Jan of Ruffluck had never had so many things to think about and
ponder over as now, that he had become an emperor.
In the first place he had to be very guarded, since greatness had
been thrust upon him, so as not to let pride get the upper hand. He
must bear in mind continually that we humans were all made from the
same material and had sprung from the same First Parents; that we
were all of us weak and sinful and at bottom one person was no
better than another.
All his life long he had observed, to his dismay, how people tried
to lord it over one another, and of course he had no desire to do
likewise. He found, however, that it was not an easy matter for one
who had become exalted to maintain a proper humility. His greatest
concern was that he might perhaps say or do something that would
cause his old friends, who were still obliged to pursue their
humble callings, to feel themselves slighted and forgotten.
Therefore he deemed it best when attending such functions as
dinners and parties--which duty demanded of him--never to mention
in the hearing of these people the great distinction that had come
to him. He could not blame them for envying him. Indeed not! Just
the same he felt it was wisest not to make them draw comparisons.
And of course he could not ask men like Börje and the seine-maker
to address him as Emperor. Such old friends could call him Jan, as
they had always done; for they could never bring themselves to do
otherwise.
But the one whom he had to consider before all others and be most
guarded with was the old wife, who sat at home in the hut. It would
have been a great consolation to him, and a joy as well, if
greatness had come to her also. But it had not. She was the same as
of yore. Anything else was hardly to be expected. Glory Goldie must
have known it would be quite impossible to make an empress of
Katrina. One could not imagine the old woman pinning a golden
coronet on her hair when going to church; she would have stayed at
home rather than show her face framed in anything but the usual
black silk headshawl.
Katrina had declared out and out she did not want to hear about
Glory Goldie being an empress. On the whole it was perhaps best to
humour her in this.
But one can understand it must have been hard for him who spent his
mornings at the pier, surrounded by admiring throngs of people, who
at every turn addressed him as "Emperor," to drop his royal air the
moment he set foot in his own house. It cannot be denied that he
found it a bit irksome having to fetch wood and water for Katrina
and then to be spoken to as if he had gone backward in life instead
of forward.
If Katrina had only stopped at that he would not have minded it,
but she even complained because he would not go out to work now, as
in former days. When she came with such things he always turned a
deaf ear. As if he did not know that the Empress of Portugallia
would soon send him so much money that he need never again put on
his working clothes! He felt it would be an insult to _her_ to give
in to Katrina on this point.
One afternoon, toward the end of August, as Jan was sitting upon
the flat stone in front of the hut, smoking his pipe, he glimpsed
some bright frocks in the woods close by, and heard the ring of
youthful voices.
Katrina had just gone down to the birch grove to cut twigs for a
broom: but before leaving she had said to Jan that hereafter they
must arrange their matters so that she could go down to Falla and
dig ditches; he might stay at home and do the cooking and mending,
since he was too fine now to work for others. He had not said a
word in retort, but all the same it was mighty unpleasant having to
listen to such talk; therefore he was very glad that he could turn
his thoughts to something else. Instantly he ran inside for his
imperial cap and stick, and was out again and down at the gate just
as the young girls came along.
There were no less than five of them in the party, the three young
misses from Lövdala and two strangers, who were evidently guests at
the Manor.
"Go'-day, my dear Court ladies," said Jan as he swung the gate wide
open and went out toward them. "Go'-day, my dear Court ladies," he
repeated, at the same time making such a big sweep with his cap
that it almost touched the ground.
The girls stood stockstill. They looked a bit shy at first, but he
soon helped them over their momentary embarrassment.
Then it was "good-day" and "our kind Emperor." It was plain they
were really glad to see him again. These little misses were not
like Katrina and the rest of the Ashdales folk. They were not at
all averse to hearing about the Empress and immediately asked him
if Her Highness was well and if she was not expected home soon.
They also asked if they might be allowed to step into the hut, to
see how it looked inside. That he could well afford to let them do,
for Katrina always kept the house so clean and tidy that they could
receive callers there at any time.
When the young misses from the Manor came into the house they were
no doubt surprised that the great Empress had grown up in a little
place like that. It may have done very well in the old days, when
she was used to it, they said, but how would it be now should she
come back? Would she reside here, with her parents, or return to
Portugallia?
Jan had thought the selfsame things himself, and he understood of
course that Glory Goldie could not settle down in the Ashdales when
she had a whole kingdom to rule over.
"The chances are that the Empress will return to Portugallia," he
replied.
"Then you will accompany her, I suppose?" said one of the little
misses.
Jan would rather the young lady had not questioned him regarding
that matter. Nor did he give her any reply at first, but she was
persistent.
"Possibly you don't know as yet how it will be?" she said.
Oh, yes, he knew all about it, only he was not quite sure how
people would regard his decision. Perhaps they might think it was
not the correct thing for an emperor to do. "I shall remain at
home," he told her. "It would never do for me to leave Katrina."
"So Katrina is not going to Portugallia?"
"No," he answered. "You couldn't get Katrina away from the hut, and
I shall stay right here with her. You see when one has promised to
love and cherish till death--"
"Yes, I understand that one can't break that vow." This was said by
the young girl who seemed most eager to know about everything. "Do
you hear that, all of you?" she added. "Jan won't leave his wife
though all the glories of Portugallia are tempting him."
And think of it! The girls were very glad of this. They patted him
on the back and told him he did right. That was a favourable sign,
they said, for it showed that all was not over yet with good old
Jan Anderson of Ruffluck Croft.
He could not make out just what they meant by that; but probably
they were happy to think the parish was not going to lose him.
They bade him good-bye now, saying they were going over to Doveness
to a garden party.
They had barely gone when Katrina walked in. She must have been
standing outside the door listening. But how long she had stood
there or how much she had heard, Jan did not know. Anyway, she
looked more amiable and serene than she had appeared in a long
while.
"You're an old simpleton," she told him. "I wonder what other women
would say if they had a husband like you? But still it's a comfort
to know that you don't want to go away from me."