JENS BIELKE. Now, by my soul, dear friend and brother--this
campaign is like to end but scurvily for both of us.
NILS LYKKE (with a smile). Oh--not for me, I hope.
JENS BIELKE. Not? First of all, there is small honour to be
got in hunting an overgrown whelp like this Nils Sture. Are we
to think him mad or in his sober senses after the pranks he has
played? First he breeds bad blood among the peasants; promises
them help and all their hearts can desire;--and then, when it
comes to the pinch, off he runs to hide behind a petticoat!
Moreover, to tell the truth, I repent that I followed your
counsel and went not my own way.
NILS LYKKE (aside). Your repentance comes somewhat late, my
brother.
JENS BIELKE. Look you, I have never loved digging at a badger's
earth. I look for quite other sport. Here have I ridden all the
way from the Jaemteland with my horsemen, and have got me a warrant
from the Trondhiem commandant to search for the rebel wheresoever I
please. All his tracks point towards Ostrat----
NILS LYKKE. He _is_ here! He _is_ here, I tell you!
JENS BIELKE. If that were so, should we not have found the gate
barred and well guarded? Would that we had; then could I have
found use for my men-at-arms----
NILS LYKKE. But instead, the gate is opened for us in hospitality.
Mark now--if Inger Gyldenlove's fame belie her not, I warrant she
will not let her guests lack for either meat or drink.
JENS BIELKE. Ay, to turn us aside from our errand! And what
wild whim was that of yours to persuade me to leave my horsemen
a good mile from the castle? Had we come in force----
NILS LYKKE. She had made us none the less welcome for that. But
mark well that then our coming had made a stir. The peasants round
about had held it for an outrage against Lady Inger; she had risen
high in their favour once more--and with that, look you, we were ill
served.
JENS BIELKE. May be so. But what am I to do now? Count Sture
is in Ostrat, you say. Ay, but how does that profit me? Be sure
Lady Inger Gyldenlove has as many hiding-places as the fox, and
more than one outlet to them. We two can go snuffing about here
alone as long as we please. I would the devil had the whole affair!
NILS LYKKE. Well, then, my friend--if you like not the turn your
errand has taken, you have but to leave the field to me.
JENS BIELKE. To you? What will you do?
NILS LYKKE. Caution and cunning may here do more than could be
achieved by force of arms.--And to say truth, Captain Jens Bielke--
something of the sort has been in my mind ever since we met in
Trondhiem yesterday.
JENS BIELKE. Was that why you persuaded me to leave the men
at arms?
NILS LYKKE. Both your purpose at Ostrat and mine could best be
served without them; and so----
JENS BIELKE. The foul fiend seize you--I had almost said! And
me to boot! Might I not have known that there is guile in all
your dealings?
NILS LYKKE. Be sure I shall need all my guile here, if I am to
face my foe with even weapons. And let me tell you 'tis of the
utmost moment to me that I acquit me of my mission secretly and
well. You must know that when I set forth I was scarce in favour
with my lord the King. He held me in suspicion; though I dare
swear I have served him as well as any man could, in more than
one ticklish charge.
JENS BIELKE. That you may safely boast. God and all men know
you for the craftiest devil in all the three kingdoms.
NILS LYKKE. You flatter! But after all, 'tis not much to say.
Now this present errand I hold for the crowning proof of my policy;
for here I have to outwit a woman----
JENS BIELKE. Ha-ha-ha! In that art you have long since given
crowning proofs of your skill, dear brother. Think you we
in Sweden know not the song--
_Fair maidens a-many they sigh and they pine;
"Ah God, that Nils Lykke were mine, mine, mine!_"
NILS LYKKE. Alas, it is women of twenty and thereabouts that
ditty speaks of. Lady Inger Gyldenlove is nigh on fifty, and wily
to boot beyond all women. It will be no light matter to overcome
her. But it must be done--at any cost. If I succeed in winning
certain advantages over her that the King has long desired, I can
reckon on the embassy to France next spring. You know that I spent
three years at the University in Paris? My whole soul is bent on
coming thither again, most of all if I can appear in lofty place,
a king's ambassador.--Well, then--is it agreed?--do you leave Lady
Inger to me? Remember--when you were last at Court in Copenhagen,
I made way for you with more than one fair lady----
JENS BIELKE. Nay, truly now--that generosity cost you little;
one and all of them were at your beck and call. But let that pass;
now that I have begun amiss in this matter, I had as lief that you
should take it on your shoulders. One thing, though, you must
promise--if the young Count Sture be in Ostrat, you will deliver
him into my hands, dead or alive!
NILS LYKKE. You shall have him all alive. I, at any rate, mean
not to kill him. But now you must ride back and join your people.
Keep guard on the road. Should I mark aught that mislikes me, you
shall know it forthwith.
JENS BIELKE. Good, good. But how am I to get out?
NILS LYKKE. The fellow that brought us in will show the way.
But go quietly.
JENS BIELKE. Of course, of course. Well--good fortune to you!
NILS LYKKE. Fortune has never failed me in a war with women.
Haste you now!
(JENS BIELKE goes out to the right.)
NILS LYKKE (stands still for a while; then walks about the room,
looking round him; at last he says softly). So I am at Ostrat at
last--the ancient seat that a child, two years ago, told me so
much of.
Lucia. Ay, two years ago she was still a child. And now--now
she is dead. (Hums with a half-smile.) "Blossoms plucked are
blossoms withered---- ----" (Looks round him again.)
Ostrat. 'Tis as though I had seen it all before; as though I
were at home here.--In there is the Banquet Hall. And underneath
is--the grave-vault. It must be there that Lucia lies.
(In a lower voice, half seriously, half with forced gaiety.)
Were I timorous, I might well find myself fancying that when I
set foot within Ostrat gate she turned about in her coffin; as I
walked across the courtyard she lifted the lid; and when I named
her name but now, 'twas as though a voice summoned her forth from
the grave-vault.--Maybe she is even now groping her way up the
stairs. The face-cloth blinds her, but she gropes on and on in
spite of it.
Now she has reached the Banquet Hall; she stands watching me from
behind the door!
(Turns his head backwards over one shoulder, nods, and says
aloud:)
Come nearer, Lucia! Talk to me a little! Your mother keeps me
waiting. 'Tis tedious waiting--and you have helped me to while
away many a tedious hour---- ----
(Passes his hand over his forehead, and takes one or two turns
up and down.)
Ah, there!--Right, right; there is the the deep curtained window.
It is there that Inger Gyldenlove is wont to stand gazing out over
the road, as though looking for one that never comes. In there--
(looks towards the door on the left)--somewhere in there is Sister
Elina's chamber. Elina? Ay, Elina is her name. Can it be that
she is so rare a being--so wise and so brave as Lucia drew her?
Fair, too, they say. But for a wedded wife----? I should not
have written so plainly---- ----
(Lost in thought, he is on the point of sitting down by the
table, but stands up again.)
How will Lady Inger receive me? She will scarce burn the castle
over our heads, or slip me through a trap-door. A stab from behind----?
No, not that way either----
(Listens towards the hall.)
Aha!
(LADY INGER GYLDENLOVE enters from the hall.)