It seemed extraordinary to many that Glory Goldie of Ruffluck
should have to stand at the Borg pier day after day, watching for
one who never came.
Glory Goldie did not stand there waiting on fine light summer days
either! She was on the pier in bleak and stormy November and in
dark and cold December. Nor did she have any sweet and solacing
dreams about travellers from a far country who would step ashore
here in pomp and state. She had eyes and thoughts only for a boat
that was being rowed back and forth on the lake, just beyond the
pier, dragging for the body of a drowned man.
In the beginning she had thought that the one for whom she waited
would be found immediately the dragging was begun. But such was not
the case. Day after day a couple of patient old fishermen worked
with grappling hooks and dragnets, without finding a trace of the
body.
There were said to be two deep holes at the bottom of the lake,
close to the Borg pier, and some folks thought Jan had gone down
into one of them. Others maintained there was a strong under-tow
here at the point which ran farther in, toward Big Church Inlet,
and that he had been carried over there. Then Glory Goldie had the
draglines lengthened, so that they would reach down to the lowest
depths of the lake, and she ordered every foot of Big Church Inlet
dragged; yet she did not succeed in bringing her father back into
the light of day.
On the morning following the tragic end of her father Glory Goldie
ordered a coffin made. When it was ready she had it brought down to
the pier, that she might lay the dead man in it the moment he was
found. Night and day it had to stand out there. She would not even
have it put into the freight shed. The guard locked the shed
whenever he left the pier, and the coffin had to be at hand always
so that Jan would not be compelled to wait for it.
The old Emperor used to have kind friends around him at the pier,
to enliven his long waiting hours. But Glory Goldie nearly always
tramped there alone. She spoke to no one, and folks were glad to
leave her in peace, for they felt that there was something uncanny
about her which had been the cause of her father's death.
In December navigation closed. Then Glory Goldie had the pier all
to herself. No one disturbed her. The fishermen who were conducting
the search on the lake wanted to quit now. But that put Glory
Goldie in despair. She felt that her only hope of salvation lay in
the finding of her father. She told the men they must go on with
the search while the lake was still unfrozen, that they must search
for him down by Nygard Point; by Storvik Point--they must search
the length and breadth of all Lake Löven.
For each day that passed Glory Goldie became more desperately
determined to find the body. She had taken lodgings in a cotter's
but at Borg. In the beginning she remained indoors at least some
moments during the day, but after a time her mind became prey to
such intense fear that she could scarcely eat or sleep. Now she
paced the pier all the while--not only during the short hours of
daylight but all through the long, dark evenings, until bedtime.
The first two days after Jan's death Katrina had stayed on the
pier with Glory Goldie, and watched for his return. Then she went
back to Ruffluck. It was not from any feeling of indifference that
she stopped coming to the pier, it was simply that she could not
stand being with her daughter and hearing her speak of Jan. For
Glory Goldie did not disguise her real sentiments. Katrina knew it
was not from any sense of pity or remorse that Glory Goldie was so
determined her father's body should rest in consecrated soil, but
she was afraid, unreasonably afraid while the one for whose death
she was responsible still lay unburied at the bottom of the lake.
She felt that if she could only get her father interred in
churchyard mould he would not be such a menace to her. But so long
as he remained where he was she must live in constant terror of
him and of the punishment he would mete out to her.
Glory Goldie stood on the Borg pier looking down at the lake, which
was now gray and turgid. Her gaze did not penetrate beneath the
surface of the water, yet she seemed to see the whole wide expanse
of lake bottom underneath.
Down there sat he, the Emperor of Portugallia, his hands clasped
round his knees, his eyes fixed on the gray-green water--in
constant expectation that she would come to him. His imperial
regalia had been discarded, for the stick and cap had never gone
down into the depths with him, and the paper stars had of course
been dissolved by the water. He sat there now in his old threadbare
coat with two empty hands. But there was no longer anything
pretentious or ludicrous about him; now he was only powerful and
awe-inspiring.
It was not without reason he had called himself an emperor. So
great had been his power in life that the enemy whose evil deeds he
hated had been overthrown, while his friends had received help and
protection. This power he still possessed. It had not gone from him
even in death.
Only two persons had ever wronged him. One of them had already met
his doom. The other one was herself--his daughter who had first
driven him out of his mind and had afterward caused his death. Her
he bided down there in the deep. His love for her was over. Now he
awaited her not to render her praise and homage, but to drag her
down into the realms of death, as punishment for her heartless
treatment of him.
Glory Goldie had a weird temptation: she wanted to remove the heavy
coffin lid and slide the coffin into the lake, as a boat, and then
to get inside and push away from shore, and afterward stretch
herself out on the bed of sawdust at the bottom of the coffin.
She wondered whether she would sink instantly or whether she would
drift a while, until the lashing waves filled her bark and drew it
under. She also thought that she might not sink at all but would be
carried out to sea only to be cast ashore at one of the elm-edged
points. She felt strangely tempted to put herself to the test. She
would lie perfectly still the whole time, she said to herself, and
use neither hand nor foot to propel the coffin. She would put
herself wholly at the mercy of her judge; he might draw her down or
let her escape as he willed.
If she were thus to seek his indulgence perhaps his great love
would again speak to her; perhaps he would then take pity on her
and grant her grace. But her fear was too great. She no longer
dared trust in his love, and therefore she was afraid to put the
black coffin out on the lake.
An old friend and schoolmate of Glory Goldie sought her out at this
time. It was August Där Nol of Prästerud, who was still living
under the parental roof.
August Där Nol was a quiet and sensible man whom it did her good to
talk with. He advised her to go away and take up her old
occupation. It was not well for her to haunt the desolate pier,
watching for the return of a dead man, he said. Glory Goldie
answered that she would not dare leave until her father had been
laid in consecrated ground. But August would not hear of this. The
first time he talked with her nothing was decided, but when he came
again she promised to follow his advice. They parted with the
understanding that he was to come for her the following day and
take her to the railway station in his own carriage.
Had he done so possibly all would have gone smoothly. But he was
prevented from coming himself and sent a hired man with the team.
All the same Glory Goldie got into the carriage and drove off. On
the way to the station she talked with the driver about her father
and encouraged him to relate stories of her father's clairvoyance,
the ones Katrina had told her on the pier and still others.
When she had listened a while she begged the driver to turn back.
She had become so alarmed that she was afraid to go any farther. He
was too powerful, was the old Emperor of Portugallia! She knew how
the dead that have not been buried in churchyard mould haunt and
pursue their enemies. Her father would have to be brought up out of
the water and laid in his coffin. God's Holy Word must be read over
him, else she would never know a moment's peace.