This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and with such a surprising power, that Regina suddenly grew pale, staggered, and was compelled to lean on Bertel's outstretched arm.
"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and not knowing what she uttered, "should I hate you ... you, whom I lo ...?"
Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so full of meaning, with a surprise as sudden and unexpected as Regina's. Beside himself with amazement, fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to avail himself of an involuntary confession. Mute and respectful, he led the young girl to her protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed emotions, which sought vent.
Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady Regina to Stockholm, from whence she could return to her Fatherland, at the first open waters. He was, therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until she was ready for the journey, and this was again delayed through lack of a fitting female companion for the high-born prisoner.
Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time entirely new relations were formed, which one could hardly have predicted after Regina's proud coldness towards her deliverer. Ah! this coldness was the ice over a glowing volcano; every day it grew thinner and melted away; every day the foundations of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and finally only one barrier remained, the strongest one of all, it is true, namely, that of religious convictions. Vain wall! It, too, finally crumbled before the fire of a southern passion, and before these weeks were ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of twenty-three, had forgotten the great differences of faith and rank, and sworn each other fidelity for life.
Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory of Gustaf Adolf for his beautiful, proud, black-eyed bride?
A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an unexpected and wonderful manner. With a secret apprehension for his future happiness, Bertel had tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.
Since the morning when he leaped over the railing of the bridge, no one had heard or seen anything of him, until, three weeks afterwards, a peasant reported that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below Ämmä fall, they had discovered the body of a man without ears, clothed in a foreign garb, which the peasant brought with him, and which were recognised as those of Father Hieronymus. In addition, the honest Paldamo peasant produced a small copper ring, which had been found hanging by a cord on the dead man's neck.
Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and delight.
"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I have so long sought ... and with you the certainty of this terrible man's death."