BERTEL AND REGINA.
We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep in a peasant's house
at Ylihärmä. We found him again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly
trying to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had seen through
the window-pane of the wretched hut. Bertel's circuitous course during
the days between can be perhaps imagined. Led on a false scent in his
chase after the fugitives, he had scoured all the roads in East
Bothnia, and even went as far up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost
every sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek the
runaways in the far-off Kajana desert. Why the young cavalier pursued
them with such unconquerable perseverance will soon be manifest.
Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find Bertel in the
apartment which the Governor had assigned to Lady Regina, under the
protection of one of his female relatives. More than three years have
passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in the presence of
the great king.
Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty, and Regina an equally
untrained girl of sixteen. Both had gone through many trials since
then; in each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been cooled by
struggles and sufferings.
The distance between the prince's daughter and the lieutenant had been
lessened by Bertel's military fame and lately acquired coat of arms;
nay, at this moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider
herself honoured by a knight's attentions. But the distance between
their convictions, their sympathies, their hearts--had it been
diminished by these trials, which generally steel a conviction instead
of destroying it?
Bertel approached the young girl with all the perfect courtesy which
the etiquette of his time had retained as an inheritance from the
chivalry of past centuries.
"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice, "since my hope of
finding you at Korsholm failed, I have pursued you through forest and
wilderness, as one pursues a criminal. Perhaps you divine the cause
that prompted me to do so."
Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted, and she looked
inquiringly at Bertel.
"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated you, I am convinced
that your reasons were noble and chivalrous. You cannot have meant to
take an unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have only wished to
snatch her from a man whom the poor deceived one has ever since
childhood regarded as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply
concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time, learned to know
and abhor."
"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly. "It is true I shuddered when I
found that you were under the escort of this villain, whose real
character I knew before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver
you from his hands. But before I imagined any danger from that
quarter, I flew to find you with the glad tidings of a justice ...
late, but I hope not too late."
"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an emotion which sent the
blood to her cheeks.
"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded her dazzling beauty
with delight; "at last, after several years of fruitless efforts, I
have succeeded in undoing this undeserved penalty. You are free! you
can now return to your Fatherland under the protection of the Swedish
arms, and here"--with these words Bertel bent one knee and handed
Regina a paper with the regency's seal attached--"is the document which
ensures your freedom."
Regina had controlled her first emotion, and received the precious
paper with almost haughty dignity.
"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones, "I know that you do
not desire my thanks for having acted like a man of honour before any
of your compatriots."
Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he, however, ought to have
expected.
"What I have done," he said, with a touch of coldness, "I have done to
efface a wrong which might have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a
great king. Each and all of my countrymen would have done the same as
I, had not the exigencies of war made them forget the reparation you
had a right to demand. First of all would the noble King Gustaf Adolf
himself have hastened to repair a moment's indiscretion, had not
Providence so suddenly cut short his career. But," said Bertel,
breaking off, "I forget that the king I love and admire, you, my lady,
hate!"
At these words the bright and beautiful colour again rose to Regina's
cheeks. Bertel had unknowingly touched one of the most sensitive
chords in this ardent heart. A new discovery, a wonderful resemblance
in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in thought--a likeness which she had
never before observed, and which these three years had developed in
Bertel's whole personality, made an indescribable impression upon the
young Southerner's soul. It seemed to her as if she saw him himself,
the greatest among mortals, the pride of her dreams, her life's delight
and misery; he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's, and
her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself had said to her in the
well-remembered tones: "Regina, you hate me!"
This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and with such a
surprising power, that Regina suddenly grew pale, staggered, and was
compelled to lean on Bertel's outstretched arm.
"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and not knowing what she
uttered, "should I hate you ... you, whom I lo ...?"
Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so full of meaning, with
a surprise as sudden and unexpected as Regina's. Beside himself with
amazement, fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to avail himself
of an involuntary confession. Mute and respectful, he led the young
girl to her protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her
sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed emotions, which sought
vent.
Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady Regina to Stockholm, from
whence she could return to her Fatherland, at the first open waters.
He was, therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until she was
ready for the journey, and this was again delayed through lack of a
fitting female companion for the high-born prisoner.
Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time entirely new relations
were formed, which one could hardly have predicted after Regina's proud
coldness towards her deliverer. Ah! this coldness was the ice over a
glowing volcano; every day it grew thinner and melted away; every day
the foundations of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and finally
only one barrier remained, the strongest one of all, it is true,
namely, that of religious convictions. Vain wall! It, too, finally
crumbled before the fire of a southern passion, and before these weeks
were ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of twenty-three,
had forgotten the great differences of faith and rank, and sworn each
other fidelity for life.
Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory of Gustaf Adolf for his
beautiful, proud, black-eyed bride?
A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an unexpected and
wonderful manner. With a secret apprehension for his future happiness,
Bertel had tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.
Since the morning when he leaped over the railing of the bridge, no one
had heard or seen anything of him, until, three weeks afterwards, a
peasant reported that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below Ämmä
fall, they had discovered the body of a man without ears, clothed in a
foreign garb, which the peasant brought with him, and which were
recognised as those of Father Hieronymus. In addition, the honest
Paldamo peasant produced a small copper ring, which had been found
hanging by a cord on the dead man's neck.
Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and delight.
"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I have so long sought ...
and with you the certainty of this terrible man's death."
"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!" exclaimed Regina,
awe-struck.
"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our happiness!" rejoined
Bertel, and he placed on Regina's finger the _King's Ring_.