfied
+with his examination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Close the door," he said, "and sit down by my side."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel obeyed.  His cheeks were burning with
+anxiety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Young man," said the duke, "you carry on your
+forehead the marks of your origin, and I ask for no
+further evidence.  Your mother is a peasant's
+daughter of Storkyro, in Finland, and her name is
+Emerentia Aronsdotter Bertila."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, your highness, the person you speak of is
+my elder sister, born of my father's first marriage.  I
+have never seen my mother."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke looked at him with surprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well," said he doubtfully, as he looked
+among some papers in his portfolio, "we will now
+speak of this sister of yours, Emerentia Aronsdotter.
+Her father had performed great services for Carl IX.,
+and he was urged to ask a favour.  He asked
+to be allowed to send his only daughter, then his
+only child, to Stockholm, to be educated with the
+young ladies of rank at the Court."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know very little about this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At thirteen years of age the peasant girl was sent
+to Stockholm, where her father's vanity and wealth
+procured her an abode, appearance, and education, far
+above her station.  He was consumed with ambition,
+and as he himself could not gain a noble crest, he
+relied upon his daughter's high birth on her mother's
+side.  Bertila's first wife was an orphan of the noble
+family Stjernkors, deprived of her inheritance by the
+war, and then rejected by her proud family on account
+of her marriage with the rich peasant Bertila."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This is all unknown to me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The young Emerentia suffered a great deal in
+Stockholm from the envy and contempt of her
+aristocratic companions; for many of them were poorer
+than herself, and could not endure a plebeian at their
+side as an equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But her beauty was as extraordinary as her
+wisdom and goodness.  Within two years she had
+acquired the habits of the upper classes, whilst
+preserving the rustic simplicity of her heart.  This
+wonderful combination of mental and physical graces
+reminded old persons of a lovely picture of their
+youthful days&mdash;Karin Mansdotter."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he said these words, the duke closely watched
+the young officer; but Bertel did not betray any
+agitation, and remained silent.  All this was
+something new and incomprehensible to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well," continued the duke after a pause.
+"This beauty did not long remain unnoticed.  A very
+young man of high birth soon fell in love with the
+beautiful maiden, then only fifteen years old, and she
+returned his affection with the whole devotion of a
+first love.  This attachment soon became known to
+those who surrounded the noble youth; state policy
+was endangered, and the nobility were offended by the
+distinction thus conferred on a girl of low birth.  They
+resolved to marry the maiden to an officer of the same
+origin as herself, who had distinguished himself in
+the Danish War.  This intention came to the ears
+of the young people.  Poor children! they were so
+young; he seventeen, she fifteen, both inexperienced
+and in love.  Shortly after, the youth was sent
+to the war in Poland.  The young girl's marriage
+came to nothing, and she was sent back by the
+offended nobility in disgrace to her cabin in Finland.
+Do you wish to hear any more, Lieutenant Bertel?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not understand, your highness, what this
+account of my sister's life has to do with..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"... the ring you ask for.  Patience.  When the
+young man had a secret meeting with his beloved
+for the last time, just before his departure, she gave
+him a ring, whose earlier history I do not know, but
+which was probably made by a Finnish sorcerer, and
+had all the qualities of a talisman.  She conjured her
+lover to always wear this ring on his finger, in war
+and danger, as he would thus become invulnerable.
+Twice this warning was forgotten, once at Dirschau..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Great God!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"... the second time at Lützen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel's emotions were of such a violent nature that
+all the blood left his cheeks, and he sat pale as a
+marble statue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Young man, you now know part of what you
+ought to know, but you do not know all.  We have
+spoken of your sister.  We will now speak of yourself.
+It was his Majesty's intention to offer you a
+nobleman's coat of arms, and which you with your
+good sword have so well deserved.  But old Aron
+Bertila, actuated by his hatred for the nobility had asked
+as a favour that the king would give you an
+opportunity to gain any other distinction than that one.
+The king could not refuse this request from a father,
+and therefore you are still a commoner by name.
+But I, who am not bound by any promise to your
+father, will offer you, young man, that which has
+hitherto been denied you: a knight's spur and coat
+of arms."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your highness ... this favour makes me wonder
+and mute; how have I deserved it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duke Bernhard smiled with a strange expression.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How, my friend? you have only half understood me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel remained silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, with or without your knowledge and will,
+my friend, I already regard you as a nobleman.  We
+will speak more about it another time.  Your ring
+... Ah!  I have forgotten it.  Do you remember
+what it was like?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke now searched zealously in his portfolio.
+"They say that the king wore a copper ring, and
+on the inside of it magic signs were engraved, and
+the letters R.R.R."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is possible that I have mislaid it, for I cannot
+find it.  And who the devil has time to think of such
+childish things?  The ring must have been stolen
+from my private casket.  If I find it again I will give
+it to you, and if not, you know that which is worth
+more.  Go, young man, and be worthy of my confidence
+and the great king's memory.  No one is to
+know what I have told you.  Farewell; we will see
+each other again."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0305"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V.
+<br /><br />
+LOVE AND HATE AGREE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Again we fly from Germany's spring back to the
+North's winter.  Before we go further on the bloody
+path of the Thirty Years' War, we will pay a visit
+to two of the chief personages of this narrative high
+up in East Bothnia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was about Advent time, 1632.  A violent storm
+with heavy snow beat against the old ramparts of
+Korsholm, and drove the waves of the Baltic against
+the ice-covered shores.  All navigation for the year
+had ceased.  The newly conscripted soldiers had
+gone to Stralsund by way of Stockholm, at the end
+of July, and were impatiently waiting for news from
+the war.  Then it happened in the middle of November
+that a rumour was spread about the country of
+the king's death.  Such reports fly through the air,
+one does not know how or where they come from.
+Great misfortunes are known at a distance as
+presentiments, just as an earthquake far beyond its own
+circle causes a qualm in the mind.  But this report
+had more than once been spread and refuted.  The
+people relied upon King Gustaf Adolf's good fortune,
+and when corroboration did not arrive, the whole
+matter was forgotten, all thinking it was a false story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is an ordinary fact in life that, as we hate those
+to whom we have occasioned a wrong, so we feel well
+disposed towards persons whom we have had the
+opportunity of serving.  Lady Marta of Korsholm
+was not a little proud of her brave defence against
+the drunken soldiers, and did not hesitate to attribute
+the preservation of the castle to the heroism she had
+then displayed.  That she had saved Regina's life
+gave the latter great importance in her eyes; and
+neither could she refuse her admiration for the
+courage and self-sacrifice which the young girl had
+shown on the same occasion.  The high-born prisoner
+was her pride; and she did not omit to watch her
+steps like an Argus; but she gave Regina a larger
+room, let her have old Dorthe again as a waiting
+woman, and provided her with an abundance of good
+food.  Regina also was less proud and cold, she would
+sometimes answer Lady Marta with a word or a nod;
+but of all the nice things that were offered her, the
+choice meats, the strong beer, etc., she took little
+or nothing; she had sunk apparently into a state of
+indifference, told her beads devoutly, but in other
+respects let one day pass as another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Marta held the deep conviction that her
+prisoner, if not precisely the Roman Emperor's own
+daughter, was, nevertheless, a princess of the highest
+birth.  She therefore hit upon the unlucky idea of
+trying to convert so distinguished a person from her
+papistical heresy, on the supposition that she would
+thereby accomplish something very remarkable when
+the war was ended and Regina was exchanged.
+Regina thus became exposed to the same proselytizing
+attempts which she herself had undertaken with
+the great Gustaf Adolf; but Lady Marta's were not
+so delicate or refined in their application as her own.
+She overwhelmed the poor girl with Lutheran
+sermons, psalm-books, and tracts, also often made
+long speeches interspersed with proverbs, and when
+this was without avail, she sent the castle chaplain
+to preach to the prisoner.  Of course all this occurred
+to deaf ears.  Regina was sufficiently firm in her faith
+to listen with patience, but she suffered from it; her
+stay at Korsholm became more unbearable every day,
+and who can blame her, if with secret longings she
+sighed for the day when she could regain her freedom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorthe, on the contrary, flamed up every time the
+heretic preacher or the plucky old lady began their
+sermons, and rattled through a whole string of prayers
+and maledictions both in Latin and Low German, the
+result generally being that she was shut up for two
+or three days in the dungeon of the castle, until her
+longing for her lady's company once more made her
+tractable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so passed a half-year of Lady Regina's captivity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A better product of Lady Marta's goodwill was,
+that Regina was allowed to embroider, and fine
+materials were ordered for her in the autumn from
+Stockholm.  Thus it became possible for her to work
+a large piece of silk with the Virgin Mary and the
+infant Christ in silver and gold.  Lady Marta in her
+innocence considered the work a sacrament cloth,
+which Regina might present to Vasa church, as a
+proof of her change of sentiments.  A warrior's eyes,
+on the other hand, would have discerned in it an
+intended flag, a Catholic banner, which the imprisoned
+girl was quietly preparing in expectation of the day
+when her work would wave at the head of the Catholic
+hosts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still Lady Marta was not quite satisfied with the
+Holy Virgin's image, which seemed to her surrounded
+by too large a halo to be truly Lutheran.  She therefore
+considered how she could procure her prisoner a
+more suitable occupation.  It happened now and then
+that the daughter of the Storkyro peasant king, Meri,
+when she was in town, made an errand to Korsholm,
+and in order to gain the favour of the lady of
+the castle, presented her with several skeins of the
+finest and silkiest linen floss, which no one in the
+whole vicinity could spin as well as Meri.  Lady
+Marta consequently got the idea one fine day to teach
+her prisoner to spin, and to give her Meri as a teacher
+in this art.  Meri on her part desired nothing better.
+The near connection in which the imprisoned lady
+had stood to the king, gave her an irresistible interest
+in Meri's eyes.  She wished to hear something about
+him&mdash;the hero, the king, the great, never-to-be-forgotten
+man, who stood before her mind's eye with
+more than earthly lustre.  She wished to know what
+he had said, what he had done, what he had loved
+and hated on earth; she wished for once to feel
+herself transported by his glory, and then to die
+herself&mdash;forgotten.  Poor Meri!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Meri made her second acquaintance with Lady
+Regina in the castle.  She was received at first with
+coldness and indifference, and her spinning scarcely
+pleased the proud young lady.  But gradually her
+submissive mild demeanour won Regina's goodwill,
+and a captive's natural desire to communicate with
+beings outside the prison walls finally made Regina
+more open.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They spun very little, it is true, but they talked
+together like mistress and maid, especially during
+the days when Dorthe was shut up on account of her
+wicked tongue, and it was quite opportune that Meri
+recollected some German from more brilliant days.
+Meri knew how to constantly lead the conversation
+on to the subject of the king, and she soon divined
+Regina's enthusiastic love.  But Regina was very far
+from having any idea of Meri's earlier experiences;
+she ascribed her questions to the natural curiosity
+which such high personages always excite in the
+minds of the common people.  Sometimes she seemed
+astonished at the delicacy and nobleness of the simple
+peasant woman's expressions and views.  There were
+moments when Meri's personality appeared to her as
+an enigma full of contradictions, and then she asked
+herself whether she ought not to consider this woman
+as a spy.  But the next instant she repented this
+thought; and when the spinner looked at her with her
+clear, mild, penetrating gaze, then there was something
+which said to Regina's heart, this woman does
+not dissemble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were sitting one day in the beginning of
+December, and Dorthe was again shut up for her
+unseasonable remarks to the chaplain.  There was a
+striking contrast between these two beings whom
+fate had brought together from such opposite directions,
+but who on one point shared the same interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first, young, proud, dark, flashing, and beautiful,
+a princess, even in captivity; the other of middle
+age, blonde, pale, mild, humble, and free, and yet
+very submissive.  Regina now seventeen, could be
+considered twenty; Meri now thirty-six, had something
+so childish and innocent in her whole appearance,
+that at certain moments she might be taken
+for seventeen.  She could have been Regina's mother,
+and yet she who had suffered so much, seemed almost
+like a child in comparison with the early matured
+southerner at her side.  Lady Regina had been
+spinning a little, and during the operation broken
+many threads.  Provoked and impatient, she pushed
+the distaff away and resumed her embroidery.  This
+happened very often, and her instructress was
+accustomed to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is a pretty image," said Meri, after a look
+at the piece of silk.  "What does it represent?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God's Holy Mother, Sancta Maria," answered
+Regina, as she made the sign of the cross, which she
+was always in the habit of doing when mentioning
+the name of the Holy Virgin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what is it for?" asked Meri with a naïve
+familiarity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina looked at her.  Again a suspicion came
+into her mind, but it immediately passed away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am embroidering the banner of the Holy Faith
+for Germany," replied Regina proudly.  "When it
+one day waves, the heretics will flee before the wrath
+of the mother of God."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When I think of the mother of God," said Meri,
+"I imagine her mild, good, and peaceful; I imagine
+her as a mother alone with her love."  Meri said these
+words with a peculiar tremor in her voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The mother of God is Heaven's queen; she will
+fight against the godless and destroy them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But when the mother of God takes to strife, King
+Gustaf Adolf will meet her with uncovered head and
+lowered sword, bend his knee to her, and say: 'Holy
+Virgin, I am not fighting for thy glory, but for that
+of thy son, our Saviour.'  'He that fights for my son
+also fights for me,' she will reply, 'because I am a
+mother.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your king is a heretic," excitedly answered
+Regina.  Nothing irritated her more than opposition
+to the Catholic faith, of which the doctrine of the
+Holy Virgin as Heaven's ruler is a constituent.  "Your
+king is a tyrant and unbeliever who deserves all the
+anger of the saints on his head.  Do you know, Meri,
+that I hate your king?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I love him," said Meri in a scarcely audible
+voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," continued Regina, "I hate him like sin,
+death, and perdition.  If I were a man and had an
+arm and sword, it would be the aim of my life to
+destroy his hosts and his work.  You are happy,
+Meri, you know nothing about the war, you do not
+know what Gustaf Adolf has done to the poor
+Catholics.  But I have seen it, and my faith and my
+country cry out for revenge.  There are moments
+when I could kill him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And when Lady Regina lifts her white hand with
+the gleaming dagger over the king's head, then the
+king will expose his breast where the great heart
+beats; look at her little white hand with a glance of
+sublime calmness and say, 'Thou delicate white hand,
+which worketh the image of the mother of God, strike,
+if thou canst, my heart is here, and it beats for the
+freedom and enlightenment of the world;' then the
+white hand will sink slowly down, and the dagger
+will drop from it, unnoticed, and God's mother on
+the cloth will smile again.  She knew well that it
+would be so.  It would have been just the same with
+herself.  For King Gustaf Adolf none can kill, and
+none hate, because God's angel walks by his side and
+turns human beings' hate to love."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina forgot her work, and regarded Meri with
+her large, dark, moist eyes.  There was so much that
+surprised and astonished her in these words, but she
+kept silent.  Finally she said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king wears an amulet."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," said Meri, "he wears a talisman, but it is
+not the copper ring that the people speak of&mdash;it is
+his exalted human heart which gives up everything
+for what is good and noble on earth.  When he was
+still very young, and had not yet acquired fame or
+renown, he only possessed his blonde hair, his high
+brow, and his mild blue eyes.  Then he wore no
+amulet, and yet blessing and love and happiness
+walked by his side.  All the angels in Heaven and
+all human beings on earth loved him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina's eyes glistened with tears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did you see him when he was young?" she asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did I see him! yes."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you have loved him like all the others?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"More than all the others, lady."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you love him still?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, I love him much.  Like you; but you would
+kill him and I would die for him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina sprang up, burst out weeping, clasped Meri
+in her arms and kissed her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not think that I would kill him.  Oh, Holy
+Virgin, I would a thousand times give my life to save
+his!  But you do not know, Meri.  It is an anguish
+that you cannot understand, it is a fearful conflict
+when one loves a man, a hero, the personification of the
+highest and grandest in life, and yet is commanded
+by a Holy Faith to hate this man, to kill him, to
+persecute him to the grave.  You do not know, happy one,
+who only needs to love and bless, what it means to
+be tossed between love and hate, like a ship on the
+mighty waves; to be obliged to curse one whom you
+bless in your heart, to sit within the walls of a prison
+a prey to the battling emotions which incessantly
+struggle for mastery in your innermost soul.  Ah! that
+was the night, when I tried to reconcile my love
+with my faith, and bring him, the mighty one, to the
+way of salvation.  If the saints had then allowed my
+weak voice to convince him of his error ... Then
+poor Regina would have followed him with joy as
+his humblest servant through all his life, and received
+in her own breast all the lances and balls that sought
+his heart.  But the saints did not grant me&mdash;unworthy
+being&mdash;so great an honour, and therefore I
+now sit here a prisoner on account of my faith and
+my love; and if an angel broke down the walls of
+my prison and said to me, 'Fly, your country again
+awaits you,' I would answer: 'It is his will, the
+beloved; for his sake I suffer, for his sake I remain,' and
+yet you believe that I wish to kill him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina wept much and bitterly, with all the violence
+of an intense passion which had been pent up for a
+long time.  Meri with gentle hands removed the dark
+locks from her brow, and looking mildly and kindly
+into her tearful eyes, said with prophetic inspiration:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not weep so, the day will arrive when you
+will be able to love without being obliged to curse
+him at the same time!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That day will never come, Meri."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, that day will come, when Gustaf Adolf is
+dead."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, may it never come, then!  Rather would I
+suffer all my life ... It is still for his sake."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, lady, that day will come, not because you
+are younger and he is older.  But have you never
+heard anyone say of a child which is brighter, kinder,
+and better than others, 'that child will not live long;
+it is too good for this world?'  So does it seem to me
+about King Gustaf Adolf.  He is too great, too noble,
+too good, to live long.  God's angels wish to have
+him before his body withers and his soul grows weary.
+Believe me, they will take him from us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina looked at her with an alarmed air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who are you that speaks such words?  How your
+eyes shine! you are not what you seem! who are you
+then?  Oh, Holy Virgin, protect me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Regina started up with all the superstitious
+terror that belonged to her time.  Probably she could
+not account for her fear, but Meri's conversation had
+all along seemed strange and unaccountable, coming
+from the mouth of an uncultivated peasant woman in
+this barbarous land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who am I?" repeated Meri, with the same mild
+look.  "I am a woman who loves.  That is all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you say that the king will die?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God alone presides over human destinies, and the
+greatest among mortals is still but a mortal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that moment someone opened the door, and
+Lady Marta entered more solemnly than usual, and
+also somewhat paler.  She now wore, instead of her
+bright striped woollen jacket, a deep mourning attire,
+and her whole appearance indicated something
+unusual.  Regina and Meri both started at the sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri became pale as death, went straight to Lady
+Marta, looked her fixedly in the face, and said
+mechanically with a great effort,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king is dead."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you know it already?" answered Lady Marta,
+surprised.  "God preserve us, the bad news came an
+hour ago, with a courier from Tornea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Regina sank down in a swoon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri, with a broken heart, retained her
+self-possession, and tried to recall Regina to life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The king has then fallen on the battlefield in
+the midst of victory?" she asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On the battlefield of Lützen, the 6th of November,
+and in the midst of a glorious victory," replied Lady
+Marta, more and more surprised at Meri's knowledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Awake, gracious lady, he has lived and died like
+a hero, worthy of the admiration of the whole world.
+He has fallen in the hour of triumph, in the highest
+lustre of his glory; his name will live in all times,
+and his name we will both bless."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina opened her dreamy eyes and clasped her
+hands in prayer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, Holy Virgin," she said, "I thank thee that
+thou hast let him go in his greatness from the world,
+and thus taken away the curse which rested upon my
+love!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Meri dropped down at her side in prayer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But below in the castle yard stood a tall, white-haired
+old man, with his stiff features distorted by
+grief and despair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A curse upon my work!" he cried; "my plan is
+frustrated beforehand, and the object for which I
+have lived slips from my grasp.  Oh, fool that I was,
+to count upon a human being's life, and trying to hope
+that the king would acknowledge his son, and live
+until the son of Aron Bertila's daughter had time to
+win a brilliant fame in war, and walk abreast with
+the heiress to the Swedish throne!  The king is dead,
+and my descendant is only a boy in his minority,
+who will soon be mixed with the multitude.  Now it
+is only wanting for him to gain a nobleman's coat of
+arms, and place himself amongst the vampires
+between the only true powers of the state, the king
+and the people.  Fool, fool that I was!  The king
+is dead!  Go, old Bertila, into the grave to fraternize
+with King John and the destroyer of aristocracy,
+King Carl, and bury thy proud plans among the same
+worms that have already consumed Prince Gustaf
+and Karin Mansdotter!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the old man seized Meri, who just then came
+out, violently by the hand, and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, we have neither of us anything more to
+do in the world!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," said Meri with suppressed grief, "we both
+still have a son!"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0306"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI.
+<br /><br />
+THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Until now the Swedish lion, through the wisdom
+and valour of Gustaf Adolf, and of the leaders and
+men trained under him, had hastened from victory
+to victory, and overthrown all his opponents.  At last
+a day of misfortune dawned; in a great battle the
+Swedish arms suffered a terrible defeat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brilliant Wallenstein had died the death of a
+traitor at Eger; now Gallas, the destroyer, overran
+central Germany, captured Regensburg, and advanced
+against the free city of Nördlingen, in
+Schwaben; Duke Bernhard and Gustaf Horn hurried
+with the Swedish army to its rescue.  They had,
+however, but 17,000 men, whilst Gallas had 33,000.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will attack," said the duke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us wait," said Horn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They expected 5,000 men as a reinforcement, and
+fourteen days passed.  Then Nördlingen came to sore
+straits, and began to light beacon fires on the walls
+at night.  Again the duke wished to attack; again
+Horn preferred to entrench and assist the city
+without battle.  Then they called this brave soul a
+cowardly man; and, indignant, but with dark presentiments,
+he resolved to fight.  Repeated victories had
+made the Swedes over-confident, and they entered
+the conflict assured of success beforehand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1634.
+Outside Nördlingen is a height called Arensberg, and
+between it and the town a smaller one.  Upon the
+last the Imperialists had raised three redoubts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Swedish army stood on Arensberg, Horn on
+the right and the duke on the left wing.  The battle-cry
+was the same as at Breitenfeld and Lützen: God
+with us!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early in the morning a heavy rain fell.  Once more
+the wise Horn wished to wait, but the duke, who held
+the supreme command, ordered an advance.  Horn
+obeyed, and the right wing marched down the valley
+between the two heights.  The impatience of the
+cavalry hastened the conflict, which resulted
+unfavourably even in the very beginning.  The cannon of the
+Imperialists in the redoubts made great gaps in the
+lines of the cavalry, and the enemy's superiority made
+them hesitate.  Horn sent two brigades to storm the
+middle redoubt.  They captured it and pursued the
+enemy.  Piccolomini checked their course and drove
+them back to the redoubt.  There the powder
+happened to take fire.  With a terrific explosion the
+earthwork flew into the air, and several hundreds of
+Swedes and Finns with it.  This was the first
+calamity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this position, however, depended the victory.
+For a few moments the spot stood empty; Piccolomini's
+soldiers, alarmed by the report and destruction,
+could not be induced to advance and occupy it.  At
+last they did so.  Horn asked for help in order to
+expel them.  The duke sent the young Bohemian,
+Thurn, with the yellow regiment.  He made a
+mistake, attacked the wrong redoubt, and engaged with
+a greatly superior force.  Seventeen times he charged
+the enemy, and as often was he repulsed.  In vain
+did Horn try to storm the height.  Thurn's error was
+the second calamity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the left wing the duke had begun the conflict
+against the artillery and cavalry.  At the first
+encounter the Imperialists were hurled back, and the
+duke's German cavalry broke their ranks and pursued
+the enemy.  But Tilly's spirit seemed to-day to
+give the Imperialists courage.  They advanced their
+ordered and superior troops against the assailants,
+checked them, and drove them back with loss.  The
+duke tried to get reinforcements into Nördlingen, but
+failed.  In vain did he drive Gallas before him.  New
+masses of the enemy constantly opposed him, and in
+his rear the Croats plundered his baggage-wagons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was about noon.  Horn's troops had been under
+fire for eight consecutive hours, and were worn out
+with fatigue.  With every hour their hopes of victory
+grew less and less, but their unflinching, indomitable
+courage remained the same.  They had observed the
+disorder in the left wing.  They themselves were in
+a desperate plight down in the valley, where Piccolomini's
+bullets fell every moment into the underbush,
+and sprinkled the fallen branches with blood.  Then
+Horn proposed to withdraw to Arensberg, and the
+duke at last consented.  He considered the matter,
+however, for nearly two hours; but these two hours
+he would afterwards have been glad to purchase with
+half a lifetime.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was three o'clock in the afternoon.  Horn made
+the Finnish cavalry make a feigned attack, so as to
+cover the retreat, and began like a prudent general to
+withdraw in good order.  The Imperialists perceiving
+his intention, pressed on with double force.  They
+began to hope, what they had not dared to entertain
+before, that even the Swedes might be conquered,
+and Piccolomini's stumpy figure flew through the
+ranks, urging his men to bear down with their
+collected forces upon the Swedes' exposed flanks, and
+totally crush them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the valley behind the Swedes and between the
+two heights flowed a stream with high banks, and
+swollen by the abundant rains.  At the little village
+of Hirnheim, the stream was spanned by a single
+bridge, and this point Horn had carefully guarded in
+order to secure the retreat.  The artillery passed first
+over the bridge, and were safe on Arensberg.  The
+first lines of Horn's wing had also reached the village,
+and the rest were only a short distance from it, when
+a new calamity occurred, the third and the worst on
+this most disastrous day.  Duke Bernhard had
+undertaken to detain the enemy with his left wing until
+Horn and his men had crossed the stream.  But he
+soon discovered that he had consulted valour rather
+than prudence.  The enemy concentrated their forces,
+and increased their terrible attacks.  Three times De
+Werth charged the duke's cavalry; three times was
+he repulsed.  The fourth time, however, he broke
+through the duke's lines.  In vain the latter sent a
+squadron to take him in flank.  Mad with rage, the
+duke snatched his gold-embroidered banner from an
+ensign's hand, and followed by his bravest men,
+rushed into the midst of the enemy.  It was all
+useless.  His best men were slain, his horse shot under
+him, and the banner wrenched from his hand;
+wounded and overpowered he was nearly taken
+prisoner, when a young officer at his side lent him
+his horse, and he escaped with great difficulty.  His
+infantry had already been routed, being unable to
+support the attacks of the cavalry on the open plain;
+and when the wounded leader galloped away, his
+whole wing followed in the utmost disorder,
+convinced that all was lost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that moment, Horn's infantry crossed the narrow
+bridge.  Then confused and loud cries arose, that
+the battle was lost, and the enemy close upon them.
+First single horsemen, then whole troops of the duke's
+cavalry rushed along the road to the bridge, and rode
+amongst the infantry, trampling some under their
+horses' hoofs, and throwing the rest into fearful
+confusion.  The efforts of Horn and his nearest officers
+to stay the frantic rout were fruitless.  On the narrow
+bridge everything was mixed pell-mell&mdash;men, horses,
+wagons, dead, and wounded; and finally the duke's
+whole wing rushed to this fatal spot.  Like a
+storm Piccolomini pressed upon the rear of the
+fugitives; he sent some light guns up on the heights,
+where they played with terrible effect on the retreating
+mass; every ball cut long lanes through it.  Then
+the Croats fell upon the rout, and as friend and foe
+became mixed together, the artillery fire had to cease.
+The long lances and swords of the Imperial cavalry
+made great slaughter.  All the Swedes and Finns
+seemed doomed to destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gustaf Horn, the wise and courageous Finnish
+general, whom Gustaf Adolf called "his right
+hand," was now the last to retain self-possession and
+courage at this terrible crisis.  With the remains of
+three regiments he had taken up a position by the
+bridge, and the fugitives fled past him without
+drawing his force into the current.  They implored him
+to save himself; but his stubborn, Finnish will
+refused to listen to these appeals, and he stayed where
+he was.  For a time the pursuit was checked, the
+only thing that Horn hoped to gain by his intrepid
+resistance.  Gallas sent one of his best Spanish
+brigades to oust him.  Horn drove them back with
+loss.  The victorious De Werth fell upon him with
+his dragoons.  The result was the same.  The enemy
+now concentrated their forces, and Horn was attacked
+on three sides at once.  They offered him his life if he
+would surrender.  He replied with a sword-thrust,
+and his men gave the same response.  Not one would
+ask for quarter.  At last, when nearly all those near
+him had fallen, he was overwhelmed by numbers and
+taken prisoner.  Then the few surviving heroes
+surrendered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Swedish army in full flight rushed over
+Arensberg, Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tore his
+hair, and exclaimed that he was a fool, and Horn a
+wise man.  Later on the duke consoled himself with
+Elsas, but that day he had reason to repent of his
+rashness.  Six thousand Swedes, Finns, and Germans
+covered the blood-stained heights of Nordlingen;
+6,000 were taken prisoners, and amongst them the
+two Finns, Horn and Wittenberg, who were well
+treated by the enemy.  Of the other 10,000, half were
+wounded, and most of the remaining mercenaries
+deserted.  The army had lost 4,000 baggage-wagons,
+300 banners, and all their artillery.  A miserable
+remnant made its way to Mentz, plundering and
+pillaging as it fled, and suffering from extreme want.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More disastrous to Sweden than the loss of these
+12,000 men was the damage to its prestige, and the
+enemy's regained belief in victory.  The battle of
+Nordlingen became the turning point in the Thirty
+Years' War, and excited both joy and consternation.
+throughout Europe, until Baner's genius and victories
+restored their lost lustre to the Swedish arms once
+more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst those who fought at Horn's side to the
+last, was our old friend, Captain Larsson.  The sturdy
+little captain had on this occasion no time to open
+his talkative mouth; he perspired profusely from the
+heat, and had fought since dawn; yet he had not
+received the least scratch upon his fleshy person.  Let
+it be said in his praise, that at Nordlingen he thought
+of neither Rhine wine or Bavarian nuns, but honestly
+plied his weapons as well as possible.  Nevertheless,
+we will not assert that he then cut down thirty
+Imperialists with his trusty sword, as he afterwards
+declared in good faith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was taken prisoner with Horn; but it was not
+his capture that most provoked the captain, but the
+terrible vexation he experienced on seeing the Croats
+afterwards empty at their leisure the Swedish stock
+of wine which they had captured with the baggage-wagons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another of our friends, Lieutenant Bertel, fought
+at the duke's side all day, and was the one who
+offered him his horse.  We shall see, by-and-by, that
+the duke did not forget this service.  Bertel, like
+Larsson, was hotly engaged in the battle, but, less
+fortunate than the latter, received several wounds,
+and was finally borne along in the stream of fugitives
+to Arensberg.  Almost without knowing how, he
+found himself the next day far from the battlefield,
+and proceeded with the remnant of the duke's army
+to Mentz.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0307"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII.
+<br /><br />
+THE LOST SON.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+It is Epiphany, in 1635, thus in mid-winter.  In Aron
+Bertila's "stuga,"* at Storkyro, a large fire of pine
+logs crackled on the spacious hearth, for at that time
+heavy forests still grew around the fertile fields.
+Outside rages a snow-storm, with a heavy blast; the
+wolves howl on the ice of the stream; the famished
+lynx prowls around to find shelter.  It is Twelfth-day
+evening, an hour or two after twilight.  The Storkyro
+peasant king sits in his high-backed chair, at a short
+distance from the hearth, listening with scattered
+thoughts to his daughter Meri, who by the firelight
+reads aloud a chapter of Agricola's Finnish New
+Testament, for at that period the whole Bible had not
+been translated into the Finnish tongue.  Bertila has
+grown very old since we last met him, then still
+vigorous in his old age.  The great ideas that
+constantly revolve in his bald head give him no peace,
+and yet these plans are now completely shattered by
+the king's death, like fragments from a shipwreck
+floating around on the stormy billows of a dark sea.
+Strong souls like his generally succumb only by
+destroying themselves.  All the changes and misfortunes
+of his turbulent life had not been able to break his
+iron will; but grief over a ruined hope, the vain
+attempt to reconstruct the vanished castles in the air,
+and the sorrow of seeing his own children themselves
+tear down his work, all this gnawed like a vulture
+upon his inner life.  A single thought had made him
+twenty years older in two years, and this idea was
+presumptuous even to madness.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* A large room, filling the entire house space with the exception of
+one or two small chambers.  Sleeping bunks are arranged round the
+walls.  The later peasants' houses have more rooms.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Why is not one of my own family at this moment
+King of Sweden?"  Thus it ran.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times Meri raises her mild blue eyes from the
+Holy Book and regards her old father with anxious
+looks.  She, too, looks older; the quiet sorrow lies
+like the autumn over green groves; it neither breaks
+or kills, but makes the fresh leaves wither on the tree
+of life.  Meri's glance is full of peace and submission.
+The thought that shines forth from her soul like a
+sun at its setting, is none other than this:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beyond the grave I shall again meet the joy of my
+heart, and then he will no longer wear an earthly
+crown."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near her, to the left, sits old Larsson, short and
+stout like his jovial son.  His good-natured, hearty
+face has for a time assumed a more solemn expression,
+as he listens to the reading of the sacred book.  His
+hands are folded as in prayer, and now and then he
+stirs the fire a little, with friendly attention, so that
+Meri can see better.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Behind him in a devotional attitude sit some of
+the field hands; and this group, illuminated by the
+reflection of the fire, is completed by a purring grey
+cat, and a large shaggy watch-dog, curled up under
+Meri's feet, to which he seems proud to serve as a
+footstool.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Meri in her reading came to the place in
+Luke, where it speaks of the Prodigal Son, old
+Bertila's eyes began to glitter with a sinister light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The reprobate!" he muttered to himself.  "To
+waste one's inheritance, that is nothing!  But to
+forget one's old father ... by God, that is shameful!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri read until she came to the Prodigal Son's
+repentance: "And he arose and came to his father.
+But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
+him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his
+neck, and kissed him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What a fool of a father!" again muttered Aron
+Bertila to himself.  "He ought to have bound him
+with cords, beaten him with rods, and then driven
+him away from his house back to the riotous living
+and the empty wine-cups!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Father!" whispered Meri reproachfully.  "Be
+merciful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful, and
+takes the lost children to His arms."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And if your son ever returns..." began Larsson
+in the same tone.  But Bertila stopped him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold your tongues, and don't trouble yourselves
+about me.  I have no longer any son ... who falls
+repentant at my feet," he added directly, when he
+saw two large, clear pearls glistening in Meri's
+eyelashes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She continued: "And the son said unto him,
+Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy
+sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stop reading that!" burst out the old man, in a
+bad temper.  "See that my bed is in order, and let
+the folks go to sleep; it is now late."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment horses' hoofs were heard outside
+on the creaking snow.  This unusual occurrence on
+the evening of a sacred day made Larsson go to the
+low window, and breathe on the frost-covered pane,
+so as to look out into the storm.  A sleigh, drawn by
+two horses, worked its way through the snow-drifts
+and drove into the yard.  Two men in sheep-skin
+cloaks jumped out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seized with a sudden intuition, Larsson hurried
+out to meet the travellers, and quick as lightning
+Meri followed him.  The door swung to behind them,
+and there was a moment's delay before it opened
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But now a young man in a soldier's garb entered
+with bowed head, threw aside his plumed hat, white
+with snow, and going straight to old Bertila, knelt
+down, and bent his beautiful curly head still lower,
+as he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Father, I am here, and ask your blessing!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And behind him stood Meri and old Larsson, both
+with clasped hands, and raising their pleading eyes
+to the stern old man, with the same words:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Father, here is thy son, give him thy blessing!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a brief moment Bertila struggled with himself,
+his lips slightly trembled, and his hand was
+unconsciously stretched out, as if to lift up the young
+man at his feet.  But soon his bald head rose higher,
+his hand drew back, his keen eyes flashed darker
+than ever, and his lips trembled no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go!" said he, short and sharp; "go, you reprobate
+boy, back to your brother noblemen, and your
+sisters, the fine ladies.  What seek you in the plain
+peasant's 'stuga,' which you despise?  Go!  I have
+no longer a son!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the youth went not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not be angry, my father," he said, "if in my
+youthful ambition I have at any time violated your
+commands.  Who sent me out amongst the great and
+illustrious ones of the earth, to win fame and honour?
+Who bade me go to the war to ennoble my peasant
+name with great deeds?  Who exposed me to the
+temptation of all the brilliant examples which
+surrounded the king?  You, and only you, my father;
+and now you thrust away your son, who for your sake
+twice refused a patent of nobility."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You!" exclaimed the old man with foaming rage.
+"You renounce a patent of nobility, you, who have
+blushed for your peasant name and taken another
+which would look more imposing?  No, on your
+knees have you begged for a coat of arms.  What do
+I know about its being offered you; what do I care.
+I only know that since your earliest childhood I have
+tried to implant in your soul, recreant, that there are
+no other rightful powers than the king and people,
+that all who place themselves between, whether they
+bear the name of aristocrats, ecclesiastics, or what
+not, are monstrosities, a ruin, a curse to State and
+country ... all this have I tried to teach you, and
+the fruit of my teachings has been that you have
+smuggled yourself among this nobility, which I hate
+and despise, that you have coveted its empty titles,
+paraded with its extravagant display, imbibed its
+prejudices, and now you stand here, in your father's
+house, with a lie on your lips, and aristocratic vanity
+in your heart.  Go, degenerate son!  Aron Bertila is
+what he has always been&mdash;a peasant!  He curses and
+rejects you, apostate!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words the old man turned away, rose
+and went with a firm step and a high head into the
+little bed-chamber, leaving Bertel still on his knees in
+the same place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hear me, father, father!" cried Bertel after him,
+as he quickly unbuttoned his coat and took out a
+folded paper; "this paper I have intended to tear
+to pieces at your feet!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the old father did not hear him; the paper fell
+to the ground, and when Larsson, a moment later,
+unfolded and read it, he saw it contained a diploma
+from the Regency in Stockholm, conferring upon
+Gustaf Bertel, captain of horse in the "life-guards,"
+a patent of nobility, and a coat of arms with the name
+of <i>Bertelsköld</i>* at Duke Bernhard of Weimar's
+solicitation.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Bertila is a Finnish peasant name.  Bertel is a burgher name.
+Bertelsköld is a noble name, indicated
+by the termination sköld, always
+a sign of nobility in Sweden and Finland.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+While all in the "stuga" were still perfectly
+stupefied by old Bertila's conduct, three of Fru Marta's
+soldiers from Korsholm entered in great haste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hullo, boys!" they exclaimed to the hands,
+"have you seen her?  Here is something that will
+pay.  Two hundred silver thalers reward to him who
+seizes and brings back, alive or dead, Lady Regina
+von Emmeritz, state prisoner at Korsholm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sound of this name Bertel was aroused from
+his stupefying grief, sprang up, and seized the speaker
+by the collar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wretch, what did you say?" he exclaimed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ho, ho, if you please!  Be a little more careful
+when you speak to the people of the Royal Majesty
+and the Crown.  I tell you that the German
+traitress, the papistical sorceress, Lady von Emmeritz,
+succeeded in escaping last night from Korsholm
+castle, and that he who does not help to catch her is
+a traitor and a..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man had no time to finish his speech, before
+a blow from Bertel's strong arm stretched him at
+full-length on the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ha, my father, you have wished it!" cried the
+young man, and in a flash was outside the door and
+in his sleigh, which at the next moment was heard
+driving off through the raging tempest.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0308"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII.
+<br /><br />
+THE FUGITIVE LADY.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+We will now see what has become of Lady Regina,
+and what has induced her to exchange Fru Marta's
+tender care for the desperate adventure of fleeing in
+the middle of winter, through a strange country filled
+with desolate tracts, where she was profoundly
+ignorant of the roads and paths, and did not even
+know how to make herself understood in the language
+of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We must not overlook the fact that our story is
+laid in a period when Catholicism and Lutheranism
+were in the sharpest conflict; when Lutheranism,
+heated by the violent opposition, was as little inclined
+to religious tolerance as Catholicism itself.  Fru
+Marta had once for all been possessed by the idea
+that she was in duty bound to convert Lady Regina
+to the Lutheran faith, and from this well-meant but
+futile enterprise, no one could dissuade her.  She
+therefore persisted, in and out of season, to torment
+the poor girl with her views; sometimes with books,
+sometimes with exhortations, and at others with
+persuasions and threats, or promises of freedom; and
+when Regina refused to read the books, or listen to
+the preaching, the zealous old lady had prayers read
+in her prisoner's room every morning and evening,
+as well as services on Sundays.  All these means were
+thrown away on what Fru Marta considered Regina's
+stubbornness.  The more the former exerted herself,
+the calmer, colder, and more unyielding became her
+captive.  Regina naturally looked upon herself as a
+martyr for her faith, and suffered every humiliation
+with apparent fortitude for the sake of the holy cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But within the young girl's veins fermented the
+hot southern blood, and it was with great difficulty
+that she could always appear calm on the surface.
+There were times when Regina would have blown up
+the whole of Korsholm, if it had been in her power.
+But the old granite walls defied her silent rage, and
+flight finally became her only method of escape from
+the persecution.  Night and day she pondered over
+it; and at last she discovered a means of eluding
+Fru Marta's vigilance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Kajaneborg castle was then confined the
+celebrated and unfortunate Johannes Messenius, who in
+his youth had been educated by the Jesuits in
+Braunsberg, and chosen by them to become the apostle
+of Catholicism in Sweden.  Imprisoned for his
+lampoons and conspiracies in the interest of Sigismund's
+party, he had now for nineteen years, under hard
+treatment, sat there like a mole in his hole, when the
+report of his learning, his misfortunes, and his Popish
+sentiments reached Lady Regina in her prison.  From
+this moment some bold plans began to ferment in
+the young girl's mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day, about New Year's time, a wandering
+German quack came to Korsholm with his medicine-chest
+on his back, just like peddling Jews at a later
+date.*  Such doctors and apothecaries combined in
+one individual did a lucrative business at the expense
+of the common people, and were frequently consulted
+even by the upper classes, for in the whole country
+there was not a single regular physician, and only
+one apothecary in Abo; and even this one was not
+well stocked.  No wonder, then, that our man found
+enough to do, even at Korsholm, what with pains,
+stomach-aches, and gout; nay, Fru Marta, who, every
+time she had thrashed her male servants, complained
+of colic and shortness of breath, received the foreign
+doctor with very good will.  In a few days the latter
+was quite at home, and thus it fell out that he was
+called in to prescribe for Lady Regina, who was
+suffering from a severe headache.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* It was peculiar that the surgeon always spoke of quacks with great
+contempt, although he had himself travelled about with a medicine
+chest on his back.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+This time, Fru Marta's usual perspicacity deserted
+her.  Two days afterwards the young lady, old
+Dorthe, and the quack doctor were all missing.  A
+grating which had been broken off from the outside,
+and a rope ladder, made it certain that the quack had
+been instrumental in procuring for the prisoner a free
+passage over wall and ramparts.  Fru Marta forgot
+both her colic and shortness of breath, from sheer
+amazement and anger, stirred up the castle and the
+town, and immediately dispatched her soldiers in all
+directions to capture the fugitives.  It will soon be
+seen how far she succeeded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let us now return for a moment to Bertel, whom
+we find driving ahead in the stormy night, attended
+by the faithful Pekka, and with a heart full of the
+most conflicting feelings.  The faithful attendant
+could not understand the enormous folly of leaving
+a cheerful fireside and good wholesome porridge, for
+snow-drifts and wolves in the wild woods, as soon
+as they had arrived.  Neither did Bertel comprehend
+it himself.  On returning to the north, by way of
+Tornel, on a furlough from Germany, while the army
+lay in winter quarters, he had hurried through
+Storkyro to Vasa, which was his secret destination.
+And now he had met in one place a father's anger,
+and in the other the empty walls, where she had
+been, but was no longer.  Regina had disappeared
+without leaving a trace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where shall I drive?" asked Pekka monotonously
+and gruffly, when they entered the broad highway.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wherever you like," answered his master just as
+testily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pekka turned his horses towards Vasa, about
+twenty miles away.  Bertel noticed this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ass!" he cried, "have I not ordered you to drive
+north?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"North!" repeated Pekka mechanically, and with
+a heavy sigh turned his horses towards Ny-Karleby,
+to which town it was quite forty miles.  At that time
+they had no regular stations, with horses provided
+for the accommodation of travellers.  But there were
+farms at intervals, where all who travelled on Government
+business could reckon on finding horses, while
+other travellers were obliged to bargain as best they
+could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The parsonages were the usual stopping-places for
+the night, and always had a room in order in an
+out-building, where beds of straw and a table with cold
+food stood hospitably prepared for travellers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was, therefore, quite natural that Pekka, with his
+mind still full of the porridge-kettle, ventured to ask
+as a further question whether they would spend the
+night at Wort parsonage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Drive to Ylihärmä," answered the captain of horse,
+provoked, and wrapping himself up in his long
+sheepskin cloak, for the night wind was icy cold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The devil take me if I understand the pranks
+of these noblemen!" murmured Pekka to himself, as
+he turned off into the narrow village road, which from
+Storkyro leads northward towards Lappo parish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here the snow had drifted several feet high
+between the fences, and the travellers could only
+advance step by step.  After an hour's efforts the
+horses were completely worn out, and stopped every
+few paces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel, absorbed in his thoughts, was scarcely
+conscious of it.  They had left Kyro's wide plains
+behind them, and were now in the midst of Lappo's
+thick woods.  The silence of the wilderness,
+interrupted by the wailing of the storm, surrounded the
+travellers on all sides, and as far as the eye could
+reach there were no traces of human habitations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pekka had for a time walked by the side of the
+sleigh, and with his broad shoulders lifted it up again,
+when it sank so deep in the snow that the horses'
+strength was insufficient to move it from the spot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finally his sinewy arms also refused their services,
+and the sleigh stopped right in the midst of a
+mountain of snow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well!" exclaimed Bertel impatiently, "what is
+the matter?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nothing," replied Pekka stolidly, "except that
+we need neither priest nor undertaker to find us a
+grave."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How far is it from here to the nearest farm?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Between six and seven miles, I think."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you not see something resembling a light, far
+away there in the woods?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes, it looks like it..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Unharness the horses and let us ride there."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, dear master, it is of no use; these woods have
+been fearfully haunted, that I know of old, ever since
+the peasants beat the bailiff to death during the Club
+War, and burned his house and his innocent children."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nonsense!  I tell you that we will ride there."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is all the same to me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few moments the horses were taken out of the
+traces, and the two travellers pushed on in the
+direction of the light, which sometimes disappeared and
+then again shone between the snow-covered pines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But tell me, Pekka," resumed Bertel, "what is the
+story about this wilderness?  I remember that I often
+heard them speak of it in my childhood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, yes, your mother was born here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There used to be quite a little colony in this
+wood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, indeed, it was many hundreds of acres in
+extent.  The bailiffs had laid it all out for miles, as
+far back as Gustaf Vasa's time; and here many
+hundreds of tons of grain have been grown, so father
+has told me; and the noble bailiff had built a fine
+house here, and lived like a prince in the wilderness;
+and then, as I told you, the peasants came and set
+fire to the place in the night-time, destroying both
+people and cattle, with the exception of the young
+'Lady,' whom your father saved and afterwards took
+for his wife.  It is very certain that he had a finger
+in that pie."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so the farm was never built up again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You may depend upon it that the fields were a
+fat slice, and so there were plenty of people ready
+to move here and bid defiance to the devil.  But the
+old Evil One was too artful for them; he began to
+make such a rumpus here with supernatural performances
+day and night, so that no one was sure of his
+life, much less of his sinful soul.  If they sat in their
+homes, the chairs were pulled from under them, and the
+porridge-bowl rolled of its own accord down on the
+floor; the stones were torn from the walls and were
+showered around people's ears.  If they went out in
+the woods they were no better off; they had to keep
+a sharp look-out that the trees did not come crashing
+down upon their heads, although the weather might
+be perfectly quiet, and that the ground did not open
+under their feet, and draw them down into a bottomless
+pit.  And when I think that we are now travelling
+through the same woods ... Oh, oh, I am sinking..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You fool, it is only the pure snow!&mdash;and then you
+say people could not stand it any longer?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They all moved away, so that there was not even
+a cat left, except an old cottager, but I suppose he
+died long ago.  The whole settlement was again
+deserted, the ditches filled up, the fields became
+covered with moss, and the pine-woods spread over
+the former grain lands.  It is now forty years since
+that time..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Pekka, who was not in the habit of making
+long speeches, seemed astonished at his own loquacity,
+and came to a sudden stop as he reigned in his horse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is it now?" asked Bertel impatiently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I don't see a glimpse of the light."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Neither do I.  It is hidden by the trees."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, dear master, it is not concealed by the trees;
+it has sunk into the earth after decoying us here into
+the depths of the forest.  Did not I tell you that it
+would be so?  We shall never get out of this alive."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"For the devil's sake ride on and do not stop, else
+both man and beast will stiffen with the cold.  It
+seems to me I see something like a hut over
+there."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fine hut; it is nothing but a granite rock with
+grey sides, from which the wind has blown away the
+snow.  It is all over with us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold your tongue, and ride on!  Here we have
+an open space with young woods; I caught a glimpse
+of something there between the snow-drifts."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All the saints be with us!  We are now on the
+very spot where the house stood.  Do you not see the
+old fire-place sticking out through the snow?  Not
+a step farther, master!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am not mistaken ... it is the hut."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel and his companion found themselves on very
+rough ground, where the horses stumbled at every
+step over large stones, or sank into great hollows
+covered with snow.  Deep snow-drifts and fallen
+trees made it worse still, as if to obstruct the passage
+to a dilapidated peasant's hut, which by design or
+chance was hidden behind two spreading firs, with
+branches hanging to the ground.  The only window
+of the hut had a shutter, which was at one moment
+blown open by the wind and then slammed to again,
+thus causing the light within to show itself and
+disappear by turns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel dismounted from his horse, tied it to a
+branch of the fir, and approached the window to
+throw a glance inside.  A secret hope gave wings
+to his feet.  He took it for granted that unless the
+fugitives had gone in a northerly direction, they could
+not have followed the main highway, but had sought
+to escape their pursuers on the side roads.  But in
+this part of the plain of East Bothnia hundreds of
+small roads crossed each other at that time, all leading
+to the new settlements in the East.  Who told him
+that the fugitives would select just this road?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still his heart beat faster when he approached the
+window.  Of the four small panes two were of horn,
+which was formerly used in default of glass; one of
+them was broken and stopped up with moss; only the
+fourth was of glass, but so covered with ice and snow
+that at first nothing could be seen.  Bertel breathed
+on the glass, but found to his vexation that the frost
+on the inside defied his curiosity.  Just then his horse
+neighed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed ridiculous to Bertel to stand spying into
+a poor peasant's hut.  He was already on the point
+of knocking at the door, when at that instant a
+shadow obscured the light, and the frost on the
+inside of the glass was quickly melted by the breath
+of a human being, as eager to look out as he was to
+look in.  Bertel was soon able to discern a face with
+burning eyes, which stared out close to the window,
+to discover the cause of a horse's neighing so late
+at night in the wilderness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sight of this face had the effect of an electric
+shock upon the inquisitive captain.  With his thoughts
+on the beautiful Regina, Bertel had expected a sight
+not involving so great a contrast.  But instead he
+beheld a corpse-like face surrounded by a black
+tight-fitting, leather hood, and this dark frame made the
+pale face seem still paler.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel had seen these features before, and when
+he searched his memory, the picture of a terrible
+night in the Bavarian woods rose before his mental
+vision.  Involuntarily he drew back, and hesitated for
+a moment.  This motion was observed by Pekka,
+who had remained on his horse so as to be ready to
+fly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Quick, away from here!" he cried.  "I have told
+you that nobody but the devil himself lives in these
+woods."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, you are right," said Bertel, now smiling at
+his own fears, and what he considered to be the
+offspring of his heated fancy.  "If ever the Prince
+of Darkness has assumed a human form, then he
+resides in this hut.  But that is just the reason why
+we will look the worthy gentleman in the face, and
+force him to give us lodgings for the night.  Hullo,
+there! open the door to some travellers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These words were accompanied by some heavy
+blows on the door.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0309"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IX.
+<br /><br />
+DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+After some time the door was opened, and an old
+man, bent with age, and with snow-white hair,
+disclosed himself.  Accustomed by the right of war to
+take whatever was necessary, when it was not given
+voluntarily, Bertel pushed the old man aside and
+entered the miserable hut without ceremony.  To his
+great astonishment he found it empty.  A half burnt
+"perta,"* stuck in between the bricks of the fire-place,
+threw a flickering light around this abode of poverty.
+There was no door except the entrance; no living
+being besides the old man and a large woolly dog,
+which lay outstretched on the hearth, and showed
+his teeth to the uninvited guest.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* A thin stick of pine-wood, a yard long and an inch thick, which
+the peasants sometimes use instead of candles.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Where is the man in the black leather hood, who
+was here a moment ago?" asked Bertel sharply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God bless your grace," answered the old man
+humbly and evasively, "who could be here but your
+grace?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Out with the truth!  Somebody must be hidden
+here.  Under the bed ... no.  Behind the oven
+... no.  And yet you have just had a large fire kindled
+in the fire-place.  What?  I believe it is put out with
+water?  Answer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is so cold, your grace, and the hut is full of
+cracks..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel's aroused suspicions were not so easily
+dispelled.  His eyes searched every part of the room,
+and soon discovered a little object which had fallen
+under a bench.  It was a fine and soft lady's glove,
+lined with flannel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Will you now confess, old wretch?" burst out the
+excited young man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man seemed dismayed, but only for a
+moment.  He suddenly changed his manner, nodded
+slyly, and pointed to the corner nearest the oven.
+Bertel followed the hint ... took a few steps
+... and suddenly felt himself precipitated downwards.
+He had fallen into the open hole of a cellar, whose
+entrance had been hidden by the heavy shadow of
+the fire-place.  Instantly a trap-door was closed over
+the opening, and he heard the rattling of an iron
+hook, which secured the trap and deprived him of
+all chance of opening the door from below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel had fallen into one of those places under
+the floor in which poor people keep roots and
+home-brewed beer.  The cellar was not deep, nor his fall
+dangerous, but, nevertheless, Bertel's anger was quite
+natural.  The little glove had betrayed the whole
+story.  She must be here; she, the beautiful, proud,
+unfortunate princess, whom he had so long adored
+in secret.  Perhaps she had fallen into the hands of
+cruel robbers.  And just now, when he was near to
+her after years of longing, and when, perhaps, she
+most needed his help and protection, he had been
+caught in a miserable trap; imprisoned in a rat-hole,
+more miserable than the hut itself, of which the floor
+this moment served him for a ceiling.  In vain did
+he try to lift up the planks of the floor by the strength
+of his shoulders; they were as inexorable as the fate
+which had so long mocked his dearest hopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he heard the footsteps of several persons
+passing over the floor overhead.  Then all was silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pekka was now Bertel's only hope, but the former
+had not dared to enter the hut.  Nothing was heard
+of him, however, and three or four hours passed in
+torturing suspense, increased by the prospect of
+perishing from hunger and cold.  Then steps again
+sounded overhead; the iron hook was unfastened,
+and the trap-door raised.  Half-frozen, Bertel crawled
+up from the damp hole, in the firm belief that Pekka
+had at last spied out his prison.  He was met instead
+by the old man with the snow-white hair, who,
+humble and submissive as before, offered his hand
+to help him up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The enraged young warrior seized him by his bony
+shoulders, and proceeded to catechise him in a
+thorough manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wretch," he exclaimed, "are you tired of life, or
+do you not know what you are doing, dotard?  What
+hinders me from crushing your miserable carcase
+against the walls of your own hut?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man looked at him with an unchanging
+countenance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do so, Bertila's son," he replied; "kill your
+mother's old faithful servant if you wish; why should
+he live any longer?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My mother's old servant, do you say?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am the last survivor of all those who formerly
+inhabited this fertile region, which is now a
+wilderness.  It was I who said to Aron Bertila, when my
+master's house was destroyed in blood and ashes:
+'Save my young mistress.'  And Bertila did it;
+cursed is he and blessed at the same time!  He
+carried my lovely young mistress out of the flames,
+and she, a noble maiden, became the haughty
+peasant's humble wife."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But are you mad, old man?  If you are, as you
+say, my mother's old servant, why did you shut me
+up in that damned hole?  You must admit that your
+friendship is of a strange kind."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Kill me, sir.  I am ninety years of age.  Kill me,
+I am a Catholic!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You!  Well, by my sword now I begin to understand you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am the last Catholic in this country.  I belong
+to King John's and King Sigismund's time.  I am
+one of the four who buried the last nun in Nadendal's
+cloister.  For twenty years I have not heard mass,
+or been sprinkled with holy water.  But all the saints
+be praised, an hour before your arrival, I had eaten
+of the holy wafer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A monk has been in your hut?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, sir, one of ours."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And with him a young girl and her old waiting-maid?
+Answer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, sir, they were in his company."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And on my arrival you concealed them..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In the garret.  Yes, your grace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then you decoyed me into that miserable rat-hole,
+while you allowed the women and the monk to
+escape."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not deny that it is so."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what do you think that your reward will be?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Anything&mdash;death, perhaps."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will spare your life on one condition: you shall
+show me the way the fugitives have taken."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My life; I told you that I was ninety years old."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you do not fear the torture?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The saints be praised, if I was worthy of so great
+an honour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But if I burn you alive in your own hut?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The holy martyrs have been burnt at the stake."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, old man, I am not an executioner.  I have
+learnt in the service of my king to revere
+faithfulness."  And Bertel pressed the old man's hand with
+emotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But I will tell you one thing," he continued, "you
+think that I have come to take the fugitives back to
+their prison.  It is not so.  I give you my word of
+honour, that I will defend Lady Regina's freedom
+with my life's blood, and do all in my power to favour
+her flight.  Will you now tell me which way she has
+gone?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, your grace," said the calm old man; "the
+young lady is under the protection of the saints, and
+a wise man's guidance.  You are hot-blooded and
+young, and would bring them all to ruin.  Turn back,
+you will not find any trace of the fugitives."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bull-head," muttered Bertel indignantly.  "Farewell,
+I shall get along without your help."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Remain here quietly until to-morrow, your grace.
+To-night you are at liberty to walk, if you choose, six
+miles through the high snow-drifts, to the nearest
+farm.  To-morrow you can ride comfortably."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wretch! you have sent my horses away?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, your grace ... you must be hungry.  Here
+is a kettle with boiled turnips; may they be to your
+taste."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah!" thought Bertel to himself, as he impatiently
+paced the floor, "I would not let Larsson see me
+at this moment for ten bottles of Rhine wine.  He
+would certainly compare me to the wandering knight
+of La Mancha, who, on the way to his Dulcinea, fell
+into the most peculiar adventures.  How shall I get
+away from here through these terrible snow-drifts?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," he added aloud, "I have an idea; I will
+try if one of the greatest amusements of my youth
+cannot serve me a good turn now.  Old man, where
+do you keep your snow-shoes?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My snow-shoes?" replied the old man, confused.
+"I have none."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You have, I see it in your face.  No Finn in the
+wilderness is without snow-shoes.  Out with them,
+quick!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And without heeding the old man, Bertel pushed
+open the door which led to the garret, and drew out
+a fine pair of snow-shoes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, old friend," exclaimed the young cavalier,
+"what do you think of my horses? ... I call them
+mine, for I will bet anything that you will sell them
+to me for three hard silver thalers: swifter steeds
+have seldom hurried over high snow-drifts.  If you
+have any greeting for the monk or Lady Regina, I
+will take it with pleasure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not go alone into the wilderness," said the
+old man.  "There is neither track or path; the woods
+extend for miles, and are filled with wolves.  It will
+be certain death to you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are wrong, my friend," replied Bertel.  "If
+I am not mistaken, there are traces in two directions:
+one from my horses, the other from the fugitives.
+Tell me, did they go in a sleigh, or on horseback?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think they went on horseback."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then I am certain they drove.  You are a finished
+rogue.  But I forgive you for the sake of your
+excellent snow-shoes.  Farewell, in a couple of hours
+I will find those whom I seek."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these words Bertel hurried out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was yet early in the morning, a short time before
+sunrise.  But fortunately the storm had ceased, the
+sky was clear, and the winter stars twinkled brightly
+in the blue firmament.  The cold had increased, and
+a sharp frost had covered all the branches and
+snowdrifts with those ice diamonds, which at once dazzle
+and charm the wanderer's eye.  The sight of woods
+and snow on a starry winter morning gives the
+Northerner a peculiar exhilarating feeling.  There
+is in this scene a grandeur, a splendour, a purity, a
+freshness, which carries him back to the impressions
+of his childhood and the brilliant illusions of youth.
+There is nothing to cramp the heart, or paralyze the
+soaring imagination; all is there so vast, so solemn,
+so free.  One might say that nature in this deep
+silence of winter and night is dead, and yet she lives,
+warm and rich, in the wanderer's heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is as if she had in this little spot, this solitary
+place in the wilderness, compressed all her throbbing
+life, only to let it exist all the more beautifully in the
+midst of silence, stillness, and the radiance of the
+stars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel also experienced this feeling of freshness
+and life.  He was still young and open to every
+impression.  As he hastened along, light as the wind,
+between the trees and snow-drifts, he felt like a
+child.  It seemed to him that he was again the boy
+who flew over the snow on Storkyro plains to spread
+his snares for the black-cock in the woods.  It was
+true that he was a little unsteady in the beginning
+for lack of practice, and the snow-shoes slid merrily
+down the icy slopes; occasionally he made false
+pushes, and sometimes stumbled, but he soon regained
+his former skill, and stood firm on the uneven
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now it was necessary to find the traces of the
+fugitives, and this was not easy.  Bertel had
+wandered about for more than an hour in the direction
+of Ylihärmä, but had not discovered the slightest
+sign.  The last outbreak of the storm had destroyed
+all indications; one could only see the fresh track
+of the wolf, where he had just trotted along, and now
+and then a frightened bird flew between the branches
+which were heavy with snow.  Want of sleep, hunger,
+and fatigue, exhausted the young man's strength.
+The cold increased as sunrise approached, and
+covered his moustache and plumed hat with frost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he saw on a wood-path, which the broad
+pines had shielded from the blast, fresh traces of
+runners and horses' feet.  Bertel followed these with
+renewed energy; at times the tracks were lost in the
+snow, and then reappeared where the road was
+sheltered.  The sun rose deep red in the south-east
+over the tops of the trees.  The day was cold and
+clear.  In every direction nothing was to be seen
+but trees and snow-drifts, but far away in the north
+a little column of smoke rose towards the morning
+sky.  Bertel aimed at this point.  The snow-shoes
+regained their speed, the road seemed smoother, and
+at last the weary adventurer reached a solitary
+farmhouse by the side of the high road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first person he encountered was Pekka, who
+was going to feed his horses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Scoundrel!" cried Bertel, with glad surprise,
+"who sent you here?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who?" repeated Pekka, equally delighted and
+astonished.  "Well, I shall tell you that the devil
+did it.  I waited and waited outside that accursed
+old shanty in the woods until my eyes and feet
+became heavy together, where I sat in the snow-drift.
+After a little while I was aroused by the neighing
+of horses.  And then I saw a sleigh just like ours
+harnessed to two horses, dashing away along the
+road.  It is either my master or the devil.  It is all
+the same to me.  I will follow him, I said.  Then I
+climbed up again on the horse's back.  I was so hungry
+that it is a shame to speak of it; but I went after him.
+Finally the horse became tired and I lost sight of
+the sleigh; and thanked are both Lutheran and
+Catholic saints that I came here to the farm and got
+a good bowl of porridge.  For was it not at Lützen
+and Nördlingen ... it is damned cold at Ylihärmä,
+that is sure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good," said Bertel, "they shall not escape us.
+But do you know one thing, Pekka: there are
+moments when hunger and want of sleep are even
+stronger than love itself.  Come, let us go in."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel entered, and drank a bowl of boiled milk,
+and threw himself, overcome by fatigue, on a straw
+bed in the "stuga."  Here we will leave our
+wandering knight for a couple of hours in peace.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0310"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER X.
+<br /><br />
+KAJANEBORG.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Far away in the North roar the mighty waters of the
+sea under vaults of ice; the <i>fors</i> never freezes, the
+green of the pine never withers, and the grey rocks,
+which confine the foaming floods in narrow ravines,
+never shake.  Here the powers of nature have
+pursued their incessant warfare for centuries without
+rest, without reconciliation; the flood never tires
+of battling with the rocks, and these persist in
+resisting the stream; the hills never seem to grow old,
+and the immense morasses defy cultivation; the
+frosty transparent atmosphere quivers as of old in
+the northern light, and the winter sky looks down
+with its imperturbable, majestic calm upon the
+scattered huts on the banks of the streams.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is the home of night and terror; this is the
+shadow of Finnish poetry's golden pictures.  Here
+the light-shunning Black Art spins its webs around
+human beliefs; here are the graves of heroes; here
+the last giants spent their rude strength in the
+mountain wilderness; here stood Hüsis ancient fortress,
+of which the steps were each six feet in height; here
+the spirit of the middle ages brooded over its darkest
+thoughts; here it receded, step by step, before the
+light of a newer time, and here it has bled in its
+impotent rage; heathenism, fallen from its greatness,
+steals outlawed from place to place, in the sheep's
+clothing of Christendom, going restlessly around the
+country, and performing its miserable mummeries in
+churchyards at night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the great northern waters, irritated by their
+battles in hundreds of <i>forssar</i>* go to seek a brief
+repose in Uleä Sea, they once more pour out their
+anger into the two mighty waterfalls of Koivukoski
+and Ämmä, near the little Kajana.  Like two
+immense surfs the torrents throw themselves headlong
+down the narrow pass, and so violent is their fall that
+human daring, accustomed to struggle with nature
+and conquer in the end, has here stopped with dismay
+and acknowledged its powerlessness.  Up to the
+latest times the boats which have steered down the
+<i>forssar</i> in their course towards Uleäborg, have
+always been obliged to land here and be drawn by
+horses through the streets of Kajana.**
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* Plural of fors.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+** After the surgeon's time, a lock was completed here at each fall,
+and the boats now continue on their way without much delay.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+In the stream, right between the two falls,
+Koivukoski and Ämmä, lies a flat rock, to which bridges
+are attached from both sides.  Here stand the grey
+walls of an ancient fortress, now in ruins, and
+constantly bathed by the waves of the flood.  This
+fortress of Kajaneborg was founded in 1607, during
+Carl IX.'s time, as a protection against Russian
+invasion.  Perhaps the time may come in our stories
+when we shall speak more of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is now 1635, and the castle stands in its original
+strength.  Its form resembles an arrow with the point
+turned towards the stream.  Unless famine occurs, or
+the enemy can bring heavy artillery to the heights,
+it is considered impregnable.  But how can a hostile
+army find any road to Kajaneborg?  In the immense
+wilderness all around there is not a single road where
+a wheel can run.  In summer the traveller follows
+the narrow paths, and in winter the Laplander, with
+his reindeer and sleigh, drives over the frozen lakes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is winter; a thick crust of ice on the shores and
+over the walls of the castle shows that the cold has
+been severe, though it has not been able to bind the
+<i>fors</i> in its rapid course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some soldiers, clad in sheep-skin jackets, with the
+fur side turned inwards, are busy drawing home wood
+from the adjacent forest.  There is peace in the land,
+the drawbridge is down, and horses' feet thunder
+over the bridge.  Then a violent squabble arises in
+the castle yard.  An old woman, tall in stature, with
+rather disagreeable features, has taken possession of
+one of the loads of wood, and pushed away the
+soldiers, while she picks up as many pieces as she is
+able to carry, and commands another younger woman
+to do likewise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The soldiers utter coarse oaths, but the woman
+with the keen eyes does not deign to reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A sub-officer, drawn there by the noise, informs
+himself of the cause, then addresses the woman with hard
+words, and orders her to return the wood she has
+taken.  The woman refuses to obey; the sub-officer
+endeavours to use force; the woman plants herself
+back to the wall, raises a small log of wood in the
+air, and threatens to break the head of the first man
+who approaches her.  The soldiers swear and laugh;
+the sub-officer hesitates; the old woman's courage
+holds them all in check.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then an elderly man appears on the steps, to
+whom all give way with reverence.  It is Governor
+Wernstedt.  As soon as the old woman sees him, she
+leaves her hostile attitude, and relates with a torrent
+of words all the injustice she has suffered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, gracious Excellency," she said, "that is the
+way they dare to treat a man who is the pride and
+ornament of Sweden.  It is not sufficient to shut him
+up in this miserable out-of-the-way hole, but they
+let him freeze to death in the bargain.  What wood
+have they given us?  Great God! nothing but green
+and rotten chunks, which fill the room with smoke,
+and do not give out heat enough to thaw the ink on
+his table.  But I tell you, Excellency, that I, Lucia
+Grothusen, do not intend to be imposed upon any
+longer.  This wood is good, and I take it, as you see,
+Excellency, right before the face of these vagabonds,
+who deserve to all hang upon the highest pine in the
+Paldamo forest.  Pack yourselves off, you lazy,
+good-for-nothing rascals, and look out how you act before
+me and the Governor.  The wood is mine, and that
+is all to be said about it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Governor smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let her keep the wood," he said to the soldiers,
+"or else there will be no peace in the castle.  And you,
+Lucia, I warn you to hold your wicked tongue, which
+has already done so much mischief; otherwise it may
+happen that I shall again put you and your husband
+in that basement you know of, where Erik Hare kept
+you, and where the stream rolls right under the floor.
+Is this the thanks I get for the mild treatment I have
+bestowed upon you, that you are eternally exciting
+quarrels in the castle?  The day before yesterday
+you gave rein to your tongue, because you did not
+receive enough soap for your washing; yesterday you
+took a leg of mutton by force from my kitchen, and
+to-day you make a noise about the wood.  Take care,
+Lucia; my patience may be exhausted."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The woman looked the Governor right in the face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your patience!" she repeated.  "How long do
+you think that mine will last.  I have stayed
+now nearly nineteen years in this owl's nest.
+For nineteen long years has it cast a stain upon
+Sweden that its greatest man is confined here like
+a criminal! ... Mark what I say: Sweden's greatest
+man; for the day will arrive when you, and I, and
+all these souls of lard, all these wandering ale-jugs,
+will be food for worms, and no more thought of than
+the hogs you killed to-day; but the glorious name
+of Johannes Messenius will shine for all time.  Your
+patience!  Have I, then, had none&mdash;I who in these
+long weary years have been fighting with you for
+a bit of bread, for firewood, for a pillow for this great
+man, whom you abuse?  I, the only one who has
+kept his frail body alive, and strengthened his soul
+for the great work which he has now accomplished?
+Do you realise what it means to suffer as I have; to
+be snatched away from one's children, to go about
+with despair in the heart, and a smile on the lips, so
+as to seem to have a hope when none remains? ... Do
+you know, your Excellency, what all this means?
+And you stand there and talk about your patience!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The soldiers' loud laughter all at once interrupted
+the voluble old woman.  She now perceived for the
+first time that the Governor had chosen the wisest
+course, and gone his way.  It was not the first time
+that Lucia Grothusen had put the commander of a
+fortress to flight.  She felt able to drive a whole
+garrison to the woods.  But it vexed her that she
+could not fully relieve her heart.  She threw a stick
+of wood at the nearest and worst of her mockers,
+and then hurried with the wood in her arms, to reach
+a low back door.  The soldier, struck in the leg,
+seized the stick with an oath, and flung it in his turn
+after the old woman.  Lucia, hit in the heel, uttered
+a cry of pain and anger ... and then she disappeared
+through the door, followed by the soldiers'
+loud laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During this scene of self-sacrifice on one side, and
+rudeness on the other, a group of strangers had
+arrived over the left castle bridge, and asked to be
+conducted to the Governor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The soldiers regarded them with curiosity.  They
+wore the common garb of peasants, but their whole
+appearance betrayed their foreign origin.  An old
+man, with dark squinting eyes and sallow
+complexion, came first; his face partly hidden under a
+woolly cap of dog-skin, which with its ear-flaps covered
+the greater portion of the head.  After him followed
+a young woman in a striped home-spun skirt, and a
+tight-fitting jacket of new and fine white sheep-skin.
+Her face, also, is almost entirely concealed under a
+hood of coarse felt, bordered with squirrel-skin, the
+fine fur of which is covered with frost.  One only
+saw a pair of beautiful dark eyes of unusual
+brilliancy, which peeped forth from the hood.  The
+third of the company was a little old woman, so
+wrapped up in furs that her short figure had widened
+out into the shape of a well-stuffed cushion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All these persons were conducted to the Governor.
+The man in the dog-skin cap showed a passport,
+according to which, Albertus Simonis, in his royal
+Majesty's service, was appointed army physician to
+the troops which were to go to Germany the following
+spring, and was now, with his wife and daughter,
+on a journey from Dantzig to Stockholm, by way of
+the north road through Wiborg and Kajana.  The
+Governor closely examined both the document and
+the man, and seemed to find a satisfactory conclusion
+to his survey.  Then he sent the travellers to a room
+in the east wing of the castle, and gave orders
+for them to be provided with the necessary refreshments
+after such a long journey in the severe cold.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0311"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XI.
+<br /><br />
+THE PRISONER OF STATE.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The room which we now enter is situated in the
+south tower of the castle, and is not very inviting.
+It is large and dark.  Although with a sunny aspect,
+the narrow window, with its thick iron gratings, only
+admits a few of the winter's day sunbeams.  A large
+open fire-place, with a granite hearth, occupies one
+corner of the room; a rough unpainted bed, a couple
+of benches, two chairs, a clothes-chest, a large table
+under the window, and a high cupboard next to it,
+make up the furniture of the room.  All these things
+have a new appearance, which to some degree
+reconciles the eye to their coarseness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the room is a curious combination of kitchen
+and study.  Learning has established its abode at
+the upper end nearest the window.  The table is
+adorned with ink spots, and covered with old
+yellow manuscripts and large folios of parchments.
+The door of the cupboard is open, and shows its use
+as a library.  The lower part of the room, near the
+fire-place, has a different appearance.  Here stands
+a wash-tub by a sack of flour; a kettle is waiting
+to receive some dried pike and bits of salt pork, and
+leaves room for a bucket of water, and a shelf filled
+with coarse stone dishes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the habitation which Governor Wernstedt
+had assigned to the state prisoner, Johannes Messenius,
+his wife, and servant, instead of the horrible place
+where Messenius' tormentor, old Erik Hare, for so
+many years confined these unfortunate beings.  The
+room was at least high and dry above the ground,
+and its furniture was likewise a friendly gift from the
+Governor.  Messenius occupied the upper part, and
+the women of his household the lower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the large ink-spotted table sat a grey-haired
+man, with his body wrapped in furs, his feet clad
+with reindeer boots, and his head covered with a thick
+woollen cap.  One who had seen this man in the days
+of his prosperity, when he occupied the rostrum in
+Upsala "Consistorium," or proud as a king on his
+throne, exercising sole control over all the historical
+treasures of the Swedish state archives, would scarcely
+now recognise in this withered form, bent by age
+and misfortune, the man with the arrogant mind, the
+opponent of Rudbeck and Tegel, the learned, gifted,
+haughty, Jesuit conspirator, Johannes Messenius.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But if one looked deep into those keen, restless
+eyes, which seemed constantly trying to penetrate
+the future as they had done the past, and read the
+words which his shaking hand had just penned&mdash;words
+full of egotism even to presumption&mdash;then one
+could divine that within this decayed tenement toiled
+a soul unbroken by time and events, proud as it had
+always been, ambitious as it could never cease to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old man's gaze was fixed upon the paper long
+after he had laid down his pen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," he said thoughtfully and reflectively, "so
+shall it be.  During my lifetime they have trampled
+me like a worm in the dust; once I am dead they will
+know upon whom they have trodden.  <i>Gloria, gloria
+in excelsis!</i>  The day will arrive, even if it be a
+century hence, when the miserable prisoner who, now
+forgotten by the whole world, pines away in the
+wilderness, shall with admiration and respect be
+called the father of Swedish history....
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then," he continued with a bitter smile, "they
+can do nothing more for me.  Then I shall be dead
+... Ah, it is strange! the dead man, whose bones
+have long mouldered in the grave, lives in his works;
+his spirit goes quickening and ennobling through the
+ages.  All that he has endured while he lived, all
+the ignominy, all the persecutions, all the prison
+gratings are forgotten; they exist no longer, provided
+his name still shines like a star through the night of
+time, and posterity, with its short memory and its
+ingratitude, says, with thoughtless admiration, he was
+a great man!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During this soliloquy the old woman, whose
+acquaintance we made in the castle yard, entered the
+room.  She carefully opened the door, and walked
+on tip-toe, as if afraid of waking a sleeping babe.
+Then she carefully put down the wood she carried
+in her arms.  A little noise, however, was unavoidable;
+the old man at the table, startled from his
+thoughts, began to upbraid the intruder:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Woman!" he said, "how dare you disturb me!
+Have I not told you <i>iterum iterumque</i>, that you shall
+take away your <i>penates procul a parnasso</i>?  Do you
+understand it ... <i>lupa</i>?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear Messenius, I am only bringing you a little
+wood.  You have been so cold all these days.  Do
+not be angry now.  I shall make the room nice and
+warm for you; it is excellent wood..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Quid miki tecum</i>.  Go to the dogs.  You vex
+me, woman.  You are, as the late King Gustaf
+always said, <i>Messenü mala herba</i>; my wormwood,
+my nettle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia Grothusen was an extremely quick-tempered
+woman, angry and quarrelsome with the whole world;
+but this time she kept quite still.  How strangely
+her domestic position had altered!  She had always
+idolized her husband, but as long as he was in the
+full strength of his manhood and prosperity, she had
+bent his unquiet, vacillating spirit like a reed under
+her will.  All that time the feared and learned
+Messenius was held in complete subjection.  Now
+the <i>rôles</i> were changed.  As his physical strength
+declined, indicating more and more that he approached
+the end of his life, his wife's idolatrous love
+came into conflict with her masterful disposition, and
+finally produced the extraordinary result of reducing
+this character to humble submission.  She nursed
+him as a mother nurses her sick child, for fear of
+losing him.  She bore everything patiently, and never
+had an angry word in reply to his querulous remarks.
+Even on this occasion, only a slight trembling of the
+lips gave evidence of the effort it cost her to check
+her anger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never mind," she said kindly, as she went a few
+steps nearer, "do not feel angry about it, my dear,
+because it injures your health.  I will not do it
+again; next time I will lay a mat under the wood,
+so that it will not disturb you.  Now I will cook you
+a splendid leg of mutton for supper ... Believe me,
+I had trouble enough to get it.  I almost had to take
+it by force from the Governor's kitchen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What, woman! have you dared to beg <i>beneficia</i>
+from tyrants?  By Jupiter, do you think me a dog,
+that I should eat the crumbs from their tables?  And
+then you limp.  Why do you do that?  Answer me;
+why do you limp?  I suppose you have been running
+around like a gossiping old woman, and tripped on
+the stairs."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do I limp?" repeated Lucia, with a forced smile.
+"I really believe I have hurt my foot ... Ungrateful!"
+added she silently to herself; "it is for your
+sake that I suffer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go your way, and let me finish my epitaph."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Lucia did not go; she came closer to him.
+Her eyes filled with tears, and she folded both her
+arms around the old man's neck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your epitaph!" she repeated in a voice so mild
+that one would never have expected it from those
+withered lips, used so very often for hard words and
+invective only.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, my God!" she continued in a low tone, "shall,
+then, all that is great and glorious on earth finally
+become dust?  But that day is still far distant, my
+friend; yes, it must be so.  Let me see the epitaph
+of the great Johannes Messenius!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Certainly," said the old man, consoled by her
+sincere flattery, "you are decidedly the true <i>persona
+executrix</i> who ought to read my <i>epitaphium</i>, as you
+are also the one who will have to engrave it on my
+tombstone.  Look, my dear; what do you think of
+this?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here lie the bones of Doctoris Johannes Messenii.
+His soul is in God's kingdom, but his fame is all over
+the world!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never," said Lucia, weeping, "have truer words
+been placed over a great man's grave.  But let us
+say no more about it.  Let us speak of your great
+work, your <i>Scondia</i>.  Do you know I have a feeling
+that its glory will in a short time prepare freedom for
+you..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Freedom!" repeated Messenius, in a melancholy
+tone.  "Yes, you are right; the freedom of the grave
+to decay wherever one chooses."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," replied Lucia with eagerness and enthusiasm,
+"you shall yet receive the honour that is due to you.
+They will read your great <i>Scondia illustrata</i>, they
+will have it printed ... with your name in gilded
+letters on the title-page ... the whole world will
+say, full of admiration: 'never has his equal existed
+in the North'!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And never will exist again!" added Messenius,
+with confidence.  "Oh! who will restore me my
+freedom&mdash;freedom that I may behold my work and
+triumph over my enemies.  Hear me, Lord, I stretch
+out my hands before Thy face.  Save me from misery,
+for Thou hast said: 'I will prostrate thine enemies,
+to be trampled under thy feet.'  Who will give me
+freedom&mdash;freedom and ten years of life to witness
+the fruits of my labour?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I," answered a muffled voice at the lower end of
+the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sound of this voice both Messenius and
+his wife looked around with superstitious terror.  The
+loneliness of the prison, and the associations of this
+wild country, which in all ages has been the fruitful
+soil of superstition, had in both increased the belief
+in superhuman things to a perfect conviction.  More
+than once had Messenius' brooding spirit been on
+the point of plunging into the enticing labyrinth of
+the Kabala and practical Magic; but his zealous
+labours and his wife's religious exhortations had held
+him back.  Now came an unexpected answer to his
+question ... from Heaven or the abyss, no matter
+which, but an answer, nevertheless&mdash;a straw for his
+drowning hopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The short winter day had drawn to a close, and
+twilight already spread its shadows over that part
+of the room which lay nearest the door.  From this
+obscurity advanced a man, in whose sallow features
+one recognised the same person who two hours before
+had gained an entrance to the castle, under the name
+of Albertus Simonis.  He had probably, in his
+capacity of physician, obtained permission to see the
+prisoner, for the whole medical faculty of the castle
+consisted of a barber, who practised chirurgery, and
+an old soldier's widow, whose skill in curing internal
+diseases was highly commended, especially when it
+was assisted by <i>luvut</i>, or incantations, which,
+although forbidden by the Church, were still used in
+the vapour-baths as powerful magical aids.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Pax vobiscum!</i>" said the stranger with a certain
+solemnity, and coming nearer the window.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May the Lord be with you also!" answered
+Messenius, in the same tone, and with curiosity
+mingled with inquietude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"May the woman's tongue be far from the
+consultation!" continued the stranger also in Latin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia, in whose youth the daughters of learned
+men knew Latin better than those of the nineteenth
+century read French, did not wait for a further
+reminder, and left the room with an inquisitive glance
+at the mysterious stranger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Messenius made a sign to his visitor to take a seat
+near him.  The whole conversation was conducted in
+Latin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Receive my greeting, great man, whom misfortune
+has only been able to elevate!" began the stranger,
+with artful discrimination attacking Messenius'
+weakest point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be welcome, you who do not disdain to visit the
+forsaken!" replied Messenius with unusual courtesy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you recognise me, Johannes Messenius?" said
+the stranger, as he let the light fall on his pale face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It seems to me that I have seen your face before,"
+replied the prisoner hesitatingly; "but it must have
+been a long time ago."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do you remember a boy in Braunsberg, some
+years younger than yourself, who was educated with
+you in the school of the holy fathers, and afterwards
+in your company visited Rome and Ingolstadt?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, I remember ... a boy who gave great
+promise of one day becoming a pillar of the church
+... Hieronymus Mathiæ."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am Hieronymus Mathiæ."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Messenius felt a shudder run through his frame.
+Time, the experiences of life, and the soul destroying
+doctrines of the Jesuits, had completely changed the
+features of the once blooming boy.  Pater Hieronymus
+observed this impression, and hastened to add:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, my revered friend, thirty-five years' struggle
+for the welfare of the only saving Church has caused
+the roses in these cheeks to fade for ever.  I have
+laboured and suffered in these evil times.  Like you,
+great man, but with much lesser genius, I have dug
+in the vineyard, without any reward for my toil but
+the prospect of the holy martyr's crown in Paradise.
+You were very kind to me in my youth; now I will
+repay it so far as it lies in my power.  I will restore
+you to freedom and life."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, reverend father," replied the old man, with a
+deep sigh, "I am not worthy of this; you, the son
+of the holy Church, extending your hand to me, a
+poor apostate?  You do not know, then, that I have
+renounced our faith; that I, with my own hand and
+mouth, have embraced the accursed Lutheran religion,
+which I abhor in my heart; nay, even in my time
+persecuted your holy order with several godless
+libels."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why should I not know all this, my honoured
+friend; have not the great Messenius' work and deeds
+flown on the wings of fame throughout Germany?
+But what you have done, has been done as a blind,
+so as to work in secret for the highest good of our
+holy Roman Church.  Do not the Scriptures teach
+us to meet craft with craft in these godless times?
+'Ye shall be as wily as serpents.'  The Holy Virgin
+will give you her absolution as soon as you have
+worked for her sake.  Yes, esteemed man, even had
+you seven times abjured your faith, and seven times
+seventy sinned against all the saints and the dogmas
+of the Church, it shall all be accounted to you for
+reward, and not for condemnation, provided you have
+done it with a mental reservation, and with the design
+of thereby serving the good cause.  Even if your
+tongue has lied, and your hand killed, it shall be
+deemed a pious and holy work, when it was for the
+purpose of bringing back the stray sheep.  Courage,
+great man, I absolve you in the name of the Church."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, good father, these teachings which the worthy
+Jesuit fathers, in Braunsberg so eloquently instilled
+into my young mind, I have faithfully followed in
+my life.  But now, in my old age, it sometimes seems
+to me as if my conscience raised some opposition
+in the matter..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Temptations of the devil! nothing else.  Drive
+them away!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That may well be, pious father!  Yes, to calm
+my conscience, I have written a formal confession,
+in which I openly declare my profession of the
+Lutheran faith a hypocritical act, and as openly
+proclaim my adherence to the Catholic Church."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hide this confession, show it not to any mortal
+eye!" interrupted the Jesuit quickly.  "Its time
+will yet come."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I do not understand your reasons, pious father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Listen attentively to what I have to say!  Do
+you think, old man, that I, without important reasons,
+have ventured up here in the wilderness, daily
+exposed to hunger, cold, wild beasts, and the still wilder
+people in this country, who would burn me alive if
+they knew who I was, and what I was about?  Do
+you think I would have left the wide field in my
+native land, had I not hoped to accomplish more
+here?  Well, then, I will briefly explain to you my
+point ... Can anyone hear us?  Perhaps there are
+private passages in these walls."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be sure no mortal can hear us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Know, then," continued the Jesuit in a low voice,
+"that we have again before us the never-abandoned
+plan of bringing heretic Sweden back to the bosom
+of the Roman Church.  There are only two powers
+which can any longer resist us, and the saints be
+praised, these powers are becoming day by day more
+harmless.  The House of Stuart, in England, is
+surrounded by our nets, and in secret does everything
+for our cause.  Sweden still lies stunned by the
+terrible blow at Nördlingen, and cannot, without fresh
+miracles, retain its dominant position in Germany.
+The time has come when our plans are fully matured;
+we must avail ourselves of our enemies' powerlessness.
+In a few years England will fall into our hands like
+a ripe fruit.  Sweden, still proud of former victories,
+shall be forced to do the same.  The means to this
+end will be a change of dynasty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Christina, King Gustaf's daughter..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is a nine-year-old child, and besides a girl!  We
+are not without allies in Sweden, who still remember
+the expelled royal family.  The weak Sigismund is
+dead; Uladislaus, his son, stretches out his hands,
+with all the impatience of youth, for the crown of
+his forefathers.  It shall be his."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0312"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XII.
+<br /><br />
+THE TEMPTER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+"Uladislaus on the Swedish throne?  I doubt
+whether we shall ever live to see that day," said
+Messenius incredulously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hear me to the end," continued the Jesuit,
+engrossed by the stupendous plan his scheming head
+had concocted.  "You, Messenius, are the only one
+who can perform this miracle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I ... a miserable prisoner!  Impossible."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To the saints and genius nothing is impossible.
+The Swede is now well disposed towards royalty.
+The example of his kings leads him to good or evil.
+He has especially a great reverence for old King
+Gustaf Vasa.  If it could now be proved that the
+said king on his death-bed, with repentance, declared
+the Lutheran doctrine to be heterodox, that he had
+abjured and cursed the Reformation, and that he had
+charged his youngest son, the papistical Johan, to
+atone for his great errors..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do you dare to say?" burst out Messenius,
+with undisguised surprise.  "Such an obvious lie
+is in direct opposition to Gustaf Vasa's last words
+at death, all of whose utterances have been so
+faithfully recorded..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Calm yourself, revered friend," interrupted the
+Jesuit coldly.  "Supposing it could be further
+demonstrated that the second founder of Lutheranism,
+Carolus IX., likewise on his death-bed declared the
+Reformation to be a blasphemy and a misfortune...?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Messenius regarded the Jesuit with dismay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And if it can finally be proven that even Gustaf
+Adolf, before giving up the ghost at Lützen, was
+struck by a sudden inspiration, and died a heretic's
+death, under the greatest torment and anguish of
+soul...?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Messenius' pale cheeks were covered with a flush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then," continued the Jesuit, with the same
+composed daring, "there remains of the Vasa dynasty
+only the demented Erik XIV., the admitted papist,
+Johan III., and the professed Catholic, Sigismund,
+with all of whom we need not trouble ourselves in
+the least.  Once convinced that all of their greatest
+kings either have been papistical, or have become so
+in their last moments, the scales will fall from the
+eyes of the Swedish people; they will penitently
+confess their guilt, and at last fall back into the
+bosom of the only saving Roman Catholic Church.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But how will you, revered father, in the face of
+all the facts, convince the Swedes of the apostasy
+of their kings?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have already told you," replied the Jesuit
+flatteringly, "that such a great and meritorious mission
+can only be accomplished by the gifted Johannes
+Messenius.  All know that you are Sweden's most
+learned man and greatest historian.  They know that
+you possess and hold in your care more historical
+documents and secrets than anyone else in the whole
+kingdom.  Use these advantages skilfully and
+judiciously; compile documents that never existed;
+describe events that never happened..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do you dare to say?" exclaimed Messenius
+with burning cheeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit misunderstood his excitement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," continued the Jesuit, "the undertaking is a
+bold one, but far from impossible.  A hasty flight to
+Poland will secure your safety."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And it is to me ... to me that you make this
+proposal?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes," added the monk, in the same tone.  "I
+realise that Gustaf Adolf will cause you the most
+trouble, and therefore I will be responsible for him.
+You will have therefore Gustaf I. and Carl IX. as
+your share, to present in such a light as will best
+serve the cause of the holy Church."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Abi a me, male spiritus!</i>" burst out Messenius in
+a fit of rage, which the Jesuit with all his sagacity
+was far from expecting.  "You arch-villain! you
+liar! you infamous traitor, to lay your hand on the
+holiest; do you think that I, Johannes Messenius,
+have worked for long years to become Sweden's
+greatest historian, to all of a sudden, in such an
+infamous way, violate the historical truth which I have
+re-established with such long and continuous efforts?
+Be off this moment, quick ... away, to <i>Gehenna</i>!"
+... and with these words the old scholar, wild with
+rage, flung everything that he could get hold of at
+the Jesuit's head&mdash;books, papers, inkstand,
+sand-box&mdash;with such violence that the monk started.  The
+latter's face became still paler ... then he took a
+few steps backwards, rose to his full height, and
+opened the plaited Spanish doublet which covered
+his breast.  A crucifix of flashing diamonds,
+surmounted by a crown of thorns set with rubies, glittered
+suddenly in the gathering twilight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This sight seemed to have a magical effect upon
+Messenius.  His excited voice was suddenly hushed
+... his rage changed immediately to fear ... his
+knees trembled; he staggered, and was on the point
+of falling, but supported himself with difficulty against
+the chair at the table.  The Jesuit again advanced
+slowly, and looked steadily at the prisoner with his
+piercing eyes, which were like those of the rattlesnake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have you forgotten, old man," he said, in a
+measured and commanding tone, whilst every word
+was followed by a pause to increase its effect, "the
+penalty which the Church and the laws of our holy
+order inflict for sins like yours?  For apostasy:
+death ... and you have seven times apostatized!
+... For blasphemy: death ... and you have seven
+times blasphemed! ... For disobedience: death
+... and you have seven times disobeyed! ... For
+sin against the Holy Ghost: damnation ... and who
+has sinned like you? ... For heresy: the stake
+... and who has merited it like you? ... For
+offence and disrespect against the holy ones of the
+Lord: the eternal fire ... and who has given offence
+like you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grace, holy father, grace!" exclaimed Messenius,
+while he writhed like a worm under the Jesuit's
+terrible threats.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Father Hieronymus continued:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The celebrated Nicolaus Pragensis went over to
+Calvin's false doctrines, and dared to defy the Head
+of our order.  He fled to the farthest corner of
+Bohemia, but our revenge found him.  The dogs tore
+his body to pieces, and the spirits of hell obtained
+his soul..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grace! mercy!" sighed the prisoner, completely
+crushed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then," added the Jesuit in a haughty tone or
+superiority, "I have given you the choice between
+glory and perdition; I will once more place it before
+you, although you are undeserving.  Do you imagine,
+miserable apostate, that I, the head of the German
+and Northern Jesuits, who do not acknowledge any
+superior except the Holy Father at Rome&mdash;do you
+believe that I, who have braved myriads of dangers
+to seek you here in your miserable corner, will allow
+you to stop me, the invisible ruler of the whole North,
+with your disobedience and irresolution?  I ask you
+once more, in the name of our holy order, if you,
+Johannes Messenius, will be faithful to the oath you
+swore in your youth, and implicitly obey the behests
+and commands which I, your superior and judge,
+enjoin upon you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, holy father," answered the trembling captive;
+"yes, I will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hear, then, the penalty I impose.  You say that
+for your whole life you have striven for a single aim;
+that of gaining the name of the greatest historian in
+the North, and you think that you have at last
+attained your desire?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, holy father, that has been my object, and I
+have obtained it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your aim is evil!" exclaimed the Jesuit in stern
+tones, "and it is that of the devil, for you have worked
+for your own glory, and not for that of the holy
+Church, as you have sworn.  Therefore, I command
+you to destroy, with your own hands, the idol of your
+life&mdash;your great fame with posterity&mdash;by perverting
+history and writing it, not as it is, but as it ought
+to be.  I order you to cast away fame, to serve the
+cause of the Roman Church in the North.  You shall
+write the history of Gustaf I. and Carl IX. in such
+a manner that all they have done for the Reformation
+may redound as a ruin and curse both to them and
+their kingdom.  And I will that you base this new
+history on such reliable documents, that in the eyes
+of the people they will be above suspicion
+... documents which do not exist, but which you shall
+manufacture ... documents of which the falsity may
+possibly be discovered in a future generation, but
+which will at present produce the desired effect."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And thus," said Messenius, in a voice trembling
+with the most varied emotions&mdash;fear, anger, and
+humiliation&mdash;"I shall stand before posterity as a base
+falsifier, an infamous perverter of historical truth."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, and what then?" continued the Jesuit with
+a sardonic smile; "what matters it, if you, miserable
+tool, sacrifice your name, provided the Church gains
+its great victory?  Of what advantage is the praise
+of men, if your soul burns in the eternal fires of hell;
+and what matters humanity's contempt, if you,
+through this sacrifice, gain the martyr's crown in
+Heaven?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the cause of truth ... the inflexible
+judgment of posterity."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bah! what is historical truth?  Well, is it the
+obedient slave who follows at the heels of human
+errors ... the parrot which thoughtlessly repeats all
+their folly?  Or is it not rather truth, such as it <i>ought
+to be</i>, purified from error, freed from crime and folly
+... God's kingdom on earth, as wise as it is almighty,
+as good as it is holy and wise?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But is it then we who dictate to God what is
+good and right?  Has He not Himself told us that
+truth, <i>such as it is</i>?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ha! vacillating apostate, you still dare to argue
+with your superior about right and wrong.  Choose,
+obey or disobey!  Choose on one side temporal and
+eternal death, and on the other the joys of Paradise
+and the glory of the saints.  Yet a word, and upon
+this depends your weal or woe.  Will you obey my
+commands?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, I will obey," answered the crushed and
+terrified prisoner.  And the Jesuit went away silent
+and cold, with a ruler's nod that the slave had his
+good grace.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0313"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIII.
+<br /><br />
+AVAUNT, EVIL SPIRIT.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+About a week had passed since the private
+conversation to which we last listened.  The Jesuit
+during this time had not left the prisoner to himself.
+He was seen to enter Messenius' room every day,
+under the pretext of medical attendance, and spent
+some hours with him.  He was too acute to rely
+upon the prisoner's promise.  No one in the castle
+knew what they did together, and the Governor was
+unsuspicious.  The remote situation of Kajajneborg,
+far from the rest of the world, had lulled Wernstedt
+into security; he rather found pleasure in the society
+of the learned and experienced foreign doctor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was one, however, who with a constant and
+vigilant eye followed every motion of the stranger,
+and this was Lucia Grothusen, Messenius' wife.  A
+Catholic by education and conviction, she had always
+strengthened her husband in his faith; the Jesuit
+well knew this, and therefore felt sure of her
+co-operation, although he carefully avoided confiding his
+plans to the mercy of female gossip.  But the most
+artful plans are often frustrated by those hidden
+springs and motives in the human heart, especially
+in a woman's heart, which work in quite a different
+direction from that of cold reason.  The Jesuit, in
+spite of his astuteness, was mistaken in our Lucia.
+He did not know that when the fanaticism in her
+mind shouted, push on! love cried still louder in her
+heart, hold back! and love in women always gets
+the upper hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia was a very penetrating person; she had
+looked through the Jesuit before he knew it.  She
+saw the ruinous inward strife which raged in
+Messenius; a struggle for life and death between
+fanaticism on the one hand, which bade him sacrifice
+fame and posterity for the victory of the Church,
+and ambition on the other, which continually pleaded
+to him not to sacrifice with his own hand his whole
+life's work?  "Will you," it said, "blindly desecrate
+the sanctuary of history?  Will you expose to
+contempt the brilliant name, which in the night of
+captivity still constitutes your wealth and pride?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia saw all this with the discernment of love;
+she saw that the man for whom she lived an entire
+life of self-denial and restraint, would sink under
+this terrible internal battle, and she resolved to save
+him with a bold and decisive stroke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Late one evening the lamp still burned on
+Messenius' writing-table, where he and the Jesuit
+had been working together ever since the morning.
+Lucia had received permission to retire to her bed,
+which stood at the other end of the room near the
+door, and pretended to be asleep.  The two men had
+finished their work, and were conversing together
+with low voices, in Latin, which Lucia well understood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am satisfied with you, my friend," said the
+Jesuit approvingly.  "These documents, which bear
+the stamp of truth, will be sufficient to prove the
+conversion of King Gustaf Vasa and King Carl, and
+this preface, signed by you, will further confirm their
+veracity.  I will now return to Germany through
+Sweden, and have these prayers printed, through our
+adherents in Stockholm, or if that is impossible, in
+Lübeck or Leyden."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Messenius involuntarily stretched out his hand, as
+if to snatch back a precious treasure from a robber's
+hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy father," he exclaimed with visible consternation,
+"is there no reprieve?  My name ... my
+reputation ... have mercy upon me, holy father,
+and give me back my name!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do I not give you a name," he said, "far greater
+and more abiding than the one you lose&mdash;a name
+in the chronicles of our holy order; a name among
+the martyrs and benefactors of the Church; a name
+which may one day be counted amongst the saints?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, in spite of all this, a name without honour,
+a liar's, a forger's name!" burst out Messenius, with
+the despair of a condemned man, who is shown the
+glory of Heaven obscured by the scaffold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Weak, vain man, you do not know that great
+aims are never won by the fear or praise of
+humanity!" said the Jesuit in a contemptuous tone.
+"You might have taken back your word and forfeited
+your claims to the gratitude of all Christendom.  But
+happily it is now impossible.  These documents"&mdash;and
+he extended his hand triumphantly with the
+papers&mdash;"are now in a hand which will know how
+to keep them, and, against your will, use them for
+the glory of the Church, the victory of the faith, and
+your soul's eternal welfare."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Father Hieronymus had hardly uttered these words
+when a hand behind him swiftly and suddenly seized
+the papers, which he had so elatedly waved, crumpled
+them together, tore them in a hundred pieces, and
+strewed the bits over the floor.  This move was so
+unlooked for, and the Jesuit was so far from divining
+anything of the kind, that he lost his usual presence
+of mind for a moment, and thus gave the daring hand
+time to complete its work of destruction.  When the
+fragments lying around convinced him of the reality
+of his loss, he bit his lips with rage, raised his arms
+aloft, and with the ferocity of a wild beast, fell upon
+the presumptuous being who had dared to extinguish
+his plans at the very moment of consummation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia&mdash;for she owned the intruding hand&mdash;met
+the monk's outbreak of fury with the great courage
+which distinguishes a woman when she struggles for
+the holiest she possesses.  In her youth she had been
+one of those who could take a man by the collar;
+and this more than womanly strength of arm had
+gained practice during her constant squabbles with
+the rude soldiers of the castle.  She hastily clasped
+her sinewy fingers around the monk's outstretched
+arms, and held them fast as in a vice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well," she said in a mocking tone, "three paces
+from death, sir; what do you wish?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mad woman!" screamed the Jesuit, foaming with
+rage, "you do not know what you have done!
+Miserable thief, you have stolen a kingdom from
+your Church, and Paradise from your husband."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And from you I have stolen your booty; his
+secure prey from the wolf; is it not so?" replied
+Lucia, whose voice began to glow with the fire of
+her hasty temper.  "Monk," she added, violently
+shaking the eminent Jesuit, who in vain tried to escape,
+"I know a vile thief, who, in the sheep's clothing of
+the Church, comes to steal the fame of a great man;
+also the history of a nation; and from a poor,
+forsaken woman, her sole pride; her husband's peace,
+honour, and life.  Tell me, holy and pious monk,
+what punishment such a thief deserves?  Would not
+Ämmä fall be shallow enough for his body, and the
+eternal fires cool enough for his soul?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit looked out of the window with a hasty
+movement towards the mighty torrent which
+descended with a terrible roar in the winter's night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ha!" exclaimed Lucia with a bitter smile, "you
+fear me, you, the powerful one, who rules kingdoms
+and consciences.  You fear lest I conceal a man's
+arm under my grey frock, which could hurl you into
+the cataract's abyss.  Be reassured.  I am only a
+woman, and fight with a woman's arms.  You see
+... I do not throw you out of the window ... I will be
+content with chaining up the wild beast.  Tremble,
+monk, I know you!  Lucia Grothusen has followed
+your steps; you are betrayed, and she has done
+this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Betrayed!" echoed the Jesuit; he well realised
+what this statement meant.  At a time so full of hate,
+when two great religions fought for worldly and
+spiritual supremacy, when the plots of the Jesuits
+irritated the Swedes to the highest extent, a member
+of this order, discovered in disguise, in the kingdom,
+was lost beyond redemption.  But the dire peril
+restored the equilibrium of this powerful character.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My daughter, betrayed by you," he said once
+more, as his arms relaxed, and his features assumed
+an expression of doubt and mild grief.  "That is
+impossible."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia regarded him with hate and suspicion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I your daughter!" she exclaimed, as she pushed
+the monk from her with repulsion.  "Falsehood is
+your daughter, and deceit your mother.  These are
+thy relatives."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lucia Grothusen," said the Jesuit with much
+suavity, "when you were a child, and followed your
+father, Arnold Grothusen, who was expelled with
+King Sigismund, you came one day as an exile in
+need, and surrounded by enemies, to a peasant's hut.
+They refused you a refuge, and threatened to deliver
+you up.  Then your youthful eyes discovered an
+image of the Virgin in a corner of the hut, a relic
+from former times, and now profaned as a plaything
+for children.  You took the image and kissed it;
+you held it up before the harsh inmates of the hut,
+and said to them, 'See, the Virgin Mary is here, she
+will succour us!'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, what then?" said Lucia reluctantly in a
+softer voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your childish trust ... no, what do I say?  The
+Holy Virgin moved the stern peasants, they gave
+you shelter, and placed you all in security.  Still
+more, they gave you the image, which you have carefully
+preserved as your guardian angel, and there it
+hangs on your wall.  What you formerly said, you
+still say: 'The Virgin Mary is here, she will protect me!'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lucia tried in vain to struggle against her emotions.
+She bit her lip and made no reply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are right," continued the astute monk.  "I
+am a Catholic like you; persecuted like you; if they
+penetrated my disguise they would kill me.  My life
+is in your hands; denounce me; I flee not; I die
+for my faith, and I forgive you my death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fly from here," said Lucia, half vanquished; "I
+give you till to-morrow, but only on condition that
+you do not see my husband again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then," said the Jesuit sadly, "I fly and leave
+behind my beautiful dream of a glorious future.  Ah,
+I had imagined that the great Messenius and his
+noble wife would reinstate the Catholic Church in
+the North; I saw the time when millions of people
+would say: we were in darkness and blindness, until
+the historical light of the great Messenius revealed
+to us the falseness of the Reformation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If it could be done without injury to the truth,"
+exclaimed Lucia, whose ardent spirit was more and
+more elevated by the future, which the Jesuit so
+skilfully placed before her in perspective.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The truth!" repeated the Jesuit persuasively.
+"Oh, my friend, truth is our faith, falseness is the
+heretic's faith.  If you are convinced that I ask only
+the truth itself from your husband, will you assist
+instead of trying to destroy your Church?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, I will!" answered Lucia warmly and earnestly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then listen..." added the Jesuit, but was just
+then interrupted by Messenius, who, hitherto stunned
+and crestfallen, now seemed to awaken from a horrible
+dream.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Abi, male spiritus!</i>" he frantically exclaimed, as
+if he feared that the Jesuit's serpent tongue would
+once more triumph.  "<i>Abi, Abi!</i> you are not a human
+being, you are the prince of lies himself, you are the
+tempter in Paradise!  Get ye gone, ye foul spirit, to
+the eternal fire, your abiding place, to the kingdom
+of lies, your realm!" he said in Latin.  And with
+this he pushed the Jesuit towards the door, without
+Lucia's making the least attempt to prevent it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Insanit miser!</i>" ("the miserable raver") muttered
+the Jesuit as he disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thanks, my dear!" said Lucia, with a lightened
+heart, as if freed from a dangerous spell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thanks, Lucia!" replied Messenius, with a milder
+manner than he had for a long time assumed towards
+his wife.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0314"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIV.
+<br /><br />
+THE JUDGMENT OF THE SAINTS.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Early the next morning Father Hieronymus entered
+the room that was occupied by Lady Regina von
+Emmeritz and old Dorthe.  Pale from watching
+and suffering, the beautiful young girl sat by the
+bedside of her faithful servant.  When the Jesuit
+entered, Regina rose quickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Save Dorthe, my father!" she impetuously
+exclaimed ... "I have looked for you everywhere,
+and you have abandoned me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hush!" said the Jesuit whispering.  "Speak low,
+the walls have ears.  So ... actually? ... Dorthe
+is sick?  Poor old woman, it is too bad, but I cannot
+help her.  They have penetrated our disguise.  They
+suspect us.  We must fly this day&mdash;this moment."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not before you have made Dorthe well again.
+I beseech you, my father; you are wise, you know
+all the remedies; give her an immediate restorative,
+and we will follow you wherever you choose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Impossible, we have not a moment to lose.  Come!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not without Dorthe, my father!  Holy Virgin,
+how could I abandon her, my nurse, my motherly
+friend?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit went to the bed, took the old woman's
+hand, touched her forehead, and pointed to it in
+silence, with an air which Regina understood but
+too well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is dead!" cried the young girl with dismay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, what then?" replied the Jesuit, a marked
+sinister smile on his lips fighting with the air of
+regret he tried to assume.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You see, my child," he added, "that the saints
+have wished to spare our faithful old friend a toilsome
+journey, and have taken her instead to heavenly
+glory.  There is nothing more to be done here.
+Come!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Regina had perceived the malignant smile
+through her tears, and it struck her with an indescribable
+horror.  She seemed to detect a dark secret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come!" he repeated hastily.  "I will give
+Messenius' wife, who is a Catholic, the charge of
+burying our friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina's dark eyes looked on the monk with fear
+and aversion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At seven o'clock yesterday evening," she said,
+"Dorthe was in good health.  Then she drank the
+beverage of strengthening herbs which you have
+prepared for her every evening.  At eight o'clock she
+was taken ill ... ten hours afterwards she has
+ceased to live."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The fatigue of the long journey ... a cold, an
+<i>inflammation</i> ... nothing more is wanted.  Come!"
+said the monk uneasily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Regina did not move.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Monk," she said in a voice trembling with disgust
+and horror, "you have poisoned her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My child, my daughter, what are you saying?
+Grief has clouded your reason; come, I forgive you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She was a burden to you ... I saw your
+impatience on our journey here.  And now you wish me
+to place myself in your power without protection.
+Holy Virgin, save me!  I will not go with you!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit's mobile features instantly changed
+their expression, and assumed that commanding air
+which had made Messenius yield.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Child," he said, "do not draw upon yourself the
+anger of the saints by listening to the voice of the
+tempter.  Remember <i>where</i> you are, unfortunate, and
+<i>who</i> you are.  A moment's delay, and I leave you
+here a prey to want, captivity, and death; a target
+for the heretic's scorn, a lost sheep abandoned by the
+Holy Virgin.  Here perdition and misery ... there
+in your Fatherland the favour of the saints.  Choose
+quickly, for the sleigh stands waiting; the morning
+dawns, and day must not find us in this nest of
+heretics."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina hesitated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Swear," she said, "that you are innocent of
+Dorthe's death!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I swear it!" exclaimed the Jesuit, "by the cross
+and by the holy Loyola's bones.  May the firm
+ground open under my feet, and the abyss swallow
+me alive, if I have ever given this woman any drink
+but what was healthful and medicinal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then," said Regina, "the saints have heard
+your oath, and written it down in the book of
+judgment.  Farewell, my mother, my friend!  Come, let
+us go!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both hurried out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was still dark.  A pale ray of light appeared
+over the dark firs on the edge of Koivukoski fall.
+The horses stood harnessed.  The sleepy guard at
+the castle gate gave a free passage to the physician,
+who was well known to all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Jesuit already thought himself in safety, when
+a sleigh from the mainland met the fugitives on the
+narrow bridge, and drove close up to them in the
+darkness.  The monk's sleigh turned on the edge,
+and was only hindered by the half-rotten railing from
+upsetting into the depths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina gave a cry of terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the sound of this cry a man sprang from the
+other sleigh and approached the fugitives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Regina!" cried a well-known voice, which
+trembled from surprise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are mistaken, my friend," the Jesuit hastened
+to say in a disguised voice.  "Give way to Doctor
+Albertus Simonis, army physician in the service of
+his Royal Majesty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ha! it is you, accursed Jesuit!" cried the stranger.
+"Guard, to arms!  To arms! and seize the greatest
+villain on earth."  And so saying, he grasped the
+monk by his fur cloak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For an instant Hieronymus tried to disengage the
+sleigh and escape through the speed of the horses.
+But when he found that this was impossible, he left
+his fur cloak behind him, wriggled from his enemy's
+grasp, and, throwing himself quickly over the railing
+of the bridge, jumped down on the ice, which, in the
+terrible cold, had formed between the castle island
+and the mainland.  He soon vanished in the dim
+morning light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alarmed by the cry, the castle gate guard
+discharged his musket after the fugitive, but without
+effect.  Some of the soldiers seemed inclined to
+pursue him on the ice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not do that, boys!" cried a bearded sergeant,
+"it has thawed during the night, and the stream has
+cut the ice underneath; I think it will break up
+to-day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the fellow jumped down there!" cried some.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The devil will get him," replied the sergeant,
+calmly lighting his morning pipe.  "I guess by this
+time he is not far from Ämmä."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What did you say?" cried the driver of the sleigh
+in alarm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I say that the old woman* has got her breakfast
+to-day," answered the sergeant with perfect composure.
+"Just listen, she barks like a chained dog;
+now she is satisfied."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* The Finnish word ämmä means old woman.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+All listened, appalled, to the din of the waters.  It
+seemed to them as if the mighty fall roared more
+wildly, more terribly than before, in the dreary winter
+dawn.  The sergeant was right, it was like the howl
+of an angry dog, when they have thrown him his prey.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0315"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XV.
+<br /><br />
+BERTEL AND REGINA.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep
+in a peasant's house at Ylihärmä.  We found him
+again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly trying
+to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had
+seen through the window-pane of the wretched
+hut.  Bertel's circuitous course during the days
+between can be perhaps imagined.  Led on a false
+scent in his chase after the fugitives, he had scoured
+all the roads in East Bothnia, and even went as far
+up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost every
+sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek
+the runaways in the far-off Kajana desert.  Why the
+young cavalier pursued them with such unconquerable
+perseverance will soon be manifest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find
+Bertel in the apartment which the Governor had
+assigned to Lady Regina, under the protection of
+one of his female relatives.  More than three years
+have passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main,
+in the presence of the great king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty,
+and Regina an equally untrained girl of sixteen.
+Both had gone through many trials since then; in
+each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been
+cooled by struggles and sufferings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The distance between the prince's daughter and
+the lieutenant had been lessened by Bertel's military
+fame and lately acquired coat of arms; nay, at this
+moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider
+herself honoured by a knight's attentions.  But the
+distance between their convictions, their sympathies,
+their hearts&mdash;had it been diminished by these trials,
+which generally steel a conviction instead of destroying it?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel approached the young girl with all the
+perfect courtesy which the etiquette of his time had
+retained as an inheritance from the chivalry of past
+centuries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice,
+"since my hope of finding you at Korsholm failed, I
+have pursued you through forest and wilderness, as
+one pursues a criminal.  Perhaps you divine the cause
+that prompted me to do so."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted,
+and she looked inquiringly at Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated
+you, I am convinced that your reasons were noble
+and chivalrous.  You cannot have meant to take an
+unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have
+only wished to snatch her from a man whom the
+poor deceived one has ever since childhood regarded
+as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply
+concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time,
+learned to know and abhor."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly.  "It is
+true I shuddered when I found that you were under
+the escort of this villain, whose real character I knew
+before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver
+you from his hands.  But before I imagined any
+danger from that quarter, I flew to find you with the
+glad tidings of a justice ... late, but I hope not
+too late."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an
+emotion which sent the blood to her cheeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded
+her dazzling beauty with delight; "at last, after
+several years of fruitless efforts, I have succeeded in
+undoing this undeserved penalty.  You are free! you
+can now return to your Fatherland under the
+protection of the Swedish arms, and here"&mdash;with these
+words Bertel bent one knee and handed Regina a
+paper with the regency's seal attached&mdash;"is the
+document which ensures your freedom."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Regina had controlled her first emotion, and
+received the precious paper with almost haughty
+dignity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones,
+"I know that you do not desire my thanks for having
+acted like a man of honour before any of your
+compatriots."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he,
+however, ought to have expected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What I have done," he said, with a touch of
+coldness, "I have done to efface a wrong which might
+have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a great
+king.  Each and all of my countrymen would have
+done the same as I, had not the exigencies of war
+made them forget the reparation you had a right
+to demand.  First of all would the noble King Gustaf
+Adolf himself have hastened to repair a moment's
+indiscretion, had not Providence so suddenly cut short
+his career.  But," said Bertel, breaking off, "I forget
+that the king I love and admire, you, my lady, hate!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words the bright and beautiful colour
+again rose to Regina's cheeks.  Bertel had unknowingly
+touched one of the most sensitive chords in
+this ardent heart.  A new discovery, a wonderful
+resemblance in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in
+thought&mdash;a likeness which she had never before observed,
+and which these three years had developed in Bertel's
+whole personality, made an indescribable impression
+upon the young Southerner's soul.  It seemed to her
+as if she saw him himself, the greatest among mortals,
+the pride of her dreams, her life's delight and misery;
+he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's,
+and her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself
+had said to her in the well-remembered tones:
+"Regina, you hate me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and
+with such a surprising power, that Regina suddenly
+grew pale, staggered, and was compelled to lean on
+Bertel's outstretched arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and
+not knowing what she uttered, "should I hate you
+... you, whom I lo ...?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so
+full of meaning, with a surprise as sudden and
+unexpected as Regina's.  Beside himself with amazement,
+fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to
+avail himself of an involuntary confession.  Mute
+and respectful, he led the young girl to her
+protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her
+sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed
+emotions, which sought vent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady
+Regina to Stockholm, from whence she could return
+to her Fatherland, at the first open waters.  He was,
+therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until
+she was ready for the journey, and this was again
+delayed through lack of a fitting female companion
+for the high-born prisoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time
+entirely new relations were formed, which one could
+hardly have predicted after Regina's proud coldness
+towards her deliverer.  Ah! this coldness was the
+ice over a glowing volcano; every day it grew
+thinner and melted away; every day the foundations
+of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and
+finally only one barrier remained, the strongest one
+of all, it is true, namely, that of religious convictions.
+Vain wall!  It, too, finally crumbled before the fire
+of a southern passion, and before these weeks were
+ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of
+twenty-three, had forgotten the great differences of
+faith and rank, and sworn each other fidelity for life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory
+of Gustaf Adolf for his beautiful, proud, black-eyed
+bride?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an
+unexpected and wonderful manner.  With a secret
+apprehension for his future happiness, Bertel had
+tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since the morning when he leaped over the railing
+of the bridge, no one had heard or seen anything of
+him, until, three weeks afterwards, a peasant reported
+that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below
+Ämmä fall, they had discovered the body of a man
+without ears, clothed in a foreign garb, which the
+peasant brought with him, and which were recognised
+as those of Father Hieronymus.  In addition, the
+honest Paldamo peasant produced a small copper
+ring, which had been found hanging by a cord on the
+dead man's neck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and
+delight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I
+have so long sought ... and with you the certainty
+of this terrible man's death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!"
+exclaimed Regina, awe-struck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our
+happiness!" rejoined Bertel, and he placed on
+Regina's finger the <i>King's Ring</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap0316"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVI.
+<br /><br />
+THE KING'S RING&mdash;THE SWORD AND THE<br />
+PLOUGH&mdash;FIRE AND WATER.
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Again we return to Storkyro, to Bertila's farm, and
+the old peasant king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a March day, in the year 1635.  The spring
+sun is already melting the snow, and the roofs drip
+on the sunny side; the icy crust bears one's weight on
+the north side of the hill, but breaks on the south.
+Aron Bertila has just come home from church with
+all his folks, his grey head is bent, and he leans on
+Meri's arm.  At his side walk two sturdy, thick-set
+figures&mdash;old Larsson, and his newly arrived son, the
+brave and learned captain, the faithful image of his
+father, except in age.  On the captain's arm is his
+young, light-hearted, and pretty little wife, whose
+features we recognise.  It is no other than Ketchen,
+the courageous and merry girl, whose soft hand once
+made the gallant captain lose his wits.  Since that
+day he has sworn by all the Greek and Roman
+authors, whom he formerly read in Abo Cathedral
+School, that the soft-handed novice among the
+Würzburg sisters of charity should some day become
+his.  And when the vicissitudes of war again brought
+them together, when Ketchen was without protection,
+and besides, had nothing against an honest, jovial
+soldier, this cheerful pair were formally wedded in
+the autumn at Stralsund, and then went to visit their
+kind-hearted father in Storkyro, where they were
+warmly welcomed, and received like children in the
+house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must be added that Larsson had obtained his
+discharge from the service after much trouble, and
+without having a rise in rank.  It is to be regretted
+that he had not gathered a farthing from the booty
+in Germany, like many of his comrades.  All that he
+had earned&mdash;and if we can believe him, it must have
+amounted to millions&mdash;had taken wings; but where?
+At Nördlingen, he says.  By no means.  But in
+revels and sprees with jolly fellows like himself.  Now
+he meant to be as regular and steady as a gate-post;
+to succeed his father as inspector of Bertila's large
+farms; to plough, sow, harvest, and <i>pro modulo
+virium prolen copiosam in lucem proferre</i>, as those
+in olden times so truly said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Bertila treats him with apparent favour.
+Significant words have escaped the old man, and he
+has just given his will into the hands of the
+judge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for Meri, she has withered like a flower without
+roots, and clings to life only by one heart-thread:
+the banished, rejected Gustaf Bertel, now ennobled
+to Bertelskold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This domestic circle, composed of such differing
+elements, both light and shadows, are now gathered
+in the large "stuga," surrounded by the numerous
+field hands, and old Larsson now tries, in secret
+alliance with Meri, to bring the stern peasant king
+to a better state of mind towards Bertel.  But all
+their prayers and reasons break against the old man's
+unyielding firmness ... Larsson turns angrily away,
+and Meri conceals her tears in the darkest corner of
+the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then sleigh-bells are again heard outside, as on
+Twelfth-day evening; a large sleigh stops in the
+yard, and two persons alight from it, an officer in his
+ample cloak, and a young and classically beautiful
+woman in a magnificent mantle of black velvet, lined
+with precious fur.  Meri and old Larsson turn pale
+at this sight; Larsson tries to hasten out, but it is
+too late.  Bertel and Regina enter the "stuga."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both the Larssons and Meri surround Bertel with
+warm and apparently embarrassed greetings.  Ketchen
+flies and throws herself, without thinking of the
+difference between her burgher dress and the costly velvet
+cloak, into Regina's arms, who, with emotion, clasps
+her faithful friend to her heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel gently frees himself from Meri's embrace,
+and goes straight up to old Bertila with a firm step,
+who, cold and silent in his high chair at the end of
+the table, does not honour him with a word or glance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All present await with dismayed looks the result
+of this decisive meeting.  The young officer has
+taken off his cloak and hat, his long fair hair falls
+in beautiful waves around his open brow, his cheeks
+are very pale, but the expressive blue eyes regard
+the grey-haired man's iron face with a firm and
+steadfast look.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel now, as before, bends a knee, and says in
+a voice at once humble and confident:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My father!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who are you?  I know you not; I have no son!"
+said the old man in chilling tones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My father!" continued Bertel, without allowing
+himself to be checked, "I come here once more, and
+for the last time, to ask your forgiveness and blessing.
+Thrust me not from you!  I am going to leave my
+Fatherland, to fight and perhaps die on German soil.
+It depends upon you whether I ever return.  Remember,
+my father, that your blessing gives you back
+a son; that your curse drives him into exile for ever."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The features of the old man did not change their
+expression, but the tones of his voice indicated an
+internal struggle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My answer is short," he said.  "I had a son; he
+became unworthy of me and all the principles which
+have governed my life.  He abandoned the cause of
+the people to pay homage to the pernicious power
+which I hate and detest.  I have no longer a son.
+I have to-day disinherited him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The faces of all the hearers turn pale at these
+words.  But Bertel colours slightly, and says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My father, I do not ask for your property.  Give
+it to the one you consider more worthy than I.  I
+only ask your forgiveness ... your blessing, my
+father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All around the old man, except Regina, fell on
+their knees and exclaimed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Grace for Bertel!  Grace for your son!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And if I had a son, do you believe he would for
+my sake give up his desire for the false distinctions
+of nobility?  Do you think he would become a
+peasant like me, a man of the people, ready to live
+and die for their cause?  Do you fancy that he would
+plough the earth with his fine-gloved hands and
+choose a wife from my station, a simple plain woman,
+befitting the spouse of a husbandman?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My father," replied Bertel, in a voice more
+tremulous than before, "what you ask is impossible
+on account of the education you have yourself
+bestowed on me.  I honour and respect your station,
+but I have grown accustomed to the career of a
+soldier, which I neither can nor will abandon.  To
+choose a wife to your mind is equally impossible.
+Here is my wife; she is a prince's daughter, but she
+has chosen a peasant's son for her husband; this is
+a proof that she will not blush to call you father."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words Regina humbly approached the
+old man as if to kiss his hand, and all rose except
+Bertel and his father.  But the peasant king's former
+fiery temper now burst forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did I not say so!" he shouted.  "There stands
+the renegade who was born a peasant, and became
+the servant of lords.  Ha! by God!  I have in my
+day seen much strife and defiance between the sword
+and the plough, but a scene like this I have never
+beheld.  The boy who calls himself my son dares to
+bring before my eyes his high-born harlot and call
+her his wife."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertel sprang up and supported Regina, who nearly
+sank to the floor at these words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Old man," he said in a voice full of anger, "thank
+your name of father and your grey head that you
+have been allowed to utter what no one else should
+have uttered and live an hour afterwards.  Here is
+the ring I placed on the hand of my lawfully wedded
+wife"&mdash;with this he took the king's ring from
+Regina's finger&mdash;"and I swear that her hand is as
+pure and worthy as that of any other mortal to wear
+this ring, which has for so many years been worn
+by the greatest of kings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri's eyes stared at the ring, her pale cheeks
+coloured with a deep flush, and she had a violent
+internal struggle.  Finally she stepped nearer, took
+and pressed the ring with ecstasy to her lips, and
+said in a broken voice and with an emotion so strong
+that it dried her tears:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My ring which <i>he</i> has worn ... my ring which
+has protected <i>him</i> ... you are innocent of his death;
+he gave you away, and then came the bullets and
+death.  Do you know, Gustaf Bertel, and you, his
+wife, the power of this ring?  In my youth I one day
+went into the wilderness, and there found a dying
+man, who was languishing from thirst.  I gave him
+a drink from the spring, and cooled his tongue with
+the juice of berries.  He thanked me and said: 'My
+friend, I die, and have no other recompense to give
+you than this ring.  I found it in former days on
+an image of the Holy Virgin, which alone lay
+uninjured in the midst of the broken fragments of
+Popery in Storkyro Church; and when I took the
+ring from its finger the image fell to dust.  The ring
+has both the power of the saints and that of magic,
+for with me the greatness of the ancient occult
+knowledge goes into the silence.  He who wears this ring
+is secure against fire, water, steel, and all kinds of
+dangers, on the sole condition that he never swears
+a false oath, for that destroys the power of the ring;
+with this ring goes happiness in peace, and victory
+in war; love, honour, and wealth; and when it is
+worn by three successive generations, from father to
+son, then from that family shall come brilliant
+statesmen and generals...'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Meri paused; all listened with intense
+expectation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But," she added, "if the ring is worn by six
+generations one after the other, then a mighty royal
+house will spring from that family.  'But,' said the
+old man to me, 'you ought to know that great
+dangers accompany great gifts.  False oaths and
+family enmity will constantly tempt the owner of the
+ring, and thus endeavour to neutralise its power; pride
+and inordinate ambition will constantly work within
+him to prepare his fall, and a great steadfastness in
+the right path will be necessary, joined with a meek
+and humble heart, to vanquish these temptations.
+He who wears this ring will enjoy all the prosperity
+of the world, and only have to conquer himself; but
+he will also be the most formidable enemy of his own
+happiness.  All this is signified: by the letters, R.R.R.,
+which are engraved on the inside of the ring, and
+interpreted thus: <i>Rex Regi Rebellis</i>&mdash;the king
+rebellious against the king; the happiest, the
+mightiest among men, has to fear the greatest danger
+within himself.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And this ring, O Regina, is ours!" exclaimed
+Bertel, with both fear and joy.  "What a wealth and
+what a responsibility goes with this ring."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Power!  Honour!  Immortality!" caed Regina
+with transport.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beware, my daughter!" said Meri sadly.  "Behind
+these words lie the greatest dangers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Bertila looked at the ring and the young
+people with a contemptuous smile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"False gold!" he said.  "Vanity!  Useless ornament!
+False ambition!  This is a worthy gift to go
+in inheritance from generation to generation among
+the nobility.  Come, Larsson the younger, you, who
+are also of peasant origin, and who wish to return to
+your station, although you too have been a soldier.  I
+will give you something which is neither gold or
+a useless ornament, but which will bring you more
+blessings than all the kings' rings in the world.
+Take my old axe with the oak handle from the wall
+there; yes, fear not, there is no magic in that; my
+father forged it with his own hand, in Gustaf Vasa's
+time.  With it father and I have felled many a heavy
+tree in the forests, and cleared many a field.  May
+it pass in inheritance within your family, and I
+promise you that he who possesses my axe shall be
+blessed with happiness and contentment of mind in
+his honest labour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thanks, thanks, Father Bertila," answered the
+captain joyfully, and, with an air of importance, tried
+the edge of the old man's axe.  "If we took a fancy
+to engrave any inscription on it, I should propose
+R.R.R., <i>Ruris Rusticus Robustus</i>, which is to say
+briefly: 'The deuce, what a big, bulky chopper! a
+very beautiful and intellectual saying among those in
+olden times."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Larsson the elder now considered the opportunity
+at hand to give the bitter contest a more amicable
+turn.  He stepped up to old Bertila, leading by the
+hands the two newly married pairs, and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dear old friend, let us not meddle in the Lord's
+business.  Your boy and mine are a couple of great
+rascals, that is granted; but are they to blame that
+our Lord created one of them of fire and the other
+of water?  Bertel is like a flame&mdash;burning hot,
+ambitious, high-reaching, brilliant, ephemeral, and I
+will bet anything that his little wife is of the same
+sort.  My boy, here, is of the purest water."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stop!" cried the captain.  "Water has never
+been my weak side!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold your tongue!  My boy is the clear water
+... flowing and unstable, contentedly keeping itself
+to the ground, and created especially to put out the
+other youngster's poetical blaze with its prosaic
+philosophy.  As for his wife, she is of the same stuff.
+Do you not see, Bertila, that our Lord has intended
+the boys for friends? ... the fire to warm the water,
+and the water to quench the fire ... and you would
+make them enemies by taking from one and giving
+to the other.  No, Bertila, do not do it, this is my
+advice; give your son what belongs to him; my son
+will not starve for want of it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bertila remained silent for a moment.  Then he
+said vehemently:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do not teach me the meaning of the Lord.  Can
+you believe that he, the fresh-baked nobleman, whom
+you compare with the fire, could be induced to give
+away the ring and take the axe in its place?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never!" excitedly exclaimed Bertel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri seized his hand, and looked beseechingly at
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give away the ring," she said.  "You know some
+of its dangers, but there is still one which I, from
+anguish, have not mentioned.  All who wear this
+ring will die a violent death."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What then!" exclaimed Bertel.  "The death of
+the soldier on the battlefield is grand, and full of
+honour.  I do not ask a better one."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Just listen to him," said Bertila bitterly.  "I knew
+it; he runs after fame even to the grave.  A peaceful
+death or a peaceful life is an abomination to him;
+but you, Larsson, tell me: have you a desire to give
+away the axe and take the ring?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"H'm!" thoughtfully replied the captain; "if the
+ring were of gold, I might sell it in town and get a
+good cask of ale for the money.  But as it is only
+of copper ... pshaw!  I send it to the deuce, and
+keep the axe, which is at least useful for cutting
+wood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well done!" said Bertila; "you are sprinkling
+water on fire, as your father said.  It is not I who
+have made fire and water eternally hostile to each
+other.  Come, Larsson, you, the sound, common-sense,
+practical man, be my son, and one day take
+my farms when I am no longer here.  My blessing
+on you and your descendants.  May they multiply,
+and work like ants on the land, and may there be
+eternal hostility between them and the nobility, the
+people with the fiery temperament.  May there be
+war and not peace between them and you until the
+useless glitter disappears from humanity.  May the
+axe and the ring live in open feud until both are
+melted in the same heat.  When this happens after
+a century or more, then it will be time to say, class
+distinctions have seen their last days, and a man's
+merit is his only coat of arms."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But, my father," exclaimed Bertel in an entreating
+voice, "have you then no blessing to give me,
+and my posterity, at the moment when we separate
+for ever?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You!" repeated the old man, in still angry tones.
+"Go, you lost, vain, worm-eaten branch of the
+people's great trunk; go in your pitiful parade to
+certain ruin.  Until the day when, as I said, the axe
+and the ring, the false gold and the true steel melt
+together ... until then I give you my curse as an
+inheritance, even unto the tenth generation, and with
+it shall follow dissension, hatred, war, and finally a
+despicable fall."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold there, Father Bertila," cried Larsson the
+younger.  "Grace for Bertel!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No grace for nobility," replied the peasant king.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beware, unnatural father!" cried Larsson the
+elder.  "The doom may fall on your own head."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I no longer ask any grace," said Bertel, pale, but
+apparently calm.  "Farewell, my former father!
+Farewell, my Fatherland!  I go never to see you
+again!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One moment," interrupted Meri, who with a
+violent effort placed herself in his way.  "You
+go! yes, go ... my heart's darling, my hope, my life,
+my all ... go, I shall no longer stand in your way.
+But before you leave me, you shall take with you
+the secret which has been both my life's highest joy
+and its greatest agony..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hear her not!" cried old Bertila in a changed
+and alarmed tone.  "Listen not to what she says;
+madness speaks through her! ... Think of your
+honour and mine," he sternly whispered in his pale
+daughter's ear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What do I care for your or my honour!" burst
+out Meri with an impetuosity never before witnessed.
+"Do you not see that he goes ... my life's joy
+leaves me, to return no more?  He goes, and you,
+hard, in-human parent, wish me to let him depart with
+a curse to foreign lands.  But it shall not be.  For
+every curse you throw upon his head, I will give him
+a hundred blessings, and we shall see which will
+avail the most before the throne of the Supreme
+Being&mdash;your hatred or my love&mdash;the grandfather's
+curse or the mother's blessing..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel beside himself
+with astonishment.  Duke Bernhard's obscure hints
+now suddenly became clear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Believe her not; she knows not&mdash;she knows not
+what she says!" cried Bertila, with a vain attempt
+to appear calm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meri had sunk into Bertel's arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is now said," she whispered in a weak voice.
+"Gustaf ... my son.  Ah! it is so new and so sweet
+to call you so.  Now you know my life's secret ...
+and I have not long to blush over it.  Do you love
+me? ... Yes, yes!  Now I go from life rejoicing
+... the veil is lifted ... light comes ... My father,
+... I forgive you ... that you have hated and
+cursed your daughter's son ... Forgive me ... that
+I ... love ... bless ... my son!..."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel, "hear me, my
+mother!  I thank you ... I love you! ... You
+shall go with me, and I will never desert you.  But
+you do not hear me.  You are so pale ... Great
+God ... she is dead!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My daughter! my only child!" exclaimed the old
+hard-hearted peasant king, completely crushed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Judge not, lest ye be judged!" said old Larsson
+with clasped hands.  "And you, our children, go put
+into life with reconciled hearts.  Curse and blessing
+struggle for your future, and not only for yours, but
+for that of your posterity, unto the tenth generation.
+Pray to Heaven that blessing may conquer."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amen!" said Larsson the younger and Ketchen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So be it!" said Bertel and Regina.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+END OF THE FIRST CYCLE.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+Jarrold and Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+  SELECTIONS FROM
+<br />
+LIST OF FICTION
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+Maurus Jókai's Famous Novels.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Black Diamonds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author of "The Green Book,"
+"Poor Plutocrats," etc.  Translated by Frances
+Gerard.  With Special Preface by the Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Green Book.  (FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by Mrs. Waugh.
+With a finely engraved Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Pretty Michal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of
+Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+A Hungarian Nabob.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Poor Plutocrats.  (AS WE GROW OLD.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Day of Wrath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated from the Hungarian
+by R. Nisbet Bain.  With a Photogravure
+Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Dr. Dumany's Wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by F. Steinitz
+(under the author's personal supervision).  With
+specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Nameless Castle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by S. E. Boggs
+(under the author's personal supervision).  With a
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Debts of Honor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by A. B. Yolland.
+With a charming Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and
+Madame Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+'Midst the Wild Carpathians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÖKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a specially engraved Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Lion of Janina.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a special Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Eyes Like the Sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a fine Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Halil the Pedlar; THE WHITE ROSE.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAURUS JÓKAI.  Translated by R. Nisbet Bain.
+With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Carpathia Knox.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush," "That Little
+Girl," "A Romance of Modern London," etc.  With a
+charming Photogravure Portrait of the Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Jocelyn Erroll.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Once," "Dudley,"
+"The Wild Ruthvens," etc.  With a fine Photogravure
+Portrait of the Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Valentine: A STORY OF IDEALS.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "The Medlicotts,"
+"His Heart to Win," "Because of the Child," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+In Tight Places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of
+"Forbidden by Law," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+St. Peter's Umbrella.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By KÁLMÁN MIKSZÁTH, Author of "The Good
+People of Palvez."  Translated from the original
+Hungarian by W. B. Worswick.  With Introduction
+by R. Nisbet Bain.  A charming Photogravure
+Portrait of the Author and three illustrations.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac.
+Captain Satan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the French of Louis Gallet.  With specially
+engraved Portrait of Cyrano de Bergerac.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+A Woman's Burden,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By FERGUS HUME, Author of "The Mystery of a
+Hansom Cab," "The Lone Inn," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Vivian of Virginia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John
+Vivian, of Middle Plantation, Virginia.  By Hulbert
+Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel."  With ten charming
+Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Anima Vilis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe.  By MARYA
+RODZIEWICZ.  Translated from the Polish by Count
+S. C. de Soissons.  With a fine Photogravure Portrait
+of the Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Tone King.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Romance of the Life of Mozart.  By Heribert
+Rau.  Translated by J. E. S. Rae.  With specially
+engraved Portrait of Mozart.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Golden Dog (LE CHIEN D'OR).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec.
+By WILLIAM KIRBY, F.R.S.C.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Memory Street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By MARTHA BAKER DUNN, Author of "Sleeping
+Beauty," "Lias' Wife," etc.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+God's Rebel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By HULBERT FULLER, Author of "Vivian of
+Virginia."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Farcical Novel.  By HAL GODFREY (Miss C.
+O'Conor Eccles).
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The Man Who Forgot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of the "Prodigal's
+Brother," "Sinners Twain," etc.  With a special
+Photogravure Portrait of the Author.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+  Jarrold &amp; Sons'<br />
+  New Six-Shilling Fiction<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By MAURUS JOKAI.<br />
+  Haiti the Pedlar.<br />
+  (The White Rose).<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By COUNT LEO TOLSTOI.<br />
+  Tales Prom Tolstoi.<br />
+  Translated from the Russian by R. NISBET-BAIN,<br />
+  and with Biography of the Author.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By the Author of "ANIMA VILIS."<br />
+  Distaff.<br />
+  By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.<br />
+  Translated from the Polish by COUNT STANISLAUS<br />
+  C. DE SOISSONS.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By RENÉ BAZIM.<br />
+  Autumn Glory.<br />
+  Translated by MRS. ELLEN WAUGH.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By the Author of<br />
+  "DUKE RODNEY'S SECRET."<br />
+  Ivy Cardew.<br />
+  By PERRINGTON PRIMM.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By HULBERT FULLER.<br />
+  God's Rebel.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  By MARTHA BAKER DUNN.<br />
+  Memory Street.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+  London:<br />
+  JARROLD &amp; SONS,<br />
+  Publishers,<br />
+  10 &amp; 11, Warwick Lane,<br />
+  E.C.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Ring, by Zacharias Topelius
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S RING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 58838-h.htm or 58838-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/5/8/8/3/58838/
+
+Produced by Al Haines
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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