initial commit of ebook 23017HEADmain

1 files changed, 1440 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/23017.txt b/23017.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e98163c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23017.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1440 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elsket, by Thomas Nelson Page
+
+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: Elsket
+       1891
+
+Author: Thomas Nelson Page
+
+Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23017]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELSKET ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ELSKET
+
+By Thomas Nelson Page
+
+1891
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+     "The knife hangs loose in the sheath."
+     --Old Norsk Proverb.
+
+I spent a month of the summer of 188- in Norway--"Old Norway"--and a
+friend of mine, Dr. John Robson, who is as great a fisherman as he is a
+physician, and knows that I love a stream where the trout and I can meet
+each other alone, and have it out face to face, uninterrupted by any
+interlopers, did me a favor to which I was indebted for the experience
+related below. He had been to Norway two years before, and he let me
+into the secret of an unexplored region between the Nord Fiord and the
+Romsdal. I cannot give the name of the place, because even now it has
+not been fully explored, and he bound me by a solemn promise that I
+would not divulge it to a single soul, actually going to the length of
+insisting on my adding a formal oath to my affirmation. This I consented
+to because I knew that my friend was a humorous man, and also because
+otherwise he positively refused to inform me where the streams were
+about which he had been telling such fabulous fish stories. "No," he
+said, "some of those ------ cattle who think they own the earth and have
+a right to fool women at will and know how to fish, will be poking in
+there, worrying Olaf and Elsket, and ruining the fishing, and I'll be
+------ if I tell you unless you make oath." My friend is a swearing
+man, though he says he swears for emphasis, not blasphemy, and on this
+occasion he swore with extreme solemnity. I saw that he was in earnest,
+so made affidavit and was rewarded.
+
+"Now," he said, after inquiring about my climbing capacity in a way
+which piqued me, and giving me the routes with a particularity which
+somewhat mystified me, "Now I will write a letter to Olaf of the
+Mountain and to Elsket. I once was enabled to do them a slight service,
+and they will receive you. It will take him two or three weeks to get
+it, so you may have to wait a little. You must wait at L---- until Olaf
+comes down to take you over the mountain. You may be there when he gets
+the letter, or you may have to wait for a couple of weeks, as he does
+not come over the mountain often. However, you can amuse yourself around
+L----; only you must always be on hand every night in case Olaf comes."
+
+Although this appeared natural enough to the doctor, it sounded rather
+curious to me, and it seemed yet more so when he added, "By the way, one
+piece of advice: don't talk about England to Elsket, and don't ask any
+questions."
+
+"Who is Elsket?" I asked.
+
+"A daughter of the Vikings, poor thing," he said.
+
+My curiosity was aroused, but I could get nothing further out of him,
+and set it down to his unreasonable dislike of travelling Englishmen,
+against whom, for some reason, he had a violent antipathy, declaring
+that they did not know how to treat women nor how to fish. My friend has
+a custom of speaking very strongly, and I used to wonder at the violence
+of his language, which contrasted strangely with his character; for he
+was the kindest-hearted man I ever knew, being a true follower of his
+patron saint, old Isaac, giving his sympathy to all the unfortunate, and
+even handling his frogs as if he loved them.
+
+Thus it was that on the afternoon of the seventh day of July, 188-,
+having, for purposes of identification, a letter in my pocket to "Olaf
+of the Mountain from his friend Dr. Robson," I stood, in the rain in
+the so-called "street" of L----, on the ------ Fiord, looking over the
+bronzed feces of the stolid but kindly peasants who lounged silently
+around, trying to see if I could detect in one a resemblance to the
+picture I had formed in my mind of "Olaf of the Mountain," or could
+discern in any eye a gleam of special interest to show that its
+possessor was on the watch for an expected guest.
+
+There was none in whom I could discover any indication that he was not
+a resident of the straggling little settlement. They all stood quietly
+about gazing at me and talking in low tones among themselves, chewing
+tobacco or smoking their pipes, as naturally as if they were in Virginia
+or Kentucky, only, if possible, in a somewhat more ruminant manner. It
+gave me the single bit of home feeling I could muster, for it was, I
+must confess, rather desolate standing alone in a strange land, under
+those beetling crags, with the clouds almost resting on our heads,
+and the rain coming down in a steady, wet, monotonous fashion. The
+half-dozen little dark log or frame-houses, with their double windows
+and turf roofs, standing about at all sorts of angles to the road, as if
+they had rolled down the mountain like the great bowlders beyond them,
+looked dark and cheerless. I was weak enough to wish for a second that
+I had waited a few days for the rainy spell to be over, but two little
+bareheaded children, coming down the road laughing and chattering,
+recalled me to myself. They had no wrapping whatever, and nothing on
+their heads but their soft flaxen hair, yet they minded the rain no more
+than if they had been ducklings. I saw that these people were used to
+rain. It was the inheritance of a thousand years. Something, however,
+had to be done, and I recognized the fact that I was out of the beaten
+track of tourists, and that if I had to stay here a week, on the
+prudence of my first step depended the consideration I should receive.
+It would not do to be hasty. I had a friend with me which had stood me
+in good stead before, and I applied to it now. Walking slowly up to the
+largest, and one of the oldest men in the group, I drew out my pipe and
+a bag of old Virginia tobacco, free from any flavor than its own, and
+filling the pipe, I asked him for a light in the best phrase-book
+Norsk I could command. He gave it, and I placed the bag in his hand and
+motioned him to fill his pipe. When that was done I handed the pouch to
+another, and motioned him to fill and pass the tobacco around. One by
+one they took it, and I saw that I had friends. No man can fill his pipe
+from another's bag and not wish him well.
+
+"Does any of you know Olaf of the Mountain?" I asked. I saw at once that
+I had made an impression. The mention of that name was evidently a claim
+to consideration. There was a general murmur of surprise, and the group
+gathered around me. A half-dozen spoke at once.
+
+"He was at L---- last week," they said, as if that fact was an item of
+extensive interest.
+
+"I want to go there," I said, and then was, somehow, immediately
+conscious that I had made a mistake. Looks were exchanged and some words
+were spoken among my friends, as if they were oblivious of my presence.
+
+"You cannot go there. None goes there but at night," said one,
+suggestively.
+
+"Who goes over the mountain comes no more," said another, as if he
+quoted a proverb, at which there was a faint intimation of laughter on
+the part of several.
+
+My first adviser undertook a long explanation, but though he labored
+faithfully I could make out no more than that it was something about
+"Elsket" and "the Devil's Ledge," and men who had disappeared. This was
+a new revelation. What object had my friend? He had never said a word
+of this. Indeed, he had, I now remembered, said very little at all about
+the people. He had exhausted his eloquence on the fish. I recalled his
+words when I asked him about Elsket: "She is a daughter of the Vikings,
+poor thing." That was all. Had he been up to a practical joke? If so, it
+seemed rather a sorry one to me just then. But anyhow I could not draw
+back now. I could never face him again if I did not go on, and what was
+more serious, I could never face myself.
+
+I was weak enough to have a thought that, after all, the mysterious Olaf
+might not come; but the recollection of the fish of which my friend
+had spoken as if they had been the golden fish of the "Arabian Nights,"
+banished that. I asked about the streams around L----. "Yes, there was
+good fishing." But they were all too anxious to tell me about the danger
+of going over the mountain to give much thought to the fishing. "No
+one without Olafs blood could cross the Devil's Ledge." "Two men had
+disappeared three years ago." "A man had disappeared there last year. He
+had gone, and had never been heard of afterward. The Devil's Ledge was a
+bad pass."
+
+"Why don't they look into the matter?" I asked.
+
+The reply was as near a shrug of the shoulders as a Norseman can
+accomplish.
+
+"It was not easy to get the proof; the mountain was very dangerous,
+the glacier very slippery; there were no witnesses," etc. "Olaf of the
+Mountain was not a man to trouble."
+
+"He hates Englishmen," said one, significantly.
+
+"I am not an Englishman, I am an American," I explained.
+
+This had a sensible effect. Several began to talk at once. One had a
+brother in Idaho, another had cousins in Nebraska, and so on.
+
+The group had by this time been augmented by the addition of almost
+the entire population of the settlement; one or two rosy-cheeked women,
+having babies in their arms, standing in the rain utterly regardless of
+the steady downpour.
+
+It was a propitious time. "Can I get a place to stay here?" I inquired
+of the group generally.
+
+"Yes,--oh, yes." There was a consultation in which the name of "Hendrik"
+was heard frequently, and then a man stepped forward and taking up my
+bag and rod-case, walked off, I following, escorted by a number of my
+new friends.
+
+I had been installed in Hendrik's little house about an hour, and we had
+just finished supper, when there was a murmur outside, and then the door
+opened, and a young man stepping in, said something so rapidly that I
+understood only that it concerned Olaf of the Mountain, and in some way
+myself.
+
+"Olaf of the Mountain is here and wants to speak to you," said my host.
+"Will you go?"
+
+"Yes," I said. "Why does he not come in?"
+
+"He will not come in," said my host; "he never does come in."
+
+"He is at the church-yard," said the messenger; "he always stops there."
+They both spoke broken English.
+
+I arose and went out, taking the direction indicated. A number of my
+friends stood in the road or street as I passed along, and touched their
+caps to me, looking very queer in the dim twilight. They gazed at me
+curiously as I walked by.
+
+I turned the corner of a house which stood half in the road, and just
+in front of me, in its little yard, was the little white church with its
+square, heavy, short spire. At the gate stood a tall figure, perfectly
+motionless, leaning on a long staff. As I approached I saw that he was
+an elderly man. He wore a long beard, once yellow but now gray, and he
+looked very straight and large. There was something grand about him as
+he stood there in the dusk.
+
+I came quite up to him. He did not move.
+
+"Good-evening," I said.
+
+"Good-evening."
+
+"Are you Mr. Hovedsen?" I asked, drawing out my letter.
+
+"I am Olaf of the Mountain," he said slowly, as if his name embraced the
+whole title.
+
+I handed him the letter.
+
+"You are----?"
+
+"I am----" taking my cue from his own manner.
+
+"The friend of her friend?"
+
+"His great friend."
+
+"Can you climb?"
+
+"I can."
+
+"Are you steady?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It is well; are you ready?"
+
+I had not counted on this, and involuntarily I asked, in some surprise,
+"To-night?"
+
+"To-night. You cannot go in the day."
+
+I thought of the speech I had heard: "No one goes over the mountain
+except at night," and the ominous conclusion, "Who goes over the
+mountain comes no more." My strange host, however, diverted my thoughts.
+
+"A stranger cannot go except at night," he said, gravely; and then
+added, "I must get back to watch over Elsket."
+
+"I shall be ready in a minute," I said, turning.
+
+In ten minutes I had bade good-by to my simple hosts, and leaving them
+with a sufficient evidence of my consideration to secure their lasting
+good-will, I was on my way down the street again with my light luggage
+on my back. This time the entire population of the little village was in
+the road, and as I passed along I knew by their murmuring conversation
+that they regarded my action with profound misgiving. I felt, as I
+returned their touch of the cap and bade them good-by, a little like the
+gladiators of old who, about to die, saluted Caesar.
+
+At the gate my strange guide, who had not moved from the spot where I
+first found him, insisted on taking my luggage, and buckling his straps
+around it and flinging it over his back, he handed me his stick, and
+without a word strode off straight toward the black mountain whose vast
+wall towered above us to the clouds.
+
+I shall never forget that climb.
+
+We were hardly out of the road before we began to ascend, and I had
+shortly to stop for breath. My guide, however, if silent was thoughtful,
+and he soon caught my gait and knew when to pause. Up through the dusk
+we went, he guiding me now by a word telling me how to step, or now
+turning to give me his hand to help me up a steep place, over a large
+rock, or around a bad angle. For a time we had heard the roar of the
+torrent as it boiled below us, but as we ascended it had gradually
+hushed, and we at length were in a region of profound silence. The night
+was cloudy, and as dark as it ever is in midsummer in that far
+northern latitude; but I knew that we were climbing along the edge of
+a precipice, on a narrow ledge of rock along the face of the cliff. The
+vast black wall above us rose sheer up, and I could feel rather than
+see that it went as sheer down, though my sight could not penetrate the
+darkness which filled the deep abyss below. We had been climbing about
+three hours when suddenly the ledge seemed to die out. My guide stopped,
+and unwinding his rope from his waist, held it out to me. I obeyed
+his silent gesture, and binding it around my body gave him the end. He
+wrapped it about him, and then taking me by the arm, as if I had been
+a child, he led me slowly along the narrow ledge around the face of the
+wall, step by step, telling me where to place my feet, and waiting till
+they were firmly planted. I began now to understand why no one ever went
+"over the mountain" in the day. We were on a ledge nearly three thousand
+feet high. If it had not been for the strong, firm hold on my arm, I
+could not have stood it. As it was I dared not think. Suddenly we turned
+a sharp angle and found ourselves in a curious semicircular place,
+almost level and fifty or sixty feet deep in the concave, as if a great
+piece had been gouged out of the mountain by the glacier which must once
+have been there.
+
+"This is a curious place," I ventured to say.
+
+"It is," said my guide. "It is the Devil's Seat. Men have died here."
+
+His tone was almost fierce. I accepted his explanation silently. We
+passed the singular spot and once more were on the ledge, but except
+in one place it was not so narrow as it had been the other side of the
+Devil's Seat, and in fifteen minutes we had crossed the summit and the
+path widened a little and began to descend.
+
+"You do well," said my guide, briefly, "but not so well as Doctor John."
+I was well content with being ranked a good second to the doctor just
+then.
+
+The rain had ceased, the sky had partly cleared, and, as we began to
+descend, the early twilight of the northern dawn began to appear. First
+the sky became a clear steel-gray and the tops of the mountains became
+visible, the dark outlines beginning to be filled in, and taking on a
+soft color. This lightened rapidly, until on the side facing east they
+were bathed in an atmosphere so clear and transparent that they seemed
+almost within a stone's throw of us, while the other side was still
+left in a shadow which was so deep as to be almost darkness. The gray
+lightened and lightened into pearl until a tinge of rose appeared, and
+then the sky suddenly changed to the softest blue, and a little later
+the snow-white mountain-tops were bathed in pink, and it was day.
+
+I could see in the light that we were descending into a sort of upland
+hollow between the snow-patched mountain-tops; below us was a lovely
+little valley in which small pines and birches grew, and patches of the
+green, short grass which stands for hay shone among the great bowlders.
+Several little streams came jumping down as white as milk from the
+glaciers stuck between the mountain-tops, and after resting in two
+or three tiny lakes which looked like hand-mirrors lying in the grass
+below, went bubbling and foaming on to the edge of the precipice, over
+which they sprang, to be dashed into vapor and snow hundreds of feet
+down. A half-dozen sheep and as many goats were feeding about in the
+little valley; but I could not see the least sign of a house, except a
+queer, brown structure, on a little knoll, with many gables and peaks,
+ending in the curious dragon-pennants, which I recognized as one of the
+old Norsk wooden churches of a past age.
+
+When, however, an hour later, we had got down to the table-land, I found
+myself suddenly in front of a long, quaint, double log cottage, set
+between two immense bowlders, and roofed with layers of birch bark,
+covered with turf, which was blue with wild pansies. It was as if
+it were built under a bed of heart's-ease. It was very old, and had
+evidently been a house of some pretension, for there was much curious
+carving about the doors, and indeed about the whole front, the dragon's
+head being distinctly visible in the design. There were several lesser
+houses which looked as if they had once been dwellings, but they seemed
+now to be only stables. As we approached the principal door it was
+opened, and there stepped forth one of the most striking figures I
+ever saw--a young woman, rather tall, and as straight as an arrow.
+My friend's words involuntarily recurred to me, "A daughter of the
+Vikings," and then, somehow, I too had the feeling he had expressed,
+"Poor thing!" Her figure was one of the richest and most perfect I ever
+beheld. Her face was singularly beautiful; but it was less her beauty
+than her nobility of look and mien combined with a certain sadness which
+impressed me. The features were clear and strong and perfectly carved.
+There was a firm mouth, a good jaw, strong chin, a broad brow, and deep
+blue eyes which looked straight at you. Her expression was so soft and
+tender as to have something pathetic in it. Her hair was flaxen, and as
+fine as satin, and was brushed perfectly smooth and coiled on the back
+of her shapely head, which was placed admirably on her shoulders.
+She was dressed in the coarse, black-blue stuff of the country, and
+a kerchief, also dark blue, was knotted under her chin, and fell back
+behind her head, forming a dark background for her silken hair.
+
+Seeing us she stood perfectly still until we drew near, when she made
+a quaint, low courtesy and advanced to meet her father with a look of
+eager expectancy in her large eyes.
+
+"Elsket," he said, with a tenderness which conveyed the full meaning of
+the sweet pet term, "darling."
+
+There was something about these people, peasants though they were, which
+gave me a strange feeling of respect for them.
+
+"This is Doctor John's friend," said the old man, quietly.
+
+She looked at her father in a puzzled way for a moment, as if she had
+not heard him, but as he repeated his introduction a light came into her
+eyes, and coming up to me she held out her hand, saying, "Welcome."
+
+Then turning to her father--"Have you a letter for me, father?" she
+asked.
+
+"No, Elsket," he said, gently; "but I will go again next month."
+
+A cloud settled on her face and increased its sadness, and she turned
+her head away. After a moment she went into the house and I saw that she
+was weeping. A look of deep dejection came over the old man's face also.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+I found that my friend, "Doctor John," strange to relate of a fisherman,
+had not exaggerated the merits of the fishing. How they got there, two
+thousand feet above the lower valley, I don't know; but trout fairly
+swarmed in the little streams, which boiled among the rocks, and they
+were as greedy as if they had never seen a fly in their lives. I shortly
+became contemptuous toward anything under three pounds, and addressed
+myself to the task of defending my flies against the smaller ones, and
+keeping them only for the big fellows, which ran over three pounds--the
+patriarchs of the streams. With these I had capital sport, for they knew
+every angle and hole, they sought every coign of vantage, and the rocks
+were so thick and so sharp that from the time one of these veterans took
+the fly, it was an equal contest which of us should come off victorious.
+I was often forced to rush splashing and floundering through the water
+to my waist to keep my line from being sawed, and as the water was
+not an hour from the green glaciers above, it was not always entirely
+pleasant.
+
+I soon made firm friends with my hosts, and varied the monotony of
+catching three-pounders by helping them get in their hay for the
+winter. Elsket, poor thing, was, notwithstanding her apparently splendid
+physique, so delicate that she could no longer stand the fatigue of
+manual labor, any extra exertion being liable to bring on a recurrence
+of the heart-failure, from which she had suffered. I learned that she
+had had a violent hemorrhage two summers before, from which she had come
+near dying, and that the skill of my friend, the doctor, had doubtless
+saved her life. This was the hold he had on Olaf of the Mountain: this
+was the "small service" he had rendered them.
+
+By aiding them thus, I was enabled to be of material assistance to Olaf,
+and I found in helping these good people, that work took on once more
+the delight which I remembered it used to have under like circumstances
+when I was a boy. I could cut or carry on my back loads of hay all day,
+and feel at night as if I had been playing. Such is the singular effect
+of the spirit on labor.
+
+To make up for this, Elsket would sometimes, when I went fishing, take
+her knitting and keep me company, sitting at a little distance. With her
+pale, calm face and shining hair outlined against the background of her
+sad-colored kerchief, she looked like a mourning angel. I never saw her
+smile except when her father came into her presence, and when she smiled
+it was as if the sun had suddenly come out. I began to understand the
+devotion of these two strange people, so like and yet so different.
+
+One rainy day she had a strange turn; she began to be restless. Her
+large, sad eyes, usually so calm, became bright; the two spots in her
+cheeks burned yet deeper; her face grew anxious. Then she laid her
+knitting aside and took out of a great chest something on which she
+began to sew busily. I was looking at her, when she caught my eye and
+smiled. It was the first time she ever smiled for me. "Did you know I
+was going to be married?" she asked, just as an American girl might have
+done. And before I could answer, she brought me the work. It was her
+wedding dress. "I have nearly finished it," she said. Then she brought
+me a box of old silver ornaments, such as the Norsk brides wear, and put
+them on. When I had admired them she put them away. After a little,
+she arose and began to wander about the house and out into the rain. I
+watched her with interest. Her father came in, and I saw a distressed
+look come into his eyes. He went up to her, and laying his hand on her
+drew her toward a seat. Then taking down an old Bible, he turned to a
+certain place and began to read. He read first the Psalm: "Lord,
+thou hast been our refuge, from one generation to another. Before the
+mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made,
+thou art God from everlasting, and world without end." Then he turned
+to the chapter of Corinthians, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and
+become the first-fruits of them that slept," etc. His voice was clear,
+rich, and devout, and he read it with singular earnestness and beauty.
+It gave me a strange feeling; it is a part of our burial service. Then
+he opened his hymn-book and began to sing a low, dirge-like hymn. I sat
+silent, watching the strange service and noting its effect on Elsket.
+She sat at first like a person bound, struggling to be free, then became
+quieter, and at last, perfectly calm. Then Olaf knelt down, and with his
+hand still on her prayed one of the most touching prayers I ever heard.
+It was for patience.
+
+When he rose Elsket was weeping, and she went and leant in his arms like
+a child, and he kissed her as tenderly as if he had been her mother.
+
+Next day, however, the same excited state recurred, and this time the
+reading appeared to have less effect. She sewed busily, and insisted
+that there must be a letter for her at L----. A violent fit of weeping
+was followed by a paroxysm of coughing, and finally the old man, who had
+sat quietly by her with his hand stroking her head, arose and said, "I
+will go." She threw herself into his arms, rubbing her head against him
+in sign of dumb affection, and in a little while grew calm. It was still
+raining and quite late, only a little before sunset; but the old
+man went out, and taking the path toward L---- was soon climbing the
+mountain toward the Devil's Seat. Elsket sat up all night, but she was
+as calm and as gentle as ever.
+
+The next morning when Olaf returned she went out to meet him. Her look
+was full of eager expectancy. I did not go out, but watched her from the
+door. I saw Olaf shake his head, and heard her say bitterly, "It is so
+hard to wait," and he said, gently, "Yes, it is, Elsket, but I will go
+again," and then she came in weeping quietly, the old man following with
+a tender look on his strong, weather-beaten face.
+
+That day Elsket was taken ill. She had been trying to do a little work
+in the field in the afternoon, when a sinking spell had come on. It
+looked for a time as if the poor overdriven heart had knocked off work
+for good and all. Strong remedies, however, left by Doctor John, set it
+going again, and we got her to bed. She was still desperately feeble,
+and Olaf sat up. I could not leave him, so we were sitting watching, he
+one side the open platform fireplace in one corner, and I the other; he
+smoking, anxious, silent, grim; I watching the expression on his gray
+face. His eyes seemed set back deeper than ever under the shaggy gray
+brows, and as the firelight fell on him he had the fierce, hopeless look
+of a caged eagle. It was late in the night before he spoke, and then it
+was half to himself and but half to me.
+
+"I have fought it ten long years," he said, slowly.
+
+Not willing to break the thread of his thought by speaking, I lit my
+pipe afresh and just looked at him. He received it as an answer.
+
+"She is the last of them," he said, accepting me as an auditor rather
+than addressing me. "We go back to Olaf Traetelje, the blood of Harold
+Haarfager (the Fairhaired) is in our veins, and here it ends. Dane and
+Swede have known our power, Saxon and Celt have bowed bare-headed to
+us, and with her it ends. In this stronghold many times her fathers have
+found refuge from their foes and gained breathing-time after battles
+by sea and land. From this nest, like eagles, they have swooped down,
+carrying all before them, and here, at last, when betrayed and hunted,
+they found refuge. Here no foreign king could rule over them; here they
+learnt the lesson that Christ is the only king, and that all men are his
+brothers. Here they lived and worshipped him. If their dominions were
+stolen from them they found here a truer wealth, content; if they had
+not power, they had what was better, independence. For centuries they
+held this last remnant of the dominion which Harold Haarfager had
+conquered by land, and Eric of the Bloody Axe had won by sea, sending
+out their sons and daughters to people the lands; but the race dwindled
+as their lands had done before, and now with her dies the last. How has
+it come? As ever, by betrayal!"
+
+The old man turned fiercely, his breast heaving, his eyes burning.
+
+"Was she who came of a race at whose feet jarls have crawled and
+kings have knelt not good enough?" I was hearing the story and did
+not interrupt him--"Not good enough for him!" he continued in his
+low, fierce monotone. "I did not want him. What if he was a Saxon? His
+fathers were our boatmen. Rather Cnut a thousand times. Then the race
+would not have died. Then she would not be--not be so."
+
+The reference to her recalled him to himself, and he suddenly relapsed
+into silence.
+
+"At least, Cnut paid the score," he began once more, in a low intense
+undertone. "In his arms he bore him down from the Devil's Seat, a
+thousand feet sheer on the hard ice, where his cursed body lies crushed
+forever, a witness of his falsehood."
+
+I did not interrupt, and he rewarded my patience, giving a more
+connected account, for the first time addressing me directly.
+
+"Her mother died when she was a child," he said, softly. His gentle
+voice contrasted strangely with the fierce undertone in which he had
+been speaking. "I was mother as well as father to her. She was as good
+as she was beautiful, and each day she grew more and more so. She was a
+second Igenborg. Knowing that she needed other companionship than an old
+man, I sought and brought her Cnut (he spoke of him as if I must know
+all about him). Cnut was the son of my only kinsman, the last of his
+line as well, and he was tall and straight and strong. I loved him and
+he was my son, and as he grew I saw that he loved her, and I was not
+sorry, for he was goodly to look on, straight and tall as one of old,
+and he was good also. And she was satisfied with him, and from a child
+ordered him to do her girlish bidding, and he obeyed and laughed, well
+content to have her smile. And he would carry her on his shoulder, and
+take her on the mountain to slide, and would gather her flowers. And
+I thought it was well. And I thought that in time they would marry and
+have the farm, and that there would be children about the house, and the
+valley might be filled with their voices as in the old time. And I was
+content. And one day _he_ came! (the reference cost him an effort). Cnut
+found him fainting on the mountain and brought him here in his arms. He
+had come to the village alone, and the idle fools there had told him of
+me, and he had asked to meet me, and they told him of the mountain, and
+that none could pass the Devil's Ledge but those who had the old blood,
+and that I loved not strangers; and he said he would pass it, and he had
+come and passed safely the narrow ledge, and reached the Devil's Seat,
+when a stone had fallen upon him, and Cnut had found him there fainting,
+and had lifted him and brought him here, risking his own life to save
+him on the ledge. And he was near to death for days, and she nursed him
+and brought him from the grave.
+
+"At first I was cold to him, but there was something about him that drew
+me and held me. It was not that he was young and taller than Cnut, and
+fair. It was not that his eyes were clear and full of light, and his
+figure straight as a young pine. It was not that he had climbed the
+mountain and passed the narrow ledge and the Devil's Seat alone, though
+I liked well his act; for none but those who have Harold Haarfager's
+blood have done it alone in all the years, though many have tried and
+failed. I asked him what men called him, and he said, 'Harold;' then
+laughing, said some called him, 'Harold the Fair-haired.' The answer
+pleased me. There was something in the name which drew me to him. When
+I first saw him I had thought of Harald Haarfager, and of Harald
+Haardraarder, and of that other Harold, who, though a Saxon, died
+bravely for his kingdom when his brother betrayed him, and I held out my
+hand and gave him the clasp of friendship."
+
+The old man paused, but after a brief reflection proceeded:
+
+"We made him welcome and we loved him. He knew the world and could tell
+us many-things. He knew the story of Norway and the Vikings, and the
+Sagas were on his tongue. Cnut loved him and followed him, and she (the
+pause which always indicated her who filled his thoughts)--she, then but
+a girl, laughed and sang for him, and he sang for her, and his voice was
+rich and sweet. And she went with him to fish and to climb, and often,
+when Cnut and I were in the field, we would hear her laugh, clear and
+fresh from the rocks beside the streams, as he told her some fine story
+of his England. He stayed here a month and a week, and then departed,
+saying he would come again next year, and the house was empty and silent
+after he left. But after a time we grew used to it once more and the
+winter came.
+
+"When the spring returned we got a letter--a letter to her--saying he
+would come again, and every two weeks another letter came, and I went
+for it and brought it to--to her, and she read it to Cnut and me. And at
+last he came and I went to meet him, and brought him here, welcome as
+if he had been my eldest born, and we were glad. Cnut smiled and ran
+forward and gave him his hand, and--she--she did not come at first,
+but when she came she was clad in all that was her best, and wore her
+silver--the things her mother and her grandmother had worn, and as she
+stepped out of the door and saluted him, I saw for the first time that
+she was a woman grown, and it was hard to tell which face was brighter,
+hers or his, and Cnut smiled to see her so glad."
+
+The old man relapsed into reflection. Presently, however, he resumed:
+
+"This time he was gayer than before:--the summer seemed to come with
+him. He sang to her and read to her from books that he had brought,
+teaching her to speak English like himself, and he would go and fish up
+the streams while she sat near by and talked to him. Cnut also learned
+his tongue well, and I did also, but Cnut did not see so much of him as
+before, for Cnut had to work, and in the evening they were reading and
+she--she--grew more and more beautiful, and laughed and sang more. And
+so the summer passed. The autumn came, but he did not go, and I was well
+content, for she was happy, and, in truth, the place was cheerier that
+he was here.
+
+"Cnut alone seemed downcast, but I knew not why; and then the snow came.
+One morning we awoke and the farm was as white as the mountains. I said
+to him, 'Now you are here for the winter,' and he laughed and said, 'No,
+I will stay till the new-year. I have business then in England, and I
+must go.' And I turned, and her face was like sunshine, for she knew
+that none but Cnut and I had ever passed the Devil's Ledge in the snow,
+and the other way by which I took the Doctor home was worse then, though
+easier in the summer, only longer. But Cnut looked gloomy, at which I
+chid him; but he was silent. And the autumn passed rapidly, so cheerful
+was he, finding in the snow as much pleasure as in the sunshine, and
+taking her out to slide and race on shoes till she would come in with
+her cheeks like roses in summer, and her eyes like stars, and she made
+it warm where she was.
+
+"And one evening they came home. He was gayer than ever, and she more
+beautiful, but silenter than her wont. She looked like her mother the
+evening I asked her to be my wife. I could not take my eyes from her.
+That night Cnut was a caged wolf. At last he asked me to come out, and
+then he told me that he had seen Harold kiss her and had heard him tell
+her that he loved her, and she had not driven him away. My heart was
+wrung for Cnut, for I loved him, and he wept like a child. I tried to
+comfort him, but it was useless, and the next day he went away for a
+time. I was glad to have him go, for I grieved for him, and I thought
+she would miss him and be glad when he came again, and though the snow
+was bad on the mountain he was sure as a wolf. He bade us good-by and
+left with his eyes looking like a hurt dog's. I thought she would have
+wept to have him go, but she did not. She gave him her hand and turned
+back to Harold, and smiled to him when he smiled. It was the first time
+in all her life that I had not been glad to have her smile, and I was
+sorry Harold had stayed, and I watched Cnut climb the mountain like a
+dark speck against the snow till he disappeared. She was so happy and
+beautiful that I could not long be out with her, though I grieved for
+Cnut, and when she came to me and told me one night of her great love
+for Harold I forgot my own regret in her joy, and I said nothing to
+Harold, because she told me he said that in his country it was not usual
+for the father to be told or to speak to a daughter's lover.
+
+"They were much taken up together after that, and I was alone, and
+I missed Cnut sorely, and would have longed for him more but for her
+happiness. But one day, when he had been gone two months, I looked over
+the mountain, and on the snow I saw a black speck. It had not been there
+before, and I watched it as it moved, and I knew it was Cnut.
+
+"I said nothing until he came, and then I ran and met him. He was thin,
+and worn, and older; but his eyes had a look in them which I thought was
+joy at getting home; only they were not soft, and he looked taller than
+when he left, and he spoke little. His eyes softened when she, hearing
+his voice, came out and held out her hand to him, smiling to welcome
+him; but he did not kiss her as kinsfolk do after long absence, and when
+Harold came out the wolf-look came back into his eyes. Harold looked
+not so pleased to see him, but held out his hand to greet him. But Cnut
+stepped back, and suddenly drawing from his breast a letter placed it in
+his palm, saying slowly, 'I have been to England, Lord Harold, and have
+brought you this from your Lady Ethelfrid Penrith--they expect you to
+your wedding at the New Year.' Harold turned as white as the snow under
+his feet, and she gave a cry and fell full length on the ground.
+
+"Cnut was the first to reach her, and lifting her in his arms he bore
+her into the house. Harold would have seized her, but Cnut brushed him
+aside as if he had been a barley-straw, and carried her and laid her
+down. When she came to herself she did not remember clearly what had
+happened. She was strange to me who was her father, but she knew him.
+I could have slain him, but she called him. He went to her, and she
+understood only that he was going away, and she wept. He told her it
+was true that he had loved another woman and had promised to marry her,
+before he had met her, but now he loved her better, and he would go home
+and arrange everything and return; and she listened and clung to him. I
+hated him and wanted him to go, but he was my guest, and I told him that
+he could not go through the snow; but he was determined. It seemed as if
+he wanted now to get away, and I was glad to have him go, for my child
+was strange to me, and if he had deceived one woman I knew he might
+another, and Cnut said that the letter he had sent by him before the
+snow came was to say he would come in time to be married at the New
+Year; and Cnut said he lived in a great castle and owned broad lands,
+more than one could see from the whole mountain, and his people had
+brought him in and asked him many questions of him, and had offered him
+gold to bring the letter back, and he had refused the gold, and brought
+it without the gold; and some said he had deceived more than one woman.
+And Lord Harold went to get ready, and she wept, and moaned, and was
+strange. And then Cnut went to her and told her of his own love for her,
+and that he was loyal to her, but she waved him from her, and when he
+asked her to marry him, for he loved her truly, she said him nay with
+violence, so that he came forth into the air looking white as a leper.
+And he sat down, and when I came out he was sitting on a stone, and had
+his knife in his hand, looking at it with a dangerous gleam in his eyes;
+and just then she arose and came out, and, seeing him sitting so with
+his knife, she gave a start, and her manner changed, and going to him
+she spoke softly to him for the first time, and made him yield her up
+the knife; for she knew that the knife hung loose in the sheath. But
+then she changed again and all her anger rose against Cnut, that he had
+brought Harold the letter which carried him away, and Cnut sat saying
+nothing, and his face was like stone. Then Lord Harold came and said
+he was ready, and he asked Cnut would he carry his luggage. And Cnut at
+first refused, and then suddenly looked him full in his face, and said,
+'Yes.' And Harold entered the house to say good-by to her, and I heard
+her weeping within, and my heart grew hard against the Englishman, and
+Cnut's face was black with anger, and when Harold came forth I heard her
+cry out, and he turned in the door and said he would return, and would
+write her a letter to let her know when he would return. But he said it
+as one speaks to a child to quiet it, not meaning it. And Cnut went in
+to speak to her, and I heard her drive him out as if he had been a
+dog, and he came forth with his face like a wolf's, and taking up Lord
+Harold's luggage, he set out. And so they went over the mountain.
+
+"And all that night she lay awake, and I heard her moaning, and all next
+day she sat like stone, and I milked the goats, and her thoughts were on
+the letters he would send.
+
+"I spoke to her, but she spoke only of the letters to come, and I kept
+silence, for I had seen that Lord Harold would come no more; for I had
+seen him burn the little things she had given him, and he had taken
+everything away, but I could not tell her so. And the days passed, and I
+hoped that Cnut would come straight back; but he did not. It grieved me,
+for I loved him, and hoped that he would return, and that in time she
+would forget Lord Harold, and not be strange, but be as she had been to
+Cnut before he came. Yet I thought it not wholly wonderful that Cnut did
+not return at once, nor unwise; for she was lonely, and would sit all
+day looking up the mountain, and when he came she would, I thought, be
+glad to have him back.
+
+"At the end of a week she began to urge me to go for a letter. But I
+told her it could not come so soon; but when another week had passed she
+began to sew, and when I asked her what she sewed, she said her bridal
+dress, and she became so that I agreed to go, for I knew no letter would
+come, and it broke my heart to see her. And when I was ready she
+kissed me, and wept in my arms, and called me her good father; and so I
+started.
+
+"She stood in the door and watched me climb the mountain, and waved to
+me almost gayly.
+
+"The snow was deep, but I followed the track which Cnut and the
+Englishman had made two weeks before, for no new snow had fallen, and I
+saw that one track was ever behind the other, and never beside it, as if
+Cnut had fallen back and followed behind him.
+
+"And so I came near to the Devil's Seat, where it was difficult, and from
+where Cnut had brought him in his arms that day, and then, for the first
+time, I began to fear, for I remembered Cnut's look as he came from the
+house when she waved him off, and it had been so easy for him with a
+swing of his strong arm to have pushed the other over the cliff. But
+when I saw that he had driven his stick in deep to hold hard, and that
+the tracks went on beyond, I breathed freely again, and so I passed the
+narrow path, and the black wall, and came to the Devil's Seat; and as I
+turned the rock my heart stopped beating, and I had nearly fallen from
+the ledge. For there, scattered and half-buried in the snow, lay the
+pack Cnut had carried on his back, and the snow was all dug up and piled
+about as if stags had been fighting there for their lives. From the
+wall, across and back, were deep furrows, as if they were ploughed by
+men's feet dug fiercely in; but they were ever deeper toward the edge,
+and on one spot at the edge the snow was all torn clear from the black
+rock, and beyond the seat the narrow path lay smooth, and bright, and
+level as it had fallen, without a track. My knees shook under me, and I
+clutched my stick for support, and everything grew black before me: and
+presently I fell on my knees and crawled and peered over the edge. But
+there was nothing to be seen, only where the wall slants sharp down for
+a little space in one spot the snow was brushed away as if something had
+struck there, and the black, smooth rock showed clean, cutting off the
+sight from the glacier a thousand feet down."
+
+The old man's breast heaved. It was evidently a painful narrative, but
+he kept on.
+
+"I sat down in the snow and thought; for I could not think at once. Cnut
+had not wished to murder, or else he had flung the Englishman from the
+narrow ledge with one blow of his strong arm. He had waited until they
+had stood on the Devil's Seat, and then he had thrown off his pack and
+faced him, man to man. The Englishman was strong and active, taller and
+heavier than Cnut. He had Harald's name, but he had not Harald's heart
+nor blood, and Cnut had carried him in his arms over the cliff, with his
+false heart like water in his body.
+
+"I sat there all day and into the night; for I knew that he would betray
+no one more. I sorrowed for Cnut, for he was my very son. And after a
+time I would have gone back to her, but I thought of her at home waiting
+and watching for me with a letter, and I could not; and then I wept, and
+I wished that I were Cnut, for I knew that he had had one moment of joy
+when he took the Englishman in his arms. And then I took the scattered
+things from the snow and threw them over the cliff; for I would not let
+it be known that Cnut had flung the Englishman over. It would be talked
+about over the mountain, and Cnut would be thought a murderer by those
+who did not know, and some would say he had done it foully; and so
+I went on over the mountain, and told it there that Cnut and the
+Englishman had gone over the cliff together in the snow on their way,
+and it was thought that a slip of snow had carried them. And I came back
+and told her only that no letter had come."
+
+He was silent so long that I thought he had ended; but presently, in a
+voice so low that it was just like a whisper, he added: "I thought she
+would forget, but she has not, and every fortnight she begins to sew her
+dress and I go over the mountains to give her peace; for each time she
+draws nearer to the end, and wears away more and more; and some day the
+thin blade will snap."
+
+"The thin blade" was already snapping, and even while he was speaking
+the last fibres were giving way.
+
+The silence which followed his words was broken by Elsket; I heard a
+strange sound, and Elsket called feebly, "Oh, father."
+
+Olaf went quickly to her bedside. I heard him say, "My God in Heaven!"
+and I sprang up and joined him. It was a hemorrhage.
+
+Her life-blood was flowing from her lips. She could not last like that
+ten minutes.
+
+Providentially the remedies provided by Doctor John were right at hand,
+and, thanks to them, the crimson tide was stayed before life went
+out; but it was soon apparent that her strength was gone and her power
+exhausted.
+
+We worked over her, but her pulse was running down like a broken clock.
+There was no time to have got a physician, even had there been one to
+get. I mentioned it; Olaf shook his head. "She is in the hands of God,"
+he said.
+
+Olaf never left the bedside except to heat water or get some stimulant
+for her.
+
+But, notwithstanding every effort, she failed to rally. The overtaxed
+heart was giving out, and all day she sank steadily. I never saw such a
+desperate face as that old man's. It haunts me now. He hung over her.
+He held her hand, now growing cold, against his cheek to keep it
+warm--stroked it and kissed it. As towards evening the short, quick
+breaths came, which precede dissolution, he sank on his knees. At first,
+he buried his face in his hands; then in the agony of his despair, he
+began to speak aloud. I never heard a more moving appeal. It was a man
+speaking face to face with God for one about to enter his presence.
+His eyes were wide open, as if he saw His face. He did not ask that she
+should be spared to him; it was all for his "Elska," his "Darling," that
+Jesus would be her "Herder," and lead her beside the still waters; that
+she might be spared all suffering and sorrow, and have peace.
+
+Presently he ended and buried his face in his hands. The quick, faint
+breaths had died away, and as I looked on the still white face on the
+pillow I thought that she had gone. But suddenly the large eyes slowly
+opened wide.
+
+"Father," she said, faintly.
+
+"Elsket," the old man bent over her eagerly.
+
+"I am so tired."
+
+"My Elsket."
+
+"I love you."
+
+"Yes, my Elsket."
+
+"You will stay with me?"
+
+"Yes, always."
+
+"If Cnut comes?".
+
+"Yes, my Elsket."
+
+"If Cnut comes----" very faintly.
+
+Her true lover's name was the last on her lips.
+
+He bent his ear to her lips. "Yes?"
+
+But we never knew just what she wanted. The dim, large eyes closed, and
+then the lids lifted slowly a little; there was a sigh, and Elsket's
+watching was over; the weary spirit was at peace.
+
+"She is with God," he said, calmly.
+
+I closed the white lids gently, and moved out. Later I offered to help
+him, but he said "No," and I remained out of doors till the afternoon.
+
+About sunset he appeared and went up toward the old church, and I went
+into the house. I found that he had laid her out in the large room, and
+she lay with her face slightly turned as if asleep. She was dressed like
+a bride in the bridal dress she had sewn so long; her hair was unbound,
+and lay about her, fine and silken, and she wore the old silver
+ornaments she had showed me. No bride had ever a more faithful
+attendant. He had put them all upon her.
+
+After a time, as he did not come back, I went to look for him. As I
+approached I heard a dull, thumping sound. When I reached the cleared
+place I found him digging. He had chosen a spot just in front of the
+quaint old door, with the rude, runic letters, which the earliest
+sunbeams would touch. As I came up I saw he was digging her grave.
+I offered to help, but he said "No." So I carried him some food and
+placing it near him left him.
+
+Late that evening he came down and asked me if I would sit up that
+night. I told him, yes. He thanked me and went into the house. In
+a little while he came out and silently went up the path toward the
+mountain.
+
+It was a strange night that I spent in that silent valley in that still
+house, only I, and the dead girl lying there so white and peaceful. I
+had strange thoughts, and the earth and things earthly disappeared for
+me that night shut in by those mountain walls. I was in a world alone.
+I was cut off from all but God and the dead. I have dear ones in heaven,
+and I was nearer to them that night, amid the mountain-tops of Norway,
+than I was to earthly friends. I think I was nearer to heaven that night
+than I ever shall be again till I get there.
+
+Day broke like a great pearl, but I did not heed it. It was all peace.
+
+Suddenly there was a step outside, and Olaf, with his face drawn and
+gray, and bowing under the weight of the burden upon his shoulder,
+stepped wearily in at the door.
+
+To do Elsket honor he had been over the mountain to get it. I helped
+lift it down and place it, and then he waited for me to go. As I passed
+out of the door I saw him bend over the quiet sleeper. I looked in
+later; he had placed her in the coffin, but the top was not on and he
+was on his knees beside her.
+
+He did not bury her that day; but he never left her side; he sat by her
+all day and all night. Next day he came to the door and looked at me.
+I went in and understood that he wanted me to look for the last time on
+her face. It was fairer than I ever saw it. He had cut her flowers
+and placed them all about her, and on her breast was a small packet of
+letters. All care, all suffering, all that was merely of the earth were
+cleansed away, and she looked as she lay, like a dead angel. After I
+came out I heard him fastening on the top, and when he finished I
+went in again. He would have attempted to carry it by himself, but I
+restrained him, and without a word he took the head and I the foot, and
+so lifting her tenderly we went gently out and up toward the church. We
+had to pause and rest several times, for he was almost worn out. After
+we had lowered her into the grave I was in doubt what to do; but Olaf
+drew from his coat his two books, and standing close by the side of the
+grave he opened first the little Bible and began to read in a low but
+distinct voice: "Lord, thou hast been our refuge, from one generation to
+another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and
+the world were made, thou art God from everlasting, and world without
+end."
+
+When he finished this he turned and read again: "Now is Christ risen
+from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept," etc.
+They were the Psalm and the chapter which I had heard him read to Elsket
+that first day when she became excited, and with which he had so often
+charmed her restless spirit.
+
+He closed, and I thought he was done, but he opened his hymn-book and
+turning over a few leaves sang the same hymn he had sung to her that
+day. He sang it all through to the end, the low, strange, dirge-like
+hymn, and chanted as it was by that old man alone, standing in the
+fading evening light beside the grave which he had dug for his daughter,
+the last of his race, I never heard anything so moving. Then he knelt,
+and clasping his hands offered a prayer. The words, from habit, ran
+almost as they had done when he had prayed for Elsket before, that
+God would be her Shepherd, her "Herder," and lead her beside the still
+waters, and give her peace.
+
+When he was through I waited a little, and then I took up a spade to
+help him; but he reached out and took it quietly, and seeing that he
+wanted to be alone I left him. He meant to do for Elsket all the last
+sacred offices himself.
+
+I was so fatigued that on reaching the house I dropped off to sleep and
+slept till morning, and I do not know when he came into the house, if
+he came at all. When I waked early next morning he was not there, and I
+rose and went up to the church to hunt for him. He was sitting quietly
+beside the grave, and I saw that he had placed at her head a little
+cross of birchwood, on which he had burned one word, simply,
+
+"Elsket."
+
+I spoke to him, asking him to come to the house.
+
+"I cannot leave her," he said; but when I urged him he rose silently and
+returned with me.
+
+I remained with him for a while after that, and each day he went and sat
+by the grave. At last I had to leave. I urged him to come with me, but
+he replied always, "No, I must watch over Elsket."
+
+It was late in the evening when we set off to cross the mountain. We
+came by the same path by which I had gone, Olaf leading me as carefully
+and holding me as steadily as when I went over before. I stopped at the
+church to lay a few wild flowers on the little gray mound where Elsket
+slept so quietly. Olaf said not a word; he simply waited till I was done
+and then followed me dumbly. I was so filled with sorrow for him that
+I did not, except in one place, think much of the fearful cliffs along
+which we made our way. At the Devil's Seat, indeed, my nerves for a
+moment seemed shaken and almost gave way as I thought of the false young
+lord whose faithlessness had caused all the misery to these simple,
+kindly folk, and of the fierce young Norseman who had there found so
+sweet a revenge. But we came on and passed the ledge, and descending
+struck the broader path just after the day broke, where it was no longer
+perilous but only painful.
+
+There Olaf paused. "I will go back if you don't want me," he said. I
+did not need his services, but I urged him to come on with me--to pay a
+visit to his friends. "I have none," he said, simply. Then to come home
+with me and live with me in old Virginia. He said, "No," he "must watch
+over Elsket." So finally I had to give in, and with a clasp of the hand
+and a message to "her friend" Doctor John, to "remember Elsket," he went
+back and was soon lost amid the rocks.
+
+I was half-way down when I reached a cleared place an hour or so later,
+and turned to look back. The sharp angle of the Devil's Ledge was the
+highest point visible, the very pinnacle of the mountain, and there,
+clear against the burnished steel of the morning sky, on the very edge,
+clear in the rare atmosphere was a small figure. It stood for a second,
+a black point distinctly outlined, and then disappeared.
+
+It was Olaf of the Mountain, gone back to keep watch over Elsket.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elsket, by Thomas Nelson Page
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELSKET ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23017.txt or 23017.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/1/23017/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.