Tales from the German Volume I Part 24

'I shall not ride this morning.'

Shaking his head, the faithful servant obeyed, and at same moment the door was thrown open and his beautiful cousin, whose fresh charms almost outshone the morning's splendor, entered his room in her hunting dress.

'I am going upon a bear hunt,' said she in a more friendly manner than on the preceding evening. 'Will you accompany me, cousin Arwed?'

'I am much obliged to you,' answered Arwed, 'but I prefer remaining in the house.'

Christine started, apparently surprised and perplexed by a cold refusal which she had not antic.i.p.ated as possible, 'Perhaps you are not fond of this kind of chase?' she satirically asked.

'Yes!' answered Arwed, quietly; 'but not in your company, cousin.'

'Now, I confess!'--cried Christine, making a powerful effort to suppress the last part of the sentence which was at her tongue's end, 'May one venture to ask, wherefore, major?'

'Oh yes, one may venture, countess,' answered Arwed, 'and I will most willingly respond to the question. I do not like to see women pursuing employments unsuited to their s.e.x. The riding and hunting and baiting and shooting of ladies, always excites in me intolerable displeasure.'

'That is nothing but the quite common pride and selfishness of your s.e.x,' said Christine with bitterness, 'which would have our's always feeble that you may the more easily keep us under the yoke.'

'Woe to you, poor women,' exclaimed Arwed, laughing, 'if you had no better defence against our imperiousness than your physical strength; you would every where come off the worse. Nevertheless, countess, your s.e.x is more powerful than you believe it. Your most powerful talisman is your womanhood; and it is a bad exchange, when you give it up for the fame of a rifleman or hussar.'

'_Give it up?_' repeated Christine with great excitement.

'Nothing less,' answered Arwed. 'To override horses, to chase and kill animals, is a rough business. A man may pursue it without suffering in his character, for nature has destined him forcibly to oppose its hostile powers by contending with them for his safety and his food,--and, in doing so, he but fulfills his destiny. More tender and delicate woman has other duties. G.o.d created women to be the proteges, the tender companions of men, to soften and enn.o.ble their fierce and intractable natures, and to be the loving mothers and guardians of their children.'

'Silence!' cried Christine, angrily.

'All the peculiar qualities, however, which naturally belong to you,'

continued Arwed pleasantly, seizing Christine's hands and holding them fast, as if he feared Megret's fate, 'all, and they are the n.o.blest which adorn your s.e.x, must be lost in the masculine woman, and she will be very fortunate if she preserve the purity of her soul, which is in great danger, when the restraint of modest, maidenly customs is once thrown off.'

Christine started with a sudden shudder. Tears burst from her beautiful eyes, and she withdrew her hands from his.

'What is the matter, cousin?' he exclaimed, with deep sympathy.

'You despise me, Arwed!' sobbed the maiden.

'What an unfortunate idea!' answered Arwed. 'Whoever fears the contempt of another, feels that he deserves it, and that can never be the case with the countess Christine.'

'You are right!' exclaimed Christine, with a firm tone, applying her handkerchief to her eyes to remove all traces of her tears, and proceeding to the window to cool her flushed face in the morning air.

'You will not accompany me to the chase, then?' she finally asked, as if nothing had occurred between them.

'No!' answered Arwed.

'Then I will also remain at home,' said she; and, calling to the servants from the window, she directed them to give over their preparations, as she was indisposed; after which she threw herself into a seat opposite Arwed.

'This chase was in reality only devised to obtain an opportunity for an undisturbed conversation with you,' said she, 'and that object can be attained as well here. My father has had a bad night and now sleeps soundly.'

'Well, speak on!' answered Arwed, placing himself in a listening att.i.tude. 'If what you wish to say be something good, it will give me great pleasure to hear it.'

'Not altogether good,' said Christine, casting her eyes upon the floor in great embarra.s.sment.

'So I should imagine,' answered Arwed. 'The feelings you have manifested toward me since my arrival have not been of the most friendly kind.'

'By heaven, Arwed, you do me injustice!' exclaimed. Christine, springing up and holding out her beautiful hand to him. 'My feelings are as kind toward you now as formerly, when we, two joyous children, sought sh.e.l.ls together on the beach; and I would be on yet better terms with you; only you appear not to desire it.'

'How do you mean?' asked the ingenuous Arwed, who understood his cousin but too well.

'In one word,' she suddenly exclaimed, 'my father destines my hand for you, and I shall be compelled to oppose his determination.'

'That is indeed no very flattering communication,' said Arwed. 'It explains the unmannerly reception you gave me, however. It was nothing but your fear of my tenderness; but as you know your father's intentions, so you should also know the impediments, on my side, in the way of their accomplishment. I love another maiden.'

'That I knew,' said Christine, 'but I was afraid....'

'That your cousin's truth would not be able to withstand these powerful attractions,' said Arwed completing the sentence for her. 'You are either very vain of your charms, beauteous cousin, or have made acquaintance with very bad specimens of our s.e.x.'

A deep sigh escaped from the oppressed bosom of Christine.

'Now, so long as I remain here,' continued Arwed, 'it shall be my most anxious endeavor to restore my s.e.x to your good opinion. In the first place I shall quiet your apprehensions by the a.s.surance, that my heart is entirely filled by a distant and beloved object,--that I shall never become troublesome to you as a suitor,--and that I will decline the proposed connection with so much decision, that the anger of our parents shall fall entirely on myself. I would love you as a brother should love a sister; but I would also be allowed the brother's right to tell you the truth whenever I may think it necessary to your welfare,--would counsel you,--warn you....'

'Yes, Arwed, be my brother!' cried Christine, with a convulsive pressure of his hand. 'Ah, that you could always have been so!'

'By this, however,' said Arwed, 'I must consider myself as having acquired some claim to your sisterly confidence. I am glad to know that you can feel no other sentiment for me, as it would give me pain to be compelled to reject your heart as well as your hand. But I cannot possibly believe that your coldness extends to the whole s.e.x. That, indeed, would be still more unnatural than your horse-racing and bear-hunting; No, no! your heart is not insensible. The glance of your eye, like the diamond, now flashing fire, and now dissolving in crystals, has already revealed it. You know what it is to love!'

'You afflict me cruelly, cousin!' cried Christine, holding her hand before her traitorous eyes.

'Confide in me,' entreated Arwed, affectionately withdrawing her hand from her face. 'Go back with me to the times of our happy childhood, when we mutually imparted all our little secrets, when we laid our hearts before each other like open books. Let me once more read in yours: who is the man of your choice?'

'You _shall_ read it, Arwed,' cried Christine; 'by heaven you shall read it! But not now,--only not to-day.'

'Why not now?' urged Arwed. 'The present is precisely the right moment.

Your heart is now softened and open. Pour it out towards me before caprice and false shame shall again harden and close it. Name the man of your choice to me, and take my word that I will honestly do whatever I can to promote your happiness. Surely, Christine can have no reason to be ashamed of her choice!'

'Pity me!' cried she; and, again bursting into tears, she fled from the room.

'Strange!' said Arwed, looking after her. 'The maiden is not at peace with herself; that is evident from the violence and eccentricity of her behaviour. There is a wounded spot in her heart which smarts at the least touch. Pray heaven it be not Mac Donalbain! It would be a pity for so magnificent a creature.'

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sumed, 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 circ.u.mspection necessary in his peculiar circ.u.mstances. 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 a.s.sured 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.