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diff --git a/14356-0.txt b/14356-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0abaae1 --- /dev/null +++ b/14356-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7201 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14356 *** + +THE EMPEROR OF PORTUGALLIA + +by + +SELMA LAGERLÖF + +Translated from the Swedish by Velma Swanston Howard + + + + + CONTENTS + + BOOK ONE + The Beating Heart + Glory Goldie Sunnycastle + The Christening + The Vaccination Bee + The Birthday + Christmas Morn + Glory Goldie's Illness + Calling on Relatives + The School Examination + The Contest + Fishing + Agrippa + Forbidden Fruit + + BOOK TWO + Lars Gunnarson + The Red Dress + The New Master + On the Mountain-top + The Eve of Departure + At the Pier + The Letter + August Dar Nol + October the First + The Dream Begins + Heirlooms + Clothed in Satin + Stars + Waiting + The Empress + The Emperor + + BOOK THREE + The Emperor's Song + The Seventeenth of August + Katrina and Jan + Bjorn Hindrickson's Funeral + The Dying Heart + Deposed + The Catechetical Meeting + An Old Troll + The Sunday after Midsummer + Summernight + The Emperor's Consort + + BOOK FOUR + The Welcome Greeting + The Flight + Held! + Jan's Last Words + The Passing of Katrina + The Burial of the Emperor + + + + +BOOK ONE + + +THE BEATING HEART + +Jan of Ruffluck Croft never tired of telling about the day when his +little girl came into the world. In the early morning he had been +to fetch the midwife, and other helpers; all the forenoon and a +good part of the afternoon he had sat on the chopping-block, in the +woodshed, with nothing to do but to wait. + +Outside it rained in torrents and he came in for his share of the +downpour, although he was said to be under cover. The rain reached +him in the guise of dampness through cracks in the walls and as +drops from a leaky roof, then all at once, through the doorless +opening of the shed, the wind swept a regular deluge in upon him. + +"I just wonder if anybody thinks I'm glad to have that young one +coming?" he muttered, impatiently kicking at a small stick of wood +and sending it flying across the yard. "This is about the worst +luck that could come to me! When we got married, Katrina and I, it +was because we were tired of drudging as hired girl and farmhand +for Eric of Falla, and wanted to plant our feet under our own +table; but certainly not to raise children!" + +He buried his face in his hands and sighed heavily. It was plain +that the chilly dampness and the long dreary wait had somewhat to +do with putting him in a bad humour, but they were by no means the +only cause. The real reason for his lament was something far more +serious. + +"I've got to work every day," he reminded himself, "work from early +morning till late in the evening; but so far I've at least had some +peace nights. Now I suppose that young one will be squalling the +whole night long, and I'll get no rest then, either." + +Whereupon an even worse fear seized him. Taking his hands from +before his face he wrung them so hard that the knuckles fairly +cracked. "Up to this we've managed to scratch along pretty well, +because Katrina, has been free to go out and work, the same as +myself, but now she'll have to sit at home and take care of that +young one." + +He sat staring in front of him as hopelessly as if he had beheld +Famine itself stalking across the yard and making straight for +his hut. + +"Well!" said he, bringing his two fists down on the chopping-block +by way of emphasis. "I just want to say that if I'd only known at +the time when Eric of Falla came to me and offered to let me build +on his ground, and gave me some old timber for a little shack, if I +had only known then that this would happen, I'd have said no to the +whole business, and gone on living in the stable-loft at Falla for +the rest of my days." + +He knew these were strong words, but felt no inclination to take +them back. + +"Supposing something were to happen--?" he began--for by that time +matters had reached such a pass with him he would not have minded +it if the child had met with some mishap before coming into the +world--but he never finished what he wished to say as he was +interrupted by a faint cry from the other side of the wall. + +The woodshed was attached to the house itself. As he listened, he +heard one peep after the other from within, and knew, of course, +what that meant. Then, for a long while he sat very still, feeling +neither glad nor sorry. Finally he said, with a little shrug: + +"So it's here at last! And now, for the love of God, they might let +me slip in to warm myself!" + +But that comfort was not to be his so soon! There were more hours +of waiting ahead of him. + +The rain still came down in sheets and the wind increased. Though +only the latter part of August, it was as disagreeable as a +November day. To cap the climax, he fell to brooding over something +that made him even more wretched. He felt that he was being +slighted and set aside. + +"There are three womenfolk, beside the midwife, in there with +Katrina," he murmured. "One of them, at least, might have taken the +trouble to come and tell me whether it's a boy or a girl." + +He could hear them bustling about, as they made up a fire, and saw +them run out to the well to fetch water, but of his existence no +one seemed to be aware. + +Of a sudden he clapped his hands to his eyes and began to rock +himself backward and forward. "My dear Jan Anderson," he said in +his mind, "what's wrong with you? Why does everything go against +you? Why must you always have such a dull time of it? And why +couldn't you have married some good-looking young girl, instead of +that ugly old Katrina from Falla?" + +He was so unspeakably wretched! Even a few tears trickled down +between his fingers. "Why are you made so little of in the parish, +my good Jan Anderson? Why should you always be pushed back for +others? You know there are those who are just as poor as yourself +and whose work is no better than yours; but no one gets put down +the way you do. What can be the matter with you, my dear Jan +Anderson?" + +These were queries he had often put to himself, though in vain, and +he had no hope of finding the answer to them now, either. After +all, perhaps there was nothing wrong with him? Perhaps the only +explanation was that both God and his fellowmen were unfair to him? + +When that thought came to him, he took his hands from before his +eyes and tried to put on a bold face. + +"If you're ever again allowed inside your own house, my good Jan +Anderson, you mustn't so much as glance toward the young one, but +march yourself straight over to the fireplace and sit down, without +saying a word. Or, suppose you get right up and walk away! You +don't have to sit here any longer now that you know it's over with. +Suppose you show Katrina and the rest of the womenfolk that you're +not a man to be trifled with.... " + +He was just on the point of rising, when the mistress of Falla +appeared in the doorway of the woodshed, and, with a charming +curtsy, bade him come inside to have a peep at the infant. + +Had it been any one else than the mistress of Falla herself that +had invited him in, it is doubtful whether he would have gone at +all, angry as he was. Her he had to follow, of course, but he took +his own time about it. He tried to assume the air and bearing of +Eric of Falla, when the latter strode across the floor of the town +hall to deposit his vote in the ballot-box, and succeeded +remarkably well in looking quite as solemn and important. + +"Please walk in," said the mistress of Falla, opening the door +for him, then stepping aside to let him go first. + +One glance at the room told him that everything had been cleaned +and tidied up in there. The coffeepot, newly polished and full and +steaming, stood at the edge of the hearth, to cool; the table, over +by the window, was spread with a snow-white cover, on which were +arranged dainty flowered cups and saucers belonging to the mistress +of Falla. Katrina lay on the bed and two of the women, who had come +to lend a hand, stood pressed against the wall so that he should +have a free and unobstructed view of all the preparations. Directly +in front of the table stood the midwife, with a bundle on her arm. + +Jan could not help thinking that for once in his life he appeared +to be the centre of attraction. Katrina glanced up at him +appealingly, as if wanting to ask whether he was pleased with her. +The other women, too, all turned their eyes toward him, expectantly +waiting for some word of praise from him for all the trouble they +had been to on his account. + +However, it is not so easy to appear jubilant when one has been +half frozen and out of sorts all day! Jan could not clear his face +of that Eric-of-Falla expression, and stood there without saying a +word. + +Then the midwife took a step forward. The hut was so tiny that that +one stride put her square in front of him, so that she could place +the child in his arms. + +"Now Jan shall have a peek at the li'l' lassie She's what I'd call +a _real baby_!" said the midwife. + +And there stood Jan, holding in his two hands something soft and +warm done up in a big shawl, a corner of which had been turned back +that he might see the little wrinkled face and the tiny wizzened +hands. He was wondering what the womenfolk expected him to do with +that which had been thrust upon him, when he felt a sudden shock +that shook both him and the child. It had not come from any of the +women and whether it had passed through the child to him or through +him to the child, he could not tell. + +Immediately after, the heart of him began to beat in his breast as +it had never done before. Now he was no longer cold, or sad, or +worried. Nor did he feel angry. All was well with him. But he could +not comprehend why there was a thumping and a beating in his +breast, when he had not been dancing, or running, or climbing +hills. + +"My good woman," he said to the midwife, "do lay your hand here and +feel of my heart! It seems to beat so queerly." + +"Why, it's a regular attack of the heart!" the midwife declared. +"But perhaps you're subject to these spells?" + +"No," he assured her. "I've never had one before--not just in this +way." + +"Do you feel bad? Are you in pain?" + +"Oh, no!" + +Then the midwife could not make out what ailed him. "Anyhow," said +she, "I'll relieve you of the child." + +But now Jan felt he did not want to give up the child. "Ah, let me +hold the little girl!" he pleaded. + +The womenfolk must have read something in his eyes, or caught +something in his tone that pleased them: for the midwife's mouth +had a peculiar quirk and the other women all burst out laughing. + +"Say Jan, have you never cared so much for somebody that your +heart has been set athrobbing because of her?" asked the midwife. + +"No indeed!" said Jan. + +But at that moment he knew what it was that had quickened the heart +in him. Moreover he was beginning to perceive what had been amiss +with him all his life, and that he whose heart does not respond to +either joy or sorrow can hardly be called human. + + +GLORY GOLDIE SUNNYCASTLE + +The following day Jan of Ruffluck Croft stood waiting for hours on +the doorstep of his hut, with the little girl in his arms. + +This, too, was a long wait. But now it was all so different from +the day before. He was standing there in such good company that he +could become neither weary nor disheartened. Nor could he begin to +tell how good it felt to be holding the warm little body pressed +close to his heart. It occurred to him that hitherto he had been +mighty sour and unpleasant, even to himself; but now all was bliss +and sweetness within him. He had never dreamed that one could be so +gladdened by just loving some one. + +He had not stationed himself on the doorstep without a purpose, as +may be assumed. It was an important matter that he must try to +settle while standing there. He and Katrina had spent the whole +morning trying to choose a name for the child. They had been at it +for hours, without arriving at a decision. Finally Katrina had +said: "I don't see but that you'll have to take the child and go +stand on the stoop with her. Then you can ask the first female that +happens along what her name is, and the name she names we must give +to the girl, be it ugly or pretty." + +Now the hut lay rather out of the way and it was seldom that any +one passed by their place; so Jan had to stand out there ever so +long, without seeing a soul. This was also a gray day, though no +rain fell. It was not windy and cold, however, but rather a bit +sultry. If Jan had not held the little girl in his arms he would +have lost heart. + +"My dear Jan Anderson," he would have said to himself. "You must +remember that you live away down in the Ashdales, by Dove Lake, +where there isn't but one decent farmhouse and here and there a +poor fisherman's hut. Who'll you find hereabout with a name that's +pretty enough to give to your little girl?" + +But since this was something which concerned his daughter he never +doubted that all would come right. He stood looking down toward the +lake, as if not caring to her how shut in from the whole countryside +it lay, in its rock-basin. He thought it might just happen that +some high-toned lady, with a grand name, would come rowing across +from Doveness, on the south shore of the lake. Because of the +little girl he felt almost sure this would come to pass. + +The child slept the whole time; so for all of her he could have +stood there and waited as long as he liked. But the worrisome +person was Katrina! Every other minute she would ask him whether +any one had come along yet and if he thought it prudent to keep the +infant out in the damp air any longer. + +Jan turned his eyes up toward Great Peak, rising high above the +little groves and garden-patches of the Ashdales, like a watch +tower atop some huge fortress, keeping all strangers at a distance. +Still it might be possible that some great lady, who had been up to +the Peak, to view the beautiful landscape had taken the wrong path +back and strayed in the direction of Ruffluck. + +He quieted Katrina as well as he could. The child was safe enough, +he assured her. Now that he had stood out there so long he wanted +to wait another minute or so. + +Not a soul hove in sight, but he was confident that if he just +stuck to it, the help would come. It could not be otherwise. It +would not have surprised him if a queen in a golden chariot had +come driving over mountains and through thickets, to bestow her +name upon his little girl. + +More moments passed, and he knew that dusk would soon be falling. +Then he would not be let stand there longer. Katrina looked at the +clock, and again begged him to come inside. + +"Just you be patient a second!" he said. "I think I see something +peeping out over west." + +The sky had been overcast the whole day, but at that moment the +sun [Note: In Swedish the sun is feminine.] came bursting out from +behind the clouds, and darted a few rays down toward the child. + +"I don't wonder at your wanting to have a peek at the li'l' lassie +before you go down," said Jan to the sun. "She's something worth +seeing!" + +The sun came forth, clearer and clearer, and shed a rose-coloured +glow over both the child and the hut. + +"Maybe you'd like to be godmother to 'er?" said Jan of Ruffluck. + +To which the sun made no direct reply. She just beamed for a +moment, then drew her mist-cloak about her and disappeared. + +Once again Katrina was heard from. "Was any one there?" asked she. +"I thought I heard you talking to somebody. You'd better come +inside now." + +"Yes, now I'm coming," he answered, and stepped in. "Such a grand +old aristocrat just went by! But she was in so great a hurry I had +barely time to say 'go'day' to her, before she was gone." + +"Goodness me! How provoking!" exclaimed Katrina. "And after we'd +waited so long, too! I suppose you didn't have a chance to ask what +her name was?" + +"Oh, yes. Her name is Glory Goldie Sunnycastle--that much I got out +of her." + +"_Glory Goldie Sunnycastle_! But won't that name be a bit too +dazzling?" was Katrina's only comment. + +Jan of Ruffluck was positively astonished at himself for having hit +upon something so splendid as making the sun godmother to his +child. He had indeed become a changed man from the moment the +little girl was first laid in his arms! + + +THE CHRISTENING + +When the little girl of Ruffluck Croft was to be taken to the +parsonage, to be christened, that father of hers behaved so +foolishly that Katrina and the godparents were quite put out +with him. + +It was the wife of Eric of Falla who was to bear the child to the +christening. She sat in the cart with the infant while Eric of +Falla, himself, walked alongside the vehicle, and held the reins. +The first part of the road, all the way to Doveness, was so +wretched it could hardly be called a road, and of course Eric had +to drive very carefully, since he had the unchristened child to +convey. + +Jan had himself brought the child from the house and turned it +over to the godmother, and had seen them set out. No one knew +better than he into what good hands it was being intrusted. And he +also knew that Eric of Falla was just as confident at handling the +reins as at everything else. As for Eric's wife--why she had borne +and reared seven children; therefore he should not have felt the +least bit uneasy. + +Once they were well on their way and Jan had again gone back to his +digging, a terrible sense of fear came over him. What if Eric's +horse should shy? What if the parson should drop the child? What if +the mistress of Falla should wrap too many shawls around the little +girl, so she'd be smothered when they arrived with her at the +parsonage? + +He argued with himself that it was wrong in him to borrow trouble, +when his child had such godfolk as the master and mistress of +Falla. Yet his anxiety would not be stilled. Of a sudden he dropped +his spade and started for the parsonage just as he was taking the +short cut across the heights, and running at top speed all the way. +When Eric of Falla drove into the stable-yard of the parsonage the +first person that met his eyes was Jan of Ruffluck. + +Now, it is not considered the proper thing for the father or mother +to be present at the christening, and Jan saw at once that the +Falla folk were displeased at his coming to the parsonage. Eric did +not beckon to him to come and help with the horse, but unharnessed +the beast himself, and the mistress of Falla, drawing the child +closer to her, crossed the yard and went into the parson's kitchen, +without saying a word to Jan. + +Since the godparents would not so much as notice him, he dared not +approach them; but when the godmother swept past him he heard a +little piping sound from the bundle on her arm. Then he at least +knew the child had not been smothered. + +He felt it was stupid in him not to have gone home at once. But now +he was so sure the parson would drop the child, that he had to +stay. + +He lingered a moment in the stable-yard, then went straight over to +the house and up the steps into the hallway. + +It is the worst possible form for the father to appear before the +clergyman, particularly when his child has such sponsors as Eric of +Falla, and his wife. When the door to the pastor's study swung open +and Jan of Ruffluck in his soiled workaday clothes calmly shuffled +into the room, just after the pastor had begun the service and +there was no way of driving him out, the godparents swore to +themselves that once they were home they would take him severely +to task for his unseemly behaviour. + +The christening passed off as it should without the slightest +occasion for a mishap, and Jan of Ruffluck had nothing for his +intrusion. Just before the close of the service he opened the door +and quietly slipped out again, into the hallway. He saw of course +that everything seemed to go quite smoothly and nicely without his +help. + +In a little while Eric of Falla and his wife also came out into the +hall. They were going across to the kitchen, where the mistress of +Falla had left the child's outer wraps and shawls. Eric went ahead +and opened the door for his wife, whereupon two kittens came +darting into the hallway and tumbled over each other right in front +of the woman's feet, tripping her. She felt herself going headlong +and barely had time to think: "I'm falling with the child; it will +be killed and I'll be heartbroken for life," when a strong hand +seized and steadied her. Looking round she saw that her rescuer was +Jan Anderson of Ruffluck, who had lingered in the hallway as if +knowing he would be needed there. Before she could recover herself +sufficiently to thank him, he was gone. + +And when she and her husband came driving home, there stood Jan +digging away. After the accident had been averted, he had felt that +he might safely go back to his work. + +Neither Eric nor his wife said a word to him about his unseemly +behaviour. Instead, the mistress of Falla invited him in for +afternoon coffee, muddy and begrimed as he was from working in the +wet soil. + + +THE VACCINATION BEE + +When the little girl of Ruffluck was to be vaccinated no one +questioned the right of her father to accompany her, since that +was his wish. The vaccinating took place one evening late in +August. When Katrina left home, with the child, it was so dark +that she was glad to have some one along who could help her over +stiles and ditches, and other difficulties of the wretched road. + +The vaccination bee was held that year at Falla. The housewife had +made a big fire on the hearth in the living-room and thought it +unnecessary to furnish any other illumination, except a thin tallow +candle that burned on a small table, at which the sexton was to +perform his surgical work. + +The Ruffluck folk, as well as every one else, found the room +uncommonly light, although it was as dim at the back as if a +dark-gray wall had been raised there--making the room appear +smaller than it was. And in this semi-darkness could be dimly seen +a group of women with babes in arms that had to be trundled, and +fed, and tended in every way. + +The mothers were busy unwinding shawls and mufflers late from +their little ones, drawing off their slips, and unloosing the +bands of their undershirts, so that the upper portion of their +little bodies could be easily exposed when the sexton called +them up to the operating table. + +It was remarkably quiet in the room, considering there were so +many little cry-babies all gathered in one place. The youngsters +seemed to be having such a good time gazing at one another they +forgot to make a noise. The mothers were quiet because they wanted +to hear what the sexton had to say; for he kept up a steady flow of +small talk. + +"There's no fun like going about vaccinating and looking at all the +pretty babies," said he. "Now we shall see whether it's a fine lot +you've brought me this year." + +The man was not only the sexton of the parish, where he had lived +all his life, but he was also the schoolmaster. He had vaccinated +the mothers, had taught them, and seen them confirmed and married. +Now he was going to vaccinate their babies. This was the children's +first contact with the man who was to play such an important part +in their lives. + +It seemed to be a good beginning. One mother after the other came +forward and sat down on a chair at the table, each holding her +child so that the light would fall upon its bared left arm; and the +sexton, chattering all the while, then made the three tiny +scratches in the smooth baby skin, without so much as a peep coming +from the youngster. Afterward the mother took her baby over to the +fireplace to let the vaccine dry in. Meantime she thought of what +the sexton had said of her child--that it was large and beautiful +and would some day be a credit to the family; that it would grow up +to be as good as its father and grandfather--or even better. + +Everything passed off thus peacefully and quietly until it came +to Katrina's turn at the table with her Glory Goldie. + +The little girl simply would not be vaccinated. She screamed and +fought and kicked. Katrina tried to hush her and the sexton spoke +softly and gently to her; but it did no good. The poor little thing +was uncontrollably frightened. + +Katrina had to take her away and try to get her quieted. Then a +big, sturdy boy baby let himself be vaccinated with never a +whimper. But the instant Katrina was back at the table with her +girl the trouble started afresh. She could not hold the child still +long enough for the sexton to make even a single incision. + +Now there was no one left to vaccinate but Glory Goldie of +Ruffluck. Katrina was in despair because of her child's bad +behaviour. She did not know what to do about it, when Jan suddenly +emerged from the shadow of the door and took the child in his arms. +Then Katrina got up to let him take her place at the table. + +"You just try it once!" she said scornfully, "and let's see whether +you'll do any better." For Katrina did not regard the little +toil-worn servant from Falla whom she had married as in any sense +her superior. + +Before sitting down, Jan slipped off his jacket. He must have +rolled up his shirt sleeve while standing in the dark, at the back +of the room, for his left arm was bared. + +He wanted so much to be vaccinated, he said. He had never been +vaccinated but once, and there was nothing in the world he feared +so much as the smallpox. + +The instant the little girl saw his bare arm she became quiet, and +looked at her father with wide, comprehending eyes. She followed +closely every movement of the sexton, as he put in the three short +red strokes on the arm. Glancing from one to the other, she noticed +that her father was not faring so very badly. + +When the sexton had finished with Jan, the latter turned to him, +and said: + +"The li'l' lassie is so still now that maybe you can try it." + +The sexton tried, and this time everything went well. The little +girl was as quiet as a mouse the whole time--the same knowing look +in her eyes. The sexton also kept silence until he had finished; +then he said to the father: + +"If you did that only to calm the child, we could just as well +have made believe--" + +"No, Sexton," said Jan, "then you would not have succeeded. You +never saw the like of that child! So don't imagine you can get her +to believe in something that isn't what it passes for." + + +THE BIRTHDAY + +On the little girl's first birthday her father was out digging in +the field at Falla; he tried to recall to mind how it had been in +the old days, when he had no one to think about while at work in +the field; when he did not have the beating heart in him, and when +he had no longings and was never anxious. + +"To think that a man can be like that!" he mused in contempt of his +old self. "If I were as rich as Eric of Falla or as strong as +Börje, who digs here beside me, it would be as nothing to having a +throbbing heart in your breast. That's the only thing that counts." + +Glancing over at his comrade, a powerfully built fellow who could +do again as much work as himself, he noticed that to-day the man +had not gone ahead as rapidly as usual with the digging. + +They worked by the job. Börje always took upon himself more work +than did Jan, yet they always finished at about the same time. That +day, however, it went slowly for Börje; he did not even keep up +with Jan, but was left far behind. + +But then Jan had been working for all he was worth, that he might +the sooner get back to his little girl. That day he had longed for +her more than usual. She was always drowsy evenings; so unless he +hurried home early, he was likely to find her asleep for the night +when he got home. + +When Jan had completed his work he saw that Börje was not even half +through. Such a thing had never happened before in all the years +they had worked together, and Jan was so astonished he went over to +him. + +Börje was standing deep down in the ditch, trying to loosen a clump +of sod. He had stepped on a piece of glass, and received an ugly +gash on the bottom of his foot, so that he could hardly step on it. +Imagine the torture of having to stand and push the spade into the +soil with an injured foot! + +"Aren't you going to quit soon?" asked Jan. + +"I'm obliged to finish this job to-day," replied the comrade. "I +can't get any grain from Eric of Falia till the work is done, and +we're all out of rye-meal." + +"Then go'-night for to-day," said Jan. + +Börje did not respond. He was too tired and done up to give even +the customary good-night salutation. + +Jan of Ruffluck walked to the edge of the field; but there he +halted. + +"What does it matter to the little girl whether or not you come +home for her birthday?" he thought. "She's just as well off without +you. But Börje has seven kiddies at home, and no food for them. +Shall you let them starve so that you can go home and play with +Glory Goldie?" + +Then he wheeled round, walked back to Börje, and got down into the +ditch to help him. Jan was rather tired after his day's toil and +could not work very fast. It was almost dark when they got through. + +"Glory Goldie must be asleep this long while," thought Jan, when he +finally put in the spade for the last bit of earth. + +"Go'-night for to-day," he called back to Börje for the second +time. + +"Go'-night," returned Börje, "and thanks to you for the help. Now I +must hurry along and get my rye. Another time I'll give you a lift, +be sure of that!" + +"I don't want any pay ... Go'-night!" + +"Don't you want anything for helping me?" asked Börje. "What's come +over you, that you're so stuck-up all at once?" + +"Well, you see, it's--it's the lassie's birthday to-day." + +"And for that I got help with my digging?" + +"Yes, for that and for something else, too! Well--good bye to you!" + +Jan hurried away so as not to be tempted to explain what that +_something else_ was. It had been on the tip of his tongue to say: +"To-day is not only Glory Goldie's birthday, but it's also the +birthday of my heart." + +It was as well, perhaps, that he did not say it, for Börje would +surely have thought Jan had gone out of his mind. + + +CHRISTMAS MORN + +Christmas morning Jan took the little girl along with him to +church; she was then just one year and four months old. + +Katrina thought the girl rather young to attend church and feared +she would set up a howl, as she had done at the vaccination bee; +but inasmuch as it was the custom to take the little ones along to +Christmas Matins, Jan had his own way. + +So at five o'clock on Christmas Morn they all set out. It was pitch +dark and cloudy, but not cold; in fact the air was almost balmy, +and quite still, as it usually is toward the end of December. + +Before coming to an open highway, they had to walk along a narrow +winding path, through fields and groves in the Ashdales, then take +the steep winter-road across Snipa Ridge. + +The big farmhouse at Falla, with lighted candles at every window, +stood out as a beacon to the Ruffluck folk, so that they were able +to find their way to Börje's hut; there they met some of their +neighbours, bearing torches they had prepared on Christmas Eve. +Each torch-bearer led a small group of people most of whom followed +in silence; but all were happy; they felt that they, too, like the +Wise Men of old, were following a star, in quest of the new-born +King. + +When they came to the forest heights they had to pass by a huge +stone which had been hurled at Svartsjö Church, by a giant down in +Frykerud, but which, luckily, had gone over the steeple and dropped +here on Snipa Ridge. When the church-goers came along, the stone +lay, as usual, on the ground. But they knew, they did, that in the +night it had been raised upon twelve golden pillars and that the +_trolls_ had danced and feasted under it. + +It was not so very pleasant to have to walk past a stone like that! +Jan looked over at Katrina to see whether she was holding the +little girl securely. Katrina, calm and unconcerned, walked along, +chatting with one of their neighbours. She was quite oblivious, +apparently, to the terrors of the place. + +The spruce trees up there were old and gnarled, and their branches +were dotted with clumps of snow. As seen in the glow of the torch +light, one could not but think that some of the trees were really +trolls, with gleaming eyes beneath snow hats, and long sharp claws +protruding from thick snow mittens. + +It was all very well so long as they held themselves still. But +what if one of them should suddenly stretch forth a hand and seize +somebody? There was no special danger for grown-ups and old people; +but Jan had always heard that the trolls had a great fondness for +small children--the smaller the better. It seemed to him that +Katrina was holding the little girl very carelessly. It would be no +trick at all for the huge clawlike troll hands to snatch the child +from her. Of course he could not take the baby out of her arms in a +dangerous spot like this, for that might cause the trolls to act. + +Murmurs and whispers now passed from tree-troll to tree-troll; the +branches creaked as if they were about to bestir themselves. + +Jan did not dare ask the others if they saw or heard what he did. A +question of that sort might be the very thing to rouse the trolls. +In this agony of suspense he knew of but one thing to do: he struck +up a psalm-tune. He had a poor singing-voice and had never before +sung so any one could hear him. He was so weak at carrying a tune +that he was afraid to sing out even in church; but now he had to +sing, no matter how it went. He observed that the neighbours were a +little surprised. Those who walked ahead of him nudged each other +and looked round; but that did not stop him; he had to continue. + +Immediately one of the womenfolk whispered to him: "Wait a bit, +Jan, and I'll help you." + +She took up the Christmas carol in the correct melody and the +correct key. It sounded beautiful, this singing in the night among +the trees, and soon everybody joined in. + +"Hail Blessed Morn, by prophets' holy words foretold," rang out on +the air. A murmur of anguish came from the tree-trolls; they bowed +their heads so that their wicked eyes were no longer visible, and +drew in their claws under spruce needles and snow. When the last +measure of the first stanza died away, no one could have told that +there was anything besides ordinary old spruce trees on the forest +heights. + + +The torches that had lighted the Ashdales folk through the woods +were burned out when they came to the highroad; but here they went +on, guided by the lights from peasant huts. When one house was out +of sight, they glimpsed another in the distance, and every house +along the road had candles burning at all the windows, to guide the +poor wanderers on their way to church. + +At last they came to a hillock, from which the church could be +seen. There stood the House of God, like acme gigantic lantern, +light streaming out through all Its windows. When the foot-farers +saw this, they held their breath. After all the little, +low-windowed huts they had passed along the way, the church looked +marvellously big and marvellously bright. + +At sight of the sacred edifice Jan fell to thinking about some poor +folk in Palestine, who had wandered in the night from Bethlehem to +Jerusalem with a child, their only comfort and joy, who was to be +circumcised in the Temple of the Holy City. These parents had to +grope their way in the darkness of night, for there were many who +sought the life of their child. + +The people from the Ashdales had left home at an surly hour, so as +to reach the church ahead of those who drove thither. But when they +were quite near the church grounds, sleighs, with foaming horses +and jingling bells, went flying past, forcing the poor foot-farers +to fake to the snow banks, at the edge of the road. + +Jan now carried the child. He was continually dodging vehicles, for +the tramp along the road had become very difficult. But before them +lay the shining temple; if they could only get to it they would be +sheltered, and safe from harm. + +Suddenly, from behind, there came a deafening noise of clanging +bells and clamping hoofs. A huge sledge, drawn by two horses, was +coming. On the front seat sat a young gentleman, in a fur coat and +a high fur cap, and his young wife. The gentleman was driving; +behind him stood his coachman, holding a burning torch so high that +the draft blew the flame backward, leaving in its wake a long trail +of smoke and flying sparks. + +Jan, with the child in his arms, stood at the edge of the snowbank. +All at once his foot sank deep in the snow, and he came near +falling. Quickly the gentleman in the sledge drew rein and shouted +to the peasant, whom he had forced from the road: + +"Hand over the child and it shall ride to the church with us. It's +risky carrying a little baby when there are so many teams out." + +"Much obliged to you," said Jan Anderson, "but I can get along all +right." + +"We'll put the little girl between us, Jan," said the young wife. + +"Thanks," he returned, "but you needn't trouble yourselves!" + +"So you're afraid to trust us with the child?" laughed the man in +the sledge, and drove on. + +The foot-farers trudged along under ever-increasing difficulties. +Sledge followed sledge. Every horse in the parish was in harness +that Christmas morning. + +"You might have let him take the girl," said Katrina. "I'm afraid +you'll fall with her!" + +"What, I let _him_ have my child? What are you thinking of, woman! +Didn't you see who he was?" + +"What harm would there have been in letting her ride with the +superintendent of the ironworks?" + +Jan Anderson of Ruffluck stood stockstill. "Was that the +superintendent at Doveness?" he said, looking as though he had +just come out of a dream. + +"Why of course! Who did you suppose it was?" + +Yes, where had Jan's thoughts been? What child had he been +carrying? Where had he intended going? In what land had he +wandered? He stood stroking his forehead, and looked rather +bewildered when he answered Katrina. + +"I thought it was Herod, King of Judea, and his wife, Herodias," +he said. + + +GLORY GOLDIE'S ILLNESS + +When the little girl of Ruffluck was three years old she had an +illness which must have been the scarlet fever, for her little +body was red all over and burning hot to the touch. She would not +eat, nor could she sleep; she just lay tossing in delirium. Jan +could not think of going away from home so long as she was sick. He +stayed in the hut day after day, and it looked as though Eric of +Falla's rye would go unthreshed that year. + +It was Katrina who nursed the little girl, who spread the quilt +over her every time she cast it off, and who fed her a little +diluted blueberry cordial, which the housewife at Falla had sent +them. When the little maid was well Jan always looked after her; +but as soon as she became ill he was afraid to touch her, lest he +might not handle her carefully enough and would only hurt her. He +never stirred from the house, but sat in a corner by the hearth all +day, his eyes fixed on the sick child. + +The little one lay in her own crib with only a couple of straw +pillows under her, and no sheets. It must have been hard on the +delicate little body, made sensitive by rash and inflammation, to +lie upon the coarse tow-cloth pillow-casings. + +Strange to say, every time the child began to toss on the bed Jan +would think of the finest thing he had to his name--his Sunday +shirt. + +He possessed only one good shirt, which was of smooth white linen, +with a starched front. It was so well made that it would have been +quite good enough for the superintendent at Doveness. And Jan was +very proud of that shirt. The rest of his wearing apparel, which +was in constant use, was as coarse as were the pillow-casings the +little girl lay on. + +But maybe it was only stupid in him to be thinking of that shirt? +Katrina would never in the world let him ruin it, for she had given +it to him as a wedding present. + +Anyhow, Katrina was doing all she could. She borrowed a horse from +Eric of Falla, wrapped the little one in shawls and quilts and rode +to the doctor's with her. That was courageous of Katrina--though +Jan could not see that it did any good. Certainly no help came out +of the big medicine bottle she brought back with her from the +apothecary's, nor from any of the doctor's other prescriptions. + +Perhaps he would not be allowed to keep so rare a jewel as the +little girl, unless he was ready to sacrifice for her the best that +he had, mused he. But it would not be easy to make a person of +Katrina's sort understand this. + +Old Finne-Karin came into the hut one day while the girl lay sick. +She knew how to cure sickness in animals, as do all persons of her +race, and she was not so bad, either, at conjuring away styes and +boils and ringworms; but for other ailments one would scarcely +think of consulting her. It was hardly the thing to expect help +from a witch doctor for anything but trifling complaints. + +The moment the old woman stepped into the room she noticed that the +child was ill. Katrina informed her that it had the scarlet fever, +but nobody sought her advice. That the parents were anxious and +troubled she must have seen, of course, for as soon as Katrina had +treated her to coffee and Jan had given her a piece of plug-tobacco, +she said, entirely of her own accord: + +"This sickness is beyond my healing powers; but as much I'm able to +tell you; you can find out whether it's life or death. Keep awake +till midnight, then, on the stroke of twelve, place the tip of the +forefinger of your left hand against the tip of the little finger, +eyelet-like, and look through at the young one. Notice carefully +who lies beside her in the bed, and you'll know what to expect." + +Katrina thanked her kindly, knowing it was best to keep on the good +side of such folk; but she had no notion of doing as she had been +told. + +Jan attached no importance to the advice, either. He thought of +nothing but the shirt. But how would he ever be able to muster +courage enough to ask Katrina if he might tear up his wedding +shirt? That the little girl would not get any better on that +account he understood, to be sure, and if she must die anyhow, he +would just be throwing it away. + +Katrina went to bed that evening at her usual hour, but Jan felt +too troubled to sleep. Seated in his corner, he could see how Glory +Goldie was suffering. That which she had under her was too rough +and coarse. He sat thinking how nice it would be if he could only +make up a bed for the little girl that would feel cool and soft and +smooth. + +His shirt, freshly laundered and unused, lay in the bureau drawer. +It hurt him to think of its being there; at the same time he felt +it would hardly be fair to Katrina to use her gift as a sheet for +the child. + +However, as it drew on toward midnight and Katrina was sleeping +soundly, he went over to the bureau and took out the shirt. First +he tore away the stiff front, then he slit the shirt into two +parts, whereupon he slipped one piece under the little girl's body, +and spread the other one between the child and the heavy quilt that +covered her. + +That done, he stole back to his corner and again took up his vigil. +He had not sat there long when the clock struck twelve. Almost +without thinking of what he was doing he put the two fingers of his +left hand up to his eye, ring fashion, and peeped through at the +bed. + +And lo, at the edge of the bed sat a little angel of God! It was +all scratched, and bleeding, from contact with the coarse bedding, +and was about to go away, when it turned and felt of the fine +shirt, running its tiny hands over the smooth white linen. Then, in +a twinkling, it swung its legs inside the edge of the bed and lay +down again, to watch over the child. At the same time up one of the +bedposts crawled something black and hideous, which on seeing that +the angel of God seemed about to depart, stuck its head over the +bedside and grinned with glee, thinking it could creep inside and +lie down in the angel's place. + +But when it saw that the angel of God still guarded the child, it +began to writhe as if suffering the torments of hell, and shrank +back toward the floor. + +The next day the little girl was on the road to recovery. Katrina +was so glad the fever was broken that she had not the heart to say +anything about the spoiled wedding shirt, though she probably +thought to herself that she had a fool of a husband. + + +CALLING ON RELATIVES + +One Sunday afternoon Jan and Glory Goldie set out together in the +direction of the big forest; the little girl was then in her fifth +year. + +Silent and serious, father and little daughter walked hand in hand, +as if bent upon a very solemn mission. They went past the shaded +birch grove, their favourite haunt, past the wild strawberry hill +and the winding brook, without stopping; then, disappearing in an +easterly direction, they went into the densest part of the forest; +nor did they stop there. Wherever could they be going? By and by +they came out on a wooded hill above Loby. From there they went +down to the scale-pan, where country-road and town-road cross. They +did not go to Nästa or to Nysta, and never even glanced toward Där +Fram and På Valln, but went farther and farther into the village. +No one could have told just where they were bound for. Surely they +could not be thinking of calling upon the Hindricksons, here in +Loby? + +To be sure Björn Hindrickson's wife was a half-sister of Jan's +mother, so that Jan was actually related to the richest people in +the parish, and he had a right to call Hindrickson and his wife +uncle and aunt. But heretofore he had never claimed kinship with +these people. Even to Katrina he had barely mentioned the fact that +he had such high connections. Jan would always step out of the way +when he saw Björn Hindrickson coming, and not even at church did he +go up and shake hands with him. + +But now that Jan had such a remarkable little daughter he was +something more than just a poor labourer. He had a jewel to show +and a flower with which to adorn himself. Therefore he was as rich +as the richest, as great as the greatest, and now he was going +straight to the big house of Björn Hindrickson to pay his respects +to his fine relatives, for the first time in his life. + + +The visit at the big house was not a long one. In less than an hour +after their arrival, Jan and the little girl were crossing the +house-yard toward the gate. But at the gate Jan stopped and glanced +back, as if half-minded to go in again. + +He certainly had no reason to regret his call. Both he and the +child had been well received. Björn Hindrickson's wife had taken +the little girl over to the blue cupboard, and given her a cookie +and a lump of sugar, and Björn Hindrickson himself had asked her +name and her age; whereupon he had opened his big leather purse and +presented her with a bright new sixpence. + +Jan had been served with coffee, and his aunt had asked after +Katrina and had wondered whether they kept a cow or a pig, and if +their hut was cold in winter and if the wages Jan received from +Eric of Falla were sufficient for their needs. + +No, there was nothing about the visit itself that troubled Jan. +When he had chatted a while with the Hindricksons they had excused +themselves--which was quite proper--saying they were invited to a +tea that afternoon and would be leaving in half an hour. Jan had +risen at once and said good-bye, knowing they must allow themselves +time to dress. Then his aunt had gone into the pantry and had +brought out butter and bacon, had filled a little bag with barley, +and another with flour, and had tied them all into a single parcel, +which she had put into Jan's hand at parting. It was just a little +something for Katrina, she had said. She should have some +recompense for staying at home to look after the house. + +It was this parcel Jan stood there pondering over. He knew that in +the bundle were all sorts of good things to eat, the very things +they longed for at every meal at Ruffluck, still he felt it would +be unfair to the little girl to keep it. + +He had not come to the Hindricksons as a beggar, but simply to see +his kinsfolk. He did not wish them to entertain any false notions +as to that. This thought had come to him instantly the parcel was +handed to him, but his regard for the Hindricksons was so great +that he would not have dared refuse it. + +Now, turning back from the gate, he walked over to the barn and put +the parcel down near the door, where the housefolk constantly +passed and would be sure to see it. + +He was sorry to have to leave it. But his little girl was no +beggar! Nobody must think that she and her father went about asking +alms. + + +THE SCHOOL EXAMINATION + +When the little girl was six years old Jan went along with her to +the Östanby school one day, to listen to the examinations. + +This being the first and only schoolhouse the parish boasted, +naturally every one was glad that at last a long-felt want had +been met. In the old days Sexton Blackie had no choice but to go +about from farmhouse to farmhouse with his pupils. + +Up until the year 1860, when the Östanby school was built, the +sexton had been compelled to change classrooms every other week, +and many a time he and his little pupils had sat in a room where +the housewife prepared meals and the man of the house worked at a +carpenter's bench; where the old folk lay abed all day and the +chickens were cooped under the sofa. + +But just the same it had gone rather well with the teaching; for +Sexton Blackie was a man who could command respect in all weathers. +Still it must have been a relief to him to be allowed to work in a +room that was to be used only for school purposes; where the walls +were not lined with cubby-beds and shelves filled with pots and +pans and tools; where there was no obstructing loom in front of the +window to shut out the daylight, and where women neighbours could +not drop in for a friendly chat over the coffee cups during school +hours. + +Here the walls were hung with illustrations of Bible stories, with +animal pictures and portraits of Swedish kings. Here the children +had little desks with low benches, and did not have to sit perched +up round a high table, where their noses were hardly on a level +with the edge. And here Sexton Blackie had a desk all to himself, +with spacious drawers and compartments for his record-books and +papers. Now he looked rather more impressive during school hours +than in former days, when he had often heard lessons while seated +upon the edge of a hearth, with a roaring fire at his back and the +children huddled on the floor in front of him. Here he had a fixed +place for the blackboard and hooks for maps and charts, so that he +did not have to stand them up against doors and sofa backs. He +knew, too, where he had his goose quills and could teach the +children how to make strokes and curves, so that each one of them +would some day be as fine a penman as himself. It was even possible +to train the children to rise in a body and march out in line, like +soldiers. Indeed, no end of improvements could be introduced now +that the schoolhouse was finished. + +Glad as was every one of the new school, the parents did not feel +altogether at ease in the presence of their children, after they +had begun to go there. It was as if the youngsters had come into +something new and fine from which their elders were excluded. Of +course it was wrong of the parents to think this, when they should +have been pleased that the children were granted so many advantages +which they themselves had been denied. + +The day Jan of Ruffluck visited the school, he and his little Glory +Goldie walked hand in hand, as usual, all the way, like good +friends and comrades; but as soon as they came in sight of the +schoolhouse and Glory Goldie saw the children assembled outside, +she dropped her father's hand and crossed to the other side of the +road. Then, in a moment, she ran off and joined a group of children. + +During the examination Jan sat near the teacher's lectern, up among +the School Commissioners and other fine folk. He had to sit there; +otherwise he could not have seen anything of Glory Goldie but the +back of her neck, as she sat in the front row, to the right of the +lectern, where the smaller children were placed. In the old days +Jan would never have gone so far forward; but one who was father to +a little girl like Glory Goldie did not have to regard himself as +the inferior of anybody. Glory Goldie could not have helped seeing +her father from where she sat, yet she never gave him a glance. It +was as if he did not exist for her. On the other hand, Glory +Goldie's gaze was fixed upon her teacher, who was then examining +the older pupils, on the left side of the room. They read from +books, pointed out different countries and cities on the map, and +did sums on the blackboard, and the teacher had no time to look at +the little tots on the right. So it would not have mattered very +much if Glory Goldie had sent her father an occasional side-glance; +but she never so much as turned her head toward him. + +However, it was some little comfort to him that all the other +children did likewise. They, too, sat the whole time with their +clear blue eyes fastened on their teacher. The little imps made +believe they understood him when he said something witty or clever; +for then they would nudge each other and giggle. + +No doubt it was a surprise to the parents to see how well the +children conducted themselves throughout the examination. But +Sexton Blackie was a remarkable man. He could make them do almost +anything. + +As for Jan of Ruffluck, he was beginning to feel embarrassed and +troubled. He no longer knew whether it was his own little girl who +sat there or somebody else's. Of a sudden he left his place among +the School Commissioners and moved nearer the door. + +At last the teacher was done examining the older pupils. Now came +the turn of the little ones, those who had barely learnt their +letters. They had not acquired any vast store of learning, to be +sure, but a few questions had to be put to them, also. Besides, +they were to give some account of the Story of the Creation. + +First they were asked to tell who it was that created the world. +That they knew of course. And then, unhappily, the teacher asked +them if they knew of any other name for God. + +Now all the little A-B-C-ers were stumped! Their cheeks grew hot +and the skin on their foreheads was drawn into puckers, but they +could not for the life of them think out the answer to such a +profound question. + +Among the larger children, over on the right, there was a general +waving of hands, and whispering and tittering; but the eight small +beginners held their mouths shut tight and not a sound came from +them. Glory Goldie was as mum as the rest. + +"There is a prayer which we repeat every day," said the teacher. +"What do we call God there?" + +Now Glory Goldie had it! She knew the teacher wanted them to say +they called God _Father_--and raised her hand. + +"What do we call God, Glory Goldie?" he asked. + +Glory Goldie jumped to her feet, her cheeks aflame, her little +yellow pigtail of a braid pointing straight out from her neck. + +"We call him Jan," she answered in a high, penetrating voice. + +Immediately a laugh went up from all parts of the room. The gentry, +the School Board, parents and children all chuckled. Even the +schoolmaster appeared to be amused. + +Glory Goldie went red as a beet and her eyes filled up. The teacher +rapped on the floor with the end of his pointer and shouted +"Silence!" Whereupon he said a few words to explain the matter. + +"It was _Father_ Glory Goldie wanted to say, of course, but said +Jan instead because her own father's name is Jan. We can't wonder +at the little girl, for I hardly know of another child in the +school who has so kind a father as she has. I have seen him stand +outside the schoolhouse in rain and bluster, waiting for her, and +I've seen him come carrying her to school through blizzards, when +the snow was knee-deep in the road. So who can wonder at her saying +Jan when she must name the best she knows!" + +The teacher patted the little girl on the head. The people all +smiled, but at the same time they were touched. + +Glory Goldie sat looking down, not knowing what she should do with +herself; but Jan of Ruffluck felt as happy as a king, for it had +suddenly become clear to him that the little girl had been his the +whole time. + + +THE CONTEST + +It was strange about the little girl of Ruffluck and her father! +They seemed to be so entirely of one mind that they could read each +other's thoughts. + +In Svartsjö lived another schoolmaster, who was an old soldier. He +taught in an out-of-the-way corner of the parish and had no regular +schoolhouse, as had the sexton; but he was greatly beloved by all +children. The youngsters themselves hardly knew they went to school +to him, but thought they came together just to play. + +The two schoolmasters were the best of friends. But sometimes the +younger teacher would try to persuade the older one to keep abreast +of the times, and wanted him to go in for phonetics and other +innovations. The old soldier generally regarded such things with +mild tolerance. Once, however, he lost his temper. + +"Just because you've got a schoolhouse you think you know it all, +Blackie!" he let fly. "But I'll have you understand that my +children know quite as much us yours, even if they do have only +farmhouses to sit in." + +"Yes, I know," returned the sexton, "and have never said anything +to the contrary. I simply mean that if the children could learn a +thing with less effort--" + +"Well, what then?" bristled the old soldier. + +The sexton knew from the old man's tone that he had offended him, +and tried to smooth over the breach. + +"Anyhow you make it so easy for your pupils that they never +complain about their lessons." + +"Maybe I make it too easy for them?" snapped the old man. "Maybe I +don't teach them anything?" he shouted, striking the table with his +hand. + +"What on earth has come over you, Tyberg?" said the sexton. "You +seem to resent everything I say." + +"Well, you always come at me with so many allusions!" + +Just then other people happened in, and soon all was smooth between +the schoolmasters; when they parted company they were as good +friends as ever. But when old man Tyberg was on his way home, the +sexton's remarks kept cropping up in his mind, and now he was even +angrier than before. + +"Why should that strippling say I could teach the children more if +I kept abreast of the times?" he muttered to himself. "He probably +thinks I'm too old, though he doesn't say it in plain words." +Tyberg could not get over his exasperation, and as soon as he +reached home he told it all to his wife. + +"Why should you mind the sexton's chatter?" said the wife. "'Youth +is elastic, but age is solid,' as the saying goes. You're excellent +teachers both of you." + +"Little good your saying it!" he grunted. "Others will think what +they like just the same." + +The old man went about for days looking so glum that he quite +distressed his wife. + +"Can't you show them they are in the wrong?" she finally suggested. + +"How show them? What do you mean?" + +"I mean that if you know your pupils to be just as clever as the +sexton's--" + +"Of course they are!" he struck in. + +"--then you must see that your pupils and his get together for a +test examination." + +The old man pretended not to be interested in her proposition, but +all the same it caught his fancy. And some days later the sexton +received a letter from him wherein he proposed that the children of +both schools be allowed to test their respective merits. + +The sexton was not averse to this, of course, only he wanted to +have the contest held some time during the Christmas holidays, so +that it could be made a festive occasion for the children. + +"That was a happy conceit," thought he. "Now I shan't have to +review any lessons this term." + +Nor was it necessary. It was positively amazing the amount of +reading and studying that went on just then in the two schools! + + +The contest was held the evening of the day after Christmas. The +schoolroom had been decorated for the occasion with spruce trees, +on which shone all the church candles left over from the Christmas +Matins, and there were apples enough to give every child two +apiece. It was whispered about that the parents and guardians who +had come to listen to the children would be served with coffee and +cakes. The chief attraction, however, was the big contest. + +On one side of the room sat the soldier's pupils, on the other the +sexton's. And now it was for the children to defend their teachers' +reputations. Schoolmaster Tyberg had to examine the sexton's +pupils, and the sexton the Tyberg pupils. Any questions that could +not be answered by the one school were to be taken up by the other. +Each question had to be duly recorded so that the judges would be +able to decide which school was the better. + +The sexton opened the contest. He proceeded rather cautiously at +first, but when he found that he had a lot of clever children to +deal with he went at them harder and harder. The Tyberg pupils were +so well grounded they did not let a single quizz get by them. + +Then came old man Tyberg's turn at questioning the sexton's pupils. + +The soldier was no longer angry with the sexton. Now that his +children had shown that they knew their bits, the demon of mischief +flew into him. At the start he put a few straight questions to the +sexton's pupils, but being unable to remain serious for long at a +time he soon became as waggish as he usually was at his own school. + +"Of course I know that you have read a deal more than have we who +come from the backwoods," said he. "You have studied natural +science and much else, still I wonder if any of you can tell me +what the stones in Motala Stream are?" + +Not one of the sexton's pupils raised a hand, but on the other +side hand after hand shot up. + +Yet, in the sexton's division sat Olof Oleson--he who knew he had +the best head in the parish, and Där Nol, of good old peasant +stock. But they could not answer. There was Karin Svens, the +sprightly lass of a soldier's daughter, who had not missed a day at +school. She, with the others, wondered why the sexton had not told +them what there was remarkable about the stones in Motala Stream. + +Schoolmaster Tyberg stood looking very grave while Schoolmaster +Blackie sat gazing at the floor, much perturbed. + +"I don't see but that we'll have to let this question go to the +opposition," said the soldier-teacher. "Fancy, so many bright boys +and girls not being able to answer an easy question like that!" + +At the last moment Glory Goldie turned and looked back at her +father, as was her habit when not knowing what else to do. + +Jan was too far away to whisper the answer to her; but the instant +the child caught her father's eye she knew what she must say. Then, +in her eagerness, she not only raised her hand, but stood up. + +Her schoolmates all turned to her, expectantly, and the sexton +looked pleased because the question would not be taken away from +his children. + +"They are wet!" shouted Glory Goldie without waiting for the +question to be put to her, for the time was up. + +The next second the little girl feared she had said something very +stupid and spoiled the thing for them all. She sank down on the +bench and hid her face under the desk, so that no one should see +her. + +"Well answered, my girl!" said the soldier-teacher. "It's lucky for +you sexton pupils there was one among you could reply; for, with +all your cock-sureness, you were about to lose the game." + +And such peals of laughter as went up from the children of both +schools and from the grown folk as well, the two schoolmasters had +never heard. Some of the youngsters had to stand up to have their +laugh out, while others doubled in their seats, and shrieked. That +put an end to all order. + +"Now I think we'd better remove the benches and take a swing round +the Christmas trees," said old man Tyberg. + +And never before had they had such fun in the schoolhouse, and +never since, either. + + +FISHING + +It would hardly have been possible for any one to be as fond of the +little girl as her father was; but it may be truly said that she +had a very good friend in old seine-maker Ola. + +This is the way they came to be friends: Glory Goldie had taken to +setting out fishing-poles in the brook for the small salmon-trout +that abounded there. She had better luck with her fishing than any +one would have expected, and the very first day she brought home a +couple of spindly fishes. + +She was elated over her success, as can be imagined, and received +praise from her mother for being able to provide food for the +family, when she was only a little girl of eight. To encourage the +child, Katrina let her cleanse and fry the fish. Jan ate of it and +declared he had never tasted the like of that fish, which was the +plain truth. For the fish was so bony and dry and burnt that the +little girl herself could scarcely swallow a morsel of it. + +But for all that the little girl was just as enthusiastic over her +fishing. She got up every morning at the ionic time that Jan did +and hurried off to the brook, a basket on her arm, and carrying in +a little tin box the worms to bait her hooks. Thus equipped, she +went off to the brook, which came gushing down the rocky steep in +numerous falls and rapids, between which were short stretches of +dark still water and places where the stream ran, clear and +transparent, over a bed of sand and smooth stones. + +Think of it! After the first week she had no luck with the fishing. +The worms were gone from all the hooks, but no fish had fastened +there. She shifted her tackle from rapid to still water, from still +water to rippling falls, and she changed her hooks--but with no +better results. + +She asked the boys at Börje's and at Eric's if they were not the +ones who got up with the lark and carried off her fish. But a +question like that the boys would not deign to answer. For no boy +would stoop to take fish from the brook, when he had the whole of +Dove Lake to fish in. It was all right for little girls, who were +not allowed to go down to the lake, to run about hunting fish in +the woods, they said. + +Despite the superior airs of the boys, the little girl only +half-believed them. "Surely someone must take the fish off my +hooks!" she said to herself. Hers were real hooks, too, and not +just bent pins. And in order to satisfy herself she arose one +morning before Jan or Katrina were awake, and ran over to the +brook. When near to the stream she slackened her pace, taking very +short cautious steps so as not to slip on the stones or to rustle +the bushes. Then, all at once her, whole body became numb. For at +the edge of the brook, on the very spot where she had set out her +poles the morning before, stood a fish thief tampering with her +lines. It was not one of the boys, as she had supposed, but a grown +man, who was just then bending over the water, drawing up a fish. + +Little Glory Goldie was never afraid. She rushed right up to the +thief and caught him in the act. + +"So you're the one who comes here and takes my fish!" she said. +"It's a good thing I've run across you at last so we can put a stop +to this stealing." + +The man then raised his head, and now Glory Goldie saw his face. It +was the old seine-maker, who was one of their neighbours. + +"Yes, I know this is your tackle," the man admitted, without +getting angry or excited, as most folks do when taken to task for +wrongdoing. + +"But how can you take what isn't yours?" asked the puzzled +youngster. + +The man looked straight at her; she never forgot that look; she +seemed to be peering into two open and empty caverns at the back of +which were a pair of half-dead eyes, beyond reflecting either joy +or grief. + +"Well, you see, I'm aware that you get what you require from your +parents and that you fish only for the fun of it, while at my home +we are starving." + +The little girl flushed. Now she felt ashamed. + +The seine-maker said nothing further, but picked up his cap (it had +dropped from his head while he was bending over the fishing-poles) +and went his way. Nor did Glory Goldie speak. A couple of fish lay +floundering on the ground, but she did not take them up; when she +had stood a while looking at them, she kicked them back into the +water. + +All that day the little girl felt displeased with herself, without +knowing why. For indeed it was not she who had done wrong. She +could not get the seine-maker out of her thoughts. The old man was +said to have been rich at one time; he had once owned seven big +farmsteads, each in itself worth as much as Eric of Falla's farm. +But in some unaccountable way he had disposed of his property and +was now quite penniless. + +However, the next morning Glory Goldie went over to the brook the +same as usual. This time no one had touched her hooks, for now +there was a fish at the end of every line. She released the fishes +from the hooks and laid them in her basket; but instead of going +home with her catch she went straight to the seine-maker's cabin. + +When the little girl came along with her basket the old man was out +in the yard, cutting wood. She stood at the stile a moment, +watching him, before stepping over. He looked pitifully poor and +ragged. Even her father had never appeared so shabby. + +The little girl had heard that some well-do-to people had offered +the seine-maker a home for life, but in preference he had gone to +live with his daughter-in-law, who made her home here in the +Ashdales, so as to help her in any way that he could; she had many +children, and her husband, who had deserted her, was now supposed +to be dead. + +"To-day there was fish on the hooks!" shouted the little girl from +the stile. + +"You don't tell me!" said the seine-maker. "But that was well." + +"I'll gladly give you all the fish I catch," she told him, "if I'm +only allowed to do the fishing myself." So saying, she went up to +the seine-maker and emptied the contents of her basket on the +ground, expecting of course that he would be pleased and would +praise her, just as her father--who was always pleased with +everything she said or did--had always done. But the seine maker +took this attention with his usual calm indifference. + +"You keep what's yours," he said. "We're so used to going hungry +here that we can get on without your few little fishes." + +There was something out of the common about this poor old man and +Glory Goldie was anxious to win his approval. + +"You may take the fish of and stick the worms on the hooks, if you +like," said she, "and you can have all the tackle and everything." + +"Thanks," returned the old man. "But I'll not deprive you of your +pleasure." + +Glory Goldie was determined not to go until she had thought out a +way of satisfying him. + +"Would you like me to come and call for you every morning," she +asked him, "so that we could draw up the lines together and divide +the catch--you to get half, and I half?" + +Then the old man stopped chopping and rested on his axe. He turned +his strange, half-dead eyes toward the child, and the shadow of a +smile crossed his face. + +"Ah, now you put out the right bait!" he said. "That proposition +I'll not say no to." + + +AGRIPPA + +The little girl was certainly a marvel! When she was only ten years +old she could manage even Agrippa Prästberg, the sight of whom was +enough to scare almost any one out of his wits. + +Agrippa had yellow red-lidded eyes, topped with bushy eyebrows, a +frightful nose, and a wiry beard that stood out from his face like +raised bristles. His forehead was covered with deep wrinkles and +his figure was tall and ungainly. He always wore a ragged military +cap. + +One day when the little girl sat all by herself on the flat stone +in front of the hut, eating her evening meal of buttered bread, she +espied a tall man coming down the lane whom she soon recognized as +Agrippa Prästberg. However, she kept her wits about her, and at +once broke and doubled her slice of bread buttered side in--then +slipped it under her apron. + +She did not attempt to run away or to lock up the house, knowing +that that would be useless with a man of his sort; but kept her +seat. All she did was to pick up an unfinished stocking Katrina had +left lying on the stone when starting out with Jan's supper a while +ago, and go to knitting for dear life. + +She sat there as if quite calm and content, but with one eye on the +gate. No, indeed, there was not a doubt about it--Agrippa intended +to pay them a visit, for just then he lifted the gate latch. + +The little girl moved farther back on the stone and spread out her +skirt. She saw now that she would have to guard the house. + +Glory Goldie knew, to be sure, that Agrippa Prästberg was not the +kind of man who would steal, and he never struck any one unless +they called him Grippie, or offered him buttered bread, nor did he +stop long at a place where folk had the good luck not to have a +Darlecarlian clock in the house. + +Agrippa went about in the parish "doctoring" clocks, and once he +set foot in a house where there was a tall, old-fashioned chimney +clock he could not rest until he had removed the works, to see if +there was anything wrong with them. And he never failed to find +flaws which necessitated his taking the whole clock apart. That +meant he would be days putting it together again. Meantime, one had +to house and feed him. + +The worst of it was that if Agrippa once got his hands on a clock +it would never run as well as before, and afterward one had to let +him tinker it at least once a year, or it would stop going +altogether. The old man tried to do honest and conscientious work, +but just the name he ruined all the clocks he touched. + +Therefore it was best never to let him fool with one's clock. That +Glory Goldie knew, of course, but she saw no way of saving the +Dalecarlian timepiece, which was ticking away inside the hut. + +Agrippa knew of the clock being there and had long watched for an +opportunity to get at it, but at other times when he was seen +thereabout, Katrina had been at home to keep him at a safe distance. + +When the old man came up he stopped right in front of the little +girl, struck the ground with his stick, and rattled off: + +"Here comes Johan Utter Agrippa Prästberg, drummer-boy to His Royal +Highness and the Crown! I have faced shot and shell and fear +neither angels nor devils. Anybody home?" + +Glory Goldie did not have to reply, for he strode past her into the +house and went straight over to the big Dalecarlian clock. + +The girl ran in after him and tried to tell him what a good clock +it was, that it ran neither too fast nor too slow and needed no +mending. + +"How can a clock run well that has not been regulated by Johan +Utter Agrippa Prästberg!" the old man roared. + +He was so tall he could open the clock-case without having to stand +on a chair. In a twinkling he removed the face and the works and +placed them on the table. Glory Goldie clenched the hand under her +apron, and tears came to her eyes; but what could she do to stop +him? + +Agrippa was in a fever of a hurry to find out what ailed the clock, +before Jan or Katrina could get back and tell him it needed no +repairing. He had brought with him a small bundle, containing +work-tools and grease jars, which he tore open with such haste that +half its contents fell to the floor. + +Glory Goldie was told to pick up everything that had dropped. And +any one who has seen Agrippa Prästberg must know she would not have +dared do anything but obey him. She got down on all fours and +handed him a tiny saw and a mallet. + +"Anything more!" he bellowed. "Be glad you're allowed to serve His +Majesty's and the Kingdom's drummer-boy, you confounded crofter-brat!" + +"No, not that I see," replied the little girl meekly. Never had she +felt so crushed and unhappy. She was to look after the house for +her mother and father, and now this had to happen! + +"But the spectacles?" snapped Agrippa. "They must have dropped, +too?" + +"No," said the girl, "there are no spectacles here." Suddenly a +faint hope sprang up in her. What if he couldn't do anything to the +clock without his glasses? What if they should be lost? And just +then her eye lit on the spectacle-case, behind a leg of the table. + +The old man rummaged and searched among the cog-wheels and springs +in his bundle. "I don't see but I'll have to get down on the floor +myself, and hunt," he said presently. "Get up, crofter-brat!" + +Quick as a flash the little girl's hand shot out and closed over +the spectacle-case, which she hid under her apron. + +"Up with you!" thundered Agrippa. "I believe you're lying to me. +What are you hiding under your apron? Come! Out with it!" + +She promptly drew out one hand. The other hand she had kept under +her apron the whole time. Now she had to show that one, too. Then +he saw the buttered bread. + +"Ugh! It's buttered bread!" Agrippa shrank back as if the girl were +holding out a rattlesnake. + +"I sat eating it when you came, and then I put it out of sight for, +I know you don't like butter." + +The old man got down on his hands and knees and began to search, +but to no purpose, of course. + +"You must have left them where you were last," said Glory Goldie. + +He had wondered about that himself, though he thought it unlikely. +At all events he could do nothing to the clock without his glasses. +He had no choice but to gather up his tools and replace the works +in the clock-case. + +While his back was turned the little girl slipped the spectacles +into his bundle, where he found them when he got to Lövdala Manor-- +the last place he had been to before coming to Ruffluck Croft. On +opening the bundle to show they were not there, the first object +that caught his eye was the spectacle-case. + +Next time he saw Jan and Katrina in the pine grove outside the +church, he went up to them. + +"That girl of yours, that handy little girl of yours is going to be +a comfort to you," he told them. + + +FORBIDDEN FRUIT + +There were many who said to Jan of Ruffluck that his little girl +would be a comfort to him when she was grown. Folks did not seem to +understand that she already made him happy every day and every hour +that God granted them. Only once in the whole time of her growing +period did Jan have to suffer any annoyance or humiliation on her +account. + +The summer the little girl was eleven her father took her to +Lövdala Manor on the seventeenth of August, which was the birthday +of the lord of the manor, Lieutenant Liljecrona. + +The seventeenth of August was always a day of rejoicing that was +looked forward to all the year by every one in Svartsjö and in Bro, +not only by the gentry, who participated in all the festivities, +but also by the young folk of the peasantry, who came in crowds to +Lövdala to look at the smartly dressed people and to listen to the +singing and the dance music. + +There was something else, too, that attracted the young people to +Lövdala on the seventeenth of August, and that was all the fruit +that was to be found in the orchard at that time. To be sure, the +children had been taught strict honesty in most matters, but when +it came to a question of such things as hang on bushes and trees, +out in the open, they felt at liberty to take as much as they +wanted, just so they were careful not to be caught at it. + +When Jan came into the orchard with his Glory Goldie he noticed how +the little girl opened her eyes when she saw all the fine apple +trees, laden with big round greenings. And Jan would not have +denied her the pleasure of tasting of the fruit had he not seen +Superintendent Söderlind and two other men walking about in the +orchard, on the lookout for trespassers. + +He hurried Glory Goldie over to the lawn in front of the +manor-house, out of temptation's way. It was plain that her +thoughts were still on the apple trees and the gooseberry bushes, +for she never even glanced at the prettily dressed children of the +upper class or at the beautiful flowers. Jan could not get her to +listen to the fine speeches delivered by the Dean of Bro and +Engineer Boraeus of Borg, in honour of the day. Why she would not +even listen to Sexton Blackie's congratulatory poem! + +Anders Öster's clarinet could be heard from the house. It was +playing such lively dance music just then that folks were hardly +able to hold themselves still, but the little girl only tried to +find a pretext for getting back to the orchard. + +Jan kept a firm grip on her hand all the while and no matter what +excuse she would hit upon to break away, he never relaxed his hold. +Everything went smoothly for him until evening, when dusk fell. + +Then coloured lanterns were brought out and set in the flower beds +and hung in the trees and in among the clinging ivy that covered +the house wall. It was such a pretty sight that Jan, who had never +before seen anything of that kind, quite lost his head and hardly +knew whether he was still on earth; but just the same he did not +let go of the little hand. + +When the lanterns had been lighted, Anders Öster and his nephew and +the village shopkeeper and his brother-in-law struck up a song. +While they sang the air seemed to vibrate with a strange sort of +rapture that took away all sadness and depression. It came so +softly and caressingly on the balmy night air that Jan just gave up +to it, as did every one else. All were glad to be alive; glad they +had so beautiful a world to live in. + +"This must be the way folks feel who live in Paradise," said a +youth, looking very solemn. + +After the singing there were fireworks, and when the rockets went +up into the indigo night-sky and broke into showers of red, blue, +and yellow stars, Jan was so carried away that for the moment he +forgot about Glory Goldie. When he came back to himself she was +gone. + +"It can't be helped now," thought Jan. "I only hope all will go +well with her, as usual, and that Superintendent Söderlind or any +of the other watchers won't lay hands on her." + +It would have been futile for Jan to try to find her out in the +big, dark orchard: he knew that the sensible thing for him to do +was to remain where he was, and wait for her. And he did not have +to wait very long! There was one more song; the last strains had +hardly died away when he saw Superintendent Söderlind come up, with +Glory Goldie in his arms. + +Lieutenant Liljecrona was standing with a little group of gentlemen +at the top of the steps, listening to the singing, when +Superintendent Söderlind stopped in front of him and set the little +girl down on the ground. + +Glory Goldie did not scream or try to run away. She had picked her +apron full of apples and thought of nothing save to hold it up +securely, so that none of the apples would roll out. + +"This youngster has been up in an apple tree," said Superintendent +Söderlind, "and your orders were that if I caught any apple thieves +I was to bring them to you." + +Lieutenant Liljecrona glanced down at the little girl, and the fine +wrinkles round his eyes began to twitch. It was impossible to tell +whether he was going to laugh or cry in a second. He had intended +to administer a sharp reprimand to the one who had stolen his +apples. But now when he saw the little girl tighten her hands round +her apron, he felt sorry for her. Only he was puzzled to know how +he should manage this thing so that she could keep her apples; for +if he were to let her off without further ado, it might result in +his having his whole orchard stripped. + +"So you've been up in the apple trees, have you?" said the +lieutenant. "You have gone to school and read about Adam and Eve, +so you ought to know how dangerous it is to steal apples." + +At that moment Jan came forward and placed himself beside his +daughter; he felt quite put out with her for having spoiled his +pleasure, but of course he had to stand by her. + +"Don't do anything to the little girl, Lieutenant!" he said. "For +it was I who gave her leave to climb the tree for the apples." + +Glory Goldie sent her father a withering glance, and broke her +silence. "That isn't true," she declared. "I wanted the apples. +Father has been standing here the whole evening holding onto my +hand so I shouldn't go pick any." + +Now the lieutenant was tickled. "Good for you, my girl!" said he. +"You did right in not letting your father shoulder the blame. I +suppose you know that when Our Lord was so angry at Adam and Eve it +wasn't because they had stolen an apple, but because they were +cowards and tried to shift the blame, the one onto the other. You +may go now, and you can keep your apples because you were not +afraid to tell the truth." + +With that he turned to one of his sons, and said: + +"Give Jan a glass of punch. We must drink to him because his girl +spoke up for herself better than old Mother Eve. It would have been +well for us all if Glory Goldie had been in the Garden of Eden +instead of Eve." + + + +BOOK TWO + +LARS GUNNARSON + +One cold winter day Eric of Falla and Jan were up in the forest +cutting down trees. They had just sawed through the trunk of a big +spruce, and stepped aside so as not to be caught under its branches +when it came crashing to the ground. + +"Look out, Boss!" warned Jan. "It's coming your way." + +There was plenty of time for Eric to have escaped while the spruce +still swayed; but he had felled so many trees in his lifetime that +he thought he ought to know more about this than Jan did, and stood +still. The next moment he lay upon the ground with the tree on top +of him. He had not uttered a sound when the tree caught him and now +he was completely hidden by the thick spruce branches. + +Jan stood looking round not knowing what had become of his +employer. Presently he heard the old familiar voice he had always +obeyed; but it sounded so feeble he could hardly make out what it +was saying. + +"Go get a team and some men to take me home," said the voice. + +"Shan't I help you from under first?" asked Jan. + +"Do as I tell you!" said Eric of Falla. + +Jan, knowing his employer to be a man who always demanded prompt +obedience, said nothing further but hurried back to Falla as fast +as he could. The farm was some distance away, so that it took time +to get there. + +On arriving, the first person Jan came upon was Lars Gunnarson, the +husband of Eric's eldest daughter and prospective master of Falla, +which he was destined to take over upon the decease of the present +owner. + +When Lars Gunnarson had received his instructions he ordered Jan to +go straight to the house and tell the mistress of what had +occurred; then he was to call the hired boy. Meantime Lars himself +would run down to the barn and harness a horse. + +"Perhaps I needn't be so very particular about telling the +womenfolk just yet?" said Jan. "For if they once start crying and +fretting it will only mean delay. Eric's voice sounded so weak from +where he lay that I think we'd best hurry along." + +But Lars Gunnarson, since coming to the farm, had made it a point +to assert his authority. He would no more take back an order once +given than would his father-in-law. + +"Go into mother at once!" he commanded. "Can't you understand that +she must get the bed ready so we'll have some place to put him when +we come back with him?" + +Then of course Jan was obliged to go inside and notify the +mistress. Try as he would to make short work of it, it took time to +relate what had happened and how it had happened. + +When Jan returned to the yard he heard Lars thundering and swearing +in the stable. Lars was a poor hand with animals. The horses would +kick if he went anywhere near them and he had not been able to get +one of the beasts out of its stall the whole time that Jan had been +inside talking with the housewife. + +It would not have been well for Jan had he offered to help Lars. +Knowing this he went immediately on his other errand, and fetched +the hired boy. He thought it mighty strange that Lars had not told +him to speak to Börje, who was threshing in the barn close by, +instead of sending him after the hired boy, who was at work out in +the birch-grove, a good way from the farmyard. + +And while Jan ran these needless errands, the faint voice under the +spruce branches rang in his ears. The voice was not so imperative +now, but it begged and implored him to hasten. "I'm coming, I'm +coming!" Jan whispered back. He had the sensation of one in a +nightmare who tries to run but who cannot take a step. + +Lars had at last managed to get a horse into the shafts. Then the +womenfolk came and told him to be sure to take along straw and +blankets. This was all very well, but it meant still further delay. + +Finally Lars and Jan and the hired boy drove away from the farm. +But they had got no farther than to the edge of the forest, when +Lars stopped the horse. + +"One gets sort of rattled when one receives news of this kind," +said he. "I never thought of it till just now--but Börje is back at +the barn." + +"It would have been well to have taken him along," said Jan, "for +he's twice as strong as any of us." + +Then Lars sent the hired boy back to the farm to get Börje; which +meant a long wait. + +While Jan sat in the sledge, powerless to act, he felt as though +within him opened a big, empty ice-cold void. It was the awful +certainty that they would be too late! + +Then at last came Börje and the boy, all out of breath from +running, and now they drove on into the woods. They went very +slowly, though, for Lars had harnessed the old spavined bay to the +sledge. What he had said about his being rattled must have been +true, for all at once he wanted to turn in on the wrong road. + +"If you go in that direction, we'll come to Great Peak," Jan told +him; "and we must get to the woods beyond Loby." + +"Yes, I know," returned Lars, "but farther up there's a crossroad +where it's better driving." + +"What road might that be? I've never seen it." + +"Wait, and I'll show you," said Lars, determined to continue up the +mountain. + +Now Börje sided with Jan, so Lars had to give in of course; but +precious time had been consumed while they argued with him, and Jan +felt as if all the life had gone out of his body. + +"Nothing matters now," thought he. "Eric of Falla will be beyond +our help when we arrive." + +The old bay jogged along the forest road as well as it could, but +it had not the strength for a heavy pull like this. It was poorly +shod, and stumbled time after time. When going uphill the men had +to get down from the sledge and walk, and when they came upon +trackless unbeaten ground in the thick of the forest the horse was +almost more of a hindrance than a help. + +At all events they got there finally. Strange to say, they found +Eric of Falla in fairly good condition; he was not much hurt and no +bones were broken. One of his thighs had been lacerated by a +branch, and there he had an ugly wound; still it was nothing but +what he could recover from. + +When Jan went back to his work the next morning he learned that +Eric had a high fever and was suffering intense pain. While lying +on the frozen ground he had caught a severe cold, which developed +into pneumonia, and within a fortnight he was dead. + + +THE RED DRESS + +The summer the young girl was in her seventeenth year she went to +church one Sunday with her parents. On the way she had worn a +shawl, which she slipped off when she came to the church knoll. +Then everybody noticed that she was wearing a dress such as had +never before been seen in the parish. + +A travelling merchant, one of the kind that goes about with a huge +pack on his back, had found his way to the Ashdales, and on seeing +Glory Goldie in all the glow and freshness of her youth he had +taken from his pack a piece of dress goods which he tried to induce +her parents to buy for her. The cloth was a changeable red, of a +texture almost like satin and as costly as it was beautiful. Of +course Jan and Katrina could not afford to buy for their girl a +dress of that sort, though Jan, at least, would have liked nothing +better. + +Fancy! When the merchant had vainly pressed and begged the parents +for a long while he grew terribly excited because he could not have +his way. He said he had set his heart on their daughter having the +dress, that he had not seen another girl in the whole parish who +would set it off as well as she could. Whereupon he had measured +and cut off as much of the cloth as was needed for a frock, and +presented it to Glory Goldie. He did not want any payment, all he +asked was to see the young girl dressed in the red frock the next +time he came to Ruffluck. + +Afterward the frock was made up by the best seamstress in the +parish, the one who sewed for the young ladies at Lövdala Manor, +and when Glory Goldie tried it on the effect was so perfect that +one would have thought the two had blossomed together on one of the +lovely wild briar bushes out in the forest. + +The Sunday Glory Goldie showed herself at church in her new dress, +nothing could have kept Jan and Katrina at home, so curious were +they to hear what folks would say. + +And it turned out, as has been said, that everybody noticed the red +dress. When the astonished folk had looked at it once they turned +and looked again; the second time, however, they glanced not only +at the dress but at the young girl who wore it. + +Some had already heard the story of the dress. Others wanted to +know how it happened that a poor cotter's lass stood there in such +fine raiment. Then of course Katrina and Jan had to tell them all +about the travelling merchant's visit, and when they learned how it +had come about they were all glad that Fortuna had thought of +taking a little peep into the humble home down in the Ashdales. + +There were sons of landed proprietors who declared that if this girl +had been of less humble origin they would have proposed to her then +and there. And there were daughters of landed proprietors--some of +them heiresses--who said to themselves that they would have given +half of their possessions for a face as rosy and young and radiant +with health as hers. + +That Sunday the Dean of Bro preached at the Svartsjö church, +instead of the regular pastor. The dean was an austere, old +fashioned divine who could not abide extravagance in any form, +whether in dress or other things. + +Seeing the young girl in the bright red frock he must have thought +she was arrayed in silk, for immediately after the service he told +the sexton to call the girl and her parents, as he wished to speak +with them. Even he noticed that the girl and the dress went well +together, but for all that he was none the less displeased. + +"My child," he said, laying his hand on Glory Goldie's shoulder, "I +have something I want to say to you. Nobody could prevent me from +wearing the vestments of a bishop, if I so wished; but I never do +it because I don't want to appear to be something more than what I +am. For the same reason you should not dress as though you were a +young lady of quality, when you are only the daughter of a poor +crofter." + +These were cutting words, and poor Glory Goldie was so dismayed she +could not answer. But Katrina promptly informed him that the girl +had received the cloth as a gift. + +"Be that as it may," spoke the dean. "But parents, can't you +comprehend that if you allow your daughter to array herself once or +twice in this fashion she will never again want to put on the kind +of clothes you are able to provide for her?" + +Now that the dean had spoken his mind in plain words he turned +away; but before he was out of earshot Jan was ready with a retort. + +"If this little girl could be clothed as befits her, she would be +as gorgeous as the sun itself," said he. "For a sunbeam of joy she +has been to us since the day she was born." + +The dean came back and regarded the trio thoughtfully. Both Katrina +and Jan looked old and toil worn, but the eyes in their furrowed +faces shone when they turned them toward the radiant young being +standing between them. + +Then the dean felt it would be a shame to mar the happiness of +these two old people. Addressing himself to the young girl, he said +in a mild voice: + +"If it is true that you have been a light and a comfort to your +poor parents, then you may well wear your fine dress with a good +grace. For a child that can bring happiness to her father and +mother is the best sight that our eyes may look upon." + + +THE NEW MASTER + +When the Ruffluck family came home from church the Sunday the dean +had spoken so beautifully to Glory Goldie they found two men +perched on their fence, close to the gate. One of the men was Lars +Gunnarson, who had become master of Falla after Eric's death, the +other was a clerk from the store down at Broby, where Katrina +bought her coffee and sugar. + +They looked so indifferent and unconcerned sitting there that Jan +could hardly think they wanted to see him; so he simply raised his +cap as he went past them into the house, without speaking. + +The men remained where they were. Jan wished they would go sit +where he could not see them. He knew that Lars had harboured a +grudge against him since that ill-fated day in the forest and had +hinted more than once that Jan was getting old and would not be +worth his day's wage much longer. + +Katrina brought on the midday meal, which was hurriedly eaten. Lars +Gunnarson and the clerk still sat on the fence, laughing and +chatting. They reminded Jan of a pair of hawks biding their time to +swoop down upon helpless prey. Finally the men got down off the +fence, opened the gate, and went toward the house. + +Then, after all, they had come to see him! + +Jan had a strong presentment that they wished him ill. He glanced +anxiously about, as if to find some corner where he might hide. +Then his eyes fell on Glory Goldie, who also sat looking out +through the window, and instantly his courage came back. + +Why should he be afraid when he had a daughter like her? he +thought. Glory Goldie was wise and resourceful, and afraid of +nothing. Luck was always on her side, so that Lars Gunnarson would +find it far from easy to get the best of her! + +When the two men came in they seemed as unconcerned as before. Yet +Lars said that after sitting so long on the fence looking at the +pretty little house they had finally taken a notion to step inside. + +They lavished praises upon everything in the house and Lars +remarked that Jan and Katrina had reason to feel very thankful to +Eric of Falla; for of course it was he who had made it possible for +them to build a home and to marry. + +"That reminds me," he said quickly, looking away from Jan and +Katrina. "I suppose Eric of Falla had the foresight to give you a +deed to the land on which the hut stands?" + +Neither Jan nor Katrina said a word. Instantly they knew that Lars +had now come to the matter he wanted to discuss with them. + +"I understand there are no papers in existence," continued Lars, +"but I can't believe it is so bad as all that. For in that event +the house would fall to the owner of the land." + +Still Jan said nothing, but Katrina was too indignant to keep +silent any longer. + +"Eric of Falla gave us the lot on which this house stands," she +said, "and no one has the right to take it away from us!" + +"And no one has any intention of doing so," said the new owner in a +pacifying tone. He only wanted to have everything regular, that was +all. If Jan could let him have a hundred rix-dollars by October +fairtime-- + +"A hundred rix-dollars!" Katrina broke in, her voice rising almost +to a shriek. + +Lars drew his head back and tightened his lips. + +"And you, Jan, you don't say a word!" said Katrina reproachfully. +"Don't you hear that Lars wants to squeeze from us one hundred +rix-dollars?" + +"It won't be so easy, perhaps, for Jan to come up with one hundred +rix-dollars," returned Lars Gunnarson, "but just the same I've got +to know what's mine." + +"And so you're going to steal our hut?" + +"Nothing of the kind!" said Lars. "The hut is yours. It's the land +I'm after." + +"Then we can move the hut off of your land," said Katrina. + +"It would hardly be worth your while to go to the bother of moving +something you'll not be able to keep." + +"Well, I never!" gasped Katrina. "Then you really do mean to lay +hands on our property?" + +Lars Gunnarson made a gesture of protest. + +No, of course he did not want to put a lien on the house, not he! +Had he not already told them as much? But it so happened that the +storekeeper at Broby had sent his clerk with some accounts that had +not been settled. + +The clerk now produced the bills and laid them on the table. +Katrina pushed them over to Glory Goldie and told her to figure up +the total amount due. + +It was no less than one hundred rix-dollars that they owed! + +Katrina went white as a sheet. "I see that you mean to turn us out +of house and home," she said, faintly. + +"Oh, no," answered Lars, "not if you pay what you owe." + +"You ought to think of your own parents, Lars," Katrina reminded +him. "They, too, had their struggles before you became the son-in-law +of a rich farmer." + +Katrina had to do all the talking, as Jan would not say anything; +he only sat and looked at Glory Goldie--looked and waited. To his +mind this affair was just something that had been planned for her +special benefit, that she might prove her worth. + +"When you take the hut away from the poor man he's done for," +wailed Katrina. + +"I don't want to take the hut," said Lars Gunnarson, on the +defensive. "All I want is a settlement." + +But Katrina was not listening. "As long as the poor man has his +home he's as good as anybody else, but the homeless man knows he's +nobody." + +Jan felt that Katrina was right. The hut was built of old lumber +and stood aslant on a poor foundation. Small and cramped it +certainly was, but just the same it seemed as if all would be over +for them if they lost it. Jan, for his part, could not think for a +second it would be as bad as that. Was not his Glory Goldie there? +And could he not see how her eyes were beginning to flash fire? In +a little while she would say something or do something that would +drive these tormentors away. + +"Of course you've got to have time to think it over," said the new +owner. "But bear in mind that either you move on the first of +October or you pay the storekeeper at Broby the one hundred +rix-dollars you owe him on or before that date. Besides, I must +have another hundred for the land." + +Old Katrina sat wringing her toil-gnarled hands. She was so wrought +up that she talked to herself, not caring who heard her. + +"How can I go to church and how can I be seen among people when I'm +so poor I haven't even a hut to live in?" + +Jan was thinking of something else. He called to mind all the +beautiful memories associated with the hut. It was here, near the +table, the midwife had laid the child in his arms. It was over +there, in the doorway, he had stood when the sun peeped out through +the clouds to name the little girl. The hut was one with himself; +with Katrina; with Glory Goldie. It could never be lost to them. + +He saw Glory Goldie clench her fist, and felt that she would come +to their aid very soon. + +Presently Lars Gunnarson and the shopkeeper's clerk got up and +moved toward the door. When they left they said "good-bye," but not +one of the three who remained in the hut rose or returned the +salutation. + +The moment the men were gone the young girl, with a proud toss of +her head, sprang to her feet. + +"If you would only let me go out in the world!" she said. + +Katrina suddenly ceased mumbling and wringing her hands. Glory +Goldie's words had awakened in her a faint hope. + +"It shouldn't be so very difficult to earn a couple of hundred +rix-dollars between now and the first of October," said the girl. +"This is only midsummer, so it's three whole months till then. If +you will let me go to Stockholm and take service there, I promise +you the house shall remain in your keeping." + +When Jan of Ruffluck heard these words he grew ashen. His head sank +back as if he were about to swoon. How dear of the little girl! he +thought. It was for this he had waited the whole time--yet how, how +could he ever bear to let her go away from him? + + +ON THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + +Jan of Ruffluck walked along the forest road where he and his +womenfolk, happy and content, had passed on the way home from +church a few hours earlier. + +He and Katrina, after long deliberation, had decided that before +sending their daughter away or doing anything else in this matter +that Jan had better see Senator Carl Carlson of Storvik and ask him +whether Lars Gunnarson had the right to take the hut from them. + +There was no one in the whole of Svartsjö Parish who was so well +versed in the law and the statutes as was the senator from Storvik, +and those who had the good sense to seek his advice in matters of +purchase and sale, in making appraisals, or setting up an auction, +or drawing up a will, could rest assured that everything would be +done in a correct and legal manner and that afterward there was no +fear of their becoming involved in lawsuits or other entanglements. + +The senator was a stern and masterful man, brusque of manner and +harsh of voice, and Jan was none too pleased at the thought of +having to talk with him. + +"The first thing he'll do when I come to him will be to read me a +lecture because I've got no papers," thought Jan. "He has scared +some folks so badly at the very start that they never dared tell +him what they had come to consult him about." + +Jan left home in such haste that he had no time to think about the +dreadful man he was going to see. But while passing through the +groves of the Ashdales toward the big forest the old dread came +over him. "It was mighty stupid in me not to have taken Glory +Goldie along!" he said to himself. + +When leaving home he had not seen the girl about, so he concluded +that she had betaken herself to some lonely spot in the woods, to +weep away her grief, as she never wanted to be seen by any one when +she felt downhearted. + +Just as Jan was about to turn from the road into the forest he +heard some one yodelling and singing up on the mountain, to right +of him. He stopped and listened. It was a woman's voice; surely it +could not be the one it sounded like! In any case, he must know for +a certainty before going farther. + +He could hear the song clearly and distinctly, but the singer was +hidden by the trees. Presently he turned from the road and pushed +his way through some tangle-brush in the hope of catching a glimpse +of her; but she was not as near as he had imagined. Nor was she +standing still. On the contrary, she seemed to be moving farther +away--farther away and higher up. + +At times the singing seemed to come from directly above him. The +singer must be going up to the peak, he thought. + +She had evidently taken a winding path leading up the mountain, +where it was almost perpendicular. Here there was a thick growth of +young birches; so of course he could not see her. She seemed to be +mounting higher and higher, with the swiftness of a bird on the +wing, singing all the while. + +Then Jan started to climb straight up the mountain; but in his +eagerness he strayed from the path and had to make his way through +the bewildering woods. No wonder he was left far behind! Besides he +had begun to feel as if he had a heavy weight on his chest; he +could hardly get his breath as he tramped uphill, straining his +ears to catch the song. Finally he went so slowly that he seemed +not to be moving at all. + +It was not easy to distinguish voices out in the woods, where there +was so much that rustled and murmured and chimed in, as it were. +But Jan felt that he must get to where he could see the one who for +very joy went flying up the steep. Otherwise he would harbour +doubts and misgivings the rest of his life. He knew that once he +was on the mountain top, where it was barren of trees, the singer +could not elude him. + +The view from the summit was glorious. From there could be seen the +whole of long Lake Löven, the green vales encircling the lake and +all the blue hills that shelter the valley. When folks from the +shut-in Ashdales climbed to the towering peak they must have +thought of the mountain whither the Tempter had once taken Our +Lord, that he might show Him all the kingdoms of the world, and +their glories. + +When Jan had at last left the dense woods behind him and had come +to a cleared place, he saw the singer. At the top of the highest +peak was a cairn, and on the topmost stone of this cairn +silhouetted against the pale evening sky stood Glory Goldie +Sunnycastle, in her scarlet dress. + +If the folk in the dales and woodlands below had turned their eyes +toward the peak just then, they would have seen her standing there +in her shining raiment. + +Glorv Goldie looked out over miles and miles of country. She saw +steep hills crowned with white churches on the shores of the lake, +manors and founderies surrounded by parks and gardens, rows of +farmhouses along the skirt of the woods, stretches of field and +meadow land, winding roads and endless tracts of forest. + +At first she sang. But presently she hushed her singing and thought +only of gazing out over the wide, open world before her. Suddenly +she flung out her arms as if wanting to take it all into her +embrace--all this wealth and power and bigness from which she had +been shut out until that day. + +Jan did not return until far into the night, and when he reached +home he could give no coherent account of his movements. He +declared he had seen and talked with the senator, but what the +senator had advised him to do he could not remember. + +"It's no good trying to do anything," he said again and again. +That was all the satisfaction Katrina got. + +Jan walked all bent over, and looked ill. Earth and moss clung to +his coat, and Katrina asked him if he had fallen and hurt himself. + +"No," he told her, but he may have lain on the ground a while. + +Then he must be ill, thought Katrina. + +It was not that either. It was just that something had stopped the +instant it dawned on him that his little girl had offered to save +the home for her parents not out of love for them, but because she +longed to get away and go out in time world. But this he would not +speak of. + + +THE EVE OF DEPARTURE + +The evening before Glory Goldie of Ruffluck left for Stockholm Jan +discovered no end of things that had to be attended to all at once. +He had no sooner got home from his work than he must betake himself +to the forest to gather firewood, whereupon he set about fixing a +broken board in the gate that had been hanging loose a whole year. +When he had finished with that he dragged out his fishing tackle +and began to overhaul it. + +All this time he was thinking how strange it seemed not to feel any +actual regret. Now he was the same as he had been seventeen years +before; he felt neither glad nor sad. His heart had stopped like a +watch that has received a hard blow when he had seen Glory Goldie +on the mountain-top, opening her arms to the whole world. + +It had been like this with him once before. Then folks had wanted +him to be glad of the little girl's coming, but he had not cared a +bit about it; now they all expected him to be sad and disconsolate +over her departure, and he was not that, either. + +The hut was full of people who had come to say good-bye to Glory +Goldie. Jan had not the face to go in and let them see that he +neither wept nor wailed; so he thought it best to stop outside. + +At all events it was a good thing for him matters had taken this +turn, for if all had been as before he knew he should never have +been able to endure the separation, and all the heartache and +loneliness. + +A while ago, in passing by the window, he had noticed that the hut +inside was decked with leaves and wild flowers. On the table were +coffee cups, as on the day of which he was thinking. Katrina was +giving a little party in honour of the daughter who was to fare +forth into the wide world to save the home. Every one seemed to be +weeping, both the housefolk and those who had come to bid the +little girl Godspeed. Jan heard Glory Goldie's sobs away out in the +yard, but they had no effect upon him. + +"My good people," he mumbled to himself, "this is as it should be. +Look at the young birds! They are thrust out of the nest if they +don't leave it willingly. Have you ever watched a young cuckoo? +What could be worse than the sight of him lying in the nest, fat +and sleek, and shrieking for food the whole blessed day while his +parents wear themselves out to provide for him? It won't do to let +the young ones sit around at home and become a burden to us older +ones. They have got to go out into the world and shift for +themselves my good friends." + +At last all was quiet in the house. The neighbours had left, so +that Jan could just as well have gone inside; but he went on +puttering with his fishing tackle a while longer. He would rather +that Glory Goldie and Katrina should be in bed and asleep before he +crossed the threshold. + +By and by, when he had heard no sound from within for ever so long, +he stole up to the house as cautiously as a thief. + +The womenfolk had not retired. As Jan passed by the open window he +saw Glory Goldie sitting with her arms stretched out across the +table, her head resting on them. It looked as if she were still +crying. Katrina was standing back in the room wrapping her big +shawl around Glory Goldie's bundle of clothing. + +"You needn't bother with that, mother," said Glory Goldie without +raising her head. "Can't you see that father is mad at me because +I'm leaving?" + +"Then he'll have to get glad again," returned Katrina, calmly. + +"You say that because you don't care for him," said the girl, +through her sobs. "All you think about is the hut. But father +and I, we think of each other, and I'll not leave him!" + +"But what about the hut?" asked Katrina. + +"It can go as it will with the hut, if only father will care for me +again." + +Jan moved quietly away from the door, where he had been standing a +moment, listening, and sat down on the step. He never thought for +an instant that Glory Goldie would remain at home. Indeed he knew +better than did any one else that she must go away. All the same it +was to him as if the soft little bundle had again been laid in his +arms. His heart had been set going once more. Now it was beating +away in his breast as if trying to make up for lost time. With that +he felt that his armour of defence was gone. + +Then came grief and longing. He saw them as dark shadows in among +the trees. He opened his arms to them, a smile of happiness +lighting his face. + +"Welcome! Welcome!" he cried. + + +AT THE PIER + +When the steamer _Anders Fryxell_ pulled out from the pier at Borg +Point with Glory Goldie of Ruffluck on board, Jan and Katrina stood +gazing after it until they could no longer see the faintest outline +of either the girl or the boat. Every one else had left the pier, +the watchman had hauled down the flag and locked the freight shed, +but they still tarried. + +It was only natural that the parents should stand there as long as +they could see anything of the boat, but why they did not go their +ways afterward they hardly knew themselves. Perhaps they dreaded +the thought of going home again, of stepping into the lonely hut in +each other's company. + +"I've got no one but him to cook for now!" mused Katrina, "no one +but him to wait for! But what do I care for him? He could just as +well have gone, too. It was the girl who understood him and all his +silly talk, not I. I'd be better off alone." + +"It would be easier to go home with my grief if I didn't have that +sour-faced old Katrina sitting round the house," thought Jan. "The +girl knew so well how to get on with her, and could make her happy +and content; but now I suppose I'll never get another civil word +from that quarter." + +Of a sudden Jan gave a start. Bending forward he clapped his hands +to his knees. His eyes kindled with new-found hope and his whole +face shone. He kept his gaze on the water and Katrina thought +something extraordinary must have riveted his attention, although +she, who stood beside him, saw nothing save the ceaseless play of +the gray-green waves, chasing each other across the surface of the +lake, with never a stop. + +Jan ran to the far end of the pier and bent down over the water, +with the look on his face which he always wore whenever Glory +Goldie approached him, but which he could never put on when talking +to any one else. His mouth opened and his lips moved as though he +were speaking, but not a word was heard by Katrina. Smile after +smile crossed his face, just as when the girl used to stand and +rail at him. + +"Why, Jan!" said Katrina, "what has come over you?" + +He did not reply, but motioned to her to be still. Then he +straightened himself a little. His gaze seemed to be following +something that glided away over the gray-green waves. Whatever it +was, it moved quickly in the direction the boat had taken. Now Jan +no longer bent forward but stood quite upright, shading his eyes +with his hand that he might see the better. Thus he remained +standing till there was nothing more to be seen, apparently. Then, +turning to Katrina, he said: + +"You didn't see anything, perhaps?" + +"What can one see here but the lake and its waves?" + +"The little girl came rowing back," Jan told her, his voice lowered +to a whisper. "She had borrowed a boat of the captain. I noticed it +was marked exactly like the steamer. She said there was something +she had forgotten about when she left; it was something she wanted +to say to us." + +"My dear Jan, you don't know what you're talking about! If the girl +had come back then I, too, would have seen her." + +"Hush now, and I'll tell you what she wants of us!" said Jan, in +solemn and mysterious whispers. "It seems she had begun to worry +about us; she was afraid we two wouldn't get on by ourselves. +Before she had always walked between us, she said, with one hand in +mine and the other in yours, and in that way everything had gone +well. But now that she wasn't here to keep us together she didn't +know what might happen, 'Now perhaps father and mother will go +their separate ways,' she said." + +"Sakes alive!" gasped Katrina, "that she should have thought of +that!" The woman was so affected by what had just been said--for +the words were the echo of her own thoughts--that she quite forgot +that the daughter could not possibly have come back to the pier and +talked with Jan without her seeing it. + +"'So now I've come back to join your hands,' said he, 'and you +mustn't let go of each other, but keep a firm hold for my sake till +I return and link hands with you again.' As soon as she had said +this she rowed away." + +There was silence for a moment on the pier. + +"And here's my hand," Jan said presently, in an uncertain voice +that betrayed both shyness and anxiety--and put out a hand, which +despite all his hard toil had always remained singularly soft. "I +do this because the girl wants me to," he added. + +"And here's mine," said Katrina. "I don't understand what it could +have been that you saw, but if you and the girl want us to stick +together, so do I." + +Then they went all the way home to their hut, hand in hand. + + +THE LETTER + +One morning when Glory Goldie had been gone about a fortnight, Jan +was out in the pasture nearest the big forest, mending a wattled +fence. He was so close to the woods that he could hear the murmur +of the pines and see the grouse hen walking about under the trees, +scratching for food-along line of grouse chicks trailing after her. + +Jan had nearly finished his work when he heard a loud bellowing +from the wooded heights! It sounded so weird and awful he began to +be alarmed. He stood still a moment and listened. Soon he heard it +again. Then he knew it was nothing to be afraid of, but on the +contrary, it seemed to be a cry for help. + +He threw down his pickets and branches and hurried through the +birch grove into the dense fir woods, where he had not gone far +before he discovered what was amiss. Up there was a big, +treacherous marsh. A cow belonging to the Falla folk had gone down +in a quagmire and Jan saw at once that it was the best cow they had +on the farm, one for which Lars Gunnarson had been offered two +hundred rix-dollars. She had sunk deep in the mire and was now so +terrified that she lay quite still and sent forth only feeble and +intermittant bellowings. It was plain that she had struggled +desperately for she was covered with mud clear to her horns, and +round about her the green moss-tufts had been torn up. She had +bellowed so loud that Jan thought every one in Ashdales must have +heard her, yet no one but himself had come up to the marsh. He did +not tarry a second, but ran straight to the farm for help. + +It was slow work setting poles in the marsh, laying out boards and +slipping ropes under the cow, to draw her up by. For when the men +reached her she had sunk to her back, so that only her head was +above the mire. After they had finally dragged her back onto firm +ground and carted her home to Falla the housewife invited all who +had worked over the animal to come inside for coffee. + +No one had been so zealous in the rescue work as had Jan of +Ruffluck. But for him the cow would have been lost. And just think! +She was a cow worth at least two hundred rix-dollars. + +To Jan this seemed a rare stroke of luck. Surely the new master and +mistress could not fail to recognize so great a service. Something +of a similar nature once happened in the old master's time. Then it +was a horse that had been impaled on a picket fence. The one who +found the horse and had it carted home received from Eric of Falla +a reward of ten rix-dollars; And that despite the fact that the +beast was so badly injured that Eric had to shoot it. + +But the cow was alive and in nowise harmed. So Jan pictured himself +going on the morrow to the sexton, or to some other person who +could write, to ask him to write to Glory Goldie and tell her to +come home. + +When Jan came into the living-room at Falla he naturally drew +himself up a bit. The old housewife was pouring coffee and he did +not wonder at it when she handed him his cup before even Lars +Gunnarson had been served. Then, while they were all having their +coffee, every one spoke of how well Jan had done, that is, every +one but the farmer and his wife; not a word of praise came from +them. + +But now that Jan felt so confident his hard times were over and his +luck was coming back, it was easy for him to find grounds for +comfort. It might be that Lars was silent because he wished to make +what he would say all the more impressive. But he was certainly +withholding his thanks a distressingly long while. + +The situation had become embarrassing. The others had stopped +talking and looked a little uncomfortable. When the old mistress +went round to refill the coffee cups some of the men hesitated; Jan +among them. + +"Oh, have another wee drop, Jan!" she said. "If you hadn't been so +quick to act we would have lost a cow that's worth her two hundred +rix-dollars." + +This was followed by a dead silence, and now every one's eyes +turned toward the man of the house. All were waiting for some +expression of appreciation from him. + +Lars cleared his throat two or three times, as if to give added +weight to what he was about to say. + +"It strikes me there's something queer about this whole business," +he began. "You all know that Jan owes two hundred rix-dollars and +you also know that last spring I was offered just that sum for the +cow. It seems to fit in altogether too well with Jan's case that +the cow should have gone down in the marsh to-day and that he +should have rescued her." + +Lars paused and again cleared his throat. Jan rose and moved toward +him; but neither he nor any of the others had an answer ready. + +"I don't know how Jan happened to be the one who heard the cow +bellowing up in the marsh," pursued Lars. "Perhaps he was nearer +the scene when the mishap occurred than he would have us think. +Maybe he saw a possibility of getting out of debt and deliberately +drove the cow--" + +Jan brought his fist down on the table with a crash that made the +cups jump in their saucers. + +"You judge others by yourself, you!" he said, "That's the sort of +thing you might do, but not I. You must know that I can see through +your tricks. One day last winter you--" + +But just when Jan was on the point of saying something that could +only have ended in an irreparable break between himself and his +employer, the old housewife tipped him by the coat sleeve. + +"Look out, Jan!" said she. + +Jan did so. Then he saw Katrina coming toward the house with a +letter in her hand. + +That was surely the letter from Glory Goldie which they had been +longing for every day since her departure. Katrina, knowing how +happy Jan would be to get this, had come straight over with it the +moment it arrived. + +Jan glanced about him, bewildered. Many ugly words were on the tip +of his tongue, but now he had no time to give vent to them. What +did he care about being revenged on Lars Gunnarson? Why should he +bother to defend himself? The letter drew him away with a power +that was irresistible. He was out of the house and with Katrina +before the people inside had recovered from their dread of what he +might have hurled at his employer in the way of accusation. + + +AUGUST DÄR NOL + +One evening, when Glory Goldie had been gone about a month, August +Där Nol came down to the Ashdales. August and Glory had been +comrades at the Östanby school and had been confirmed the same +summer. + +A fine, manly lad was August Där Nol, and a favourite with every +one. His parents were people of means and no one had a brighter or +more assured future to look forward to than had he. Having been +absent from home for six months, he had only learned on his return +that Glory Goldie had gone away in order to earn money to save her +old home. It was his mother who told him of this, and before she +had finished talking he snatched up his cap and rushed out, never +pausing until he had reached the gate at Ruffluck Croft; there he +stopped and looked toward the hut. + +Katrina saw August standing there and made a pretext of going to +the well for water in order to speak to him; but the lad did not +appear to see her, so Katrina immediately went back into the house. + +Then in a little while Jan came down from the forest with an armful +of wood, and when August saw him coming he stepped to one side +until he, too, had gone in; then he went back to the gate. + +Presently the window of the hut swung open, disclosing Jan seated +at one side of the window-table smoking his pipe, and Katrina at +the other side, knitting. + +"Well, Katrina dear," said Jan, "now we're having a real cosy +evening. There's only one thing I wish for." + +"I wish for a hundred things!" sighed Katrina, "and if I could +have them all I'd still be unsatisfied." + +"But I only wish the seine-maker, or somebody else who can read, +would drop in and read us Glory Goldie's letter." + +"You've had that letter read to you so many times since you got it +that you ought to know it by heart." + +"That may be true enough," returned Jan, "but still it always does +me good to hear it read, for then I feel as though the little girl +herself were standing and talking to me, and I seem to see her eyes +beam on me as I listen to her words." + +"I wouldn't mind hearing it again, myself," said Katrina, glancing +out through the open window. "But on a fine light evening like this +we can't expect folks to come to our hut." + +"It would be better to me than the taste of white bread with coffee +to hear Glory Goldie's letter read while I'm sitting here smoking," +declared Jan, "but I'm sure every one in the Ashdales has grown +tired of being asked to read the letter over and over, and now I +don't know who to turn to." + +The words were hardly out of his mouth, when the door opened, and +in walked August Där Nol. Jan started in surprise. + +"Bless me! Here you come, my dear August, just when wanted." After +Jan had shaken hands with the caller and pulled up a chair for him +he said: "I've got a letter I'd like you to read to us. It's from +an old schoolmate of yours. Maybe you'd be interested to hear how +she's getting on?" + +August Där Nol took the letter and read it aloud, lingering over +each word as if drinking it in. When he had finished, Jan remarked: + +"How wonderfully well you read, my dear August! I've never heard +Goldie's words sound as beautiful as from your lips. Would you do +me the favour to read the letter once more?" + +Then the boy read the letter for the second time, with the same +deep feeling. It was as if he had come with a thirst-parched throat +to a spring of pure water. When he had read to the end he carefully +folded the letter and smoothed it over with his hand. As he was +about to return it to Jan, it occurred to him the letter had not +been properly folded and he must do it over. That done, he sat very +silent. Jan tried to start a conversation, but failed. Finally the +boy rose to go. + +"It's so nice to get a little help sometimes," said Jan. "Now I +have another favour to ask of you. We don't know just what to do +with Glory Goldie's kitten. It will have to be put out of the way, +I suppose, as we can't afford to keep it; but I can't bear the +thought of that, nor has Katrina the heart to drown it. We've +talked of asking some stranger to take it." + +August Där Nol stammered a few words, which could scarcely be +heard. + +"You can put the kitten in a basket, Katrina," Jan said to his +wife, "then August will take it along, so that we'll not have to +see it again." + +Katrina then picked up a little kitten that lay asleep on the bed, +placed it in an old basket around which she wrapped a cloth, and +then turned it over to the boy. + +"I'm glad to be rid of this kitten," said Jan. "It's wee happy and +Playful--too much like Glory Goldie herself. It's best to have it +out of the way." + +Young Där Nol, without a word, went toward the door; but suddenly +he turned back, took Jan's hand, and pressed it. + +"Thanks!" he said in a choked voice. "You have given me more than +you yourself know." + +"Don't imagine it, my dear August Där Nol!" Jan said to himself +when the boy had gone. "This is something I understand about. I +know what I've given you, and I know who has taught me to know." + + +OCTOBER THE FIRST + +The first day of October Jan lay on the bed the whole afternoon, +fully dressed, his face turned to the wall, and nobody could get a +word out of him. + +In the forenoon he and Katrina had been down to the pier to meet +the little girl. Not that Glory Goldie had written them to say she +was coming, for indeed she had not! It was only that Jan had +figured out that it could not be otherwise. This was the first of +October, the day the money must be paid to Lars Gunnarson, so of +course Glory Goldie would come. He had not expected her home +earlier. He knew she would have to remain in Stockholm as long as +she could in order to lay by all that money; but that she should be +away any longer he never supposed. Even if she had not succeeded in +scraping together the money, that was no reason why she should be +away after the first of October. + +That morning while Jan had stood on the pier waiting, he had said +to himself: "When the little girl sees us from the boat she'll put +on a sad face, and the moment she lands she'll tell us she has not +been able to raise the money. When she says that Katrina and I will +pretend to take her at her word and I'll say that can't understand +how she dared come home when she knew that all Katrina and I cared +about was the money." He was sure that before they were away from +the pier she would go down in her pocket, bring up a well-filled +purse, and turn it over to them. Then, while Katrina counted the +bank notes, he would only stand and look at Glory Goldie. The +little girl would then see that all in the world he cared about was +to have her back, and she would tell him he was just as big a +simpleton now as when she went away. + +Thus had Jan pictured to himself Glory Goldie's homecoming. But his +dream did not come true. + +That day he and Katrina did not have a long wait at the pier. The +boat arrived on time, but it was so overladen with passengers and +freight bound for the Broby Fair that at first glance they were +unable to tell whether or not the little girl was on board. Jan had +expected that she would be the first to come tripping down the +gangplank; but only a couple of men came ashore. Then Jan attempted +to look for her on the boat; but he could get nowhere for the +crush. All the same he felt so positive she was there that when the +deck hands began to draw in the gangplank he shouted to the captain +not to let the boat leave as there was another person to come +ashore here. The captain questioned the purser, who assured him +there were no more passengers for Svartsjö. + +Then the boat pulled out and Katrina and Jan had to go home by +themselves, and the moment they were inside the hut Jan cast +himself down on the bed--so weary and disheartened that he did not +know how he would ever be able to get up again. + +The Ashdales folk who had seen the father and mother return from +the pier without Glory Goldie were greatly concerned. One after the +other, the neighbours dropped in at Ruffluck to find out how matters +stood with them. + +Was it true that Glory Goldie had not come on the boat? They +inquired. And was it true that they had received no letter or +message from her during the whole month of September? + +Jan answered not a word to all their queries. It mattered not who +came in--he lay still. Katrina had to enlighten the neighbours as +best she could. They thought Jan lay on the bed because he was in +despair of losing the hut. They could think what they liked for all +of him. + +Katrina wept and wailed, and once inside the friends felt they must +remain, if only out of pity for her, and to give what little +comfort they could. + +It was not likely that Lars Gunnarson would take the house from +them, they said. The old mistress of Falla would never let that +happen. She had always shown herself to be a just and upright +person. Besides, the day was not over yet, and Glory Goldie might +still be heard from. To be sure it would be nothing short of +marvellous if she had succeeded in earning 200 rix-dollars in less +than three months' time: but then, that girl always had such good +luck. + +They discussed the chances for and against. Katrina informed them +that Glory Goldie had earned nothing whatever the first weeks, that +she had taken lodgings with a family from Svartsjö, now living in +Stockholm, where she had been obliged to pay for her keep. And then +one day she had had the good fortune to meet in the street the +merchant who had given her the red dress, and he had found a place +for her. + +Would it not be reasonable to suppose that the merchant had also +raised the money for her? That was not altogether impossible. + +"No, it was not impossible," said Katrina, "but since the girl has +neither come herself nor written it's plain she has failed." + +Every one in the hut grew more anxious and apprehensive for every +moment that passed. They all felt that some dire misfortune would +soon fall upon those who lived there. When the tension was becoming +unbearable the door opened once more and a man who was seldom seen +in the Ashdales came in. + +The instant this man entered it became as still in the hut as on a +winter night in the forest, and every one's eyes save Jan's alone +turned toward him. Jan did not stir, although Katrina whispered to +him that Senator Carl Carlson of Storvik had just come in. + +The senator held in his hand a roll of papers and every one took +for granted that he had been sent here by the new owner of Falla, +to notify the Ruffluck folk of what must befall them, now that they +could not meet Lars Gunnarson's claim. + +Carl Carlson wore his usual magisterial mien and no one could guess +how heavily the blow he had come to deal would fall. He went up and +shook hands, first with Katrina, then with the others, and each one +in turn rose as he came to them; the only one who did not rise was +Jan. + +"I am not very well acquainted in this district," said the senator, +"but I gather that this must be the place in the Ashdales that is +called Ruffluck Croft." + +It was of course. Every one nodded in the affirmative, but no one +was able to utter an audible word. They wondered that Katrina had +the presence of mind to nudge Börje, and make him get up and give +his chair to the senator. + +After drawing the chair up to the table the senator laid the roll +of papers down, then he took out his snuff box and placed it beside +the papers, whereupon he removed his spectacles from their case and +wiped them with his big blue-and-white checkered handkerchief. +After these preliminaries he glanced round the room, looking from +one person to the other. Those who sat there were persons of such +little importance he did not even know them by name. + +"I wish to speak with Jan Anderson of Ruffluck," he said. + +"That's him over there," volunteered the seine-maker, pointing at +the bed. + +"Is he sick?" inquired the senator. + +"Oh, no! Oh, no!" replied half a dozen at the same time. + +"And he isn't drunk, either," added Börje. + +"Nor is he asleep," said the seine-maker. + +"He has walked so far to-day he's all tired out," said Katrina, +thinking it best to explain the matter in that way. At the same +time she bent down over her husband and tried to persuade him to +rise. + +But Jan lay still. + +"Does he understand what I'm saying?" asked the senator. + +"Yes indeed," they all assured him. + +"Perhaps he's not expecting any glad tidings, seeing it's Senator +Carl Carlson who is paying him a call." This from the seine-maker. + +The senator turned his head and stared at the seine-maker. "Ol' +Bengtsa of Lusterby has not always been so afraid of meeting Carl +Carlson of Storvik," he observed in a mild voice. Turning toward +the table again, he took up a letter. + +Every one was dumbfounded. The senator had actually spoken in a +friendly tone. He could almost be said to have smiled. + +"The fact is," he began, "a couple of days ago I received a +communication from a person who calls herself Glory Goldie +Sunnycastle, daughter of Jan of Ruffluck, in which she says she +left home some months ago to try to earn two-hundred rix-dollars, +which sum her parents have to pay to Lars Gunnarson of Falla on the +first day of October in order to obtain full rights of ownership to +the land on which their hut stands." + +Here the senator paused a moment so that his hearers would be able +to follow him. + +"And now she sends the money to me," he continued, "with the +request that I come down to the Ashdales and see that this matter +is properly settled with the new owner of Falla; so that he won't +be able to play any new trick later on." + +"That girl has got some sense in her head," the senator remarked as +he folded the letter. "She turns to me from the start. If all did +as she has done there would be less cheating and injustice in this +parish." + +Before the close of that remark Jan was sitting on the edge of the +bed. "But the girl? Where is she?" he asked. + +"And now I'd like to know," the senator proceeded, taking no notice +of Jan's question, "whether the parents are in accord with the +daughter and authorize me to close--" + +"But the girl, the girl?" Jan struck in. "Where is she?" + +"Where she is?" said the senator, looking in the letter to see. +"She says it was impossible for her to earn all this money in just +two or three months, but she has found a place with a kind lady, +who advanced her the money, and now she will have to stay with the +lady until she has made it good." + +"Then she's not coming home?" Jan asked. + +"No, not for the present, as I understand it," replied the senator. + +Again Jan lay down on the bed and turned his face to the wall. + +What did he care for the hut and all that? What was the good of his +going on living, when his little girl was not coming back? + + +THE DREAM BEGINS + +The first few weeks after the senator's call Jan was unable to do a +stroke of work: he just lay abed and grieved. Every morning he rose +and put on his clothes, intending to go to his work; but before he +was outside the door he felt so weak and weary that all he could do +was to go back to bed. + +Katrina tried to be patient with Jan, for she understood that +pining, like any other sickness, had to run its course. Yet she +could not help wondering how long it would be before Jan's intense +yearning for Glory Goldie subsided. "Perhaps he'll be lying round +like this till Christmas!" she thought. "Or possibly the whole +winter?" + +And this might have been the case, too, had not the old seine-maker +dropped in at Ruffluck one evening and been asked to stay for +coffee. + +The seine-maker, like most persons whose thoughts are far away and +who do not keep in touch with what happens immediately about them, +was always taciturn. But when his coffee had been poured and he had +emptied it into his saucer, to let it cool, it struck him that he +ought to say something. + +"To-day there's bound to be a letter from Glory Goldie," he said. +"I feel it in my bones." + +"We had greetings from her only a fortnight ago in her letter to +the senator," Katrina reminded him. + +The seine-maker blew into his saucer a couple of times before +saying anything more. Whereupon he again found it expedient to +bridge a long silence with a word or so. + +"Maybe some blessing has come to the girl, and it has given her +something to write about." + +"What kind of blessing might that be?" scouted Katrina. "When +you've got to drudge as a servant, one day is as humdrum as +another." + +The seine-maker bit off a corner of a sugar-lump and gulped his +coffee. When he had finished an appalling stillness fell upon the +room. + +"It might be that Glory Goldie met some person in the street," he +blurted out, his half-dead eyes vacantly staring at space. He +seemed not to know what he was saying. + +Katrina did not think it necessary to respond; so replenished his +cup without speaking. + +"Maybe the person she met was an old lady who had difficulty in +walking," the seine-maker went on in the same offhand manner, "and +maybe she stumbled and fell when Glory Goldie came along." + +"Would that be anything to write about?" asked Katrina, weary of +this senseless talk. + +"But suppose Glory Goldie stopped and helped the old lady up?" +pursued the seine-maker, "and she was so thankful to the girl for +helping her that she opened her purse and gave her all of ten +rix-dollars--wouldn't that be worth telling?" + +"Why certainly," said Katrina, "if it were true. But this is just +something you're making up." + +"It is well, sometimes, to be able to indulge in little thought +feasts," contended the seine-maker, "they are often more satisfying +than the real ones." + +"You've tried both kinds," returned Katrina, "so you ought to know." + +The seine-maker went his way directly, and Katrina gave no further +thought to his story. + +As for Jan, he took it at first as idle chatter. But lying abed, +with nothing to take up his mind, presently he began to wonder if +there was not some hidden meaning back of the seine-maker's words. +The old man's tone sounded a bit peculiar when he spoke of the +letter. Would he have sat there and made up such a long story only +for talk's sake? Perhaps he had heard something. Perhaps Glory +Goldie had written to him? It was quite possible that something so +great had come to the little girl that she dared not send direct +word to her parents, and wrote instead to the seine-maker, asking +him to prepare them. + +"He'll come again to-morrow," thought Jan, "and then we'll hear all +about it." + +But for some reason the seine-maker did not come back the next day, +nor the day after. By the third day Jan had become so impatient to +see his old friend that he got up and went over to his cabin, to +find out whether there was anything in what he had said. + +The old man was sitting alone mending a drag-net when Jan came in. +He was so crippled from rheumatism, he said, he had been unable to +leave the house for several days. + +Jan did not want to ask him outright if he had received a letter +from Glory Goldie. He thought he would attain his object more +easily by approaching it in the indirect way the other had taken. +So he said: + +"I've been thinking of what you told us about Glory Goldie the last +time you were at our place." + +The seine-maker looked up from his work, puzzled. It was some +little time before he comprehended what Jan alluded to. "Why, that +was just a little whimsey of mine," he returned presently. + +Then Jan went very close to the old man. "Anyhow it was something +pleasant to listen to," he said. "You might have told us more, +perhaps, if Katrina hadn't been so mistrustful?" + +"Oh, yes," replied the seine-maker. "This is the sort of amusement +one can afford to indulge in down here, in the Ashdales." + +"I have thought," continued Jan, emboldened by the encouragement, +"that maybe the story didn't end with the old lady giving Glory +Goldie the ten rix-dollars. Perhaps she also invited the girl to +come to see her?" + +"Maybe she did," said the seine-maker. + +"Maybe she's so rich that she owns a whole stone house?" + +"That was a happy thought, friend Jan!" + +"And maybe the rich old lady will pay Glory Goldie's debt?" Jan +began, but stopped short, because the old man's daughter-in-law had +just come in, and of course he did not care to let her into the +secret. + +"So you're out to-day, Jan," observed the daughter-in-law. "I'm +glad you're feeling better." + +"For that I have to thank my good friend Ol' Bengtsa!" said Jan, +with an air of mystery. "He's the one who has cured me." + +Jan said good-bye, and left at once. For a long while the seine-maker +sat gazing out after him. + +"I don't know what he can have meant by saying that I have cured +him," the old man remarked to his daughter-in-law. "It can't be +that he's--? No, no!" + + +HEIRLOOMS + +One evening, toward the close of autumn, Jan was on his way home +from Falla, where he had been threshing all day. After his talk +with the seine-maker his desire for work had come back to him. He +felt now that he must do what he could to keep up so that the +little girl on her return would not be subjected to the humiliation +of finding her parents reduced to the condition of paupers. + +When Jan was far enough away from the house not to be seen from the +windows he noticed a woman in the road coming toward him. Dusk had +already fallen, but he soon saw it was the mistress herself--not +the new one, but the old and rightful mistress of Falla. She had on +a big shawl that came down to the hem of her skirt. Jan had never +seen her so wrapped up, and wondered if she was ill. She had looked +poorly of late. In the spring, when her husband died, she had not a +gray hair on her head, and now, half a year afterward, she had not +a dark hair left. + +The old mistress stopped and greeted Jan, after which the two stood +and talked. She said nothing that would indicate that she had come +out expressly to see him, but he felt it to be so. It flashed into +his head that she wanted to speak with him about Glory Goldie, and +he was rather miffed when she began to talk about something quite +different. + +"I wonder, Jan, if you remember the old owner of Falla, my father, +who was master there before Eric came?" + +"Why shouldn't I remember him, when I was all of twelve at the time +of his death?" + +"He had a good son-in-law," said the old mistress. + +"He had that," agreed Jan. + +The old mistress was silent a moment, and sighed once or twice +before she continued: "I want to ask your advice about something, +Jan. You are not the sort that would go about tittle-tattling what +I say." + +"No, I can hold my tongue." + +"Yes, I've noticed that this year." + +New hopes arose in Jan. It would not be surprising, thought he, if +Glory Goldie had turned to the old mistress of Falla and asked her +to tell him and Katrina of the great thing that had come to her. +For the old seine-maker had been taken down with rheumatic fever +shortly after their interrupted conversation, and for weeks he had +been too ill to see him. Now he was up and about again, but very +feeble. The worst of it was that after his illness his memory +seemed to be gone. He had waited for him to say something more +about Glory Goldie's letter, but as he had failed to do so, and +could not even take a hint, he had asked him straight out. And the +old man had declared he had not received any letter. To convince +Jan he had pulled out the table drawer and thrown back the lid of +his clothes-chest, to let him see for himself that there was no +such letter. + +Of course he had forgotten what he did with it, Jan concluded. So, +no wonder the little girl had turned to the mistress of Falla. Pity +she hadn't done it in the first place! Now that the old mistress +was hesitating so long he felt certain in his own mind that he was +right. But when she again returned to the subject of her father, he +was so surprised he could hardly follow her. She said: + +"When father was nearing the end he summoned Eric of Falla to his +bedside and thanked him for his loving care of a helpless old man +in his declining years. 'Don't think about that, Father,' said +Eric. 'We're glad to have you with us just as long as you care to +stay.' That's what Eric said. And he meant it, too!" + +"He did that," confirmed Jan. "There were no fox-tricks about him!" + +"Wait, Jan!" said the mistress, "we'll just speak of the old people +for the present. Do you remember the long silver-mounted stick +father used to carry?" + +"Yes; both the stick and the high leather cap he always wore when +he went to church." + +"So you remember the cap, too? Do you know what father did at the +last? He told me to fetch him his stick and cap, and then he gave +them to Eric. 'I could have given you something that was worth more +money,' he told Eric, 'but I am giving you these instead, for I +know you would rather have something I have used.'" + +"That was an honour well earned." When Jan said that he noticed +that the old mistress drew her shawl closer together. He was sure +now she was hiding something under it--maybe a present from Glory +Goldie! "She'll get round to that in time," he thought. "All this +talk about her father is only a makeshift." + +"I have often spoken of this to my children," the old mistress went +on, "and also to Lars Gunnarson. Last spring, when Eric lay sick, I +think both Lars and Anna expected that Lars would be called to the +bedside, as Eric had once been called. I had brought him in the +stick and cap so they'd be handy in case Eric wished to give them +to Lars; but he had no such thought." + +The old mistress's voice shook as she said that, and when she spoke +again her tone sounded anxious and uncertain. + +"Once, when we were alone, I asked Eric what his wishes were, and +he said if I wanted to I could give the things to Lars when he was +gone as he had not the strength to make speeches." + +Whereupon the mistress of Falla threw back her big shawl, and then +Jan saw that she held under it a long, silver-mounted ebony stick +and a stiff, high-crowned leather cap. + +"Some words are too heavy for utterance," she said with great +gravity. "Answer me with just a nod, Jan, if you will. Can I give +these to Lars Gunnarson?" + +Jan drew back a step. This was a matter he had entirely dismissed +from his mind. It seemed such a long time since Eric of Falla died +he hardly remembered how it happened. + +"You understand, Jan, that all I want to know is whether Lars can +accept the stick and cap with the same right as Eric. You must +know, as you were with him that time in the forest. It would be +well for me," she added, as Jan did not speak, "if I could give +them to Lars. I believe there would be less friction afterward +between the young folks and me." + +Her voice failed her again, and Jan began to perceive why she had +aged so much the past few months; but now his mind was so taken up +with other things that he no longer cherished the old resentment +against his new employer. + +"It's best to forgive and forget," he said. "It pays in the long +run." + +The old mistress caught her breath. "Then it is just as I thought!" +she said, drawing herself up to her full height. "I'll not ask you +to tell what took place. It's best for me not to know. But one +thing is certain, Lars Gunnarson shall never get his hands on my +father's stick!" + +She had already turned to go, then suddenly faced about. "Here, +Jan," she said, holding out the things. "You may have the stick and +cap, for I want them to be in good, honest hands. I daren't take +them home again lest I be forced to turn them over to Lars; so you +keep them as a memento of the old master, who always thought well +of you." + +Then she walked away, erect and proud, and there Jan stood holding +the cap and stick. He hardly knew how it had come about. He had +never expected to be so honoured. Were these heirlooms now to be +his? Then in a moment, he found an explanation: Glory Goldie was +back of it all. The old mistress knew that he was soon to be +elevated to a station so exalted that nothing would be too good for +him. Indeed, had the stick been of silver and the cap of gold they +would have been even more suitable for the father of Glory Goldie. + + +CLOTHED IN SATIN + +No letter had come from Glory Goldie to either her father or +mother. But it mattered very little now that Jan knew she was +silent simply because she wished her parents to be all the more +surprised and happy when the time came for her to proclaim the good +tidings. + +But, in any case, it was a good thing for him that he had peeped +into her cards. Otherwise he might easily have been made a fool of +by persons who thought they knew more about Glory's doings than he +did. For instance, there was Katrina's experience at church the +first Sunday in Advent. Katrina had been to service, and upon her +return Jan had noticed that she was both alarmed and depressed. + +She had seen a couple of youths who were just back from Stockholm +standing on the church knoll talking with a group of young boys and +girls. Thinking they might be able to give her some news of Glory +Goldie, she had gone up to them to make inquiries. + +The youths were evidently telling of some of their escapades, for +all the men, at least, laughed uproariously. Katrina thought their +behaviour very unseemly, considering they were on church ground. +The men must have realized this themselves, for when she came up +they nudged one another and hushed. She had caught only a few +words, spoken by a youth whose back was turned to her, and who had +not seen her. + +"And to think that she was clothed in satin!" he said. + +Instantly a young girl gave him a push that silenced him, then, +glancing round, he saw Katrina just behind him and his face went +red as blood; but immediately after he tossed his head, and said in +a loud voice: + +"What's the matter with you? Why can't I be allowed to say that the +queen was arrayed in satin?" + +When he said that the young people laughed louder than ever. Then +Katrina went her way, unable to bring herself to question them. And +when she came home she was so unhappy that Jan was almost tempted +to come out with the truth about Glory Goldie; but on second +thought, he asked her to tell him again what had been said about +the queen. + +Katrina did so, but added: "You understand of course that that was +only said to sweeten the pill for me." + +Jan meanwhile kept mum. But he could not help smiling to himself. + +"What are you thinking about?" asked Katrina. "You have such a +queer look on your face these days. You don't know what they meant, +do you?" + +"I certainly don't," answered Jan. "But we ought to have enough +confidence in the little girl to think all is as it should be." + +"But I'm getting so anxious--" + +"The time to speak," Jan struck in, "has not come, either for them +or me. Glory Goldie herself has probably requested them not to say +anything to us. So we must rest easy, Katrina, indeed we must." + + +STARS + +When the little girl had been gone nearly eight months, who should +come stalking into the barn at Falla one fine day, while Jan stood +threshing there, but Mad Ingeborg! + +Mad Ingeborg was first cousin to Jan. But as she was afraid of +Katrina he seldom saw her. It was to escape meeting Jan's wife that +she had sought him out at Falla during his work hours. + +Jan was none too pleased to see Ingeborg! She was not exactly +insane, but flighty--and a terrible chatterer. He went right on +with his work, taking no notice of her. + +"Stop your threshing, Jan!" she said, "so that I can tell you what +I dreamed about you last night." + +"You'd better come some other time, Ingeborg," Jan suggested. "If +Lars Gunnarson hears that I'm resting from my work he'll be sure to +come over to see what's up." + +"I'll be as quick as quick can be. If you remember, I was the +brightest child in our family, which doesn't give me much to brag +about, as the rest of you were a dull lot." + +"You were going to tell me about a dream," Jan reminded her. + +"In a minute--a minute! You mustn't be afraid. I understand-- +understand: hard master now at Falla--hard master. But don't be +uneasy, for you'll not be scolded on my account. There's no danger +of that when you're with a sensible person like me." + +Jan would have liked to hear what she dreamed about him, for +confident as he was of the ultimate realization of his great +expectations, he nevertheless sought assurances from all quarters. +But now Mad Ingeborg was wandering along her own thought-road and +at such times it was not easy to stop her. She went very close to +Jan, then, bending over him, her eyes shut tight, her head shaking, +the words came pouring out of her mouth. + +"Don't be so scared. Do you suppose I'd be standing here talking to +you while you're threshing at Falla if I didn't know the master had +gone up to the forest and the mistress was down at the village +selling butter. 'Always keep them in mind,' says the catechism. I +know enough for that and take good care not to come round when they +can see me." + +"Get out of the way, Ingeborg! Otherwise the flail might hit you." + +"Think how you boys used to beat me when we were children!" she +rattled on. "Even now I have to take thrashings. But when it came +to catechism examinations, I could beat you all. 'No one can catch +Ingeborg napping,' the dean used to say. 'She always knows her +lessons.' And I'm good friends with the little misses at Lövdala +Manor. I recite the catechism for them both questions and answers-- +from beginning to end. And what a memory I've got! I know the whole +Bible by heart and the hymn book, too, and all the dean's sermons. +Shall I recite something for you, or would you rather hear me sing?" + +Jan said nothing whatever, but went to threshing again. Ingeborg, +undaunted, seated herself on a sheaf of straw and struck up a chant +of some twenty stanzas, then she repeated a couple of chapters from +the Bible, whereupon she got up and went out. Jan thought she had +gone for good, but in a little while she reappeared in the doorway +of the barn. + +"Hold still!" she whispered. "Hold still! Now we'll say nothing but +what we were going to say. Only be still--still!" + +Then up went her forefinger. Now she held her body rigid and her +eyes open. "No other thoughts, no other thoughts!" she said. "We'll +keep to the subject. Only hush your pounding!" + +She waited till Jan minded her. + +"You came to me last night in a dream--yes, that was it. You came +to me and I says to you like this: 'Are you out for a walk, Jan of +the Ashdales?' 'Yes,' says you, 'but now I'm Jan of the Vale of +Longings.' 'Then, well met,' says I. 'There's where I have lived +all my life.'" + +Whereupon she disappeared again, and Jan, startled by her strange +words, did not immediately resume his work, but stood pondering. In +a moment or two she was there again. + +"I remember now what brought me here," she told him. "I wanted to +show you my stars." + +On her arm was a small covered basket bound with cord, and while +she tugged and pulled at a knot, to loosen it, she chattered like a +magpie. + +"They are real stars, these. When one lives in the Vale of Longings +one isn't satisfied with the things of earth; then one is compelled +to go out and look for stars. There is no other choice. Now you, +too, will have to go in search of them." + +"No, no, Ingeborg!" returned Jan. "I'll confine my search to what +is to be found on this earth." + +"For goodness sake hush!" cried the woman. "You don't suppose I'm +such a fool as to go ahunting for those which remain in the +heavens, do you? I only seek the kind that have fallen. I've got +some sense, I guess!" + +She opened her basket which was filled with a variety of stars she +had evidently picked up at the manors. There were tin stars and +glass stars and paper stars--ornaments from Christmas trees and +confectionery. + +"They are real stars fallen from the sky," she declared. "You are +the only person I've shown them to. I'll let you have a couple +whenever you need them." + +"Thanks, Ingeborg," said Jan. "When the time comes that I shall +have need of stars--which may be right soon--I don't think I'll ask +you for them." + +Then at last Mad Ingeborg left. + +It was some little time, however, before Jan went back to his +threshing. To him this, too, was a finger-pointing. Not that a +crack-brained person like Ingeborg could know anything of Glory +Goldie's movements; but she was one of the kind who sensed it in +the air when something extraordinary was going to happen. She could +see and hear things of which wise folk never had an inkling. + + +WAITING + +Engineer Boraeus of Borg was in the habit of strolling down to the +pier mornings to meet the steamer. He had only a short distance to +go, through his beautiful pine grove, and there was always some one +on the boat with whom he could exchange a few words to vary the +monotony of country life. + +At the end of the grove, where the road began an abrupt descent to +the pier, were some large bare rocks upon which folk who had come +from a distance used to sit while waiting for the boat. And there +were always many who waited at the Borg pier, as there was never +any certainty as to when the boat would arrive. It seldom put in +before twelve o'clock, and yet once in a while it reached the pier +as early as eleven. Sometimes it did not come until one or two; so +that prompt people, who were down at the landing by ten o'clock, +often had to sit there for hours. + +Engineer Boraeus had a good outlook over Lake Löven from his +chamber window at Borg. He could see when the steamer rounded the +point and never appeared at the landing until just in the nick of +time. Therefore he did not have to sit on the rocks and wait, and +would only cast a glance, in passing, at those who were seated +there. However, one summer, he noticed a meek-looking little man +with a kindly face sitting there waiting day after day. The man +always sat quite still, seemingly indifferent, until the boat hove +in sight. Then he would jump to his feet, his face shining with +joyous anticipation, and rush down the incline to the far end of +the pier, where he would stand as if about to welcome some one. But +nobody ever came for him. And when the boat pulled out he was as +alone as before. Then, as he turned to go home, the light of +happiness gone from his face, he looked old and worn; he seemed +hardly able to drag himself up the hill. + +Engineer Boreaus was not acquainted with the man. But one day when +he again saw him sitting there gazing out upon the lake, he went up +and spoke to him. He soon learned that the man's daughter, who had +been away for a time, was expected home that day. + +"Are you quite certain she is coming to-day?" said the engineer. +"I've seen you sitting here waiting ever day for the past two +months. In that case she must have sent you wrong instructions +before." + +"Oh, no," replied the man quietly, "indeed she hasn't given me any +wrong instructions!" + +"Then what in the name of God do you mean?" demanded the engineer +gruffly, for he was a choleric man. "You've sat here and waited day +after day without her coming, yet you say she has not given you +wrong instructions." + +"No," answered the meek little man, looking up at the engineer with +his mild, limpid eyes, "she couldn't have, as she has not sent any +instructions." + +"Hasn't she written to you?" + +"No; we've had no letter from her since the first day of last +October." + +"Then why do you idle away your mornings down here?" asked the +engineer, wonderingly. "Can you afford to leave off working like +this?" + +"No," replied the man, smiling to himself. "I suppose it's wrong +in me to do so; but all that will soon be made good." + +"Is it possible that you're such a stupid ass as to hang round here +when there's no occasion for it?" roared the engineer, furiously. +"You ought to be shut up in a madhouse." + +The man said nothing. He sat with his hands clasped round his +knees, quite unperturbed. A smile played about his mouth all the +while, and every second he seemed more and more confident of his +ultimate triumph. + +The engineer shrugged his shoulders and walked away, but before he +was halfway down the hill he repented his harshness, and turned +back. The stern forbidding look which his strong features +habitually wore was now gone and he put out his hand to the man. + +"I want to shake hands with you," he said. "Until now I had always +thought that I was the only one in this parish who knew what it was +to yearn; but now I see that I have found my master." + + +THE EMPRESS + +The little girl of Ruffluck had been away fully thirteen months, +yet Jan had not betrayed by so much as a word that he had any +knowledge of the great thing that had come to her. He had vowed +to himself never to speak of this until Glory Goldie's return. If +the little girl did not discover that he knew about her grandeur, +her pleasure in overwhelming him would be all the greater. + +But in this world of ours it is the unexpected that happens mostly. +There came a day when Jan was forced to unseal his lips and tell +what he knew. Not on his own account. Indeed not! For he would have +been quite content to go about in his shabby clothes and let folks +think him nothing but a poor crofter to the end of his days. It was +for the little girl's own sake that he felt compelled to reveal the +great secret. + +It happened one day, early in August, when he had gone down to the +pier to watch for her. For you see, going down to meet the boat +every day that he might see her come ashore, was a pleasure he had +been unable to deny himself. The boat had just put in and he had +seen that Glory Goldie was not on board. He had supposed that she +would be finished with everything now and could leave for home. But +some new hindrance must have arisen to detain her, as had been the +case all summer. It was not easy for one who had so many demands +upon her time to get away. + +Anyhow it was a great pity she did not come to-day, thought Jan, +when there were so many of her old acquaintances at the pier. There +stood both Senator Carl Carlson and August Där Nol. Björn +Hindrickson's son-in-law was also on hand, and even Agrippa +Prästberg had turned out. + +Agrippa had nursed a grievance against the little girl since the +day she fooled him about the spectacles. Jan had to admit to +himself that it would have been a great triumph for him had Glory +Goldie stood on the boat that day in all her pomp and splendour, so +that Prästberg could have seen her. However, since she had not +come, there was nothing for him but to go back home. As he was +about to leave the pier cantankerous old Agrippa barred his way. + +"Well, well!" said Agrippa. "So you're running down here after that +daughter of yours to-day, too?" + +Jan knowing it was best not to bandy words with a man like Agrippa, +simply stepped to one side, so as to get by him. + +"I declare I don't wonder at your wanting to meet such a fine lady +as she has turned out to be!" said Agrippa with a leer. + +Just then August Där Nol rushed up and seized Agrippa by the arm, +to silence him. But Agrippa was not to be silenced. + +"The whole parish knows of it," he shouted, "so it's high time her +parents were told of her doings! Jan Anderson is a decent fellow, +even if he did spoil that girl of his, and I can't bear to see him +sit here day after day, week in and week out, waiting for a--" + +He called the little girl of Ruffluck such a bad name that Jan +would not repeat it even in his thoughts. But now that Agrippa had +flung that ugly word at him in a loud voice, so that every one on +the pier heard what he said, all that Jan had kept locked within +him for a whole year burst its bonds. He could no longer keep it +hidden. The little girl must forgive him for betraying her secret. +He said what he had to say without the least show of anger or +boastfulness. With a sweep of his hand and a lofty smile, as if +hardly deigning to answer, he said: + +"When the Empress comes--" + +"The Empress!" grinned Agrippa. "Who might that be?" Just as if he +had not heard about the little girl's elevation. + +Jan of Ruffluck, unperturbed, continued in the same calm, even tone +of voice: + +"When the Empress Glory of Portugallia stands on the pier, with a +crown of gold upon her head, and with seven kings behind her +holding up her royal mantle, and seven tame lions crouched at her +feet, and seven and seventy generals, with drawn swords, going +before her, then we shall see, Prästberg, whether you dare say to +herself what you've just said to me!" + +When he had finished speaking he stood still a moment, noting with +satisfaction how terrified they looked, all of them; then, turning +on his heel, he walked away, but without hurry or flurry, of course. + +The instant his back was turned there was a terrible commotion on +the pier. At first he paid no attention to it, but presently, on +hearing a heavy thud, he had to look back. Then he saw Agrippa +lying flat on his face and August Där Nol bending over him with +clenched fists. + +"You cur!" cried August. "You knew well enough that he couldn't +stand hearing the truth. You can't have any heart in your body!" + +This much Jan heard, but as anything in the way of fighting or +quarrelling was contrary to his nature, he went on up the hill, +without mixing in the fray. + +But strangely enough, when he was out of every one's sight an +uncontrollable spell of weeping came over him. He did not know why +he wept, but probably his tears were of joy at having cleared up +the mystery. He felt now as if his little girl had come back to him. + + +THE EMPEROR + +The first Sunday in September the worshippers at Svartsjö church +had a surprise in store for them. + +There was a wide gallery in the church extending clear across the +nave. The first row of pews in this gallery had always been +occupied by the gentry--the gentlemen on the right side and the +ladies on the left--as far back as can be remembered. All the seats +in the church were free, so that other folk were not debarred from +sitting there, if they so wished; but of course it would never have +occurred to any poor cotter to ensconce himself in that row of +pews. + +In the old days Jan had thought the occupants of this particular +bench a delight to the eye. Even now he was willing to concede that +the superintendent from Doveness, the lieutenant from Lövdala, and +the engineer from Borg were fine men who made a good appearance. +But they were as nothing to the grandeur which folks beheld that +day. For anything like a real emperor had never before been seen in +the gentry's bench. + +But now there sat at the head of this bench just such a great +personage, his hands resting on a long silver-mounted stick, his +head crowned with a high, green leather cap, while on his waistcoat +glittered two large stars, one like gold, the other like silver. + +When the organ began to play the processional hymn the Emperor +lifted up his voice in song. For an emperor is obliged to sing out, +loud and clear, when at church, even if he cannot follow the melody +or sing in tune. Folks are glad to hear him in any case. + +The gentlemen at his left now and then turned and stared at him. +Who could wonder at that? It was probably the first time they had +had so exalted a personage among them. + +He had to remove his hat, of course, for that is something which +even an emperor must do when attending divine service; but he kept +it on as long as possible, that all might feast their eyes on it. + +And many of the worshippers who sat in the body of the church had +their eyes turned up toward the gallery that Sunday. Their thoughts +seemed to be on him more than on the sermon. They were perhaps a +little surprised that he had become so exalted. But surely they +could understand that one who was father to an empress must himself +be an emperor. Anything else was impossible. + +When he came out on the pine knoll at the close of the service many +persons went up to him; but before he had time to speak to a soul +Sexton Blackie stepped up and asked him to come along into the +vestry. + +The pastor was seated in the vestry, his back turned toward the +door, talking with Senator Carl Carlson, when Jan and the sexton +entered. He seemed to be distressed about something, for there were +tears in his voice. + +"These were two souls entrusted to my keeping whom I have allowed +to go to ruin," he said. + +The senator tried to console him, saying: "You can't be +responsible, Pastor, for the evil that goes on in the large cities." + +But the clergyman would not be consoled. He covered his beautiful +young face with his hands, and wept. + +"No," he sobbed, "I suppose I can't. But what have I done to guard +the young girl who was thrown on the world, unprotected? And what +have I done to comfort her old father who had only her to live for?" + +"The pastor is practically a newcomer in the parish," said the +senator, "so that if there is any question of responsibility it +falls more heavily upon the rest of us, who were acquainted with +the circumstances. But who could think it was to end so +disastrously? Young folk have to make their own way in life. We've +all been thrust out in much the same way, yet most of us have fared +rather well." + +"O God of mercy!" prayed the pastor, "grant me the wisdom to speak +to the unhappy father. Would I might stay his fleeing wits--!" + +Sexton Blackie, standing there with Jan, now cleared his throat. +The pastor rose at once, went up to Jan, and took him by the hand. + +"My dear Jan!" he said feelingly. The pastor was tall and fair and +handsome. When he came up to you, with his kindly blue eyes beaming +benevolence, and spoke to you in his deep sympathetic voice, it was +not easy to resist him. In this instance, however, the only thing +to do was to set him right at the start, which Jan did of course. + +"Jan is no more, my good Pastor," he said. "Now we are Emperor +Johannes of Portugallia, and he who does not wish to address us by +our proper title, him we have nothing to say to." + +With that, Jan gave the pastor a stiff' imperial nod of dismissal, +and put on his cap. They looked rather foolish, did the three men +who stood in the vestry, when Jan pushed open the door and walked +out. + + + +BOOK THREE + +THE EMPEROR'S SONG + +In the wooded heights above Loby there was still a short stretch of +an old country road where in bygone days all teams had to pass, but +which was now condemned because it led up and down the worst hills +and rocky slopes instead of having the sense to go round them. The +part that remained was so steep that no one in driving made use of +it any more though foot-farers climbed it occasionally, as it was a +good short cut. + +The road ran as broad as any of the regular crown highways, and was +still covered with fine yellow gravel. In fact, it was smoother now +than formerly, being free from wheel tracks, and mud, and dust. +Along the edge bloomed roadside flowers and shrubs; dogwood, +bittervetch, and buttercups grew there in profusion even to this +day, but the ditches were filled in and a whole row of spruce trees +had sprung up in them. Young evergreens of uniform height, with +branches from the root up, stood pressing against each other as +closely as the foliage of a boxwood hedge; their needles were not +dry and hard, but moist and soft, and their tips were all bright +with fresh green shoots. The trees sang and played like humming +bees on a fine summer day, when the sun beams down upon them from a +clear sky. + +When Jan of Ruffluck walked home from church the Sunday he had +appeared there for the first time in his royal regalia, he turned +in on the old forest road. It was a warm sunny day and, as he went +up the hill, he heard the music of the spruces so plainly that it +astonished him. + +Never had spruce trees sung like that! It struck him that he ought +to find out why they were so loud-voiced just to-day. And being in +no special haste to reach home, he dropped down in the middle of +the smooth gravel road, in the shade of the singing tree. Laying +his stick on the ground, he removed his cap and mopped his brow, +then he sat motionless, with hands clasped, and listened. + +The air was quite still, therefore it could hardly have been the +wind that had set all these little musical instruments into motion. +It was almost as if the spruces played for very joy at being so +young and fresh; at being let stand in peace by the abandoned +roadside, with the promise of many years of life ahead of them +before any human being would come and cut them down. + +But if such was the case, it did not explain why the trees sang +with such gusto just that day; they could rejoice over those +particular blessings any pleasant summer day; they did not call for +any extra music. + +Jan sat still in the middle of the road, listening with rapt +attention. It was pleasant hearing the hum of the spruce, though it +was all on one note, with no rests, so that there was neither +melody nor rhythm about it. + +He found it so refreshing and delightful up here on the heights. No +wonder the trees felt happy, he mused. The wonder was they sang and +played no better than they did. He looked up at their small twigs +on which every needle was fine and well made, and in its proper +place, and drank in the piney odour that came from them. There was +no flower of the meadow, no blossom of the grove so fragrant! He +noted their half-grown cones on which the scales were compactly +massed for the protection of the seed. + +These trees, which seemed to understand so well what to do for +themselves, ought to be able to sing and play so that one could +comprehend what they meant. Yet they kept harping all the while on +the same strain. He grew drowsy listening to them, and stretched +himself flat on the smooth, fine gravel to take a little nap. + +But hark! What was this? The instant his head touched the ground +and his eyes closed, the trees struck up something new. Ah, now +there came rhythm and melody! + +Then all that other was only a prelude, such as is played at church +before the hymn. + +This was what he had felt the whole time, though he had not wanted +to say it even in his mind. The trees also knew what had happened. +It was on his account they tuned up so loudly the instant he +appeared. And now they sang of him--there was no mistaking it now, +when they thought him asleep. Perhaps they did not wish him to hear +how much they were making of him. + +And what a song, what a song! He lay all the while with his eyes +shut, but could hear the better for that. Not a sound was lost to +him. + +Ah, this was music! It was not just the young trees at the edge of +the road that made music now, but the whole forest. There were +organs and drums and trumpets; there were little thrush flutes and +bullfinch pipes; there were gurgling brooks and singing water-sprites, +tinkling bluebells and thrumming woodpeckers. + +Never had he heard anything so beautiful, nor listened to music in +just this way. It rang in his ear; so that he could never forget +it. + +When the song was finished and the forest grew silent, he sprang to +his feet as if startled from a dream. Immediately he began to sing +this hymn of the woods so as to fix it forever in his memory. + + The Empress's father, for his part, + Feels so happy in his heart. + +Then came the refrain, which he had not been able to catch word for +word, but anyhow he sang it about as it had sounded to him: + + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom. + + No gun be his but a sword of gold; + Now a crown for a cap on his head behold! + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom. + + Golden apples are his meat, + No more of turnips shall he eat. + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom. + + Court ladies clothed in bright array + Bow as he passes on his way. + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom. + + When he the forest proudly treads, + All the tree-tops nod their heads. + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom. + +It was just this "boom, boom" that had sounded best of all to him. +With every boom he struck the ground hard with his stick and made +his voice as deep and strong as he could. He sang the song over and +over again, till the forest fairly rang with it. + +But then the way in which it had been composed was so out of the +common! And the fact that this was the first and only time in his +life he had been able to catch and carry a tune was in itself a +proof of its merit. + + +THE SEVENTEENTH OF AUGUST + +The first time Jan of Ruffluck had gone to Lövdala on a seventeenth +of August the visit had not passed off as creditably for him as he +could have wished; so he had never repeated it, although he had +been told that each year it was becoming more lively and festive at +the Manor. + +But now that the little girl had come up in the world, it was +altogether different with him. He felt that it would be a great +disappointment to Lieutenant Liljecrona if so exalted a personage +as the Emperor Johannes of Portugallia did not do him the honour of +wishing him happiness on his birthday. + +So he donned his imperial regalia and sallied forth, taking good +care not to be among the first arrivals. For him who was an emperor +it was the correct thing not to put in an appearance until all the +guests had made themselves quite at home, and the festivities were +well under way. + +Upon the occasion of his former visit he had not ventured farther +than the orchard and the gravelled walk in front of the house. He +had not even gone up to pay his respects to the host. But now he +could not think of behaving so discourteously. + +This time he made straight for the big bower at the left of the +porch, where the lieutenant sat with a group of dignitaries from +Svartsjö and elsewhere, grasped him by the hand, and wished him +many happy returns of the day. + +"So you've come out to-day, Jan," said the lieutenant in a tone of +surprise. + +To be sure he was not expecting an honour like this, which probably +accounted for his so far forgetting himself as to address the +Emperor by his old name. Jan knew that so genial a man as the +lieutenant could have meant no offense by that, therefore he +corrected him in all meekness. + +"We must make allowances for the lieutenant," he said, "since this +is his birthday; but by rights we should be called Emperor Johannes +of Portugallia." + +Jan spoke in the gentlest tone possible, but just the same the +other gentlemen all laughed at the lieutenant for having made such +a bad break. Jan had never intended to cause him humiliation on his +birthday, so he promptly dismissed the matter and turned to the +others. Raising his cap with an imperial flourish, he said: + +"Go'-day, go'-day, my worthy Generals and Bishops and Governors." +It was his intention to go around and shake hands with everybody, +as one is expected to do at a party. + +Nearest the lieutenant sat a short, stocky man in a white cloth +jacket, with a gold-trimmed collar, and a sword at his side, who, +when Jan stepped up to greet him did not offer his whole hand, but +merely held out two fingers. The man's intentions may have been all +right, but of course a potentate like Emperor Johannes of +Portugallia knew he must stand upon his dignity. + +"I think you will have to give me your whole hand, my good Bishop +and Governor," he said very pleasantly, for he did not want to +disturb the harmony on this great day. + +Then, mind you, the man turned up his nose! + +"I have just heard it was not to your liking that Liljecrona called +you by name," he observed, "and I wonder how you can have the +audacity to say _du_ [Note: Du like the French "tu" is used only in +addressing intimates.] to me!" Then, pointing to three poor little +yellow stars that were attached to his coat, he roared: "See +these?" + +When remarks of this kind were flung at him, the Emperor Johannes +thought it high time to lay off his humility. He quickly flipped +back his coat, exhibiting a waistcoat covered with large showy +"medals" of "silver" and "gold." He usually kept his coat buttoned +over these decorations as they were easily tarnished, and crushable. +Besides, he knew that people always felt so ill at ease when in the +presence of exalted personages and he had no desire to add to their +embarrassment by parading his grandeur when there was no occasion +for it. Now, however, it had to be done. + +"Look here, you!" he said. "This is what you ought to show if you +want to brag. Three paltry little stars--pooh! that's nothing!" + +Then you had better believe the man showed proper respect! The fact +that all who knew about the Empress and the Empire were laughing +themselves sick at the Major General must have had its effect, also. + +"By cracky!" he ejaculated, rising to his feet and bowing. "If it +isn't a real monarch that I have before me! Your Majesty even knows +how to respond to a speech." + +"That's easy when you know how to meet people," retorted the other. +After that no gentleman in the party was so glad to be allowed to +talk to the ruler of Portugallia as was this very man, who had been +so high and mighty at first that he would not present more than two +fingers, when an emperor had offered him his whole hand. + +It need hardly be said that none of the others seated in the bower +refused to accord the Emperor a fitting greeting. Now that the +first feeling of surprise and embarrassment had passed and the men +were beginning to perceive that he was not a difficult person to +get on with, emperor though he was, they were as eager as was every +one else to hear all about the little girl's rise to royal honours +and her prospective return to her home parish. At last he was on so +friendly a footing with them all that he even consented to sing for +them the song he had learned in the forest. + +This was perhaps too great a condescension on his part, but since +they were all so glad for every word he uttered he could not deny +them the pleasure of hearing him sing, also. + +And when he raised his voice in song imagine the consternation! +Then his audience was not confined to the group of elderly +gentlemen in the bower. For immediately the old countesses and the +old wives of the old generals who had been sitting on the big sofa +in the drawing room, sipping tea and eating bonbons, and the young +barons and young Court ladies who had been dancing in the ballroom, +all came rushing out to hear him and all eyes were fixed on him, +which was quite the proper thing, as he was an emperor. + +The like of that song they had never heard, of course, and as soon +as he had sung it through they wanted him to sing it again. He +hesitated a good while--for one must never be too obliging in such +matters--but they would not be satisfied until he had yielded to +their importunities. And this time, when he came to the refrain, +they all joined in, and when he got to the "boom, boom" the young +barons beat time with their feet and the young Court ladies clapped +their hands to the measure of the tune. + +But that was a wonderful day! As he sang it again and again, with +so many smartly dressed people chiming in; so many pretty young +ladies darting him glances of approval; so many young swains +shouting _bravo_ after every verse, he felt as dizzy as if he had +been dancing. It was as if some one had taken him in their arms and +lifted him into the air. + +He did not lose his head, though, but knew all the while that his +feet were still on the earth. Meantime, he had the pleasant +sensation of being elevated far above every one. On the one hand, +he was being borne up by the honour, on the other by the glory. +They bore him away on strong wings and placed him upon an imperial +throne, far, far away amongst the rosy evening clouds. + +There was but one thing wanting. Think, if the great Empress, his +little Glory Goldie, had only been there, too! + +Instantly this thought flashed upon him, a red shimmer passed +before his eyes. Gazing at it more intently, he saw that it +emanated from a young girl in a red frock who had just come out +from the house, and was then standing on the porch. + +The young girl was tall and graceful and had a wealth of gold +yellow hair. From where he stood he could not see her face, but he +thought she could be none other than Glory Goldie. Then he knew why +he had been so blissfully happy that evening; it was just a +foretoken of the little girl's nearness. Breaking off in the middle +of his song and pushing aside all who stood in his way, he ran +toward the house. + +When he reached the steps he was obliged to halt. His heart thumped +so violently it seemed ready to burst. But gradually he recovered +just enough strength to be able to proceed. Very slowly he mounted +step by step till at last he was on the porch. Then, spreading out +his arms, he whispered: + +"Glory Goldie!" + +Instantly the young girl turned round. It was not Glory Goldie! A +strange woman stood there, staring at him in astonishment. + +Not a word could he utter, but tears sprang to his eyes; he could +not hold them back. Now he faced about and staggered down the +steps. Turning his back upon all the merriment and splendour, he +went on up the driveway. + +The people kept calling for him. They wanted him to come back and +sing to them again. But he heard them not. As fast as he could go +he hurried toward the woods, where he could be alone with his grief. + + +KATRINA AND JAN + +Jan of Ruffluck had never had so many things to think about and +ponder over as now, that he had become an emperor. + +In the first place he had to be very guarded, since greatness had +been thrust upon him, so as not to let pride get the upper hand. He +must bear in mind continually that we humans were all made from the +same material and had sprung from the same First Parents; that we +were all of us weak and sinful and at bottom one person was no +better than another. + +All his life long he had observed, to his dismay, how people tried +to lord it over one another, and of course he had no desire to do +likewise. He found, however, that it was not an easy matter for one +who had become exalted to maintain a proper humility. His greatest +concern was that he might perhaps say or do something that would +cause his old friends, who were still obliged to pursue their +humble callings, to feel themselves slighted and forgotten. +Therefore he deemed it best when attending such functions as +dinners and parties--which duty demanded of him--never to mention +in the hearing of these people the great distinction that had come +to him. He could not blame them for envying him. Indeed not! Just +the same he felt it was wisest not to make them draw comparisons. + +And of course he could not ask men like Börje and the seine-maker +to address him as Emperor. Such old friends could call him Jan, as +they had always done; for they could never bring themselves to do +otherwise. + +But the one whom he had to consider before all others and be most +guarded with was the old wife, who sat at home in the hut. It would +have been a great consolation to him, and a joy as well, if +greatness had come to her also. But it had not. She was the same as +of yore. Anything else was hardly to be expected. Glory Goldie must +have known it would be quite impossible to make an empress of +Katrina. One could not imagine the old woman pinning a golden +coronet on her hair when going to church; she would have stayed at +home rather than show her face framed in anything but the usual +black silk headshawl. + +Katrina had declared out and out she did not want to hear about +Glory Goldie being an empress. On the whole it was perhaps best to +humour her in this. + +But one can understand it must have been hard for him who spent his +mornings at the pier, surrounded by admiring throngs of people, who +at every turn addressed him as "Emperor," to drop his royal air the +moment he set foot in his own house. It cannot be denied that he +found it a bit irksome having to fetch wood and water for Katrina +and then to be spoken to as if he had gone backward in life instead +of forward. + +If Katrina had only stopped at that he would not have minded it, +but she even complained because he would not go out to work now, as +in former days. When she came with such things he always turned a +deaf ear. As if he did not know that the Empress of Portugallia +would soon send him so much money that he need never again put on +his working clothes! He felt it would be an insult to _her_ to give +in to Katrina on this point. + + +One afternoon, toward the end of August, as Jan was sitting upon +the flat stone in front of the hut, smoking his pipe, he glimpsed +some bright frocks in the woods close by, and heard the ring of +youthful voices. + +Katrina had just gone down to the birch grove to cut twigs for a +broom: but before leaving she had said to Jan that hereafter they +must arrange their matters so that she could go down to Falla and +dig ditches; he might stay at home and do the cooking and mending, +since he was too fine now to work for others. He had not said a +word in retort, but all the same it was mighty unpleasant having to +listen to such talk; therefore he was very glad that he could turn +his thoughts to something else. Instantly he ran inside for his +imperial cap and stick, and was out again and down at the gate just +as the young girls came along. + +There were no less than five of them in the party, the three young +misses from Lövdala and two strangers, who were evidently guests at +the Manor. + +"Go'-day, my dear Court ladies," said Jan as he swung the gate wide +open and went out toward them. "Go'-day, my dear Court ladies," he +repeated, at the same time making such a big sweep with his cap +that it almost touched the ground. + +The girls stood stockstill. They looked a bit shy at first, but he +soon helped them over their momentary embarrassment. + +Then it was "good-day" and "our kind Emperor." It was plain they +were really glad to see him again. These little misses were not +like Katrina and the rest of the Ashdales folk. They were not at +all averse to hearing about the Empress and immediately asked him +if Her Highness was well and if she was not expected home soon. + +They also asked if they might be allowed to step into the hut, to +see how it looked inside. That he could well afford to let them do, +for Katrina always kept the house so clean and tidy that they could +receive callers there at any time. + +When the young misses from the Manor came into the house they were +no doubt surprised that the great Empress had grown up in a little +place like that. It may have done very well in the old days, when +she was used to it, they said, but how would it be now should she +come back? Would she reside here, with her parents, or return to +Portugallia? + +Jan had thought the selfsame things himself, and he understood of +course that Glory Goldie could not settle down in the Ashdales when +she had a whole kingdom to rule over. + +"The chances are that the Empress will return to Portugallia," he +replied. + +"Then you will accompany her, I suppose?" said one of the little +misses. + +Jan would rather the young lady had not questioned him regarding +that matter. Nor did he give her any reply at first, but she was +persistent. + +"Possibly you don't know as yet how it will be?" she said. + +Oh, yes, he knew all about it, only he was not quite sure how +people would regard his decision. Perhaps they might think it was +not the correct thing for an emperor to do. "I shall remain at +home," he told her. "It would never do for me to leave Katrina." + +"So Katrina is not going to Portugallia?" + +"No," he answered. "You couldn't get Katrina away from the hut, and +I shall stay right here with her. You see when one has promised to +love and cherish till death--" + +"Yes, I understand that one can't break that vow." This was said by +the young girl who seemed most eager to know about everything. "Do +you hear that, all of you?" she added. "Jan won't leave his wife +though all the glories of Portugallia are tempting him." + +And think of it! The girls were very glad of this. They patted him +on the back and told him he did right. That was a favourable sign, +they said, for it showed that all was not over yet with good old +Jan Anderson of Ruffluck Croft. + +He could not make out just what they meant by that; but probably +they were happy to think the parish was not going to lose him. + +They bade him good-bye now, saying they were going over to Doveness +to a garden party. + +They had barely gone when Katrina walked in. She must have been +standing outside the door listening. But how long she had stood +there or how much she had heard, Jan did not know. Anyway, she +looked more amiable and serene than she had appeared in a long +while. + +"You're an old simpleton," she told him. "I wonder what other women +would say if they had a husband like you? But still it's a comfort +to know that you don't want to go away from me." + + +BJÖRN HINDRICKSON'S FUNERAL + +Jan Anderson of Ruffluck was not invited to the funeral of Björn +Hindrickson of Loby. + +But he understood, of course, that the family of the departed had +not been quite certain that he would care to claim kinship with +them now that he had risen to such glory and honour; possibly they +feared it might upset their arrangements if so exalted a personage +as Johannes of Portugallia were to attend the funeral. + +The immediate relatives of the late Björn Hindrickson naturally +wished to ride in the first carriage, where by rights place should +have been made for him who was an emperor. They knew, to be sure, +that he was not over particular about the things which seem to +count for so much with most folks. It would never have occurred to +him to stand in the way of those who like to sit in the place of +honour at special functions. Therefore, rather than cause any ill +feeling, he remained away from the house of mourning during the +early forenoon, before the funeral procession had started, and went +direct to the church. Not until the bells had begun tolling and the +long procession had broken up on church ground did he take his +place among his relatives. + +When they saw Jan there they all looked a little astonished; but +now he was so accustomed to seeing folks surprised at his +condescension that he took it as a matter of course. No doubt they +would have liked to place him at the head of the line, but then it +was too late to do so, as they were already moving toward the +churchyard. + +After the burial service, when he accompanied the funeral party to +the church and seated himself on the mourners' bench, they appeared +to be slightly embarrassed. However, there was no time to comment +upon his having placed himself among them instead of occupying his +usual high seat, in the gentry's gallery--as the opening hymn had +just begun. + +At the close of the service, when the conveyances belonging to the +funeral party drove up onto the knoll, Jan went out and climbed +into the hearse, where he sat down upon the dais on which the +coffin rested on the drive to the churchyard. As the big wagon +would now be going back empty, he knew that here he would not be +taking up some other person's place. The daughter and son-in-law of +the late Björn Hindrickson walked back and forth at the side of the +hearse and looked at him. They regretted no doubt that they could +not ask him to ride in one of the first carriages. Nor did he wish +to incommode any one. He was what he was in any case. + +During the drive to Loby he could not help thinking of the time +when he and Glory Goldie had called upon their rich relatives. This +time, however, it was all so different! Who was great and respected +now? and who was conferring an honour upon his kinsfolk by seeking +them out? + +As the carriages drew up in turn before the house of mourning, the +occupants stepped out and were conducted into the large waiting-room +on the ground floor where they removed their wraps. Two neighbours +of the Hindricksons, who acted as host and hostess, then invited +the more prominent persons among the guests to step upstairs, where +dinner was served. + +It was a difficult task having to single out those who were to sit +at the first table. For at so large a funeral gathering it was +impossible to make room for all the guests at one sitting. The +table had to be cleared and set three or four times. + +Some people would have regarded it as an inexcusable oversight had +they not been asked to sit at the first table. As for him who had +risen to the exalted station of Emperor, he could be exceedingly +obliging in many ways, but to be allowed to sit at the first table +was a right which he must not forgo; otherwise folks might think he +did not know it was his prerogative to come before all others. It +did not matter so much his not being among the very first to be +requested to step upstairs. It was self-evident that he should dine +with the pastor and the gentry; so he felt no uneasiness on that +score. + +He sat all by himself on a corner bench, quite silent. Here nobody +came up to chat with him about the Empress, and he seemed a bit +dejected. When he left home Katrina had begged him not to come to +this funeral, because the folks at this farm were of too good stock +to cringe to either kings or emperors. It looked now as if she were +right about it. For old peasants who have lived on the same farm +from time immemorial consider themselves the superiors of the +titled aristocracy. + +It was a slow proceeding bringing together those who were to be at +the first table. The host and hostess moved about a long while +seeking the highest worthies, but somehow they failed to come up to +him. + +Not far from the Emperor sat a couple of old spinsters, chatting, +who had not the least expectation of being called up then. They +were speaking of Linnart, son of the late Björn Hindrickson, saying +it was well that he had come home in time for a reconciliation with +his father. + +Not that there had been any actual enmity between father and son, +but it happened that some thirty years earlier, when the son was +two and twenty and wanted to marry, he had asked the old man to let +him take over the management of the farm, so that he could be his +own master. This Björn had flatly refused to do. He wanted the son +to stay at home and go on working under him and then to take over +the property when the old man was no more. "No," was the son's +answer. "I'll not stay at home and be your servant even though you +are my father. I prefer to go out in the world and make a home for +myself, for I must be as good a man as you are, or the feeling of +comradeship between us will soon end." "That can end at any time, +if you choose to go your own ways," Björn Hindrickson told him. +Then the son had gone up into the wilderness northeast of Dove +Lake, and had settled in the wildest and least populated region, +where he broke ground for a farm of his own. His land lay in Bro +parish, and he was never again seen in Svartsjö. Not in thirty +years had his parents laid eyes on him. But a week ago, when old +Björn was nearing the end, he had come home. + +This was good news to Jan of Ruffluck. The Sunday before, when +Katrina got back from church and told him that Björn was dying, he +immediately asked whether the son had been sent for. But it seems +he had not. Katrina had heard that Björn's wife had begged and +implored the old man to let her send for their son and that he +would not hear of it. He wanted to die in peace, he said. + +But Jan was not satisfied to let the matter rest there. The thought +of Linnart away out in the wilds, knowing nothing of his father's +grave condition had caused him to disregard old Björn's wishes and +go tell the son himself. He had heard nothing as to the outcome +until now, and he was so interested in what the two old spinsters +were saying, that he quite forgot to think about either the first +or the second table. + +When the son returned he and the father were as nice as could be to +each other. The old man laughed at the son's attire. "So you've +come in your working clothes," he said. "I suppose I should have +dressed up, since it's Sunday," Linnart replied. "But we've had so +much rain up our way this summer and I had thought of hauling in +some oats to-day." "Did you manage to get in any?" the old man +asked him. "I got one wagon loaded, but that I left standing in the +field when word came that you were sick. I hurried away at once, +without stopping to change my clothes." "Who told you about it?" +the father inquired. "Some man I've never seen before," replied the +son. "It didn't occur to me to ask him who he was. He looked like a +little old beggarman." "You must find that man and thank him from +me," old Björn then said. "Him you must honour wherever you meet +him. He has meant well by us." The father and son were so happy +over their reconciliation that it was as if death had brought them +joy instead of grief. + +Jan winced when he heard that Linnart Hindrickson had called him a +beggar. But he understood of course that it was simply because he +had not worn his imperial cap or carried his stick when he went up +to the forest. This brought him back to his present dilemma. Surely +he had waited long enough! He should have been called by this time. +This would never do! + +He rose at once, resolutely crossed the room into the hallway, +climbed the stairs, and opened the door to the big dining-hall. He +saw at a glance that the dinner was already on; every place at the +large horseshoe table was occupied and the first course had been +served. Then it was not meant that he should be among the elect, +for there sat the pastor, the sexton, the lieutenant from Lövdala +and his lady--there sat every one who should be there, except +himself. + +One of the young girls who passed around the food rushed over to +Jan the instant he appeared in the doorway. "What are you doing +here, Jan?" she said in a low voice. "Go down with you!" + +"But my good hostess!" Jan protested, "Emperor Johannes of +Portugallia should be present at the first sitting." + +"Oh, shut up, Jan!" said the girl. "This is not the proper time to +come with your nonsense. Go down, and you'll get something to eat +when your turn comes." + +It so happened that Jan entertained a greater regard for this +particular household than for any other in the parish; therefore it +would have been very gratifying to him to be received here in a +manner befitting his station. A strange feeling of despondency came +over him as he stood down by the door, cap in hand; he felt that +all his imperial grandeur was falling from him. Then, in the middle +of this sore predicament, he heard Linnart Hindrickson exclaim: + +"Why, there stands the fellow who came to me last Sunday and told +me that father was sick!" + +"What are you saying?" questioned the mother. "But are you certain +as to that?" + +"Of course I am. It can't be any one but he. I've seen him before +to-day, but I didn't recognize him in that queer get-up. However I +see now that he's the man." + +"If he is our man, he mustn't be allowed to stand down by the door, +like a beggar," said the old housewife. "In that case, we must make +room for him at the table. Him we owe both honour and thanks, for +it was he who sent comfort to Björn in his last hours, while to me +he has brought the only consolation that can lighten my sorrow in +the loss of a husband like mine." + +And room was made, too, though the table seemed to be crowded +enough already. + +Jan was placed at the centre of the horseshoe, directly opposite +the pastor. He could not have wished for anything better. At first +he seemed a little dazed. He could not comprehend why they should +make such fuss over him just because he had run a few miles into +the woods with a message for Linnart Hindrickson. Suddenly he +understood, and all became clear to him: it was the Emperor they +wished to honour; they had gone about it in this way so that no one +should feel slighted or put out. It couldn't be explained in any +other way. For he had always been kind and good-natured and helpful, +yet never before had he been honoured or fêted in the least degree +for that. + + +THE DYING HEART + +Engineer Boraeus on his daily stroll to the pier could not fail to +notice the crowds that always gathered nowadays around the little +old man from Ruffluck Croft. Jan did not have to sit all by himself +any more and while away the long, dreary hours in silent musings, +as he had done during the summer. Instead, all who waited for the +boat went up to him to hear him tell what would happen on the +homecoming of the Empress, more especially when she stepped ashore +here, at the Borg landing. Every time Engineer Boraeus went by he +heard about the crown of gold the Empress would wear on her hair +and the gold flowers that would spring into bloom on tree and bush +the instant she set foot on land. + +One day, late in October, about three months after Jan of Ruffluck +had first proclaimed the tidings of Glory Goldie's rise to royal +honours, the engineer saw an uncommonly large gathering of people +around the little old man. He intended to pass by with a curt +greeting, as usual, but changed his mind and stopped to see what +was going on. + +At first glance he found nothing out of the ordinary, Jan was +seated upon one of the waiting stones, as usual, looking very +solemn and important. Beside him sat a tall, thin woman, who was +talking so fast and excitedly that the words fairly spurted out of +her mouth; she shook her head and snapped her eyes, her body +bending forward all the while so that by the time she had finished +speaking her face was on a level with the ground. + +Engineer Boraeus immediately recognized the woman as Mad Ingeborg. +At first he could not make out what she was saying, so he turned to +a man in the crowd and asked him what all this was about. + +"She's begging him to arrange for her to accompany the Empress to +Portgallia, when Her Royal Highness returns thither," the man +explained. "She has been talking to him about this for a good while +now, but he won't make her any promises." + +Then the engineer had no difficulty in following the colloquy. But +what he heard did not please him, and, as he listened, the wrinkle +between his eyebrows deepened and reddened. + +Here sat the only person in the world, save Jan himself, who +believed in the wonders of Portugallia, yet she was denied the +pleasure of a trip there. The poor old soul knew that in that +kingdom there was no poverty and no hunger, neither were there any +rude people who made fun of unfortunates, nor any children who +pursued lone, helpless wanderers and cast stones at them. In that +land reigned only peace, and all years were good years. So thither +she longed to be taken--away from the anguish and misery of her +wretched existence. She wept and pleaded, employing every argument +she could think of, but "No," and again "No" was the only answer +she got. + +And he who turned a deaf ear to her prayers was one who had +sorrowed and yearned for a whole year. A few months ago, when his +heart was still athrob with life, perhaps he would not have said no +to her pleadings; but now at a time when everything seemed to be +prospering with him, his heart had become hardened. Even the +outward appearance of the man showed that a great change had taken +place within. He had acquired plump cheeks, a double chin, and a +heavy black moustache. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and +there was a cold fixed stare about them. His nose, too, looked more +prominent than of yore and had taken on a more patrician mold. His +hair seemed to be entirely gone; not one hair stuck out from under +the leather cap. + +The engineer had kept an eye on the man from the day of their first +talk in the summer. It was no longer an intense yearning that made +Jan haunt the pier. Now he hardly glanced toward the boat. He came +only to meet people who humoured his mania, who called him +"Emperor" just for the sport of hearing him sing and narrate his +wild fancies. + +But why be annoyed at that? thought the engineer. The man was a +lunatic of course. But perhaps the madness need never have become +so firmly fixed as it was then. If some one had ruthlessly yanked +Jan of Ruffluck down off his imperial throne in the beginning +possibly he could have been saved. + +The engineer flashed the man a challenging glance. Jan looked +condescendingly regretful, but remained adamant as before. + +In that fine land of Portugallia there were only princes and +generals, to be sure--only richly dressed people. Mad Ingeborg in +her old cotton headshawl and her knit jacket would naturally be out +of place there. But Heavenly Father! the engineer actually thought-- + +Engineer Boraeus looked just then as if he would have liked to +give Jan a needed lesson, but he only shrugged his shoulders. He +knew he was not the right person for that, and would simply make +bad worse. Quietly withdrawing from the crowd, he walked down to +the end of the pier just as the boat hove into view from behind the +nearest point. + + +DEPOSED + +Long before his marriage to Anna Ericsdotter of Falla, Lars +Gunnarson happened one day to be present at an auction sale. + +The parties who held the auction were poor folk who probably had no +tempting wares to offer the bargain seekers, for the bidding had +been slow, and the sales poor. They had a right to expect better +results, with Jöns of Kisterud as auctioneer. Jöns was such a +capital funmaker that people used to attend all auctions at which +he officiated just for the pleasure of listening to him. Although +he got off all his usual quips and jokes, he could not seem to +infuse any life into the bidders on this occasion. At last, not +knowing what else he could do, he put down his hammer saying he was +too hoarse to do any more crying. + +"The senator will have to get some one else to offer the wares," he +told Carl Carlson of Stovik, who stood sponsor for the auction. +"I've shouted myself hoarse at these stone images standing around +me, and will have to go home and keep my mouth shut for a few +weeks, till I can get back my voice." + +It was a serious matter for the senator to be left without a crier, +when most of the lots were still unsold; so he tried to persuade +Jöns to continue. But it was plain that Jöns could not afford to +hurt his professional standing by holding a poor auction, and +therefore he became so hoarse all at once that he could not even +speak in a whisper. He only wheezed. + +"Perhaps there is some one here who will cry out the wares for a +moment, while Jöns is resting?" said the senator, looking out over +the crowd without much hope of finding a helper. + +Then Lars Gunnarson pushed his way forward and said he was willing +to try. Carl Carslon only laughed at Lars, who at that time looked +like a mere stripling, and told him he did not want a small boy who +had not even been confirmed. Whereupon Lars promptly informed Carl +Carlson that he had not only been confirmed but had also performed +military service. He begged so eagerly to be allowed to wield the +hammer that the senator finally gave way to him. + +"We may as well let you try your hand at it for a while," he said. +"I dare say it can't go any worse than it has gone so far." + +Lars promptly stepped into Jöns's place. He took up an old butter +tub to offer it--hesitated and just stood there looking at it, +turning the tub up and down, tapping on its bottom and sides. +Apparently surprised not to find any flaws in it, he presently +offered the lot in a reluctant tone of voice, as if distressed at +having to sell so valuable an article. For his part, he would +rather that no bids be made, he said. It would be lucky for the +owner if no one discovered what a precious butter tub this was, for +then he could keep it. + +And now, when bid followed bid, everybody noticed how disappointed +Lars looked. It was all very well so long as the bids were so low +as to be beneath his notice; but when they began to mount higher +and higher, his face became distorted from chagrin. He seemed to be +making a great sacrifice when he finally decided to knock down the +sour old butter tub. + +After that he turned his attention to the water buckets, the cowls, +and washtubs. Lars Gunnarson seemed somewhat less reluctant when it +came to disposing of the older ones, which he sold without indulging +in overmuch sighing; but the newer lots he did not want to offer at +all. "They are far too good to give away," he remarked to the +owner. "They've been used so little that you could easily sell them +for new at the fair." + +The auction hunters had no notion as to why they kept shouting more +and more eagerly. Lars Gunnarson showed much distress for every +fresh bid; it could never have been to please him they were +bidding. Somehow they had come to regard the things he offered as +of real worth. It suddenly occurred to them that one thing or +another was needed at home and here were veritable bargains, which +they were not buying now just for the fun of it, as had been the +case when Jöns of Kisterud did the auctioning. + +After this master stroke Lars Gunnarson was in great demand at all +auctions. There was never any merriment at the sales after he had +begun to wield the hammer; but he had the faculty of making folks +long to get possession of a lot of old junk and inducing a couple +of bigwigs to bid against each other on things they had no earthly +use for, simply to show that money was no object to them. And he +managed to dispose of everything at all auctions at which he +served. + +Once only did it seem to go badly for Lars, and that was at Sven +Österby's, at Bergvik. There was a fine big house, with all its +furnishings up for sale. Many people had assembled, and though late +in the autumn the weather was so mild that the auction could be +held out of doors; yet the sales were almost negligible. Lars could +not make the people take any interest in the wares, or get them to +bid. It looked as though it would go no better for him than it had +gone for Jöns of Kisterud the day Lars had to take up the hammer to +help him out. + +Lars Gunnarson, however, had no desire to turn his work over to +another. He tried instead to find out what it was that seemed to be +distracting the attention of the people and keeping them from +making purchases. Nor was he long getting at the cause of it. + +Lars had mounted a table, that every one might see what he had to +offer, and from this point of vantage he soon discovered that the +newly created emperor, who lived in the little hut close to Falla +and had been a day labourer all his life, moved about in the crowd. +Lars saw him bowing and smiling to right and left, and letting +people examine his stars and his stick, and, at every turn, he had +a long line of youngsters at his heels. Nor were older folks above +bandying words with him. No wonder the auction went badly, with a +grand monarch like him there to draw every one's attention to +himself! + +At first Lars went right on with his auctioneering, but he kept an +eye on Jan of Ruffluck until the later had made his way to the +front. There was no fear of Johannes of Portugallia remaining in +the background! He shook hands with everybody and spoke a few +pleasant words to each and all, at the same time pushing ahead +until he had reached the very centre of the ring. + +But the moment Jan was there Lars Gunnarsom jumped down from the +table, rushed up to him, snatched his imperial cap and stick and +was back in his place before Jan had time to think of offering +resistance. + +Then Jan cried out and tried to climb up onto the table to get back +the stolen heirlooms, but immediately Lars raised the stick to him +and forced him back. At that there was a murmur of disapproval from +the crowd, which, however, had no effect upon Lars. + +"I see that you are surprised at my action," he shouted in his loud +auctioneering voice, which could be heard all over the yard. "But +this cap and this stick belong to us Falla folk. They were +bequeathed to my father-in-law, Eric Ersa, by the old master of +Falla, he who ran the farm before Eric took it over. These things +have always been treasured in the family, and I can't tolerate +having a lunatic parade around in them." + +Jan had suddenly recovered his composure and while Lars was +speaking, he stood with his arms crossed on his chest a look in +his face of sublime indifference to Lars's talk. As soon as Lars +subsided, Jan, with a gesture of command, turned to the crowd, and +said very quietly: + +"Now, my good Courtiers, you must see that I get back my property." + +Not a solitary person made a move to help him, but there were some +who laughed. Now they had all gone over to Lars's side. There was +just one individual who seemed to feel sorry for Jan. A woman cried +out to the auctioneer: + +"Ah, Lars, let him keep his royal trumpery! The cap and stick are +of no use to you." + +"I'll give him one of my own caps, when I get home," returned Lars. +"But I'll be hanged if I let him go about any longer with these +heirlooms, making of them a target for jests!" + +This was followed by loud laughs from the crowd, Jan was so +dumfounded that all he could do was to stand still and look at the +people. He glanced from one to another, unable to get over his +amazement. Dear, dear! Was there no one among all those who had +honoured and applauded him who would help him now, in his hour of +need? The people stood there, unmoved. He saw then that he meant +nothing to them and that they would not lift a finger for him. He +became so frightened that all his imperial greatness fell from him, +and he was like a little child that is ready to cry because its +playthings have been taken away. + +Lars Gunnarson turned to the huge pile of wares stacked beside him, +prepared to go on with the auction. Then Jan attempted to do +something himself. Wailing and protesting, he went up to the table +where Lars stood, quickly bent down and tried to overturn it. But +Lars was too alert for him; with a swing of the imperial stick, he +dealt Jan a blow across his back that sent him reeling. + +"No you don't!" cried he. "I'll keep these articles for the +present. You've wasted enough time already on this emperor +nonsense. Now you'd better go straight home and take to your +digging again." + +Jan did not appear to be specially anxious to obey; whereupon Lars +again raised the stick, and nothing more was needed to make Emperor +Johannes of Portugallia turn and flee. + +No one made a move to follow him or offered him a word of sympathy. +No one called to him to come back. Indeed folks only laughed when +they saw how pitilessly and unceremoniously he had been stripped of +all his grandeur. + +But this did not suit Lars, either. He wanted to have it as solemn +at his auctions as at a church service. + +"I think it's better to talk sense to Jan than to laugh at him," he +said, reprovingly. "There are many who encourage him in his +foolishness and who even call him Emperor. But that is hardly the +right way to treat him. It would be far better to make him +understand who and what he is, even though he doesn't like it. I +have been his employer for some little time, therefore it is my +bounden duty to see that he goes back to his work; otherwise he'll +soon be a charge on the parish." + +After that Lars held a good auction, with close and high bids. The +satisfaction which he now felt was not lessened when on his +homecoming the next day, he learned that Jan of Ruffluck had again +put on his working clothes, and gone back to his digging. + +"We must never remind him of his madness," Lars Gunnarson warned +his people, "then perhaps his reason will be spared to him. Anyhow, +he has never had more than he needs." + + +THE CATECHETICAL MEETING + +Lars Gunnarson was decidedly pleased with himself for having taken +the cap and stick away from Jan; it looked as if he had at the same +time relieved the peasant of his mania. + +A fortnight after the auction at Bergvik a catechetical meeting was +held at Falla. People had gathered there from the whole district +round about Dove Lake, the Ruffluck folk being among them. There +was nothing in Jan's manner or bearing now that would lead one to +think he was not in his right mind. + +All the benches and chairs in the house had been moved into the +large room on the ground floor and arranged in close rows, and +there sat every one who was to be catechized, including Jan; for +to-day he had not pushed his way up to a better seat than he was +entitled to. Lars kept his eyes on Jan. He had to admit to himself +that the man's insanity had apparently been checked. Jan behaved +now like any rational being; he was very quiet and all who greeted +him received only a stiff nod in response, which may have been due +to a desire on his part not to disturb the spirit of the meeting. + +The regular meeting was preceded by a roll call, and when the +pastor called out "Jan Anderson of Ruffluck Croft," the latter +answered "here" without the slightest hesitation--as if Emperor +Johannes of Portugallia had never existed. + +The clergyman sat at a table at the far end of the room, with the +big church registry in front of him. Beside him sat Lars Gunnarson, +enlightening him as to who had moved away from the district within +the year, and who had married. + +Jan having answered all questions correctly and promptly, the +pastor turned to Lars and put a query to him in a low tone of voice. + +"It was not as serious as it appeared," said Lars. "I took it out +of him. He works at Falla every day now, as he has always done." + +Lars had not thought to lower his voice, as had the pastor. Every +one knew of whom he was speaking and many glanced anxiously at Jan, +who sat there as calm as though he had not heard a word. + +Later, when the catechizing was well on, the pastor happened to ask +a trembling youth whose knowledge of the Scriptures was to be +tested, to repeat the Fourth Commandment. + +It was not wholly by chance the pastor had chosen this commandment +as his text for that evening. When seated thus in a comfortable old +farmhouse, with its olden-time furniture, and much else that +plainly bespoke a state of prosperity, he always felt moved to +impress upon his hearers how well those prosper who hold together +from generation to generation, who let their elders govern as long +as they are able to do so, and who honour and cherish them +throughout the remaining years of their lives. + +He had just begun to unfold the rich promises which God has made to +those who honour father and mother, when Jan of Ruffluck arose. + +"There is some one standing outside the door who is afraid to come +in," said Jan. + +"Go see what the matter is, Börje," said the pastor. "You're +nearest the door." + +Börje rose at once, opened the door, and glanced up and down the +entry. + +"There's nobody out there," he replied. "Jan must have heard +wrongly." + +After this interruption the pastor proceeded to explain to his +listeners that this commandment was not so much of a command as it +was good counsel, which should be strictly followed if one wished +to succeed in life. He was himself only a youth, but this much he +had already observed: lack of respect toward parents and +disobedience were at the bottom of many of life's misfortunes. + +While the pastor was speaking Jan time and again turned his head +toward the door and he motioned to Katrina, who was sitting on the +last bench and could more easily get to the door than he could, to +go open it. + +Katrina kept her seat as long as she dared; but being a bit fearful +of crossing Jan these days, she finally obeyed him. When she had +got the door open, she, like Börje, saw no one in the entry. She +shook her head at Jan and went back to her seat. + +The pastor had not allowed himself to be disconcerted by Katrina's +movements. To the great joy of all the young people, he had almost +ceased putting questions and was voicing some of the beautiful +thoughts that kept coming into his mind. + +"Think how wisely and well things are ordered for the dear old +people whom we have with us in our homes!" he said. "Is it not a +blessing that we may be a stay and comfort to those who cared for +us when we were helpless, to make life easy for those who perhaps +have suffered hunger themselves that we might be fed? It is an +honour for a young couple to have at the fireside an old father +or mother, happy and content--" + +When the pastor said that a smothered sob was heard from a corner +of the room. Lars Gunnarson, who had been sitting with head +devoutly bowed, arose at once. Crossing the floor on tiptoes, so as +not to disturb the meeting, he went over to his mother-in-law, +placed his arm around her, and led her up to the table. Seating her +in his own chair, he stationed himself behind it and looked down at +her with an air of solicitude; then he beckoned to his wife to come +and stand beside him. Every one understood of course that Lars +wanted them to think that in this home all was as the pastor had +said it should be. + +The minister looked pleased as he glanced up at the old mother and +her children. The only thing that affected him a little +unpleasantly was that the old woman wept all the while. He had +never before succeeded in calling forth such deep emotion in any of +his parishioners. + +"It is not difficult to keep the Fourth Commandment when we are +young and still under the rule of our parents," the pastor +continued; "but the real test comes later, when we are grown and +think ourselves quite as wise--" + +Here the pastor was again interrupted. Jan had just risen and gone +to the door himself. He seemed to have better luck than had Börje +or Katrina: for he was heard to say "Go'-day" to somebody out in +the entry. + +Now every one turned to see who it was that had been standing +outside all the evening, afraid to come in. They could hear Jan +urging and imploring. Evidently the person wished to be excused, +for presently Jan pulled the door to and stepped back into the +room, alone. He did not return to his seat, but threaded his way up +to the table. + +"Well, Jan," said the pastor, somewhat impatient, "may we hear now +who it is that has been disturbing us the whole evening?" + +"It was the old master of Falla who stood out there," Jan replied, +not in the least astonished or excited over what he had to impart. +"He wouldn't come in, but he bade me tell Lars from him to beware +the first Sunday after Midsummer Day." + +At first not many understood what lay back of Jan's words. Those +who sat in the last rows had not heard distinctly, but they +inferred from the startled look on the pastor's face that Jan must +have said something dreadful. They all sprang up and began to crowd +nearer the table, asking to right and left who on earth he could +have been talking to. + +"But Jan!" said the pastor in a firm tone, "do you know what you +are saying?" + +"I do indeed," returned Jan with an emphatic nod. "As soon as he +had given me the message for his son-in-law he went away. 'Tell +him,' he said, 'that I wish him no ill for letting me lie in the +snow in my agony and not coming to my aid in time; but the Fourth +Commandment is a strict one. Tell him from me he'd better repent +and confess. He will have until the Sunday after Midsummer to do it +in.'" + +Jan spoke so rationally and delivered his strange message with such +sincerity that both the pastor and the others firmly believed at +first that Eric of Falla had actually stood outside the door of his +old home and talked with Jan. And naturally they all turned their +eyes toward Lars Gunnarson to see what effect Jan's words had had +on him. + +Lars only laughed. "I thought Jan sane," he said, "or I shouldn't +have let him come to the meeting. The pastor will have to pardon +the interruption. It is the madness breaking out again." + +"Why of course!" said the pastor, relieved. For he had been on the +point of believing he had come upon something supernatural. It was +well, he thought, that this was only the fancy of a lunatic. + +"You see, Pastor," Lars went on explaining, "Jan has no great love +for me, and it's plain now he hasn't the wit to conceal it. I must +confess that in a sense I'm to blame for his daughter having to go +away to earn money. It's this he holds against me." + +The parson, a little surprised at Lars's eager tone, gave him a +searching glance. Lars did not meet that gaze, but looked away. +Perceiving his mistake, he tried to look the parson in the face. +Somehow he couldn't--so turned away, with an oath. + +"Lars Gunnarson!" exclaimed the pastor in astonishment. "What has +come over you?" + +Lars immediately pulled himself together. + +"Can't I be rid of this lunatic?" he said, as though Jan were the +one he had sworn at. "Here stand the pastor and all my neighbours +regarding me as a murderer only because a madman happens to hold a +grudge against me! I tell you he wants to get back at me on account +of his daughter. How could I know that she would leave home and go +wrong simply because I wanted what was due me. Is there no one here +who will take charge of Jan," he asked, "so that the rest of us may +enjoy the service in peace?" + +The pastor sat stroking his forehead. Lars's remarks troubled him; +but he could not reprimand him when he had no positive proof that +the man had committed a wrong. He looked around for the old mistress +of Falla; but she had slipped away. Then he glanced out over the +gathering, and from that quarter he got no help. He was confident +that all in the room knew whether or not Lars was guilty, yet, when +he turned to them, their faces looked quite blank. Meantime Katrina +had come forward and taken Jan by the arm, and the two of them were +then moving toward the door. Anyhow, the pastor had no desire to +question a crazy man. + +"I think this will do for to-night," he said quietly. "We will +bring the meeting to a close." He made a short prayer, which was +followed by a hymn. Whereupon the people went their ways. + +The pastor was the last to leave. While Lars was seeing him to the +gate he spoke quite voluntarily of that which had just taken place. + +"Did you mark, Pastor, it was the Sunday after Midsummer Day I was +to be on my guard?" he said. "That just shows it was the girl Jan +had in mind. It was the Sunday after Midsummer of last year that I +was over at Jan's place to have an understanding with him about the +hut." + +All these explanations only distressed the pastor the more. Of a +sudden he put his hand on Lars's shoulder and tried to read his +face. + +"I'm not your judge, Lars Gunnarson," he said in warm, reassuring +tones, "but if you have something on your conscience, you can come +to me. I shall look for you every day. Only don't put it off too +long!" + + +AN OLD TROLL + +The second winter of the little girl's absence from home was an +extremely severe one. By the middle of January it had grown so +unbearably cold that snow had to be banked around all the little +huts in the Ashdales as a protection against the elements, and +every night the cows had to be covered with straw, to keep them +from freezing to death. + +It was so cold that the bread froze; the cheese froze, and even the +butter turned to ice. The fire itself seemed unable to hold its +warmth. It mattered not how many logs one laid in the fireplace, +the heat spread no farther than to the edge of the hearth. + +One day, when the winter was at its worst, Jan decided that instead +of going out to his work he would stay at home and help Katrina +keep the fire alive. Neither he nor the wife ventured outside the +hut that day, and the longer they remained indoors the more they +felt the cold. At five o'clock in the afternoon, when it began to +grow dark, Katrina said they might as well "turn in"; it was no +good their sitting up any longer, torturing themselves. + +During the afternoon Jan had gone over to the window, time and +again, and peered out through a little corner of a pane that had +remained clear, though the rest of the glass was thickly crusted +with frost flowers. And now he went back there again. + +"You can go to bed, Katrina dear," he said as he stood looking out, +"but I've got to stay up a while longer." + +"Well I never!" ejaculated Katrina. "Why should you stay up? Why +can't you go to bed as well as I?" + +But Jan did not reply to her questions. "It's strange I haven't +seen Agrippa Prästberg pass by yet," he said. + +"Is it him you're waiting for!" snapped Katrina. "He hasn't been so +extra nice to you that you need feel called upon to sit up and +freeze on his account!" + +Jan put up his hand with a sweep of authority--this being the only +mannerism acquired during his emperorship which had not been +dropped. There was no fear of Prästberg coming to them, he told +her. He had heard that the old man had been invited to a drinking +bout at a fisherman's but here in the Ashdales, but so far he had +not seen him go by. + +"I suppose he has had the good sense to stay at home," said Katrina. + +It grew colder and colder. The corners of the house creaked as if +the freezing wind were knocking to be let in. All the bushes and +trees were covered with such thick coats of snow and rim frost they +looked quite shapeless. But bushes and trees, like humans, had to +clothe themselves as well as they could, in order to be protected +against the cold. + +In a little while Katrina observed: "I see by the clock it's only +half after five, but all the same I'll put on the porridge pot and +prepare the evening meal. After supper, you can sit up and wait for +Prästberg or go to bed, whichever you like." + +All this time Jan had stood at the window. "It can't be that he +has come this way without my seeing him?" he said. + +"Who cares whether a brute like him comes or doesn't come!" +returned Katrina sharply, for she was tired of hearing about that +old tramp. + +Jan heaved a deep sigh. Katrina was more right than she herself +knew. He did not care a bit whether or not old "Grippie" had +passed. His saying that he was expected was merely an excuse for +standing at the window. + +No word or token had he received from the great Empress, the little +girl of Ruffluck, since the day Lars wrested from him his majesty +and glory. He felt that such a thing could never have happened +without her sanction, and inferred from this that he had done +something to incur her displeasure; but what he could not imagine! +He had brooded over this all through the long winter evenings; +through the long dark mornings, when threshing in the barn at +Falla; through the short days, when carting wood from the big +forest. + +Everything had passed off so happily and well for him for three +whole months, so of course he could not think she had been +dissatisfied with his emperorship. He had then known a time such as +he had never dreamed could come to a poor man like himself. But +surely Glory Goldie was not offended at him for that! + +No. He had done or said something which was displeasing to her, +that was why he was being punished. But could it be that she was so +slow to forget as never to forgive him? If she would only tell him +what she was angry about! He would do anything he could to pacify +her. She must see for herself how he had put on his working clothes +and gone out as a day labourer as soon as she let him know that +such was her wish. + +He could not speak of this matter to either Katrina or the +seine-maker. He would be patient and wait for some positive sign +from Glory Goldie. Many times he had felt it to be so near that he +had only to put out his hand and take it. That very day, shut in as +he was, he had the feeling that there was a message from her on the +way. This was why he stood peering out through the little clear +corner of the window. He knew, also, that unless it came very soon +he could not go on living. + +It was so dark now that he could hardly see as far as the gate, and +his hopes for that day were at an end. He had no objection to +retiring at once, he said presently. Katrina dished out the +porridge, the evening meal was hurridly eaten, and by a quarter +after six they were abed. + +They dropped off to sleep, too; but their slumbers were of short +duration. The hands of the big Dalecarlian clock had barely got +round to six-thirty when Jan sprang out of bed; he quickly +freshened the fire, which was almost burned out, then proceeded to +dress himself. + +Jan tried to be as quiet as possible, but for all that Katrina was +awakened; raising herself in bed she asked if it was already +morning. + +No, indeed it wasn't, but the little girl had called to Jan in a +dream, and commanded him to go up to the forest. + +Now it was Katrina's turn to sigh! It must be the madness come +back, thought she. She had been expecting it every day for some +little time, for Jan had been so depressed and restless of late. + +She made no attempt to persuade him to stay at home, but got up, +instead, and put on her clothes. + +"Wait a minute!" she said, when Jan was at the door. "If you're +going out into the woods to-night, then I want to go with you." + +She feared Jan would raise objections, but he didn't; he remained +at the door till she was ready. Though apparently anxious to be +off, he seemed more controlled and rational than he had been all +day. + +And what a night to venture out into! The cold came against them +like a rain of piercing and cutting glass-splinters. Their skins +smarted and they felt as if their noses were being torn from their +faces; their fingertips ached and their toes were as if they had +been cut off; they hardly knew they had any toes. + +Jan uttered no word of complaint, neither did Katrina; they just +tramped on and on. Jan turned in on the winter-road across the +heights, the one they had traversed with Glory Goldie one Christmas +morning when she was so little she had to be carried. + +There was a clear sky and in the west gleamed a pale crescent moon, +so that the night was far from pitch dark. Still it was difficult +to keep to the road because everything was so white with snow; time +after time they wandered too close to the edge and sank deep into a +drift. Nevertheless, they managed to make their way clear to the +huge stone that had once been hurled by a giant at Svartsjö church. +Jan had already got past it when Katrina, who was a little way +behind him, gave a shriek. + +"Jan!" she cried out. And Jan had not heard her sound so frightened +since the day Lars threatened to take their home away from them. +"Can't you see there's some one sitting here?" + +Jan turned and went back to Katrina. And now the two of them came +near taking to their heels; for, sure enough, propped against the +stone and almost covered with rim frost sat a giant troll, with a +bristly beard and a beak-like nose! + +The troll, or whatever it was, sat quite motionless. It had become +so paralyzed from the cold that it had not been able to get back to +its cave, or wherever else it kept itself nowadays. + +"Think that there really are such creatures after all!" said Katrina. +"I should never have believed it, for all I've heard so much about +them." + +Jan was the first to recover his senses and to see what it was they +had come upon. + +"It's no troll, Katrina," he said. "It's Agrippa Prästberg." + +"Sakes alive!" gasped Katrina. "You don't tell me! From the look of +him he could easily be mistaken for a troll." + +"He has just fallen asleep here," observed Jan. "He can't be dead, +surely!" + +They shouted the old man's name and shook him; but he never stirred. + +"Run back for the sled, Katrina," said Jan, "so we can draw him +home. I'll stay here and rub him with snow till he wakes up." + +"Just so you don't freeze to death yourself!" + +"My dear Katrina," laughed Jan, "I haven't felt as warm as I feel +now in many a day. I'm so happy about the little girl! Wasn't it +dear of her to send us out here to save the life of him who has +gone around spreading so many lies about her?" + + +A week or two later, as Jan was returning from his work one +evening, he met Agrippa Prästberg. + +"I'm right and fit again," Agrippa told him. "But I know well +enough that if you and Katrina had not come to the rescue there +wouldn't have been much left of Johan Utter Agrippa Prästberg by +now. So I've wondered what I could do for you in return." + +"Oh, don't give that a thought my good Agrippa Prästberg!" said +Jan, with that upward imperial sweep of the hand. + +"Hush now, while I tell you!" spoke Prästberg. "When I said I'd +thought of doing you a return service, it wasn't just empty +chatter. I meant it. And now it has already been done. The other +day I ran across the travelling salesman who gave that lass of +yours the red dress." + +"Who?" cried Jan, so excited he could hardly get his breath. + +"That blackguard who gave the girl the red dress and who afterward +sent her to the devil in Stockholm. First I gave him, on your +account, all the thrashing he could take, and then I told him that +the next time he showed his face around here he'd get just as big a +dose of the same kind of medicine." + +Jan would not believe he had heard aright. "But what did he say?" +he questioned eagerly. "Didn't you ask him about Glory Goldie? Had +he no greetings from her?" + +"What could he say? He took his punishment and held his tongue. Now +I've done you a decent turn, Jan Anderson, and we're even. Johan +Utter Agrippa Prästberg wants no unpaid scores." + +With that he strode on, leaving Jan in the middle of the road, +lamenting loudly. The little girl had wanted to send him a message! +That merchant had come with greetings from her, but not a thing had +he learned because the man had been driven away. + +Jan stood wringing his hands. He did not weep, but he ached all +over worse than if he were ill. He felt certain in his own mind +that Glory Goldie had wanted Prästberg to take a message from her +brought by the merchant and convey it to her father. But it was +with Prästberg as with the trolls--whether they wanted to help or +hinder they only wrought mischief. + + +THE SUNDAY AFTER MIDSUMMER + +The first Sunday after Midsummer Day there was a grand party at the +seine-maker's to which every one in the Ashdales had been invited. +The old man and his daughter-in-law were in the habit of +entertaining the whole countryside on this day of each year. + +Folks wondered, of course, how two people who were so pitiably poor +could afford to give a big feast, but to all who knew the whys and +wherefores it seemed perfectly natural. + +As a matter of fact, when the seine-maker was a rich man he gave +his two sons a farmstead each. The elder son wasted his substance +in much the same way as Ol' Bengtsa himself had done, and died +poor. The younger son, who was the more steady and reliable, kept +his portion and even increased it, so that now he was quite well-to-do. +But what he owned at the present time was as nothing to what he +might have had if his father had not recklessly made away with both +money and lands, to no purpose whatever. If such wealth had only +come into the hands of the son in his younger days, there is no +telling to what he might have attained. He could have been owner of +all the woodlands in the Lovsjö district, had a shop at Broby, and +a steamer plying Lake Löven; he might even have been master of the +ironworks at Ekeby. Naturally he found it difficult to excuse the +father's careless business methods, but he kept his thoughts to +himself. + +When the crash came for Ol' Bengtsa, a good many persons, Bengtsa +among them, expected the son to come to his aid by the sacrifice of +his own property. But what good would that have done? It would only +have gone to the creditors. It was with the idea in mind that the +father should have something to fall back upon when all his +possessions were gone, that the son had held on to his own. + +It was not the fault of the younger son that Ol' Bengtsa had taken +up his abode with the widow of the elder son, for he had begged the +father more than a hundred times to come and live with him. The +father's refusal to accept this offer seemed almost like an act of +injustice; for because of it the son got the name of being mean and +hard-hearted among those who knew the old man was badly off. Still, +there was no ill-feeling between the two. + +The son, accompanied by his wife and children, always drove down to +the Ashdales over the steep and perilous mountain road once every +summer, just to spend a day with his father. + +If people had only known how badly he and his wife felt every time +they saw the wretched hovel, the ramshackle outhouse, the stony +potato patch, and the sister-in-law's ragged children, they would +have understood how his heart went out to his father. The worst of +all was that the father persisted in giving a big party in their +honour. Every time they bade the old man good-bye they begged him +not to invite all the neighbours in when they came again the next +year; but he was obdurate; he would not forego his yearly feast, +though he could ill afford the expense. Seeing how aged and broken +he looked, one would hardly have thought there was so much of the +old happy-go-lucky Ol' Bengtsa of Lusterby still left in him, but +the desire to do things on a grand scale still clung to him. It had +caused him misfortune from which he could never recover. + +The son had learned inadvertently that the old man and the +sister-in-law scrimped the whole year just to be able to give a +grand spread on the day he was at home. And then it was nothing but +eat, eat the whole time! He and his family were hardly out of the +wagon before they were served with coffee and all kinds of tempting +appetizers. And later came the dinner to all the neighbours with a +fish course, a meat course, and game, and rice-cakes, and fruit-mold +with whipped cream, and quantities of wines and spirits. It was +enough to make one weep! He and his wife did nothing to encourage +this foolishness. On the contrary, they brought with them only such +plain fare as they were accustomed to have every day; but for all +that they could not escape the feasting. Sometimes they felt that +rather than let the old man ruin himself on their account they +might better remain away altogether. Yet they feared to do so, lest +their good intentions should be misinterpreted. + +And what a strange company they were thrown in with at these +Parties--old blacksmiths and fishermen and backwoodsmen! If such +good, substantial folk as the Falla family had not been in the +habit of coming, too, there would have been no one there with whom +they could have exchanged a word. + +Ol' Bengtsa's son had liked the late Eric of Falla best, but he +also entertained in a high regard for Lars Gunnarson, the present +master of Falla. Lars Gunnarson came of rather obscure people, but +he was a man who had the good sense to marry well, and who would +doubtless forge ahead and gain for himself both wealth and +position. When the old man told his son that Lars Gunnarson was not +likely to come to the party this year, the latter was very much +disappointed. + +"But it's no fault of mine," Ol' Bengsta declared. "Lars isn't +exactly my kind, but all the same, on your account, I went down to +Falla yesterday and invited him." + +"Maybe he's weary of these parties," said the son. + +"Oh, no," returned Ol' Bengtsa. "I'm sure he'd be only too glad to +come, but there's something that's keeping him away." He did not +explain further just then, but while they were having their coffee, +he went back to the subject. "You mustn't feel so badly because +Lars isn't coming this evening," he said. "I don't believe you'd +care for his company any more." + +"You don't mean that he has taken to drink?" + +"That wasn't such a bad guess! He took to it suddenly in the +spring, and since Midsummer Day he hasn't drawn a sober breath." + +During these visits the father and son immediately they had +finished their coffee always went fishing. The old man usually kept +very still on these occasions, so as not to scare the fish away, +but this year was the exception. He spoke to the son time and +again. His words came with difficulty, as always, still there +seemed to be more life in him now than ordinarily. Evidently there +was something special he wanted to say, or rather something he +wished to draw from his son. He was like one who stands outside an +empty house shouting and calling, in the hope that somebody will +come and open the door to him. + +He harked back to Lars Gunnarson several times, relating in part +what had occurred at the catechetical meeting, and he even dragged +in all the gossip that had been circulated about Lars in the +Ashdales since Eric's death. + +The son granted that Lars might not be altogether blameless; if he +had now begun drinking it was a bad sign. + +"I'm curious to see how he'll get through this day," said Ol' +Bengtsa. + +Just then the son felt a nibble, and did not have to answer. There +was nothing in this whole story that had any bearing upon the +common interests of himself and his father, yet he could not but +feel there was some hidden intent back of the old man's words. + +"I hope he'll drive over to the parsonage this evening," pursued +Ol' Bengtsa. "There is forgiveness of sins for him who will seek +it." + +A long silence ensued. The son was too busy baiting his hook to +think of replying. Besides, this was not anything which called for +a response. Presently there came from the old man such a heavy sigh +that he had to look over toward him. + +"Father! Can't you see you've got a nibble? I believe you are +letting the perch jerk the rod away from you." + +The old man quickly pulled up his line and released the fish from +the hook. His fingers seemed to be all thumbs and the perch slipped +from his hands back into the water. + +"It isn't meant that I shall catch any fish to-day, however much I +may want to." + +Yes, there was certainly something he wished the son to say--to +Confess--but surely he did not expect him to liken himself to one +who was suspected of having caused the death of his father-in-law? + +Ol' Bengtsa did not bait his hook again. He stood upon a stone, +with his hands folded--his half-dead eyes fixed on the smooth water. + +"Yes--there is pardon for all," he said musingly, "for all who let +their old parents lie waiting and freezing in icy chilliness-- +pardon even to this day. But afterward it will be too late!" + +Surely this could never have been said for the son's benefit. The +father was no doubt thinking aloud, as is the habit of old people. + +Anyhow, the son thought he would try to make the old man talk about +something else. So he said: + +"How is the man who went crazy last year getting on?" + +"Oh, you mean Jan of Ruffluck! Well, he has been in his right mind +since last fall. He'll not be at the party, either. He's only a +poor crofter like myself; so him you'll not miss, of course." + +This was true enough. However, the son was so glad of an excuse to +speak of some one other than Lars Gunnarson, that he asked with +genuine concern what was wrong with Jan of Ruffluck. + +"Oh, he's just sick from pining for a daughter who went away about +two years ago, and who never writes to him." + +"The girl who went wrong?" + +"So you knew about it, eh? But it isn't because of that he's +grieving himself to death. It is the awful hardness and lack of +love that he can't bear up under." + +This forced colloquy was becoming intolerable. It made the son feel +all the more uncomfortable. + +"I'm going over to the stone farthest out," he said. "I see a lot +of fish splashing round it." + +By that move he was out of earshot of his father, and there was no +further conversation between them for the remainder of the +forenoon. But go where he would, he felt that the dim, lustreless +eyes of the old man were following him. And this time he was +actually glad when the guests arrived. + +The dinner was served out of doors. When Ol' Bengtsa had taken his +place at the board he tried to cast off all worry and anxiety. When +acting as host at a party, so much of the Ol' Bengtsa of bygone +days came to the fore it was easy to guess what manner of man he +had once been. + +No one from Falla was present. But it was plain that Lars Gunnarson +was in every one's thoughts; which was not surprising since this +was the day he had been warned to look out for. Now of course Ol' +Bengtsa's son had to listen to further talk about the catechetical +meeting at Falla, and he heard more about the pastor's extraordinary +dissertation on the duties of children toward their parents than +he cared to hear. However, he said nothing; but Ol' Bengtsa must +have noticed that he was beginning to be bored, for he turned to +him with the remark: + +"What do you say to all this, Nils? I suppose you're sitting there +thinking to yourself it's very strange Our Lord hasn't written a +commandment for parents on how they shall treat their children?" + +This was wholly unexpected. The son could feel the blood mounting +to his face. It was as if he had done something dreadful, and been +caught at it. + +"But my dear father!" he protested, "I've never said or thought--" + +"True," the old man struck in, turning now to his guests. "I know +you will hardly believe what I tell you, but it's a fact that this +son of mine has never spoken an unkind word to me; neither has his +wife." + +These remarks were not addressed to any one in particular, nor did +any one feel disposed to respond to them. + +"They have been put to some pretty hard tests," Ol' Bengtsa went +on. "It was a large property they were deprived of. They could have +been landed proprietors by this time if I had only done the right +thing. Yet they have never uttered a word of complaint and every +summer they pay me a visit, just to show they are not angry with +me." + +The old man's face looked so dead now, and his voice sounded so +hollow! The son could not tell whether he was trying to come out +with something or whether he talked merely for talk's sake. + +"Now it's altogether different with Lisa," said Ol' Bengtsa, +pointing at the daughter-in-law with whom he lived. "She scolds me +every day for not holding on to my property." + +The daughter-in-law, not in the least perturbed, retorted with a +good-natured laugh: "And you scold me because I can't find time to +patch all the holes in the boys' clothes." + +"That's true," the old man admitted. "You see, we're not shy; we +say right out what we think and tell each other everything. What +I've got is hers, and what she's got is mine; so I'm beginning to +think it is she who is my real child." + +Again the son felt embarrassed, and troubled as well. + +There was something the old man wanted to force from him--something +of a personal nature; but surely he could not expect it to be +forthcoming here, before all this company? + +It was a great relief to the son of Ol' Bengtsa when on looking up +he saw Lars Gunnarson and his wife standing at the gate. Not he +alone, but every one was glad to see them. Now it was as if all +their gloomy misgivings had suddenly been dispelled. + +Lars and his wife made profuse apologies for being so late. Lars +had been suffering from a bad headache and had feared he would not +be able to come at all; but it had abated somewhat so he decided to +come to the party, thinking he would forget about his aches and +pains if he got out among people. + +He looked a bit hollow-eyed, but he was as jolly and sociable as he +had been the year before. He had barely got down the first mouthful +of food when he and the son of Ol' Bengtsa fell to talking of the +lumber business, of big profits and interest on loans. + +The poor rustics round about them, aghast at the mere mention of +these large figures, were afraid to open their mouths. Ol' Bengtsa +was the only one who wanted to have his say in the matter. + +"Since you're talking of money," he said, "I wonder, Nils, if you +remember that note for 17,000 rix-dollars I got from the old +ironmaster at Doveness? It was mislaid, if you recollect, and +couldn't be found at the time when I was in such hard straits. Just +the same, I wrote to the ironmaster requesting immediate payment; +but received the reply that he was dying. Later on, after his +death, the administrators of the estate declared they could find no +record of my claim. I was informed that it wasn't possible for them +to pay me unless I produced the note. We searched high and low for +it, both I and my sons, but we couldn't find it." + +"You don't mean to tell me that you've come across it at last!" the +son exclaimed. + +"It was the strangest thing imaginable!" the old man went on. "Jan +of Ruffluck came over here one morning and told me he knew for a +certainty that the note was in the secret drawer of my cedar chest. +He had seen me take it out in a dream, he said." + +"But you must have looked there?" + +"Yes, I did search through the secret drawer on the left-hand side. +But Jan said it was in the drawer on the right, and then, when I +looked more carefully, I found a secret drawer that I'd never known +about; and in that lay the note." + +"You probably put it there some time when you were in your cups." + +"Very likely I did." + +The son laid down his knife and fork for a moment, then took them +up again. Something in the old man's tone made him a bit wary. +"Maybe it's just a hoax," he thought to himself. Aloud he said, "it +was outlawed, of course?" + +"Oh, yes," replied the old man, "it would doubtless have been so +regarded by any other debtor. But I rowed across to Doveness one +day and took the note to the new ironmaster, who admitted at once +that it was good. 'It's as clear as day that I must pay my father's +debt, Ol' Bengtsa,' he said. 'But you'll have to give me a few +weeks' grace. It is a large sum to pay out all at once.'" + +"That was spoken like a man of honour!" said the son, bringing his +hand down heavily on the table. A sense of gladness stole in upon +him in spite of his suspicions. To think that it was something so +splendid the old man had been holding back from him the whole day! + +"I told the ironmaster that he needn't pay me just then; that if he +would only give me a new note the money could remain in his +safekeeping." + +"That was well," said the son approvingly. There was a strong, glad +ring in his voice, that betrayed an eagerness he would rather not +have shown, for he knew of old that one could never be quite sure +of Ol' Bengtsa--in the very next breath he might say it was just a +yarn. + +"You don't believe me," observed the old man. "Would you like to +see the note? Run in and get it, Lisa!" + +Almost immediately the son had the note before his eyes. First he +glanced at the signature, and recognized the firm, legible hand of +the ironmaster. Then he looked at the figures, and found them +correct. He nodded to his wife, who sat opposite him, that it was +all right, at the same time passing the note to her, knowing how +interested she would be to see it. + +The wife examined the note carefully. "What does this mean?" she +asked--"'Payable to Lisa Persdotter of Lusterby'--is Lisa to have +the money?" + +"Yes," the old man answered. "She gets this money because she has +been a good daughter to me." + +"But this is unfair--" + +"No, it is not unfair," drawled the old man in a tired voice. "I +have squared myself and owe nobody anything. I might have had one +other creditor," he added turning to this son, "but after looking +into matters, I find that I haven't." + +"You mean me, I suppose," said the son. "But you don't seem to +think I--" All that the son had wanted to say to the father was +left unsaid, as he was interrupted by a piercing shriek from the +opposite side of the table. + +Lars Gunnarson had just seized a bottle of brandy and put it to +his mouth. His wife, screaming from terror, was trying to take it +from him. He held her back until he had emptied half the contents, +whereupon he set the bottle down and turned to his wife, his face +flushed, his eyes staring wildly, his hands clenched. + +"Didn't you hear it was Jan who found the note?" he said in a +hoarse voice. "All his dreams come true! Can't you comprehend that +the man has the gift of second sight? You'll see that something +dreadful will happen to me this day, as he has predicted." + +"Why he has only cautioned you to be on your guard," said the wife. + +"You begged and teased me to come here so that I should forget what +day it was, and now I get this reminder!" + +Again Lars raised the brandy bottle to his lips. This time, +however, the wife cast herself upon him with prayers and tears. +Replacing the bottle on the table, he said with a laugh: "Keep it! +Keep it for all of me!" With that he rose and kicked the chair out +of his way. "Good-bye to you, Ol' Bengtsa," he said to the host. "I +hope you will pardon my leaving, but to-day I must go to a place +where I can drink in peace." + +He rushed toward the gate, his wife following. When he was passing +out into the road, he pushed her back. "Why can't you let me be!" +he cried fiercely. "I've had my warning, and I go to meet my doom!" + + +SUMMERNIGHT + +All day, while the party was going on at the seine-maker's, Jan of +Ruffluck kept to his hut. But at evening he went out and sat down +up on the flat stone in front of the house, as was his wont. He was +not ill exactly, but he felt weak and tired. The hut had become so +overheated during the long, hot sunny day that he thought it would +be nice to get a breath of fresh air. He found, however, that it +was not much cooler outside, but he sat still all the same, mostly +because there was so much out here that was beautiful to the eye. + +It had been an excessively hot and dry month of June and forest +fires, which always rage every rainless summer, had already got +going. This he could tell by the pretty bluish-white smoke banks +that rose above the hills at the other side of the lake. Presently, +away off to southward, a shimmery white curly cloud head appeared, +while in the west, over against Great Peak, huge smoke-blended +clouds rolled up and up. It seemed to him as if the whole world +were afire. + +No flames could be seen from where he sat, but there was no +mistaking that fire had broken out and could hold sway indefinitely. +He only hoped it would confine itself to the forest trees, and not +sweep down upon huts and farmsteads. + +He could scarcely breathe. It was as if such quantities of air had +been consumed that there was very little of it left. At short +intervals he sensed an odour, as of something burning, that stuck +in his nostrils. That odour did not come from any cook stove in the +Ashdales! It was a salutation from the great stake of pine needles, +and moss, and brushwood that sizzled and burned many miles away. + +A little while ago the sun had gone down, red as fire, leaving in +its wake enough colour to tint the whole sky, which was now rose +hued not only across that corner of it where the sun had just been +seen, but over its entire expanse. At the same time the waters of +Dove Lake had become as dark as mirror glass in the shadow of the +towering hills. In this black-looking water ran streaks of red +blood and molten gold. + +It was the sort of night that makes one feel that the earth is not +worthy a glance; that only the heavens and the waters that mirror +them are worth seeing. + +As Jan sat gazing out at the beauties of the light summer night he +suddenly began to wonder. Could it be that he saw aright? But it +actually looked as if the firmament were sinking. Anyway, to his +vision it was much nearer to the earth than usual. + +Could it be possible that something had gone wrong? Surely his eyes +were not deceiving him! The great pink dome of sky was certainly +moving down toward the earth, and all the while it was becoming +hotter and more oppressive. He already felt the terrible heat that +seemed to come from the red-hot dome that was sinking toward him. + +To be sure Jan had heard a good deal of talk about the coming +destruction of the world and had often pictured it as being +effected by means of thunder-storms and earthquakes that would hurl +the mountains into the seas and drive the waters of the lakes and +rivers over plains and valleys, so that all life would become +extinct. But he never imagined the end should come in this way: by +the earth's burial under the vault of heaven with its inhabitants +all dying from heat and suffocation! This, it seemed to him, was +the worst of all. + +He put down his pipe, though it was only half-smoked, but remained +quietly seated in the one spot. For what else could he do? This was +not something which he could ward off--something he could run away +from. One could not take up arms and defend one's self against it, +nor find safety by creeping into cellars or caves. Even if one had +the power to empty all the oceans and lakes, their waters would not +suffice to quench the fires of the firmament. If one could uproot +the mountains and prop them, beam-like, against the sky, they could +not hold up this heavy dome if it was meant that it should sink. + +Singularly enough no one but himself seemed to be aware of what was +happening. + +Ah, look! What was that that went shooting up above the crest of +the hill over yonder? A lot of black specks suddenly appeared in +among the pale smoke clouds. These specks whirled round each other +with such rapidity that to Jan's eyes they looked like a succession +of streaks moving in much the same way as when bees swarm. + +They were birds of course. The strange part of it was that they had +risen in the night and soared into the clouds. + +They probably knew more than the human kind, thought Jan, for they +had sensed that something was about to happen. + +Instead of the air becoming cooler, as on other nights, it grew +warmer and warmer. Anything else was hardly to be expected, with +the fiery dome coming nearer and nearer. Jan thought it had already +sunk to the brow of Great Peak. + +But if the end of the world was so close at hand and there was no +hope of his getting any word from Glory Goldie, much less of his +seeing her, before all was over, then he would pray for but a +single grace--that it might be made clear to him what he had done +to offend her, so that he could repent of it before the end of +everything pertaining to the earth life. What had he done that she +could not forgive nor forget? Why had the crown and sceptre been +taken away from him? + +As he put these queries to himself his glance fell upon a bit of +gilt paper that lay glittering on the ground in front of him. But +his mind was not on such things now. This must have been one of the +paper stars he had borrowed of Mad Ingeborg. But he had not given +a thought to this empty show since last autumn. + +It kept getting hotter and hotter, and it was becoming more and +more difficult to breathe. "The end is nearing," thought Jan. +"Maybe it's just as well it wasn't too long coming." + +A great sense of lassitude came over him. Unable to sit up any +longer, he slipped down off the stone and stretched himself out on +the ground. He felt it was hardly fair to Katrina not to let her +know what was taking place. But Katrina had gone to the seine-maker's +party and was not back yet. If he only had the strength to drag +himself thither! He would have liked to say a word of farewell to +Ol' Bengtsa, too. He was very glad when he presently saw Katrina +coming down the lane, accompanied by the seine-maker. He wanted to +call out to them to hurry, but not a sound could he get past his +lips. Shortly afterward the two of them stood bending over him. + +Katrina immediately ran for water and made him drink some; and then +he got back just enough strength to tell them that the Last +judgment was at hand. + +"How you talk!" said Katrina. "The Last Judgment indeed! Why, +you've got fever, man, and you're out of your head." + +Then Jan turned to the seine-maker. "Can't you see either that the +firmament is sinking and sinking?" + +The latter did not give him any reply, but turned instead to +Katrina, saying: + +"This is pretty serious. I think we'll have to try the remedy we +talked of on the way. I may as well go down to Falla at once." + +"But Lars will never consent to it." + +"Why you know that Lars has gone down to the tavern. I'm sure the +old mistress of Falla will have the courage--" + +Jan cut him short. He could not bear to hear them speak of +commonplace matters when such momentous things were in the air. + +"Stop talking," he said. "Don't you hear the last trump? Don't you +hear the rumbling up in the mountains?" + +They paused a moment and listened, just to please Jan. And then +they, too, heard a strange noise. + +"There's a wagon rattling along in the woods," said Katrina. "What +on earth can that mean?" + +As the rumbling noise grew more and more distinct, their +astonishment increased. + +"And it's Sunday, too!" observed Katrina. "Now if this were a +weekday you could understand it; but who can it be that's out +driving in the woods on a Sunday night?" + +She listened again. Then she heard the scraping of wheels against +stones and the clatter of hoofs along the steep forest road. + +"Do you hear?" asked Jan. "Do you hear?" + +"Yes, I hear," said Katrina. "But no matter who comes I've got to +get the bed ready for you at once. It's that I have to think of." + +"And I'm going down to Falla," said the seine-maker. "That's more +important than anything else. Good-bye for the present." + +The old man hurried away while Katrina went in to prepare the bed; +she was hardly inside the door when the rattling noise, which she +and the seine-maker believed was caused by a common wagon, sounded +as if it were almost upon them. To Jan it was the rumble of heavy +war chariots, at whose approach the whole earth trembled. He called +in a loud voice to Katrina, who came out immediately. + +"Dear heart, don't be so scared!" she said reassuringly. "I can see +the horse now. It's the old bay from Falla. Sit up and you'll see +it, too." Slipping her hand under Jan's neck she raised him to a +sitting posture. Through the elder bushes at the edge of the road a +horse could be seen running wildly in the direction of Ruffluck. +"Don't you see it's only Lars Gunnarson driving home? He must have +drunk himself full at the tavern, for he doesn't seem to know which +way he's going." + +When Katrina said that a horse and wagon dashed by their gate. Both +she and Jan noticed that the wagon was empty and the horse +driverless. + +All at once she let out a shriek: "Lord deliver us! Did you see +him, Jan? He's being dragged alongside the wagon!" Without waiting +for a reply she rushed across the yard into the road, where the +horse had just bolted past. + +Jan let her go without a word. He was glad to be alone again. He +had not yet found an answer to his query as to why the Empress was +angry at him. + +The bit of gilt paper now lay directly under his eyes. It glistened +so that he had to look at it again and again. Meanwhile his +thoughts went back to Mad Ingeborg--to the time when he had come +upon her at the Borg landing. It struck him instantly that here was +the answer he had been seeking. Now he knew what it was the little +girl had been displeased about all this while. He had been unkind +to Mad Ingeborg; he should never have refused to let her go along +to Portugallia. + +How could he ever have imagined anything so mean of the great +Empress as that she would not want to have Mad Ingeborg with her! +It was that kind that she liked best to help. No wonder she was +angry! He ought to have known that the poor and unfortunate were +always welcome in her kingdom. + +There was very little that could be done in this matter if no +to-morrow dawned, mused Jan. But what if there should be one? Ah, +then he would go and talk with Mad Ingeborg first thing. + +He closed his eyes and folded his hands. Anyway, it was a blissful +relief to him that this anxiety had been stilled. Now it would not +be nearly so hard to die. He had no idea as to how much time had +elapsed before he again heard Katrina's voice close to him. + +"Jan, dear, how do you feel now? You're not going to die and leave +me, are you?" + +Katrina sounded so doleful that he had to look up at her. Then he +saw in her hand the imperial stick and the green leather cap. + +"I asked the folks down at Falla to let me take these to you," she +explained. "I told them that come what might it was better for you +to have them again than to have you lose all interest in life." + +"The dear little girl, the great Empress, isn't she wonderful!" Jan +said to himself. No sooner had he come to a realization of his sin +and promised to atone for it, than she again granted him her grace +and her favour. + +He had such a marvellous feeling of lightness, as if a great weight +had been lifted from him. The firmament had raised itself and let +in air, at the same time drawing away the excessive heat. He was +able to sit up now and fumble for the imperial regalia. + +"Now you can have them for good and all," said Katrina. "There'll +be no one to come and take them away from you, for Lars Gunnarson +is dead." + + +THE EMPEROR'S CONSORT + +Katrina of Ruffluck Croft came into the kitchen at Lövdala Manor +with some spun wool. Lady Liljecrona herself received the yarn, +weighed it, paid for it, and commended the old woman for her +excellent work. + +"It's fortunate for you, Katrina, that you are such a good worker," +said Lady Liljecrona. "I dare say you have to earn the living for +both yourself and the husband nowadays." + +Katrina drew herself up a bit and two pink spots came into her +face, just over the sharp cheekbones. + +"Jan does his best," she retorted, "but he has never had the +strength of a common labourer." + +"At any rate, he doesn't seem to be working now," said Lady +Liljecrona. "I have heard that he only runs about from place to +place, showing his stars and singing." + +Lady Liljecrona was a serious-minded and dutiful woman who liked +industrious and capable folk like Katrina of Ruffluck. She had +sympathy for her and wanted to show it. But Katrina continued to +stand up for her husband. + +"He is old and has had much sorrow these last years. He has need of +a little freedom, after a lifetime of hard toil." + +"It's well you can take your misfortune so calmly," observed Lady +Liljecrona somewhat sharply. "But I really think that you, with +your good sense, should try to take out of Jan the ridiculous +nonsense that has got into his head. You see, if this is allowed to +go on it will end in his being shut up in a madhouse." + +Now Katrina squared her shoulders and looked highly indignant. + +"Jan is not crazy," she said. "But Our Lord has placed a shade +before his eyes so he'll not have to see what he couldn't bear +seeing. And for that one can only feel thankful." + +Lady Liljecrona did not wish to appear contentious. She thought it +only right and proper for a wife to stand by her husband. + +"Then, Katrina, everything is all right as it is," she said +pleasantly. "And don't forget that here you will find work enough +to keep you going the year around." + +And then Lady Liljecrona saw the stern, set old face in front of +her soften and relax: all that had been bound in and held back gave +way--grief and solicitude and love came breaking through, and the +eyes overflowed. + +"My only happiness is to work for him," said the old woman. "He has +become so wonderful with the years that he's something more than +just human. But for that I suppose they'll come and take him away +from me." + + + +BOOK FOUR + +THE WELCOME GREETING + +She had come! The little girl had come! It is hard to find words to +describe so great an event. + +She did not arrive till late in the autumn, when the passenger +boats that ply Lake Löven had discontinued their trips for the +season and navigation was kept up by only two small freight +steamers. But on either of these she had not cared to travel--or +perhaps she had not even known about them. She had come by wagon +from the railway station to the Ashdales. + +So after all Jan of Ruffluck did not have the pleasure of welcoming +his daughter at the Borg pier, where for fifteen years he had +awaited her coming. Yes, it was all of fifteen years that she had +been away. For seventeen years she had been the light and life of +his home, and for almost as long a time had he missed her. + +It happened that Jan did not even have the good fortune to be at +home to welcome Glory Goldie when she came. He had just stepped +over to Falla to chat a while with the old mistress, who had now +moved out of the big farmhouse and was living in an attic room in +one of the cottages on the estate. She was one of many lonely old +people on whom the Emperor of Portugallia peeped in occasionally, +to speak a word of cheer so as to keep them in good spirits. + +It was only Katrina who stood at the door and received the little +girl on her homecoming. She had been sitting at the spinning wheel +all day and had just stopped to rest for a moment, when she heard +the rattle of a team down the road. It so seldom happened that any +one drove through the Ashdales that she stepped to the door to +listen. Then she discovered that it was not a common cart that was +coming, but a spring wagon. All at once her hands began to tremble. +They had a way of doing that now whenever she became frightened or +perturbed. Otherwise, she was well and strong despite her two and +seventy years. She was only fearful lest this trembling of the +hands should increase so that she would no longer be able to earn +the bread for herself and Jan, as she had done thus far. + +By this time Katrina had practically abandoned all hope of ever +seeing the daughter again, and that day she had not even been in +her thought. But instantly she heard the rumble of wagon wheels she +knew for a certainty who was coming. She went over to the chest of +drawers to take out a fresh apron, but her hands shook so hard that +she could not insert the key into the keyhole. Now it was +impossible for her to better her attire, therefore she had to go +meet her daughter just as she was. + +The little girl did not come in any golden chariot, she was not +even seated in the wagon, but came afoot. The road to the Ashdales +was as rocky then as at the time when Eric of Falla and his wife +had driven her to the parsonage, to have her christened, and now +she and the driver tramped on either side of the wagon steadying a +couple of large trunks that stood on end behind the seat, to +prevent them being jolted into the ditch. She arrived with no more +pomp and state than this, and more was perhaps not called for +either. + +Katrina had just got the outer door open when the wagon stopped in +front of the gate. She should have gone and opened the gate, of +course, but she did not do so. She felt all at once such a sinking +at the heart that she was unable to take a step. + +She knew it was Glory Goldie who had come, although the person who +now pushed the gate open looked like a grand lady. On her head was +a large hat trimmed with plumes and flowers and she wore a smart +coat and skirt of fine cloth; but all the same it was the little +girl of Ruffluck Croft! + +Glory Goldie, hurrying into the yard in advance of the team, rushed +up to her mother with outstretched hand. But Katrina shut her eyes +and stood still. So many bitter thoughts arose in her at that +moment! She felt that she could never forgive the daughter for +being alive and coming back so sound of wind and limb, after +letting her parents wait in vain for her all these years. She +almost wished the daughter had never bothered to come home. + +Katrina must have looked as if ready to drop, for Glory Goldie +quickly threw her arms around her and almost carried her into the +house. + +"Mother dear, you mustn't be so frightened! Don't you know me?" + +Katrina opened her eyes and regarded the daughter scrutinizingly. +She was a sensible person, was Katrina, and of course she did not +expect that one whom she had not seen in fifteen years should look +exactly as she had looked when leaving home. Nevertheless, she was +horrified at what she beheld. + +The person standing before her appeared much older than her years; +for she was only two and thirty. But it was not because Glory +Goldie had turned gray at the temples and her forehead was covered +with a mass of wrinkles that Katrina was shocked, but because she +had grown ugly. She had acquired an unnatural leaden hue and there +was something heavy and gross about her mouth. The whites of her +eyes had become gray and bloodshot, and the skin under her eyes +hung in sacks. + +Katrina had sunk down on a chair. She sat with her hands tightly +clasped round her knees to keep them from shaking. She was thinking +of the radiant young girl of seventeen in the red dress; for thus +had she lived in Katrina's memory up to the present moment. She +wondered whether she could ever be happy over Glory Goldie's +return. + +"You should have written," she said. "You should at least have sent +us a greeting, so that we could have known you were still in the +land of the living." + +"Yes, I know," said the daughter. Her voice, at least, had not +failed her; it sounded as confident and cheery as of old. "I went +wrong in the beginning--but perhaps you've heard about it?" + +"Yes; that much we know," sighed Katrina. + +"That was why I stopped writing," said Glory Goldie, with a little +laugh. There was something strong and sturdy about the girl then, +as formerly. She was not one of those who torture themselves with +remorse and self-condemnation. "Don't think any more of that, +mother," she added, as Katrina did not speak. "I've been doing real +well lately. For a time I kept a restaurant and now, I'll have you +know, I'm head stewardess on a steamer that runs between Malmö and +Lübeck, and this fall I have fitted up a home for myself at Malmö. +Sometimes I felt that I ought to write to you, but finding it +rather hard to start in again, I decided to put it off until I was +prepared to take you and father to live with me. Then, after I'd +got everything fixed fine for you, I thought it would be ever so +much nicer to come for you myself than to write." + +"And you haven't heard anything about us?" asked Katrina. All that +Glory Goldie had told her mother should have gladdened her, but +instead it only made her feel the more depressed. + +"No," replied the daughter, then added, as if in self-justification: +"I knew, of course, that you'd find help if things got too bad." At +the same time she noticed how Katrina's hands shook for all they +were being held tightly clasped. She understood then that the old +folks were worse off than she had supposed, and tried to explain +her conduct. "I didn't care to send home small sums, as others do, +but wanted to save until I had enough money to provide a good home +for you." + +"We haven't needed money," said Katrina. "It would have been enough +for us if you had only written." + +Glory Goldie tried to rouse her mother from her slough of despond, +as she had often done in the old days. So she said: "Mother, you +don't want to spoil this moment for me, do you? Why, I'm back with +you again! Come, now, and we'll take in my boxes and unpack them. +I've brought provisions along. We'll have a fine dinner all ready +by the time father comes home." She went out to help the driver +take the luggage down from the wagon, but Katrina did not follow +her. + +Glory Goldie had not asked how her father was getting on. She +supposed, of course, that he was still working at Falla. Katrina +knew she would have to tell the daughter of the father's condition, +but kept putting it off. Anyway, the little girl had brought a +freshening breeze into the hut and the mother felt loath to put a +sudden end to her delight at being home again. + +While Glory Goldie was helping unload the wagon, half a dozen +children came to the gate and looked in; they did not speak; they +only pointed at her and laughed--then ran away. But in a moment or +two they came back. This time they had with them a little faded and +shrivelled old man, who strutted along, his head thrown back and +his feet striking the ground with the measured tread of a soldier +on parade. + +"What a curious looking figure!" Glory Goldie remarked to the +driver as the old man and the youngsters crowded in through the +gate. She had not the faintest suspicion as to who the man was, but +she could not help noticing a person who was so fantastically +arrayed. On his head was a green leather cap, topped with a bushy +feather; round his neck he wore a chain of gilt paper stars and +crosses that hung far down on his chest. It looked as though he had +on a gold necklace. + +The youngsters, unable to hold in any longer, shouted "Empress, +Empress!" at the top of their voices. The old man strode on as if +the laughing and shrieking children were his guard of honour. + +When they were almost at the door of the hut Glory Goldie gave a +wild shriek, and fled into the house. + +"Who is that man?" she asked her mother in a frightened voice. "Is +it father? Has he gone mad?" + +"Yes," said Katrina, the tears coming into her eyes. + +"Is it because of me?" + +"Our Lord let it happen out of compassion. He saw that his burden +was too heavy for him." + +There was no time to explain further, for now Jan stood in the +doorway, and behind him was the gang of youngsters, who wanted to +see how this meeting, which they had so often heard him picture, +would be in reality. + +The Emperor of Portugallia did not go straight up to his daughter +but stopped just inside the door and delivered his speech of +welcome. + +"Welcome, welcome, O queen of the Sun! O rich and beautiful Glory +Goldie!" + +The words were delivered with that stilted loftiness which +dignitaries are wont to assume on great occasions. All the same, +there were tears of joy in Jan's eyes and he had hard work to keep +his voice steady. + +After the well-learned greeting had been recited the Emperor rapped +three times on the floor with his imperial stick for silence and +attention, whereupon he began to sing in a thin, squeaky voice. + +Glory Goldie had drawn close to Katrina. It was as if she wished to +hide herself, to crawl out of sight behind her mother. Up to this +she had kept silence, but when Jan started to sing she cried out in +terror and tried to stop him. Then Katrina gripped her tightly by +the arm. + +"Leave him alone!" she said. "He has been comforted by the hope of +singing this song to you ever since you first became lost to us." + +Then Glory Goldie held her peace and let Jan continue: + + "The Empress's father, for his part, + Feels so happy in his heart. + Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan, + Read the newspapers, if you can. + Boom, boom, boom, and roll. + Boom, boom." + +But Glory Goldie could stand no more. Rushing forward she quickly +hustled the youngsters out of the house, and banged the door on +them. Then turning round upon her father she stamped her foot at +him. Now she was angry in earnest. + +"For heaven's sake, shut up!" she cried. "Do you want to make a +laughing-stock of me by calling me an empress?" + +Jan looked a little hurt, but he was over it in a twinkling. She +was the Great Empress, to be sure. All that she did was right; all +that she said was to him as honey and balsam. In the supreme +happiness of the moment he had quite forgotten to look for the +crown of gold and the field marshals in golden armour. If she +wished to appear poor and humble when she came, that was her own +affair. It was joy enough for him that she had come back. + + +THE FLIGHT + +One morning, just a week from the day of Glory Goldie's homecoming, +she and her mother stood at the Borg pier, ready to depart for good +and all. Old Katrina was wearing a bonnet for the first time in her +life, and a fine cloth coat. She was going to Malmö with her +daughter to become a fine city dame. Never more would she have to +toil for her bread. She was to sit on a sofa the whole day, with +her hands folded, and be free from worry and care for the remainder +of her life. + +But despite all the promised ease and comfort, Katrina had never +felt so wretchedly unhappy as then, when standing there +on the pier. Glory Goldie, seeing that her mother looked troubled, +asked her if she was afraid of the water, and tried to assure her +there was no danger, although it was so windy that one could hardly +keep one's footing on the pier. Glory Goldie was accustomed to +seafaring and knew what she was talking about. + +"These are no waves," she said to her mother. "I see of course that +there are a few little whitecaps on the water, but I wouldn't be +afraid to row across the lake in our old punt." + +Glory Goldie, who did not seem to mind the gale, remained on the +pier. But Katrina, to keep from being blown to pieces, went into +the freight shed and crept into a dark corner behind a couple of +packing cases. There she intended to remain until the boat arrived, +as she had no desire to meet any of the parish folk before leaving. +At the same time she knew in her heart that what she was doing was +not right, since she was ashamed to be seen by people. She had one +consolation at least; she was not going away with Glory Goldie +because of any desire for ease and comfort, but only because her +hands were failing her. What else could she do when her fingers +were becoming so useless that she could not spin any more? + +Then who should come into the shed but Sexton Blackie! + +Katrina prayed God he would not see her and come up and ask her +where she was going. For how would she ever be able to tell him she +was leaving husband and home and everything! + +She had tried to bring about some arrangement whereby Jan and she +could stay on at the croft. If the daughter had only been willing +to send them a little money--say about ten rix-dollars a month-- +they could have managed fairly well. But Glory would not hear of +this; she had declared that not a penny would she give them unless +Katrina went along with her. + +Katrina knew of course it was not from meanness that Glory Goldie +had said no to this. The girl had been to the trouble of fitting up +a home for her parents and had looked forward to a time when she +could prove to them how much she thought of them, and how hard she +had worked for them, and now she wanted to have with her one +parent, at least, to compensate her for all her bother. Jan had +been uppermost in her thought when she was preparing the home, for +she had been especially fond of her father in the old days. Now, +however, she felt it would be impossible to have him with her. + +Herein lay the whole difficulty: Glory Goldie had taken a violent +dislike to her father. She could not abide him now. Never had he +been allowed to talk with her of Portugallia or of her riches and +power; why, she could hardly bear the sight of him decked out in +his royal trumpery. All the same Jan was as pleased with her as +ever he had been, and always wanted to be near her, though she only +ran away from him. Katrina was sure that it was to escape seeing +her crazy father that the girl had not remained at home longer than +a week. + +Presently Glory Goldie, too, came into the freight shed. She was +not afraid of Sexton Blackie. Not she! She went right up to him and +began to chat. She told him in the very first breath that she was +returning to her own home and was taking her mother back with her. + +Then Sexton Blackie naturally wanted to know how the father felt +about this, and Glory Goldie informed him as calmly as though she +were speaking of a stranger that she had arranged for her father to +board with Lisa, the daughter-in-law of Ol' Bengtsa. Lisa had built +her a fine new house after the old man's death, and she had a spare +room that Jan could occupy. + +Sexton Blackie had a countenance that revealed no more of his +thought than he wanted to reveal. And now, as he listened to Glory +Goldie, his face was quite impassive. Just the same Katrina knew +what he, who was like a father to the whole parish, was thinking. +"Why should an old man who has a wife and daughter living be +obliged to live with strangers? Lisa is a good woman, but she can +never have the patience with Jan that his own folks had." +That was what he thought. And he was right about it, too! + +Katrina suddenly looked down at her hands. After all, perhaps she +was deceiving herself in laying the blame on them. The real reason +for her desertion of Jan was this: the daughter had the stronger +will and she seemed unable to oppose her. + +All this time Glory Goldie stood talking to the sexton. Now she was +telling him of their being compelled to steal away from home so +that Jan should not know of their leaving. + +This had been the most dreadful part of it to Katrina. Glory Goldie +had sent Jan on an errand to the store away up in Bro parish and as +soon as he was gone they had packed up their belongings and left. +Katrina had felt like a criminal in sneaking away from the house in +that way, but Glory Goldie had insisted it was the only thing to +do. For had Jan known of where they were going he would have cast +himself in front of the wagon, to be trampled and run over. And +now, on his return, Lisa would be at the house to receive him and +of course she would try her best to console him; but still it hurt +to think of how hard he would take it when he learned that his +daughter had left him. + +Sexton Blackie had listened quietly to Glory Goldie, without +putting in a word. Katrina had begun to wonder whether he was +pleased with what he had learned, when he suddenly took the girl's +hand in his and said with great gravity: + +"Inasmuch as I am your old teacher, Glory Goldie, I shall speak +plainly to you. You want to run away from a duty, but that does not +say that you will succeed. I have seen others try to do the same +thing, but it has invariably resulted in their undoing." + +When Katrina heard this she rose and drew a breath of relief. Those +were the very words she herself had been wanting to say to her +daughter. + +Glory Goldie answered in all meekness that she did not know what +else she could have done. She certainly could not take an insane +man along to a strange city, nor could she remain in Svartsjö, and +Jan had himself to thank for that. When she went past a house the +youngsters came running out shouting "Empress, Empress" at her, and +last Sunday at church the people in their eager curiosity to see +her had crowded round her and all but knocked her down. + +"I understand that such things are very trying," said the sexton. +"But between you and your father there has been an uncommonly close +bond of sympathy, and you musn't think it can be so easily +severed." + +Then the sexton and Glory Goldie went outside. Katrina followed +immediately. She had altered her mind now and wanted to talk to the +sexton, but stopped a moment to glance up toward the hill. She had +the feeling that Jan would soon be there. + +"Are you afraid father will come?" asked Glory Goldie, leaving the +sexton and going over to her mother. + +"Afraid!" cried Katrina. "I only hope to God he gets here before +I'm gone!" Then, summoning all her courage, she went on: "I feel +that I have done something wicked for which I shall suffer as long +as I live." + +"You think that only because you've had to live in gloom and misery +so many years," said Glory Goldie. "You'll feel differently once +we're away from here. Anyhow, it isn't likely that father will come +when he doesn't even know we've left the house." + +"Don't be too sure of that!" returned Katrina. "Jan has a way of +knowing all that is necessary for him to know. It has been like +that with him since the day you left us, and this power of sensing +things has increased with the years. When the poor man lost his +reason Our Lord gave him a new light to be guided by." + +Then Katrina gave Glory Goldie a brief account of the fate of Lars +Gunnarson and of other happenings of more recent date, to prove to +her that Jan was clairvoyant, as folks call it. Glory Goldie +listened with marked attention. Before Katrina had tried to tell +her of Jan's kindness toward many poor old people, but to that she +had not cared to listen. This, on the contrary, seemed to impress +the girl so much that Katrina began to hope the daughter's opinion +of Jan would change and that she, too, would turn back. + +But Katrina was not allowed to cling to this hope long! In a moment +Glory Goldie cried out in a jubilant voice: + +"Here's the boat, mother! So after all it has turned out well for +us, and now we'll soon be off." + +When Katrina saw the boat at the pier her old eyes filled up. She +had intended to ask Sexton Blackie to say a good word for Jan and +herself to Glory Goldie, but now there was no time. She saw no way +of escaping the journey. + +The boat was evidently late, for she seemed to be in a great hurry +to get away again. There was not even time to put out the +gangplank. A couple of hapless passengers who had to come ashore +here were almost thrown onto the pier by the sailors. Glory Goldie +seized her mother by the arm and dragged her over to the boat, +where a man lifted her on board. The old woman wept and wanted to +turn back, but no pity was shown her. + +The instant Katrina was on deck Glory Goldie put her arm around +her, to steady her. + +"Come, let's go over to the other side of the boat," she said. + +But it was too late. Old Katrina had just caught sight of a man +running down the hill toward the pier. And she knew who it was, +too! + +"It's Jan!" she cried. "Oh, what will he do now!" + +Jan did not stop until he reached the very edge of the pier; but +there he stood--a frail and pathetic figure. He saw Glory Goldie on +the outgoing boat and greater anguish and despair than were +depicted on his face could hardly be imagined. But the sight of him +was all Katrina needed to give her the strength to defy her +daughter. + +"You can go if you want to," she said. "But I shall get off at the +next landing and go home again." + +"Do as you like, mother," sighed Glory Goldie wearily, perceiving +that here was something which she could not combat. And perhaps +she, too, may have felt that their treatment of the father was +outrageous. + +No time was granted them for amends. Jan did not want to lose his +whole life's happiness a second time, so with a bound he leaped +from the pier into the lake. + +Perhaps he intended to swim out to the boat. Or maybe he just felt +that he could not endure living any longer. + +Loud shrieks went up from the pier. Instantly a boat was sent out, +and the little freight steamer lay by and put out her skiff. + +But Jan sank at once and never rose to the surface. The imperial +stick and the green leather cap lay floating on the waves, but the +Emperor himself had disappeared so quietly, so beyond all tracing, +that if these souvenirs of him had not remained on top of the +water, one would hardly have believed him gone. + + +HELD! + +It seemed extraordinary to many that Glory Goldie of Ruffluck +should have to stand at the Borg pier day after day, watching for +one who never came. + +Glory Goldie did not stand there waiting on fine light summer days +either! She was on the pier in bleak and stormy November and in +dark and cold December. Nor did she have any sweet and solacing +dreams about travellers from a far country who would step ashore +here in pomp and state. She had eyes and thoughts only for a boat +that was being rowed back and forth on the lake, just beyond the +pier, dragging for the body of a drowned man. + +In the beginning she had thought that the one for whom she waited +would be found immediately the dragging was begun. But such was not +the case. Day after day a couple of patient old fishermen worked +with grappling hooks and dragnets, without finding a trace of the +body. + +There were said to be two deep holes at the bottom of the lake, +close to the Borg pier, and some folks thought Jan had gone down +into one of them. Others maintained there was a strong under-tow +here at the point which ran farther in, toward Big Church Inlet, +and that he had been carried over there. Then Glory Goldie had the +draglines lengthened, so that they would reach down to the lowest +depths of the lake, and she ordered every foot of Big Church Inlet +dragged; yet she did not succeed in bringing her father back into +the light of day. + +On the morning following the tragic end of her father Glory Goldie +ordered a coffin made. When it was ready she had it brought down to +the pier, that she might lay the dead man in it the moment he was +found. Night and day it had to stand out there. She would not even +have it put into the freight shed. The guard locked the shed +whenever he left the pier, and the coffin had to be at hand always +so that Jan would not be compelled to wait for it. + +The old Emperor used to have kind friends around him at the pier, +to enliven his long waiting hours. But Glory Goldie nearly always +tramped there alone. She spoke to no one, and folks were glad to +leave her in peace, for they felt that there was something uncanny +about her which had been the cause of her father's death. + +In December navigation closed. Then Glory Goldie had the pier all +to herself. No one disturbed her. The fishermen who were conducting +the search on the lake wanted to quit now. But that put Glory +Goldie in despair. She felt that her only hope of salvation lay in +the finding of her father. She told the men they must go on with +the search while the lake was still unfrozen, that they must search +for him down by Nygard Point; by Storvik Point--they must search +the length and breadth of all Lake Löven. + +For each day that passed Glory Goldie became more desperately +determined to find the body. She had taken lodgings in a cotter's +but at Borg. In the beginning she remained indoors at least some +moments during the day, but after a time her mind became prey to +such intense fear that she could scarcely eat or sleep. Now she +paced the pier all the while--not only during the short hours of +daylight but all through the long, dark evenings, until bedtime. + +The first two days after Jan's death Katrina had stayed on the +pier with Glory Goldie, and watched for his return. Then she went +back to Ruffluck. It was not from any feeling of indifference that +she stopped coming to the pier, it was simply that she could not +stand being with her daughter and hearing her speak of Jan. For +Glory Goldie did not disguise her real sentiments. Katrina knew it +was not from any sense of pity or remorse that Glory Goldie was so +determined her father's body should rest in consecrated soil, but +she was afraid, unreasonably afraid while the one for whose death +she was responsible still lay unburied at the bottom of the lake. +She felt that if she could only get her father interred in +churchyard mould he would not be such a menace to her. But so long +as he remained where he was she must live in constant terror of +him and of the punishment he would mete out to her. + + +Glory Goldie stood on the Borg pier looking down at the lake, which +was now gray and turgid. Her gaze did not penetrate beneath the +surface of the water, yet she seemed to see the whole wide expanse +of lake bottom underneath. + +Down there sat he, the Emperor of Portugallia, his hands clasped +round his knees, his eyes fixed on the gray-green water--in +constant expectation that she would come to him. His imperial +regalia had been discarded, for the stick and cap had never gone +down into the depths with him, and the paper stars had of course +been dissolved by the water. He sat there now in his old threadbare +coat with two empty hands. But there was no longer anything +pretentious or ludicrous about him; now he was only powerful and +awe-inspiring. + +It was not without reason he had called himself an emperor. So +great had been his power in life that the enemy whose evil deeds he +hated had been overthrown, while his friends had received help and +protection. This power he still possessed. It had not gone from him +even in death. + +Only two persons had ever wronged him. One of them had already met +his doom. The other one was herself--his daughter who had first +driven him out of his mind and had afterward caused his death. Her +he bided down there in the deep. His love for her was over. Now he +awaited her not to render her praise and homage, but to drag her +down into the realms of death, as punishment for her heartless +treatment of him. + +Glory Goldie had a weird temptation: she wanted to remove the heavy +coffin lid and slide the coffin into the lake, as a boat, and then +to get inside and push away from shore, and afterward stretch +herself out on the bed of sawdust at the bottom of the coffin. + +She wondered whether she would sink instantly or whether she would +drift a while, until the lashing waves filled her bark and drew it +under. She also thought that she might not sink at all but would be +carried out to sea only to be cast ashore at one of the elm-edged +points. She felt strangely tempted to put herself to the test. She +would lie perfectly still the whole time, she said to herself, and +use neither hand nor foot to propel the coffin. She would put +herself wholly at the mercy of her judge; he might draw her down or +let her escape as he willed. + +If she were thus to seek his indulgence perhaps his great love +would again speak to her; perhaps he would then take pity on her +and grant her grace. But her fear was too great. She no longer +dared trust in his love, and therefore she was afraid to put the +black coffin out on the lake. + +An old friend and schoolmate of Glory Goldie sought her out at this +time. It was August Där Nol of Prästerud, who was still living +under the parental roof. + +August Där Nol was a quiet and sensible man whom it did her good to +talk with. He advised her to go away and take up her old +occupation. It was not well for her to haunt the desolate pier, +watching for the return of a dead man, he said. Glory Goldie +answered that she would not dare leave until her father had been +laid in consecrated ground. But August would not hear of this. The +first time he talked with her nothing was decided, but when he came +again she promised to follow his advice. They parted with the +understanding that he was to come for her the following day and +take her to the railway station in his own carriage. + +Had he done so possibly all would have gone smoothly. But he was +prevented from coming himself and sent a hired man with the team. +All the same Glory Goldie got into the carriage and drove off. On +the way to the station she talked with the driver about her father +and encouraged him to relate stories of her father's clairvoyance, +the ones Katrina had told her on the pier and still others. + +When she had listened a while she begged the driver to turn back. +She had become so alarmed that she was afraid to go any farther. He +was too powerful, was the old Emperor of Portugallia! She knew how +the dead that have not been buried in churchyard mould haunt and +pursue their enemies. Her father would have to be brought up out of +the water and laid in his coffin. God's Holy Word must be read over +him, else she would never know a moment's peace. + + +JAN'S LAST WORDS + +Along toward Christmas time Glory Goldie received word that her +mother lay at the point of death. Then at last she tore herself +away from the pier. + +She went home on foot, this being the best way to get to the +Ashdales--taking the old familiar road across Loby, then on through +the big forest and over Snipa Ridge. When going past the old +Hindrickson homestead she saw a big, broad-shouldered man, with a +strong, grave-looking visage, standing at the roadside mending a +picket fence. The man gave her a stiff nod as she went by. He stood +still for a moment, looking after her, then hastened to overtake +her. + +"This must be Glory Goldie of Ruffluck," he said as he came up with +her. "I'd like to have a word with you. I'm Linnart, son of Björn +Hindrickson," he added, seeing that she did not know who he was. + +"I'm terribly pressed for time now," Glory Goldie told him. "So +perhaps you'd better wait till another day. I've just learned that +my mother is dying." + +Linnart Hindrickson then asked if he might walk with her part of +the way. He said that he had thought of going down to the pier to +see her and now he did not want to miss this good opportunity of +speaking with her, as it was very necessary that she should hear +what he had to say. + +Glory Goldie made no further objections. She perceived, however, +that the man had some difficulty in stating his business and +concluded it was something of an unpleasant nature. He hemmed and +hawed a while, as if trying to find the right words; presently he +said, with apparent effort: + +"I don't believe you know, Glory Goldie, that I was the last person +who talked with your father--the Emperor, as we used to call him." + +"No, I did not know of this," answered the girl, at the same time +quickening her steps. She was thinking to herself that this +conversation was something she would rather have escaped. + +"One day last autumn," Linnart continued, "while I was out in the +yard hitching up a horse to drive over to the village shop, I saw +the Emperor come running down the road; he seemed in a great hurry, +but when he espied me he stopped and asked if I had seen the +Empress drive by. I couldn't deny that I had. Then he burst out +crying. He had been on his way to Broby, he said, but such a +strange feeling of uneasiness had suddenly come over him that he +had to turn back, and when he reached home he found the hut +deserted. Katrina was also gone. He felt certain his wife and +daughter were leaving by the boat and he didn't know how he should +ever be able to get down to the Borg pier before they were gone." + +Glory Goldie stood stock still. "You let him ride with you, of +course?" she said. + +"Oh, yes," replied Linn art. "Jan once did me a good turn and I +wanted to repay it. Perhaps I did wrong in giving him a lift?" + +"No, indeed!" said Glory Goldie. "It was I who did wrong in +attempting to leave him." + +"He wept like a child the whole time he sat in the wagon. I didn't +know what to do to comfort him, but at last I said, 'Don't cry like +that, Jan! We'll surely overtake her. Besides, these little freight +steamers that run in the autumn are never on time.' No sooner had I +said that than he laid his hand on my arm and asked me if I thought +they would be harsh and cruel toward the Empress--those who had +carried her off." + +"Those who had carried me off!" repeated Glory Goldie in +astonishment. + +"I was as much astonished at that as you are," Linnart declared, +"and I asked him what he meant. Well, he meant those who had lain +in wait for the Empress while she was at home--all the enemies of +whom Glory Goldie had been so afraid that she had not dared to put +on her gold crown or so much as mention Portugallia, and who had +finally overpowered her and carried her into captivity." + +"So that was it!" + +"Yes, just that. You understand of course that your father did not +weep because he had been deserted and left alone, but because he +thought you were in peril." It had been a little hard for Linnart +to come out with the last few words; they wanted to stick in his +throat. Perhaps he was thinking of old Björn Hindrickson and +himself, for there was that in his own life which had taught him +the true worth of a love that never fails you. + +But Glory Goldie did not yet understand. She had thought of her +father only with aversion and dread since her return and muttered +something about his being a madman. + +Linnart heard what she said, and it hurt him. "I'm not so sure that +Jan was mad!" he retorted. "I told him that I hadn't seen any +gaolers around Glory Goldie. 'My good Linnart,' he then said, +'didn't you notice how closely they guarded her when she drove by? +They were Pride and Hardness, Lust and Vice, all the enemies she +has to battle against back there in her Empire.'" + +Glory Goldie stopped a moment and turned toward Linnart. "Well?" +was all she said. + +"I replied that these enemies I, too, had seen," returned Linnart +Hindrickson curtly. + +The girl gave a short laugh. + +"But instantly I regretted having said that," pursued the man. "For +then Jan cried out in despair: 'Oh, pray to God, my dear Linnart, +that I may be able to save the little girl from all evil! It +doesn't matter what becomes of me, just so she is helped.'" + +Glory Goldie did not speak, but walked on hurriedly. Something had +begun to pull and tear at her heart strings--something she was +trying to force back. She knew that if that which lay hidden within +should burst its bonds and come to the surface, she would break +down completely. + +"And those were Jan's last words," said Linnart. "It wasn't long +after that before he proved that he meant what he said. Don't think +for a moment that Jan jumped into the lake to get away from his own +sorrow; it was only to rescue Glory Goldie from her enemies that he +plunged in after the boat." + +Glory Goldie tramped on, faster and faster. Her father's great love +from first to last now stood revealed to her. But she could not +bear the thought of it and wanted to put it behind her. + +"We keep pretty well posted in this parish as to one another's +doings," Linnart continued. "There was much ill feeling against +you at first, after the Emperor was drowned. I for my part +considered you unworthy to receive his farewell message. But we all +feel differently now; we like your staying down at the pier to +watch for him." + +Then Glory Goldie stopped short. Her cheeks burned and her eyes +flashed with indignation. "I stay down there only because I'm +afraid of him," she said. + +"You have never wanted to appear better than you are. We know that. +But we understand perhaps better than you yourself do what lies +back of this waiting. We have also had parents and we haven't +always treated them right, either." + +Glory Goldie was so furious that she wanted to say something +dreadful to make Linnart hush, but somehow she couldn't. All she +could do was to run away from him. + +Linnart Hindrickson made no attempt to follow her further. He had +said what he wanted to say and he was not displeased with that +morning's work. + + +THE PASSING OF KATRINA + +Katrina lay on the bed in the little hut at Ruffluck Croft, the +pallor of death on her face, her eyes closed. It looked as if the +end had already come. But the instant Glory Goldie reached her +bedside and stood patting her hand, she opened her eyes and began +to speak. + +"Jan wants me with him," she said, with great effort. "He doesn't +hold it against me that I deserted him." + +Glory Goldie started. Now she knew why her mother was dying; she +who had been faithful a lifetime was grieving herself to death for +having failed Jan at the last. + +"Why should you have to fret your heart out over that, when I was +the one who forced you to leave him?" said Glory Goldie. + +"Just the same the memory of it has been so painful," replied +Katrina. "But now all is well again between Jan and me." Then she +closed her eyes and lay very still, and into her thin, wan face +came a faint light of happiness. Soon she began to speak again, +for there were things which had to be said; she could not find +peace until they were said. + +"Don't be so angry with Jan for running after you! He meant only +well by you. Things have never been right with you since you and he +first parted, and he knew it, too, nor with him either. You both +went wrong, each in your own way." + +Glory Goldie had felt that her mother would say something of this +sort, and had steeled herself beforehand. But her mother's words +moved her more than she realized, and she tried to say something +comforting. "I shall think of father as he was in the old days. You +remember what good friends we always were at that time." + +Katrina seemed to be satisfied with the response, for she settled +back to rest once more. Apparently she had not intended to say +anything further. Then, all at once, she looked up at her daughter +and gave her a smile that bespoke rare tenderness and affection. + +"I'm so glad, Glory Goldie, that you have grown beautiful again," +she said. + +For that smile and those words all Glory Goldie's self-control gave +way; she fell upon her knees beside the low bedstead, and wept. It +was the first time since her homecoming that she had shed real +tears. + +"Mother, I don't know how you can feel toward me as you do!" cried +the girl. "It's all my fault that you are dying, and I'm to blame +for father's death, too." + +Katrina, smiling all the while, moved her hands in a little caress. + +"You are so good, mother," said Glory Goldie through her sobs. "You +are so good to me!" + +Katrina gripped hard her daughter's hand and raised herself in bed, +to give her final testimony. + +"All, that is good in me I have learned from Jan," she declared. +After which she sank back on her pillow and said nothing more that +was clear or sensible. The death struggle had begun, and the next +morning she passed away. + +But all through the final agony Glory Goldie lay weeping on the +floor beside her mother's bed; she wept away her anguish; her +fever-dreams; her burden of guilt. There was no end to her tears. + + +THE BURIAL OF THE EMPEROR + +It was on the Sunday before Christmas they were to bury Katrina of +Ruffluck. Usually on that particular Sabbath the church attendance +is very poor, as most people like to put off their church-going +until the great Holy Day services. + +When the few mourners from the Ashdales drove into the pine grove +between the church and the town hall, they were astonished. For +such crowds of people as were assembled there that Sunday were +rarely seen even when the Dean of Bro came to Svartsjö once a year, +to preach, or at a church election. + +It went without saying that it was not for the purpose of following +old Katrina to her grave that every one to a man turned out. +Something else must have brought them there. Possibly some great +personage was expected at the church, or maybe some clergyman other +than the regular pastor was going to preach, thought the Ashdales +folk, who lived in such an out-of-the-way corner that much could +happen in the parish without their ever hearing of it. + +The mourners drove up to the cleared space behind the town hall, +where they stepped down from the wagons. Here, as in the grove, +they found throngs of people, but otherwise they saw nothing out of +the ordinary. Their astonishment increased, but they felt loath to +question any one as to what was going on; for persons who drive in +a funeral procession are expected to keep to themselves and not to +enter into conversation with those who have no part in the mourning. + +The coffin was removed from the hearse and placed upon two black +trestles which had been set up just outside the town hall, where +the body and those who had come with it were to remain until the +bells began to toll and the pastor and the sexton were ready to go +with them to the churchyard. + +It was a stormy day. Rain came down in lashing showers and beat +against the coffin. One thing was certain: it could never be said +that fine weather had brought all these people out. + +But that day nobody seemed to mind the rain and wind. People stood +quietly and patiently under the open sky without seeking the +shelter of either the church or the town hall. + +The six pall-bearers and others who had gathered around Katrina +noticed that there were two trestles there besides those on which +her coffin rested. Then there was to be another burial that day. +This they had not known of before. Yet no funeral procession could +be seen approaching. It was already so late that it should have +been at the church by that time. + +When it was about ten minutes of ten o'clock and time to be moving +toward the churchyard, the Ashdales folk noticed that every one +withdrew in the direction of the Där Nol home, which was only two +minutes' walk from the church. They saw then what they had not +observed before, that the path leading from the town hall to the +house of Där Nol was strewn with spruce twigs and that a spruce +tree had been placed at either side of the gate. Then it was from +there a body was to be taken. They wondered why nothing had been +said about a death in a family of such prominence. Besides, there +were no sheets put up at the windows, as there should be in a house +of mourning. + +Then, in a moment, the front doors opened and a funeral party +emerged. First came August Där Nol, carrying a crêped mace. Behind +him walked the six pall-bearers with the casket. And now all the +people who had been standing outside the church fell into line +behind this funeral party. Then it was in order to do honour to +_this_ person they had come. + +The coffin was carried down to the town hall and placed beside the +one already there. August Där Nol arranged the trestles so that the +two coffins would rest side by side. The second coffin was not so +new and shiny as Katrina's. It looked as if it had been washed by +many rains, and had seen rough handling, for it was both scratched +and broken at the edges. + +All the folk from the Ashdales suddenly caught their breath. For +then they knew it was not a Där Nol that lay in this coffin! And +they also knew that it was not for the sake of some stranger of +exalted rank that so many people had come out to church. Instantly +every one looked at Glory Goldie, to see whether she understood. It +was plain she did. + +Glory Goldie, pale and heart-broken, had been standing all the +while by her mother's coffin, and as she recognized the one that +had been brought from the Där Nol home she was beside herself with +joy as one becomes when gaining something for which one has long +been striving. However, she immediately controlled her emotion. +Then, smiling wistfully, she lightly stroked the lid of Katrina's +coffin. + +"Now it has turned out as well for you as ever you could have +wished," she seemed to be saying to her dead mother. + +August Där Nol then stepped up to Glory Goldie and took her by the +hand. "No doubt this arrangement is satisfactory to you," he said. +"We found him only last Friday. I thought it would be easier for +you this way." + +Glory Goldie stammered a few words, but her lips quavered so that +she could hardly be understood. "Thanks. It's all right. I know he +has come to mother, and not to me." + +"He has come to you both, be assured of that, Glory Goldie!" said +August Där Nol. + +The old mistress of Falla, who was now well on toward eighty and +bowed down by the weight of many sorrows, had come to the funeral +out of regard for Katrina, who for many years had been her faithful +servant and friend. She had brought with her the imperial cap and +stick, which had been returned to her after Jan's death. She +intended to place them in the grave with Katrina, thinking the old +woman would like to have with her some reminder of Jan. + +Presently Glory Goldie turned to the old mistress of Falla and +asked her for the imperial regalia, and then she stood the long +stick up against Jan's coffin and set the cap on top of the stick. +Every one understood that she was sorry now that she had not wanted +Jan to deck himself out in these emblems of royalty and was trying +to make what slight amends she could. There is so little that one +can do for the dead! + +Instantly the stick was placed there the bells in the church tower +began ringing and the pastor, the sexton, and the verger came out +from the vestry and took their places at the head of the funeral +procession. + +The rain came in showers that day, but it happened, luckily, that +there was a let-up while the people formed into line--menfolk +first, then womenfolk--to follow the two old peasants to their +grave. Those who lined up looked a little surprised at their being +there, for they did not feel any grief, nor did they care +especially to honour either of the dead. It was simply this: when +the news was spread throughout the parish that Jan of Ruffluck had +come back just in time to be buried with Katrina they had all felt +that there was something singularly touching and miraculous about +this, which made them want to come and see the old couple reunited +in death. And of course no one dreamed that the same thought would +occur to so many others. They felt that this was almost too much of +a demonstration for a couple of poor and lowly cotters. People +glanced at one another rather shamefacedly; but now that they were +there, there was nothing to do but go along to the churchyard. +Then, as it occurred to them that this was just what the Emperor of +Portugallia would have liked, they smiled to themselves. + +Two mace-bearers (for there was also one from the Ashdales) walked +in front of the coffins, and the whole parish marched in the +funeral procession. It could not have been better had the Emperor +himself arranged for it. And they were not altogether certain that +the whole thing was not his doing. He had become so wonderful after +his death, had the old Emperor. He must have had a purpose in +letting his daughter wait for him; a purpose in rising up out of +the deep at just the right time--as sure as fate! + +When they had all come up to the wide grave and the coffins had +been lowered into it, the sexton sang "My every step leads to the +grave." + +Sexton Blackie was now an old man. His singing reminded Glory +Goldie of that of another old man, to whom she had not wanted to +listen. And the recollection of this brought with it bitter +anguish; she pressed her hands to her heart and closed her eyes, so +as not to betray her sufferings. + +And while she stood thus she saw before her her father as he had +been in her childhood, when he and she were such good friends and +comrades. She recognized his face as she had seen it one Sunday +morning after a blizzard, when the road was knee-deep with snow and +he had to carry her to church. She saw him again as he appeared the +Sunday she went to church in the red dress. No one had ever looked +kinder or happier than Jan did then. But after that day there had +been no more happiness for him, and she had never been quite +contented either. + +She strove to hold this face before her eyes. It did her good. +There rose up in her such a strong wave of tenderness as she looked +at it! That face only wished her well. It was not something to be +feared. This was just the old kind-hearted Jan of Ruffluck. He +would never sit in judgment upon her; he would not bring misfortune +and suffering upon his only child. + +Glory Goldie had found peace. She had come into a world of love now +that she could see her father as he was. She wondered how she could +ever have imagined that he hated her; he, who only wanted to +forgive! Wherever she was or wherever she went he would be there to +protect her; he had no thought or wish but that. + +Again she felt the great tenderness well up in her heart like a +mighty wave-filling her whole being. Then she knew that all was +well again between her father and her; that he and she were one, as +in the old days. Now that she loved him, there was nothing to be +atoned. + +Glory Goldie awoke as from a dream. While she had stood looking +into her father's kindly face the pastor had performed the burial +service. Now he was addressing a few remarks to the people; he +thanked them, one and all, for coming to this funeral. It was no +great or distinguished man that had just been laid to rest, he +said, but he was perhaps one who had borne the richest and warmest +heart in these regions. + +When the pastor said this the people again glanced at one another. +And now every one looked pleased and satisfied. The parson was +right: it was because of Jan's great heart they had come to the +funeral. + +Then the pastor spoke a few words to Glory Goldie. He said that she +had received greater love from her parents than had any one he knew +of, and that such love could only turn to blessing. + +At this everybody looked over at Glory Goldie, and they all +marvelled at what they saw. The pastor's saying had already come +true. For there, at the grave of her parents, stood Glory Goldie +Sunnycastle, who had been named by the Sun itself, shining like one +transfigured! She was as beautiful now as on that Sunday when she +came to church in the red dress, if not more beautiful. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14356 *** |