Tales from the German. Volume I.

by C. F. van der Velde

CHAPTER XXXII.

Arwed had soon become accustomed and reconciled to his exile at Gyllensten. Excursions among its environs under the pretext of hunting, afforded him ample enjoyment of the beauties of nature and free scope for the play of his imagination; and these, together with the business of the governor's bureau, in which, at his own request, he was permitted to take a part, occupied his days; while the evenings were employed in reading to the family circle, and in playing chess, a favorite game with his uncle. Thus, by means of constant and varied occupation, the time passed rapidly and pleasantly at the solitary castle. Meanwhile Megret, who had already obtained two extensions of his furlough, continued to besiege the heart of the fair Christine, and to submit with patient resignation to all the caprices by which that eccentric maiden chose to prove the constancy and perseverance of her adorer. He was, indeed, almost the only one at Gyllensten who had to suffer from them; for Arwed, true to the brotherly character which he had assumed, did not spare his beautiful sister, and every instance of arrogance in which the unevenness of her humor led her to indulge, was quietly though earnestly reproved, until she was oftentimes brought to despair. These little quarrels usually ended with tears and supplications on the part of Christine, which were so touching that it required all the influence of Georgina's memory and the conviction of Christine's secret love for another, to cool his youthful heart to that degree of circumspection necessary in his peculiar circumstances. Mac Donalbain's frequent visits to Gyllensten, moreover, seemed to exercise a great and unhappy influence upon the disposition of the otherwise so lovely maiden. During his presence she exhibited a constant excitement which immediately after his departure changed to a deep melancholy, out of which she emerged only to torment all who would suffer themselves to be tormented by her, with her caprices. From her father she concealed the state of her feelings as much as possible, and if it occasionally occurred to him that all was not as it should be, the business of his office, in consequence of the critical situation of the country, prevented his looking too deeply into the affairs of his household or his daughter's heart; and Arwed, though Christine still remained indebted to him for her promised confidence, could not bring himself to betray her to his uncle.

In this manner the summer had arrived, when one evening at the supper table, in Megret's and Mac Donalbain's presence, the governor asked Arwed if he had a desire to see a natural curiosity, to visit which Charles XI did not hesitate to make a long journey.

Arwed joyfully assured him that he regarded the wonders of the natural world as a spectacle, in comparison with which the greatest efforts of human ingenuity were of little value,--and that it was, indeed, one of his favorite occupations to contemplate them.

'The Tornea-Laplanders have lately made many complaints to me,' said the governor. 'They complain especially of the collectors of the royal taxes, and of the excesses of the Finlanders, attracted within their boundaries by the chase. Since my gout has left me, I will myself ride to Tornea, to examine and adjust all these affairs upon the spot; and have selected the longest day in the year for that purpose. It is their court day, and also the day of their annual fair, which collects together the inhabitants of the whole country surrounding Tornea; and we can at the same time enjoy the rare and beautiful spectacle of the sun, which on this day does not set at all, enabling the king of Sweden in a certain sense to claim the same honor of which the sovereign of Spain and the Indies makes his boast.'

'I thank you heartily for offering me this rare enjoyment,' said Arwed, and Christine timidly requested to be allowed to make one of the party.

'Certainly, if it will afford you pleasure, and you prefer going with us to staying at home,' answered her father significantly. 'We have for some time past become somewhat strange to each other, without my being able to guess precisely what is the cause of it.'

Christine cast a melancholy and complaining glance upon her neighbor, Mac Donalbain, and Megret eagerly begged to be added to the company.

'Your society is always agreeable to me,' answered the governor. 'How stands it with you, sir Mac Donalbain?' he kindly asked the Scot, 'will you also be of our party? Rich as your Scotland is in natural wonders, you cannot see this spectacle there. Scandinavia is the only country of Europe which exhibits it, with the exception of poor Iceland, which hardly deserves to be regarded as belonging to our part of the world.'

'I do not know when you intend to undertake the excursion,' answered Mac Donalbain with some embarrassment.

'We start to-morrow morning at day-break,' answered the governor.

'My engagements will not allow me to join the interesting expedition so soon,' said Mac Donalbain. 'It is barely possible that I may so manage my affairs as to be able to meet and pay my respects to you at Tornea.'

'It must be a strange business,' said Megret, 'which prevents your accompanying us, and at the same time permits you to meet us at the end of our journey.'

'I do not consider, colonel,' cried Mac Donalbain, with a look of deadly hate and a low bow to the scoffer, 'that I am under any obligation to account to you for my business, or the manner in which it is pursued.'

'By no means, sir Mac Donalbain,' answered Megret, returning his bow; 'I am not one of the police-officers of this province, and have no official inducement to trouble myself about your pursuits.'

'Death and hell! what mean you by that?' exclaimed Mac Donalbain, springing from his seat,--but Christine pulled him down again and anxiously whispered to him some words of entreaty.

'Forget not, gentlemen,' cried the governor in an authoritative tone of voice, 'that you are both my guests, and that it does not become you to quarrel upon my hearth, where you have both been freely welcomed. I esteem you both and would resign the society of neither, but I have a right to demand that you respect this castle, and seek a more suitable place for the indulgence of the secret enmity which you appear to bear toward each other. This time, colonel, you are in the wrong. I regret to be compelled to say to you that, if sir Mac Donalbain took your remark somewhat too sharply, yet you gave occasion therefor by the scornful tone in which it was made. Therefore you owe it to me and to him to take the first step toward a reconciliation; and you cannot be considered my friend, if you refuse to drink the health of this noble Scot, which I now propose.'

A struggle was now seen in the proud Frenchman, between the hatred he bore his enemy and the respect due from him to the father of Christine. He cast a tiger glance upon Mac Donalbain, which was met by one equally fierce, and not being able to come to a determination what to do, he waited in moody silence, neither accepting nor rejecting the goblet offered to him by the governor.

'Do you hesitate?' earnestly asked the governor. 'As yet neither of you has said any thing to the other which can be considered injurious to the honor of a gentleman. This is only a misunderstanding, which must be completely reconciled. If you refuse this, you thereby confess an intention to offend sir Mac Donalbain, and it will become my duty as host to resent it as if the offence were intended for me.'

Megret seized the goblet, 'The lord of this castle,' said he with suppressed rage to Mac Donalbain, 'calls you a noble Scot. As I have not the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with you, I am willing to consider the statement which has so noble a voucher as true, and upon that supposition I drink your health.'

'I receive the toast and return it with as much sincerity as it was offered,' answered Mac Donalbain, emptying his glass.

The governor, observing that the anger of the two belligerents still remained, in spite of the constrained and ambiguous reconciliation, thought it prudent to give the signal for retiring.

'That we may be able to start early in the morning,' said he, rising, 'I hope my worthy guests will excuse me if I break up the sitting earlier than usual. I intend to seek my bed betimes, that I may be the better prepared for the fatigues of the journey, and therefore wish you a good night.'

'I shall have the honor to be at the door of your carriage by sunrise, ready for the journey,' said Megret, bowing and retiring.

'As I must start this evening for Arnaes,' said Mac Donalbain, 'allow me to wish you a pleasant ride. At Tornea I hope to meet you again.'

He departed with a significant glance at Christine, who followed him out, and Arwed was left alone with his uncle.

The governor remained some time in a deep reverie, rubbing the wrinkles from his forehead, which as constantly reappeared there, and finally asked Arwed: 'what think you of our two guests?'

'You must long since have observed that neither of them is particularly agreeable to me. Being your guests, I would have said nothing against them; but since you expressly ask my opinion, I will give it honestly: they appear to me like two wolves engaged tooth and nail in fighting for a noble deer. God grant that the victim may save herself during the contest, and both the monsters have an empty reckoning.'

'Your comparison appears to me to be overstrained; you may not, however be wholly wrong. As soon as I return from Tornea I will adopt different measures. I begin to think it would have been better had I done so at an earlier period. Good night.'