The fieldmarshal Rhenskioeld sat waiting, upon the sofa in the cabinet of baron von Goertz. The latter returned from the palace, and his indignation at the offensive answer he had received, gave way to the joy of again meeting his friend.
'I thank you, my worthy friend,' said he, embracing Rhenskioeld, 'that you have complied with my request so promptly. It wasmyduty to visit you, but my hours are all numbered. I shall be compelled to labor through the whole night, and in the morning I shall be on my way towards Frederickshall.'
'You come from Aland?' eagerly asked Rhenskioeld: 'what news from thence?'
'Thank God!' cried Goertz with clasped hands: 'I bring you peace with Russia.'
'Peace!' exclaimed Rhenskioeld, springing from his seat. 'Peace between the shrewd czar, who never fails to follow up an advantage, and our Charles, whom misfortune only renders the more inflexibly? It is impossible! Even could you really obtain tolerable conditions yet would the king never accept them.'
'The splendid conditions which I bring will certainly be ratified by him,' answered Goertz. 'Peter retains nothing of his conquests except Livonia, a part of Ingermanland and Caralia. He yields back all besides.'
'Peter give any thing back!' screamed Rhenskioeld, with astonishment.
'Russia,' proceeded Goertz, 'binds herself with us, to set upon the throne of Poland the same Stanislaus whom she formerly chased from it, and furnishes 80,000 men to enthrone the same august personage against whom she has been fighting the last ten years.'
'You must be relating to me, a fable from the thousand and one nights!' said Rhenskioeld incredulously.
'Russia,' proceeded Goertz, 'is to furnish shipping for the conveyance of 10,000 Swedes to England to sustain the Pretender. In connection with Sweden, she seizes upon Hanover. We take Bremen and Verden, re-establish the duke of Holstein, force Prussia to give up her booty, and compel the emperor to observe the treaty of Altranstadt.'
'And now are you awake?' asked the fieldmarshal with a satirical smile: 'for thus do such narrations usually terminate, when the narrator has only been dreaming.'
Goertz stopped, and gazed at his auditor. He however conquered his impetuosity, went to his writing desk, took from it a manuscript, and with the exclamation, 'read,' gave it to the fieldmarshal.
Rhenskioeld read--and as he read his eyes opened wider and wider, while in the same ratio his brow became knit with anger, and he appeared to struggle with some highly unpleasant feeling. Finally, he silently gave back the paper, rose up, and took his hat and sword.
'You appear to be convinced, now, sir fieldmarshal,' said Goertz: 'but the conviction does not seem to please you, notwithstanding you have had a great share in bringing about the peace. Had you not brought the king to better thoughts when already the whole negociation threatened to miscarry, I should never have arrived where I am to-day.'
'Yes,' answered Rhenskioeld, coldly: 'it gives me pleasure to learn that I have been the ladder upon which you have mounted to the pinnacle, and I wish you joy of it.'
He bowed very formally and departed. Goertz himself lighted him out. 'Another friend lost!' said he as he came back. 'I already perceive that this peace is too advantageous for Rhenskioeld not to envy my instrumentality in its conclusion.'
Directly, he heard a slight knock at the door, and a delicate voice asked, 'may we now come in?'
'Walk in!' cried Goertz, who well knew the little voice, with a smile of paternal pleasure, and his little daughter Magdalena, led by Georgina, skipped into the room. With impetuous, feeling, Georgina fell upon his neck, whilst Magdalena climbed upon his knees and compelled him to take her in his arms.
'Où peut-on être mieux qu'au sein de sa famille?' said the father, kissing the little Magdalena right heartily. 'My own house, I verily believe, is the only place in Sweden where I can meet with sincere affection.'
'Yes, indeed, my father,' said Georgina with a sigh. 'I daily perceive more and more clearly how little justice you have to expect in a country you are laboring to save. The audience this evening denied you is a fresh instance. The princess was not ill--she feigned illness that she might have a pretext for refusing to see you.'
'It will be indeed an evil day for me,' said Goertz, smiling, 'when my destiny shall be in the hands of Ulrika. She can never forgive me that her brother now places that confidence in me which he has always withheld from her. But how comes it that you, Georgina, with your fifteen years, evince such deep observation?'
Long did he look at her in deep meditation. 'In truth,' proceeded he, 'it appears to me that you have shot up wonderfully tall, and that which with you women they call reason has developed itself with wonderful rapidity. Right beauteous are you, also, and in your eyes I see a kindling of enthusiasm. You cannot yet by any means have learned that you have a heart?'
Georgina, who during this sharp review had kept her eyes cast down, now raised them timidly up and sought to read the expression of her father's face. The kindness and good nature which she found impressed there, gave her courage, and pressing his hand to her lips she threw herself at his feet.
'What means this?' asked he indignantly, withdrawing his hand. 'I am no tyrant such as they portray in French tragedies, nor am I fond of theatrical scenes in real life. Stand up if you wish me to listen to you.'
'Never, until you forgive me,' sobbed Georgina: 'I love!'
'So my observation did not deceive me,' said her father. 'You love? a little too early, I must confess. But stand up, and tell me at once whom you love.'
'The count Gyllenstierna,' lisped Georgina, in a scarcely audible voice.
'Poor child!' exclaimed Goertz, compassionately. 'That will be a troublesome affair to arrange.'
'That is what we have feared!' cried Georgina, wringing her hands and rising up.
'I would not at any rate bring forward any objections against the young man,' proceeded Goertz. 'But both of you have wholly overlooked the fact, that his father is one of my most decided enemies. I would rather undertake to bring about a peace between Sweden and Denmark than between him and me.
The little Magdalena then threw her small, white arms round her father's neck. 'Pray, pray,' implored she, 'give to poor Georgina her Arwed; she loves him so very much.'
'Magdalena then is your confidant?' Goertz asked Georgina good humoredly: 'she knows even the christian name of your chosen one. But children, this affair, indeed, takes me by surprise. However, for the present, at least, I shall not say no. To theyes, it will be necessary to gain the consent of another besides the weak father of a beloved daughter. Meanwhile, I should like to become a little acquainted with your Corydon. So bring him in, Georgina, for no doubt you hold him in ambuscade ready for the occasion.'
'You do me great injustice, dear father,' said Georgina, whose maiden sensibility was touched. 'Arwed is in the Swedish camp, before Frederickshall. He has already conquered a battery, for which the king has named him a captain in the guards.'
'That, I confess, is being far on the way to a fieldmarshalship:' said Goertz, jestingly, to conceal his surprise. 'At present I rejoice that your choice does you honor every way: what further may come, is in the hands of God. The idea is very agreeable to me, through the medium of a beloved daughter to connect myself with one of the noble houses of the country in which I hope to naturalize myself by my unceasing labors for its welfare. If the other party would only think the same! But old Nils Gyllenstierna will have many and strong objections.'
'So Arwed also thought,' said Georgina sorrowfully.
'Yes, yes,' said Goertz, looking sadly forward: 'I have now in all Sweden but one only friend, and my sole happiness is that he wears Sweden's crown.' Thus saying, he rose up and ardently embraced his daughters 'Retire to rest now, children,' said he: 'go and build your airy castles, as brightly colored and dazzling as you please. And if time destroy them, still will you have enjoyed the pleasures of hope,--and that is much in a world whose joys consist almost entirely in anticipation and remembrance. Go! I must yet watch and labor for Sweden and for you. Rewarded by this land with hatred, from your hearts I expect love and gratitude, and will therewith consider myself compensated.'
'All will yet end well, dear father,' said Georgina, consolingly. 'Since I have confessed to you my secret, and since you have received it so kindly, a heavy weight is removed from my breast. I breathe again with ease and joy, and already feel as if my aim was attained and nothing more could be wanting in this world.'
The girls retired, and Goertz closed the door after them.
The afternoon service of the first Advent Sunday had ended in the camp before Frederickshall. The warriors were dispersing, and, arm in arm with adjutant Kolbert, Arwed sauntered towards the nearest sutler's barrack, to play a game of chess. The place was wholly-unoccupied, and the hostess was standing at the door, waiting for her guests, her parti-colored holiday dress serving as a sign board. The two friends sat themselves down, with a flask of Burgundy, to the bloodless battle. The sleet was lightly drizzling upon the hard frozen ground out of doors. From the walls of the city and from high Fredericksteen the heavy artillery sent a dull sound through the storm, whilst, in the camp, the besieging laborers ceased from work to honor the consecrated day of rest. The Sabbath stillness was only interrupted now and then by a crash in the barracks and a cry from the soldiers, when one of the enemy's balls happened to take effect. But that did not interrupt the players. They had become so deeply interested in their game that they did not once perceive how the room gradually became filled with officers, many of whom placed themselves behind their chairs to overlook the game.
Suddenly, with angry impetuosity, Arwed took one of his opponent's knights with his king.
'Stop!' cried Kolbert, holding fast his officer. 'Your bishop will by that movement remain uncovered, and I shall immediately take him.'
'Take him,' said Arwed. 'Your knight is troublesome to me, and must die.'
'A mere exchange, for the sake of exchanging,--that is manifestly contrary to the etiquette of the game!'
'It was not a mere exchange,' protested Arwed. 'You had a mischievous plan. Had you led him out, I were lost. Your knight in the place where he stood was worth more than an ordinary officer, and I could no longer defend myself against him. Wherefore I exchanged to advantage, and I should always do the same under like circumstances. Even if my opponent lose no more than myself by the movement, yet I win temporary relief at least, break up his attack, and compel him to resort to new manœuvres.'
'And to use the king like a subaltern officer is not civil,' grumbled Kolbert.
'My king shall not keep himself behind the cannon, like a Persian shah,' answered Arwed. 'Whenever necessity requires it, he must expose himself as well as one of his soldiers.'
'A regular Charles XIIth,' cried some one behind him, with a scornful laugh. Arwed turned suddenly round and perceived the chief engineer, Megret, a Frenchman by birth, who with a satyr-like face was leaning over the back of his chair.
'I thank you for the comparison, colonel, even though it was ironically intended,' said the youth in a decidedly cutting tone. 'Would to God that we all, not excepting even you, were able to imitate the elevated character of our noble king in good and evil fortune; what accomplished men should we then be!'
Megret bit his lips and retired to another table, where he got up a company to play pharo.
'This is my first campaign,' proceeded Arwed with enthusiasm: 'and I have seen the king in battle only twice in my life, but that has furnished sufficient proof of his worth as a brave warrior and skilful commander. He is always great, but when he has his sword in his hand he is more than man--almost a demi-god--and one feels tempted to worship him.'
'Not so, young man,' answered a hollow voice. 'That was a very improper speech.'
Arwed recognised the voice as one he had heard before. Raising his eyes, he saw behind Kolbert's chair a meagre man about thirty years of age, in the dress of a civilian. His close-bodied coat, with broad turned-up sleeves, his long waistcoat and his small clothes, all of one colour, ash-gray velvet, together with his dark colored wig, gave him an uncommonly strange and solemn appearance, which his fixed and expressive eye rendered still more disagreeable.
Indignant at the reproof conveyed by the words of the stranger, Arwed abruptly and harshly asked the gray form, 'what do you mean by that, sir?'
'I mean,' answered the gray coat, 'that it always makes my flesh crawl to hear a true hero so excessively praised. His renown cannot be increased thereby, and the oldFatumbecomes easily jealous of such idolatry and oftentimes wreaks its vengeance upon the idol. Think of the anticipations of the great Gustavus Adolphus, to whom Germany did slavish homage in the altitude of his fortunes, and recollect his sad fate.'
'I do not like these nursery tales,' said Arwed angrily; 'and superstition, when it makes lofty pretensions, is highly offensive to me.'
'You cannot know the man to whom you speak,' said captain count Posse, stepping forward to appease Arwed. 'That we are here so near to Frederickshall, and that you have here acquired your first laurels, you may thank him alone. Through his deep science was general Duecker enabled to construct the wooden pier between the bays of Stevemstadt and Idefiall, over which our ships were transported upon ingenious machines from one navigable water to the other.'
'Is it possible! Swedenborg?' quickly exclaimed the softened Arwed with joyful surprise, offering the hand of peace to the gray-coat. 'Swedenborg! Swebenborg!' the murmur ran through the company, and the officers pressed around to catch a glance at the wonderful man.
'Swedenborg!' cried Megret, laughingly, from the other table, 'do you find yourself here again? What news do you bring with you? How stand affairs in the celestial and subterranean regions?'
'The angels axe weeping and the devils laughing!' answered Swedenborg with awful earnestness.
'And what say your spirits thereto?' sneeringly added the Frenchman.
'They are silent in the presence of impure souls,' resumed the prophet in a tone of thunder, which closed the lips of the scorner.
'Is captain Gyllenstierna here?' cried adjutant general Siquier, putting his head in at the door.
'He is here,' answered Arwed, rising from his seat.
'In an hour the king will expect you at his quarters,' said Siquier, stepping to the pharo table.
'Most certainly, he wishes to say a friendly word in relation to your conduct in the late action,' observed count Posse. 'Your enemies, even, must acknowledge that you have deserved it.'
'Thank you, captain, for the acknowledgment that I did my duty,' said Arwed modestly. 'Yet there were many others who did as much, if not more, in that action.'
'Whoso abaseth himself shall be exalted,' said Swedenborg, with benevolent kindness, laying his hand upon Arwed's shoulder.
'You are come opportunely, Siquier,' said Megret derisively. 'You have long been desirous of having your horoscope cast. There stands a professor of the high art, the great Swedenborg. Give him a good word.'
'It would occupy too much of my time,' answered Siquier. 'It takes long, I have heard, to make the calculations, and I must shortly return to the prince. But Swedenborg must also be an experienced chiromancer, and can foretell my good fortune from my hand.'
With malicious levity, he held out his hand to the insulted man. But the latter threw it forcibly back, exclaiming, 'your hand smells of blood. I have nothing to do with you!'
The scoffer stood a long time, as if suddenly struck by a thunderbolt, staring with amazement at the prophet. Soon collecting himself, however, he strode out of the room.
'What was that?' asked count Posse, looking inquiringly at Megret. The latter, visibly disturbed, shuffled the cards anew, and at length said with a forced smile, 'one fool makes many others.'
'That was too much in earnest for folly,' thought Posse.
'If it be agreeable to you,' said Arwed in ill humor to Kolbert, 'we will leave our game unfinished. I have no longer the ability to play. My head has become unusually disturbed by the strange conversation to which I have been compelled to listen.'
Kolbert, acquiescing, threw the chessmen in a heap. Arwed stepped to the pharo table and seized some cards which were quickly thrown to him.
'Take the king,' said Swedenborg to him: 'he is the banker's enemy.'
Megret was evidently startled, and with a Vehemence vastly disproportionate to the occasion, he asked Swedenborg, 'what do you mean? Do you intend to insult me?'
'He who is evil has evil thoughts,' answered Swedenborg quietly. 'I gave to my young friend good advice, founded upon my calculations of the game.'
'I prefer to advise myself,' said Arwed,--impatient of the obtrusiveness of the stranger,--retaining the old cards which uninterruptedly fell from the banker.
'Make the experiment with the king once, to gratify me,' begged Kolbert in an under tone, 'if only from curiosity. If you lose we shall then be enabled to ridicule your adviser.'
'Not willingly,' said Arwed. Finally, however, he set the card which had been recommended.--It won.
'His majesty bears himself bravely,' said Kolbert, laughing; 'the banker can obtain no advantage over him.'
Megret angrily threw to Arwed his winnings, at the same time fixing his rolling eyes upon the prophet. A passionate remark appeared to hover upon his tongue, but he suppressed it and the playing proceeded.
'How stands it now with our expedition against Drontheim?' asked Kolbert at the close of the game. 'I am surprised that we have had no well-founded intelligence from thence for so long a time.'
'According to my calculations,' said Posse, 'Armfelt must have already entered Drontheim. Have you no news from thence, Herr Swedenborg? What is our army about?'
'They are plundering the copper mines of Roeraas,' answered Swedenborg coolly.
'That would not be very agreeable to me!' said Posse jestingly, 'The position is somewhat distant from the capital, and would give the appearance of a retreat. This time, however, I firmly believe in a glorious victory for our arms. Do you not, also?'
'Excuse my answering,' said Swedenborg sorrowfully. 'The powerful elements hate mankind, and they are the stronger!'
The officers looked thoughtfully at each other, and a profound stillness pervaded the assembly.
'Let the Finlanders protect their own skins,' said Kolbert, finally breaking the mournful silence. 'We will stick to Frederickshall, which we have already in our hands. The golden lion battery has been won after a brilliant engagement. When once the trenches are pushed a little further, then with a resolute escalade, we shall be there.'
'For God's sake, my dear friend!' said Swedenborg, anxiously, 'rely not so confidently upon the uncertain fortune of war! Bound to the wild steed of accident, the goddess of fortune ranges through the world--and when she stops and looks back upon her bloody and smoking path, she finds that she has only described a hopeless circle. She stands upon the point whence she started, and all the life and happiness, which she has trampled down in her furious course, is offered up in vain.'
'You speak so learnedly that I cannot wholly understand you,' laughingly observed Kolbert; 'but I gather from your conversation, that you lack the true soldier's faith. You have done well, therefore, in consecrating yourself to the pen. The sword would make you too deeply anxious. We, on the contrary, when our king leads us forth, would cheerfully grapple with the devil himself in his own dominions, and sing over him thete deum prænumerando.'
'And who can guarantee, proud man,' asked Swedenborg with a piercing glance, 'that your king will see the breaking of another morning, to lead you on to strife and victory?'
He speedily withdrew. An indignant murmur arose among the officers; 'It is almost too bad,' said count Posse.
'Yes, indeed!' grumbled Megret. 'And the worst of it is, that they should permit such fools to run about freely in the camp, exciting and perplexing weak minds.'
'Swedenborg certainly is not a fool,' said Posse; 'but a warning example of the disorder which fanciful ideas may create in a clear and ripe understanding.'
'Besides, he is never once original,' said Kolbert. 'The prophecy of the king's approaching death has been circulating through the camp for several days.'
'Original or copy,' said Megret, spitefully, 'one should not publish his fanciful ideas on every occasion. And whatever of sound understanding he may have, according to the count's opinion, might be allowed by all parties to circulate freely, and no harm done.'
At this moment Siquier re-entered with evident agitation, and whispered to Megret, 'the king visits the trenches this evening.'
'Diable!' cried Megret, snapping his fingers. 'Cannot you dissuade him from it?'
'Dissuade him!' said Siquier. 'Dost thou not know the king? Make your preparations.'
'To-morrow evening I shall have the honor to give the gentlemen their revenge,' said Megret courteously, closing his box. 'I must now repair to the trenches, Come, Siquier, our way lies in the same direction for some distance, and I have yet much to say to you.'
The two Frenchmen went, forth together, arm in arm. Arwed followed them, out, and saw that they were engaged in very earnest conversation and struck their hands together with much vehemence. The circumstance surprised him, he knew not wherefore, and he made an effort to catch something of their conversation, which was carried on in rather a loud voice. The tones came distinctly to his ear in the stillness of the evening, but he could not understand a word of it, and soon convinced himself that they were conversing in a language whose barbarous sounds were unknown to him. 'What can all this mean?' he asked himself, looking dubiously after the two officers until they disappeared from his eyes into the trenches.
'The hour has elapsed,' suddenly observed some one near him. 'You may as well go now to the king, sir captain.'
Arwed peered about him through the evening dusk, and thought he perceived near him the tall, meagre form of Swedenborg.
'How came you here, sir, taking so active a part in my affairs?' asked he morosely.
'I have perceived in you a strong mind and a pure heart,' answered Swedenborg: 'and for that reason I consider you as one of those chosen vessels of the Lord, of whom he has need in these wicked times. Therefore I conjure you to repair instantly to the king and stir not from his side until this night is past. I am convinced that there is danger of most fearful doings, as I have recently observed appalling signs in the heavens.'
'Spare me your astrological dreamings,' answered Arwed impatiently. 'So long as God leaves me in possession of my senses, I can never give credence to them.'
'Do you always judge so hastily and uncharitably, my young warrior?' asked Swedenborg, mildly reproaching him: 'and do you absolutely despise and reject every thing that your weak understanding cannot comprehend? Know you the central power of nature, that point in infinite space whence issue the streams of power in an eternal spiral motion, bringing forth the forms of life and activity in endless succession? And while you remain ignorant of all these things, how can you presume to reject calculations founded upon this eternal basis?'
'I cannot argue with you,' answered Arwed, 'while I do not understand you:--and, in the mean time, I must be permitted to consider as perfect nonsense what you have been serving up to me as the highest wisdom.'
'Hold me and my doctrines in what light you please,' said Swedenborg, 'so you but fulfill my request. Lose not sight of the king, during this night. The powers of hell are busy.'
'What can threaten the hero from which I may be able to defend him?' asked Arwed.
'He who eats my bread tramples me under foot,' chanted Swedenborg, with a deep hollow voice. 'Thus it happened to Gustavus, by the fourth rider who left the camp with him. Do you know the tale from the faithful Hastenfeld, of his king's assassination?'
'What mean you by that?' asked Arwed earnestly.--But the prophet had disappeared.
Arwed arrived at the king's quarters.--Upon giving his name, the ordnance officer on duty showed him into the royal chamber, without further annunciation. With a prayer book in his lap, and a miniature in his hand which he was attentively viewing, Charles sat by the chimney, in which some sheets of paper were burning. A heap of glowing ashes showed that a large quantity of paper had been previously destroyed in the same manner.--Arwed approached the king, who, sitting with his back towards him and absorbed in the contemplation of the miniature, was not aware of his presence. Arwed saw and recognized the picture. It was the portrait of Gustavus Adolphus. Then suddenly Swedenborg's prophecy came into his mind, and a secret apprehension respecting the hero, drew from him a deep sigh.
The king looked around. 'Aha, captain Gyllenstierna!' said he, rising up and carefully putting aside the prayer book and portrait. 'You showed much bravery against the enemy in yesterday's action. You are too young for the rank of major, and I do not like to give stars and orders. Have you any favor to ask?'
'This commendation from my king is the greatest favor that could be conferred upon me,' answered Arwed. 'If your majesty will but continue as kindly disposed towards me, I shall be more than rewarded.'
'No!' said the king vehemently, 'I will not remain your debtor. God may call me to himself to-day or to-morrow, and then must my earthly accounts be balanced. Ask some favor of me. I am well disposed towards you.'
'Now or never!' said Arwed to himself, and turning to the king: 'I love the daughter of your majesty's minister, baron von Goertz: the animosity of our respective fathers opposes an insurmountable obstacle to our union: vouchsafe, your majesty, to intercede for us.'
'You are a simpleton!' replied the king scornfully, while with long and rapid strides he paced up and down the chamber. 'Silly request!' exclaimed he after a while, smiling in his peculiar manner: 'and I think it unjust, since you know my opinion of matrimony.' After which, he walked two or three times up and down the room, and then stopping directly in front of Arwed, asked him, 'you are so good a soldier, Gyllenstierna, how have you been able to attach yourself to a woman?'
'Baroness von Goertz,' answered Arwed, 'is so lovely that your majesty would find it natural enough were you once to see her.'
'That may you very naturally believe,' answered the king smilingly. After a pause, shaking his head, he observed, 'I only wish to know what delight men can find in what is called love?'
'It is indeed the greatest happiness in life, your majesty,' answered Arwed with enthusiasm.
'It would not be well for me that it should be so, for then should I have missed the greatest good,' said the king. 'Yet will a place in history always remain to me, and fame with posterity!' He walked to the chimney, and, collecting the coals together with his foot, observed, 'I will cause her father to be written to. I will speak to Goertz myself. I expect him about this time from Aland.'
'Your majesty!'--stammered the surprised and delighted youth.
'It is very well!' said the king, interrupting him, and at that moment Siquier entered.
'Your majesty is now about to visit the trenches,' said Arwed, recollecting Swedenborg's request. 'May I be allowed to accompany you? I might, perhaps, learn something practically of the duties appertaining to a siege.'
The king kindly nodded assent. Siquier made a disagreeable face, and they started.
At the entrance of the trenches they were received by count Schwerin, who commanded there, captain Posse and adjutant Kolbert; and not without some embarrassment, came colonel Megret to meet them. The king now sent away Posse and Kolbert upon some secret errand, and proceeded with Megret and Siquier into the trench. Arwed followed at some distance. It was a bitter cold, moonless night, but the stars shone clear. The Danes fired incessantly from Frederickshall, and their balls often struck within the walls of the trench; but the king, paying no attention to it, proceeded quietly forward with his companions. They now came to a place where the passage in the trench made an angle with the parallel, and from beyond which the pickaxes and shovels of the sappers could be heard.
There the king suddenly stopped and leaned upon his long sword. 'No farther advanced, Megret?' asked he, with evident displeasure.
'The soil is frozen hard, your majesty!' apologized the latter, somewhat perplexed. 'Were we compelled to open the trenches through rocks, it would not be much more difficult.'
'There has been time enough!' said Charles. 'I am very much dissatisfied!'
'I will pledge my head,' said Megret, 'that we have the fortress in eight days!'
'We shall see,' answered the king, kneeling upon the inner scarp; leaning his head upon the parapet with his face turned towards the enemy, he looked long and anxiously towards the sappers, who were quietly and assiduously pursuing their labors.
At this moment a confused noise was heard from the camp. 'Go and see what is the matter, Gyllenstierna,' commanded the king: 'and bring me a report.'
'Do you command it, your majesty?' replied Arwed, with a heavy heart; for at such a moment he dared not leave the king alone with the two Frenchmen.
'Hasten, captain,' whispered Siquier to him. 'The king loves not loiterers, and to-day, especially, he is not in the best humor.'
Arwed obeyed with a sigh. As he came out of the trenches all had become still again, and from count Posse, whom he met, he learned that two unruly horses had been the whole cause of the alarm. While they were yet speaking of it Swedenborg came hastily up to them. With an ice-cold hand he seized Arwed's and drew him hastily aside.
'Where have you left the king?' asked he, with much earnestness.
'At the extremity of the trench,' answered Arwed. 'Megret and Siquier are with him.'
'Oh, why have you absented yourself from your lord?' cried Swedenborg, wringing his hands. 'I begged of you so earnestly!'
'By his command;'--answered Arwed, now much alarmed.
'For God's sake return immediately to him,' supplicated Swedenborg, dragging him forward. 'God grant that we come not too late!'
They both proceeded rapidly along the trench. In the narrow passage, they were met by Siquier.
'Where is the king?' quickly asked Arwed of him.
'That is what I wished to ask of you!' returned Siquier, with an insolent yet trembling voice. 'I left him soon after you did, and in the darkness cannot find him again.'
'That is strange!' said Arwed. 'You had better go with me, and let us seek our lord where I left him in your company.'
Siquier reluctantly obeyed. They came finally to the old place, which was well known to Arwed. Already at some, distance he saw the king still in the same position, leaning upon the parapet. At the same time Megret, joining them, suddenly approached the king and bent over him.
'He is dead!' said he after a while, very quietly.
'The king dead!' shrieked Arwed, with wild amazement, and running to the nearest guard post, he immediately returned with a blazing torch. The light disclosed a horrid scene. Covered with blood, Charles's beautiful hero-like form rested upon the inner scarp of the trench. His head had sunk down upon the parapet. On the right temple was the death-wound. The left eye was sunken in; the right, strained wholly out of its orbit, stared horribly forth; and the right hand, which held the hilt of his sword with a convulsive grasp, proved that the brave spirit, even on the instant of its flight, was disposed to resist the impending death.
A long and fearful pause succeeded the discovery. 'The play is out!' finally observed Megret, breaking the general silence: 'We may now go to supper.'
Arwed looked shudderingly upon the man who could treat the sudden and awful death of his general and king with such cool insolence--and at that moment a horrible suspicion pervaded his soul.
'This sad occurrence must be concealed from the troops,' said Siquier. 'It would entirely dispirit them. I will merely inform the prince of Hesse, and he can command what further is to be done.'
He departed in haste. Megret followed him. Arwed remained with Swedenborg by the corpse, holding fast its lifeless left hand, and covering it with his kisses and tears.
'So, it is thy fate to be destroyed by assassination, thou kingly hero!' mourned the faithful Swedenborg. 'Why couldst thou not have fallen worthy of thyself, by the hand of an honorable enemy, in the open field of battle?'
'Let us not judge too rashly and uncharitably,' said Arwed, combating, in Swedenborg's, his own suspicions. 'That the king was hit by one of the balls from the batteries of the enemy, is more probable than the monstrous crime which you seem to conjecture.'
'The king's face was turned toward the enemy,' said Swedenborg, with grave significancy: 'and the ball hit him on the right side. The calibre, to judge from the size of the wound, was too small for a heavy gun, and no musket would reach this place from the walls of Frederickshall.'
'Impossible!' cried Arwed. 'Who could have projected such a crime--who could have committed it?'
'He who eats my bread tramples me under foot,--was done to Gustavus by the fourth man who rode with him out of the camp:'--said Swedenborg in a chanting tone, as if in answer to both questions. The trench had now become illuminated with torches and filled with warriors. Through the hastening crowd of officers pressed the prince of Hesse.
'It is too true!' stammered he, palsied by the horrid spectacle, and trembling in every limb. 'Who was present when my deceased brother-in-law was struck?' asked he at length with a trembling voice.
'God only can answer that question, your highness,' said Swedenborg. 'God, who with his heavenly, thousand-starred eyes has seen what has happened here. We found the royal corpse alone.'
'Alone,' cried the prince, 'alone has ended the life of the hero whose warlike deeds have filled all Europe with fear and admiration! What is human greatness?'
Megret and Siquier now returned with four grenadiers of the guards, who with sad, lingering steps, brought forward a litter.
'Let the body be brought to head-quarters, Siquier,' commanded the prince: 'and keep the king's death secret until we have taken such measures as the occasion may require. The generals will in the mean time assemble at my quarters in council of war. Let sentinels be placed on every avenue towards Sweden, and let no one venture to leave the camp until further orders.'
'And general Duecker?'--asked Siquier, artfully, as if he wished to remind the prince of something of importance.
'He shall immediately depart with his corps,' answered the prince, after a moment's reflection, 'and traverse the passes toward Denmark. Bear to him the order,' Yet one look of horror cast he upon the dead form of his brother-in-law, and then hastily departed.
With pert insolence Siquier advanced to the corpse, threw over it a soldier's gray cloak, placed his own hat upon the insensible head, and made a sign to the grenadiers. The latter advanced weeping, and placing the dead body in the litter, closed it.
'If you are asked on the way whom you bear,' said Siquier, as they raised the litter, 'answer captain Carlberg.'
The mournful train moved forward. Siquier picked up the bloody hat of the king, which lay upon the ground, and followed. With sad murmurs the officers separated. Swedenborg also had disappeared. Arwed remained standing alone, still mechanically holding the torch on high, staring unconsciously upon the bloody ground from which its light was reflected. At length recollecting himself, he angrily thrust the torch in the snow upon the parapet until its sparkling and crackling flame was extinguished. 'Die! thou paltry flame!' exclaimed he, with uncontrollable grief: 'die! This night Sweden's light is extinguished and never, never more will my poor country see the dawn of happiness.'
As Arwed emerged from the trenches he was met by adjutant Kolbert. 'It is well that I have found you,' said he eagerly: 'I have been some time seeking you. Come directly with me.'
'Where?' asked Arwed with moody apathy.
'To general Duecker's,' quickly answered Kolbert.
'There are collected all those who in their hearts were truly devoted to our fallen hero. The meeting relates to matters of the highest consequence, which must be discussed in all haste. It is asked, who now shall wear the crown in our good Sweden?'
'Has the army to decide that question?' asked Arwed earnestly.
'Certainly!' said Kolbert, 'and that according to the anciently consecrated right of the sword, as formerly exercised by the prætorians of Rome. Only come with me. There you will not only hear thehow, but thewherefore, about which, pedantlike, you always first ask.'
He drew Arwed with him towards general Duecker's quarters. They were already crowded with generals and officers, who were engaged in low and eager conversation. Suddenly they separated, forming a large circle, into the middle of which stepped the worthy old Duecker.
'The king is dead!' said he with an agitated voice. 'In the midst of your affliction for this great loss, I waive until a more suitable time the important question,--How has the hero fallen? Our present duty is, faithfully to guard the vacant throne as becomes faithful vassals and warriors, and to take care that the crown be set upon a worthy head. You know, comrades, that there are two hands which will be stretched out for it, and in the opinion of many it is yet doubtful whether the nephew or the sister of Charles has the best right. I am indeed entirely convinced, that the son of the elder sister should take precedence of the younger. But the heroes of the quill may hereafter fight out these subtleties, if it should become necessary. At present I abide simply by the will of my king, who has so often been our guiding star in battle, as the pole star of heaven guides the mariner through opposing storms. Charles had a father's love for his nephew, and was reverenced with filial tenderness by him in return. He took him with himself to the field, that he might under his own eyes train him to become his worthy successor. For his sister he always had an aversion, and the thought of female government was as hateful to him, as, since the days of the apostate Christina, it must be to every true Swede. Wherefore I believe we fulfill the unwritten testament of the great departed in raising the duke of Holstein to Sweden's throne. He already has so far deserved it, that his connection with this realm has cost him his possessions.
'But whatever be done must be done quickly--for the husband of the other pretender to the crown is in the camp, and already very active in availing himself of his field-marshalship to aid her pretensions. I, in whom he least confides, have already been ordered to depart with my corps, and I dare not venture to disobey, unless protected by a counter order from the king. I therefore propose that a deputation from ourselves repair immediately to the duke, and beg of him to show himself to the troops. We will have the regiments under arms, proclaim him king in front of them, and for the rest depend upon our good swords. Is that your will, my friends?'
'Long live our king Charles XIIIth!' cried the assembled warriors with one voice, and every sword leaped from its scabbard. While most of the officers distributed themselves through the soldiers' barracks, to prepare them for the great movement, Duecker chose, from among those who remained, the ambassadors who should accompany him to the duke. Arwed found himself one of the number, and the delegates immediately repaired to the duke's quarters. The sentinels refused them entrance. The discussion which this occasioned brought out the valet-de-chambre, Koepstorf, the favorite and confidant of the young prince.
'It is impossible, your excellency, to announce you now,' said he to Duecker. 'His grace is so shaken by the intelligence of the king's death that he has yielded himself up entirely to his sad feelings, and cannot turn his attention to anything else. The gentlemen must come again to-morrow morning.'
'My God!' cried Duecker, 'you desire a delay of many hours, when Sweden's fate, perhaps, hangs upon as many moments. In consequence of the king's death, the duke is lawful heir to the crown. We have opened the way to the throne for him. The army is upon his side. He has only to make his appearance and harangue the troops, and they will call him to the royal station, in the possession of which he will be protected by his good right. But if he delay, his aunt will gain possession; and, once upon the throne, she will thence obtain the power to maintain herself there. I conjure you, friend, to present all this to your lord, and beseech him to hear the representations of his true supporters, and not neglect the favorable moment which for him, perhaps, may never occur again.'
'I will do what I can,' answered Koepstorf, shrugging his shoulders and going in.
There stood the well disposed warriors, patiently waiting to ascertain if the young prince would stoop to take the crown which they were desirous of laying at his feet. The valet-de-chambre was gone a long time. The cold morning wind blew keenly from the direction of Sweden, and they wrapped themselves close in their mantles. At length they heard the trampling of horses near them, and a troop of some ten horsemen trotted hastily by them and took the way towards Stroemstadt.
'Do you know what that means?' asked Kolfaert of the general. 'It is colonel Baumgardt, who, by the command of the fieldmarshal, goes to meet and arrest the baron von Goertz.'
'Right!' cried Duecker with bitterness. 'A crime more or less, is of no consequence, when a crown is to be usurped, and it is highly politic to rob the prince of his best supporters. He is, however, little troubled by all this, as it seems, and will perhaps patiently wait until he is himself arrested in his own quarters.'
The valet-de-chambre now again came out. 'My exertions have not been successful,' said he despondingly. 'I have placed the whole subject before the prince, but have not obtained a favorable hearing. He merely allows me to say to your excellency that he cannot speak with any person now.'
Great dissatisfaction was expressed by the whole company, and Duecker angrily stamped his foot. 'It is a pity we have taken so much pains and incurred so much danger,' said he. 'Nothing indeed now remains for us but obedience, as I have no desire to set my gray head upon a cast for an ungrateful man. Bear to my regiments the order for their departure,' said he to his adjutant, and, cursing and swearing by the way, he returned to his quarters.
Oppressed with concern for the father of his beloved, Arwed followed the general. 'Grant me one request,' said he urgently as they entered the quarters of the latter. 'There will now be very little to do here in the way of fighting, and my presence is no longer necessary. Procure me a furlough to ride back to Stockholm.'
'To Stockholm?' asked Duecker, startled. 'Now, directly? For what purpose, captain? Do you wish to become one of the wheels in the machinery of politics which are now destructively working in opposition to each other? You appear to me to be much too honest-hearted for that.'
'From Charles's best friend I will conceal nothing,' said Arwed resolutely. 'According to my calculation Goertz must now either be in Stockholm or will soon arrive there. I would warn that true servant of our late king, that he may be able to escape from the hands of his revengeful enemies.'
'For which thought may heaven reward you!' cried Duecker, 'but I fear the issue. In the first place, the prince of Hesse is your chief, and it will be difficult to procure from him the desired permission, and secondly, you will hardly be able to outstrip the speed of the officers already under way for the arrest of Goertz.'
'Obtain me but the permission, general,' persisted Arwed: 'the rest shall be my care. I ride a Norman of unequalled speed and bottom.'
'I will make the effort,' said Duecker; 'but hardly hope for success. Since Charles's death I am only thelateDuecker, and my influence has become a shadow.'
He had proceeded as far as the door when he was met by colonel Brenner. 'I come to take leave of you, my old friend,' said the latter, heartily embracing the general. 'I go this moment with post-horses to the capital.'
'Every body seems to wish to go to Stockholm tonight,' said Duecker. 'What hast thou to ask there?'
'His royal highness the prince of Hesse, as he already suffers himself to be called,' answered Brenner ironically, 'has already sent forward his beloved and trusty Siquier with the mournful news. It might afterwards, however, have occurred to him that it would not seem exactly proper to leave the communication of so important an event to the equivocal Frenchman. Wherefore must an honorable Swede follow him as the messenger of death; and as I might perhaps be troublesome here, I am in mercy selected for that duty.'
'Will you do me a pleasure and take the captain with you?' said Duecker. 'He has a sudden and urgent call to Stockholm, and may not in any other way be able to obtain leave of absence.'
'The prince has allowed me to choose my companion,' answered Brenner; 'and what would I not do to pleasure you? We set off directly, captain. Farewell till happier times, my Duecker!'
He hastened forth. Arwed gratefully pressed the general's hand, who in return drew him to his heart. 'God protect you and bless your undertaking!' said the latter with emotion--and Arwed rushed forth in the cold, gray dawn of the awakening mom.