CHAPTER XLVII.
It was already deep winter, and the judges were again assembled in the town hall of Umea. Once more Arwed leaned against the window, an interested spectator. Through his interposition Megret was this time denied entrance. With recovered health Mac Donalbain, his faithful nurse, his child, and his twelve comrades, were placed before the judgment seat. The chief judge showed the seal of the envelope covering the final decision, which had been received from Stockholm. After satisfying all present that the seal was still inviolate, he proceeded to break it and drew out the portentous document, through which he rapidly ran his eye.
'Your lives are spared!' cried he to Mac Donalbain with heartfelt joy. 'The mercy of the queen has commuted the death-sentence of you all into confinement to labor in the mines for life.'
'Oh my God! that is hard!' sighed Mac Donalbain.
'That is heart-breaking mercy,' dryly observed the humorous brigand, 'which compels us, who were never fond of labor, again to begin to move our bones like patient asses day after day, until happily relieved by death. However, something is always better than nothing, and we are duly grateful.'
Meanwhile Christine had fallen upon her knees in silent thanksgiving to God. She quickly arose however, and quietly asked the judge, 'what is the decision with regard to myself!'
'As was foreseen,' he answered. 'You are pronounced free from all guilt and punishment, and you are left at liberty to dissolve your marriage with the prisoner.'
'What a good thing it is to have a royal counsellor for one's uncle!' cried Christine, with derisive scorn.
'You can leave this place and go wherever you please without delay or hindrance. Yet you are expected at Gyllensten, and your noble kinsman is present to accompany you there.'
'That means, that I am to be separated from my husband by persuasion or force!' said Christine with intense anxiety, while a sudden resolution seemed all at once to re-animate her soul. 'You then are my master, Arwed,' she at length said to him. 'Against that I have no complaint to make. You will not be an unkind one, and therefore I confidently expect from you a compliance with my request. Allow me to accompany my husband to his place of destination.'
'Your father expects you to-day,' said Arwed impatiently; 'and I must not comply with your request.'
'Dear Arwed,' said she, hanging affectionately upon him, 'let me at least take a final leave of the wretched man before he parts forever from the blessed light of day. Then will I follow you to Gyllensten, or where else you please, patiently, as a lamb follows its mother. Do not this time say no. It is the last request I shall ever make of you.'
'So all-powerful is the magic of this singular being,' said Arwed to the judge, 'that she compels me to consent to what I ought to refuse. Yours is a sad case, Christine; you might have prepared an earthly heaven for some worthy man, through your love.'
'That she might!' cried Mac Donalbain, agonized with sorrow and repentance, 'that she might, had she not thrown away her love upon me. She is a cheerful sun which has lavished its rays upon a desert waste, full of monsters, instead of ripening wholesome fruits for the nourishment of men.'
'You say yes? I can prepare for the journey, can I not?' once more asked Christine, and kissing his hand as he nodded assent, she flew to make her preparations.