Every effort to move, to win, to alarm, which the eloquence of the soul could inspire, had Arwed lavished upon landmarshal Ribbing. But powerless as the waves against the rocks, were his words with the immovable man; and, with anger at the refusal rankling at his heart, the young man now stood in the high arched basement story of the council house upon the Suedermalm, where Goertz was held in confinement, seeking, with his open purse in his hand, and not without secret reluctance, to try the effect of gross corruption upon the gaoler.
But the gaoler shook his head suspiciously. 'God knows,' said he, clinking the keys attached to his waist-belt, 'God knows how willingly I would take your gold. But one must have discretion, captain, and use the little judgment God has given him. Your purse would be very useful to me, but my head is still more so, and it is that which I should peril. Therefore have the goodness to retire, that I may not suffer inconvenience from being seen talking to you here.' With this he opened a little wicket by the side of the great gate, and pointing the way out, made at the same time a very low bow.
Arwed angrily complied with the hard necessity, and, as he now considered the rejected purse as unworthy of being returned to his pocket, he threw it to an invalid soldier who limped past him on his crutches, and was on the point of hastening away.
'Take me with you, count Gyllenstierna!' cried a low, melodious voice, behind him. He turned around, and saw a man of about forty years of age, with an intelligent, bold and honest face, in a clerical dress, who had followed him out of the house.
'Do you know me, reverend sir?' asked Arwed with surprise.
'Only from the conversations of the unfortunate man to whom you just now wished to purchase admission,' answered the clergyman, proceeding with him towards the city. 'But your whole manner and bearing told me that you must be captain Gyllenstierna, and there is no one to whom I could better appeal than you. I am preacher to the German community in this place. Baron von Goertz has requested my spiritual assistance, which I have truly rendered to him with both joy and sorrow. But the undeserved fate of my unhappy countryman has so affected me that I am determined to do something more for him. His immortal soul is well prepared by a blameless life, and by a true and genuine faith which I have perceived in him. I would also gladly save his mortal body, that the intelligent and well disposed man may be enabled yet further to labor for the benefit of this country, or for some other, if Sweden is unwise enough to repudiate him.'
'Worthy servant of God!' exclaimed Arwed, with a sudden pressure of his hand.
'First of all,' proceeded the preacher, 'I will make an effort with the queen. I have been to the palace three times already. Her majesty, however, was never to be spoken with, which I attribute to the numerous enemies which Goertz has made amongst the courtiers.'
'You might as well attribute it to the ill will of the queen herself,' said Arwed.
'So much the better!' cried the preacher. 'That would be a good sign for me. Then does she shun the truth, which she would hear from me; and if I can only succeed in obtaining an audience, I augur the happiest consequences. You are well acquainted at the palace, count. Procure me an audience of the queen, and the rest shall be my care. She is, at any rate, a woman, and must have a compassionate heart.'
'You have chosen a bad protector, sir pastor,' said Arwed, with a sad smile. 'But I will procure for you an audience with the queen, if I have to open a path to her with my sword.'
While they were thus conversing they had passed the bridge connecting the Suedermalm with the city, the streets of which they threaded until they approached the Ritterholm.
'Announce us to the queen,' begged Arwed of the valet-de-chambre whom they found before the door of the queen's apartments, flipping some pieces of gold into his hands. 'The count Gyllenstierna and pastor Conradi beg that she will graciously grant them a short audience upon a most pressing concern.'
'I will do my best,' said the valet-de-chambre in the most friendly manner, going in.
After a short time he returned. 'It was all succeeding well,' said he, 'but the name of the black coat spoiled all. By that was the attention of her majesty arrested, and she then asked whether it was the younger or elder Gyllenstierna who had requested to be announced. She cannot see you now, and the gentlemen may hand in their request in writing, by the chamberlain in waiting.'
'Perdition!' cried Arwed, indignant at his own helplessness.
'This amounts to a refusal,' stammered Conradi. 'When the great of the earth demand that a petitioner shall put the all-powerful words of his mouth into cold, dead characters upon paper, and hamper the strength of his good cause by a submission to prescribed formulas, it is because they are determined not to grant his request, and wish to avoid pronouncing with their lips the refusal of which in their hearts they are ashamed.' Meanwhile it had become night, and the servants lighted the lamps in the ante-chamber.
A high officer entered the ante-room for the purpose of passing through it into the audience chamber.
'Who is this gentleman?' whispered Conradi to the valet-de-chambre.
'Lieutenant general Rank,' answered the latter.
'Goertz has named him to me as his last friend,' said Conradi to Arwed; 'perhaps he can do something for us.'
'Have the goodness to grant us a word, general,' said Arwed hastily to him.--He turned and approached them.
'We are here,' said Arwed in a moving tone, 'to present a petition in favor of baron Goertz. The queen has refused us an audience. You are going directly to her majesty, and therefore we beg of you to endeavor, if possible, to obtain for us a hearing. We are indeed unknown to you, but your own heart will be our advocate.'
'To whom is the brave Gyllenstierna unknown,' said Rank in the kindest manner; 'neither is this worthy pastor a stranger to me. What little influence I may have, I will willingly exert for you; but I know the queen, and doubt a favorable result.'
He went in. The two confederates stood waiting in the ante-room until he returned. 'The queen,' said he, 'will pass through here when she repairs to the grand hall, and will hear you as she passes. Speak submissively and briefly, and may God guide your tongues.'
The folding doors flew open. Two bedizened pages lighted the way with torches. Between two richly embroidered and highly scented chamberlains, rustled forth the proud Ulrika, oppressed by a heavy silken and gold-embroidered hoop petticoat, with clouds of lace about her bosom, and her arms, hands, breast and ears overloaded with jewels, and above her high, frizzed curls glistened the little crown of brilliants. Pages bore her long train, and her maids of honor followed. The queen looked displeasedly towards the unwelcome petitioners. Conradi approached, fell upon one knee, pressed the hem of her robe to his lips, and then with a soft and winning dignity of manner said, 'I beg a hearing of your majesty upon a question of mercy.'
'Stand up and speak,' answered Ulrika, stopping, and causing her train of attendants to halt.
'Your majesty,' said Conradi, without changing his position, 'has inherited the crown of Sweden from your deceased royal brother....'
'Inherited! quite right!' interposed Ulrika quickly: 'and it is unaccountable to us,' she proceeded, looking at her companions, 'that doubt upon that subject can yet be entertained in any quarter.'
'It is not to be doubted,' said the pastor, astonished at this unexpected episode, 'that your majesty heartily honors the memory of our late glorious king, as you were so nearly connected with him by the ties of blood. Nevertheless, his truest servant, the man upon whom he bestowed unlimited confidence, now languishes in undeserved chains. A criminal court is now sitting upon him, and all, who are convinced of his innocence, shudder at the possibility: that Sweden may be guilty of shedding that noble blood.'
'The number of them will not be great,' said Ulrika, coolly. 'Have you any thing further to say to us?'
'I beg of your majesty mercy for unhappy Goertz,' said Conradi with increasing warmth. 'I appeal to the softer feelings of your sex, to the magnanimity of the princess, to the forgiving spirit of the christian. By the God in whom we all believe, Goertz is innocent. And if he has done any thing wrong, and so brought any misfortune upon Sweden, which I do not know, he has but acted in obedience to his lord, like a true vassal, and that lord was entitled to the unreserved obedience of all, whilst he reigned over this land as an absolute sovereign.'
'Sweden will have cause to remember that unlimited sovereignty for some generations,' remarked Ulrika, glancing at the splendid watch hanging at her girdle. 'Please to come to an end.'
'I have nothing more to add,' said the preacher dejectedly, 'except to implore your majesty to signalize the commencement of your reign by an act of mercy, rather than by the shedding of blood.'
'Mercy for Goertz!' cried Arwed, throwing himself at the queen's feet, and pressing her once scorned hand passionately to his lips.
Ulrika, surprised by the sudden movement, withdrew her hand with a look of pride and scorn, and motioned him to rise. Without deigning to answer him, she turned again to the still kneeling preacher. 'My good man,' said she, with cold friendliness, 'I would willingly forgive the baron for all the evil he has done to me. The queen has no memory for injuries suffered by the princess. But the decision lies not with me. Next to God, have I from my true states received the crown, and without their voice I neither can nor will decide upon crimes against the nation, of which Goertz is accused.' She made a sign to her attendants, and moved proudly forward.
'All in vain!' cried Conradi, rising. 'And this affected mildness, beneath which the queen conceals her implacable hatred, is to me more frightful than if she had poured forth her anger in passionate words. Here is a coolly devised plan to destroy an innocent man, against which even the eloquence of the apostle Paul himself would fail to succeed. Let us go.'
Sadly they turned towards the door. Fieldmarshal, the prince of Hesse, entering at that moment, met them.
'Is my wife yet here?' asked he of lieutenant general Rank. 'I come to lead her to the court.'
'She has just gone,' answered Rank. 'Her majesty was pleased to grant an audience here before she went.'
The prince looked at both of the supplicants. 'Captain Gyllenstierna!' said he, playfully, 'what affair could bring you to the ante-chamber, which is certainly a ground upon which you have not yet learned to manœuvre?'
'So our ill-success has proved,' answered Arwed, with suppressed rage. 'We have been vainly pleading for the life of the unhappy Goertz.'
'For Goertz's life?' asked the prince with an appearance of interest. 'I can guess what prompts you to the effort, and pity you from the bottom of my heart. It is a very bad case.'
'If your royal highness will graciously condescend to interest yourself, we shall have new grounds for hope, and all may yet end well,' said Conradi.
'Trouble not his royal highness with your intercessions, Conradi,' said Arwed bitterly. 'Upon his high command was the baron arrested; consequently he has already decided upon his guilt, and mercy here is not to be thought of.'
'You deceive yourself, captain,' said the prince, mildly correcting the excited youth. 'I hate not the unfortunate man. Powerless he must become, and powerless he must remain, but his death would be contrary to my wish and my advice. If his sentence depended upon me, I would banish him from the country, and so settle all.'
'Ah, if your royal highness will exert your influence in favor of a mild sentence,' cried Conradi in raptures, 'God will be your rich rewarder.'
'My dear pastor,' answered the prince graciously, 'this case will probably be decided by the diet. The power of my wife is circumscribed, and I am only her first subject.'
'Yet,' interposed Arwed, 'the delightful privilege remains to your royal highness of alleviating the last hours of the unhappy man whom you cannot save. His daughter wishes to be permitted to speak to him. I wish to conduct her there, but the president of the special commission is inexorable.'
'That is hard!' said the prince. 'A criminal is still a man. Go directly to Ribbing, my dear Rank, and say to him that it is my wish.'
'God bless your royal highness for the deed!' cried the preacher.
'But that no trouble may arise from this exercise of my kind feelings,' proceeded the prince, 'I require your word of honor, and your knightly hand, Gyllenstierna, that this permission shall in no way be abused.'
Arwed started. The thought, how advantage might be taken of such a permission, now for the first time arose in his honest soul.
His hand shrunk as if he would have drawn it back; but the prince extended his, and Arwed finally took it.
'Adieu,' said the prince, dismissing them in the most friendly manner, and the two petitioners left the palace.
'What is now to be done to advance the main object?' asked Conradi of the sullenly silent Arwed. 'I think we had better send a pressing petition to the diet, although I should hope nothing from it. They will leave every thing to the special commission,--and from the people, who are congratulating each other and rejoicing that they have become coadjutors in this business, we have nothing to expect.'
'Have they done that?' asked Arwed eagerly.
'Yes,' answered Conradi. 'Some among them have presumed openly to say, if Goertz does not lose his head this time, we shall lose ours.'
'Miserable spirit of party!' cried Arwed; 'under whose shield the judge may venture unpunished to throw his own hatred into the scale against the accused.'
For a while they walked on silently together. All at once Arwed stopped. 'God has given me a thought!' said he. 'The young duke arrived here yesterday. Goertz has never ceased to be his servant. He was onlyloanedto Sweden, and the duke must interfere in his favor. The officer of a foreign sovereign cannot be judged here.'
'It is undeniable,' said Conradi thoughtfully, 'that the duke has the right and it is also his duty to interfere. The question is, however, has he the will? This prince still flatters himself that he has yet a chance of ascending the Swedish throne, and will not, therefore, be willing to lessen his influence with the diet.'
'The attempt must be made,' cried Arwed resolutely. 'I will hasten to him. Have the goodness to send information to the baroness Goertz upon the Blasiusholm, that she will, as I hope, be permitted to visit her father; and, God willing, we will meet in the morning at the Suedermalm council house.'
They shook hands and separated, Arwed flew to the palace of the duke of Holstein Gottorp. He was immediately announced and admitted. With an irresolute face, wherein hope and fear alternately prevailed, came the young prince to meet him, asking in an effeminate tone, 'what is your pleasure?'
'One of the officers,' answered Arwed, 'who, in the camp before Frederickshall, was anxious to have your grace proclaimed king of Sweden, ventures to bring the name of the unhappy Goertz to your remembrance.'
'I do not wish to hear any thing of this man,' said the duke, looking timidly about him. 'My interference in the case might be misconstrued by the Swedes, and it behoves me at this moment to avoid every thing which might occasion a misunderstanding.'
'Goertz is without aid and in prison,' proceeded Arwed, with manly earnestness, 'because they fear his ability, his activity and his devotion to your grace. Through this imprisonment of your servant, your sovereign rights are infringed. His life is in danger. To save it, it is only necessary for your grace to claim him of the Swedish government with princely energy. However great the animosity against him, party rage cannot withstand your demand, without violating the law of nations. They must deliver the unhappy man to you, and you will have the satisfaction of gratifying the feelings of your heart by this exercise of your rightful power, and of preserving for yourself an able supporter.'
'You would have spared yourself this long exposition, captain,' said the duke, with an unmeaning smile, 'had you known that Goertz has ceased to be my servant.'
An indignant 'ah!' escaped from the youth, and the duke proceeded.--'A man whom the whole Swedish nation as with one voice accuses, could not remain in my service. He has been dismissed from the offices which he held under me. And, being wholly surrendered, the laws of the country which he has offended must decide his fate.'
'I understand!' exclaimed Arwed with great excitement.--'Your grace hopes to win the love of Sweden by the desertion of your truest friend, and by publicly offering him up to gratify her vengeance. But if I may venture to judge of my native country, this sad expedient will entirely fail. It will only cause you to be hated. And your ingratitude will again with ingratitude be rewarded.'
Overwhelmed with despair at the wreck of this last hope, he rushed into the street.
At the council house upon the Suedermalm, in the arched and grated room occupied by Goertz, the pale Georgina sat waiting, her weary head resting upon Arwed's shoulder. With a melancholy glance the youth surveyed the mean table and wooden stool which composed all the furniture in the dwelling-place of the once all-powerful prime minister. At length a confused noise was heard without, and from the midst of the crowd of soldiers by whom he was surrounded, the worthy Goertz entered the room. He was accompanied by lieutenant general Rank and the pastor Conradi, A clerk of the court followed, who remained upon the threshold with a timepiece in his hand, while the gaoler bolted the door behind him on the outside.
Georgina rushed with a loud scream to meet her father, pressing his chained hand to her lips.
'Behold, my Georgina,' said the old man encouragingly, 'a joyful moment after so many sad days! God disposes all things for the best. But you must not weep, my daughter. Your tears move me powerfully, and I have need of repose. I am harassed in mind as well as in body. Standing up through a six hours' examination has much weakened me.'
'How!' asked Arwed indignantly, 'did they not allow you to be seated?'
'I requested it,' answered Goertz, sinking down upon his wooden stool, 'but the lords were of opinion that they could not allow a man like me to sit in their presence. The words were yet harder than the refusal itself. But let that pass. What is your sister about, Georgina? She is well? Why did you not bring her with you?'
'The permission was only allowed to myself and Arwed,' said Georgina. 'They would not allow the child to come in, and I was compelled to send her back from the door.'
'They are very strict with me in every respect,' said Goertz, 'whilst they permit themselves every latitude to my disadvantage. This day's examination furnishes sufficient proof of this.'
'I must hope, my old friend,' said Rank much moved, 'that the commission will allow you every legal and proper indulgence.'
'A copy of the accusation has never once been laid before me,' answered Goertz. 'I begged that my process might not be overhastened. I begged also for permission to make a written defence. Both were denied me. I begged to be allowed the assistance of professional counsel. This legal aid also, which every murderer enjoys, was withheld from me.'
'Unheard of!' cried Rank indignantly. 'The queen cannot refuse these requests consistently with her own honor. I will speak to her about it.'
'My good Rank,' said Goertz, extending his hand to him with a smile of gratitude, 'put not yourself to any inconvenience on my account. I am not to be saved. When the blood of my king flowed, the same moment was my sentence pronounced. Sweden thirsts for my blood, and it must be drunken. This conviction has its benefits. It raises me above delusive hopes, and confers upon me the quiet repose of resignation.'
'My dear father!' sobbed Georgina, who had sunk down before him, with her head resting upon his knees.
'My good child!' said Goertz, lifting up her face and looking at her with an expression of unutterable tenderness. 'Thou hast thy mother's eyes,' added he, laying his hand softly upon her cheek. 'I must take a long look that every lineament may remain in my memory. For this enjoyment may never again be allowed to me.'
'This is the only interview which I could prevail upon the inexorable Ribbing to grant,' said Rank sadly. 'They will not, however, refuse you a farewell conversation with your daughters after the trial.'
Goertz kissed the tears from his daughter's eyes. But his parental feelings became too strong for him. 'Leave me!' said he springing up: 'this trial is too great for me!' and he walked up and down the room with hasty strides.
'One satisfaction,' resumed he suddenly, as if wishing to divert his thoughts to other objects by the observation: 'one satisfaction have I yet had in those hours when every one seemed to aim at my utter prostration. Fehmann, my accuser, read, as a proof that I had calumniated his subjects to the king, a letter, in which I had complained to Charles of the neglect of his duty by a governor of a province, and recommended his dismission. When he had read thus far he laid the letter aside. I requested that the remainder might be read; the commission decided in my favor, and Fehmann was now compelled to read a description of himself as an able and faithful man whom I recommended to the king for the place.'
'And did not the wretch throw himself at your feet overwhelmed with shame and contrition?' cried Arwed in a rage.
'My good captain,' answered Goertz, 'the minds of the people who pursue me are so perfectly settled, that they are incapable of such emotions.'
'Can I then do nothing, nothing at all, for you?' sobbed Georgina. 'I will go with Magdalena to all your judges, clasp their knees and entreat for mercy; the prayers and tears of innocent children, whom they are about to make orphans, will, perhaps, move their flinty, hearts.'
'I forbid your doing that!' answered Goertz with decision. 'What you could ask for me has already been attempted by true friends, and attempted in vain.'
At this moment the court scribe held out the watch in his hand, and cried, 'the time has expired!'
'My God! the time has expired!' shrieked Georgina: 'and I had so many things to say, and so many questions to ask you, my father, but your sufferings have put them all out of my head. Have you nothing to charge me with?'
'The crown of Sweden,' answered Goertz with a melancholy smile, 'has relieved me of the care of my earthly possessions. My palace is plundered, my funds and papers are all seized, and will probably be confiscated for the benefit of the royal treasury. What it may be necessary for you to know, in relation to these affairs you will find in my testament, which I hope to be able to finish in the course of the next few days.'
'And have you nothing else to say?' cried she, weeping upon his neck.
'We shall meet once more before my last hour,' answered Goertz with a failing voice. 'Leave me now, my dear daughter.' He gently disengaged himself from her arms and walked to the grated window, concealing his face in his handkerchief.
'Father!' shrieked Georgina with desperation, and, springing after him, again clasped him in her arms.
'Really, two minutes have already elapsed beyond the time, your excellency,' said the clerk importunately, holding up his watch to lieutenant general Rank. 'I shall be made answerable for any further delay.'
'Take her hence!' cried Goertz, placing Georgina in Arwed's arms. 'Obey, my daughter!'--and Arwed bore the fainting sufferer out.
The diet of Sweden had assembled at the capital. To the house of assembly hastened the Swedish lords, counts and barons, the knights, the lower nobility, and the good men of the kingdom, to deliberate upon her welfare in thepleno plenorum. Arwed rode gloomily through the files of carriages and masses of people who filled the Ritter square in crowds. His way led him past the statue of the great Gustavus Vasa, which adorned the place. 'Oh that thou wert now alive, noble hero!' sighed he, as he came in view of it. 'Then, truly, the despotism of vassals would not dare to deck itself with the robes of righteousness!' As if desirous of fleeing from the grief which preyed upon him, he gave the spur to his horse, and hastily passed the bridge which connects Holy-Ghost island and the city with the Norrmalm, and followed the south bank towards Blasiusholm, the refuge of Georgina. At the door he met the preacher Conradi, in whose countenance he observed with surprise an expression of hope and serenity, mingled with some degree of excitement. They entered the room of the young sufferer together.
'Sister is praying in her chamber,' whispered the little Magdalena to them. 'We must not disturb her.'
'May God hear the prayer of the pious maiden,' said Conradi. 'Since yesterday a small gleam of hope has arisen.'
'Hope?' asked Arwed. 'You have seen the cold, inimical, hypocritical face of the queen, and dream you yet of hope?'
'If Ulrika remain queen,' answered Conradi, 'then indeed is Goertz lost; but she has received as yet but the allegiance of the senate and army, and not that of the country. Before she obtains the latter many things may happen. I spoke yesterday with the counsellor count Tessin, who is most favorably disposed towards our poor friend. The queen has committed a great political error. She has, in convoking the members of the diet, styled herself hereditary queen. This has injured her cause. The senate has been severely reproached on account of the readiness with which it acknowledged her hereditary right. They have also sought to awaken dissatisfaction among the people; and in the last sitting of the senate, the president, count Horn, did not hesitate to desire of the queen that she should surrender the conferring of the royal dignity to the decision of the diet. That only would insure her the crown, which she else may lose.'
'Elected or hereditary queen! is it not all one?' asked Arwed.
'Not for the diet,' answered Conradi; 'and as little for the queen. The hereditary king is indebted only to God and his forefathers; the elected king is the creature of the electors, and must be dependent upon them.'
'And if Ulrika should now stand upon her hereditary right?' asked Arwed further.
'Then,' answered Conradi, 'she would by this exercise of arbitrary power, provoke the diet to inquire into the hereditary right of the duke of Holstein, which would perhaps stand the scrutiny much better than her's.'
'That would little help the good cause!' replied Arwed. 'What can be expected of a prince who is capable of giving up his faithful minister to the rage of his enemies?'
'Or the throne would be declared vacant,' proceeded Conradi, 'and a regent of the empire seated upon it. To that end are many Swedish lords laboring, as I am well informed from good sources. At all events let there be a change in the government, and there may be also a change of feeling in relation to Goertz, to his advantage.'
'I doubt that,' observed Arwed. 'Though the contending parties may oppose each other ever so bitterly on other subjects, all unite in their hatred of the foreigner. He is the common enemy against whom they all, as one man, array themselves.'
'You shall not thus frivolously deprive me of my best joy,' said Conradi, struck by the weight of his objection.
'All your suppositions,' continued Arwed, 'are founded upon the hypothesis that the queen will persevere in maintaining her hereditary right. But she will not persevere. As soon as it clearly appears to her that she can purchase the crown only at this price, she will become an elective queen, or charity queen, or whatever else it may please the diet to name her.'
'Do you think so?' asked Conradi with alarm.
'Has she not already yielded the sovereignty?' asked Arwed. 'She who can lend herself to become a state puppet, to be decked out with crown and sceptre on festival days, that the people may imagine they have a queen, will, not be obstinate upon minor points. Let her but retain the title of queen, and that will be enough for a vain-glorious woman.'
'Destroy not so cruelly my last air-built castle, Arwed!' said Georgina, stepping out of her chamber, her eyes red with weeping. 'I have enjoyed to-day the first cheerful moment for months, through the intelligence brought me by the good Conradi, and your contradiction of it cuts me to the heart.'
'Do not lose courage yet, baroness!' said Conradi, consolingly. 'Notwithstanding the captain despairs of every thing, the anchor of my hopes still holds fast in this tempest. Let theplenum plenorumbe only once held, and then will Gyllenstierna hold another language.'
'Then may we very soon expect their decision,' said Arwed. 'Theplenum plenorumis already organized. May its deliberations result differently from my anticipations!'
'Organized to-day?' asked Conradi with great astonishment. 'I thought that to-day would be occupied in examining credentials and establishing forms of procedure.'
'That had been previously done,' answered Arwed. 'I know for a certainty, by means of my father's secretary, that the full action of the diet commences to-day.'
'Then count Tessin has not dealt fairly with me,' murmured Conradi, shaking his head. 'Probably he wished to lull me to sleep and find out what further means might be at my command. That is not cavalier-like. When the lion creeps and watches like the cat, it becomes only a common animal.'
A long pause ensued, during which each one was occupied with his own thoughts. Georgina leaned her head upon the back of her chair, whilst her breast labored with the anguish of fearful expectation. Arwed stood there with his arms folded, casting glances of love and compassion upon the maiden. The little Magdalena, unaware of the importance of the moment, was innocently playing with his sword knot; while Conradi had stepped to the window, and was listening attentively to every sound from without.
'Did you not hear something like the sound of a distant bell?' he asked Arwed. The latter hastened anxiously to the window, and listened to the faint sounds. Directly more distinct tones fell upon his ear.
'Those are the bells of Jacob's church!' cried Georgina, springing up. 'What means this general ringing of the bells at so unusual an hour?'
'Something of importance either for good or evil,' said Conradi. 'I think the diet must have decided, and these bells are to celebrate their choice.'
'Arwed!' sighed Georgina, stretching out her hands imploringly towards the youth.
'I will go into the city and procure intelligence,' said he, seizing his hat. 'God grant that I may bring you back good news.'
He hastened out, threw himself upon his horse, and coursed back to the city. From every tower rung out the merry peal of the bells, and in all the streets through which he rode, floated joyous multitudes of people. In the great square they were crowded head to head, and ten thousand hands pointed towards the capitol. 'The hour of decision has arrived,' said Arwed to himself. Leaping from his horse, and throwing the bridle reins to his servant, he pushed his way through the crowd to the portal of the building.
There stood the pompous equipage of the duke of Holstein. The duke sat therein, viewing the windows of the hall of assembly with a countenance expressive of sorrow and offended pride. An elderly gentleman in the uniform of a Holstein general, and with a pensive air, stepped out of the door of the capitol.'
'Now, Bauer?' cried the duke to him impatiently, throwing open the door of the carriage.
'All in vain, your grace!' said Bauer, stepping into the carriage. 'I did not even obtain an opportunity to read your protest to the end.'
'Sweden, Sweden, to whom I have offered up every thing,' growled the duke, 'is this your gratitude!' Hastily catching hold of the general, he drew him into the carriage and shut the door, crying, 'forward!' The carriage soon rattled out of Arwed's view.
Trumpets now sounded from the balcony of the capitol, attracting Arwed's attention to the place. The president of the senate, count Horn, accompanied by many of the senators, stepped out upon the balcony. 'Silence!' cried he to the crowd below, waving his hand. 'Silence!' cried the people in return, and all was still.
'Free Swedes!' cried the orator, 'the royal council and the assembled diet of this kingdom, by virtue of the elective right vested in them, in consequence of the throne having become vacant without immediate heirs, have elected to be queen of the Swedes and Goths the full sister of our immortal lord, her royal highness and princely grace the landgravine Ulrika Eleonora of Hesse. This gracious princess having solemnly renounced the sovereignty, so named, or unlimited sovereign power, we hereby declare the said unlimited power to be forever alienated from the throne, and will hold as an enemy to the kingdom whoever may hereafter, by secret artifice or the open exertion of force, attempt the assumption or exercise of absolute power. Long live her majesty, queen Ulrika Eleonora!'
'Long live her majesty Ulrika Eleonora!' roared the numberless throng, mingling their voices with the trumpet blasts; and, as if raised by a whirlwind, their hats and caps flew high in air.
'All is lost!' cried Arwed indignantly, as he opened a way for himself through the crowd.
On the twenty-first day of February, 1719, Arwed entered the prison of the unhappy Goertz, in company with lieutenant general Rank.
'I bring to you a suppliant, my poor friend,' said Rank, with a melancholy smile, to Goertz. 'The captain has not ceased to besiege his royal highness, until he obtained his permission for this interview with you. He has a great favor to ask, and if my word is entitled to any weight, I am his witness that he has well deserved it. He has, through his ceaseless activity in your behalf, drawn down upon himself the hatred of the Swedish nobility; and could he purchase your life with his own, I am fully satisfied that he would make the sacrifice with joy.'
'Good man!' said Goertz much agitated, extending his hand to Arwed. 'God grant that you may have something to ask of me that my duty will allow me to perform.'
'You know my love for your Georgina, my father,' said Arwed, pressing the old man's hand upon his heart. 'I beg your benediction upon our union.'
'I have anticipated this request,' sighed Goertz. 'It does you honor under the present circumstances, but I must not say yes to it.'
'Oh retract those hard words!' begged Arwed. 'You yourself just now called me a good man. By heaven I am so. Your daughter loves me--and our glorious king, the evening before his death, promised to crown my wishes.'
'I know it all,' said Goertz, 'but I can give no other answer.'
'You hate the Swede in me,' said Arwed in a tone of the deepest sorrow; 'nor can I blame you for it.'
'Have you no better opinion of the father of your beloved?' asked Goertz, with mild reproach. 'I love the man in you, and you may learn of my daughter that I was not opposed to your wishes, when I yet stood in my former elevated position. But what would the world say of me, should I willfully make you unhappy by consenting to your marriage with the daughter of an unfortunate man whom your father hates, and whose life and honor will soon be destroyed by one sharp stroke. If, when my fate shall have been sealed, my daughter's passion remain stronger than her remembrance of it, she is then at liberty to follow the dictates of her own heart. I neither advise nor forbid the connection, and shall earnestly pray to God that all may go well with you, and that you may never have cause to repent the inconsiderate step.'
'Ah, that is a comfortless consent,' said Arwed sorrowfully. 'Georgina's overstrained delicacy induces her to take the same ground against me, and I have now come to beg your intercession with her, which is necessary to my success.'
'My daughter feels as a Goertz must feel,' answered the old man, 'It is noble in you to persist in your request. Concede to us also the generosity of the refusal.'
'You make not me alone unhappy!' cried Arwed with vehemence. 'I may, indeed, in time become reconciled to it. But your daughter will also be made miserable at the same time. Her love is stronger than she, in the depth of her filial sorrow, at present supposes it. She may, indeed, give me up, but she can never forget me.'
'The consciousness of having done right will help her to bear much, my son,' answered Goertz. 'Let us talk of it no more.'
'You rend my heart,' said Rank with weeping eyes. 'But I thank you for this sorrow. It is a high and holy privilege to behold virtue struggling with heavy and undeserved affliction.'
At this moment the keys were heard rattling in the prison door. It creaked upon its hinges, and in stepped, with the proud dignity of his black official robes, and with deep traces of hidden malice and bodily suffering in his yellow face, the speaker Hylten, delegate of the citizens to the imperial diet of the realm, and a member of the commission instituted for the trial of the prisoner.--He was followed by one of the clerks of the court, with his arm full of documents.
'I come, von Goertz,' unceremoniously commenced Hylten, 'to make known to you the sentence of the special commission. Receive it with becoming respect.'
'I must indeed,' answered Goertz with a bitter smile, slightly rattling his chains. He rose up, and Hylten took a large sealed document from the hands of the clerk.
'Do you wish that we should retire, sir commissioner?' asked Rank.
'You may remain here forever, if you please, sir lieutenant general,' answered Hylten contemptuously. 'The crimes of this man are notorious, as his punishment will also be, and where justice is sustained by the general voice, there can be no necessity for avoiding publicity.'
'The royal commission,' read he, with a sharp and discordant voice, 'having heard and considered all the accusations brought by the attorney general, Fehmann, and also the replications of the baron von Goertz thereto....'
'Without consenting to receive my written defence!' interposed Goertz.
'And all the plots and devices of the said Goertz,' proceeded Hylten without noticing the interruption, since his coming into this kingdom, having for their object to bring by wicked means the subjects of the said kingdom into great discredit with the king ...'
'All?' asked Goertz. 'He who affirms too much, affirms nothing.'
'And how he,' proceeded Hylten, 'represented them as evil-minded and idle persons, who were unwilling to contribute towards the general welfare.'
'Could that have been a crime?' asked Goertz.
'And also,' read Hylten, 'endeavored to destroy the confidence of the king in the senators, counsellors and others of his true servants, removing the same from all important public employments, so that the whole patronage of the government should go through his own hands, contrary to the laws and statutes of this country....'
'I was the minister of an absolute sovereign,' interposed Goertz. 'How can I be made answerable for the decisions of his iron will?'
'And moreover,' proceeded Hylten, 'such schemes brought to light as could serve no other end than to rob the king's subjects of all their property....'
'The stamped tokens and notes of the mint had already been issued before the time of my administration,' cried Goertz indignantly.
'And finally,' read Hylten, 'according to letters of his, which have been discovered, he has not ceased to labor for the prolongation of the war, thereby placing the king and the country in a very embarrassing and dangerous situation....'
'Who dares assert these lies?' cried Goertz with indignation. 'For fourteen years had Sweden carried on an uninterrupted, and for six years an unsuccessful war, when Charles confided the helm of state to me. Since that time, I have honestly labored to extinguish the fire which destroyed the prosperity of our country. A glorious peace with our most fearful enemy was brought by me near to a conclusion, when the king's sudden death changed....'
'You appear to forget,' said Hylten angrily, 'that you have here only to listen, and not to speak.'
'Then in God's name read to the end,' said Goertz, becoming calm. 'I wilt interrupt you no more.'
'Satisfied of the truth of these charges,' resumed Hylten, 'without examining further into the evil conduct of the said Goertz, a full investigation of which certain causes will not allow, it appears clear to us that he is the dishonest cause of all the misfortunes which this country has suffered, and also that through the above named employments he has become a citizen of this kingdom, and subject to its laws; upon which the royal commission, having weighed these and other crimes, have decided and adjudged, that the said Goertz, for the punishment of his evil deeds, and for an example to other false counsellors and disturbers of the peace of the kingdom, shall be beheaded and afterwards buried at the place of execution.'
'Ha! this sentence....' began Arwed with ungovernable rage, but Rank gently laid his hand upon his mouth.
Goertz had accompanied the close of the reading with only a sigh and shrug of the shoulders. At length he observed, 'that is, in every point of view, a monstrous sentence, informal, unjust, void, and repugnant to common sense. The grounds upon which it is supported are unimportant or untrue; the most unheard of circumstance, however, is, that they take away my life for transgressions which are not specified. From this fault, at least, the legal knowledge of the members of the commission should have preserved them.'
'I am not here to listen to your complaints,' answered Hylten, pettishly. 'The sentence of the commission is unalterable, and will be executed as soon as it is approved by the diet and royal council, and ratified by the queen.'
'So I supposed,' said Goertz; 'and submit to power, which, alas! is every where above right. I only wish to make one remark. They have passed over my management of the national revenue in perfect silence. I beg to be allowed time to prepare my accounts and lay them before the diet, and thus at least inform the world that I have managed the finances like an honest man. Should this request be refused, however, I yet hope at least from the magnanimity of the diet, that they will demand of my heirs no settlement of my accounts, of which they can know nothing.'
'I doubt,' said Hylten with some apparent mortification, 'whether the diet will grant you this delay. I will, however, lay your request before them, and have only to advise you to prepare yourself in the meanwhile for your approaching death.'
'Wo to me,' cried Goertz, 'if my whole life has not been a preparation for death! Yet I thank you for your counsel. My blood be not upon your head!'
Hylten hastened away in confusion, and the weeping Rank threw himself upon the breast of his friend. Arwed fell upon his knee before him, and clasping his hand exclaimed, 'give me Georgina for my wife, my father. She needs strong support in her trying situation, and I feel myself capable of affording it to her.'
'Even now?' cried Goertz, heartily embracing the youth, 'thou true heart! But I must still answer with a decided negative. The only sprout of one of the noblest houses of Sweden must never, under any circumstances, connect himself with the daughter of a condemned and dishonored traitor, whose body must moulder under the gallows.'
His voice was broken by the excess of his feelings. Arwed, despairing, rose up. 'Can I then do nothing for you?' asked Rank, wringing his hands.
'I cannot be saved,' said Goertz, 'and have already been long prepared for death. Only the ignominy of a public execution, and the outrage which awaits my mortal remains, trouble me; not on my own account, but on that of my poor children and innocent connexions. If you are disposed to give me a last proof of your love, you will on my behalf, petition the queen that I may die in my prison and have an honorable grave.'
'I will immediately speak with the prince,' said Rank. 'He was never your enemy. His wife loves him more tenderly than one would suppose her cold heart capable of loving. I hope to be able to render you this service.'--He departed.
'I will throw myself at my father's feet,' cried Arwed, 'and never cease my supplications until he shall promise me to aid in the accomplishment of your last wish.--Oh, my God! that I cannot save you! It is only through this infamous sentence that your purity has become fully clear to me. Your blood be upon the heads of your unworthy murderers.'
He strode forth. Goertz, however, folded his hands, raised his eyes to heaven, and prayed with silent resignation.