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diff --git a/20156.txt b/20156.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee39f5d --- /dev/null +++ b/20156.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6527 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Strife and Peace, by Fredrika Bremer, +Translated by Mary Howitt + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Strife and Peace + + +Author: Fredrika Bremer + + + +Release Date: December 21, 2006 [eBook #20156] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRIFE AND PEACE*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Janet Blenkinship, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net/c/) + + + +Fredrika Bremer's Works. + +STRIFE AND PEACE. + +Translated by Mary Howitt. + + + + + + + +London: +Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. +1853. + + + +CONTENTS + + OLD NORWAY + HEIMDAL. + THE POULTRY. THE WATER OF STRIFE. + FIRST STRIFE. + MRS. ASTRID. + THE BREWHOUSE. + THE GARRET. + THE DAIRY. + EVENING HOURS. + CHRISTMAS. + QUIET WEEKS. + A MAY DAY. + SPRING FEELINGS. + MAN AND WIFE. + A FRESH STRIFE. + ALETTE. + AN EVENING IN THE SITTING-ROOM. + RETREATING AND ADVANCING. + A GLANCE INTO NORDLAND. + THE RETURN. + THE HALLING. + AASGAARDSREIJA. + THE MOUNTAIN JOURNEY. + THE AWAKENING. + THE LAST STRIFE. + AN AFTER-WORD. + + + + +STRIFE AND PEACE. + + + +OLD NORWAY. + + Still the old tempests rage around the mountains, + And ocean's billows as of old appear; + The roaring wood and the resounding fountains + Time has not silenced in his long career, + For Nature is the same as ever. + + MUNCH. + + + + The shadow of God wanders through Nature. + + LINNAEUS. + + +Before yet a song of joy or of mourning had gone forth from the valleys +of Norway--before yet a smoke-wreath had ascended from its huts--before +an axe had felled a tree of its woods--before yet king Nor burst forth +from Jotunhem to seek his lost sister, and passing through the land gave +to it his name; nay, before _yet_ there was a Norwegian, stood the high +Dovre mountains with snowy summits before the face of the Creator. + +Westward stretches itself out the gigantic mountain chain as far as +Romsdahlshorn, whose foot is bathed by the Atlantic ocean. Southward it +forms under various names (Langfjeld, Sognefjeld, Filefjeld, +Hardangerfjeld, and so forth), that stupendous mountainous district +which in a stretch of a hundred and fifty geographical miles comprehends +all that nature possesses of magnificent, fruitful, lovely, and +charming. Here stands yet, as in the first days of the world, in Upper +Tellemark, the Fjellstuga, or rock-house, built by an invisible hand, +and whose icy walls and towers that hand alone can overthrow: here +still, as in the morning of time, meet together at Midsummer, upon the +snowy foreheads of the ancient mountains, the rose-tint of morning and +the rose-tint of evening for a brotherly kiss; still roar as then the +mountain torrents which hurl themselves into the abyss; still reflect +the ice-mirrors of the glaciers the same objects--now delighting, now +awakening horror; and still to-day, even as then, are there Alpine +tracts which the foot of man never ascended: valleys of wood, "lonesome +cells of nature," upon which only the eagle and the Midsummer-sun have +looked down. Here is the old, ever young, Norway; here the eye of the +beholder is astonished, but his heart expands itself; he forgets his own +suffering, his own joy, forgets all that is trivial, whilst with a holy +awe he has a feeling that "the shadow of God wanders through nature." + +In the heart of Norway lies this country. Is the soul wearied with the +tumults of the world or fatigued with the trifles of poor every-day +life--is it depressed by the confined atmosphere of the room,--with the +dust of books, the dust of company, or any other kind of dust (there are +in the world so many kinds, and they all cover the soul with a great +dust mantle); or is she torn by deep consuming passions,--then fly, fly +towards the still heart of Norway, listen there to the fresh mighty +throbbing of the heart of nature; alone with the quiet, calm, and yet so +eloquent, objects of nature, and there wilt thou gain strength and life! +There falls no dust. Fresh and clear stand the thoughts of life there, +as in the days of their creation. "Wilt thou behold the great and the +majestic? Behold the Gausta, which raises its colossal knees six +thousand feet above the surface of the earth; behold the wild giant +forms of Hurrungen, Fannarauken, Mugnafjeld; behold the Rjukan (the +rushing), the Voering, and Vedal rivers foaming and thundering over the +mountains and plunging down in the abysses! And wilt though delight +thyself in the charming, the beautiful? They exist among these fruitful +scenes in peaceful solitude. The Saeter-hut stands in the narrow valley; +herds of cattle graze on the beautiful grassy meadows; the Saeter-maiden, +with fresh-colour, blue eyes, and bright plaits of hair, tends them and +sings the while the simple, the gentle melancholy airs of the country; +and like a mirror for that charming picture, there lies in the middle of +the valley a little lake (kjoern), deep, still, and of a clear blue +colour, as is generally peculiar to the glacier water. All breathes an +idyllian peace." + +But a presentiment of death appears, even in the morning hour of +creation, to have impressed its seal upon this country. The vast +shadows of the dark mountain masses fall upon valleys where nothing but +moss grows; upon lakes whose still waters are full of never-melted +ice--thus the Cold Valley, the Cold Lake (Koledal and Koldesjoe), with +their dead, grey-yellow shores. The stillness of death reigns in this +wilderness, interrupted only by the thunderings of the avalanche and by +the noise which occasions the motion of the glaciers. No bird moves its +wings or raises its twittering in this sorrowful region; only the +melodious sighs of the cuckoo are borne thither by the winds at +Midsummer. + +Wilt thou, however, see life in its pomp and fairest magnificence? Then +see the embrace of the winter and the summer in old Norway; descend into +the plain of Svalem, behold the valleys of Aamaadt and Sillejord, or the +paradisaically beautiful Vestfjordal, through which the Man flows still +and clear as a mirror, and embraces in its course little, bright green +islands, which are overgrown with bluebells and sweet-scented +wood-lilies; see how the silver stream winds itself down from the +mountains, between groups of trees and fruitful fields; see how, behind +the near hills with their leafy woods, the snow-mountains elevate +themselves, and like worthy patriarchs look down upon a younger +generation; observe in these valleys the morning and evening play of +colours upon the heights, in the depths; see the affluent pomp of the +storm; see the calm magnificence of the rainbow, as it vaults itself +over the waterfall,--depressed spirit, see this, understand it, and---- +breathe! + +From these beautifully, universally known scenes we withdraw ourselves +to a more unknown region, to the great stretch of valley where the +Skogshorn rears itself to the clouds; where Urunda flows brightly +between rocks,--the waterfalls of Djupadahl stream not the less +charmingly and proudly because they are only rarely admired by the eyes +of curious travellers. We set ourselves down in a region whose name and +situation we counsel nobody to seek out in maps, and which we call-- + + + + +HEIMDAL. + + Knowest thou the deep, cool dale, + Where church-like stillness doth prevail; + Where neither flock nor herd you meet; + Which hath no name nor track of feet? + + VELHAVEN. + + +Heimdal, we call a branch of Hallingdal, misplace it in the parish of +Aal, and turn it over to the learned--that they may wonder at our +boldness. Like its mother valley it possesses no historical memories. Of +the old kings of Hallingdal one knows but very little. Only a few +monumental stones, a few burial-mounds, give a dim intelligence of the +mighty who have been. It is true that a people dwelt here, who from +untold ages were renowned as well for their simplicity and their +contentedness under severe circumstances as for their wild +contest-loving disposition; but still, in quiet as in unquiet, built and +dwelt, lived and died here, without tumult and without glory, among the +ancient mountains and the pine-woods, unobserved by the rest of the +world. + +One river, the son of Hallen-Jokul, flows through Heimdal. Foaming with +wild rage it comes through the narrow mountain-pass down into the +valley, finds there a freer field, becomes calm, and flows clear as a +mirror between green shores, till its banks become again compressed +together by granite mountains. Then is it again seized upon by disquiet, +and rushes thence in wild curves till it flings itself into the great +Hallingdal river, and there dies. + +Exactly there, where the stream spreads itself out in the extended +valley, lies a large estate. A well-built, but somewhat decayed, +dwelling-house of wood stretches out its arms into the depths of the +valley. Thence may be seen a beautiful prospect, far, far into the blue +distance. Hills overgrown with, wood stretch upward from the river, and +cottages surrounded with inclosed fields and beautiful grassy paths, lie +scattered at the foot of the hills. On the other side of the river, a +mile-and-half from the Grange, a chapel raises its peaceful tower. +Beyond this the valley gradually contracts itself. + +On a cool September evening, strangers arrived at the Grange, which had +now been long uninhabited. It was an elderly lady, of a noble but +gloomy exterior, in deep mourning. A young, blooming maiden accompanied +her. They were received by a young man, who was called there "the +Steward." The dark-appareled lady vanished in the house, and after that +was seen nowhere in the valley for several months. They called her there +"the Colonel's lady," and said Mrs. Astrid Hjelm had experienced a very +strange fate, of which many various histories were in circulation. At +the estate of Semb, which consisted of the wide-stretching valley of +Heimdal, and which was her paternal heritage, had she never, since the +time of her marriage, been seen. Now as widow she had again sought out +the home of her childhood. It was known also and told, that her +attendant was a Swedish girl, who had come with her from one of the +Swedish watering-places, where she had been spending the summer, in +order to superintend her housekeeping; and it was said, that Susanna +Bjoerk ruled as excellently as with sovereign sway over the economical +department, over the female portion of the same, Larina the +parlour-maid, Karina the kitchen-maid, and Petro the cook, as well as +over the farm-servants Mathea, Budeja, and Goeran the cattle-boy, +together with all their subjects of the four-footed and two-legged +races. We will now with these last make a little nearer acquaintance. + + + + +THE POULTRY. THE WATER OF STRIFE. + +FIRST STRIFE. + + "For Norway!" + "For Sweden!" + + DISPUTANTS. + + +The morning was clear and fresh. The September sun shone into the +valley; smoke rose from the cottages. The ladies-mantle, on whose fluted +cups bright pearls trembled; the silver-weed, with its yellow flowers +and silver glittering leaves, shone in the morning sun beside the +footpath, which wound along the moss-grown feet of the backs of the +mountains. It conducted to a spring of the clearest water, which after +it had filled its basin, allowed its playful vein to run murmuring down +to the river. + +To this spring, on that beautiful morning, went down Susanna Bjoerk, and +there followed her "cocks and hens, and chickens small." + +Before her waddled with consequential gabblings a flock of geese, which +were all snow-white, excepting one--a grey gander. This one tottered +with a desponding look a little behind the others, compelled to this by +a tyrant among the white flock, which, as soon as the grey one attempted +to approach, drove it back with outstretched neck and yelling cries. The +grey gander always fled before the white tyrant; but bald places upon +the head and neck proved that he had not come into this depressed +condition, without those severe combats having made evident the +fruitlessness of protestation. Not one of the goose madams troubled +herself about the ill-used gander, and for that reason Susanna all the +more zealously took upon herself, with delicate morsels and kind words, +to console him for the injustice of his race. After the geese, came the +well-meaning but awkward ducks; the turkey-cock, with his choleric +temper and his two foolish wives, one white and the other black; lastly, +came the unquiet generation of hens, with their handsome, quarrel-loving +cocks. The prettiest of all, however, were a flock of pigeons which, +confidingly and bashfully at the same time, now alighted down upon +Susanna's shoulders and outstretched hand; now flew aloft and wheeled in +glittering circles around her head; then settled down again upon the +earth, where they neatly tripped, with their little fringed feet, +stealing down to the spring to drink, whilst the geese with great tumult +bathed themselves in the water and splashed about, throwing the water in +pearly rain over the grass. Here also was the grey gander, to Susanna's +great vexation, compelled by the white one to bathe itself at a distance +from the others. + +Susanna looked around her upon the beautiful richly-coloured picture +which lay before her, upon the little creatures which played around her +and enjoyed themselves, and evident delight beamed from her eyes as she +raised them, and with hands pressed together, said softly, "O heavens! +how beautiful!" + +But she shrunk together in terror, for in that very moment a strong +voice just beside her broke forth-- + + "How glorious is my fatherland, + The old sea-circled Norroway!" + +And the steward, Harald Bergman, greeted smilingly Susanna, who said +rather irritated-- + +"You scream so, that you frighten the doves with your old Norroway." + +"Yes," continued Harald, in the same tone of inspiration-- + + "Yes, glorious is my fatherland, + The ancient, rock-bound Norroway; + With flowery dale, crags old and grey, + That spite of time eternal stand!" + +"Old Norway," said Susanna as before; "I consider it a positive shame to +hear you talk of your old Norway, as if it were older and more +everlasting than the Creator himself!" + +"And where in all the world," exclaimed Harald, "do you find a country +with such a proud, serious people; such magnificent rivers, and such +high, high mountains?" + +"We have, thank God, men and mountains also in Sweden," said Susanna; +"you should only see them; that is another kind of thing!" + +"Another kind of thing! What other kind of thing? I will wager that +there is not a single goose in Sweden which could compare with our +excellent Norway geese." + +"No, not one, but a thousand, and all larger and fatter than these. +Everything in Sweden is larger and more excellent than in Norway." + +"Larger? The people are decidedly smaller and weaker." + +"Weaker? smaller? you should only see the people in Uddevalla, my native +city!" + +"How can anybody be born in Uddevalla? Does anybody really live in that +city? How can anybody live in it? It is a shame to live in such a city; +it is a shame also only to drive through it. It is so miserably small, +that when the wheels of the travelling-carriage are at one end, the +horse has already put his head out at the other. Do not talk about +Uddevalla!" + +"No, with you it certainly is not worth while to talk about it, because +you have never seen anything else besides Norwegian villages, and +cannot, on that account, form any idea to yourself of a proper Swedish +city." + +"Defend me from ever seeing such cities--defend me! And then your +Swedish lakes! what wretched puddles they are, beside our glorious +Norwegian ocean!" + +"Puddles! Our lakes! Great enough to drown the whole of Norway in!" + +"Ha, ha, ha! And the whole of Sweden is beside our Norwegian ocean no +bigger than my cap! And this ocean would incessantly flow over Sweden, +did not our Norway magnanimously defend it with its granite breast." + +"Sweden defends itself, and needs no other help! Sweden is a fine +country!" + +"Not half as fine as Norway. Norway reaches heaven with its mountains; +Norway comes nearest to the Creator." + +"Norway may well be presumptuous, but God loves Sweden the best." + +"Norway, say I!" + +"Sweden, say I!" + +"Norway! Norway for ever! We will see whose throw goes the highest, who +wins for his country. Norway first and highest!" and with this, Harald +threw a stone high into the air. + +"Sweden first and last!" exclaimed Susanna, whilst she slung a stone +with all her might. + +Fate willed it that the two stones struck against each other in the air, +after which they both fell with a great plump down into the spring +around which the small creatures had assembled themselves. The geese +screamed; the hens and ducks flew up in terror; the turkey-hens flew +into the wood, where the turkey-cock followed them, forgetting all his +dignity; all the doves had vanished in a moment,--and with crimsoned +cheeks and violent contention as to whose stone went the highest, stood +Harald and Susanna alone beside the agitated and muddied water of +discord. + +The moment is perhaps not the most auspicious, but yet we will make use +of it, in order to give a slight sketch of the two contending persons. + +Harald Bergman had speaking, somewhat sharp features, in which an +expression of great gravity could easily be exchanged for one of equal +waggery. The dark hair fell in graceful waves over a brow in which one +saw that clear thought was entertained. His figure was finely +proportioned, and his movements showed great freedom and vigour. + +He had been brought up in a respectable family, had enjoyed a careful +education, and was regarded by friends and acquaintances as a young man +of extraordinary promise. Just as he had left the S. seminary, and was +intending a journey into foreign countries, in order to increase still +more his knowledge of agriculture, chance brought him acquainted with +the widow of Colonel Hjelm, at the time in which she was returning to +her native country, and in consequence thereof he altered his plans. In +a letter to his sister, he expresses himself on this subject in the +following manner: + +"I cannot properly describe to you, Alette, the impression which she +made upon me. I might describe to you her tall growth, her noble +bearing, her countenance, where, spite of many wrinkles and a +pale-yellow complexion, traces of great beauty are incontrovertible; the +lofty forehead, around which black locks sprinkled with grey, press +forth from beneath her simple cap. I might tell of her deep, serious +eyes, of her low and yet solemn voice; and yet thou couldst form to +thyself no representation of that which makes her so uncommon. I have +been told that her life has been as much distinguished by exemplary +virtue as by suffering--and virtue and suffering have called forth in +her a quiet greatness, a greatness which is never attained to by the +favourites of fortune and of nature, which stamps her whole being. She +seemed to me as if all the frivolities of the world passed by her +unremarked. I felt for her an involuntary reverence, such as I had never +felt before for any human being; and at the same time a great desire to +approach her more nearly, to be useful to her, to deserve, and to win +her esteem--it seemed to me that I should thereby become somewhat +greater, or at least better; and as I was informed that she sought for a +clever and experienced steward for her sorely decayed estate, I offered +myself as such, in all modesty, or rather without any; and when +accepted, I felt an almost childish joy, and set off immediately to her +estate, that I might make myself at home there, and have everything in +readiness to receive her." + +Thus much for Harald, now for Susanna. + +Barbara Susanna Bjoerk was not handsome, could not be even called pretty +(for that, she was too large and strong), but she was good-looking. The +blue eyes looked so honestly and openly into the world; the round and +full face testified health, kindness, and good spirits; and when Susanna +was merry, when the rosy lips opened themselves for a hearty laugh, it +made any one right glad only to look at her. But true is it, that she +was very often in an ill humour, and then she did not look at all +charming. She was a tall, well-made girl, too powerful in movement ever +to be called graceful, and her whole being betrayed a certain want of +refinement. + +Poor child! how could she have obtained this in the home abounding in +disorder, poverty, and vanity, in which the greater part of her life had +been passed. + +Her father was the Burgomaster of Uddevalla; her mother died in the +infancy of her daughter. Soon afterwards an aunt came into the house, +who troubled herself only about the housekeeping and her coffee-drinking +acquaintance, left her brother himself to seek for his pleasures at the +club, and the child to take care of herself. The education of the little +Susanna consisted in this, that she learned of necessity to read, and +that when she was naughty they said to her, "Is Barbra there again? Fie, +for shame, Barbra! Get out, Barbra!" and when she was good again, it +was, "See now, Sanna is here again! Welcome, sweet Sanna!" A method +which certainly was not without its good points, if it had only been +wisely applied. But often was the little girl talked to as "Barbra" when +there was no occasion for it, and this had often the effect of calling +forth the said personage. In the mean time, she was accustomed as a +child to go out as Barbra, and to come in again as Sanna, and this gave +her early an idea of the two natures which existed in her, as they exist +in every person. This idea attained to perfect clearness in Susanna's +religious instruction,--the only instruction which poor Susanna ever +had. But how infinitely rich is such instruction for an ingenuous mind, +when it is instilled by a good teacher. Susanna was fortunate enough to +have such a one, and she now became acquainted in Barbra with the +earthly demon which should be overcome in Sanna, the child of heaven, +which makes free and enlightens; and from this time there began between +Barbra and Sanna an open strife, which daily occurred, and in which the +latter, for the most part, got the upper hand, if Susanna was not too +suddenly surprised by a naturally proud and violent temper. + +When Susanna had attained her twelfth year her father married a second +time, but became a second time a widower, after his wife had presented +him with a daughter. Two months after this he died also. Near relations +took charge of the orphan children. In this new home Susanna learned +to--bear hardships; for there, as she was strong and tall, and besides +that made herself useful, and was kind-hearted, they made her soon the +servant of the whole house. The daughters of the family said that she +was fit for nothing else, for she could learn nothing, and had such +unrefined manners; and besides that, she had been taken out of charity; +she had nothing, and so on: all which they made her feel many a time in +no gentle manner, and over which Susanna shed many bitter tears both of +pain and anger. One mouth, however, there was which never addressed to +Susanna other tones than those of affectionate love, and this was the +mouth of the little sister, the little golden-haired Hulda. She had +found in Susanna's arms her cradle, and in her care that of the +tenderest mother. For from Hulda's birth Susanna had taken the little +forlorn one to herself, and never had loved a young mother her +first-born child more warmly or more deeply than Susanna loved her +little Hulda, who also, under her care, became the loveliest and the +most amiable child that ever was seen. And woe to those who did any +wrong to the little Hulda! They had to experience the whole force of +Susanna's often strong-handed displeasure. For her sake Susanna passed +here several years of laborious servitude: as she, however, saw no end +to this, yet was scarcely able to dress herself and her sister +befittingly, and besides this was prevented by the multitude of her +occupations from bestowing upon her sister that care which she required, +therefore Susanna, in her twentieth year, looked about her for a better +situation. + +From the confined situation in which Susanna spent such a weary life, +she was able to see one tree behind a fence, which stretched out its +branches over the street. Many a spring and summer evening, when the +rest of the inhabitants of the house were abroad on parties of pleasure, +sate Susanna quietly by the little slumbering Hulda, within the little +chamber which she had fitted up for herself and her sister, and observed +with quiet melancholy from her window the green tree, whose twigs and +leaves waved and beckoned so kindly and invitingly in the wind. + +By degrees the green leaves beckoned into her soul thoughts and plans, +which eventually fashioned themselves into a determined form, or rather +an estate, whose realisation from this time forth became the paradise of +her soul and the object of her life. This estate was a little farm in +the country, which Susanna would rent, and cultivate, and make +profitable by her own industry and her own management. She planted +potatoes; she milked cows and made butter; she sowed, she reaped; and +the labour was to her a delight; for there, upon the soft grass, under +the green, waving tree, sate the little Hulda, and played with flowers, +and her blue eyes beamed with happiness, and no care and no want came +near her. + +All Susanna's thoughts and endeavours directed themselves to the +realising of this idea. The next step towards it was the obtaining a +good service, in which, by saving her wages, she could obtain a sum of +money sufficient to commence her rural undertaking. Susanna flattered +herself, that in a few years she could bring her scheme to bear, and +therefore made inquiries after a suitable situation. + +There were this year among the visitors at the watering-place of +Gustafsberg, which lay near to Uddevalla, a Norwegian Colonel and his +lady. He was lame from a paralytic stroke, and had lost the use of his +speech and of his hands. He was a large man, of a fierce, stern +exterior; and although he seemed to endure nobody near him but his wife, +and perpetually demanded her care, still it was evidently not out of +love. And although his wife devoted herself unweariedly and +self-denyingly to his service, still this evidently was not from love +either, but from some other extraordinary power. Her own health was +visibly deeply affected, and violent spasms often attacked her breast; +but night or day, whenever it was his will to rise, it was her patient, +bowed neck around which his arm was laid. She stood by his side, and +supported him in the cold shower-bath, which was intended to re-awaken +his dormant power of life, at the same time that it destroyed hers. She +was ever there, always firm and active, seldom speaking, and never +complaining. By the painful contraction of her countenance alone, and by +the peculiarity of laying her hand upon her heart, it could be seen that +she suffered. Susanna had an opportunity of seeing all this, and +admiration and sympathy filled her breast. Before long she was fortunate +enough to assist the noble lady, to offer to her her strong youthful arm +as support, and to watch over the sick man when his wife was compelled +to close her eyes from fatigue. And fortunately the invalid endured her. +Susanna was witness of the last horrible scenes by the death-bed of the +Colonel. He seemed to make violent efforts to say something, but--he +could not. Then he made signs that he wished to write something; but his +fingers could not hold the pen. Then presented itself a horrible +disquiet on his distorted features. With that his wife bowed herself +over him, and with an expression of the greatest anxiety, seized one of +his hands and whispered--"Give me only a sign, as answer! Tell me! Tell +me! does he yet live?" + +The sick man riveted upon her a strong gaze, and--bowed his head. Was +this an assenting answer, or was it the hand of death which forbad an +answer? No one could tell, for he never again raised his head. It was +his last movement. + +For many days afterwards a quick succession of spasmodic attacks seemed +to threaten the widowed lady with approaching death. Susanna watched +incessantly beside her, and felt herself happy in being able to watch +over her and to serve her. Susanna had conceived an almost passionate +devotion for Mrs. Astrid; such as young girls often feel for elderly, +distinguished women, to whom they look up as to the ideal of their sex. +And when Mrs. Astrid returned to Norway, Susanna kissed with tears her +little Hulda, but yet felt herself happy to follow such a mistress, and +to serve her in the rural solitude to which she betook herself. Susanna +journeyed to the foreign country, but retained deep in her heart her +little Hulda and her life's plan. + + + + +MRS. ASTRID. + + Did ye but feel, O stars! who see + The whole earth's silent misery, + Then never would your glances rest + With such calm radiance on her breast. + + HENR WERGELAND. + + +As Susanna withdrew from Harald, and from the water of discord, she was +quite in an excited and bad temper; but as soon however as she +approached the wing of the house which Mrs. Astrid inhabited, she became +calmer. She looked up to her window, and saw there her noble but gloomy +profile. It was bent down, and her head seemed as it were depressed by +dark thoughts. At this sight, Susanna forgot all her own ill humour. +"Oh!" sighed she, "if I could only make her happier!" + +This was Susanna's daily subject of thought, but it became to her every +day a darker riddle. Mrs. Astrid appeared to be indifferent to +everything around her here. Never did she give an order about anything +in the house, but let Susanna scold there and govern just as she would. +Susanna took all the trouble she could to provide the table of her +mistress with everything good and delicious which lay in her power; but +to her despair the lady ate next to nothing, and never appeared to +notice whether it was prepared well or ill. + +Now before Susanna went into the house, she gathered several of the most +beautiful flowers which the autumn frost had spared, made a nosegay of +them, and with these in her hand stept softly into Mrs. Astrid's room. + +"Bowed with grief," is the expression which describes Mrs. Astrid's +whole being. The sickly paleness of her noble countenance, the depressed +seldom-raised eyelids, the inanimate languor of her movements, the +gloomy indifference in which her soul seemed to be wrapped,--like her +body in its black mourning habiliments, when she sate for hours in her +easy-chair, often without occupation, the head bowed down upon the +breast; all this indicated a soul which was severely fettered by long +suffering. + +Suffering in the north has its own peculiar character. In the south it +burns and consumes. In the north it kills slowly; it freezes, it +petrifies by degrees. This has been acknowledged for untold ages, when +our forefathers sought for images of that which they felt to be the most +terrible in life; thus originated the fable of the subterranean dwelling +of Hela, of the terrors of the shore of corpses--in one word, the "Hell +of the North, with its infinite, treeless wildernesses; with cold, +darkness, mist, clammy rivers, chill, distilling poison, cities +resembling clouds filled with rain, feetless hobgoblins," and so on. + +In the Grecian Tartarian dance of the Furies there is life and wild +strength, there is in its madness a certain intoxication which deprives +it of its feeling of deep misery. The heart revolts not so much from +these pictures of terror, as from the cold, clammy, dripping ones which +the chill north exhibits--ah! not alone in poetry. + +As Susanna entered the apartment of Mrs. Astrid, she found her sitting, +as usual, sunk in deep melancholy. Upon a table before her lay paper and +pens, and a book, in which she appeared to have been reading. It was the +Bible; it lay open at the book of Job, and the following passages were +underlined: + + My soul is weary of my life, for my days are vanity. + Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards. + +Mrs. Astrid's eyes were riveted upon these last words, as Susanna +softly, and with a warm heart, approached her, and with a cordial "Ah! +be so good," presented to her the nosegay. + +The lady looked up at the flowers, and an expression of pain passed over +her countenance as she turned away her head and said, "They are +beautiful, but keep them, Susanna, they are painful to my eyes." + +She resumed her former position, and Susanna, much troubled, drew back; +after a short silence, however, she again ventured to raise her voice, +and said, "We have got to-day a beautiful salmon-trout, will you not, +Mrs. Astrid, have it for dinner? Perhaps with egg-sauce, and perhaps I +might roast a duck, or a chicken----" + +"Do whatever you like, Susanna," said the lady, interrupting her, and +with indifference. But there was something so sorrowful in this +indifference, that Susanna, who had again approached her, could not +contain herself; she quickly threw herself before her mistress, clasped +her knees, and said: + +"Ah, if I could only do something to please my lady; if I could only do +something." + +But Susanna's warm glance, beaming with devotion, met one so dark, that +she involuntarily started back. + +"Susanna," said Mrs. Astrid, as with gloomy seriousness she laid her +hand upon her shoulder and gently put her back, "gratify me in one +thing, attach not thyself to me. It will not lead to good. I have no +attachment to give--my heart is dead! Go, my child," continued she more +kindly, "go, and do not trouble thyself about me. My wish, the only good +thing for me, is to be alone." + +Susanna went now, her heart filled with the most painful feelings. "Not +trouble myself about her!" said she to herself, as she wiped away a +tear; "not trouble myself about her, as if that were so easy." + +After Susanna was gone, Mrs. Astrid threw a melancholy glance upon the +papers which lay before her. She seized the pen, and laid it down again. +She seemed to shudder at the thought of using it; at length she overcame +herself, and wrote the following letter: + +"You wish that I should write to you. I write for that reason; but +what--what shall I say to you? My thanks for your letter, my paternal +friend, the teacher of my youth; thanks that you wish to strengthen and +elevate my soul. But I am old, bowed down, wearied, embittered--there +dwells no strength, no living word more in my breast. My friend, it is +too late--too late! + +"You would raise my glance to heaven; but what is the glory of the sun +to the eye that--sees no longer? What is the power of music to the deaf +ear? What is all that is beautiful, all that is good in the world, to +the heart that is dead, that is turned to stone in a long, severe +captivity? Oh, my friend, I am unworthy of your consolation, of your +refreshing words. My soul raises itself against them, and throws them +from herself as 'words, words, words,' which have sounded beautifully +and grandly for thousands of years, whilst thousands of souls are +inconsolably speechless. + +"Hope? I have hoped so long. I have already said to myself so long, 'a +better day comes! The path of duty conducts to the home of peace and +light, be the way ever so full of thorns. Go only steadfastly forward, +weary pilgrim, go, go, and thou wilt come to the holy land!' And I have +gone--I have gone on through the long, weary day, for above thirty +years; but the way stretches itself out farther and farther--my hopes +have withered, have died away, the one after the other;--I see now no +goal, none, but the grave! Love, love! Ah, if you knew what an +inexpressibly bitter feeling this word awakens in me! Have I not loved, +loved intensely? And what fruit has my love borne? It has broken my +heart, and has brought unhappiness to those whom I loved. It is in vain +that you would combat a belief which has taken deep root in me. I +believe that there are human beings who are born and pre-ordained to +misfortune, and who communicate misfortune to all who approach them, and +_I believe that I belong to these_. Let me, therefore, fly from my kind, +fly from every feeling which binds me to them. Why should I occasion +more mischief than I have already done? + +"Why do you desire me to write? I wish not to pour my bitterness into +the heart of another; I wish to grieve no one, and--what have I now +done? + +"There is a silent combat which goes through the world, which is fought +out in the reserved human heart, and at times--fearfully! It is the +combat with evil and bitter thoughts. They are such thoughts as +sometimes take expression, expression written in fire and blood. Then +are they read before the judgment-seat and condemned. In many human +hearts, however, they rage silently for long years; then are undermined +by degrees, health, temper, love, faith, faith in life and faith in--a +good God. With this sinks everything. + +"Could I believe that my devoted, true pilgrimage by the side of a +husband whom I once so tenderly loved, and for whose sake I dragged on +life in the fortress of which he was the commander, in comparison of +which the life of the condemned criminal is joy; whom I followed +faithfully, though I no longer loved him, because it was needful to him; +because, without me, he would have been given over to dark +spirits--followed, because right and duty demanded it; because I had +promised it before God--Oh! could I believe that this fidelity had +operated beneficially--that my endeavours had borne any fruit--I should +not then, as now, ask 'why was I born? why have I lived?' But nothing, +nothing! + +"Could I think that on the other side of the grave I should meet the +gentle loving look of my only sister--would I gladly die. But what +should I reply to her, if she asked after her child of sorrow? How would +she look upon the unfaithful protectress? + +"Oh, my friend! My misfortune has nothing in common with that of +romances, nothing with that of which most the deep shades only serve to +set off the most beautiful lights. It is a wearisome winter twilight; +which only conducts to a deeper night. And am I alone in this condition? +Open the pages of history, look around you in the present day, and you +will see a thousand-fold sufferings, unmerited sufferings, which, after +a long agony lead--to despair. But another, a happier life! Only +consolation, only hope, only true point of light in the darkness of +earthly existence!--no, no! I will not abandon thee! I will trust in +thee; and in this belief will be silenced the murmurings which so often +arise against the Creator of the world. + +"I am ill, and do not believe that I shall live over this winter. +Breathing is difficult to me; and perhaps the inexpressible heaviness +which burdens me may contribute to this torment. When I sit up sleepless +in my bed through the long nights, and see the night in myself, behind +me and before me, then dark, horrible phantasies surround me, and I +often think that insanity, with ashy cheeks, stony and rigid gaze, +approaches me, will darken my reason and bewilder my mind. How can I +wish to live? When it is evening, I wish it were morning; and when it is +morning, I wish that the day was over, and that it were again evening. +Every hour is to me a burden and a torment. + +"For this cause, my friend, pray God for me that I may soon die! +Farewell! Perhaps I may write no more. But my last clear thought will be +for you. Forgive the impatience, the bitterness, which shows itself in +this letter. Pray for me, my friend and teacher, pray that I may be able +to compose myself, and to pray yet before I die!" + + + + +NEW CONTENTIONS. + + We're living a peculiar life, + With serious words and serious strife. + + MUNCH. + + +Whilst we leave the pale Mrs. Astrid alone with her dark thoughts, we +are led by certain extraordinary discords to look around in + +THE BREWHOUSE. + +Harald found himself there for the purpose of tasting the new beer which +Susanna had brewed; but before he had swallowed down a good draught, he +said, with a horrible grimace, "It is good for nothing--good for nothing +at all!" + +Somewhat excited, Susanna made reply, "Perhaps you will also assert that +Baroness Rosenhjelm's brewing-recipe is good for nothing!" + +"That I assert decidedly. Does not she give coffee-parties? And a +coffee-bibber is always a bad housewife; and as Baroness Rosenhjelm is a +coffee-bibber, therefore----" + +"I must tell you," interrupted Susanna, vehemently, "that it is +unbecoming and profane of you to talk in this way of such an excellent +lady, and a person of such high rank!" + +"High! How high may she be?" + +"A deal higher than you are, or ever can be, that I can assure you!" + +"Higher than me! then of a certainty she goes on stilts. Now, I must say +that is the very tip-top of gentility and politeness. One may forgive a +lady giving coffee-parties, and decorating and dressing herself up, but +to go on stilts, only on purpose to be higher than other folks, and to +be able to look over their heads, that is coming it strong over us. How +can such a high person ever come down low enough to brew good beer? But +a Swedish woman can never brew good beer, for----" + +"She will not brew a single drop for you abominable Norwegians, for you +have neither reason, nor understanding, nor taste, nor----" + +Out of the brewhouse flew Susanna, in the highest indignation, throwing +down a glass of beer which Harald had poured out during the contention +for her, but which now would have gone right over if he had not saved it +by a spring. + +Towards the evening of the same day we see the contending parties again +met in + +THE GARRET. + +"Are you yet angry?" asked Harald, jokingly, as he stretched in his head +through the garret-door, where Susanna was sitting upon a flour-tub, as +on a throne, with all the importance and dignity of a store-room queen, +holding in her hand a sceptre of the world-famous sweet herbs--thyme, +marjoram, and basil, which she was separating into little bundles, +whilst she cast a searching glance around her well-ordered kingdom. + +The bread-chests were heaped up, for she had just baked oaten-bread; +bacon-sausages and hams hung full of gravy, from the roof, as well as +great bundles of dried fish; little bags full of all kinds of vegetables +stood in their appointed places, and so on. + +Harald looked also around the garret, and truly with the eye of a +connoisseur, and said, although he had yet received no answer to his +question-- + +"It is certain that I never saw a better provided or better arranged +store-room!" + +Susanna would not exhibit one gleam of the pleasure she felt at this +praise. + +"But," continued Harald, "you must confess that it does not require so +very much skill to preserve the store-room and cellar well supplied in a +country so rich in all the good things of life as our Norway-- + + Well-beloved land, with heaven-high mountains, + Fruit-bearing valleys, and fish-giving shores!" + +"Fish also have we, thank God, in Sweden," replied Susanna, drily. + +"Oh, but not to compare with our fish! Or would you seriously set your +perch and carp against our mackerel, herrings, haddocks, flounders, and +all our unparalleled quantities of fish?" + +"All your Norwegian kind of fish I would give for one honest Swedish +pike." + +"A pike! Is there then in Sweden really nothing but pike?" + +"In Sweden there are all kinds of fish that there are in Norway, and a +great deal bigger and fatter." + +"Yes, then they come from our coasts. We take what we want, and that +which remains we let swim to Sweden, that down there they may have +somewhat also. But I have forgotten that I myself am going a-fishing, +and will catch little fishes, great fishes, a deal of fish. Adieu, +Mamsel Susanna. I shall soon come back with fish." + +"You had best stop with your Norwegian fishes," cried Susanna after him. + +But Harald did not stop with the fishes. On the morrow we see him +following Susanna into + +THE DAIRY. + +"I see that we are going to have to-day for dinner onion-milk, one of +our most delicious national dishes, and my favourite eating." + +"Usch! One gets quite stupid and sleepy when one only thinks on your +national dishes. And still more horrible than your onion-milk, and more +unnatural too, is your fruit-soup with little herrings." + +"Fruit-soup with little herrings! Nay, that is the most superexcellent +food on the earth, a food which I might call a truly Christian dish." + +"And I might call it a heathenish dish, which no true Christian man +could eat." + +"From untold ages it has been eaten by free Norwegian men in the +beautiful valleys of Norway." + +"That proves that you free Norwegians are still heathens." + +"I can prove to you that the Norwegians were a Christian people before +the Swedes." + +"That you may prove as much as you like, but I shall not believe it." + +"But I will show it to you in print." + +"Then I shall be certain that it is a misprint." + +Harald laughed, and said something about the impossibility of disputing +with a Swedish woman. Should now anybody wish to know how it happens +that one finds Harald so continually in Susanna's company in the +brewhouse, in the store-room, in the dairy, we can only reply that he +must be a great lover of beer, and flour, and milk, or of a certain +spice in the every-day soup of life, called bantering. + +Mrs. Astrid always breakfasted in her own room, but dined with Harald +and Susanna, and saw them often for an hour in the evening. Often during +dinner did the contention about Norway and Sweden break out; for the +slightest occasion was sufficient to make the burgomaster's daughter +throw herself blindly into the strife for fatherland; and, strange +enough, Mrs. Astrid herself sometimes seemed to find pleasure in +exciting the contest, as she brought upon the carpet one question or +another, as-- + +"I should like to know whether cauliflower is better in Norway or in +Sweden?" or, "I should like to know whether the corn is better in Sweden +or in Norway?" + +"Quite certainly in Norway," said Harald. + +"Quite decidedly in Sweden," cried Susanna. And vegetables, and fish, +and the coinage, and measures and weights, were all handled and +contended for in this way. + +Of the corn in Norway, Susanna said, "I have not seen upon this whole +estate one single straw which may bear a comparison with that which I +have seen in Sweden." + +"The cause of that," said Harald, "is because you saw here good corn for +the first time." + +Of the Norwegian weights, Susanna said, "I never know what I am about +with your absurd, nasty Norwegian weights." + +"They are heavier than the Swedish," replied Harald. + +Whenever Susanna became right vehement and right angry, then--it is +shocking to say it--Harald laughed with his whole heart, and at times a +faint smile brightened also Mrs. Astrid's pale face, but it resembled +the gleam of sunshine which breaks forth in a dark November sky, only to +be immediately concealed behind clouds. + +Susanna never thought in the least, on these occasions, of putting the +bridle on the Barbra temper. She considered it as a holy duty to defend +the fatherland in this manner. + +But the spirit of contention did not always reign between Harald and +Susanna. At intervals the spirit of peace also turned towards them, +although as a timid dove, which is always ready soon to fly away hence. +When Susanna spoke, as she often did, of that which lived in the inmost +of her heart; of her love to her little sister, and the recollections of +their being together; of her longings to see her again, and to be able +to live for her as a mother for her child,--then listened Harald ever +silently and attentively. No jeering smile nor word came to disturb +these pure images in Susanna's soul. And how limningly did Susanna +describe the little Hulda's beauty; the little white child, as soft as +cotton-wool, the pious blue eyes, the white little teeth, which glanced +out whenever she laughed like bright sunshine, which then lay spread +over her whole countenance; and the golden locks which hung so +beautifully over forehead and shoulders, the little pretty hands, and +temper and heart lively, good, affectionate! Oh! she was in short an +angel of God! The little chamber, which Susanna inhabited with her +little Hulda, and which she herself had changed from an unused +lumber-room into a pretty chamber, and whose walls she herself painted, +she painted now from memory yet once more for Harald; and the bed of the +little Hulda was surrounded with a light-blue muslin curtain, and how a +sunbeam stole into the chamber in the morning, in order to shine on the +pillow of the child, and to kiss her little curly head. How roguish was +the little one when Susanna came in late at night to go to bed, and cast +her first glance on the bed in which her darling lay. But she saw her +not, for Hulda drew her little head under the coverlet to hide herself +from her sister. Susanna then would pretend to seek for the little one; +but she needed only to say with an anxious voice, "where--ah, where is +my little Hulda?" in order to decoy forth the head of the little one, to +see her arms stretched out, and to hear her say, "here I am, Sanna! here +is thy little Hulda!" And she had then her little darling in her arms, +and pressed her to her heart; then was Susanna happy, and forgot all the +cares and the fatigues of the day. + +At the remembrance of these hours Susanna's tears often flowed, and +prevented her remarking the tearful glow which sometimes lit up Harald's +eyes. + +Harald, however, had also his relations; not, it is true, of so tender a +nature, but yet interesting enough to lay claim to all Susanna's +attention, and to give us occasion to commence a new chapter. + + + + +EVENING HOURS. + + I like the life, where rule and line appeareth, + In the mill's clapping and the hammer's blow; + I give to him the path who burthens beareth, + He worketh for a useful end I know. + But he, who for the klip-klap never heareth + The call of bells to feeling's holiday-- + Hath but sham-life, mechanically moving, + Soul-less he is, unconscious and unloving. + Fly agile arrow, rattling in thy speeding + Over the busy emmet's roof of clay, + And waken spiritual life! + + FOSS. + + +Harald related willingly, and related uncommonly well;--an entertaining +and a happy gift, which one often meets with in Norway among all +classes, both in men and women, and which they appear to have inherited +from their ancestors the Scalds; and besides this, he was well +acquainted with the natural wonders and legends of the mountain region. + +And it is precisely in mountain regions where the most beautiful +blossoms of the people's poetry have sprung as if from her heart. The +ages of the Sagas and the heathens have left behind their giant traces. +River and mountain have their traditions of spectres and +transformations; giant "cauldrons" resound in the mountains, and +monumental stones are erected over warriors, who "buckled on their +belts," and fell in single combat. From Hallingdal went forth the +national Polska (the Halling), and only the Hardanger-fela (the +Hallingdal fiddle) can rightly give its wild, extraordinary melody. Most +beautiful are the flowers of remembrance which the Christian antiquity +exhibits, and the eternal snow upon the crowns of the ancient mountains +is not more imperishable than these innocent roses at their feet. So +long as Gausta stands, and the Rjukan sings his thunder-song, will the +memory of Mari-Stien live, and his tales of joy and sorrow be told; so +long as the ice-sea of Folgefond rests over his silent, dark secrets,[1] +so long will the little island become green, of which it is said, that +it is eternally wetted with the tears of true love. + +Be it who it may--they who write with their own life, song and legend, +who express the depths of being by the silent but mighty language of +deeds--they are the real authors, the first poets of the earth. In the +second rank stand those who relate that which the others have lived. + +When the day's work was over, and Mrs. Astrid had again betaken herself +to her chamber after her slight evening meal, it gave Harald great +pleasure to read aloud or to relate histories to Susanna, whilst she +sewed, or her spinning-wheel hummed often in lively emulation of Larina +and Karina, and whilst the flames of the fire danced up the chimney, and +threw their warm joyous gleams over the assembled company. It pleased +Harald infinitely to have Susanna for his auditor, to hear her +exclamation of childish terror and astonishment, or also her hearty +laughter, or to see her tears over his now merry and now sorrowful +tales. + +How deeply was Susanna's heart touched by the relation of Mari-Stien, +whose path over the mountain on the edge of the abyss of Rjukan-force, +which in these days the traveller treads with dread, was discovered by a +young girl guided by the courage of love. It was by this path that the +beautiful Mary of Vestfjordal went with light and firm foot to meet the +friend of her childhood and her beloved, Ejstein Halfvordsen. But the +avarice of her father separated them, and Mary's tears and prayers +obliged Ejstein to fly, in order to escape the schemes of a treacherous +rival against his life. Years passed on, and Mary remained steadfast in +her faith. Her father died. Ejstein had, by his bravery and his +magnanimity, made his former enemy his friend, and the lovers were now +about to meet after a long separation, never again to be divided. +Ejstein hastened by the shorter road of the Mari-Stien to meet his +beloved. Long had she awaited him. She saw him coming, and his name +escaped her with a cry of joy. He saw her--stretched forth his arms, as +his whole soul, eagerly towards her, and he forgot--that he had no +pinions. He fell, and the Rjukan swallowed him in its foaming depths. +For many years after this there wandered daily upon Mari-Stien, a pale +figure, whose beautiful features spoke of silent insanity, and stood +bent down over the stream, and seemed to talk with some one down in its +depths. With melancholy joy in her countenance returned she ever from +her wandering, and said to her people in the cottage, "I have spoken +with him, and he besought me to come to him every day, and to tell him +how I love. It would be wrong to refuse him this; he is so good and +loves me so truly." + +Thus went she, even when the wind blew her silver hair around her +wrinkled cheeks; thus she went until a merciful voice called the weary +wanderer to ascend the path of heaven to rest and joy, in the arms of +the beloved. + +Less mournful, but not the less interesting for Susanna, was the old +legend of Halgrim. + +Stormannadauen (the Black Death) had raged through Norway, and cut off +more than two-thirds of its population, and desolated whole extents of +country and large populous districts. In Uldvig's Valley, in Hardanger, +a young peasant of the name of Halgrim alone, of all the people who had +died there, remained alive. He raised himself from the sick bed on which +he lay surrounded by the dead, and went out in order to seek for living +people. + +It was spring, and the larks sang loud in the blue clear air; the +birch-wood clothed itself in tender green; the stream, with its melting +snow-drifts, wound down the mountains singing on its way; but no plough +furrowed the loosened earth, and from the heights was heard no wood-horn +calling the cattle at feeding time. All was still and dead in the +habitations of men. Halgrim went from valley to valley, from cottage to +cottage; everywhere death stared him in the face, and he recognised the +corpses of early friends and acquaintance. Upon this, he began to +believe that he was alone in the world, and despair seized on his soul, +and he determined also to die. But as he was just about to throw himself +down from a rock, his faithful dog sprang up to him, caressed him, and +lamented in the expressive language of anguish. Halgrim bethought +himself, and stepped back from the brink of the abyss; he embraced his +dog; his tears flowed, and despair withdrew from his softened heart. He +began his wandering anew. Thoughts of love led him towards the parish of +Graven, where he had first seen and won the love of Hildegunda. + +It was evening, and the sun was setting as Halgrim descended into the +valley, which was as still and dead as those through which he had +wandered. Dark stood the fir-trees in the black shadow of the rocky +wall, and silently rolled on the river between the desolate banks. On +the opposite side of the river a little wooded promontory shot out into +the blue water, and upon the light green tops of the birch-trees played +the last rays of the sun. + +Suddenly it seemed to Halgrim as if a light smoke rose up from among the +trees. But he trusted not his eyes; he stared upon it breathlessly. He +waited however hardly a second, when he saw a blue column curling slowly +upwards in the peaceful evening air. With a cry of joy Halgrim darted +forwards, waded through the stream, and soon stood on its opposite +shore. Barking and whining his dog ran onwards to the cottage whence the +smoke ascended. Upon its hearth clearly burned the fire, and a young +maiden stepped forward to the door--one cry of inexpressible joy, and +Halgrim and Hildegunda lay in each other's arms! Hildegunda was also the +only living person in her valley after the terrible visit of the Black +Death. + +On the following day, after mutual agreement, they went to church, and +as there was no priest to marry them, and nobody to witness the +plighting of their faith, they stepped alone together to God's altar, +and extended to each other a hand, whilst Halgrim said with a solemn +voice, "In the name of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy +Ghost!" + +And God blessed the faith plighted in His name. From this happy pair +descended generations who peopled anew this region, and the names of +Halgrim and Hildegunda are to this day in use among its inhabitants. + + * * * * * + +Through Harald also was Susanna made acquainted with the legends of the +kings of Norway; with the deeds of Olaf Haraldsen, the blood-baptizer; +with those of the noble Olof Tryggveson; and with admiration heard she +of king Sverre, with the little body and the large truly-royal soul. It +flattered also somewhat her womanly vanity to hear of women as +extraordinary in the old history of Norway; as for example, the proud +peasant's daughter, Gyda, who gave occasion to the hero-deeds of Harald +Haarfager, who first made Norway into a kingdom; and although the action +of Gunild, the king's mother, awakened her abhorrence, yet it gave her +pleasure to see how a woman, by the supremacy of her mind, governed +seven kings and directed their actions. + +Darker pictures were presented by the citizen-wars, which hurried +"blood-storm upon blood-storm" through the land, and in which it at +length "bled liberty to death." + +Now the wild strawberry blooms in the ruins of former strongholds, and +upon blood-drenched fields grow golden forests, + + As the scar groweth o'er the healed wound.--TEGNER. + +A milder generation lived in the place of the "Bloody Axe,"[2] and +looked serenely and hopefully towards the future, whilst in their +peaceful, beautiful valleys, they listened willingly to the memories of +the old times. + + Upon the hill-tops stands the ancient stone, + Where legend hovers like a singing lark, + With morning brightness on its downy breast. + + VELHAVEN. + +One subject of conversation and of dispute also between Harald and +Susanna, was their pale lady. As soon as the discourse turned to her, +Harald assumed a very grave demeanour, and replied only to Susanna's +earnest inquiries of what he knew about her, "she must have been very +unfortunate!" If, however, Susanna began to assail him with questions +about this misfortune, in what it consisted, whether one could not help +her in some way or other--Susanna would have gone up and down the world +for this purpose--then began Harald to tell a story. + +Tales of women, powerful and distinguished in their valleys, are not +rare in Norway. The story of the lady in Hallingdal, called the +Shrieking Lady, is well known, who was so magnificent that she was drawn +by elks; one hears of the rich Lady Belju, also of Hallingdal, who built +Naes church, and by means of fire and butter split the Beja rock, so +that a road was carried over it, which road is called to this day the +Butter Rock. One hears tell of the Ladies of Solberg and Skoendal, of +their great quarrel about a pig, and of the false oath which one of them +swore in the lawsuit which thence ensued; and to every one of these +ladies belongs the story, that the preacher did not dare to have the +church-bells rung until the great lady had arrived there. + +They tell further the history of the wife of the knight Knut Eldhjerna, +who, from grief for the criminal lives of her seven sons, retired from +the world, and lived as a hermit in a lonesome dale, where, by fasting +and alms, she endeavoured to atone for the misdeeds of her children. +Yes, indeed, there are many histories of this kind. But as concerns the +history which Harald related to Susanna, of Mrs. Astrid, its like had +not yet been heard in the valleys of Norway. There occurred in it so +many strange and horrible things, that the credulous Susanna, who during +it had become ever paler and paler, might have been petrified with +horror if, precisely at the most terrible part of the catastrophe, the +suspicion had not suddenly occurred to her, that she was horrifying +herself--at a mere fiction! And Harald's countenance, when she expressed +her conjectures, made this certainty; and the hearty laughter with which +he received her exclamations and reproaches excited her highest +indignation, and she rose up and left him, with the assurance that she +never again would ask him anything, never believe a word that he said. + +This lasted till--the next time. Then if Harald promised to tell the +truth as regarded their lady--the whole pure truth, then Susanna let +herself be befooled, listened, grew pale, wept, till the increasing +marvels of the story awoke afresh her suspicion, which she again plainly +expressed as before, and again Barbra stood up, scolded, threatened, +banged the door after her in anger, and Harald--laughed. + +In one point, however, Harald and Susanna always perfectly agreed, and +that was in serving their lady with the greatest zeal; and this, without +themselves being aware of it, increased their esteem for each other, +which, however, by no means prevented their boldly attacking each other, +and slandering--he Sweden, she Norway. + +Thus, amid perpetual alternations of strife and peace, slid away the +autumn months unobserved, with its darkening days and its increasing +cold; and the season came, in which important business demanded the time +of the ladies, as well in great as in small houses; the time for lights +and tarts, dance, play, and children's joy, in one word-- + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Several districts, wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah, are said to be +buried under the gigantic pall, and it is related that people have heard +the cock crow below the snow covering. If the sun appears above the +Fond, it is believed that swarms of innumerable birds of all colours, +white, black, green, yellow, and red, are seen flying up and down over +the snowy sea. It was thought in early times, that these were the souls +of the wicked inhabitants of the valley which swarmed about here in the +shapes of birds.--FAYE. + +[2] Eric, king of Norway, so called because of his cruelty. + + + + +CHRISTMAS. + + Come hither little birds, merry of mood, + By barn-door and dwelling-house corn ears are strewed; + Christmas comes hither, + Then may ye gather, + Food from the bread-giving straw, golden hued. + + BJERREGAARD. + + The sun shall warm and illumine the whole earth, therefore is the + earth glad of his coming.--THE KING'S PLAY. + + +Thanks be to God for the sun! So many friends, so many joys, desert us +during our pilgrimage through life; the sun remains true to us, and +lights and warms us from the cradle to the grave. This is it which +unites the Pagan and the Christian in one common worship, inasmuch as it +lifts the hearts of both to the God who has created the sun. The highest +festival of the year among the Northern Heathens and Christians occurs +also at the season in which the sun, as it were, is born anew to the +earth, and his strength is converted from waning to waxing. With the +greatest cordiality is this festival celebrated in the Scandinavian +countries. Not alone in the houses of the wealthy blaze up fires of joy, +and are heard the joyful cries of children; from the humblest cottages +also resounds joy; in the prisons it becomes bright, and the poor +partake of--plenty. In the country, doors, hearths, and tables, stand +open to every wanderer. In many parts of Norway the innkeeper demands no +payment from the traveller either for board or lodging. This is the time +in which the earth seems to feel the truth of the heavenly words--"It is +more blessed to give than to receive." And not only human beings, but +animals also, have their good things at Christmas. All the inhabitants +of the farm-yard, all domestic animals, are entertained in the best +manner; and the little birds of heaven rejoice too, for at every barn a +tall stake raises itself, on the top of which rich sheaves of oats +invite them to a magnificent meal; even the poorest day-labourer, if he +himself possesses no corn, asks and receives from the peasant a bundle +of corn, raises it aloft, and makes the birds rejoice beside his empty +barn. + +Susanna had much to care for in the Christmas week, and was often up +late at night: in part, on account of her own business; in part, on +account of some Christmas gifts with which she wished to surprise +several persons around her. And this certainly was the cause of her +somewhat oversleeping herself on the morning of Christmas-eve. She was +awoke by a twittering of birds before her window, and her conscience +reproached her with having, amid the business of the foregoing day, +quite forgotten the little birds, to which she was accustomed to throw +out upon the snow, corn and bread crumbs; and they were now come to +remind her of it. Ah! were but all remembrances like to the twittering +of birds! With real remorse for her forgetfulness Susanna hastened to +dress herself, and to draw aside the window-curtain. And behold! +outside, before her window, stood a tall slender fir-tree, in whose +green top, cut in the form of a garland, was stuck a great bunch of +gold-yellow oats, around which great flocks of sparrows and bulfinches +swarmed, picking and chirping. Susanna blushed, and thought "Harald!" +The people in the house answered with smiles to Susanna's questions, the +Steward had, indeed, planted the tree. The Steward, however, himself +appeared as if he were quite a stranger to the whole affair, betrayed +astonishment at the tree with the sheaf of oats, and could not conceive +how it had come there. + +"It must," said he, "have shot forth of itself during the night;" and +this could only be proved from the wonderful strength of the excellent +Norwegian earth--every morsel of which is pulverised primary rock. Such +a soil only can bring forth such a miraculous growth. + +In the forenoon, Harald went with Susanna into the farm-yard, where she +with her own hands divided oats among the cows; bread among the sheep; +and among the little poultry corn in abundant measure. In the community +of hens was there with this a great difference of character observable. +Some snatched greedily, whilst they drove the others away by force; +others, on the contrary, kept at a modest distance, and picked up well +pleased the corn which good fortune had bestowed upon them; others, +again, seemed to enjoy for others more than for themselves. Of this +noble nature was one young cock in particular, with a high comb, and a +rich cape of changeful gold-coloured feathers, and of a peculiarly proud +and lofty bearing; he gave up his portion to the hens, so that he had +scarcely a single grain for himself; regarding, however, the while, with +a noble chanticleer-demeanour the crowd which pecked and cackled at his +feet. On account of this beautiful behaviour, he was called the Knight, +by Susanna, which name he always preserved after that time. Among the +geese, she perceived with vexation that the grey one was still more +oppressed and pecked at by his white tyrant than ever. Harald proposed +to kill the grey one; but Susanna declared warmly, that if either of the +rivals were sacrificed it must be the white one. + +In a house where there are no children, where neither family nor friends +assemble, where the mistress sits with her trouble in darkness, there +can Christmas bring no great joy. But Susanna had made preparations to +diffuse pleasure, and the thoughts of it had through the whole week, +amid her manifold occupations, illumined her heart; and, besides, she +was of that kind that her life would have been dark had it not been that +the prospect of always making somebody happy had glimmered like a star +over her path. Larina, Karina, and Petro tasted on this day of the +fruits of Susanna's night-watching; and when it was evening, and Susanna +had arranged the Christmas-table in the hall, and had seen it adorned +with lut-fish,[3] and roast meat, and sweet groats, cakes and butter, +tarts and apples, and lighted with four candles; when the farm-people +assembled round the table with eyes that flashed with delight and +appetite; when the oldest among them struck up a hymn of thanksgiving, +and all the rest joined in with folded hands and solemn voices--then +seemed it to Susanna as if she were no longer in a foreign land: and +after she had joined in with the hymn of the people, she seated herself +at the table as the most joyous, cordial hostess; clinked her glass with +those of men and maid servants; animated even the most colossal passion +for eating, and placed the nicest things before the weak and the timid. + +Mrs. Astrid had told Susanna that she would remain alone in her chamber +this evening, and only take a glass of milk. Susanna wished, however, to +decoy her into enjoyment by a little surprise; and had laid the +following little plot against her peace. At the time when the glass of +milk was to be carried in to her, instead of this a very pretty boy, +dressed to represent an angel, according to Susanna's idea of one, with +a crown of light upon his head, should softly enter her room and beckon +her out. So beautiful and bright a messenger the lady would find it +impossible to withstand, and he would then conduct her out into the +great hall, where, in a grove of fir-trees, a table was covered with the +sweetest groats, and the most delicious of tarts, and behind the +fir-trees the people of the house were to be assembled, and to strike up +a song to a well-known air of the country, in praise of their lady, and +full of good wishes for her future life. + +Harald, to whom Susanna had imparted her scheme, shook his head over it, +at first, doubtfully, but afterwards fell into it, and lent a helping +hand to its accomplishment, as well by obtaining the fir-trees, as by +fitting out the angel. Susanna was quite charmed with her beautiful +little messenger, and followed silently and softly at his heels, as with +some anxiety about his own head and its glittering crown he tripped +lightly to Mrs. Astrid's chamber. + +Harald softly opened the door for the boy. From thence they saw the lady +sitting in an easy-chair in her room, her head bowed upon her hands. The +lamp upon the table cast a faint light upon her black-appareled figure. +The audible movement at the door roused her; she looked up, and stared +for some time with a wild glance at the apparition which met her there. +Then she arose hastily, pressed her hands to her breast, uttered a faint +cry of horror, and sank lifeless to the floor. Susanna pushed her angel +violently aside, and rushed to her mistress, who with indescribable +feelings of anguish she raised in her arms and carried to bed. Harald, +on the contrary, busied himself with the poor angel, who with his crown +had lost his balance, and while the hot tallow ran down over brow and +cheeks broke out into the most deplorable tones of lamentation. + +Susanna soon succeeded in recalling her mistress to life; but for a long +time her mind seemed to be confused, and she spoke unintelligible +unconnected sentences, of which Susanna only understood the words, +"Apparition--unfortunate child--death!" Susanna concluded therefore that +the fabricated angel had frightened her, and exclaimed with tears, "Ah, +it was only Hans Guttormson's little fellow that I had dressed up as an +angel in order to give you pleasure!" + +Susanna saw now right well how little fortunate had been this thought; +but Mrs. Astrid listened with great eagerness to Susanna's explanation +respecting the apparition which had shook her so much, and at length her +convulsive state passed off in a flood of tears. Susanna beside herself +for grief, that instead of joy she had occasioned trouble to her lady, +kissed, with tears, her dress, hands, feet, amid heartfelt prayers for +forgiveness. + +Mrs. Astrid answered mildly, but with excitement: "Thou meant it well, +Susanna. Thou couldst not know how thou wouldst grieve me. But--think no +more about it; never more attempt to give me pleasure. I can never more +be joyful, never more happy! There lies a stone upon my breast which +never can be raised, until the stone shall be laid on my grave. But go +now, Susanna, it is necessary for me to be alone. I shall soon be +better." + +Susanna prayed that she might bring her a glass of milk, and Mrs. Astrid +consented; but when she had brought it in she was obliged again to +withdraw, her heart full of anguish. When she came out to Harald she +poured out to him all her pain over the unfortunate project, and related +to him the deep agitation of mind, and the dark, despairing words of her +lady. + +At this Harald became pale and thoughtful, and Susanna at that was still +more depressed. To be sure she had yet a little mine of pleasures +remaining, on whose explosion she had very much pleased herself, but +this in the disturbed state of mind produced but little effect. It is +true that Harald smiled, and exclaimed, "The cross!" when a waistcoat +made its appearance out of a wheaten loaf; it is true that he thanked +Susanna and pressed her hand, but he had evidently so little pleasure in +her present, his thoughts were so plainly directed to something else, +that now every gleam of pleasure vanished for Susanna from the Christmas +joy. When she was alone in her chamber, and saw from her window how a +little beam of light proceeded from every cottage in the valley, and she +thought how within them were assembled in confidential circles, parents, +children, brothers and sisters, and friends, then felt she painfully +that she was lonesome in a strange land; and as she remembered how +formerly on this evening she made her little Hulda happy, and how +fortunate her projects had always been, she took out a handkerchief +which had been worn on the neck of the little beloved sister, and +covered it with hot tears and kisses. Great part of the night she passed +on the threshold of her lady's door, listening full of anguish to the +never-ceasing footsteps within. But with the exception of several deep +sighs, Susanna heard no expression of pain which might justify her in +breaking in upon the solitude of her mistress. + +We will now turn ourselves to a somewhat more lively picture. + +There exists in Norway a pleasant custom, which is called Tura-jul, or +Christmas-turns. In Christmas week, namely, people go out to visit one +another by turns, and then in the hospitable houses is there feasting, +sporting, and dancing. That is called "the Christmas-turns." + +And the "turns" extended also to the remote-lying solitary Heimdal. The +pastor of the mother parish, the friendly and hospitable pastor, +Middelberg, had sent an invitation to friends and acquaintances in the +whole neighbourhood, which included also the inhabitants of Semb, to a +feast at the parsonage, on the second day of Christmas. + +Mrs. Astrid excused herself, but besought Harald and Susanna to drive +there. It had frozen a few days before, and had freshly snowed, so that +the sledging was excellent, and Harald now again in good humour seemed +disposed to make a little festival of driving Susanna to the parsonage +in a small sledge with jingling bells. + +Mrs. Astrid had regained her accustomed manner and appearance, and thus +Susanna was easy as to all consequences of her unfortunate scheme on +Christmas-eve, and could give herself up with a free mind to the +agreeable impressions which the winter-drive offered. And these were +manifold and rich to a person who was so little used to pleasure of any +kind as Susanna, and who, besides this, was of a fresh, open spirit. The +air was so clear, the snow was so dazzling, mountain and woods so +splendid, the horse so spirited, and Harald drove so indescribably well, +the most difficult places being to him mere play-work, that Susanna +exclaimed every now and then, "Oh, how beautiful! Oh, how divine!" + +With all this, Harald was uncommonly polite and entertaining. Attentive +in the extreme that Susanna sate comfortably, was warm about the feet, +and so on, laid himself out at the same time to make her acquainted with +all wonders and beauties of the district; besides which he related much +that was interesting of the peculiarities of the neighbourhood, of its +woods, mountains, and kinds of stones, spoke of the primeval mountains +and transition-formations, of that which had existed before the Flood, +and of that which had been formed after it, so that Susanna was +astonished at his great learning, and a feeling of reverence for him was +excited in her mind. It is true that she forgot this for one while, in a +quarrel which suddenly arose between them respecting the sun, which, +according to Harald's assertion, must appear brighter in Norway than in +Sweden, which Susanna contended against most vehemently, and assured him +of exactly the opposite; and about the strata of air, of which Susanna +asserted that they lay in Norway different to Sweden; upon the whole, +however, the drive was harmonious, and in the highest degree +advantageous to Harald's appearance. By his driving, his politeness, and +his learning, he had attained to something quite grand and extraordinary +in Susanna's eyes. + +When, after a drive of about six miles, they approached the +parsonage-house, they saw from all sides the little sledges issuing from +the passes of the valleys, and then hastening forward in the same +direction as themselves across the fields of snow. Steaming breath came +from the nostrils of the snorting horses, and merrily jingled the bells +in the clear air. Susanna was enraptured. + +No less was she enraptured by the cordiality with which she saw herself +received at the parsonage--she, a foreign serving-maiden--by foreign, +wealthy, and respectable people. Susanna was, besides this, very curious +to see bow things looked, and how they went on, in a respectable +parsonage in Norway; and it was therefore very agreeable to her, when +the kind Madame Middelberg invited her to see the house, and allowed her +to be conducted by her eldest daughter, Thea Middelberg, everywhere, +from the cellar even to the garret. Susanna, after this, felt great +esteem for the arrangements in the parsonage-house; thought that she +could learn various things from it; other things, however, she thought +would have been better according to her Swedish method. Returned to the +company, Susanna found much to notice and much to reflect upon. For the +rest, she was through the whole of this day in a sort of mental +excitement. It seemed to her, as if she saw the picture of comfort and +happiness of which she had sometimes dreamed, here realised. It seemed +to her, that life amid these grand natural scenes and simple manners +must be beautiful. The relationship between parents and children, +between masters and servants, appeared so cordial, so patriarchal. She +heard the servants in the house of the clergyman call him and his wife, +father and mother; she saw the eldest daughter of the house assist in +waiting on the guests, and that so joyously and easily, that one saw +that she did it from her heart; saw a frank satisfaction upon all faces, +a freedom from care, and a simplicity in the behaviour of all; and all +this made Susanna feel quite light at heart, whilst it called forth a +certain tearful glance in her eye. + +"Have you pleasure in flowers?" inquired the friendly Thea Middelberg; +and when Susanna declared that she had, she broke off the most beautiful +rose which bloomed in the window and gave to her. + +But the greatest pleasure to Susanna was in the two youngest children of +the house, and she thought that the heartful "mora mi" (my mother), was +the most harmonious sound which she had ever heard. And in that Susanna +was right also, for more lovely words than these "mora mi," spoken by +affectionate childish lips, are not in the earth. The little Mina, a +child about Hulda's age, and full of life and animation, was in +particular dear to Susanna, who only wished that the little romp would +have given to herself a longer rest upon her knee. Susanna herself won +quite unwittingly the perfect favour of the hostess, by starting up at +table at a critical moment when the dinner was being served, and with a +light and firm hand saving the things from danger. After this she +continued to give a helpful hand where it was needful. This pleased +much, and they noticed the young Swede with ever kinder eyes; she knew +it, and thought all the more on those who thought of her. + +Towards the end of the substantial and savoury dinner, skal was drunk +and songs were sung. Susanna's glass must clink with her neighbours, +right and left, straight before her and crosswise, and animated by the +general spirit, she joined in with the beautiful people's song, "The +old sea-girded Norway," and seemed to have forgotten all spirit of +opposition to Norway and Norwegians. And how heartily did not she unite +in the last skal which was proposed by the host, with beaming and +tearful eyes, "To all those who love us!" and she thought on her little +Hulda. + +But now we must go on to that which made this day a remarkable one for +Susanna. + +After dinner and coffee were over, the company divided, as is customary +in Norway. The ladies remained sitting on the sofa and in armed chairs +round about, and talked over the occurrences in the neighbourhood, +domestic affairs, and the now happily-concluded Christmas business, and +"yes, indeed!" "yes, indeed!" was often heard among them. + +The young girls grouped themselves together in the window, and there was +heard talk of "dress" and "ornament," "heavens, how pretty!" and jest +and small-talk. + +In the next room sate the gentlemen together with pipes and politics. + +Susanna was near to the open door of this room, and as she felt but +little interest in the subjects that were spoken of in her +neighbourhood, she could not avoid listening to that which was said by +the gentlemen within the room, for she heard how there a coarse voice +was abusing Sweden and the Swedes in the most defamatory manner. +Susanna's blood boiled, and involuntarily she clenched her fist. + +"Oh, heavens!" sighed she, "that I were but a man!" + +The patriotic burgomaster's daughter burned with desire to fall upon +those who dared to despise her fatherland. She could not hear this +coolly, and almost fearing her own anger she was about to rise and take +another place, but she restrained herself, for she heard a grave, manly +voice raised in defence of that foreign calumniated country. And truly +it was refreshing for Susanna to hear Sweden defended with as much +intelligence as zeal; truly it was a joy to her to hear the assertions +of the coarser voice repelled by the other less noisy, but more powerful +voice, and at length to hear it declaim, as master of the field, the +following lines, which were addressed to his native land on the occasion +of the death of Gustavus Adolphus the Great: + + At once is dimmed thy glory's ray; + Thy flowery garland fades away. + Bowed mother! But thy brightness splendid + Shall never more be ended. + The grateful world on thee her love will cast, + Who mother of Gustavus wast![4] + +Yes, truly was all this a feeling of delight for Susanna; but the voice +which spoke so beautifully--the voice which defended Sweden--the voice +which called forth the feeling of delight, this voice operated more than +all the rest on Susanna, for it was that of--Harald. Susanna could not +trust her ears, she called her eyes to their assistance, and then, as +she could no longer doubt that the noble defender of her country was +Harald, she was so surprised and so joyful that in the overflowing of +her feelings she might almost have done something foolish, had not at +that very moment one of the elderly ladies of the party come to her, and +led her into a quieter corner of the room, in order to be able there +quietly to question her of all that she wished to know. This lady +belonged to that class (scattered in every country of the world) which +has a resemblance to the parasite growth, inasmuch as it grows and +flourishes by the nourishment which it seeks from the plants on which it +fixes itself. As this lady wore a brown dress, and had brown ribbons in +her cap, we find it very appropriate to call her Madame Brun. Susanna +must now give Madame Brun an account of her family, her home, all her +connexions, why she was come into Norway, how she liked living there, +and so on. In all this Susanna was tolerably open-hearted; but when the +discourse was turned upon her present situation, and her lady, she +became more reserved. On this subject, however, Madame Brun was less +disposed to question than to relate herself. + +"I knew Mrs. Astrid," said she, "in our younger days, very well. She was +a very handsome lady, but always rather proud. However, I did not mind +that, and we were right good friends. People told me that I ought to pay +a visit to Semb, but--I don't know--I have never seen her since she has +been so strange. My God, dear friend, how can you live with her? She +must be so horribly gloomy and anxious!" + +Susanna replied by a warm burst of praise of her lady, and said, "that +she was always sorrowful, and appeared to be unhappy, but that this only +bound her to her all the more." + +"Unhappy!" began Madame Brun again. "Yes, if that were all--but alas!" + +Susanna asked in astonishment what she meant. + +Madame Brun answered, "I say and think nothing bad of her, and always +defend her, but in any case there is something odd about her. Could you +really believe that there are people wicked enough to speak----to +suspect----a murder?" + +Susanna could neither think nor speak--she only stared at the speaker. + +"Yes, yes," continued Madame Brun, fluently; "so people say! To be sure +the Colonel, who was a monster, was most guilty in the affair; but yet, +nevertheless, she must have known of it--so people assert. See you--they +had a boy with them, the son of her sister. The mother died, after +having confided her child to the care of her sister and her +brother-in-law. What happens then? One fine day the boy has vanished---- +never again comes to light----nobody knows what has become of him; but +his cloak is found on a rock, by the lake, and drops of blood on the +stone under it! The boy had vanished, and his property came in well for +his relations, since the Colonel had gambled away everything which he +and his wife possessed. But our Lord, in his justice, smote the Colonel, +so that for five years he remained lame and speechless, and his wife +never since that has had one joyful day on earth." + +Susanna turned pale with emotion, and as zealously as she had before +defended the honour of her native land, now defended she the innocence +of her lady. But in this she was interrupted by the friendly hostess, +who invited her to join the other young people in games and dancing. But +Susanna was so excited by that which she had heard, and longed so much +to be at home with her mistress, for whom, now that she had heard her so +cruelly maligned, she felt more affection than ever; she prayed to be +excused from taking any part in the Christmas games, and announced her +intention of driving home. She wished not, however, to take Harald from +the company, and intended, unfearingly, to drive home alone. She could +drive very well, and should easily find the way. + +No, sooner, however, did Harald become aware of her intentions than he +prepared to accompany her; and it was of no avail that Susanna opposed +herself to it. Host and hostess, however, in their cordiality, opposed +warmly their guests leaving them so early, and threatened them with +"Aasgaardsreija," who was accustomed to rage in Christmas time, and +would meet them by the way if they persisted in their unwise resolve. +Notwithstanding this they did so, and were accompanied by their hosts to +the sledge. Susanna thanked them from her moved heart for all their +kindness, promised the amiable Thea that they would see one another +often, and kissed tenderly the little Mina, who hung upon her neck. + +Scarcely was Susanna seated in the sledge, and was amid mountains and +woods, than she gave vent to her heart, and related to Harald the story +which she had just heard. And her abhorrence had not been less than was +now Harald's anger at such a shameful calumniation, and at the person +who had exhibited such an evidence of her own dark soul. Yes, he fell +into such a rage with old Madame Brun, and made such threatening +demonstrations against her well-being, and the horse made such violent +springs and plunges, that Susanna endeavoured to lead the conversation +to other subjects. She therefore asked Harald what was meant by +Aasgaardsreija, and why they had threatened her with it. + +Harald on this returned to his customary temper, and assured her that +this was by no means to be jested with. "The Aasgaardsreija," said he, +"are the spirits which are not good enough to deserve heaven, and yet +not bad enough to be sent to hell; they consist of tipplers, polite +deceivers--in one word, of all those who from one cause or another have +given themselves to evil. For punishment, therefore, must they ride +about till the end of the world. At the head of the troop rides +Guro-Rysse, or Reisa-Rova, who is to be known by her long train. After +her follows a long numerous band of both sexes. The horses are coal +black, and their eyes flash in the darkness like fire. They are guided +by bits of red-hot iron, ride over land and water, and the halloo of the +riders, the snorting of the horses, the rattling of the iron bits, +occasion a tumult which is heard from far. Whenever they throw a saddle +over a house, there must some one die, and wherever they perceive that +there will be bloodshed or murder, they enter, and seating themselves on +the posts by the door, make a noise and laugh in their sleeve. When one +hears the Aasgaardsreija coming, one must throw oneself on the ground +and pretend that one sleeps. If one does this not, one is carried away +by the troop, and struck down in a fainting-fit in a place far distant +from where one was. People often, after this, are low-spirited and +melancholy all their days. But the virtuous, who throw themselves down +immediately on the approach of the troop, suffer nothing, excepting that +every one of the airy company spits upon him in passing; when the troop +has passed by, then one spits again, and the affair has then no further +consequence." + +Harald added that this troop was commonly out at Christmas, and nothing +was more possible than that they themselves might meet it on this very +evening, and in that case Susanna had nothing more to do than to +dismount from the sledge, throw herself with her nose on the ground, and +bury her face in the snow, till the wild herd were gone over.[5] + +Susanna declared, it is true, that she had not any faith in the story; +but Harald said so gravely that one of these days she would see that the +affair was true, and Susanna was naturally so inclined to believe in the +marvellous, that she very often, especially in narrow passes of the +valleys, directed her glance to the heights, half fearing, half wishing, +that the black horses, with the fiery eyes and the red-hot bridlebits, +might make their appearance. But she only saw bright stars look down +upon her, now and then dimmed by the Northern lights, which waved their +shining, fleeting veils over the vault of heaven. + +Arrived at Semb, she saw the customary faint light in the windows of her +lady. Susanna's heart was affected, and with a deep sigh she said, "Ah, +how wicked this world is! To lay yet stones upon the burden, and to make +misfortune into crime. What, what can we do to shield her from the +attacks of malice?" + +"Madame Brun shall at least not spread her lies further," said Harald. +"I will drive to her to-morrow morning, compel her to swallow her own +words, and terrify her from ever letting them again pass her lips." + +"Yes, that is good!" exclaimed Susanna, delighted. + +"If an accident happens to a child," continued Harald, excitedly, "then +directly to charge those belonging to it with a wilful murder! Can one +imagine anything more shameful or more absurd. No, such snakes, at +least, shall not hiss about the unhappy lady. And to crush them shall be +my business!" + +And with this Harald pressed Susanna's hand at parting, and left her. + +"And my business," thought Susanna, with tearful eyes, "shall be to love +her and to serve her faithfully. Perhaps, when order and comfort are +diffused more and more around her, when many pleasures daily surround +her, perhaps she may again feel an inclination for life." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] A kind of codfish, which has been soaked in lye for several weeks, +and is a general Christmas dish in Norway and Sweden. + +[4] The Battle of Luezen. By Rein. + +[5] The rushing noise and tumult in the air which attends violent +storms, especially in mountain countries, has probably given occasion to +the legend of the Aasgaardsreija. There is no doubt of its having its +origin in heathen times, but it may also have reference to the +procession towards Aasgaard of the heroes who have fallen in battle, or +to the aerial journey of the Nornor and Valkyrior. The legend has taken +its present form under Christianity, in which the old divinities have +been transformed in popular belief into evil powers and servants of the +devil.--FAYE. + + + + +QUIET WEEKS. + + When clouds hang heavy on the face of earth, + And woods stand leafless in their mourning plight,-- + Then gentle sympathy has twofold might, + And kindness on the social winter's hearth + Within our hearts the glow of spring's delight. + + VELHAVEN. + + +Hast thou heard the fall of water-drops in deep caves, where heavily, +and perpetually, and gnawingly, they eat into the ground on which they +fall? Hast thou heard the murmuring of the brook that flows on +sportively between green banks, whilst nodding flowers and beaming +lights of heaven mirror themselves in its waters? There is a secret +twittering and whispering of joy in it. There hast thou pictures of two +kinds of still life, which are different the one from the other as hell +and heaven. Both of them are lived on earth; both of them, at Semb in +Heimdal, were lived through the following months: the first by Mrs. +Astrid, the second by Harald and Susanna, only that sometimes the +wearing drops were blown aside by a favourable breeze, and that +sometimes mud of various kinds made turbid the waters of the dancing +brook. + +January passed away with his growing sunshine and his increasing winter +pomp. Waterfalls planted their edges with flowers, palms, grapes--yes, +whole fruit-trees of--ice. The bulfinches, with their red breasts, shone +like hopping flames upon the white snow. The winter bloomed in sparkling +crystals, which were strewn over wood and earth, in the song of the +throstle, in the glittering whiteness of the snow-fields. Timber was +felled in the woods, and songs from Tegner's Frithof resounded thereto. +People drove in sledges through the valleys, and on snow-skates over the +mountains. There was fresh life everywhere. + +The contest at Semb, about Sweden and Norway, had ceased ever since +Christmas. It is true that Harald attempted various attacks upon Swedish +iron, the Swedish woods, and so on, but Susanna seemed not rightly to +believe in their seriousness, and would not on that account take up the +strife; and his last attempt on the Swedish wind fell so feebly, that +Harald determined to let the subject rest, and to look about for some +other matter of contention wherewith to keep himself warm during the +winter. + +February and March came on. This is the severest time of a northern +winter. In January it is young, but it becomes now old, and grey and +heavy, especially in cottages, where there is no great provision for the +family. The autumn provision, as well in the house as in the yard, is +nearly consumed. It is hard for hungry children to trail home wood from +the forests, which is to boil for them in their kettle only thin +water-gruel, and not always that. + +April came. It is called the spring month, and the larks sing in the +woods. But in the deep valley often prevails then the greatest anxiety +and want. Often then scatters the needy peasant ashes and sand upon the +snow which covers his acres, that it may melt all the sooner, and thus +he may be able to plough up his land between the snow walls which +surround it. Susanna during this month became well known in the cottages +of the valley, and her warm heart found rich material for sympathy and +help. + +Harald thought this too good an opportunity to be lost for infusing into +Susanna a horror of himself and his character, and showed himself cold +and immovable to her description of the wants which she had witnessed, +and had a proud ability to say "no" to all her proposals for their +assistance. He spoke much of severity and of wholesome lectures, and so +on; and Susanna was not slow in calling him the most cruel of men, +another "tyrant Christjern," a regular misanthrope; "wolves and bears +had more heart than he had. Never again would she ask him for anything; +one might just as well talk to a stock or a stone!" And Susanna set off +to weep bitter tears. But when she afterwards found that much want was +silently assisted from the hand of the misanthrope; when she found that +in various instances her suggestions were adopted; then, indeed, she +also shed in silence tears of joy, and soon forgot all her plans of +hostile reserve. By degrees, also, Harald forgot his contention in the +subject, the interest of which was too good and important; and before +they were rightly aware of it, they found themselves both busied for the +same purpose in various ways. Susanna had begun by giving away all that +she possessed. As she had now no more to give, she began to give ear to +Harald's views; that for the poor which surrounded them, generally +speaking, direct almsgiving was less needful than a friendly and +rational sympathy in their circumstances, a fatherly and motherly +guardianship which would sustain the "broken heart," and strengthen the +weary hands, which were almost sinking, to raise themselves again to +labour and to hope. In the class which may be said to labour for their +daily bread, there are people who help themselves; others there are whom +nobody can help; but the greater number are those who, through prudent +help in word and deed, can attain to helping themselves, and obtaining +comfort and independence. + +Harald considered it important to direct the attention of the people to +the keeping of cattle, knowing that this was the certain way of this +region's advancing itself. And as soon as the snow melted, and the earth +was clear, he went out with labourers and servants, and occupied himself +busily in carrying away from the meadows the stones with which they, in +this country, are so abundantly strewn, and sowed new kinds of grass, +as a source of more abundant fodder; and Susanna's heart beat for joy as +she saw his activity, and how he himself went to work, and animated all +by his example and his cheerful spirit. Harald now also often found his +favourite dishes for his dinner; nay, Susanna herself began to discover +that one and another of them were very savoury, and among these may +particularly be mentioned groat gruel with little herrings. This course, +with which dinners in Norway often begin, is so served, that every guest +has a little plate beside him, on which lie the little white herrings, +and they eat alternately a piece of herring and a spoonful of gruel, +which looks very well, and tastes very good. + +Harald, towards spring, was very much occupied with work and workpeople, +so that he had but little time to devote to Susanna, either for good or +bad. But he had discovered that possibly in time he might have a weak +chest, and he visited her, therefore, every morning in the dairy that he +might receive a cup of new milk from her hand. For this, he gave her in +return fresh spring-flowers, or, by way of change, a nettle (which was +always thrown violently into a corner), and for the rest attentively +remarked the occurrences in the dairy, and Susanna's movements, whilst +she poured the milk out of the pails through a sieve into the pans, and +arranged them on their shelves, whereby it happened that he would forget +himself in the following monologue-- + +"See, that one may call a knack! How well she looks at her work, and +with that cheerful, friendly face! Everything that she touches is well +done;--everything improves and flourishes under her eye. If she were +only not so violent and passionate!--but it is not in her heart, there +never was a better heart than hers. Men and animals love her, and are +well off under her care--Happy the man who--hum!" + +Shall we not at the same time cast a glance into Susanna's heart? It is +rather curious there. The fact was, that Harald had,--partly by his +provocativeness and naughtiness, and partly by his friendship, his +story-telling, and his native worth, which Susanna discovered more and +more,--so rooted himself into all her thoughts and feelings, that it was +impossible for her to displace him from them. In anger, in gratitude, in +evil, in good, at all times, must she think of him. Many a night she +lay down with the wish never to see him again, but always awoke the next +morning with the secret desire to meet with him again. The terms on +which she stood with him resembled April weather, which we may be able +the clearest to see on-- + + + + +A MAY DAY. + + The first time, yes, the first time flings + A glory even on trivial things; + It passes soon, a moment's falling, + Then it is also past recalling. + + The grass itself has such a prime; + Man prizes most spring's flowery time, + When first the verdure decks earth's bosom, + And the heart-leaf foretels the blossom. + + Thus God lets all, however low, + In "the first time" a triumph know; + Even in the hour when death impendeth, + And life itself to heaven ascendeth. + + HENR WERGELAND. + + +It was in the beginning of May. A heavy shower of rain had just ceased. +The wind sprang up in the south, blew mild and fresh, and chased herds +of white clouds over the brightening heaven. + +The court at Semb, which had been desolate during the rain, now began to +be full of life and movement. + +Six ducks paddled up and down with great delight in a puddle of water, +bathing and beautifying themselves. + +The chanticleer, called the Knight, scratched in the earth, and +thereupon began to crow merrily, in order to make it known that he had +something nice to invite to, and as two neat grey-speckled hens sprang +towards him, he let first one grain of corn and then another fall out of +his beak, of which, agreeably to a clever hen-instinct, they availed +themselves without ceremony or compliments. How easily the creatures +live! + +The turkey-cock was in great perplexity, and had a deal of trouble to +keep his countenance. His white lady had accepted the invitation of the +chanticleer (which she probably thought was general), and sprang forward +as fast as she could with her long legs, and stuck her head between the +two hens to have a share of their treat. The knightly young chanticleer +on this, with some surprise and a certain astonished sound in his +throat, drew himself a little proudly back, but for all that was too +much of the "gentleman" to mortify, in the least, the foreign +presumptuous beauty. But the grey-speckled hens turned their backs upon +her. Her neglected spouse gobbled in full desperation, and swelled +himself out, his countenance flaming with anger, by the side of his +black wife, who was silent, and cast deprecating eyes up to heaven. + +By the kitchen-wall, the black cat and her kittens romped amid a +thousand twists and turns; whilst above them the mice, in the +waterspout, peeped peeringly and curiously forth, drank of the +rain-water, snuffed in the fresh air, and afterwards crept quietly again +under the house tiles. + +The flies stretched their legs, and began to walk about in the sunshine. + +In the court stood a tall ash, in whose top waved a magpie nest. A many +magpies, candidates for the airy palace, made their appearance there, +flew screaming round about, wished to get possession of it, and chased +one another away. At length two remained as conquerors of the nest. +There laughed they and kissed under the spring-blue heaven, rocked by +the south wind. Those that were chased away consoled themselves by +fluttering down upon the yard-dog's provision-trough, and plucking out +of it, whilst the proud Alfiero, sitting outside his kennel, +contemplated them in dignified repose. + +The starlings struck up their quaver, and sent forth their melodious +whistling, whilst they congregated together on the edge of the roof. + +The grapes shook from themselves the rain-drops in the wind, and the +little stellaria, which is so dear to the singing birds, raised again +its head to the sun, and was saluted by the jubilant song of the lark. + +The geese waddled, gabbling over the grassy fields, biting the young +green herbage. In this way, a change was revealed, which had taken place +in the company. The bully, the white gander, had by accident become +lame, and had with this lost his power and his respect. The grey gander +had now an opportunity of exhibiting a beautiful character, a noble +disposition; but no! The grey gander showed nothing of that; but as the +white gander had done to him, did he now in return; stretching out his +neck against him, and keeping him at a distance with cries and blows; +and the geese-madams troubled themselves not about it, and the white +gander must now think himself well off to see his rival ruling the +assembly, whilst he himself crept behind, hapless and forsaken. Susanna, +who saw this, lost now all regard for the grey gander, without having +any higher respect for the white one. She found the one no better than +the other. + +Just now Susanna returned from a visit to a peasant's cottage, where +some time ago she had helped the wife to set up a piece of weaving, and +now had been assisting her in taking it down, and her countenance beamed +with pleasure at the scene which she had witnessed there. The cow had +calved there that same morning, and the milk ran in foaming and abundant +streams, to the unspeakable joy of four small pale boys, who now were +divided in their joy over this, and their admiration of the little, +lively, black-and-white spotted calf; which admiration, however, in the +mind of the youngest, was mixed with fear. The web, also, had turned out +beyond expectation: Susanna helped the housewife to cut out the piece of +cloth in the most advantageous manner, and her cheerful words and +cordial sympathy were like the cream to the milk breakfast. It was with +this glad impression on her soul, that Susanna entered the court at +Semb, and was saluted by Alfiero and all the poultry with great joy. In +the mean time she heard the cries and lamentations of birds, and this +led her to the orchard. Here she saw a pair of starlings, which with +anxiety and screams were flying about the lowest branches of an oak. In +the grass below, something black was hopping about, and Susanna saw that +it was a young starling, which had ventured itself too early out of the +nest and had fallen down. It now raised its weak cries to its parents, +which, as it appeared, sought by their fluttering to keep at a +respectful distance a grey cat, whose greedy eyes gleamed forth from +under a hawthorn-bush. Susanna drove away the cat, and took up and +warmed the little bird in her breast. But this did not at all pacify the +starling papa and mamma; their uneasiness seemed rather to increase. +Susanna would gladly from her heart have allayed it; but when she looked +up and saw the starling nest high up in the oak trunk, many ells above +her head, she was quite in despair. With that the noon-day bell rang; +Alfiero howled to it in his tragical manner, and Harald, at the head of +his workpeople, returned from the field. Susanna hastened to ask counsel +from him, and showed him the young one. "Give it here," said Harald, "I +will twist its neck, and so we can have a nice little roast for dinner." + +"No! can you be so cruel?" replied Susanna. + +Harald laughed without answering, looked up to the oak to see where the +starling nest was, and swung himself with great agility up the tree. +Standing now upon the lowest boughs, he bent himself down to Susanna, +and said, "Give it here to me, I will manage it." And Susanna now gave +him the bird, without any further remark. Lightly and nimbly sprang +Harald now from bough to bough, holding the bird in his left hand, and +accompanied by the crying starling-parents, who flew terrified around +his head. It was certainly a surprise to them when the young one was +placed uninjured in the nest, but it was no longer so for Susanna; and +as Harald, glowing and warm, sprang down from the tree, he was received +by Susanna's most friendly glances and cordial thanks. + +At this moment came several travelling tradespeople with their packs +into the court, and were observed by Harald, who said that he had some +little purchases to make, and besought Susanna's advice. Susanna was a +woman, and women give advice willingly. Always good, of course! + +After some time Harald had made various purchases, and had always asked +counsel of Susanna, who thereby felt herself somewhat flattered, but +could not help thinking the while of Harald "yet he must be a regular +egotist. He always thinks about himself, and always buys for himself, +and never anything for his sister, of whom he, however, talks so much, +and seems to love so well! But--the Norwegian men, they love themselves +most!" + +And this time it did not seem without reason that Susanna thought so, +for it was terrible how thoughtful Harald was for himself, and what a +deal he needed for this self. + +This piece of damask he would have for his table; this muslin for his +curtains; these pocket-handkerchiefs for his nose; and so on. + +Susanna could not avoid saying, on purpose to try him, when they came to +a handsome piece for a dress-- + +"How pretty that is! Certainly that would become your sister very +nicely!" + +"What? my sister!" returned Harald. "No; it is best that she clothe +herself. This is exactly the thing that I want for my sofa. One is +always nearest to oneself. One must care a little for oneself." + +"Then care you for yourself! I have no time!" said Susanna, quite +excited, as she turned her back upon him and his wares, and went. + + + + +SPRING FEELINGS. + + Heaven has strewn thoughts o'er the sweet vernal dale, + These on the hearts of the flowers bestowing, + Therefore, when open the chalices glowing, + Whispers each petal a secret tale. + + VELHAVEN. + +May strides on, and June approaches. From their nests in the airy, +leaf-garlanded grottoes, which mother nature has prepared for them in +the lofty oaks and ashes, the starlings send their deep, lively +whistlings, their love-breathing trills. Song and fragrances fill the +woods of Norway. Rustic maidens wander with their herds and flocks up to +the Saeter dales, singing joyously: + + To draw to the Saeter is good and blessed. + Come, Boeling[6] mine! + Come cow, come calf, come greatest and least; + To the Queen your steps incline. + +The labour of the spring was closed; the harvests ripened beneath the +care of heaven. Harald had now more leisure, and much of this he devoted +to Susanna. He taught her to know the flowers of the dale, their names +and properties; and was as much amused at her mangling of the Latin +words, as he was charmed at the quickness with which she comprehended +and applied their economical and medicinal uses. + +The dale and its beauties became to her continually more known and +beloved. She went now again in the morning to the spring, where the +ladies-mantle and the silver-weed grew so luxuriantly, and let the +feathery creatures bathe and rejoice themselves. On Sunday afternoon, +too, she sometimes took a ramble to a grove of oaks and wild +rose-bushes, at the foot of the mountain called Krystalberg, which in +the glow of the evening sun glittered with a wonderful radiance. She was +sometimes followed thither by Harald, who related many a strange legend +of Huldran, who lived in the mountain; of the dwarfs who shaped the +six-sided crystals, called thence dwarf-jewels; of the subterranean +world and doings, as these were fashioned in the rich imagination of +ancient times, and as they still darkly lived on, in the silent belief +of the northern people. Susanna's active mind seized on all this with +the intensest interest. She visioned herself in the mountain's beautiful +crystal halls; seemed to hear the song of the Neck in the rushing of the +river; and tree and blossom grew more beautiful in her eyes, as she +imagined elves and spirits speaking out of them. + +Out of the prosaic soil of her life and action sprang a flower of +poetry, half reality, half legend, which diffused a delightful radiance +over her soul. + +Susanna was not the only one at Semb on whom this spring operated +beneficially. The pale Mrs. Astrid seemed to raise herself out of her +gloomy trance, and to imbibe new vigour of life from the fresh vernal +air. She went out sometimes when the sun shone warmly, and she was seen +sitting long hours on a mossy stone in the wood, at the foot of the +Krystalberg. When Susanna observed that she seemed to love this spot, +she carried thither silently out of the wood, turfs with the flowering +Linnea and the fragrant single-flowered Pyrola, and planted them so that +the south wind should bear their delicious aroma to the spot where Mrs. +Astrid sate; and Susanna felt a sad pleasure in the thought that these +balsamic airs would give to her mistress an evidence of a devotion that +did not venture otherwise to show itself. Susanna would have been richly +rewarded, could she at this time have seen into her mistress's soul, and +also have read a letter which she wrote, and from which we present a +fragment. + + +"TO BISHOP S----. + +"Love does not grow weary. Thus was I constrained to say to myself +to-day as your letter reached me, and penetrated me with the feeling of +your goodness, of your heavenly patience! And you do not grow weary of +those who almost grow weary of themselves! And always the same spring in +your hopes--the same mountain-fast, beautiful faith. Ah! that I better +deserved your friendship! But to-day I have a glad word to say to you, +and I will not withhold it from you. + +"You wish to know how it is with me? Better! For some time I have +breathed more lightly. Quiet days have passed over me; mild stars have +glanced down upon my head; the waterfall has sung its cradle-song to me +by night, till it has lulled me to sleep, and it has become calmer and +better with me. The spring exerts its beneficent influence upon me. All +rises round me so great, so rich in its life and beauty, I forget myself +sometimes in admiration. It is more than thirty years since I lived in +the country. + +"At times, feelings arise in me like vernal gales. I have then +experienced a certain consolation in the thought, that throughout my +long conflict I have yet striven to do right, to endure to the utmost; +that in a world where I have shed so many tears, I have also forborne to +shed many. Sometimes, out of the vernally blue heaven, something falls +on me like a tender glance, an anticipation. But, perhaps, these +brightenings are merely spring flowers, which perish with the spring. + +"I go sometimes out. I enjoy sitting in the beautiful grove of oaks down +in the dale, and there, mild and beneficial feelings pass over me. The +breeze bears to me odours ineffably delicious. These odours remind me of +the world of beneficent, healing, invigorating powers which shoot forth +around me, and manifest themselves so silently, so unpretendingly, +merely through their fragrance and their still beauty. I sate there this +evening, at the foot of the mountain. The sun was hastening towards his +setting, but gleamed warmly into the grove. Near me grazed some sheep +with their tender lambs. They gazed at me with a wondering but unalarmed +air; a little bell tinkled clear and softly, as they wandered to and fro +on the green sward; it was so calm and still that I heard the small +insects which hummed in the grass at my feet, and there passed over me I +know not what feeling of satisfaction and pleasure. I enjoyed existence +in this hour like the lambs, like the insects--I can then still enjoy! +Mild, affluent Nature! on thy heart might yet mine--but there stands the +pale, bloody boy,--there stands the murderer, everlastingly between me +and peace of mind! If I could sometimes hear your voice, if I could see +frequently your clear, solace-inspiring glance, I might perhaps yet +teach myself to--look up! But I ask you not to come. Ah! I desire no one +to approach me. But be no longer so uneasy concerning me, my friend, I +am better. I have about me good people, who make my outward life safe +and agreeable. Let your affectionate thoughts, as hitherto, rest upon +me; perhaps they will some time force light into my heart!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Boeling is the collected flock. Queen is the fold for the night. + + + + +MAN AND WIFE. + +A FRESH STRIFE. + + And I will show what a fellow I am! + My master--I am incensed! + + SIFUL SIFADDA. + + +We have said that Harald, just as little as Griselda's blessed husband, +appeared to like a life which flowed like oil. Perhaps it seemed to him +that his intercourse with Susanna was now assuming this character, and +therefore was it perhaps that, as he could no longer excite her +abhorrence as a misanthropist, one fine day he undertook to irritate her +as a woman-tyrant. + +"I am expecting my sister here one of these days," said he one evening +in a disrespectful tone to Susanna; "I have occasion for her, to sew a +little for me, and to put my things in order. Alette is a good, clever +girl, and I think of keeping her with me till I marry, and can be waited +on by my wife." + +"Waited on by your wife!" exclaimed Susanna--one may easily conceive in +what a tone. + +"Yes, certainly. The woman is made to be subject to the man; and I do +not mean to teach my wife otherwise. I mean to be master in my house, +I." + +"The Norwegian men must be despots, tyrants, actual Heathens and Turks!" +said Susanna. + +"Every morning," said Harald, "precisely at six o'clock, my wife shall +get up and prepare my coffee." + +"But if she will not?" + +"Will not? I will teach her to will, I. And if she will not by fair +means, then she shall by foul. I tolerate no disobedience, not I; and +this I mean to teach in the most serious manner; and if she does not +wish to experience this, why then I advise her to rise at six o'clock, +boil my coffee, and bring it me up to bed." + +"Nay, never did I hear anything like this! You are the sole--God have +mercy on the wives of this abominable country!" + +"And a good dinner," continued Harald, "shall she set before me every +day at noon, or--I shall not be in the best temper! And she must not +come with her 'Fattig Leilighed'[7] more than once a fortnight; and then +I demand that it shall be made right savoury." + +"If you will have good eating, then you must make good provision for the +housekeeping," said Susanna. + +"That I shall not trouble myself about; that my wife must care for. She +shall provide stores for housekeeping how she can." + +"I hope, then," said Susanna, "you will never have a wife, except she be +a regular Xantippe." + +"For that we know a remedy; and therefore, to begin with, every evening +she shall pull off my boots. All that is necessary is, for a man to +begin in time to maintain his authority; for the women are by nature +excessively fond of ruling." + +"And that because the men are tyrants," said Susanna. + +"And besides," continued Harald, "so horribly petty-minded." + +"Because," retorted Susanna, "the men have engrossed to themselves all +matters of importance." + +"And are so full of caprice," said Harald. + +"Because the men," said Susanna, "are so brimful of conceit." + +"And so fickle," added Harald. + +"Because the men," retorted Susanna, "are not deserving of constancy." + +"And so obstinate and violent," continued Harald. + +"When the men," said Susanna, "are absurd." + +"But I," proceeded Harald, very sharply, "do not like an obstinate, +passionate, imperious woman. It is in general the men themselves who +spoil them; they are too patient, too conceding, too obliging. But in my +house it shall be different. I do not intend to spoil my wife. On the +contrary, she shall learn to show herself patient, devoted, and +attentive to me; and for this purpose I intend to send for my dear +sister. She must not expect that I shall move from the spot for her +sake; she must not----" + +At this moment a carriage was heard to drive into the court, and stop +before the door. Harald looked through the window, made an exclamation +of surprise and joy, and darted like an arrow out of the room. Susanna +in her turn looked with anxiety through the window, and saw Harald lift +a lady from the carriage, whom he then warmly and long folded in his +arms, and quitted only to take from her the boxes and packages which she +would bring out, and loaded himself with them. + +"Oh, indeed!" thought Susanna, "it is thus then that it stands with his +tyranny:" and satisfied that it was Harald's sister whom she thus +received, she went into the kitchen to make some preparations for +supper. + +When she returned to the sitting-room, she found the brother and sister +there. With beaming eyes Harald presented to Susanna--"My sister +Alette!" And then he began to dance about with her, laughing and +singing. Never had Susanna seen him so thoroughly glad at heart. + +At supper Harald had eyes only for his sister, whom he did nothing but +wait upon with jest and merriment, now and then playing her, indeed, +some joke, for which she scolded him; and this only seemed to enliven +him still more. Mrs. Astrid had this evening never quitted her room, and +Harald could therefore all the more enjoy himself with Alette. After +supper, he took his seat beside her on the sofa, and with her hand in +his, he reminded her of the days of childhood, and how little they were +then able to endure each other. + +"You were then so intolerably provoking," said Alette. + +"And you so unbearably genteel and high," said Harald. "Do you remember +how we used to wrangle at breakfast? That is, how I did, for you never +made much answer, but carried yourself so excessively knowingly and +loftily, because you were then a little taller than I." + +"And I remember, too, how you sometimes quitted the field, left the +breakfast, and complained to our mother you could not support my genteel +airs." + +"Yes, if that had but in the end availed me anything. But I was +compelled to hear, 'Alette is much more sensible than you. Alette is +much more steady than you.' That had a bitter taste with it; but as some +amends, I ate up your confectionary." + +"Yes, you rogue you, that you did; and then persuaded me into the +bargain that a rat had done it." + +"Ay, I was a graceless lad, good for nothing, conceited, intolerable!" + +"And I a tiresome girl, a little old woman, peevish and sanctified. For +every trick you played me I gave you a moral lecture." + +"Nay, not one, my sister, but seven, and more than that. That was too +strong for anything!" exclaimed Harald, laughing, and kissing Alette's +hand. "But," continued he, "they were necessary, and well merited. But +I, unworthy one, was rather glad when I escaped from them, and went to +the University." + +"Nor was I either at all sorry to have my pincushion and things left in +peace. But when you came home three years later, then the leaf had +turned itself over; then it was otherwise. Then became I truly proud of +my brother." + +"And I of my sister. Do you know, Alette, I think you must actually +break off with Lexow. I really cannot do without you. Remain with me, +instead of going with him up into the shivering, cold North, which you +really never can like." + +"You must ask Lexow about that, my brother." + +Thus continued the conversation long, and became by degrees more serious +and still. The brother and sister seemed to talk of their future, and +that is always a solemn matter, but ever and anon burst forth a hearty +laughter from the midst of their consultations. It went on to midnight, +but neither of them appeared to mark this. + +Susanna, during the conversation of the relatives, had retired to the +next room, so as to leave them the more freedom. Her bosom was oppressed +by unwonted and melancholy feelings. With her brow leaned against the +cool window panes, she gazed out into the lovely summer evening, while +she listened to the soft and familiar voices within. The twilight cast +its soft dusky veil over the dale; and tree and field, hill and plain, +heaven and earth, seemed to mingle in confidential silence. In the grass +slumbered the flowers, leaning on each other; and from amongst the +leaves, which gently waved themselves side by side, Susanna seemed to +hear whispered the words, "Brother! Sister!" With an ineffable yearning +opened she her arms as if she would embrace some one--but when they +returned again empty to her bosom, tears of anguish rolled over her +cheeks, while her lips whispered, "Little Hulda!" + +Little Hulda, all honour to thy affections, to thy radiant locks; but I +do not believe that Susanna's tears now flowed alone for thee. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] "Fattig Leilighed"--"_poor opportunity_"--is the name given in +merriment to the cooking-up the remains of the week's provisions, which +generally is brought out on a Saturday. + + + + +ALETTE. + + + I see thine eyes in beauty fling + Back the tall taper's splendour; + Yet can still, and clear, and tender, + Dwell on an angel's wing. + + VELHAVEN. + +When Susanna the next morning went in to Alette, to inquire how she +had slept and so on, she found Harald already with his sister, and +around her were outspread the linen, the neckerchiefs, the +pocket-handkerchiefs, the tablecloths, etc., which he told Susanna he +had purchased for himself, but which in reality were presents for his +sister, on the occasion of her approaching marriage. Scarcely had +Susanna entered the room, when to her great amazement the brother and +sister both united in begging her to accept the very handsome dress +which she had once proposed that Harald should buy for his sister. She +blushed and hesitated, but could not resist the cordiality of Harald, +and received the gift with thanks, though glad was she not. Tears were +ready to start into her eyes, and she felt herself poor in more than one +respect. When Harald immediately after this went out, Alette broke forth +into a hearty panegyric upon him, and concluded with these words: "Yes, +one may probably three times a day get angry with him before we can +rightly get to know him; but this is certain, that if he wishes it, you +cannot get clear of him without first loving him." Susanna sate silent; +listened to Alette's words; and her heart beat at once with painful and +affectionate feelings. The call to breakfast broke off the conversation. + +Alette was something more than twenty years of age, and had the +beautiful growth, the pure complexion, the fine features, with which +mother Nature seems especially to have endowed her daughters of Norway. +Something fine and transparent lay in her appearance; and her body +seemed merely to be a light garment for the soul, so full of life. Her +manner of action and of speaking had something fascinating in them, and +betrayed happy endowments of nature and much accomplishment. Betrothed +to a wealthy merchant of Nordland, she was to be married in the autumn; +but in the meanwhile came to spend some time with her brother, and with +some other near relatives in Hallingdal. + +Susanna felt herself but little at ease with Alette, beside whose fine, +half-ethereal being, she perceived in herself for the first time, an +unpleasant consciousness of being--lumpish. + +From the moment of Alette's arrival in Semb, there commenced a change +there. Her charming disposition and great talents made her quickly the +centre round which all assembled. Even Mrs. Astrid felt her influence, +and remained in the evenings with the rest, and took part in the +conversation, which Alette knew how to make interesting. But Mrs. Astrid +herself contributed not the less thereto, when she for hours together, +as it were, forgot herself in the subjects of the conversation, and then +uttered words which gave evidence of a deeply feeling and thinking +spirit. Susanna regarded her with joy and admiration. Yet often a +painful thought seemed to snatch her away from the genial impression, +some dark memory appeared spectre-like to step between her and gladness; +the words then died on her pallid lips, the hand was laid on the heart, +and she heard and saw no more of what was going on around her, till the +interest of the conversation was again able to take hold of her. + +There was frequently reading aloud. Alette had a real talent for this, +and it was a genuine enjoyment to hear from her lips, poems of Velhaven +and Vergeland; which two young men, although personal enemies, in this +respect have extended to each other a brotherly hand, because they +sincerely love their native land, and have exhibited much that is +beautiful and ennobling in its literature. + +In the mean time, Susanna became continually less at ease in her mind; +Harald no longer, as before, sought her company, and seemed almost to +have forgotten her in Alette. In the conversations, at which she was now +often present, there was much which touched her feelings, and awoke in +her questions and imaginations; but when she attempted to express any of +these, when she would take part and would show that she too could think +and speak, then fell the words so ill, and her thoughts came forth so +obscurely, that she herself was compelled to blush for them; especially +when on this, Alette would turn her eyes upon her with some +astonishment, and Harald cast down his; and she vowed to herself never +again to open her mouth on subjects which she did not understand. + +But all this sunk deep into her bosom; and in her self-humiliation she +lamented bitterly the want of a more careful education, and sighed from +the depths of her heart, "Ah! that I did but know a little more! That I +did but possess some beautiful talent!" + + + + +AN EVENING IN THE SITTING-ROOM. + + + And is it once morning, then is it noon-day, + For the light must eternally conquer. + + FOSS. + +It was a lovely summer evening. Through the open windows of the +sitting-room streamed in the delicious summer air with the fragrance of +the hay, which now lay in swath in the dale. At one table, Susanna +prepared the steaming tea, which the Norwegians like almost as much as +the English; at another sate Mrs. Astrid with Harald and Alette, +occupied with the newly-published beautiful work, "Snorre Sturleson's +Sagas of the Norwegian Kings, translated from the Icelandic of J. Aal." +The fourth number of this work lay before Harald, open at the section +"The Discovery of Vineland." He had just read aloud Mr. Aal's +interesting introduction to the Sagas of Erik Roede and Karlefne, and now +proceeded to read these two Sagas themselves, which contained the +narrative of the _first_ discovery of America, and of which we here give +a brief compendium. + +"At the end of the tenth century, at the period when the Northmen sought +with warlike Viking hosts the south, and the Christianity with the +Gospel of Peace made its way towards the North, there lived in Iceland a +man of consequence, named Herjulf. His son was called Bjarne, and was a +courageous young man. His mind was early turned towards travel and +adventures. He soon had the command of his own ship, and sailed in it +for foreign lands. As he one summer returned to the island of his +ancestors, his father had shortly before sailed for Greenland, and had +settled himself there. Then also steered Bjarne out to sea, saying, 'He +would, after the old custom, take up his winter's board with his father, +and would sail for Greenland.' + +"After three days' sail, a fierce north wind arose, followed by so thick +a fog that Bjarne and his people could no longer tell where they were. +This continued many days. After that they began to see the sun again, +and could discern the quarters of the heaven. They saw before them land, +which was overgrown with wood, and had gentle eminences. Bjarne would +not land there, because it could not be Greenland, where he knew that +they should find great icebergs. They sailed on with a south-west wind +for three days, and got sight of another land, which was mountainous, +and had lofty icebergs. But Bjarne perceived that neither was this +Greenland, and sailed farther, till he at length discovered the land +which he sought, and his father's court. + +"On a visit to Erik Jarl in Norway, Bjarne related his voyage, and spoke +of the strange country which he had seen. But people thought that he had +had little curiosity not to have been able to say more about this +country, and some blamed him much on this account. Erik Roede's son Leif, +the descendant of a distinguished line, was filled with zeal at Bjarne's +relation, to pursue the discovery, and purchased of him a ship, which he +manned with five-and-thirty men, and so set out to sea, to discover +this new land. They came first to a country full of snow and mountains, +which seemed to them to be destitute of all magnificence. They then came +in sight of one whose shore was of white sand, and its surface overgrown +with woods.[8] They sailed yet farther westward, and arrived at a +splendid country, where they found grapes and Indian corn and the noble +tree 'Masur.'[9] + +"This country[10] they called 'Vineland,' and built a house, and +remained there through the winter, which was so mild that the grass was +but little withered. Moreover, the day and night were of more equal +length than in Iceland or Greenland. And Leif was a tall and strong man, +of a manly aspect, and at the same time wise and prudent in all matters. +After this expedition, he grew both in consideration and wealth, and was +universally called 'The Happy.' + +"Amongst the voyages to this new country which followed on that of Leif, +Karlefne's is the most remarkable. But the new colonists were attacked +with heavy sickness; and the peculiar home-sickness of the inhabitants +of the North might perhaps, in part, drive them back from the grapes of +Vineland to their own snowy home: certain it is, that they retained no +permanent settlement in the new country. They were also continually +assaulted by the natives, whom their weapons were not powerful enough to +restrain. + +"In the mean time, several Icelandic annalists have recorded that, in +every age, from the time of Leif to that of Columbus, America was +visited by the Northmen. Testimonies and memories of these voyages we +have now only in these relations, and in the remarkable stone called +'Dighton written Rock,' on the bank of Taunton river, in Massachusetts, +and whose ruins and hieroglyphics, at length, in 1830, copied by learned +Americans, corroborate the truth of these relations." + +Harald now commented on these figures with great zeal, remarking that, +in Norway, similar ones were yet found engraven on the face of rocks, on +tombstones, etc. "Do you see, Alette," continued he, eagerly, "this +represents a woman and a little child; probably Karlefne's wife, who +bore a son during this visit to Vineland. And this must be a bull; and +in Karlefne's Saga a bull is mentioned, which terrified the natives by +his bellowings; and these figures to the right represent the natives. +This must be a shield, and these Runic letters." + +"It requires a right good strength of imagination for all this, my +brother," here interrupted Alette, smilingly, who was not altogether so +patriotic as Harald; "but granted that all this was evidence of the +first discovery of America by our ancestors, what then? What good, what +advantage has the world derived thence? Is it not rather sorrowful to +see that such important discoveries should have been lost, that they +could be obliterated, as if they had never been, and must be made anew? +Had not Columbus, some centuries later, braved both the +narrow-mindedness of men and the yet unmeasured tracks of the ocean, it +is probable that to-day we should know nothing of America, and of these +stones, the traces of our forefathers on this foreign soil." + +"But, my dear Alette," exclaimed Harald in astonishment, "is it not then +clear as the sun, that without the Vineland voyages of the Northmen, +Columbus could certainly never have fallen upon the idea of seeking a +land beyond the great ocean? In the time of Columbus, the Northmen +sailed in their Snaeckor[11] about all the coasts of Europe; they made +voyages to Spain, and rumours of the Vineland voyages went with them. +Besides--and _this_ is worthy of notice--Columbus himself visited +Iceland a few years prior to his great voyage of discovery; and, as +Robertson says, rather to extend his knowledge of sea affairs than to +augment his property." + +"But," said Alette, "Washington Irving, in his 'Columbus,' which I have +recently read, speaks indeed of his voyage to Iceland, but denies that +he derived thence any clue to his great discovery." + +"But that is incredible, impossible, after what we here see and hear! +Listen now to what Aal says of the time when Columbus made his sojourn +in Iceland: 'In Iceland flourished then the written Sagas, and the +various Sagas passed from hand to hand in various copies, serving then, +as now, but in a higher degree, to shorten the winter evenings. Our old +manuscript Sagas thus certainly kindled a light in his dim conceptions; +and this must have so much the more brought him upon the track, as it +was nearer to the events themselves, and could in part be orally +communicated by those who were the direct lineal descendants of the +discoverers.' + +"Is not this most natural and essential? Can you doubt any longer, +Alette? I pray you convert and improve yourself. Convert yourself from +Irving to Aal." + +"I am disposed to take Harald's side," said now Mrs. Astrid, with a +lively voice and look. "Great, and for mankind, important discoveries +have never occurred without preparatory circumstances, often silently +operating through whole centuries, till in a happy moment the spirit of +genius and of good fortune has blown up the fire which glowed beneath +the ashes, into a clear, and for the world, magnificent flame. Wherever +we see a flower we can look down to a stem, to the roots hidden in the +earth, and finally look to a seed, which in its dark form contained the +yet undeveloped but living plant. And may not everything in the world be +regulated by the same law of development? In the tempestuous voyages of +the Northmen through the misty seas, I could see the weather-driven seed +which, under the guidance of Providence, from the soil of Vineland, +stretched its roots through centuries, till a mighty genius was guided +by them to complete the work, and to the Old World to discover the New." + +Harald was delighted with this idea, which blew fresh wind into his +sails; and thereby enlivened, he gave vent to the admiration of the +ancient times of the North, which lived in his bosom. + +"It belonged," said he, "to those men of few words but of powerful +deeds; those men to whom danger was a sport, the storm music, and the +swell of waves a dance: to this race of youths it belonged to discover +new worlds without imagining that to be any exploit. Great achievements +were their every-day occupation." + +Alette shook her beautiful head at this enthusiasm for antiquity. She +would not deny these times had a certain greatness, but she could not +pronounce them truly great. She spoke of the revenge, the violence, the +base cruelties which the past ages of the North openly paid homage to. + +"But," continued Harald, "the contempt of pain and death, this noble +contempt, so universal amongst the men of that time, deprived cruelty of +its sting. Our degenerate race has scarcely a conception of the strength +which made the men of past times find a pleasure even in pains, since +they spurred their courageous souls to the highest pitch of heroism; +since in such moments they felt themselves able to be more than men. +Therefore sung heroes amid the very pains of death. Thus died the +Swedish Hjalmar, in the arms of his friend Odd, the Norwegian, while he +greeted the eagles which came to drink his blood. Thus died Ragnar +Lodbrok, in the den of serpents; and while the snakes hissing, gnawed +their way into his heart, he sung his victories, and concluded with the +words-- + + Gone are the hours of existence! + Smiling shall I die. + +"How noble and admirable is this strength, amid torments and death! Could +we but thus die!" + +"But the rudest savages of America," said Alette, "know and practise +this species of heroism; before me floats another ideal, both of life +and death. The strong spirit of past ages, which you, my brother, so +highly prize, could not support old age, the weary days, the silent +suffering, the great portion of the lot of man. I will prize the spirit +which elevates every condition of humanity; which animates the dying +hero to praise, not himself, but God, and die; and which to the lonely +one, who wanders through the night of life towards his unnoticed grave, +imparts a strength, a peace, and enables him in his darkness to triumph +over all the powers of darkness. Ah! I who deeply feel myself to be one +of the weak ones in the earth, who possess no single drop of Northern +heroic blood; I rejoice that we can live and die in a manner which is +noble, which is beautiful, which requires not the Berserker-mood, and of +which the strongest spirit need not be ashamed. Do you remember, my +brother, 'The old poet' of Rein? This poem perfectly expresses the tone +of mind which I would wish to possess in my last hour." + +Harald recollected but faintly "The old poet," and both he and Mrs. +Astrid begged Alette to make them better acquainted with him. Alette +could not remember the whole of the poem, but gave an account of the +most essential of its contents in these words-- + +"It is spring. The aged poet wanders through wood and mead, in the +country where he once sung, where he had once been happy, amongst those +whom he had made glad. His voice is now broken; his strength, his fire, +are over. Like a shadow of that which once he was, he goes about in the +young world still fresh with life. The birds of spring gather around +him, welcome him with joy, and implore him to take his harp and sing to +it of the new-born year, of the smiling spring. He answers-- + + O ye dear little singer quire, + No more can I strike the harp with fire; + No more in youth is renewed my spring; + No more the old poet can gaily sing; + And yet I am so blest-- + In my heart is heavenly rest.[12] + +"He wanders farther through wood and meadow. The brook murmuring between +green banks, whispers to him its joy over its loosed bands, and greets +the singer as the messenger of spring and freedom: + + Thy harp, my fleet stream fondly haileth-- + It leaps, it exults, it bewaileth; + Let it sound then--O make no delay!-- + Like me the days hasten away. + +"The aged singer replies: + + O spring! which dost leap in thy sheen, + No more am I what I have been. + The name of the past I hear alone-- + A feeble echo of days that are flown. + And yet I am so blest; + In my heart is heavenly rest. + +"He wanders farther. The Dryads surround him in their dance; the Flowers +present him garlands, and beg him to sing their festival; the Zephyrs, +which were wont to play amid his harp-strings, seek in the bushes, and +ask whether he has forgotten them there; caress the old man, and seek +again, but in vain. They are about to fly, but he entreats: + + O dear ones, depart not I pray! + O flowers, spread with beauty my way! + My harp is broken, but no sigh + Spring's spirits gay shall cause to fly. + And I am still so blest; + In my heart is heavenly rest. + +"He wanders farther, and seeks out every beloved nook. The youth of the +country assemble, and surround the aged singer--'the friend of youth and +gladness.' They entreat him with his music to beautify their festival: + + For spring is dead, with all its pleasure, + Without the harp and song's glad measure. + +"The old man replies: + + Quenched, ye youth, is my fire so wild; + My evening twilight is cool, but mild; + And the blissful hours of my youth are brought, + By your lively songs, into my thought. + Bewail me not; I am still so blest-- + In my heart lieth heaven's own rest. + +"And now he exhorts the songsters of the wood, flowers, youth, +everything that is lovely in nature and in life, to rejoice in its +existence, and to praise the Creator. The beauty and joy of all +creatures are the garland in his silver hair; and grateful and happy, +admiring and singing praises, he sinks softly into the maternal bosom of +Nature." + +Alette was silent; a tender emotion trembled in her voice as she uttered +the last words, and beamed in her charming countenance. The tears of +Mrs. Astrid flowed; her hands were convulsively clasped together, whilst +she exclaimed, "Oh thus to feel before one dies! and thus to be +permitted to die!" She drew Alette to her with a kind of vehemence, +kissed her, and then wept silently, leaning on her shoulder. Harald, +too, was affected; but he appeared to restrain his feelings, and gazed +with earnest and tearful eyes on the group before him. + +Silently and unobserved stole Susanna out of the room. She felt a sting +in her heart; a serpent raged in her bosom. Driven by a nameless +agonised disquiet, she hastened forth into the free air, and ascended, +almost without being aware of it herself, the steep footpath up the +mountain, where many a time, in calmer moments, she had admired the +beautiful prospect. + +Great and beautiful scenes had, during the foregoing conversation, +arisen before her view;--she felt herself so little, so poor beside +them. Ah! she could not once speak of the great and beautiful, for her +tongue was bound. She felt so warmly, and yet could warm no one! The +happy Alette won without trouble, perhaps even without much valuing it, +a regard, an approval, which Susanna would have purchased with her life. +The Barbra-spirit boiled up in her, and with a reproachful glance to +heaven she exclaimed, "Shall I then, for my whole life remain nothing +but a poor despised maid-servant!" + +The heaven looked clown on the young maiden mildly, but smilingly; soft +rain-drops sprinkled her forehead; and all nature around her stood +silent, and, as it were, in sorrow. This sorrowing calm operated on +Susanna like the tenderly accusing glance of a good mother. She looked +down into her heart, and saw there envy and pride, and she shuddered at +herself. She gazed down into the stream which waved beneath her feet, +and she thought with longing, "Oh, that one could but plunge down, deep, +deep into these waves, and then arise purified--improved!" + +But already this wish had operated like a purifying baptism on Susanna's +soul; and she felt fresh and light thoughts ascend within her. "A poor +maid-servant!" repeated now Sanna; "and why should that be so +contemptible a lot? The Highest himself has served on earth; served for +all, for the very least; yes, even for me. Oh!--" and it became +continually lighter and warmer in her mind.--"I will be a true +maid-servant, and place my honour in it, and desire to be nothing else! +Charm I cannot; beauty and genius, and beautiful talents, I have not; +but--I can love and I can serve, and that will I do with my whole heart, +and with all my strength, and in all humility; and if men despise me, +yet God will not forsake the poor and faithful maid-servant!" + +When Susanna again cast her tearful eyes on the ground, they fell on a +little piece of moss, one of those very least children of nature, which +in silence and unheeded pass through the metamorphoses of their quiet +life. The little plant stood in fresh green, on its head hung the clear +rain-drops, and the sun which now shone through the clouds, glittered in +them. + +Susanna contemplated the little moss, and it seemed to say to her: "See +thou! though I am so insignificant, yet I enjoy the dew of heaven and +the beams of the sun, as fully as the roses and the lilacs of the +garden!" Susanna understood the speech of the little plant, and grateful +and calmed, she repeated many times to herself, with a species of silent +gladness--"a humble, a faithful maid-servant!" + +When Susanna came home, she found Mrs. Astrid not well. She had been +much excited, and on such occasions an attack of the spasms was always +to be apprehended. Susanna begged earnestly, and received the permission +to watch by her to-night; at least, till Mrs. Astrid slept. Mrs. Astrid +had, indeed, another maid with her, but she was old and very deaf, and +Susanna had no confidence in her. + +Mrs. Astrid retired to rest. Susanna seated herself on a stool by the +window, silently occupied with her thoughts, and with knitting a +stocking. The window had stood open during the day, and a host of flies +had entered the room. Mrs. Astrid was much disturbed by them, and +complained that they prevented her sleeping. Quietly Susanna laid bare +her white shoulders, neck, and arms, and when the flies in swarms darted +down upon her, and her mistress now left at peace slept calmly, Susanna +sate still, let the flies enjoy themselves, and enjoyed herself thereby +more than one can believe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] Probably Newfoundland. + +[9] Probably spotted maple. + +[10] Upper Canada. + +[11] Snails or cockles, as they called their light craft. + +[12] I have not wished to attempt a translation of these verses, +convinced that for the Swedish reader it is not necessary; and why +unnecessarily brush off the golden dust from the butterfly's +wings.--_Fredrika Bremer_. + +As, however, the _English reader_ may find it _rather_ more necessary to +give a translation of the Norwegian verses, I have made it, and that as +much in the simplicity of the original as I could.--M. H. + + + + +RETREATING AND ADVANCING. + + True delicacy, that most beautiful heart-leaf of humanity, exhibits + itself most significantly in little things. Those which we in + general call so, are not by any means so little. + + J. C. LOUS. + + +It is with our faults as with horseradish; it is terribly difficult to +extirpate it from the earth in which it has once taken root; and nothing +is more discouraging to the cultivator who will annihilate this weed +from his ground, than to see it, so lately plucked up, shooting forth +again freshly to the light from roots which remained buried in the +earth. One can get quite out of patience; with the weedy soil, and one +is, when this soil is one's own dear self, possessed by the most cordial +desire to set off far, far from one's self. But how!!! + +Susanna was often conscious of this feeling, as she daily laboured to +repress the excitements which arose up within her at this time. Still +the thoughts and resolutions which awoke within her on the evening just +described, had taken hold upon her too strongly for them to be again +effaced, and with the motto--"a humble and regular servant-girl," she +struggled boldly through the dangers and the events of the day. Her +demeanour was calmer; she quietly withdrew herself from taking part in +conversation which went beyond her education; in a friendly spirit, she +endeavoured to renounce the attentions and interest of others, and +busied herself only in attending to the comforts and pleasures of all, +as well as in accomplishing, and when possible, anticipating every wish. +And such an activity has, more than people imagine, an influence upon +the well-being of every-day life. The affectionate will lends even to +dead things soul and life. But heavy to the ministering spirits is this +life of labour and care for others, where no sunbeam of love, no cordial +acknowledgment, falls upon their laborious day. + +In the beginning of August, Harald set off, to return in about fourteen +days with Alf Lexow, the betrothed of Alette. During his absence, Alette +was to pay a visit to her uncle in Hallingdal; but, according to Mrs. +Astrid's wish, she yet spent another week at Semb. During these days, +Alette and Susanna became better friends, for Alette was touched +involuntarily by Susanna's unwearied and unpretending attentions, and +besides this, she found in her such a frank mind and such cordial +sympathy, that she could not deny herself the pleasure of communicating +much of that which lived in the heart of the happy bride. Happy,--indeed +Alette was, for long and warmly had she loved Alf Lexow, and should +shortly be united to him for ever; and yet often stole a melancholy +expression over her charming surface, when the conversation turned to +this marriage and to her removal into Nordland. Susanna asked her +several times of the cause of this, and as often Alette jestingly evaded +the question; but one evening when they had chatted together more +friendly than common, Alette said-- + +"It is a strange feeling to get everything ready for one's own marriage +in the belief that one shall not long survive it! This removal to +Nordland will be my death, that I know certainly. No, do not look so +terrified! It is in no case so dangerous. And thoughts of an early +death I have long borne in my mind, and therefore I am accustomed to +them." + +"Ah!" said Susanna, "those who love and are loved, the happy, should +never die! But why this strange foreboding?" + +"I do not know myself!" replied Alette, "but it has accompanied me from +my earliest youth. My mother was born under the beautiful heaven of +Provence, and passed the greater part of her youth in that warm country. +The love of my father made her love in our Norway a second country, and +here she spent the remainder of her life; she never, however, could +rightly bear this cold climate, longed secretly for that warmer land, +and died with the longing. To me has she bequeathed this feeling; and +although I have never seen those orange groves, that warm blue heaven, +of which she so gladly spoke, I drew in from childhood a love to them; I +have, besides, inherited my mother's suffering from cold;--my chest is +not strong, ah!--the long, dark winters of Nordland; the residence on +the sea-shore in a climate which is twice as cold as that to which I +have been accustomed, the sea-mists and storms--ah! I cannot long +withstand them. But Susanna, you must promise me not to say one word of +what I have confided to you, either to Harald or to Lexow!" + +"But if they know it," said Susanna, "then you certainly need not go +there. Certainly your bridegroom would for your sake seek out a milder +country----" + +"And not feel at home there, and die of longing for his dear Nordland! +No, no, Susanna! I know his love for his native land, and know that this +winterly nature which I dread so much, is precisely his life and his +health. Alf is a Nordlander in heart and soul, and has, as it were, +grown up with the district which his fathers inhabited, and whose +advance and prosperity is his favourite scheme, the principal object of +his activity. No, no! for my sake he shall not tear himself from his +home, his noble efforts. Rather would I, if it must be so, find an early +grave in his Nordland!" + +Susanna now desired to know, and Alette communicated to her, various +particulars of the country which was she thought so terrible, and we +will now, with the young friends, cast-- + + + + +A GLANCE INTO NORDLAND. + + All is cold and hard. + + BLOM. + + The spirit of God yet rests upon Nordland. + + Z. + + +A great part of Norway has, as it were, its face turned away from life. +"The Old Night," which the ancient world considered to be the original +mother of all things, here held the giant child in her dark bosom, and +bound it tight in swaddling bands, out of which it could not shape +itself to joy and freedom. Neither Nordland nor Finmark see the sun for +many months in the year, and the difficulties and dangers of the road +shut them out from intercourse with the southern world. The spirit of +the North Pole rests oppressively over this region, and when in still +August nights it breathes from hence over southern Norway, then withers +the half-ripened harvests of the valleys and the plains, and the +icy-grey face of hunger stares stiffly from the northern cliffs upon +laborious but unhappy human multitudes. The sea breaks upon this coast +against a palisadoed fence of rocks and cliffs, around which swarm +flocks of polar birds with cries and screams. Storms alternate with +thick mists. The cliffs along this coast have extraordinary shapes; now +ascend they upwards like towers, now resemble beasts, now present +gigantic and terrific human profiles; and one can easily imagine how the +popular belief sees in them monsters and giants turned to stone, and why +their ancestors laid their Jotunhem in this desolate wilderness. + +And a dark fragment of Paganism still lingers about this region even to +this day. It is frozen fast into the people's imagination; it is turned +to stone in the horrible shapes of nature, which once gave it life. The +light of the Gospel endeavours in vain to dissipate the shadows of a +thousand years; the Old Night holds them back. In vain the Holy Cross is +raised upon all the cliffs; the belief in magic and magic arts lives +still universally among the people. Witches sit, full of malice, in +their caves, and blow up storms for the sea-wanderers, so that they must +be unfortunate; and the ghost Stallo, a huge man, dressed in black, with +a staff in his hand, wanders about in the wildernesses, and challenges +the solitary traveller to meet him in the contest for life and death. + +The Laplander, the nomade of the North, roving free with his reindeer +over undivided fields, appears like a romantic feature in this life; but +it must be viewed from afar. Near, every trace of beauty vanishes in the +fumes of brandy and the smoke of the Lapland hut. + +Along the coasts, between the cliffs, and the rocks, and the hundreds of +islands which surround this strand, live a race of fishermen, who, +rivalling the sea-mew, skim the sea. Night and day, winter and summer, +swarm their boats upon the waves; through the whistling tempest, through +the foaming breakers, speed they unterrified with their light sails, +that from the depths of the sea they may catch the silvery shoals of +herrings, the greatest wealth of the country. Many annually are +swallowed up of the deep; but more struggle with the elements, and +conquer. Thus amid the daily contest are many powers developed, many a +hero-deed achieved,[13] and people harden themselves against danger and +death, and also against the gentler beauty of life. + +Yet it is in this severe region that the eider-duck has its home; it is +upon those naked cliffs where its nest is built, from feathers plucked +from its own breast, that silky soft down which is scattered abroad over +the whole world, that people in the North and in the South may lie warm +and soft. How many suffering limbs, how many aching heads, have not +received comfort from the hard cliffs of Norway. + +Upon the boundaries between Nordland and Finmark lies the city of +Tromsoe, the now flourishing centre of these provinces. It was here that +Alette was to spend her life; it was here that affection prepared for +her a warm and peaceful nest, like the eider-duck drawing from its own +breast the means of preparing a soft couch in the bosom of the hard +rock. And after Alette had described to Susanna what terrified her so +much in her northern retreat, she concealed not from her that which +reconciled her so forcibly to it; and Susanna comprehended this very +well, as Alette read to her the following letter: + + +Tromsoe. May 28th. + +Were you but here, my Alette! I miss you every moment whilst I am +arranging my dwelling for your reception, and feel continually the +necessity of asking, "How do you wish it? what think you of it?" Ah, +that you were here, my own beloved, at this moment! and you would be +charmed with this "ice and bear land," before which, I know, you +secretly shudder. The country around here is not wild and dark; as, for +example, at Helgoland. Leafy woods garland the craggy shores of our +island, and around them play the waves of the sea in safe bays and +creeks. Our well-built little city lies sweetly upon the southern side +of the island, only divided from the mainland by a narrow arm of the +sea. My house is situated in the street which runs along the large +convenient harbour. At this moment above twenty vessels lie at anchor, +and the various flags of the different nations wave in the evening wind. +There are English, German, and especially Russian, which come to our +coast, in order to take our fish, our eider-down, and so on, in exchange +for their corn and furs. Besides these, the inhabitants of more southern +regions bring hither a vast number of articles of luxury and fashion, +which are eagerly purchased by the inhabitants of Kola, and the borders +of the White Sea. Long life to Commerce! My soul expands at the sight of +its life. What has not commerce done from the beginning of the world for +the embellishment of life, for promoting the friendly intercourse of +countries and people, for the refinement of manners! It has always given +me the most heartfelt delight, that the wisest and most humane of the +lawgivers of antiquity--Solon--was a merchant. "By trade," says one of +his biographers, "by wisdom and music was his soul fashioned. Long life +to commerce! What lives not through it?" What is all fresh life, all +movement, in reality, but trade, exchange, gift for gift! In love, in +friendship, in the great life of the people, in the quiet family circle, +everywhere where I see happiness and prosperity, see I also trade; nay, +what is the whole earth if not a colony from the mother country of +heaven, and whose well-being and happy condition depend upon free export +and import! The simile might be still further carried out, yet--thou +good Giver above, pardon us that we have ventured upon it! + +And you must not fancy, Alette, that the great interest for trade here +excludes the nobler and more refined mental culture. Among the thousand +people who inhabit the city, one can select out an interesting circle +for social intercourse. We also have a theatre, and many pleasures of +refined life. I was yesterday at a ball, where they danced through the +whole night, till--daylight. The good music, the tasteful dresses and +lovely dancing of the ladies; but above all, the tone of social life, +the cordial cheerfulness, astonished several foreigners who were +present, and caused them to inquire whether they were really here under +the seventieth degree of latitude? + +But the winter! Methinks I hear you say, "in summer it may be well +enough, but in the long, dark winter." Well then, my Alette, +winter--goes on right excellently when people love one another, when it +is warm at home. Do you remember, Alette, last autumn, how we read +together at Christiansand, in the Morning Paper, the following paragraph +from the Tromsoe News of the fourteenth of October: + +"Already for several days successively have we had snow storms, and at +this moment the snow-plough is working to form a road for the +church-going people. The grave-like stillness of night and winter spread +itself with tempest speed over meadow and valley, and only a few cows +wander now like spectres over the snow-covered fields, to pluck their +scanty fare from the twigs which are not yet snowed up." + +That little winter-piece pleased me, but at the expression, "the +grave-like stillness of night and winter," you bowed your loving dear +face, with closed eyes, to my breast. Oh, my Alette! thus shall you do +in future, when dread of darkness and cold seize upon you; and upon my +breast, listening to the beating of my heart and to my love, shall you +forget the dark pictures which stand without before your home. Close +your eyes; slumber beloved, whilst I watch over you, and then you will, +with brightening eyes and blooming cheeks, look upon the night and +winter, and feel that its power is not great. Oh, truly can love, this +Geiser of the soul, smelt ice and snow, wherever they may be on earth; +truly, wherever its warm springs swell forth, a southern clime can +bloom; yes, even at the North Pole itself. + +Whilst I write this, I hear music, which makes upon me a cheerful and a +melancholy impression at the same time. They are eight Russians, who +sing one of their national songs, whilst in the quiet evening they sail +down the Tromsoe-sound. They sing a quartet, and with the most complete +purity and melody. They sing in a minor key, but yet not mournfully. +They row in the deep shadow of the shore, and at every stroke of the +oars the water shines around the boat, and drops, as of fire, fall from +the oars. The phenomenon is not uncommon on the Atlantic; and know you +not, my Alette, what it is which shines and burns so in the sea? It is +love! At certain moments, the consciousness of the sea-insects rises to +a high pitch of vividness, and millions of existences invisible to the +naked human eye, then celebrate the bliss of their being. In such +moments the sea kindles; then every little worm, inspired by love, +lights up its tiny lamp. Yet only for a moment burns its flame, then all +the quicker to be extinguished. But it dies without pain--dies joyfully. +Rich nature! Good Creator! + +My heart also burns. I look upon the illuminated element, which may be +said to be full of enjoyment; I listen to the melody of the singers, +full of joy and pain, and--I stretch forth my arms to you, Alette, my +Alette! + +"Oh!" exclaimed Susanna, "how this man loves you, and how you must love +him! Certainly you must live long, that you may be happy together!" + +"And if not long," said Alette, "yet for a short time; yes, a short time +I hope to live and to make him happy, to thank him for all his love. And +then----" + +Alette stooped down and plucked a beautiful full-blown water-lily which +grew in the river, by whose banks they stood; she showed it to Susanna, +whilst she continued with a pensive smile-- + + What more then than this? + One moment she is + A friendly ray given, + From her home's shining heaven; + Then is she the flame, + High mid the temple's resounding acclaim-- + One moment like this + Bears you up through death's sleep into bliss.--MUNCH. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] The stormy winter of 1839 abounded in misfortunes to the fishermen +of Lofodne, but abounded also in the most beautiful instances of heroic +courage, where life was ventured, and sometimes lost, in order to save a +suffering fellow-creature. + + + + +THE RETURN. + + To meet, to part; + The welcome, the farewell; + Behold the sum of life! + + BJERREGAARD. + + +Alette set off to fulfil her promise to her uncle in Hallingdal; but in +a few weeks she was again at Semb, in company with Harald and Alf Lexow, +who had fetched her there. Yet this visit could last only for a short +time, for then she had to set out with her bridegroom and her uncle's +family on the journey to Trondhjem, where her marriage was to be +celebrated at the house of a rich and cordial aunt, who had long been +rejoicing in it, and had now for several months been baking and boiling +in preparation for it. Harald also was to accompany them on this +journey. + +Alf Lexow was a man in his best years, with an open and generous manner. +His face was small, marked by the smallpox, but otherwise handsome and +full of life and benevolence. He was one of those men whose first glance +attracts one and inspires confidence. Susanna felt great pleasure on +seeing the affectionate, confidential understanding between the +betrothed. She herself also was now happier, because Harald now left +Alette much with her bridegroom, and sought as before for Susanna's +society. + +Alette was lively, agreeable, and well-educated; but she liked best to +hear herself talk. So in reality did Harald; and a better listener than +Susanna could nobody have. Contentions occurred no longer; but there was +a something in Susanna which attracted Harald to her more than the +former passion for strife had ever done. He found Susanna's manners +altered for the better; there was in them a something quieter, and, at +the same time, gentler than before; whilst she was now always so kind, +so attentive, and thought of everything which could give pleasure to +others. He saw, at the same time, with what silent solicitude her +thoughts followed Mrs. Astrid, who now, at the approach of autumn--it +was then the end of August--appeared to have relapsed into her dark and +silent mood, out of which she had been aroused for some time. She now +very rarely left her room, except at the hour of dinner. + +Harald wished that his sister and brother-in-law elect should witness, +before their departure from the dale, some of the popular assemblings +for games and dancings, and had therefore prepared a rural festival, to +which he invited them and Susanna, and to which we also will now betake +ourselves. + + + + +THE HALLING. + + This peculiar, wild, affecting music, is our national poetry. + + HENR WERGELAND. + + The violins ringing; + Not blither the singing + Of birds in the woods and the meadows. + + Hurrah! hand round the foaming can-- + Skal for the fair maid who dancing began! + + Skal for the Jente mine! And + Skal for the Jente thine! And + Skal for the fathers and mothers on benches! + + NORWEGIAN SONG. + + +One lovely afternoon in the early part of September were seen two young +festally-attired peasant maidens gaily talking, hastening along the +footpath through the little wood in Heimdal towards a green open space +surrounded by trees, and where might be seen a crowd of persons of both +sexes assembled, all in peasant dresses. Here was the "Leikevold," or +dancing-ground; and as the young girls approached it, the one said to +the other, "It is certain, Susanna, that the dress becomes you +excellently! Your lovely bright hair shines more beautifully than ever, +plaited with red ribbons. I fancy the costume does not suit me half so +well." + +"Because you, best Alette, look like a disguised princess, and I in mine +like a regular peasant girl." + +"Susanna, I perceive that you are a flatterer. Let us now see whether +Alf and Harald will recognise the Tellemark 'jente' girls." + +They did not long remain in uncertainty on this subject; for scarcely +were they come to the dancing-ground, when two peasants in +Halling-jackets, and broad girdles round their waists, came dancing +towards them, whilst they sang with the others the following +peasant-song: + + And I am bachelor, and am not roving; + And I am son unto Gulleig Boe; + And wilt thou be to me faithful and loving, + Then I will choose thee, dear maiden, for me. + +Susanna recognised Harald in the young peasant, who thus singing gaily, +politely took her hand, and led her along the lively springing-dance, +which was danced to singing. Alette danced with her Alf, who bore +himself nobly as a Halling-youth. + +Never had Susanna looked so well and so happy; but then neither had she +ever enjoyed such pleasure. The lovely evening; the tones of the music; +the life of the dance; Harald's looks, which expressed in a high degree +his satisfaction; the delighted happy faces which she saw around +her--never before had she thought life so pleasant! And nearly all +seemed to feel so too, and all swung round from the joy of their hearts; +silver buckles jingled, and shilling after shilling[14] danced down into +the little gaily painted Hardanger-fiddle, which was played upon with +transporting spirit by an old man, of an expressive and energetic +exterior. + +After the first dance, people rested for a moment. They ate apples, and +drank Hardanger-ale out of silver cans. After this there rose an almost +universal cry, which challenged Harald and another young man who was +renowned for his agility and strength, to dance together a "loes +Halling." They did not require much persuasion, and stepped into the +middle of the circle, which enlarged itself, and closed around them. + +The musician tuned his instrument, and with his head bowed upon his +breast, began to play with an expression and a life that might be called +inspired. It was one of the wild Maliserknud's most genial compositions. +Was it imagined with the army, in the bivouac under the free nightly +heaven, or in--"slavery," amid evil-doers? Nobody knows; but in both +situations has it charmed forth tones, like his own restless life, which +never will pass from the memory of the people. Now took the +Hardanger-fiddle for the first time its right sound. + +Universal applause followed the dancing of the young men; but the +highest interest was excited by Harald, who, in the dance, awoke actual +astonishment. + +Perhaps there is no dance which expresses more than the Halling the +temper of the people who originated it, which better reflects the life +and character of the inhabitants of the North. + +It begins, as it were, upon the ground, amid jogging little hops, +accompanied by movements of the arms, in which, as it were, a great +strength plays negligently. It is somewhat bear-like, indolent, clumsy, +half-dreaming. But it wakes, it becomes earnest. Then the dancers rise +up and dance, and display themselves in expressions of power, in which +strength and dexterity seem to divert themselves by playing with +indolence and clumsiness, and to overcome them. The same person who just +before seemed fettered to the earth, springs aloft, and throws himself +around in the air as though he had wings. Then, after many break-neck +movements and evolutions, before which the unaccustomed spectator grows +dizzy, the dance suddenly assumes again its first quiet, careless, +somewhat heavy character, and closes, as it began, sunk upon the earth. + +Loud shouts of applause, bestowed especially upon Harald, resounded on +all sides as the dance closed. And now they all set themselves in motion +for a great Halling-polska, and every "Gut" chose himself a "Jente." +Harald had scarcely refreshed and strengthened himself with a can of ale +before he again hastened up to Susanna, and engaged her for the +Halling-polska. She had danced it several times in her own country, and +joyfully accepted Harald's invitation. + +This dance, too, is deeply characteristic. It paints the Northern +inhabitant's highest joy in life; it is the Berserker-gladness in the +dance. Supported upon the arm of the woman the man throws himself high +in the air; then he catches her in his arms, and swings round with her +in wild circles; then they separate; then they unite again, and +whirl again round, as it were, in superabundance of life and delight. +The measure is determined, bold, and full of life. It is a +dance-intoxication, in which people for the moment release themselves +from every care, every burden and oppression of existence. + +Thus felt also at this time Harald and Susanna. Young, strong, agile, +they swung themselves around with certainty and ease, which seemed to +make the dance a sport without any effort; and with eyes steadfastly +riveted on each other, they had no sense of giddiness. They whirled +round, as it were, in a magic circle, to the strange magical music. The +understrings sounded strong and strange. The peculiar enchanted power +which lies in the clear deeps of the water, in the mysterious recesses +of the mountains, in the shades of dark caves, which the skalds have +celebrated under the names of mermaids, mountain-kings, and wood-women, +and which drag down the heart so forcibly into unknown, wondrous +deeps--this dark song of Nature is heard in the understrings[15] of the +Halling's playful, but yet at the same time melancholy, tones. It deeply +seized upon Susanna's soul, and Harald also seemed to experience this +enchantment: Leaving the wilder movements of the dance, they moved +around ever quieter, arm-in-arm. + +"Oh, so through life!" whispered Harald's lips, almost involuntarily, as +he looked deep into Susanna's beaming, tearful eyes; and, "Oh, so +through life!" was answered in Susanna's heart, but her lips remained +closed. At this moment she was seized by a violent trembling, which +obliged her to come from dancing, and to sit down, whilst the whole +world seemed going round with her. It was not until she had drunk a +glass of water, which Harald offered to her, that she was able to reply +to his heartfelt and anxious inquiries after her health. Susanna +attributed it to the violent dancing, but declared that she felt herself +again quite well. At that moment Susanna's eyes encountered those of +Alette. She sate at a little distance from them, and observed Harald and +Susanna with a grave, and as it seemed to Susanna, a displeased look. +Susanna felt stung at the heart; and when Alette came to her, and asked +rather coldly how she found herself, she answered also coldly and +shortly. + +The sun was going down, and the evening began to be cool. The company +was therefore invited by Harald to a commodious hut, decorated with +foliage and flowers. At Harald's desire, a young girl played now upon +the "langleg,"[16] and sung thereto with a clear lively voice the +Hallingdal song, "Gjetter-livet" (Shepherd-life), which so naively +describes the days of a shepherd-girl in the solitary dales with the +flocks, which she pastures and tends during the summer, without care, +and joyous of mood, although almost separated from her kind;--_almost_, +for Havor, the goatherd, blows his horn on the rocks in the +neighbourhood, and ere long sits beside her on the crags-- + + The boy with his jew's-harp charms the kine, + And plays upon the flute so fine, + And I sing this song of mine. + +So approaches the evening, and "all my darlings," with "song and love," +are called by their names;-- + + Come Laikeros, Gullstjerna fine; + Come Dokkerose, darling mine; + Come Bjoelka, Qvittelin! + +And cows and sheep come to the well-known voice, and assemble at the +Saeter-hut, lowing and bleating joyfully. Now begins the milking; the +goatherd maiden sings-- + + When I have milked in these pails of mine, + I lay me down, and sleep divine, + Till day upon the cliffs doth shine. + +After the song, the dancing began again with new spirit. An iron hook +was driven into the beam in the middle of the roof, and the dancer who, +during the whirl of the Halling-polska, succeeded in striking it with +his heel, so that it was bent, obtained the prize for dancing this +evening. Observing the break-neck efforts of the competitors, Susanna +seated herself upon a bench. Several large leafy branches which were +reared between the benches and window, prevented her from seeing two +persons who stood in quiet conversation, but she remained sitting, as if +enchanted, as she heard the voice of Alette, saying: + +"Susanna is to be sure an excellent and good girl, and I really like +her; but yet, Harald, it would distress me if you seriously were +attached to her." + +"And why?" asked Harald. + +"Because I think that she would not be suitable for your wife. She has +an unreasonable and violent temper, and--" + +"But that may be changed, Alette. She has already changed very much. Of +her violent temper I have no fear--that I should soon remove." + +"Greater wizards than you, my brother, have erred in such a belief. At +the same time she is much too uneducated, too ignorant to be a suitable +companion for you through life. And neither would she be suitable for +the social circles into which you must sometime come. Best Harald! let +me beseech you, do not be over-hasty. You have so long thought of taking +a journey into foreign countries to improve your knowledge of +agriculture. Carry out this plan now; travel, and look about you in the +world before you fetter yourself for life." + +"I fancy you are right, Alette; and I shall follow your advice, but----" + +"Besides," said Alette, interrupting him in her zeal, "it is time enough +for you to think of marrying. You are still young; have time to look +about you, and choose. You can easily, if you will, in every point of +view, form a good connexion. Susanna is poor, and you yourself have not +wealth enough entirely to disregard----" + +Susanna would hear no more; and, in truth, she had heard enough. Wounded +pride and sickness of heart drove the blood to her head and chest, till +she felt ready to be choked. She rose hastily, and after she had begged +an acquaintance to tell Alette and Harald that a mere headache compelled +her to leave the dance, she hurried by the wood-path back to Semb. + +The evening was beautiful, but Susanna was blind to all its splendours; +she remarked not the twinkling of the bright stars, not how they +mirrored themselves in the ladies-mantle, which stood full of pure +crystal water; she heard not the rushing of the river, nor the song of +the pine-thrush; for never before, in her breast, had Barbra and Sanna +contended more violently. + +"They despise me!" cried the former; "they cast me off, they trample me +under their feet. They think me not worthy to be near them; the haughty, +heartless people! But have they indeed a right to hold themselves so +much above me, because I am not so fine, so learned as they; because I +am--poor? No, that have they not, for I can earn my own bread, and go my +own way through the world as well as any of them. And if they will be +proud, then I can be ten times prouder. I need not to humble myself +before them! One is just as good as another!" + +"Ah!" now began Sanna, and painful tears began to flow down her cheeks, +"one is not just as good as another, and education and training make a +great difference between people. It is not pleasant for a man to blush +for the ignorance of his wife; neither can one expect that anybody would +teach a person of my age; nor can they look into my heart and see how +willingly I would learn, and--and Harald, whom I thought wished me well, +whom I loved so much, whom I would willingly serve with my whole heart +and life--how coldly he spoke of me, who just before so warmly--Harald, +why shouldst thou fool my heart so, if thou carest so little for what it +feels, what it suffers?" + +"But," and here again began Barbra, "thou thinkest merely on thyself; +thou art an egotist, like all thy sex. And he seems to be so sure of me! +He seems not to ask whether I will; no--only whether he graciously +should. Let him try! let him make the attempt! and he shall see that he +has deceived himself, the proud gentleman! He shall see that a poor +girl, without connexions, without friends, solitary in the wide world, +can yet refuse him who thinks that he condescends _so_ to her. Be easy, +Miss Alette! the poor despised Susanna is too proud to thrust herself +into a haughty family; because, in truth, she feels herself too good for +that." + +But Susanna was very much excited, and very unhappy, as she said this. +She had now reached Semb. Lights streamed from the bedroom of the +Colonel's widow. Susanna looked up to the window, and stood in mute +astonishment; for at the window stood the Colonel's widow, but no longer +the gloomy, sorrowful lady. With her hands pressed upon her breast, she +looked up to the clear stars with an expression of glowing gratitude. +There was, however, something wild and overstrained in her appearance, +which made Susanna, who was possessed by astonishment and strange +feelings, determine to go to her immediately. + +On Susanna's entrance into the room Mrs. Astrid turned hastily to her. +She held a letter clasped to her breast, and said with restless delight +and a kind of vehemence-- + +"To Bergen, to Bergen! Susanna, I set off to-morrow morning to Bergen. +Get all in readiness for my journey as soon as you can." + +Susanna was confounded. "To Bergen?" stammered she, inquiringly; "and +the road thither is so difficult, so dangerous, at this time----" + +"And if death threatened me upon it, I should yet travel!" said Mrs. +Astrid, with impatient energy. "But I desire that no one accompany me. +You can stay here at home." + +"Lord God!" said Susanna, painfully excited, "I spoke not for myself. +Could I die to save my lady from any danger, any sorrow, heaven knows +that I would do it with joy! Let me go with you to Bergen." + +"I have been very unhappy, Susanna!" resumed Mrs. Astrid, without +remarking her agitated state of mind; "life has been a burden to me. I +have doubted the justice of Providence; doubted whether our destinies +were guided by a fatherly hand; but now--now I see--now all may be very +different.--But go, Susanna, I must compose myself; and you also seem to +need rest. Go, my child." + +"Only one prayer," said Susanna--"I may go with you to-morrow morning? +Ah! refuse me not, for I shall still go with my lady." + +"Well, well," said Mrs. Astrid, almost joyfully, "then it would be no +use my saying no." + +Susanna seized and kissed her hand, and was ready to weep, from all the +pain and love which filled her soul; but her lady withdrew her hand, and +again desired her kindly but commandingly to go. + +When she was alone, she turned her eyes upon the letter which she held +in her hands. + +Upon the envelope of the letter stood these words, written by an +unsteady hand. + +"To my wife, after my death." + +The letter was as follows: + +"I feel that a great change is about to take place in me. Probably I may +die, or become insane. In the first place, I will thank my wife for her +angel-patience with me during my life, and tell her, that it is owing to +her conduct that I have at this moment my faith left in virtue and a +just Providence. I will now reward her in the only way which is possible +to me. Know then, my wife, that the boy, for whom thou hast loved and +deplored--_is not dead!_ Let it also lessen the abhorrence of my deed, +when I assure thee, that it was solicitude for your well-being which led +me in part to it. I was totally ruined--and could not endure the +thoughts of seeing thee destitute! For this reason I sent away the boy, +and gave it out that he was dead. He has suffered no want, he has----" + +Here followed several illegible lines, after which might be read: + +"I am confused, and cannot say that which I would. Speak with the former +Sergeant Roenn, now in the Customs at Bergen; he will----" + +Here the letter broke off. It was without date, the paper old and +yellow. But Mrs. Astrid kissed it with tears of joy and gratitude, +whilst she whispered, + +"Oh, what a recompense! What light! Wonderful, merciful, good +Providence!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] About a farthing. + +[15] The understrings of the so-called Hardanger-fiddle are four metal +strings, which lie under the sounding-board. They are tuned in unison +with the upper catgut strings, whereby, as well as by the peculiar form +of the violin itself, this gives forth a singular strong, almost +melancholy sound. + +[16] The langoleik, or langleg, is a four-stringed instrument, probably +of the same form as the psaltry. The peasant girls in mountain-districts +play gladly upon it, and often with great dexterity. In the so-called +"Elskov's Song," from Vestfjordal it is said-- + +Ho som so gjilt kan po Langoleik spelo, +Svanaug den vena, ska no vaera mi! + + + + +AASGAARDSREIJA. + + Wildly the misty troop the tempest rideth, + The ghosts of heroes seek the Northern fjorde; + There goes the iron-boat; the serpent glideth, + The ravens flutter round the lofty board. + + Dark, silent shades the high mast are surrounding; + Lightnings are flashing from the weapons bright; + Rise up from ocean-cliff's thou horn resounding, + To-night ride forth the Daughters of the fight! + + VELHAVEN. + + +Susanna went into her quiet room, but within her it was not quiet--a +hard fight was fought there. It was necessary now to abandon all her own +wishes and hopes, for Susanna found now that she almost unconsciously to +herself had cherished such as regarded her mistress and Harald. She had +hoped that through her love she might win this, through her attentions +might become necessary to them; and now she saw how infinitely little +she was to them. She blushed at her own self-delusion, and reproached +herself with having been untrue to her little Hulda; in having attached +herself so deeply to strange people, and allowed her favourite scheme to +be dimmed by new impressions and views. Susanna punished herself +severely for it; called herself foolish and weak; and determined to fly +from Harald, and from the place where he dwelt. + +"When I have attended my lady over the dangerous mountains,"--thus +thought Susanna,--"when I see her in safety and happy, then I will leave +her--her and him, and this country for ever. Poor came I hither, poorer +shall I go away from it, for I shall leave a part of my heart behind in +a foreign land. But a pure conscience shall I take with me to my home. +They could not love me; but when I am gone, they will perhaps think with +esteem, perhaps with friendship, upon Susanna!" + +The silent stars mirrored themselves in Susanna's tears, which flowed +abundantly during this quiet discourse with herself, and the tears and +the stars calmed her mind, and she felt herself strengthened by the +resolution which she had taken. + +After this she entirely directed her thoughts upon that which would be +necessary for the journey, and passed the remainder of the night partly +in these preparations, and partly in setting the domestic affairs in +order, that she might with a good conscience leave the house. + +In the mean time the journey was not so quickly undertaken as was at +first intended, for a safe guide and good safe horses for the journey +over the mountains had to be obtained, and this occupied the greater +part of the next day. Before the morning of the following day, it was +not possible that they could set out. Harald, greatly amazed at this +sudden determination, endeavoured to delay the journey, by +representations of its difficulties and even dangers during this season, +for, "from the beginning of September, they may every day look for falls +of snow and stormy tempests in this mountain region." But Mrs. Astrid, +without further explaining herself, adhered to her resolution, and +Harald promised to make all preparations for the journey, so that it +might be performed as speedily and as safely as possible. They had the +choice between four equally difficult mountain-roads which led from this +part of Hallingdal towards the diocese of Bergen; and of these, the +shortest was that which went through Hardanger. Mrs. Astrid determined +upon this. This, however, would require at least two days and a half. +Harald, who knew the way, and said that in case of need he could serve +as guide, made preparations to attend the lady on her adventurous +journey. Alette, in the mean time, with her Alf, should, in company +with her uncle in Hallingdal and his family, set off on the journey to +Trondhjem, where Harald promised afterwards to meet them for Alette's +marriage. + +Harald wished to inquire from Susanna the cause of this extraordinary +journey; but Susanna at this time was not much to be spoken with, she +had so much to attend to both within and out of the house, and she was +always surrounded by Larina and Karina, and Petro. And Susanna was glad +that her household affairs gave her a good excuse for absenting herself +from the company, and even from avoiding intercourse with the world. A +certain bitterness both towards him and Alette was rooted into her +heart. + +Among many noble and valuable qualities, man has that of being able to +condemn and sentence himself. And if we are justly displeased with any +one, if we are wounded and repelled by word or deed, we should depend +upon this quality, and permit it to operate reconcilingly upon our +feelings. For while we are embittered by his offence, perhaps he himself +may have wept in silence over it, waked in the silent hours of the night +unpityingly to punish himself in the severe sanctuary of his conscience; +and the nobler the human being, all the greater is his pang, even over +failings which before the judgment-seat of the world are very small or +no faults at all; nay, he will not at all forgive himself if he cannot +make atonement for his faults; and the hope of so doing is, in such +painful hours, his only comfort. + +Thus even would every bitter feeling have vanished out of Susanna's +soul, could she have seen how deeply dissatisfied was Harald at this +time with himself,--how warmly he upbraided himself for the words which, +during the yesterday's dawn, had passed his lips, without there being +any actual seriousness in them; and how displeased he was by the promise +which he had given to Alette, and with the resolve he had made, in +consequence of her anxieties and advice. + +This dissatisfaction was the more increased, when he saw by Susanna's +swollen eyelids that she had wept much, and remarked in her manner a +certain uneasiness and depression which was so entirely the reverse of +her usually fresh and lively deportment. Uneasy and full of foreboding, +he questioned himself as to the cause, whilst he followed her with +inquiring looks. + +At dinner, Mrs. Astrid did not join them at the table, and the others +sate there silent and out of spirits, with the exception of Lexow, who +in vain endeavoured to enliven the rest with his good humour. + +In the afternoon, whilst they were taking coffee, Susanna slipped +silently away, to carry to a sick peasant woman, before her journey, +some medicines, together with some children's clothes. Harald, who had +stood for some time observing the barometer, and who seemed to suspect +her intention, turned round to her hastily as she went out at the door, +and said to her-- + +"You cannot think of going out now? It is not advisable. In a few +minutes we shall probably have a severe storm." + +"I am not afraid of it," replied Susanna, going. + +"But you do not know _our_ storms!" answered Harald. "Lexow, come here! +See here,"--and Harald pointed to the barometer, whilst he said half +aloud, "the quicksilver has fallen two degrees in half an hour; now it +sinks again; now it stands near the earthquake point! we shall have in a +moment a true 'Berg-roese,'[17] here." + +Lexow shook his head mournfully, and said-- + +"It is a bad look out for the morrow's journey! But I presume that your +storms here are mere child's play, compared with those that we have in +certain districts of Nordland!" And Alf went to his Alette, who looked +inquiringly and uneasily at him. + +Harald hastened after Susanna, and found her at the door, just about +going out with a bundle under her arm. He placed himself in the way +before her, and said to her gravely-- + +"You cannot go! I assure you that danger is at hand." + +"What danger?" asked Susanna, gloomily, and with an obstinate +determination to act in opposition to Harald. + +"Aasgaardsreija," answered Harald, smiling, "and it is nothing to joke +about. Soon enough will it come riding here and may take you with it, if +you do not stop at home. No! You must not go now!" And he seized her +hand in order to lead her into the house. + +Susanna, who fancied that he was joking in his customary manner, and +who was not at all in a joking humour, released her hand, and said, +crimsoning and proudly-- + +"I _shall_ go, sir! I shall go, because I will do so; and you have no +right to prevent me." + +Harald looked at her confounded, but said afterwards, in a tone which +very much resembled Susanna's-- + +"If I cannot prevent your going, neither can you prevent my following +you!" + +"I would rather go alone!" said Susanna, in a tone of defiance, and +went. + +"I, even so!" said Harald, in the same tone, and followed her, yet ever +at the distance of from fifteen to twenty paces. As he passed the +kitchen door, he went in and said to those whom he found there, "Look to +the fire, and extinguish it at the first gale of wind; we shall have a +tempest." + +At the same moment, Alfiero sprang towards Susanna, howling and leaping +up with his paws upon her shoulder, as if he would prevent her from +going forward on her way. But repulsed by her, he sprang anxiously +sneaking into his kennel, as if seeking there for shelter from danger. + +The weather, however, was beautiful; the wind still; the heaven bright; +nothing seemed to foretel the approaching tempest, excepting the smoke, +which, as it ascended from the cottages in the dale, was immediately +depressed, and, whirling round, sunk to the earth. + +Susanna went rapidly on her way; hearing all the time Harald's footsteps +a little behind her, and yet not venturing to turn round to look at him. +As by chance she cast her eyes to heaven, she perceived a little white +cloud, which took the fantastical shape of a dragon, and which, with the +speed of an arrow, came hastening over the valley. Immediately +afterwards was heard a loud noise, which turned Susanna's glance to the +heights, where she saw, as it were, a pillar of smoke whirlingly ascend +upwards. At the same moment Harald was at her side, and said to her +seriously and hastily, "To the ground! throw yourself down on the ground +instantly!" + +Susanna would have protested; but in the same moment was seized by +Harald, lifted from the earth, and in the next moment found herself +lying with her face upon the ground. She felt a violent gust of wind; +heard near to her a report like that of a pistol-shot, and then a loud +cracking and rattling, which was followed by a roar resembling the +rolling of successive peals of thunder; and all was again still. + +Quite confounded by what had taken place, Susanna raised her head, and +looked around her as she slowly raised herself. Over all reigned a dead +stillness; not a blade of grass moved. But just near to her, two trees +had been torn up, and stones had been loosened from the crags and rolled +into the dale. Susanna looked around for Harald with uneasiness, but he +was nowhere to be found, and she thought upon the story of +Aasgaardsreija. In her distress she called upon his name, and had great +joy in hearing his voice reply to her. + +She perceived him at a little distance from her, slowly raising himself +near an angular wall of rock. He was pale, and seemed to feel pain. +Busied about Susanna's safety, Harald had assumed too late the humble +posture into which he had compelled Susanna, and had been caught by the +whirlwind, and slung violently against the corner of a rock, whereby he +had sustained a severe blow upon the left collar-bone and shoulder. He, +however, assured Susanna, who was now anxious about him, that it was of +no consequence; it would soon be better, he added jestingly. + +"But was I not right in saying that Aasgaardsreija is not to be played +with? And we have not yet done with it. In a few moments it will be upon +us again; and as soon as we hear it roaring and whistling in the +mountains, it is best that we humble ourselves. It may otherwise fare +ill with us." + +Scarcely had Harald uttered these words before the signals were heard +from the mountains, and the tempest arose with the same violence as +before, and passed over as quickly too. In a few moments all was again +still. + +"We have now again a few moments' breathing time," said Harald, rising +up, and looking inquiringly around him; "but the best is, that we now +endeavour to find a shelter over head, so that we may be defended from +the shower of stones. There shoots out a wall of rock. Thither will we +hasten before the tempest comes again. If I am not mistaken, other +wanderers have thought as we." + +And, in truth, two persons had before them sought shelter under the +rocky projection, and Harald soon recognised them. The elder of them was +the guide whom Harald had sent for to conduct them over the mountain +road--a handsome old man in the Halling costume; the younger was his +grandson, a brisk youth of sixteen, who was to accompany him. On their +way to Semb, they had been overtaken by the tempest. + +It was perhaps welcome to both Harald and Susanna, that in this moment +of mutual constraint, they were prevented by the presence of these +persons from being alone together. From their place of refuge they had +an extensive prospect over the dale, and their attention was directed to +that which had occurred there. They saw that the cottages had ceased to +smoke; a sign that the people, as is customary in such tempests, had +universally extinguished their fires. They saw several horses, which had +been out to graze, standing immovably, with their heads turned in the +direction from whence the tempest came; in this manner they divided the +wind-shocks, and could withstand its force. A little farther off a +singular atmospheric scene presented itself. They saw thick masses of +clouds from different sides rush across the sky, and stormily tumult +backwards and forwards. The singularly-formed masses drew up against +each other, and had a regular battle in the air. It continued some time; +but at length the columns which had been driven on by the weaker wind +withdrew, the conquerors advanced tempestuously onwards, and spread +themselves over the whole vault of heaven, which now dark and heavy as +lead, sunk down to the earth. In the mean time the tempest began +somewhat to abate, and after about three hours' continuance, had +sufficiently subsided to allow the company under the rock-roof to betake +themselves to their homeward way. Susanna longed impatiently to be at +home, as well on account of her mistress as of Harald, whose contusion +evidently caused him much pain, although he endeavoured to conceal it +under a cheerful and talkative manner. + +Not without danger, but without any further injury, they arrived at +Semb, where every one, in the mean time, had been in the greatest +uneasiness on their account. The wind entirely abated towards evening. +Harald's shoulder was fomented; he soon declared that he had lost all +pain; and although every one urgently discouraged him, yet he resolutely +adhered to his determination of accompanying Mrs. Astrid across the +mountains. + +Poor Susanna was so full of remorse for her wilfulness, which had +occasioned Harald's accident, so grateful for his care for her, that +every bitter feeling as well towards him as to Alette, had vanished from +her heart. She felt now only a deep, almost painful necessity of showing +her devotion to them; and to give them some pleasure, she would gladly +have given her right hand for that purpose. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] Roese or Ryse (giant) is the name given in Norway to the strong +whirlwinds, which are heard howling among the rocks, and which, in +certain mountain districts are so dangerous. + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN JOURNEY. + + Forwards! forwards! fly swift as a hind, + See how it laughs behind Fanaranktind! + + HENR WERGELAND. + + +The party which next morning set out from Heimdal and ascended +Ustefjell, did not look in the least gay. They moved along also in a +thick mist, which hung over the valley, enveloped all the heights, and +concealed every prospect around them. Before them rode the guide, the +old trusty Halling peasant, whose strong and tall figure gave an +impression of security to those who followed after. Then came Mrs. +Astrid; then Susanna; then Harald, who carried his arm in a sling. The +train was closed by the young boy, and a peasant, who led two horses +with the luggage upon hurdles. + +After they had ascended for a considerable time, the air became clearer, +and the travellers had mounted above the regions of mist; soon saw they +the blue colour of the heavens, and the sun greeted them with his beams, +and lighted up the wild, singular region which now began to surround +them. This scene operated upon Susanna's young, open mind with wonderful +power. She felt herself altogether freer and lighter of mood, and, +glancing around with bright eyes, she thought that she had left behind +her all strife and all pain, and now ascended upwards to a future of +light and tranquillity. Now her mistress would indeed be happy; and +Susanna would, with liberated heart, and bound no longer by selfish +feelings, easily follow the calls of duty and the will of Providence. So +felt, so thought she. + +The road was untracked, often steep and terrific, but the horses stepped +safely over it, and thus in a little time they came to a Saeter-hut, +which lay upon the shore of Ustevand, one of the inland lakes which lie +at the foot of Hallingskarv. This Saeter lies above the boundary of the +birch-tree vegetation, and its environs have the strong features +peculiar to the rocky character; but its grass-plots, perpetually +watered from the snowy mountains, were yet of a beautiful green, and +many-coloured herds of cattle swarmed upon them. Like dazzling silver +ribbons shimmered the brooks between the green declivities and the +darker cliffs. The sun now shone bright, and they mutually congratulated +each other on the cheering prospect of a happy journey. At this Saeter +the company rested for an hour, and made a hasty breakfast of the simple +viands which are peculiar to this region. Before each guest was placed a +bowl of "Lefsetriangle,"[18] on which was laid a cake of rye-meal, about +the size of a plate. Upon the table stood large four-cornered pieces of +butter, and a dish of excellent mountain-fish. Cans of Hardanger ale +were not wanting; and a young girl, with light plaited hair, +light-yellow leather jacket, black thickly-plaited petticoat, and a red +kerchief tied round her neck, with a face as pretty and innocent as ever +an idyl bestowed upon its shepherdess, waited upon the guests, and +entertained them with her simple, good-humoured talk. + +After breakfast the journey was continued. Upon the heights of Ustefjell +they saw two vast mountain ranges, whose wavy backs reared themselves +into the regions of perpetual snow. They were Hallingskarv and +Halling-Jokul. + +Slowly advanced the caravan up the Barfjell. By degrees all trees +disappeared; the ground was naked, or only covered by low black bushes; +between, lay patches of snow-lichen, which increased in extent the +higher they ascended. The prospect around had in it something +indescribably cold and terrific. But Susanna felt herself in a peculiar +manner enlivened by this wild, and to her new spectacle. To this the old +Halling peasant contributed, who, whilst they travelled through this +desolate mountain track, related to the party various particulars of the +"subterranean folk" who dwelt there, and whom he described as a spectre +herd, with little, ugly, pale, or bluish human shapes, dotted in grey, +and with black head-gear. "They often draw," said he, "people down into +their subterranean dwellings, and there murder them; and if anybody +escape living out of their power, they remain from that time through +the whole of their lives dejected and insane, and have no more pleasure +on the earth. Certain people they persecute; but to others they afford +protection, and bring to them wealth and good fortune." The Halling +peasant was himself perfectly convinced of the actual existence of these +beings; he had himself seen in a mountain district a man who hastily +sunk into the earth and vanished! + +One of his friends had once seen in a wood a whole farm, with house, +people, and cattle; but when he reached the place, all these had +immediately vanished. + +Harald declared that here the imagination had played its pranks well; +but the old man endeavoured to strengthen the affair by relating the +following piece out of Hans Lauridsen's "Book of the Soul." + +"The devil has many companions; such as elfin-women, elfin-men, dwarfs, +imps, nightmares, hobgoblins with red-hot fire-tongs, Var-wolves, +giants, spectres, which appear to people when they are about to die." + +And as Harald smilingly expressed some doubt on the subject, the old man +said warmly-- + +"Why, does it not stand written in the Bible that all knees, as well +those that are in heaven and on the earth, and _under_ the earth, shall +bow at the name of the Lord? And who, indeed, can they be _under_ the +earth, if not the subterranean? And do you take care," continued he +gaily, with an arch look at Susanna, "take care when the 'Thusmoerk' +(twilight) comes, for then is the time when they are about; and they +have a particular fancy for young girls, and drag them gladly down to +their dwellings. Take care! for if they get you once down into their +church--for they have churches too, deep under ground--you will never +see the sun and God's clear heaven again as long as ever you live; and +it would not be pleasant, that you may believe, to dwell with Thuserne." + +Susanna shuddered involuntarily at this jest. She cast a glance upon the +wild rock-shapes around her, which the Halling-peasant assured her were +all spectres, giants, and giantesses, turned into stone. Harald remarked +the impression which all this made on Susanna; but he, who had so often +amused himself by exciting her imagination, became now altogether +rectifying reason, and let his light shine for Susanna on the darkness +of superstition. + +Higher yet ascended the travellers, and more desolate became the +country. The whole of this mountain region is scattered over with larger +and smaller blocks of stone; and these have assisted people as waymarks +through this country, when, without these, people must infallibly lose +themselves. Stones have, therefore, been piled upon the large blocks in +the direction which the road takes; and if a stone fall down, the +passer-by considers it a sacred duty to replace it. "Comfortable +waymarks," as Professor Hansten, in his interesting "Mountain Journey," +calls these guides; "for," continues he, "they are upon this journey the +only traces of man; and if only once one has failed to see one such +stone of indication, the next which one discovers expels the awakened +anxiety by the assurance, 'thou art still upon the right way.'" + +In dark or foggy weather, however, those friendly watchers are almost +useless, and the journey is then in the highest degree dangerous. People +become so easily bewildered and frozen in this desert, or they are +overwhelmed by the falls of snow. They who perish in this manner are +called after death "Drauge," and are supposed to haunt the gloomy +mountain passes. The guide pointed out a place near the road where had +been found the corpses of two tradespeople, who one autumn had been +surprised by a snow-storm upon the mountains, and there lost their +lives. He related this with great indifference, for every year people +perish in the mountain regions, and this kind of death is not considered +worse than any other. But dreadful thoughts began to rise in Susanna's +mind. There was, however, no reason to anticipate misfortune, for the +weather was lovely, and the journey, although difficult, went on safely +and well. It was continued uninterruptedly till evening. As no Saeter +could be reached before dark, they were to pass the night in a place +called "Monsbuheja," because in its neighbourhood there was grass for +the horses. Here our travellers happily arrived shortly before sunset. +They found here a cave, half formed by nature and half by the hands of +men, which last had rolled large stones around its entrance. Its walls +were covered with moss, and decorated with horns of the reindeer +fastened into the crevices of the rock. Soon had Susanna formed here, +out of carpet-bags, cloaks, and shawls, a comfortable couch for her +wearied lady, who thanked her for it with such a friendly glance as +Susanna had never before seen in her eyes. + +Harald, in the mean time, with the servants had cared for the horses, +and in collecting fuel for the night. A few hundred paces from the cave, +a river flowed between ice-covered banks; on the edge of this river, and +on the shores of the snow-brook, they found roots of decayed junipers, +rock-willows, and moor-weed, which they collected together to a place +outside the cave, where they kindled the nocturnal watch-fire. + +During this, Susanna ascended a little height near the cave, and saw the +sun go down behind Halling-Jokul. Like a red globe of fire, it now stood +upon the edge of the immeasurable snow-mountains, and threw splendid, +many-coloured rays of purple, yellow, and blue, upon the clouds of +heaven, as well as upon the snow-plains which lay below. It was a +magnificent sight. + +"Good heavens! how great, how glorious!" exclaimed Susanna, +involuntarily, whilst with her hands pressed upon her breast, she bowed +herself as though in adoration before the descending ruler of the day. + +"Yes, great and glorious!" answered a gentle echo near; Susanna looked +around, and saw Harald standing beside her. There stood they, the two +alone, lighted by the descending sun, with the same feelings, the same +thoughts, ardent and adoring in the waste, dead solitude. Susanna could +not resist the feelings of deep and solemn emotion which filled her +heart. She extended her hand to Harald, and her tearful look seemed to +say, "Peace! peace!" Susanna felt this a leave-taking, but a +leave-taking in love. In that moment she could have clasped the whole +world to her breast. She felt herself raised above all contention, all +spite, all littleness. This great spectacle had awakened something great +within her, and in her countenance _Sanna_ beamed in beautiful and mild +illumination. + +Harald, on the contrary, seemed to think of no leave-taking; for he held +Susanna's hand fast in his, and was about to speak; but she hastily +withdrew it, and, turning herself from him, said: + +"We must now think about supper!" + +The fire outside the cave blazed up cheerfully, and in the eastern +heaven uprose the moon amid rose-coloured clouds. + +Soon was Susanna, lively and cheerful, busied by the fire. From cakes of +bouillon and prepared groats which she had brought with her, she +prepared an excellent soup, in which pieces of veal were warmed. Whilst +this boiled, she distributed bread, cheese, and brandy to the men who +accompanied them, and cared with particular kindness for the old guide. +Harald allowed her to do all this, without assisting her in the least. +He sate upon a stone, at a little distance, supported on his gun, and +observed her good and cheerful countenance lighted up by the fire, her +lively movements and her dexterity in all which she undertook. He +thought upon her warm heart, her ingenuous mind, her activity; he +thought upon the evenings of the former winter, or when he read aloud, +related stories to her, and how she listened and felt the while. All at +once it seemed to him that the ideal of a happy life, which for so many +years had floated before his mind, now was just near to him. It stood +there, beside the flames of the nocturnal fire, and was lighted up by +them. Alette's warnings flitted from before him like the +thence-hastening night-mists, without shape or reality. He saw himself +the possessor of an estate which he would ennoble as Oberlin has done +the sunken rocky valley; saw himself surrounded by dependents and +neighbours, to whose happiness he really contributed; he saw himself in +his home--he contemplated it in the most trying light--the long winter +evenings; but it dimmed not thereby. For he saw himself as before, on +the winter evenings with Susanna; but yet not as before, for he now sate +nearer to her and she was his wife, and he read aloud to her, and +enjoyed her lively, warm sympathy; but he rested at intervals his eyes +upon her and upon the child, which lay in the cradle at her feet, and +Susanna glanced at him as she had just now done upon the rock in the +evening sun. The flames which now danced over the snow were the flames +of his own hearth, and it was his wife who, happy and hospitable, was +busied about them, diffusing comfort and joy around her. + +"What is the use of a finer education?" thought he, "it cannot create a +heart, a soul, and qualities like this girl's!" He could not turn his +eyes from Susanna; every moment she seemed more beautiful to him.--The +sweet enchantment of love had come over him. + +In the mean time the evening meal was ready, and Harald was called to +it. What wonder if he, after a fatiguing day's journey, and after the +observations which he had just been making, found Susanna's meal beyond +all description excellent and savoury?! He missed only Susanna's +presence during it, for Susanna was within the cave, and upon her knees +before Mrs. Astrid, holding in her hand a bowl of soup, and counting +with quiet delight every spoonful which her lady with evident +satisfaction conveyed to her lips. "That was the best soup that I ever +tasted!" said she, when the bowl was emptied; "it is true, Susanna, that +you are very clever!" It was the first time that Mrs. Astrid had paid +attention to her eating, and the first praise which Susanna had received +from her mouth,--and no soup, not even nectar, can taste so charming, so +animating, as the first word of praise from beloved lips! + +When Susanna went out of the cave, she was welcomed by Harald's looks; +and they spoke a language almost irresistibly enchanting for a heart to +which affection was so needful as was Susanna's: and in her excited and +grateful spirit she thought that she could be content for all eternity +to be up in these mountains, and wait upon and prepare soup for those +beloved beings who here seemed first to have opened their hearts to her. + +They now made preparations for the night, which promised to be clear, +but cold. The peasants laid themselves around the fire. Mrs. Astrid, +anxious on account of Harald's shoulder, prayed him to come into the +cave, where it was sheltered from the keen air; but Harald preferred to +keep watch on the outside, and sate before the fire wrapped in his +cloak. Susanna laid herself softly down at his mistress's feet, which +she hoped by this means to keep warm. Strange shapes flitted before her +inward sight whilst her eyelids were closed. Shapes of snow and ice came +near to her, and seemed to wish to surround her--but suddenly vanished, +and were melted before the warm looks of love, and the sun shone forth +in glory; and happy, sweet feelings blossomed forth in her soul. Amid +such she slept. Then a new image showed itself. She was again in +Heimdal; she stood upon the bank of the river, and looked with fearful +wonder on the opposite shore; for there, amid the dark fir-trees, shone +forth something white, mist-like, but which became ever plainer; and as +it approached the brink of the river, Susanna saw that it was a child, +and she knew again her little Hulda. But she was pale as the dead, and +tears rolled down her snow-white cheeks, while she stretched forth her +little arms to Susanna, and called her name. Susanna was about to throw +herself into the waves which separated them, but could not; she felt +herself fettered by an invisible power. At this, as she turned round +with inexpressible anguish to free herself, she perceived that it was +Harald who thus held her; he looked so cold, so severe, and Susanna felt +at the game time both love and hatred for him. Again anxiously called +the tender child's voice, and Susanna saw her little sister sink upon +the stones of the shore, and the white waves beat over her. With a +feeling of wild despair Susanna now awoke from sleep, and sprang up. +Cold perspiration stood upon her brow, and she looked bewildered around. +The cave darkly vaulted itself above her; and the blazing fire outside +threw red confused beams upon its fantastically decorated walls. Susanna +went softly out of the cave; she wished to see the heavens, the stars; +she must breathe the free fresh air, to release herself from the terrors +of her dream. But no beaming star looked down upon her, for the heavens +were covered with a grey roof of cloud, and the pale moonlight which +pressed through cast a troubled light over the dead country, and gloomy +and hideous shapes. The fire had burnt low, and flickered up, as if +sleepily, now and then, with red flames. The peasants slept heavily, +lying around it. Susanna saw not Harald at this moment, and she was glad +of it. In order to dissipate the painful impression she had experienced, +Susanna took a water-jug, and went down to the river with it, to fetch +water for the morrow's breakfast. On the way thither she saw Harald, who +with his gun upon his shoulder, walked backwards and forwards some +little distance from the cave. Unobserved by him, she, however, came +down to the river, and filled her jug with the snow-mingled water. This +little bodily exertion did her good; but the solitary ramble was not +much calculated to enliven her spirits. The scene was indescribably +gloomy, and the monotonous murmuring of the snow-brook was accompanied +by gusts of wind, which, like giant sighs, went mournfully whistling +through the desert. She seated herself for a moment at the foot of a +rock. It was midnight, and deep silence reigned over the country. The +rocks around her were covered with mourning-lichen, and the pale +snow-lichens grew in crevices of the mountains; here and there stuck out +from the black earth-rind the bog-lichen, a little pale-yellow +sulphur-coloured flower, which the Lapland sagas use in the magic arts, +and which here gives the impression of a ghastly smile upon these fields +of death. Susanna could not free herself from the remembrance of her +dream; and wherever she turned her glance she thought that she saw the +image of her little dying sister. Perhaps in this dream she had received +a warning, perhaps a foretelling; perhaps she might never leave this +desert; perhaps she should die here, and then----what would become of +her little Hulda? Would not neglect and want let her sink upon the hard +stones of life, and the waves of misery go over her? In the midst of +these gloomy thoughts, Susanna was surprised by Harald. He saw that she +had been weeping, and asked, with a voice so kind it went to Susanna's +heart-- + +"Why so dejected? Are you uneasy or displeased? Ah! tell it openly to me +as a friend! I cannot bear to see you thus!" + +"I have had a bad dream!" said Susanna, wiping away her tears and +standing up, "all is so ghastly, so wild here around us. It makes me +think on all the dark and sad things in the world! But it is no use +troubling oneself about them," continued she more cheerfully, "it will +be all well enough when the day dawns. It is the hour of darkness, the +hour in which the under-earth spirits have rule!" And Susanna attempted +to smile. "But what is that?" continued she, and her smile changed +itself suddenly to an expression of anxiety, which made her +involuntarily approach Harald. There was heard in the air a low +clattering and whistling, and at the same time a mass resembling a grey +cloud came from the north, spreading over the snow-fields and +approaching the place where they stood. In the pale moonlight Susanna +seemed to see wild shapes with horns and claws, moving themselves in the +mass, and the words, "the under-earth spirits," were nearly escaping her +lips. + +"It is a herd of reindeer!" said Harald, smiling, who seemed to divine +her thoughts, and went a few paces towards the apparition, whilst he +mechanically shouldered his gun. But at the same moment the herd took +another direction, and fled with wild speed towards the east. The wind +rose, and swept with a mournful wail through the ice-desert. + +"It is here really fearful!" said Susanna, and shuddered. + +"But to-morrow evening," said Harald, cheerfully, "we shall reach +Storlie-Saeter, which lies below the region of snow, and then we shall +find birch-woods, quite green yet, and shall meet with friendly people, +and can have there a regularly comfortable inn. The day afterwards we +shall have a heavy piece of road; but on that same day we shall have a +view of scenes so magnificent, that you certainly will think little of +the trouble, on account of the pleasure you will enjoy, for there the +beautiful far exceeds the terrific. That spot between Storlie-Saeter and +Tverlic, where the wild Leira-river, as if in frenzy, hurls itself down +over Hoegfjell, and with the speed of lightning and the noise of thunder +rushed between and over splintered masses of rock, in part naked, in +part clothed in wood, to tumble about with its rival the furious +Bjoeroeja,--that spot exceeds in wild grandeur anything that man can +imagine." + +Thus spake Harald, to dissipate Susanna's dejection; but she listened to +him half-dreaming, and said as if to herself-- + +"Would that we were well there, and passed it, and at our destination, +and then----" + +"And then?" said Harald, taking up the unfinished sentence--"what then?" + +"Home with my Hulda again!" said Susanna, deeply sighing. + +"What, Susanna? Will you then leave us? Do you really hate Norway?" + +"No, no!--a long way from that!--But one cannot serve two masters, that +I now feel. Hulda calls me. I shall have no rest till I return to her, +and never will I part from her again, I have dreamed of her to-night; +and she was so pale, so pale--Ah! But you are pale too, terribly pale!" +continued Susanna, as she looked at Harald with astonishment; "you are +certainly ill!" + +"It is this lovely moonlight and this sweet scenery which gives me this +ashy-grey colour," said Harald jokingly, who wished to conceal the true +cause of his paleness; which was, that his shoulder began to be acutely +painful during the night. And he endeavoured to turn Susanna's attention +to another object. + +The two had in the mean time reached the cave. Harald revived the +smouldering fire with fresh fuel, and Susanna crept softly into the +cave, and resumed her former place at the feet of her mistress. But it +was not till late that she sunk into an uneasy sleep. + +She was awoke by a loud and rushing noise. A pale light came into the +cave, and she heard Harald's voice saying aloud outside, "It is time +that we are preparing for the journey, that as soon as possible we may +get into quarters. We have a laborious day before us." + +Susanna looked around her for her lady. She stood quite ready near +Susanna, and was regarding her with a gentle, attentive look. + +Susanna sprang up, shocked at her own tardiness, and went all the +quicker now to make arrangements for breakfast. The bouillon was again +had recourse to, the servants were refreshed with salmon, bacon, and +curds thawed in snow-water. + +A tempest had blown up after midnight, which promised our travellers not +at all an agreeable travelling-day. The river and the brooks roared +loudly, and raged and thundered amid the rocks around them. In the +course of the morning the wind, however, abated, but Harald cast now and +then thoughtful glances upon the grey roof of cloud which grew ever +thicker above their heads. Susanna saw him once cast an inquiring glance +upon the guide, and he shook his grey head. In the mean time all the +_men_ seemed cheerful; and Harald seemed to wish by his animation, to +remove the impression which his continued unusual paleness might +occasion. + +Through the whole forenoon they continued to ascend higher into the +region of winter, and the snow-fields stretched out wider and wider. No +one living thing showed itself in this desert, but they frequently saw +traces of reindeer, and here and there flies lay upon the snow in deep +winter-sleep. The wind fortunately subsided more and more, and let its +icy breath be felt only in short gusts. But ever and anon were heard +peals and roarings, as if of loud thunder. They were the so-called +"Fjellskred;" or falls of great masses of rocks and stones, which +separate themselves from the mountains, and plunge down, and which in +these mountain-regions commonly occur during and after tempests. The +peasants related many histories of houses and people who were crushed +under them. + +The road became continually more and more difficult. They were often +obliged to wade through running rivers, and to pass over snow-bridges, +under which the rivers had made themselves a path. Harald, alike bold, +as prudent and determined, often averted danger at his own risk, from +Mrs. Astrid and Susanna. Neither was he pale any longer. The exertions +and fever, which nobody suspected, made his cheeks glow with the finest +crimson. + +In the afternoon, they had reached the highest point of the rocks. Here +were piled up two great heaps of stones, in the neighbourhood of a +little sea called Skiftesjoe, which is covered with never-melted ice in +the hottest summer. Here the brooks begin to run westward, and the way +begins from here to descend. The giant shapes of the Vasfjern and +Ishaug, together with other lofty snow-mountains, showed themselves in +perspective. + +The wind was now almost still; but it began to snow violently, and the +cloudy sky sank down, dark and heavy as lead, upon the travellers. + +"We must hasten, hasten," said the old Halling peasant, as he looked +round with an intelligent glance to the party whom he led, "else we +shall be snowed up on the mountains, as it happened to the late Queen +Margaret, when----" + +He ended not, for his horse stumbled suddenly on a steep descent, and +threw him over. The old man's head struck violently against a stone, and +he remained lying senseless. It was a full hour before they succeeded in +bringing him to consciousness. But the blow had been so severe, and the +old man was so confused in his head, that he could no longer serve as +guide. They were obliged to place him on the same horse as his grandson +rode, and the high-spirited young man took charge of him with the +greatest tenderness. Harald rode now at the head of the party, but every +moment increased the difficulties of his undertaking, for the snow fell +with such terrible rapidity, and the thickness of the air prevented him +distinguishing with certainty "the comfortable waymarks,"--the +traveller's only means of safety. They were obliged often to make +windings and turnings, to come again upon the right path. Nevertheless, +they succeeded in reaching Bjoeroei-Saeter, an uninhabited Saeter, but which +stands upon the broad and rapid Bjoeroeia. + +Here they halted to take counsel. The Bjoeroeia was now so swollen, and +rushed along so violently, that they soon saw the pure impossibility of +passing it at this place. The old Halling-peasant advised them to make a +circuit to another place, where they might with safety cross the river; +this would take them near to the Storlie-Saeter, and near to the great +waterfall of the same name, the roar of which might be heard at three +miles' distance. It is true that they must make a circuit of some miles, +but what could they do? Great was the danger of pursuing the journey in +this storm, but greater yet to stand still in this desert, where the +snow frequently fell to the depth of many yards. The old Hallinger, +however, chose this last; for he found himself unable to sit on the +horse, and prayed to be left quiet in the hut, with provisions for a few +days, in which time he hoped that the snow would cease and begin to +thaw. He did not wish that his grandson should remain with him, but he +was resolute not to leave his old grandfather, and the rest considered +it alike proper and necessary; and the two, therefore, were hastily +supplied with whatever they might require in this winterly solitude. +Their horses were supplied with provender, and led likewise into the +hut. + +Susanna bound up the old man's head with the carefulness of a daughter. +It was to her infinitely difficult to leave the old man behind them +there. "And if no thaw come?" said she; "if snow and winter still +continue, and thou art buried in here and frozen?" + +"That has happened before now to many a better fellow than me," said the +old man calmly. "One cannot die more than once, and God is also at home +in the wilderness. And he who rightly can utter the Lord's Prayer need +not to fear the under-earth spirits. With me, an old man, it may go as +it will. My best time is, in any case, past; I am anxious only for the +youth. Think on him when thou comest to human beings." + +Susanna was affected. She impressed a kiss upon the old man's forehead, +and a warm tear fell from her cheek upon his. The old man looked up to +her with a cordial, bright-beaming glance. "God's angel guide thee!" +cried he after her, as she left the hut to attend the rest. + +Again was the little train in motion, and wandered over snow-fields, +naked rocks, and half-thawed morasses. The snow reached high up the legs +of the horses, and only slowly and almost reluctantly went they forward. +It grew darker and darker. No one spoke a word. Thus they went on for an +hour's space. + +With great uneasiness had Susanna fancied for some time that she +observed Harald to reel in his saddle; but she endeavoured to persuade +herself that it might be only a delusion, which the unequal paces of the +horse occasioned, and by the thick snow-mist through which she saw him. +All around her had, in fact, a bewildering appearance, and seemed to her +waving and spectral. A dull cry from Mrs. Astrid broke the ghostly +silence--was this also a delusion? Harald's horse stood still, and was +without its rider. Of a truth, it was only too certain! Harald had, +seized by dizziness, fallen down beside his horse. He had borne for long +in silence the increasing pain in his shoulder and breast, and +endeavoured to conceal from himself, as well as from others, feelings of +feverish dizziness which seized his head. Even now, when it threatened +to overpower him, he would not allow it to be of any consequence. With +the help of the servant, he made several attempts to seat himself again +upon his horse, but in vain. He could no longer lift up his fevered +head. Lying upon the snow on his knees, and with silent misery, he +leaned his burning forehead against a piece of rock. + +"Here, then, here shall we die!" said Mrs. Astrid, half aloud to +herself, in a gloomy voice; "and this young man must be sacrificed for +my sake. My fate is always the same!" + +Then followed a moment of fearful silence. Men and animals stood +immoveable, and as if turned to stone, whilst the snow fell over them, +and seemed to threaten to bury them. But now a clear, cheerful voice +raised itself, and said-- + +"I see a flat rock yonder, which will shelter us from the snow. We must +carry him there!" And Susanna raised up Harald and seized his arm, +whilst the servant went before and made a path through the snow. About +forty paces from the place where they stood, a vaulted projecting rock +stretched forth, under which they could obtain shelter from the snow, +which reared itself in high walls around the open space. + +"Support yourself on me; better--better! Fear not; I am strong!" said +Susanna, whilst she, with a soft but vigorous arm, embraced Harald. He +allowed himself to be led like a child: although he was not properly +conscious, still he felt a certain pleasure in submitting himself to the +young girl's guidance, who talked to him with such a mild and courageous +voice. + +As commodiously as possible was Harald laid under the sheltering rock, +and Susanna took off her shawl, which she wore under her fur cloak, and +made of it a soft pillow for Harald. "Ah! that is good!" said he softly, +and pressed Susanna's hand, as he found himself relieved by this +position. Susanna returned now to her mistress. + +"Susanna," said she, "I would also gladly get there. It seems safe +resting there; but I am so stiff that I can scarcely move myself." + +Susanna helped her lady from her horse; and guided and supported by her, +Mrs. Astrid reached the sheltering vault. Here, in comparison with that +of the open plain, the air was almost of a mild temperature, for the +rock walls and the piled-up snow prevented the cold wind from entering. +Here Susanna placed softly her lady, who was almost stiffened with cold +and fatigue. + +Susanna also was frozen and weary; but, oh, what a southern clime of +life and warmth cannot love and a strong will call forth in a human +being! It was these powers which now impelled the young girl's pulse, +and let the blood rush warm from the chambers of her heart to her very +finger ends. She rubbed the stiffened limbs of her mistress, she warmed +them with kisses and tears, she warmed her with her throbbing breast. +She prevailed upon her to drink from a bottle of wine, and prepared also +for Harald's parched and thirsty lips a refreshing draught of wine and +water. She moistened her handkerchief with snow, and laid it upon his +aching brow. Around them both she piled cloaks and articles of clothing, +so that both were protected from the cold. Then stood she for a moment +silent, with a keen and serious look. She was thinking on what was +further to be done to save these two. + +Harald had raised himself on his sound arm, and looked silently down +with the pain which a manly nature experiences when it is compelled to +renounce one of its noblest impulses--sustaining and helping the weak +who are confided to their care. A tear--the first Susanna had ever seen +him shed, ran down his cheek. + +Mrs. Astrid gazed with a mournful look up to the grave-like vault. + +But Susanna's eyes beamed even brighter. "Hark, hark!" said she, and +listened. + +Mrs. Astrid and Harald fixed upon her inquiring looks. + +"I hear a noise," resumed Susanna, "a noise like that of a great +waterfall." + +"It is the roar of the Storlie-force!" exclaimed Harald, for a moment +animated--"but what good of that?" continued he, and sunk down +disheartened, "we are three miles off--and cannot get there!" + +"Yes, we can, we will," said Susanna, with firm resolution. "Courage, +courage, my dear lady! Be calm, Mr. Bergman! We will reach it, we will +be saved!" + +"And how?" said Harald, "the servant is a stupid fellow, he never could +find his way." + +"But I can find it, be sure of that," replied Susanna; "and come back +hither with people and help; tell me only the signs by which I may know +the right way. These and the roar of Storlie-force will guide me." + +"It is in vain! You would perish, alone, and in the snow-*storm!" + +"I shall not perish! I am strong! No one shall hinder me. And if you +will not tell me the way, I shall, nevertheless, find it out." + +When Harald saw her so firmly resolved, and her cheerful and determined +tone had inspired him with some degree of confidence, he endeavoured to +point out to her the objects by which she must direct herself, and which +consisted of rock and crag, which, however, in the snowy night, she +probably could no longer distinguish. + +With deep attention, Susanna listened, and then said cheerfully, "Now I +have it! I shall find the way! God preserve you! I shall soon be back +again with help!" + +When she came out into the open air, she found the servant seeking his +comfort in the brandy-bottle, and the horses sunk in a spiritless +stupor. She admonished him to take care of these, and charged him +earnestly both with threats and promises of reward, to think about his +employers and watch over their safety. She herself gave to her horse +fodder and water, patting him the while, and speaking to him kind and +encouraging words. After that she mounted to commence her solitary, +dangerous journey. But it was only with great difficulty that she could +make the horse part from his companions, and when it had gone about +twenty paces forward, it stopped, and would return again to its company. +This manoeuvre it repeated several times, at length it would obey +neither blows nor encouragement. Susanna therefore dismounted and let +the horse go. A few tears filled her eyes as she saw him thus abandon +her, and beseechingly she lifted her hands to Him, who here alone saw +the solitary defenceless maiden. + +After that she pursued her way on foot. + +This indeed was not long, and the length of it was not the difficulty; +but he who had seen Susanna making her way through the deep snow, then +clambering up rocks, then wandering over morasses, where at every step +she feared to sink, would have been filled with amazement at her courage +and her strength. But "God's angel," whom the old man had prayed might +guide her, seemed to be with her on the way, for the fall of snow +ceased, and ever and anon shot a moonbeam forth, and showed her some of +the objects which Harald had described as landmarks. Besides, the din of +the Storlie-force grew ever louder and louder, like the trumpet of the +resurrection in her ears. A strong resolve to attempt the uttermost, a +secret joy in testifying her affection, even though it should be with +the sacrifice of her life, gave wings to her feet, and prevented her +courage falling for a single minute. + +So passed two hours. Susanna now heard the water roaring beneath her +feet. She seemed to be on the point of plunging into an abyss; all +around was darkness and snow. She stood still. It was a moment of +terrible uncertainty. Then parted the clouds, and the half-moon in full +glory beamed forth, just as it was about to sink behind a rock. Susanna +now saw the abyss on whose brink she stood; she saw the Storlie-force +spread its white masses of water in the moonlight, saw the Saeter-huts +there below!... + +Beneath the stone vault where Mrs. Astrid and Harald found themselves, +prevailed for some time after Susanna's departure, a deep and wild +silence. This was at length broken by Mrs. Astrid, who said in a solemn +tone-- + +"I have a request to make of you, Harald!" + +"Command me," answered he. "Might I but be able to fulfil your wish!" + +"We seem both," resumed Mrs. Astrid, "now to stand near the grave; but +you are stronger and younger than I, you I hope will be rescued. I must +confide to you an important commission, and I rely on the honour and the +soundness of heart which I have observed in you, that you will +conscientiously execute it, in case I myself am not in a condition to +do, and you as I trust, will outlive me!" + +Mrs. Astrid had uttered this with a firm voice, but during the following +relation, she was frequently agitated by contending emotions. She spoke +rapidly, and in short, abrupt sentences, as thus-- + +"I had a sister. How I loved her I am not able to express. She was as +gay and gentle in her mood as I was serious. When I married, she +accompanied me to my house. But there was no good luck.--The fortune +which my sister possessed placed her in a condition to follow her own +heart's bias, and she gave her hand to a poor but amiable young man, a +Lieutenant Wolf, and lived with him some months of the highest earthly +felicity. But brief was the happiness to be. Wolf perished on a +sea-voyage, and his inconsolable wife sunk under her sorrow. She died +some hours after she had given birth to a son, and after she had laid +her tender babe in my arms, and prayed me to become its mother. + +"And I became a mother to this child. An own son could not have possibly +been dearer to me. I was proud of the handsome lively child. I saw a +beautiful future for him. He should realise the ideal of my youth, he +should.... Oh! amid my own poor and desolate life I was yet rich in this +boy. But the man who had received my hand endured not that my heart +should belong to this child. He took a hatred to the poor boy, and my +life became more than ever bitter.--Once I was obliged to make a journey +to visit a sick relative. I wished to take the seven-year-old boy with +me, for he had never been separated from me. But my husband would retain +him with him, and assumed a tone of tenderness to persuade me. This I +could not resist; and spite of the boy's entreaties, and an anxiety +which seemed to me ominous--I left my poor child. I persuaded myself +that I was acting strongly, and I was really weak. I had promised the +child's mother to protect it--I knew that I left it in hard and hostile +hands, and yet!---- When after a week's absence I returned from my +journey, the boy--had vanished. He had gone out one day, it was said, +and never came back again. They had sought for him everywhere, and at +length had found his little hat upon a rock on the edge of the sea--it +was held for certain that he had fallen over it.--I found my husband +busy in taking possession of my sister's property, which in case of the +boy's death should, according to her will, fall to us. From this moment, +my soul was seized with the most horrible suspicions!... God be praised +that these were false! God forgive me that I ever entertained them! + +"For twenty years have they gnawed at my heart; for twenty years have +they hung the weight of lead on the fulfilment of my duties. All my +researches were fruitless: no one could be suspected; no one seemed to +have acted herein, except a dreadful fate. This was all:--the boy had +had permission to go out and play, had left the house alone, and no one +had seen him afterwards. + +"Twenty years--long, dark years--had passed since this period, and hope +had by degrees expired in my heart, the feeble hope, which sometimes +revived in it, that I should yet recover my beloved child. After having +been many years deprived of both bodily and mental vigour by his +paralysis, my husband died. I was free; but wherefore should I live!... +I had lost my faith in everything which makes life dear, and I stood +alone, on the verge of old age, surrounded by darkness and bitter +memories. Thus did I still feel but a few days ago, when I received a +writing from the present Commandant of K----. Within lay an unsealed +letter, which he said had been found in a drawer into which my husband +was wont to throw old letters and papers, of no worth or +importance.--And this letter ... Oh! how it would have changed my heart, +and my future! This letter was written by my husband, apparently +immediately after his severe paralytic stroke; but its words, in an +unsteady hand, said, that the lost child still lived, and directed me +for further explanation to a certain Sergeant Roenn, in Bergen. Here the +letter appeared to have been broken off by a sudden increase of his +attack. I was, as it chanced, absent from home on this day. When I +returned I found my husband speechless, and nearly lifeless. Life was +indeed restored through active exertions, but consciousness continued +dark, and half of the body powerless;--thus he lived on for some years. +In a moment of clearness which occurred to him shortly before he +expired, I am convinced that he desired to unfold to me the condition of +the boy, or the existence of the aforesaid letter--but death prevented +him ... How this letter became thrown amongst the old papers I do not +understand--perhaps it might be done by my husband's own hand, in that +moment of privation of consciousness in which the letter closed--enough, +the hand of Providence saved it from destruction, and allowed it to +reach me!... + +"You know now the cause of my hasty journey. And if it should for me +terminate here--if I shall never achieve the highest wish, and the last +hope of my life--if I never may see again my sister's son, and myself +deliver into his hands that which has been unjustly withheld from +him--then, listen to my prayer, my solemn injunction! Seek out, as soon +as you can, in Bergen, the person whom I have named, and whose address +you will further find in the paper. Tell him, that in my last hour I +commissioned you to act in my stead; spare no expense which may be +necessary--promise, threaten--but search out where my sister's son is to +be found! And then--go to him. Bear to him my last affectionate +greeting; deliver to him this;--it is my Will, and it will put him in +possession of all that I possess, which is properly that of his mother, +for my own is nearly consumed. Tell him that care on his account has +worn away my life, that--my God! What do you? Why do you thus seize my +hand?--you weep!" + +"Tell me--" stammered forth Harald, with a voice nearly choked by +emotion; "did this child wear on a ribbon round his neck a little cross +of iron?--the head of a winged cherub in its centre?" + +"From his mother's neck," said Mrs. Astrid, "I transferred it to his!" + +"And here----here it yet rests!" exclaimed Harald, as he led Mrs. +Astrid's hand to the little cross hanging to his neck. "What +recollections awake now! Yes, it must be so! I cannot doubt----you are +my childhood's first cherisher, my mother's sister!" + +A cry of indescribable emotion interrupted Harald. "Good God!" exclaimed +Mrs. Astrid, "you are----" + +"Your sister's son; the child that you mourn. At this moment I recognise +again myself and you." + +"And I---- Your voice, Harald, has often struck me as strangely +familiar. At this moment I seem again to hear your father's voice. Ah, +speak! speak! for heaven's sake, explain to me----make me certain---- +you give me then more than life." + +"What shall I say?" continued Harald, in the highest excitement and +disquiet; "much is obscure to myself----incomprehensible. But your +narrative has at this moment called up in me recollections, impressions, +which make me certain that I neither deceive you nor myself. At this +instant I remember with perfect clearness, how I, as a child, one day +ran my little sledge on the hill before the fortress, and how I was +there addressed by the, to me, well-known Sergeant Roenn, but whose name +till this moment had entirely escaped me, who invited me to ascend his +sledge, and take a drive with him. I desired nothing better, and I got +in. I remember also now extremely well that my hat blew off, that I +wished to fetch it, but was prevented by the Sergeant, who threw a cloak +round me, and drove off at full speed. And long did the drive +continue----but from this moment my recollection becomes dark, and I +look back into a time as into a dark night, which ever and anon is +illuminated by lightning. Probably I fell then, into the heavy sickness +which long afterwards checked my growth. I recollect it as a dream, that +I would go home to my mother, but that my cries were hushed by the +Sergeant, first with good words and then with menaces. I remember dimly, +that I at one time found myself in a foul and wretched house, where +hideous men treated me harshly, and I longed to die.---- Then comes, +like a sunbeam, the impression of another home, of a clear heaven, pure +air, green meadows, and of friendly, mild people, who, with infinite +tenderness, cherished the sick and weakly child which I then was. This +home was Alette's; and her excellent parents, after they had recalled me +to life, adopted me as their son. My new relationships became +unspeakably dear to me; I was happy; my illness and the long succeeding +weakness had almost wholly obliterated the memory of the past. I had +forgotten the names of both people and places, yet never did I forget my +childhood's earliest, motherly cherisher. Like a lovely and holy image +has she followed me through life, although, with the lapse of years, +she, as it were, folded herself continually in a thicker veil. + +"When I was older, I requested and received from my foster-father an +explanation of my reception into his house. I then found that he had one +day called on Mr. K---- in Christiansand, and had seen there a most +feeble and pale child, who sate in the sunshine on the floor. The child +began to weep, but hushed itself in terror when Mr. K----went up sharply +to it, and threatened it with the dark room. Moved by this occurrence, +my benefactor inquired to whom the boy belonged, and received for answer +that it was a poor child without connexions, and who had been taken in +charity and committed to K----'s care. Alette's father resolved at +once, cost what it would, to take the child out of this keeping, and +offered to take the boy himself, and try what the country air would do +for the restoration of his health. It was in this manner that I came +into the family which I thence called my own. I could obtain no +explanation respecting my parents, nor respecting my peculiar connexion +with Mr. K----. K---- died a few weeks after my removal from his house, +and his wife either knew or pretended to know nothing whatever about me. + +"But my excellent foster-parents never allowed me to feel that I had no +real relatives. They made no difference between me and their own child, +and Alette became to me the tenderest and best of sisters. Death +deprived us of this beloved support; Alette's father has been now dead +two years: Alette removed to some near relatives, in order after a +certain time, to give her hand to a man whom she has long loved; and I +sought in travel to dissipate the feeling of desolation which had seized +on my heart. It was at this moment that business, or rather Providence, +conducted me to you. Admiration, and an interest whose power I cannot +describe, drew me towards you; perhaps, unknown to me, darkly operated +in me the delightful recollections of my childhood. At this moment they +have ascended in all their clearness. I seem now again transported into +the years of boyhood, when I called you mother, and loved you even to +adoration; and now--" and with passionate tenderness Harald seized the +hand of Mrs. Astrid, while he stammered forth--"now ... what says your +heart?... Can you trust this dim recollection ... this narrative without +all testimony?... May I again call you mother? Can you, will you, +receive me as son?" + +"Do I wish it?... Feel these tears of joy! I have not shed many such +upon earth. I cannot doubt ... I believe ... I am happy!... Thou art my +sister's son, my child ... I have thee again. But oh! have I found thee +merely to see thee die--die here--for my sake? Am I then born to be +unfortunate? This moment is bitter." + +"But delightful also!" exclaimed Harald, with warmth; "we have found +each other; we are united." + +"To die!" + +"Rescue is yet possible!" + +"But only through a miracle." + +"Providence permits wonderful things to happen; we have just had +evidence of it!" said Harald, with a gentle, admonitory tone. + +"Thou art right, Harald; but I have been so unhappy! I have difficulty +to believe in happy miracles. But, at all events, God be praised for +this moment, and let His will be done!" + +"Amen!" said Harald softly, but with manly fortitude; and both ceased, +exhausted, and all was in deep darkness around them, for the moon was +gone down, and the snow fell thickly. They seemed to be entombed alive. + +But the miracle of rescue was near. There gleamed a light--there were +heard voices out of the snowy wilderness. + +"Susanna!" exclaimed, with one voice, Mrs. Astrid and Harald. "Susanna, +our angel of salvation!" + +And it was Susanna, who, with a blazing torch in her hand, rushed into +the dark vault. It glittered at once as with a million of diamonds. Some +of these gleamed in human eyes. + +"You are saved, God be praised!" exclaimed Susanna. "Here are good, +strong men who will help you. But we must hasten; the snow falls +heavily." + +Several peasants, bearing lights and two litters, were now seen; and +Mrs. Astrid and Harald were each laid on one of these, and covered with +soft skins. + +"Susanna," said Mrs. Astrid, "come and rest here by me!" + +"Nay," answered Susanna, lifting aloft her torch; "I shall go on before +and light the way. Fear not for me; I am strong!" + +But a strange sensation suddenly seized her, as if her heart would sink, +and her knees failed her. She stood now a moment, then made a step +forward as to go, then felt her breast, as it were, crushed together. +She dropped on her knees, and the torch fell from her hands. "Hulda!" +she whispered to herself, "my little darling ... farewell!" + +"Susanna! gracious Heaven!" exclaimed now two voices at once; and, +strong with terror and surprise, sprang up Mrs. Astrid and Harald, and +embraced Susanna. She sank more and more together. She seized the hands +of her mistress and of Harald, and said with great difficulty, earnestly +praying--"My little Hulda! The fatherless ... motherless ... think of +her!" + +"Susanna! my good, dear child!" exclaimed Mrs. Astrid, "thou wilt not, +thou shalt not now die!" And for the first time fell a beam of anxious +love from her dark eyes upon the young, devoted maiden. It was the first +time that Susanna had enjoyed such a glance, and she looked up as +joyfully as if she had gazed into the opened heaven. + +"Oh, Harald!" said Susanna, while she gazed at him with inexpressible +tenderness and clearness, "I know that I could not make you happy in +life, but I thank God that I can die for you. Now--now despise not my +love!"--and seizing his hand and that of her mistress, she pressed them +to her bosom, saying, with a sobbing voice, "Pardon my fault, for--my +love's sake!" + +A slight shiver passed through her frame, her head sank upon her breast. +Without a sign of life, they laid Susanna by her mistress, who held her +in her arms, and bathed with her tears the young, pallid countenance. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] "Lefse" are thin cakes of dough, which are cut in pieces and baked. + + + + +THE AWAKENING. + + I woke, for life assumed victorious sway, + And found my being in its weakness lay. + There the beloved ones round my couch I saw. + + REIN. + + +Months went on, and life was for Susanna merely a wild, uneasy dream. In +the delirious fantasies of fever she again lived over the impressions of +the mountain journey, but in darker colours. She saw the subterranean +spirits, how in terrible shapes they raged about in the now wilderness, +and sought to suffocate her beneath piles of snow and ice, which they +flung upon her. Susanna combated with desperate exertions against them, +for she knew that if she fell, the defence for those she loved would be +taken away, and that the subterranean ones could seize upon it; and +therefore any mass of snow which the spirits cast upon her, she cast +back upon them. Finally, the subterranean ones desired a parley, and +promised that if she would voluntarily accompany them, they would permit +her friends to be at peace; yes, even heap upon them wealth and +happiness. Then strove Susanna no longer; but saluting the beautiful +heaven, and earth with its green dales and beloved people, whom she +should behold no more, let herself be dragged down in silence by the +spirits, into their subterranean dwellings, and experienced there +inexpressible torments. But she was contented to suffer for those she +loved; and out of the dark, cold abyss, where she was doomed to dwell, +she sent up the most affectionate, moving farewells to her Hulda, to her +mistress, to Harald, and Alette, revealing thereby, unknown, to herself, +all her heart's secrets, conflicts, and sufferings. + +One day it seemed to her that she had already dwelt hundreds of years in +the under world, and she was now in their church, for her time was up, +and she should now die, and in death (that she knew) should she be +delivered from the power of the mountain spirits. But she could feel no +joy over this, so faint was her heart, so chilled was her bosom. She lay +stretched out upon a stone floor, and over her vaulted itself a roof of +ice. That was her funeral vault, and there should she die. And by +degrees all feelings and senses grew benumbed, all torments vanished, +and there came a sleep so deep, but so secret and peaceful, that +Susanna, who still retained her consciousness, regarded death as a +salutary repose, and wished not to awaken. But it seemed to her that the +door of the vault opened, and she saw a light, like that of the sun; and +some one approached her, and touched her lips with a flame--a flame as +of life. Then beat her heart more rapidly, the blood streamed warmly +through her veins, and she looked up and saw a female figure stand by +her pillow, which bent over her with a look full of love and compassion. +The look, the beautiful life-giving look, Susanna seemed to have seen +some time before, and the longer she gazed on the face of this female +shape, the better she seemed to recognise familiar features--the noble +and beloved features of her mistress. But she looked younger and fairer +than formerly. At her feet she saw roses standing, and the sun shone +upon them; but all appeared to her so beautiful, so wonderful, that she +involuntarily whispered: + +"Are we now in heaven?" + +"Still on the earth," replied a voice, full of tenderness. "Thou wilt +here live for those who love thee." + +"Ah! who loves me?" said Susanna, faint and spiritless. + +"I!" answered the voice; "I and others. But be calm and quiet--a mother +watches over thee." + +And Susanna continued calm and quiet, and resigned herself, in her great +state of weakness, with gratified confidence to the motherly guardian. +Mrs. Astrid's presence, the mere sound of her light tread, the mere +sight of her shadow, operated beneficially on her mind; all that she +received from her hand was to her delicious and healing. There arose +between them a relationship full of pleasantness. Mrs. Astrid, who saw +the young girl as it were born anew under her hands, conceived for her +an attachment which surprised herself, much as it made her happy. The +strong and healthy Susanna had stood too distant from her; the weak, and +in her weakness the so child-like affectionate one, had stolen into her +heart, and she felt her heart thereby bloom, as it were, anew. + +Such is the operation of all true devotion, all true affection, and that +in every stage of life; for affection is the summer of life and of the +heart. + +So soon as strength and clear memory again revived in Susanna, she +begged to be informed of the fate of all those who had made the mountain +journey. With astonishment and joy did she then learn how Mrs. Astrid +had discovered in Harald her sister's son; and how, by this, much +darkness had vanished from her life. + +Through Sergeant Roenn, and the subsequent inquiries to which his +statement led, within a short time perfect clearness was obtained on all +that concerned the circumstances of Harald's childhood. It was then +discovered that Mr. K. had been a confidant of Colonel Hjelm's, and was +of a sufficiently worthless character to enter, for the sake of gain, +into the plans of the Colonel, and to receive Harald, and cause him by +degrees to forget his former circumstances. Sickness came in aid of +severe treatment; and after a sojourn of some months in K.'s house, he +found the poor boy so much stupified, that he could, without fear of the +betrayal of the secret, yield to the solicitations of Mr. Bergman, and +make over to him a child whose daily aspect was a torment to him. But we +return now to the present. + +Harald, under skilful medical care in Bergen, after the mountain +journey, was quickly restored to health. When he had attended the +marriage of Alette, he had travelled abroad, but would, in the course of +the summer, return to Semb, where he would settle down, in order to live +for the beloved relative whom he had again discovered. + +The guide, the honest old peasant of Hailing, had met with his death on +the mountains. His grandson wept by his corpse till he was himself half +dead with hunger and cold, when the people from the dales, sent by Mrs. +Astrid and Harald, succeeded in making a way through the snow-drifts to +the Bjoeroeja-saeter, and in rescuing him. + +Susanna dropt a tear for the old man's fate, but felt within her a +secret regret not to have died like him. She looked towards the future +with disquiet. But when she could again leave her bed, when Mrs. Astrid +drove her out with her, when she felt the vernal air, and saw the sea, +and the clear heaven above the mountains, and the green orchards at +their feet; then awoke she again vividly to the feeling of the beauty of +the earth, and of life. And she contemplated with admiration and delight +the new objects which surrounded her, as well the magnificent forms of +nature, as the life and the changing scenes in the city; for Susanna +found herself in the lovely and splendidly situated Bergen, the greatest +mercantile city of Norway, the birthplace of Hollberg, Dahl, and Ole +Bull. + +Yet would she speedily separate herself from all this, and what was +still harder, from her adored mistress; for Susanna had firmly +determined never again to see Harald. Crimson blushes covered her cheeks +when she recollected her confession in the mountains, at the moment when +she thought herself at the point of death, and she felt that after this +they could not meet, much less live in the same house without mutually +painful embarrassment. She would, therefore, not return again to Semb; +but, so soon as her health would permit it, would go from Bergen by sea +to Sweden, to her native town again, and there, in the bosom of her +little darling, seek to heal her own heart, and draw new strength to +live and labour. + +But it was not easy for poor Susanna to announce this resolve to her +mistress. She trembled violently, and could not restrain her tears. + +It was at the same time calming and disturbing to her feelings, when +Mrs. Astrid, after she had quietly listened to Susanna, answered with +much composure-- + +"You are at liberty, Susanna, to act as you find it best; but in three +or four months, for so long will my affairs yet retain me here--in a few +months I shall again return, to Semb, and it would be a trial to me to +be without you on the journey." + +"Then I shall accompany you," replied Susanna, glad that she was needed, +"but then ..." + +"Then," began again Mrs. Astrid, "when you will leave me, I shall +arrange for your safe return to your native place." + +"So then yet some months!" thought Susanna with a melancholy pleasure. +And these months were for her inexpressibly pleasant and strengthening. +Mrs. Astrid occupied herself much with her, and sought in many +particulars to supply the defects of her neglected education. And +Susanna was a quick pupil, and more affectionately than ever did she +attach herself to her mistress, while she on her part experienced even +more and more the truth of the adage: "the breath of youth is +wholesome." + +In the beginning of the month of July, Mrs. Astrid travelled again with +Susanna over the mountains which had once threatened them with death; +but at this season of the year, the journey was not dangerous, though +always laborious. Mrs. Astrid was the whole time in the highest spirits, +and seemed every day to become more joyous. Susanna's mood of mind, on +the contrary, became every day more depressed. Even Mrs. Astrid's gaiety +contributed to this. She felt herself infinitely solitary. + +It was a beautiful July evening when they descended into Heimdal. +Susanna's heart swelled with sadness as she saw again the places and the +objects which were so dear to her, and which she should now soon quit +for ever. Never had they struck her as so enchanting. She saw the sun's +beams fall on the Kristallberg, and she called to mind Harald's sagas; +she saw the grove of oaks where Mrs. Astrid had sate and had enjoyed the +fragrance which Susanna's hand had prepared for her in silence. And the +spring where the silver-weed and the ladies-mantle grew, the clear +spring where she had spent so many happy hours; Susanna seemed to +_thirst_ for it. The windows in Semb burned with the radiance of the +sun, the house seemed to be illuminated;--in that house she had worked +and ordered; there she had loved; there the flame of the winter evenings +had burned so brightly during Harald's stories. Silently ascended the +pillars of smoke from the cottages in the dale, where she was at home, +knew each child and each cow, knew the cares and the joys which dwelt +there, and where she had first learned rightly to comprehend Harald's +good-heartedness--always Harald--always did she find his image as the +heart in all these reminiscences. But now--- now should she soon leave +all this, all that was beautiful and dear! + +They arrived now in Semb, and were greeted by Alfiero with barkings of +clamorous delight.--Susanna, with a tear in her eye, greeted and nodded +to all beloved acquaintances, both people and animals. + +The windows in Mrs. Astrid's room stood open, and through them were seen +charming prospects over the dale, with its azure stream, its green +heights and slopes, and the peaceful spire of its church in the +background. She herself stood, as in astonishment, at the beauty of the +grove, and her eyes flashed as she exclaimed-- + +"See, Susanna! Is not our dale beautiful? And will it not be beautiful +to live here, to make men happy, and be happy oneself?" + +Susanna answered with a hasty Yes, and left the room. She felt herself +ready to choke, and yet once more arose Barbra in her, and spoke thus-- + +"Beautiful? Yes, for her. She thinks not of me; troubles herself not the +least about me! Nor Harald neither! The poor maid-servant, whom they had +need of in the mountain journey is superfluous in the dale. She may go; +they are happy now; they are sufficient to themselves. Whether I live or +die, or suffer, it is indifferent to them. Good, I will therefore no +longer trouble them. I will go, go far, far from here. I will trouble +myself no farther about them; I will forget them as they forget me." + +But tears notwithstanding rolled involuntarily over Susanna's cheeks, +and the Barbra wrath ran away with them, and Sanna resumed-- + +"Yes, I will go: but I will bless them wherever I go. May they find a +maid equally faithful, equally devoted! May they never miss Susanna! And +then, my little Hulda, then my darling and sole joy, soon will I come to +thee. I will take thee into my arms, and carry thee to some still +corner, where undisturbed I may labour for thee. A bit of bread and a +quiet home, I shall find sufficient for us both. And when my heart +aches, I will clasp thee to me, thou little soft child, and thank God +that I have yet some one on earth whom I can love, and who loves me!" + +Just as Susanna finished this ejaculation, she was at the door of her +room. She opened it--entered--and stood dumb with astonishment. Were her +senses yet confused, or did she now first wake out of year-long dreams? +She saw herself again in that little room in which she had spent so many +years of her youth, in that little room which she herself had fitted +up, had painted and embellished, and had often described to Harald;--and +there by the window stood the little Hulda's bed, with its flowery +coverlet, and blue muslin hangings. This scene caused the blood to rush +violently to Susanna's heart, and, out of herself, she cried--"Hulda! my +little Hulda!" + +"Here I am, Sanna! Here is thy little Hulda!" answered the clear joyous +voice of a child, and the coverlet of the bed moved, and an angelically +beautiful child's head peeped out, and two small white arms stretched +themselves towards Susanna. With a cry of almost wild joy Susanna sprang +forward, and clasped the little sister in her arms. + +Susanna was pale, wept and laughed, and knew not for some time what went +on around her. But when she had collected herself, she found herself +sitting on Hulda's bed, with the child folded in her arms, and over the +little, light-locked head, lifted itself a manly one, with an expression +of deep seriousness and gentle emotion. + +"Entreat, Susanna, little Hulda," said Harald, "that she bestow a little +regard on me, and that she does not say nay to what you have granted me; +beg that I may call little Hulda my daughter, and that I may call your +Susanna, my Susanna!" + +"Oh, yes! That shalt thou, Susanna!" exclaimed little Hulda, while she, +with child-like affection, threw her arms about Susanna's neck, and +continued zealously: "Oh, do like him, Susanna! He likes thee so much; +that he has told me so often, and he has himself brought me hither to +give thee joy. And seest thou this beautiful necklace he has given me, +and he has promised to tell me such pleasant stories in winter. He can +tell so many, do you know! Hast thou heard about Rypan in Justedale, +Sanna? He has told me that! And about the good lady who went about after +the Black Death, and collected all the motherless little children, and +was a mother to them. Oh, Sanna! Do like him, and let him be my father!" + +Susanna let the little prattler go on without being able to say a word. +She buried her face in her bosom, and endeavoured to collect her +confused thoughts. + +"Susanna," prayed Harald, restlessly and tenderly. "Look at me! Speak to +me a kind word!" + +Then raised Susanna her burning and tear-bathed countenance, saying, +"Oh! how shall I ever be able to thank you?" + +"How?" said Harold. "By making me happy, Susanna. By becoming my wife." + +Susanna stood up, while she said with as much candour as cordiality, +"God knows best how happy I should feel myself, if I could believe--if +words were spoken for your own sake, and not merely for mine. But, ah! I +cannot do it. I know that it is your generosity and goodness----" + +"Generosity? Then am I right generous towards myself. For I assure you, +Susanna, that I never thought more of my own advantage than at this +moment; that I am now as completely egotistical as you could desire." + +"And your sister Alette," continued Susanna, with downcast eyes; "I know +that she does not wish to call me her sister, and----" + +"And since Alette once was so stupid," said now a friendly female voice, +"therefore is she here to deprecate it." And Alette embraced heartily +the astonished Susanna, whilst she continued--"Oh, Susanna! without you +I should now no longer have a brother. I know you better now, and I have +read in the depths of his heart and know that he can now no longer be +happy but through you. Therefore I implore you, Susanna, implore you +earnestly, to make him happy. Be his wife, Susanna, and be my sister." + +"And you, too, Alette," said Susanna, deeply moved; "will you too +mislead me with your sweet words? Ah! could you make me forget that it +is my weakness----that is, I who, through my confession have called +forth---- But that can I never; and therefore can I not believe you, ye +good, ye noble ones! And therefore I implore and adjure you----" + +"What fine speeches are making here?" now interrupted a solemn voice, +and Mrs. Astrid stood before the affectionately contending group, and +spoke thus with an assumed sternness. "I will hope that my young +relatives and my daughter Susanna do not take upon them to transact and +to determine important affairs without taking me into the council. But +yes, I perceive by your guilty countenances that this is the fact; and +therefore I shall punish you altogether. Not another word of the +business then till eight days are over; and then I demand and require, +as lady and mistress of this house, that the dispute be brought before +me, and that I have a word to say in the decision. Susanna remains here +in the mean time in safe keeping, and I myself shall undertake to watch +her. Dost thou believe seriously, Susanna," and Mrs. Astrid's voice +changed into the most affectionate tones, while she clasped the young +maiden in her arms, "dost thou believe that thou canst so easily escape +me? No, no, my child! Thou deceivest thyself there. Since thou hast +saved our lives, thou hast become our life-captive--thou, and with thy +little Hulda! But supper is laid under the lime-trees in the garden, my +child; and let us gather strength from it for the approaching strife." + + + + +THE LAST STRIFE. + + The winged troops hie + From the black woods outpouring; + Under them fly + Storms and waves roaring. + Over them waken + Mild stars, and beckon + The troop to the sheltering palms. + + AUTUMN SONG, BY VELHAVEN. + + +There is on earth much sorrow and much darkness; there is crime and +sickness,--the shriek of despair, and the deep, long, silent torture. +Ah! who can name them all, the sufferings of humanity, in their +manifold, pale dispensations? But, God be praised! there is also an +affluence of goodness and joy; there are noble deeds, fulfilled hopes, +moments of rapture, decades of blissful peace, bright marriage-days, and +calm, holy death-beds. + +Three months after the strife just mentioned, there was solemnised at +Semb, in Heimdal, one of those bright wedding-days, when the suns of +nature and of men's hearts combined to call forth on earth a paradise, +which is always to be found there, though frequently hidden, fettered, +deeply bound by the subterranean powers. + + Yet from the faces of the fallen shine out + The lofty features of their heavenly birth, + And Daphne's heart beats 'neath the rugged bark. + + TEGNER. + +It was an autumn day, but one of those autumn days when a sun warm as +summer and a crystally pure air cause the earth to stand forth in the +brightest splendour before the azure-blue eyes of heaven; when Nature +resembles a novice, who adorns herself the most at the moment that she +is about to take the nun's veil, and to descend into her winterly grave. +The heights of the dale shone in the most gorgeous play of colours. The +dark pines, the soft-green firs, the golden-tinged birches, the hazels +with their pale leaves, and the mountain ashes with their bunches of +scarlet berries, arranged themselves on these in a variety of changing +masses; while the Heimdal river, intoxicated with the floods of heaven, +roared onward more impetuous and powerful than ever. Many-coloured +herds, which had returned fat and plump from the Saeters, wandered on its +green banks. The chapel-bells rung joyously in the clear air, while the +church-going people streamed along the winding footpath from their +cottages towards the house of God. From the margin of the river at Semb +ran a little fleet of festally adorned boats. In the most stately of +these sate, under a canopy of leaves and flowers, the Lady of Semb; but +no longer the pale, sorrowful one, whose glances seemed to seek the +grave. A new youth appeared now to play upon her cheeks, to breathe upon +her lips, while the clear eyes, with a glad and quiet enjoyment, gazed +around her, now on the beauties of nature, and now on a more beautiful +sight which she had immediately before her eyes--a happy human pair. +Near her, more like a little angel than a mortal child, sate little +Hulda, with a wreath of the flowers called by the Norwegians +"thousand-peace," in her bright locks. All looks, however--as they +ought--were fixed on the bride and bridegroom; and both were, in truth, +handsome and charming to look upon; the more so, because they appeared +so perfectly happy. In a following boat was seen a little strife between +a young lady and her husband, who would wrap round her a cloak, which +she would not willingly have. The spectators were tempted to take part +with him in his tender care for the young wife, who was soon to become a +mother. The issue of this strife was, that--Alf got the upper hand of +Alette. Other boats contained other wedding guests. The men who rowed +the boats had all wreaths round their yellow straw hats. And thus so +advanced the little fleet, amid joyous music, along the river to the +chapel. + +The chapel was a simple building, without any other ornament than a +beautiful altar-piece, and an abundance of flowers and green branches, +which now, for the occasion, adorned the seats, the walls, and the +floor. + +The sermon was simple and cordial, the singing pure; in a word, no +dissonant tone came hither to disturb the devotion which the arrangement +of divine service in Norway is so well adapted to call forth and +maintain.[19] + +Here Harald and Susanna called on heaven, from faithful and earnest +hearts, to bless their sincere intention, in joy and in trouble on the +earth, to love one another, and were declared by the congregation to be +a pair. + +Many people had come this day to church; and when the wedding-train +returned homewards, many boats joined themselves to it, and followed it +to the opposite shore with singing and loud huzzas. + +But Susanna did not feel herself truly calm and happy till in Mrs. +Astrid's quiet room she had bowed her forehead on her knee, and had felt +her maternal hands laid in blessing upon her head. Her heart was so full +of gratitude it seemed ready to burst. + +"I have then a mother!" she exclaimed, as she embraced Mrs. Astrid's +knees, and looked up to her with the warmest and most child-like +affection;--"Ah! I am too happy, far too happy! God has given me, the +poor solitary one, a home and a mother----" + +"And a husband, too! Forget him not, I beseech! He too will be +included!" said Harald, as he gently embraced Susanna, and also bent his +knee before the maternal friend. + +Mrs. Astrid clasped them both warmly in her arms, and said, with a +still, inward voice, as she went with them to the window, whence was +seen the beautiful dale in all its whole extent: We begin to-day +together a new life, and we will together endeavour to make it happy. At +this moment when I stand, surrounded by you, my children, and looking +forward as it were into a beautiful future, I seem to myself so well to +understand how that may be. We have not here the treasures of art; we +have not the life of the great world, with its varying scenes to enliven +and entertain us; but our lives need not therefore be heavy and +earth-bound. We have Heaven, and we have--Nature! We will call down the +former into our hearts and into our home, and we will inquire of the +latter concerning its silent wonders, and through their contemplation +elevate our spirits. By the flame of our quiet hearth we will sometimes +contemplate the movements of the great world-drama, in order thereafter +with the greater joy to return to our own little scene, and consider how +we can best, each of us play out our part. "And I promise you +beforehand," continued Mrs. Astrid, assuming a playful tone, "that mine +shall not be, to make so long a speech as now." + +But both Harald and Susanna joined in assuring Mrs. Astrid that she +could not possibly speak too long. + +"Well, well," said she kindly; "if you will sometimes listen to the old +woman's preachings, she, on the other hand, will often be a child with +you, and learn with you, and of you. I am at this moment equally curious +about nature, and long to make a closer acquaintance with her. The +thought of it throws a kind of vernal splendour over my autumn." + +"And assuredly," said Harald, "the intercourse with nature operates +beneficently, and with a youth-restoring power upon the human heart. I +always remember with delight the words of Goethe, when in his eightieth +year, he returned one spring from a visit in the country, sunburnt and +full of gladness: 'I have had a conversation with the vine,' said he, +'and you cannot believe what beautiful things it has said to me.' Do we +not seem here to behold a new golden age beam forth, in which the voices +of nature become audible to the ear of man, and he in conversation with +her to acquire higher wisdom and tranquillity of life?" + +"Our wisdom," said Mrs. Astrid, as she looked smilingly around, "has not +in the mean time prevented Susanna from being more sensible than us, +for she has thought of the wedding-guests, while we have quite forgotten +them. But we will now follow her!" + + * * * * * + +After the wedding-dinner spiced with skals and songs, and especially +with hearty merriment, Mrs. Astrid retired to her own room, and Alette +assumed the hostess's office in the company. + +Sitting at her writing-table, Mrs. Astrid, with an animated air, and +quick respiration, sketched the following lines: + +"Now come, come, my paternal friend, and behold your wishes, your +prognostications fulfilled; come and behold happiness and inexpressible +gratitude living in the bosom which so long was closed even to hope. +Come, and receive my contrition for my pusillanimity, for my murmurings; +come and help me to be thankful! I long to tell you orally how much is +changed within me; how a thousand germs of life and gladness, which I +believed to be dead, now spring up in my soul restored to youth. I +wonder daily over the feelings, the impressions which I experience; I +scarcely know myself again. Oh, my friend! how right you were--it is +never TOO LATE! + +"Ah! that I could be heard by all oppressed, dejected souls! I would cry +to them--'Lift up your head, and confide still in the future, and +believe that it is never TOO LATE!' See! I too was bowed down by long +suffering, and old age had moreover overtaken me, and I believed that +all my strength had vanished; that my life, my sufferings were in +vain--and behold; my head has been again lifted up, my heart appeased, +my soul strengthened; and now, in my fiftieth year, I advance into a new +future, attended by all that life has of beautiful and worthy of love! + +"The change in my soul has enabled me better to comprehend life and +suffering, and I am now firmly convinced _that there is no fruitless +suffering, and that no virtuous endeavour is in vain_. Winter days and +nights may bury beneath their pall of snow the sown corn; but when the +spring arrives, it will be found equally true, that 'there grows much +bread in the winter night.' It has pleased Providence to remove the +covering from my eyes here upon earth; for many others will this only +be removed when their eyes have closed on the earthly day; all will, +however, one day see what I now see, and acknowledge what I now +acknowledge with joy and thankfulness. + +"Clear and bright now lies my way before me. In concert with my beloved +children, with the teacher of my youth, and my friend, who I hope will +spend in my house the evening of his days, I will convert this place +into a vale of peace. And when I shall leave it and them, may peace +still remain amongst them with my memory! And now, thou advancing age, +which already breathes coldly on my forehead; thou winter twilight of +earthly life, in which my days will sink more and more, come and +welcome! I fear thee no longer; for it has become warm and light in my +heart. Even under bodily spasms and pains, I will no more misconceive +the value of life; but with an eye open to all the good upon earth, I +will say to my dear ones: + + Bewail me not, for I am still so blest, + The peace of heaven doth dwell within my breast." + +Mrs. Astrid laid down her pen, and lifted up her tear-bright and beaming +eyes; she caught sight of Harald and Susanna, who arm-in-arm wandered +down the dale. They went on in gladness, and yet seemed to contend; and +the question between them was, indeed, upon a most important +matter--namely, which of them should hereafter have in their house the +_last word_. Harald wished that this should hereafter be, as lord and +master, his exclusive prerogative. Susanna declared that she should not +trouble herself about his prerogative; but when she was in the right +intended to persist in it to the uttermost. In the mean time they had +unconsciously advanced to the spring--the Water of Strife--which had +witnessed their first contention, and over which now doves, as at the +first time, circled with silver-glancing wings. And here Harald seized +Susanna's hand, led her to the spring, and said solemnly-- + +"My wife! I have hitherto spoken jestingly, but now is the moment of +seriousness. Our forefathers swore by the bright water of Leipter, and I +now swear by the water of this clear spring, that if thou hereafter +shalt oppose me beyond the power of my mind to bear, I will silence +thee, and compel thee to hold thy peace in this manner----" + +The doves, attracted by some wonderful sympathy, now flew rapidly down +upon the head and shoulders of the young couple. All strife was hushed, +and you might hear the soft and playful murmur of the spring, which +seemed to whisper about--what? + + Oh, heaven-azure well, + Say what thou now didst see! + +The well whispered-- + + By a kiss--two disputants + United happily! + +"Aha! here we have them!" exclaimed a merry voice, a little way behind +the two who were kissing; "but I must tell you that it is not polite +thus to leave your guests, to----" + +"Come, Susanna," interposed Alette, smiling, whilst she took the arm of +the deeply blushing Susanna, "come, and let us leave these egotistical +gentlemen, who always will be waited upon, to themselves a little. It +does them an infinite deal of good. We will in the mean time go +together, and open our hearts to each other about them." + +"Sweet Alette!" said Susanna, glad in this way to be released from +Brother-in-law Lexow's jokes, "how happy it makes me to see you so gay +and healthy, spite of your residence up in the North, which you feared +so much." + +"Ah!" said Alette, softly and sincerely, "a husband like my Lexow can +make summer and happiness blossom forth all over the earth; but----" and +now again the melancholy expression crept over Alette's countenance; but +she constrained herself, and continued joyfully, "but we need not now +hold forth in praise of these good gentlemen, who, I observe, have +nothing better to do than to come and listen to us; and therefore--(and +here Alette raised her voice significantly)--since we have done with my +dear husband, we will give yours his well-merited share. Has he not +shockingly many faults? Is he not--between us two--selfish and +despotic?" + +"That I deny!" exclaimed Harald, as he sprang forward, and placed +himself before Susanna; "and thou, my wife, contradict it if +thou--dare." + +"Dare!" exclaimed Alette; "she must dare it, for you strengthen my word +by your deed. Is he not a despot, Susanna?" + +"Am I a despot, Susanna? I say a thousand times 'No!' thereto. What dost +thou say?" + +"I say--nothing," said Susanna, blushing, with a graceful movement, and +drew closer to Alette; "but--I think what I will." + +"It is good, however," cried Harald, "that I have found out a way to +have the last word!" + +"Have you discovered that, brother-in-law?" said Lexow, laughing; "now, +that is almost a more important discovery than that which Columbus made. +Impart it to me above all things." + +"It will serve you nothing at all," said Alette, as, with jesting +defiance, she turned her pretty little head towards him; "because my +last word is, in every case, a different kind of one to yours." + +"How?" + +"Yes. My last word, as well as my last thought, remains--Alf!" + +"My Alette! my sweet Alette! why these tears?" + +"Susanna," whispered Harald, "I will prepare you for it in time, that my +last word remains--Sanna!" + +"And mine--Harald!" + +Susanna went now again on Harald's arm, Alette on her Alf's. + + * * * * * + +After we have, towards the end of our relation, presented such cheerful +scenes--ah! why must we communicate one of a more tragical nature? But +so fate commands, and we are compelled to relate, that----the grey and +the white ganders--weep not, sentimental reader!--which already, three +weeks before Susanna's marriage, had been put up to fatten, closed a +contentious life a few days before the same, and were united in a +magnificent _a la daube_, which was served up and eaten, to celebrate +the day of Harald's and Susanna's Last Strife and the beginning of an +eternal union. + + * * * * * + +Often afterwards, during her happy married life, stood Susanna by the +clear spring, surrounded by the feathered herd, which she fed, whilst +she sang to two little, healthy, brown-eyed boys, and to a young +blooming girl, this little song, with the conviction of a happy heart: + + At times a little brawl + Injures not at all, + If we only love each other still + Cloudy heaven clears + Itself, and bright appears, + For such is Nature's will. + + The heart within its cage + Is a bird in rage, + Which doth madly strive to fly! + Love and truth can best + Flatter it to rest, + Flatter it to rest so speedily.[20] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] The divine service in Norway is not, as still in Sweden, mingled +with worldly affairs. After the sermon merely some short prayers are +read, in which the clergyman blesses the people in the same words which +for thousands of years have been uttered over the wanderers of the +deserts. They have not here the barbaric custom of reading from the +pulpit announcements of all possible things--inquiries after thieves and +stolen pieces of clothing, etc., which, to the worshippers, and +especially to the partakers of the sacrament, are so unspeakably +painful, and in cold winter days are enough to freeze all devotion. + + + + +AN AFTER-WORD. + +Friendly reader! Now that thou hast arrived at a happy conclusion of the +foregoing contentions, thou perhaps dost not dream that now a contest +exists between--thee and--me! But it will infallibly be so, if thou, as +often has happened before, wilt call that a Novel which I have called +Sketches, and which have no pretension to the severe connexion and +development of the novel; although, to be sure, they be connected. If +thou wilt, on the contrary, regard them--for example--as blades of +grass, or as flowers upon a meadow molehill, which wave in the wind upon +their several stalks, but which have their roots in the same soil, and +unfold themselves in the light of one common sun; behold then, we +conclude in peace, and I wish only that they may whisper to thy heart +some friendly word, respecting the point of light which may be found in +every circumstance, in every portion of existence,--respecting the +spring, which, for noble souls, sooner or later, reveals itself from its +wintry concealment. To the Norwegian authors, who in the mountain +journey, or in my wandering among the legends of the country, were my +guides, I here offer my thanks; and also from the depth of my heart to +many benevolent and amiable people, whom I have become acquainted with +in that beautiful country, in whose woods one breathes so fresh and +free, in whose hospitable bosom I also once found a dear and peaceful +home. + + THE AUTHORESS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Geijer. + + +THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY. + +_Post 8vo., Elegantly Printed, and bound in Cloth, at 3s. 6d. per Vol._ + + + 1. THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS AND REMAINS OF THE REV. ROBERT HALL, with + Memoir by DR. GREGORY, and Essay by JOHN FOSTER. + _Portrait._ + + 2 & 3. ROSCOE'S LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO X., Edited by his Son, + with the Copyright Notes, Documents, &c. In 2 Vols. _Portraits._ + + 4. SCHLEGEL'S LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Translated from + The German, with a Memoir by J. B. ROBERTSON, Esq. _Portrait._ + + 5 & 6. SISMONDI'S HISTORY OF THE LITERATURE OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. + Translated by ROSCOE. In 2 Vols. _Portraits._ + + 7. ROSCOE'S LIFE OF LORENZO DE MEDICI, with the Copyright Notes, &c. + + 8. SCHLEGEL'S LECTURES ON DRAMATIC LITERATURE. _Portrait._ + + 9 & 11. BECKMANN'S HISTORY OF INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, AND ORIGINS. + Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged. In 2 Vols. _Portraits._ + + 10. SCHILLER'S HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR AND REVOLT OF THE + NETHERLANDS. Translated by A. J. W. MORRISON. _Portrait._ + + 12. SCHILLER'S WORKS. Vol. II. [Conclusion of "The Revolt of the + Netherlands;" "Wallenstein's Camp;" "The Piccolomini;" "The Death of + Wallenstein;" and "Wilhelm Tell."] _With Portrait of Wallenstein._ + + 13. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON. By his Widow: with an + "Account of the Siege of Lathom House." _Portrait._ + + 14. MEMOIRS OF BENVENUTO CELLINI, by HIMSELF. By ROSCOE. + _Portrait._ + + 15, 18, & 22. COXE'S HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA, from the + foundation of the Monarchy, 1218-1792. Complete in 3 vols. _Portraits._ + + 16, 19, & 23. LANZI'S HISTORY OF PAINTING. By ROSCOE. In 3 + Vols. _Portraits._ + + 17. OCKLEY'S HISTORY OF THE SARACENS, Revised and Completed. + _Portrait._ + + 20. SCHILLER'S WORKS. Vol III. ["Don Carlos," "Mary Stuart," "Maid of + Orleans," and "Bride of Messina."] _Frontispiece._ + + 21, 26, & 33. LAMARTINE'S HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS; or, Memoirs of + the French Revolution, from _unpublished sources_. In 3 Vols. + _Portraits._ + + 24. MACHIAVELLI'S HISTORY OF FLORENCE, PRINCE, &c. _Portrait._ + + 25. SCHLEGEL'S LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF + LANGUAGE. Translated by A. J. W. MORRISON. + + 27, 32, & 36. RANKE'S HISTORY OF THE POPES. Translated by E. + FOSTER. In 3 Vols. _Portraits._ (The only complete English + translation.) + + 28, 30, & 34. COXE'S MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. 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