Tales from the German. Volume I.

by C. F. van der Velde

CHAPTER XV.

They found the army near the city of Amal, upon lake Dalboe, beyond the borders of Norway. Baumgardt rode with his companions directly towards Amal, where the head quarters were established. At the gates they encountered colonel Brenner.

'Is it here we again meet, my dear traveling companion?' cried he to Arwed. 'I am sorry for it.'

'The soldier is indeed but a mere machine,' answered Arwed, 'who may not venture to love or regret any thing; yet is our present meeting of some importance to me, as I need your evidence to clear myself in the eyes of colonel Baumgardt. He is disposed to consider me a marauder or something worse, because he encountered me traveling without you on the road towards Frederickshall.'

'I gave the captain a furlough,' said Brenner to Baumgardt; 'and the fieldmarshal is already informed of it.' Baumgardt bowed in silence.

'Is there now any further hindrance to my taking leave of you?' said Arwed politely to the colonel. 'As soon as I am relieved from my present situation I will not fail to wait upon you for some further explanations.'

Baumgardt rode onward without deigning a word in reply.

'Come directly with me to my old friend Duecker,' said Brenner to Arwed. 'He arrived at head quarters, as I hear, early this morning, and I have come into the city on purpose to seek him. You must give to him and me an account of what has happened during your journey.'

When they arrived at Duecker's quarters they found he was not at home. Swedenborg was sitting in the room, in his traveling cloak, awaiting his return; and so busily studying some leaves of parchment full of signs and figures, that he did not observe the entrance of the new comers.

'God greet you, Swedenborg!' said Arwed with sad cordiality, extending his hand.

Swedenborg stared steadily at him for a long time, his eye indicating his entire absence of mind. Finally, a remembrance of Arwed's face seemed to return to him--he finished the notes he was making upon his parchments, put them aside, and then for the first time seized the proffered hand.

'Thereto art thou chosen, young man,' cried he pathetically with his hollow spirit-voice: 'always to be present when the weightiest events are occurring in the army, without being able to do any thing for the common good. At this moment is to be decided who is to rule over Sweden, and you can neither aid nor prevent, as it happened to you at the death of the king.'

'Is this a question yet to be decided?' asked Brenner. 'I think there is no longer any doubt that Ulkrika will be queen.'

'That is not so certain as you may think,' answered Swedenborg. 'The princess has indeed received the premature homage of the senate, and lavished rewards upon the generals; but the army has a voice in this business, and the superior right of the young duke is as clear as the sun. According to the Nordkioping compact of inheritance, no woman can become heir to the throne unless she be either unmarried, or married with the consent of the states to a Lutheran prince. But Ulrika has, without the consent of the states, married the prince of Hesse, who professes the Calvinistic faith.'

'Ulrika will nevertheless purchase the crown by surrendering a portion of its sovereignty,' retorted Brenner; 'and at this price they will let her off.'

'Hardly, if the young duke bids the same,' answered Swedenborg. 'General Duecker is even now with him for the purpose of prompting him to it. May God give efficacy to his words, for Sweden will have a bad government under this Ulrika.'

At this moment old Duecker entered with furious haste, threw his plumed hat angrily upon the floor, and paced rapidly up and down the room without perceiving the officers.

'Nothing accomplished?' asked Swedenborg dejectedly.

'What can be accomplished,' indignantly replied the general, 'when one has to do with a boy who is governed by fools? He relies confidently upon the strength of his party. He will inherit the royal power wholly unimpaired or not at all. And it is most certain that with his confidence and indolence he will be compelled to accept the latter alternative.'

'The last effort vain!' said Swedenborg, taking his hat. 'God preserve your excellency! I am going.'

'Will you also desert me, my dear ally?' asked Duecker despairingly.

'How can I be further useful in this place?' said Swedenborg. 'The siege is raised; my knowledge can never more be needed here. I go again to the examination of the mines. Under the present circumstances this upper air will no longer exactly agree with me, and I must see whether that of the mines will not be better for my constitution.' He now turned to Arwed. 'We shall meet again!' said he with a mysterious emphasis.

'Who knows!' answered Arwed, who looked to the future with sad misgivings.

'We shall meet again!' cried Swedenborg with greater emphasis; 'It is revealed to me by a dark, voiceless feeling which is vouchsafed to me by the Lord rather as a chastisement than as a mercy-gift. We shall meet again, and if I do not deceive myself, in the heaviest hour of your life. God give you strength to bear it.' He strode forth.

'Did you accomplish your object, Gyllenstierna?' Duecker now anxiously asked.

'Had I but reached Goertz an hour earlier,' answered Arwed. 'I witnessed his arrest.'

'That was the last hope!' cried Duecker, sorrowfully. 'Now is Goertz lost, as is also Sweden to the duke, beyond remedy!'

'Hast thou hoped until now?' asked Brenner with astonishment.

'Of what was not his spirit capable?' retorted Duecker. 'I have just now learned to know him aright from a letter of his to the king. Had Goertz saved himself, he had sufficient influence with the czar to have the occupation of the throne by the duke made the condition of peace. We can hardly imagine what he could not have accomplished. He was the man for Charles's gigantic plans; he was the man to save the tottering kingdom. Now will the sick in their paroxysms call upon the physician for cure, and who will help them?'

'Your fears carry you too far, general,' said Arwed. 'The enemies of Goertz may not be so embittered but that his life may be respected, if only from a holy fear of the manes of their fallen king.'

'You are too young to understand your nation thoroughly,' retorted Duecker. 'The proud senators will never forgive the foreigner for annihilating the last remains of their power by his bold measures; the people, who never dared to impeach their adored king, sought in Goertz the source of his misfortunes. Ulrika hates him, as she hates her nephew,--she fears his activity in the cause of the latter, and she can make an agreeable sacrifice to their prejudices by offering him up. He is a dead man!'

'Then must you assist in procuring my immediate discharge from the service, dear general,' said Arwed earnestly.

'Wherefore?--What has entered your head?' asked Duecker. 'You choose an unsuitable time. A great number of promotions will be immediately made, to win the army; your father is a strong supporter of the queen, and you may perhaps leap the rank of major and obtain a regiment.'

'I fear on the contrary,' answered Arwed gloomily, 'that I can no longer honorably remain a Swedish officer. But that is the least. A being, dearer to me than all others, can now hope for help and consolation from me alone. I must instantly proceed to Stockholm, even should I be compelled to desert from the army for that purpose.'

'There is yet no necessity for that,' said Duecker. 'The guards break up to-day for Stockholm, and will proceed there in advance of the remainder of the forces. Therefore do nothing precipitately. If your wish for a discharge should continue, I will endeavor to obtain its accomplishment at a proper time. Such a request, just at this time, would only render you suspected and hated, and would probably be unsuccessful.'

'That is the voice of a father,' said Arwed feelingly, 'You best know what is the most proper course for me, and I willingly hearken to you.'

At that moment the field music was heard in the distance sounding a wild alarm, and the thunder of the artillery through the city accompanied the peal like a powerful bass.

'What is that?' asked Brenner with surprise.

'The prince has operated suddenly and powerfully,' answered Duecker; 'more suddenly and energetically to obtain Sweden's crown for his wife, than to obtain a victory over Sweden's enemies. The army is won, and Ulrika is queen. That is what the thunder of the cannon denotes.'