"Hear her not!" cried old Bertila in a changed and alarmed tone. "Listen not to what she says; madness speaks through her! ... Think of your honour and mine," he sternly whispered in his pale daughter's ear.
"What do I care for your or my honour!" burst out Meri with an impetuosity never before witnessed. "Do you not see that he goes ... my life's joy leaves me, to return no more? He goes, and you, hard, in-human parent, wish me to let him depart with a curse to foreign lands. But it shall not be. For every curse you throw upon his head, I will give him a hundred blessings, and we shall see which will avail the most before the throne of the Supreme Being—your hatred or my love—the grandfather's curse or the mother's blessing..."
"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel beside himself with astonishment. Duke Bernhard's obscure hints now suddenly became clear.
"Believe her not; she knows not—she knows not what she says!" cried Bertila, with a vain attempt to appear calm.
Meri had sunk into Bertel's arms.
"It is now said," she whispered in a weak voice. "Gustaf ... my son. Ah! it is so new and so sweet to call you so. Now you know my life's secret ... and I have not long to blush over it. Do you love me? ... Yes, yes! Now I go from life rejoicing ... the veil is lifted ... light comes ... My father, ... I forgive you ... that you have hated and cursed your daughter's son ... Forgive me ... that I ... love ... bless ... my son!..."
"My mother!" exclaimed Bertel, "hear me, my mother! I thank you ... I love you! ... You shall go with me, and I will never desert you. But you do not hear me. You are so pale ... Great God ... she is dead!"
"My daughter! my only child!" exclaimed the old hard-hearted peasant king, completely crushed.
"Judge not, lest ye be judged!" said old Larsson with clasped hands. "And you, our children, go put into life with reconciled hearts. Curse and blessing struggle for your future, and not only for yours, but for that of your posterity, unto the tenth generation. Pray to Heaven that blessing may conquer."
"Amen!" said Larsson the younger and Ketchen.