It was Meri, who with bated breath had listened to every word.
"What rubbish!" said a sea-captain with a mysterious knowing air. "When I was at Stralsund, last spring, I saw those eyes, which one cannot easily forget. The girl was then taken to Stockholm, and one of the guards told me the entire story. She is a Spanish witch, who has sold herself to the evil one, in order to be the most beautiful woman on earth for seven years. Look at her: do you not see that the devil has kept his word? Take care; in those eyes there is something that charms and bewitches. When she became as beautiful as she is now, she entered the Swedish camp, and gave the king a love-potion, so that he could neither see or hear anyone else but herself for seven whole weeks. His generals thought this a sin and shame, and the enemy pressed them sorely; so one night they took her secretly and sent her to spend the seven enchanted years at Korsholm."
"Did the king love her?" asked Meri with emotion.
"Of course he did," answered the blunt sea-captain.
"Did she also love the king?"
"What is there more curious than a woman? How the deuce do you expect me to know all about it? The foul-fiend is wiser than other folks, that is certain. She gave the king a copper ring..."
"With seven circles inside each other, and three letters engraved on the plate..."
"What the devil do you know about that? I have heard of the seven circles, but not of the plate."
Meri took a deep breath. "He wears it still!" she said to herself with a great joy.
Meri was superstitious, like all the people of that period. She never doubted the existence of witches, enchantments, and love potions; but this strange dark girl, who loved the king and was beloved by him in return ... was she really guilty of the horrible things they said about her? The poor forgotten one was seized with the most violent wish to approach this extraordinary being, who had been so near the great monarch. Each moment was precious. In a few hours she must return to Storkyro. She took heart and followed the stranger to Korsholm.