The Home in the Valley Part 26

"What news, Ragnar?"

"Captain Hanson, who has been master of the brig Sarah Christiana ever since I have been her mate, has latterly become very much reduced in health, and he has concluded not to go to sea again."

"Well, that cannot be joyful news. He was a better captain than perhaps you will ever sail under again."

"I shall never sail under another captain. I shall be captain myself, hereafter. The owners of the vessel have tendered the captaincy to me."

"Is it possible?"

"It will soon be more than possible, for my old captain has so well recommended me, that Mr. Lund has advanced me a sufficient sum of money to pay the charges of my examination, and as soon as Christmas is over--for until then I shall study at home--I will take a journey to prepare myself, and after the examination you will be the wife of a captain. Then you and Nanna can go with me to Goteborg, that you may see the vessel before I go to sea."

Magde quietly clasped her hands. Her pious grat.i.tude was evinced in her every expression. She thanked her G.o.d for having thus favored them with fortune.

Ragnar silently embraced her. "I did not say anything about it yesterday, for I wished to tell you here near Carl, who always placed his pleasures aside that they might not interfere with yours."

"Bless you, bless you, Ragnar! I now know why I found so many four leaved clovers last summer--only think, a captain's wife!--and still you love me as before?"

"Now and forever, my Magde. You shall have a bonnet as magnificent as any other lady; you shall have a cashmere shawl, and a black silk dress.

Yes, I promise you all this, and more."

"Let us return home quickly, that I may rejoice father and Nanna."

And Nanna and her father were as much rejoiced at the glad tidings as was Magde herself.

A few days afterwards, Magde and her father were seated together in the parlor consulting about the future.

"The Lord thus distributes joys and sorrows. One year ago our prospects were much different."

"Have I forgotten that time? No! And if I should live a hundred years, I would never forget the day you were taken from us to prison, nor the day you were released by Mr. Gottlieb. This year Ragnar must send him the balance still due him."

"We can repay him the money; but we can never reward him for his kindness and love. He has not returned to Almvik, and perhaps it is for the best, and as Nanna under any circ.u.mstance--"

The old man was suddenly interrupted by a shrill blast from the outside, which blast was produced by some one blowing upon a blade of gra.s.s.

"Well, well," exclaimed Magde glancing through the window, and then rushing to the door, "the old proverb is true, 'talk of--'"

"A certain gentleman and he is here," interrupted Gottlieb, entering the door with his face beaming with his usual cheerfulness. He presented one hand to Magde, and the other to old Mr. Lonner, who exclaimed with glistening eyes:

"Welcome, welcome, Mr. Gottlieb. Ragnar intended to write you to-day, and I just told Magde we are able to discharge one part of our debt, but the other can never be repaid."

"Enough, enough, good father Lonner, I too was influenced by a selfish motive--but pardon me, where is Nanna?"

"She has gone to fish with Ragnar and little Conrad," said Magde, who had already manufactured an urn of coffee, "but they will soon return."

"Aha! is Mate Lonner at home. Then I can become acquainted with him."

"_Captain_ Lonner, next spring at least, Mr. Gottlieb," said Magde, proudly.

"Crown Secretary, now, instead of Mr. Gottlieb, if you please, Mrs.

Lonner."

"So soon?"

"Yes, eight days ago I received the appointment; but my _great_ fortune will come next spring, for then I hope to have a little house of my own."

"Yes, and perhaps a housekeeper too," added Magde.

"Possibly."

At this reply Magde cast a secret glance towards her father, which he returned. Gottlieb, however, changed the conversation, and commenced speaking of the death of poor Carl of which he had before been informed.

During the next half hour, Gottlieb evinced the utmost impatience. He would walk to the window and gaze anxiously towards the lake, not observing that Magde and her father were exchanging significant glances and smiles behind his back.

At length he spied the boat, and he hastened down to the beach. The skiff contained the brother and sister, and their little companion.

A sympathetic sentiment seemed to have pervaded the entire family, for during their excursion Nanna and Ragnar conversed almost entirely about her young friend Gottlieb. So nicely had Ragnar probed his sister's heart that he knew almost as much about its true condition as Carl had previously learned. Although Ragnar would have desired to have believed as Carl did, he did not think it proper to offer Nanna any further consolation, than by saying that since he had received a captaincy she was placed on a more equal footing with Gottlieb and that he would do everything in his power to render her happy.

"I know you will, Ragnar," replied Nanna, "but only one thing can ever afford me happiness."

After these words the conversation ceased, and the brother and sister commenced their homeward ride.

In his great haste Gottlieb nearly ran into the water, in which Ragnar was standing fastening the boat; but so much was he astonished by the marvellous change which taken place in Nanna's appearance that he was forced to start back and gaze silently upon her. Nanna in the meantime appeared abstracted. She had not observed Gottlieb's approach; but sat in the boat slowly moving one of the oars, apparently in the deepest thought.

But how can we describe Nanna's joyful surprise when she discovered Gottlieb. Ragnar's presence prevented her from giving vent to her joy in words; but the joyful expression of her eyes was a more than sufficient welcome.

We will not describe the first interview between Ragnar and Gottlieb--suffice it to say it was the meeting of two brothers; not of two strangers. Neither will we describe the first hour of _mutual_ congratulations; but we will at once draw the reader's attention to a pleasing picture near the fountain in the meadow. Here the two lovers had proceeded that they might confer with each other uninterrupted.

"You see, my little nymph, I have come back. Do you think that I have an honorable spirit and a true heart? Now tell me, have you grown so beautiful, for me; yes so beautiful that I can well be proud of you as my own little wife?"

"Wife! are you then serious?"

"Serious we shall never be, we will make a third agreement, which is that we shall live henceforth without a gloomy thought or serious foreboding. Although we shall marry, as it is said, for 'love in a cottage,' yet we are both so familiar with the reality of the cottage, that our romantic dreams, if we have any, will be fully realized."

"True, very true," said Nanna smiling, and her countenance radiant with joy, appeared still more beautiful, "and now I am--"

"--Betrothed," said Gottlieb joyfully embracing her.

How happy were the inmates of the little cottage that evening!

When the news of Gottlieb's betrothal reached Almvik, Mrs. Ulrica foretold that nothing but evil would result from the wedding.

Mr. Fabian, however, who secretly esteemed Gottlieb, was silent; but afterwards when the young couple were firmly united he would hold them up as examples and say that some men could be happy with a wife who did not possess riches and station.

"But that," insisted Mrs. Ulrica, "is no reason why a poor man should not know to prize the happiness which a wealthy wife could procure for him."