“But that woman is far from handsome,” laughed Mrs. Kendall.
“None of them are pretty,” replied the doctor.
The dress was a rather short petticoat, with a fanciful bodice, in which red predominated. Quite a number of them were seen by the party during their stay in Stockholm, but all of them had coarse features and clumsy forms.
The carriage returned to the centre of the city by another street, passing through Carl XIII. Torg, or square, where stands the statue of that king.
“There is the Café Blanche, where they have music every afternoon in summer, with beer, coffee, and other refreshments. The Swedes are very fond of these gardens,” said Möller. “Here is the Hotel Rydberg. This is Gustaf Adolf Torget, and that is his statue.”
Crossing the bridge to the little island in the stream, the carriage stopped, to enable the party to look down into the garden, which is called Strömparterren, where a band plays, and refreshments are dispensed in the warm evenings of summer. Passing the immense palace, the tourists drove along the Skeppsbron, or quay, which is the principal landing-place of the steamers. Crossing another bridge over the south stream, or outlet of Lake Mäler, they entered the southern suburb of the city, called Södermalm. Ascending to the highest point of land, the party were conducted to the roof of a house, where a magnificent view of the city and its surroundings was obtained.
“We will sit down here and rest a while,” said the doctor, suiting the action to the words. “This promontory, or some other one near it, was formerly called Agne’s Rock, and there is a story connected with it. Agne was the king of Sweden about 220 B.C. In a war with the Finns, he killed their king, and captured his daughter Skiolfa. The princess, according to the custom of those days, became the wife, but practically the slave, of her captor. She was brought to Sweden, where Agne and his retainers got beastly drunk on the occasion of celebrating the memorial rites of her father. Skiolfa, with the assistance of her Finnish companions, passed a rope through the massive gold chain on the neck of the king, and hung him to a tree, beneath which their tent was pitched. Having avenged the death of her father, the princess and her friends embarked in their boats, and escaped to Finland.”
“They finished him, then,” laughed Captain Lincoln. “But what sort of boats had they?”
“I don’t know,” replied Dr. Winstock.
“Could they cross the Baltic in boats?”