Chapter V: Part 5

"That defiance and ungodliness our Lord will pardon him, I think," said the old man, with a nod of the head; "there is, besides, surely no bishop in the country who would shut the church door against him because Master Grand hath excommunicated him at Sjoeborg. When that quarrelsome lord was laid by the heels, folks said directly that all churches were to be shut in the country; but, look you, _was_ it so? If ten commands to shut them were sent from the pope in Rome, may I be a flounder if he would be obeyed. But now the archbishop is free, so there is no great need for it. At any rate we have seen before that a Danish king may be under a ban, and yet bear sceptre and crown to his dying day."

"Things may go wrong enough yet, master," answered the lad. "Without the pope's permit he can never wed, and he may have long to wait for it while he deals in this fashion by every canon and priest who sided with the archbishop. There is the rich Hans Rodis in Copenhagen; he hath lost all he owned because he sent a file and tools to the archbishop in the tower. Master Peter in Lund hath not fared a hair better, and all the archbishop's church property is seized. The like of such presumption hath never been heard of in Christendom before, says Pater Gregor."

"In this matter the king will follow the advice of his best counsellors, and neither thine nor Pater Gregory's," muttered the old man. "He and the state council must answer for what hath been done. Folk have tried him rather too much, and there are bounds to every thing, even to piety and patience. 'Beware of a brawl!' said my departed father, God rest his soul! 'but if thou meddlest in one, carry it through like a man.' It avails but little to cast butter against stones. No; hard against hard."

"By your leave, master, so said the Devil, when he leant his back against a thorn bush," interrupted the young fisherman, smiling; "but it is said he repented it when he found what it did for him. I also have heard a wise old saying at times: 'If thou canst not step over, then creep under,' said my aunt to me. Had our king learnt that wisdom of the proud Drost Hessel, who taught him to flourish lance and spear, it would have been better for state and country, says----"

"Pshaw!" interrupted the old man, placing his basket again on his back; "such wisdom may do well enough for thee, and thy aunt, and Pater Gregor, who speak out all ye think; but what is fitting for rats and mice would ill beseem the falcon and eagle. Humility is precious as gold; but where a king would pass he should sooner burst the gate open than creep under it through the mire." So saying, he cast another glance at the solemn witness of the king's stern and speedy execution of justice, and then, silent and thoughtful, strode forward on the road to Gilleleie.

"But, since you side with the king in every thing, master," asked the youth, "how can you then defend mad Morten the cook, or think he will 'scape the gallows? He hath ever sided with the outlaws. That he helped the bishop out of Sjoeborg you know as well as any of us. I saw he was with you on Christmas eve, ere he put out to sea again in that black pilgrim ship."

"If thou would'st keep in a whole skin, jackanapes, let that be between us two," exclaimed the old man, in wrath, turning menacingly towards him. "However Morten may have sinned, he now doth penance for it; he who puts out to open sea at Christmas, to serve his Lord and Saviour, is no bad Christian, according to my notion, and therefore no traitor to his country."

"But every one knows----"

"Gossip! we know enough! What Morten hath to do either with the bishop or the outlaws concerns not thee or me; but this I know for certain, since he hath seen our young king himself, and taken money at his hand, he hath been true as steel to him in his heart. That Master Grand got loose was perhaps a God's providence," he added. "In this matter I even think myself our brave king hath set rather too boldly to work. If Morten hath had a finger in the game it may cost him dear; but that he neither meant ill to country or king I will stake my neck upon."

"A juggler and a godless churl he is, nevertheless; and an outlawed vagabond and sure gallows bird to boot, if he sets foot again on Danish ground," said the young fisherman, eagerly. "'Tis both sin and shame, master! that your young pretty Karen will weep her blue eyes red for his sake."

"Ha, indeed! hath that come out?" said the old man; "thou would'st rather, I warrant, she should weep them red for thy sake, if weep she must. Drive these fancies out of thine head, Ole! If Morten come back ere St. Hans day, as he promised Karen and me, and can give account of himself, thou shalt have leave to dance at his wedding; but if ye would speak ill of him to me or to Karen, thou may'st pack up and pack off. Now thou knowest my manner of thinking." So saying, the old man marched forward with rapid strides. The youth followed him, crest-fallen and in silence, till they drew near the shore, where Jeppe unmoored a fishing boat for the purpose of sailing up the coast with the fish he could no longer dispose of at Sjoeborg.

"You must not suppose I would speak ill of Morten," resumed the young fisherman, as he set down the basket in the boat, and stepped over the gunwale after his master. "'Twould be of no use either; you and Karen are now so bewitched by that gallows bird. I must own myself he is a comely, sharp-witted jolly fellow, although he begins to get somewhat into years; indeed, as for that matter he might almost be her father. If he helped the bishop to flee out of piety and Christian charity, he hath perhaps done a good deed, but folk will hardly say it was for the Lord's sake. Your pretty little Karen would be better mated with a young fellow than with an outlawed and almost aged vagabond, and--"

"Thou beardless greenhorn! what is thy head running upon?" exclaimed the old man angrily, and stamping as he spoke. "Think'st thou it needs but a smooth chin, and a milk-sop look, to cut out an honest fellow with my daughter? Out of sight out of mind, say many young folk now-a-days; but that shall none say of me and _my_ daughter. If I hear a word more of this matter from thy mouth, Ole! it shall be the last we exchange together. But what devil is this?" he exclaimed, in surprise, as he perceived there were three in the boat; "whence came that fellow?"

"Will you carry a passenger across to Skanor, for fair words and fair recompense, good people?" asked a tall man, suddenly rising from under one of the rowing benches, where he appeared to have concealed himself under the sail. He wore a dirty peasant's cloak, but it fitted ill, and a knight's shoulder scarf peeped from under it, together with the richly gilded hilt of a sword. He seemed to strive in vain to conceal a large scar on his forehead under the goat's-skin cap; his pale and frigid countenance, and furtive glances from under his rusty-coloured meeting eyebrows, inspired a feeling of distrust; he spoke Danish, but with something of a Norwegian pronunciation, which, however, seemed not to be natural to him, but assumed for the occasion.

"What have _you_ to do here in my boat?" growled forth Jeppe, measuring the intruder with a bold look. "If you would cross to Skanoer, why go ye not to the ferry?"

"The king hath stopped the ferries on account of the archbishop," answered the stranger. "Every man knows Grand hath escaped hence by sea, and yet the stupid dullards hunt after him here, both by day and night. Not a cat can leave the country, and there is now hardly a wood or morass left where a friend of the pious archbishop may hide himself. I see you take me for a deserter. It avails not to withhold the truth from you. I am a persecuted man; save my life, and bring me to a sea port from whence I may escape; I will richly repay you for it."

"Well!" said the old man, and his stern look relaxed. "No doubt an honest man may get into trouble, as hath chanced ere now; _he_ is often forced to quit the country in disguise who afterwards can return with honour. The wind is fair, my yawl will weather the trip bravely; but I must first know who you are, and wherefore you are outlawed?"

"Outlawed!" repeated the stranger, with a start; "who says I am outlawed, with law and justice, because I fly from lawlessness and shameful injustice? I am a kinsman of the great Archbishop Grand, whom they have here so shamefully and unjustly maltreated. If I would not expose myself to the same tyrannical treatment, from which our Lord and pious men have freed him, I am now forced to seek safety by flight."

"But your name?" resumed the fisherman, as he suddenly placed the oar against a stone, and pushed the boat out to sea, with such force that both the stranger and the astonished young fisherman tumbled over the bench. "You will not call yourself outlawed, then?" he continued calmly, while the stranger stood up, and cast an anxious look on the wide space between the boat and the shore. "I should incline to think ye were so, nevertheless. Are ye not called, because of a little mistake, Squire Kagge with the scar? Were ye one of those who slew the king's father in Finnerup barn? and if it be you who lately sought to take the king's life, I should be a rascal if I stirred a hand to bring you to any other free port than the gallows."

The stranger's countenance had become fearfully distorted; he thrust his hand as if convulsively under his cloak, and drew forth a long glittering knight's sword. "You must either set me instantly on shore here, or bring me to Skanoer harbour; no matter who the devil I may be," he cried. "The squire whom Denmark's greatest man dubbed a knight lets himself not be carried to market with cod and flounders by a vile fisherman."

"Big words and fat flesh stick not in the throat," answered Jeppe, quietly brandishing the heavy iron-tagged oar like a lance over his head. "Here I stand on my own ground, and here I am master. Cast your dyrendal[15] from you, Sir Malapert! or you shall feel one upon your skull which will make you forget the stroke of knighthood you got from the greatest man. If that man be Stig Anderson,"--he added, "you need not mention your fair name or your fair deed--for in that case you were as certainly with Marsk Stig and the grey friars in Finnerup barn as you are now with Jeppe the fisherman on the road to judgment and the gallows."

"We shall see," shouted the stranger, like a madman, and rushed on him with his drawn sword, but at the same moment he fell back senseless in the boat, while the hat flew from his head before a stroke of Jeppe's iron-tagged oar.

"Take the dyrendal from him, and bind him, Ole, while I loose the sails," said the old fisherman calmly, as he threw down the oar, and began to unfurl the sails. "That blow he dies not of. If the king will give him his life, that's _his_ affair; but none shall say that old Jeppe the fisherman sided with such like outlaws, and let a regicide slip whole skinned from Gilleleie."

The young fisherman obeyed his master. The sails were soon unfurled, and the fishing yawl sailed swiftly along the coast.

Jeppe was not mistaken. His captive was the renowned Aage Kagge who had been outlawed with all those who had taken a personal share in the murder of Eric Glipping. He had entered the service of the King of Norway, but had ventured to Denmark to bring Marsk Stig's daughters from thence; and also, as it appeared, with other less peaceable intentions. That he had been a party to the murderous attack of the crazed Jutlander upon the king the Drost's huntsmen had borne witness, and there seemed also every probability that it was he who had attempted the assassination of Drost Aage, as he was riding with Marsk Stig's daughters into the gate of Vordingborg castle. Every burgomaster and all commandants of castles throughout the country had received orders to trace and to seize him, wherever he was found. As an outlaw, besides, every one who met and knew him was empowered to slay him on the spot. Although in general he, like all those outlawed regicides, was held in great detestation, there was still one heart which throbbed for him with love and sympathy,--the wayward, restless heart of the captive Lady Ulrica.

CHAP. IX.

On the same new year's day on which the outlawed knight was captured, Marsk Stig's youngest daughter slumbered, evidently disturbed by agitating dreams, in the tower called the Maiden's Tower, in Vordingborg castle, while her sister rose ready dressed from the prie-dieu, and listened with folded hands to the sound of mattins from the chapel of the castle. A faint ray of daylight fell on them through the tower window. "Help! help!" shrieked Ulrica, starting up; "sleepest thou, Margaretha? Oh, it was fearful! Yet it was, after all, but a foolish dream."

"What ails thee, dear sister?" asked the placid Margaretha, taking her sister lovingly by the hand; "thou must surely have dreamt again of that unhappy knight, Kagge?"

"Thou mightest be rather more courteous, sister. So _very_ unhappy he cannot be, when _I_ am dreaming of him. Did I but know he was safe!"

"Pray to the Lord and our Lady that his grim image may be effaced from thy soul!" continued Margaretha; "he can never come to a good end. All the greatness and splendour he hath promised thee are but empty castles in the air, with nought of truth in them."

"Truth here, and truth there, sister! What you call our castles in the air are nevertheless far better than this much too real prison; and how can'st thou call Sir Kagge grim? I think his bold, wolf-like eye-brows are perfectly lovely. Alas! sweet sister! I dreamed he was in distress and in peril of his life. He stood in chains before me, and bade me entreat the king for his life."

"He is assuredly thy bad angel, Ulrica!" answered Margaretha; "it is his fault that we are now here. Would thou hadst never believed his flatteries and false tongue, he loves no one in the world save himself."

"How can'st thou say so, sister? Did'st thou not hear thyself how solemnly he swore to free us, or lose his life?"

"But when it was time to keep his word, like a true and manly knight, his own pitiful revenge and his own life were dearer to him than our peace and freedom," answered Margaretha. "He, in truth, sharpened the arrow our faithful squire shot from the bow, but ere it flew from the string he took himself off, and abandoned us to our fate."

"But he followed us, though, at peril of his life, close to the castle gate, and had not the Drost been dearer to thee than both I and thyself we should not now have been here."

"If our freedom could only be gained by treachery and assassination, it were better we stayed here captive all our life-time," answered Margaretha. "Had the noble Drost Aage been as much our enemy as he showed himself to be our friend--I would not even then have left him in that condition to bleed to death, without help and care. I would rather remain in prison until my dying day than flee with a cowardly assassin, and be suspected by the noble Drost of having had the least part or lot in such crime."

"Thou art really much too conscientious, sister Margaretha! In comparison with me, thou art half an angel, it is true; but confess to me now, it was surely not _purely_ for the Lord's sake you stayed and behaved so generously to the Drost. He is a very handsome young knight, although he cannot be compared to Sir Kagge, and I have seen plainly enough how tenderly and lovingly your eyes meet each time you bind up his wounds--thou art really making him greatly beholden to thee."

"Be not malicious, dear Ulrica," answered Margaretha, blushing crimson; "what harm is there in my tending him with unfeigned good will?"

"Tend him with as much good will as thou likest; I never said there was any harm in that--call him every instant the noble and the pious, just as if he were the only good knight in Christendom! but at any rate give _me_ leave to defend Sir Kagge, and feel anxious for him when he perils his life for my sake! It was indeed not _quite_ according to rule that he left us when we were captured! I shall scold him finely for that when we meet; but what was he to do against so many? If he escaped, he could still hope to free us as long as he himself was at liberty. As to his attacking the Drost in the dark gateway, without sounding a trumpet before him, it perhaps did not look altogether chivalrous; but stratagem against superior force is always lawful in war, and it was after all a bold and desperate enterprise, which may even yet cost him his life, although it did nought either for or against us--ah! did I but know he was safe, I would gladly be patient, and put up with this captivity some time longer.--When the king gets to know what I now know he will have to ask pardon, and treat me like a princess."

"Poor Ulrica! what sayest thou?" exclaimed her sister in dismay, and turning pale; "what madman can have put into your head----"

"That was the secret, then, thou wouldst never out with, my pious sister!" interrupted Ulrica, with a joyous smile. "I had determined to conceal my discovery until I could show thee what use it was of; but now I will show thee that Kagge is much more true and devoted to me than thou art. While thou thoughtest only of the wounded Drost, my outlawed knight hath enabled me to guess who I am, and hath sent me a billet of more importance than all the Drosts in the world.--This Runic scrap should burst before us the doors of every prison in Denmark." So saying, she produced with a triumphant air, a small and curiously carved wooden tablet, upon which was depicted a royal coat of arms with three crowned leopards, and with Ulrica's name below, in Runic characters, by the side of Princess Merete's, King Eric Ericson's, and Junker Christopher's. "Seest thou," said she, drawing up her head proudly, "the three crowned leopards stand in the king's great seal? As yet I have only half made out the connection. But at any rate I have gathered thus much from all the puzzling hints they have given me:--The king's father must have been secretly wedded to a noble lady of Marsk Stig's kindred. It must no doubt have been a hazardous affair, since he had another for his queen; but, nevertheless, lam his daughter, just the same, and therefore Princess Merete's and the king's half sister--though no one must know it.--My poor mother hath no doubt suffered great wrong, and thus come by her death; but that thy father and his kinsmen have amply revenged. Me they brought up in the Marsk's house, and therefore I must now share the persecutions that have come upon thy whole race."

"Alas! believe not one word of that confused and wretched story, dear Ulrica!" exclaimed Margaretha, bursting into tears; "burn those unfortunate lines, and believe me thou art in truth my sister, and all that talk of a higher birth can but bring thee shame and degradation."

"That thou would'st scarcely say had'st thou seen thine own name by the side of kings and princes," answered Ulrica, with a proud toss of the head, while she gazed with sparkling eyes on the wooden tablet; "and look," she continued, fuming it over, "here stand the Norwegian Duke Haco's lion shield, and pedigree; it reaches in a direct line up to the great Harold Harfager; and seest thou there stands my true knight Kagge's name in a side branch like mine--he traces his descent also from kings and princes; and rememberest thou not what old Mother Else foretold me at Hald? I was to become a great princess one day, she said, and get a handsome and rich bridegroom of princely birth."

"Alas, dearest sister!" exclaimed Margaretha, sorrowfully, "thy childish vanity makes thy soul the sport of dishonourable and traitorous braggarts--the domestic miseries which brought misfortune upon the country as well as on our renowned race could be represented to thee by none but an evil spirit as a source of honour and good fortune. The blood of slaves, not the blood of princes, runs in that man's veins who could picture _that_ to thee as an honour which would make thee to die of grief and shame, did'st thou believe it to be true, and knewest how to prize the birth which is in truth high and honourable.

"'Tis pity thou art not a priest, sister!" said Ulrica, with a toss of the head; "if the story of my high birth were only an idle and unfounded report, it could hardly have had such important consequences here in the country; thou must thyself have thought it true, since thou never would'st confide it to me; but I have long had an inkling of it. Old Mother Else dared not come quite out with it; but this you must at any rate allow,--all who have known us and our family have ever bowed much lower to me than to thee, although thou wert the eldest; and I have seen folk point oft to me, when I was gaily clad, and heard them whisper, 'Look, there goes the little princess; look, her pretty eyes twinkle just like King Glipping's.'"[16]

"Poor, poor sister!" exclaimed Margaretha, folding her, weeping, in her arms; "and could'st thou endure to hear such hateful words? Were they able to flatter thy vain and childish heart by a glittering title which concealed the bitterest hate and scorn? Poor Ulrica! thy greatest misfortune, after all, is thy soul's blindness--it makes thee even vain and proud of what should be thy grief and shame. Alas! didst thou tremble with me at that tale as at a voice from the bottomless pit I perhaps should know how to comfort and counsel thee; then would I weep with thee, and pray our blessed Lady to give thee the hope she gave me, when at times all the horrors I saw and heard in my childhood seemed like a frightful dream, and it was as though an angel whispered to my soul that the whole was error and illusion.--Ah, mother! mother! how shall I perform that I promised thee, and bring this erring child safe to thine arms?"

"Now thou art growing tiresome again, Margaretha, with all thy love, and thy piety, and thy conscience," interrupted Ulrica, pettishly, "_Your_ mother was only my foster mother; that I can well understand. Who _my_ real mother was thou mightest easily tell, if there was any real sisterly love in thee; but thou art not my sister after all. I would thou wert in a nunnery! there thou mightest mourn over me, and pray for me as much as it pleased thee, without plaguing me with it; yet, no! for then I must part from thee, and that I could not bear," she added, affectionately. "I am still a worldling, dear good Margaretha!" continued Ulrica, with child-like simplicity. "I have told you so a hundred times. All the misfortunes that happened in our childhood, or before I was born, I have neither seen nor shared in; how, then, canst thou require I should grieve over them? And what good would it do were I now to sit down with thee to mourn and weep? What our parents and their kindred have suffered or done amiss our blessed Lady must pray our Lord to make amends for, and forgive them; but that I have just as little to do with as thou. I thank my Lord and Maker, and our blessed Lady, that I have come into this fair world, and that I am not ashamed of my birth, even though I am but half a princess. The sorrow and degradation thou would'st have me despair over I care not to meddle with; either it is altogether idle talk, and then there is nought to mourn for; or it is true, and I must be satisfied with it as my destiny; and then I should still be a kind of princess; and what shame can it be to me that I should be called what I am, and that a knight of royal descent woos me, and would bring me to the station and honour which are mine by right?"

"Alas! for thy honour and thy wooer, poor sister!" answered Margaretha, "there is not a true word in Sir Kagge; all know he is come of higher birth than he deserves, and it was not till he was outlawed and fled to Norway that he thought of disowning his own kindred, and tracing his pedigree in a disgraceful manner to the royal house of Norway. Such dishonourable fiction would show thee his character, if thou didst not share his perverted hankerings after the greatness which confers not honour."

During this conversation Ulrica had arrayed herself in her richest attire, and it had become quite light. "Now look at me!" she said, contemplating herself in the polished shield on the wall. "Need I really be so terribly ashamed of my own existence, or wish I had never been born? That indeed would be shameful and ungodly. To speak honestly, Margaretha, should I doubt all that Sir Kagge hath told me of my descent and of my beauty, I ought to doubt my own eyes also, and every mirror I looked into would be just as false a flatterer and traitor as thou deemest him to be."

"Truly the mirror _is_ a false flatterer," answered Margaretha; "it shows us but the fair outside and the smooth skin, but hides the skeleton and the image of death within us. The more pleasure we take in the mimic image it displays to us in our vanity, the more the eyes are blinded and the soul corrupted. Hadst thou heard the exaggerated compliments Sir Kagge paid _me_ ere he saw thee quite grown up, and found thou hadst a more attentive ear for his fair speeches and bold plans concerning our forfeited goods and rights, he would scarcely have been less the object of thy laughter and ridicule than that foolish Sir Palle."

"Ah, how terribly unreasonable thou art, thou dear pious Margaretha!" interrupted Ulrica; "that fat stupid Sir Palle was made to be a laughing stock. I know well enough Kagge was once a little in love with thee, but I can readily forgive him, since he hath got over it so well.--Thou wert too in some sort my sister, and at the time I was almost a child.--Thou wouldst doubtless have had him sigh himself to death over thy coldness, but that was too much to ask of a handsome young knight. Should he then be deemed a faithless and inconstant lover because he was mistaken in us sisters, ere he could know our hearts and his own? How could he help that thou wert so cold and indifferent, and so insufferably pious? And was it then so unpardonable a sin that at last he found out that I was quite as fair--or perhaps rather more so?"

"Dear deluded child!" sighed Margaretha, patting her sister's cheek, while she parted the fair curled locks from her brow, "must thou ever seek to trace every sentiment thou wouldst rightly understand to a vain and empty source? Kagge was a loyal and devoted squire to our father, it is true; he was a zealous sharer in that fearful deed of vengeance, the grounds of which thou now thinkest thou hast discovered; but were those grounds not false, and wert thou in truth that thou thinkest thyself to be, how canst thou give thy hand without shuddering to a man who was with the band in Finnerup-barn?" She paused, and folded her hands as if in silent prayer, as she knelt down on the prie-dieu, and rented her lovely head on the breviary.

"Margaretha! dearest Margaretha! thou hast terrified me," exclaimed Ulrica, who had turned quite pale. "A horrible and ghastly form rises before me. Ah! thou art right; I never thought of that. If the story of my birth be true I ought never to hold Sir Kagge dear, and yet I never saw the noble ill-fated prince who fell in Finnerup-barn. Should I hate all those who willed his death, I must also hate my mother, and thy mother, and father Stig. Alas, Margaretha! we must never think on our lot in this world, if we would be gay and happy among other human beings; we must either forget all that hath chanced to us, or go into a nunnery, and bid the beautiful joyous world good night; but that I cannot do. Dear sister! pray for me. I will forget what it is not good to think upon, but I cannot hate any living soul; and he who loves me with truth and fervour I _must_ love again, whoever he may be, and for what cause soever he may be outlawed and persecuted." She burst into a flood of tears, and held up her long golden tresses before her eyes.

"Dearest Ulrica! weep not. I will pray for thee as long as I live," said Margaretha. She rose hastily from the prie-dieu, and folded her sister tenderly in her arms. "We have not as yet wished each other a happy new year. The Lord and our blessed Lady make thee pious and patient, and blessed, and grant us both that which is most profitable for soul and salvation. Weep not, dearest Ulrica! If I have spoken harshly to thee, and grieved thee, forgive me, for our mother's sake! She bade me admonish thee, and guard thy soul from thoughts of vanity. But I see it is so, thou _art_ good and pious and blessed; only weep not!"

"Yes, if thou wilt never more speak evil of Sir Kagge, or require I should forget him, and leave off dreaming of him, for that I cannot; that I _will not_ do." So saying, Ulrica dried her eyes with her long hair, and peeped archly at her sister through her fingers.

"In the Lord's name, love every living soul in which there is a spark of God's grace," answered Margaretha, "only be not sorrowful."

"Well, I can understand you now," said Ulrica, taking her hand from her eyes. She laughed, and heartily kissed her sister. "A happy new year, sister Margaretha! Would thou might'st wed the handsome Drost ere the year is out, and would we might get out of this cage ere the woods are green and the birds sing." She then began to dance with her staid sister round the prison chamber, singing,

"I know where stands a castle fair,
All dazzling to the sight;
Its walls are decked with carvings rare,
With gold and silver bright."[17]

"Hush! hush! dear sister! some one is coming," said Margaretha, entreatingly. Ulrica listened, and on hearing the bolt withdrawn from the prison door she hastily arranged her hair in the polished shield, and suddenly assumed a stiff and consequential deportment. The door opened, and a sprightly little maiden entered to attend on them, and to bring the usual morning repast. "A happy new year, with the blessing of our Lady and St. Joseph, noble ladies!" said the maiden, curtseying, as she placed the cup of warm ale on the table. "Master asks whether you will drive afterwards to high mass with his dame. There came strangers in the night," she added, anxious to impart the news. "They slept up above in the knights' story. There are to be fine doings because of them; they are to breakfast in the ladies' apartment, and there is a fire on the hearth in the great hall.--The strangers are come from court; they say the Drost will depart----"

"Depart!" repeated Margaretha, blushing deeply. "Ah, yes," she added, calmly, "it is possible, indeed, if it be necessary. Yet if they could allow a few days more it would be better for him. Follow me to the ladies' apartment, little Karen! Perhaps he wants his wounds bound up in haste."

"No, stay, and see first if my hair is properly dressed!" said Ulrica. "Happy new year, little Karen! and a lover ere this day twelvemonth."

"A bridegroom you surely mean, lady! for lovers one may have in plenty every year," answered the maiden, simpering.

"Your hair is finely dressed. Lady Ulrica! Had _I_ such beautiful silken hair, and head-gear of gold and pearl to boot, as you have, by my troth I should never wish to put on a matron's cap while I lived; but _my_ hair I wish to hide; the sooner the better. Whenever my sweetheart hath had a scold from master, I am ever forced to hear it is rough and short. You are as small as a reed. Lady Ulrica!" she continued, looking at her slender form and gay attire; "one may easily see you are a dainty highborn knight's daughter, and no serving maid or kitchen drudge--if _I_ could appear in such fashion to my sweetheart, how he would stare! But I saw at once you were born to trail in silk and scarlet.--There hides something else under those wadmal cloaks than maidens of our condition, said I to Maren, the porter's wife, as soon as we set eyes on you; and when master grew afterwards so civil to you, and his wife sent you all those fine clothes and adornments on Christmas eve--we saw well enough how it was, that we had rare birds in the cage; perhaps even a princess, as some will have it.--That light green laced boddice becomes you marvellously. Lady Ulrica; but were I in Lady Margaretha's place I would not wear white attire on new-year's-day; it hath such a sad appearance, and it is no good omen for the good luck and happiness of the new year----"

"My colour hath been the shroud's since my father and mother died," said Margaretha, with a deep sigh; "but come now, little Karen! while you pass judgment on garments and finery many a mass may be sung to an end."

"Mattins are over, and there is time enough ere high mass," said the maiden; "but take some refreshment. It is not good to drive to church or bind the Drost's neck on a fasting stomach."

"I say so too, little Karen!" said Ulrica, with an arch smile, as she partook heartily of the morning draught. "So the Drost is well again, and going to depart," she continued; "truly it must be hard for so brave a knight to live so long under maiden's care, especially with that frightful scar on his neck."

"The shame is not his, but the coward's who dared not face him,"--answered the maiden; "is it not so, Lady Margaretha?"

"That is my sister's opinion also," sighed Margaretha; "but come! I think I hear a ringing."

"Not yet awhile; truly thou art much too devout, sister!" said Ulrica, with an arch look. "You forget your repast every morning for mass, and mattins often ring in your ears much before the hour. But it is true the Drost's neck should be looked at ere mass, and that is ever a work of time.--Now I am coming; take me with you. I am coming instantly. I will not again be shut up here alone--ah yes, sister! had I not thee by me I should be an ungodly being, and sleep over mass time every morning.--Thou mayst thank the Drost's neck that thou dost never oversleep thyself--stay a moment; I am coming."--She drained the pewter cup, and hastened out of the door with her sister and their attendant.

CHAP. X.

From the maiden's tower, which, with the ancient Waldemar's tower, near the chapel, stood within the northern semicircle of the wall surrounding the castle, a vaulted private passage led to the broad flagged and spacious hall on the first floor of the main building into which the knights' hall, the ladies' apartment, and various others opened. There was likewise a front entrance from the court-yard by a flight of high wooden steps, surmounted by a porch, and enclosed on each side with an iron railing that led up to the balcony. Directly opposite the two northern towers stood, on the side towards the sea, in the southern semicircle of the castle wall, the strongly fortified towers called the dragon and the sea tower. Above the entrance stood the castle tower, and above the chapel was a small belfry. In the midst of the castle square stood a high flagstaff, bearing the royal arms, the three crowned leopards among a number of golden hearts. The circular wall, which, with its high battlements and towers, surrounded the whole castle, was also environed by ramparts and deep moats. As the castle was often occupied by the king and his whole court, it was kept in perfect repair, and amply provided with furniture and every kind of convenience.

The castle was one of the most important fortresses in the kingdom. The number of men belonging to the garrison and household was not inconsiderable. Whenever the chapel bell rung for mattins, the commandant, with all the inmates of the castle and its precincts, proceeded to the chapel across the spacious square of the castle. They now were returning from mattins with their extinguished lanterns in their hands.

The captive maidens were guarded without any severity. When accompanied by one female attendant, the whole castle was open to them during the day. They were obliged, however, to sleep at night in the tower, which was never unlocked until daylight; and the porter was only permitted to open the castle gate for them when the commandant himself or his family accompanied them to the church of the town, or through the orchard to the chase of the castle, where at this season of the year they sometimes amused themselves by hawking, a sport of which Ulrica was passionately fond, but in which Margaretha only shared for her sister's sake.

When Ulrica, with her sister and the attendant maiden, stepped out of the dark passage into the vestibule, she instantly ran as usual to one of the bow windows, and breathed upon one of the panes to clear away the frost and make herself a peep-hole into the castle yard. "Look! look!" she said, gaily; "we shall have the new yellow car to drive in to-day to church; and look! there they ride to water with the strangers' horses--I declare they have long silken coverings on, and there are the royal grooms with them--Look! the commandant, with the Drost and the strangers, are crossing over this way--one of the strangers is a canon; but who _can_ those two comical men be with the German caps?"

"Let us go into the ladies' apartment," said Margaretha; "it would not be seemly that they should find us here alone so early."

"One can never see any thing, or enjoy any thing, because of that tiresome seemliness," said Ulrica, pettishly, and followed her sister reluctantly into the ladies' apartment. Shortly afterwards the door opened, and Drost Aage entered the ante-chamber, with the king's confessor. Master Petrus de Dacia, and the two German minstrels, accompanied by the commandant. Sir Ribolt, a tall man of noble presence, whose knightly attire was arranged in strict conformity to the fashion of the time. The commandant first crossed the threshold, and closed the door to keep in the warmth, which began to diffuse itself from the large glowing stone chimney.

"In the king's name!" he said, with a kind of solemnity, as he doffed his high plumed hat, "welcome in his hall, noble sirs! Here he is your host, though in my insignificant person--I may expect him here, then, in the spring, venerable sir?"

"He bade me bring you that message, next to royal greeting and favour," answered Master Petrus de Dacia, giving his hand to the commandant. "We have slept under your roof, but as yet your guests are unknown to you," he continued. "My name you know. In a few hours I must journey onwards; but these honourable strangers desire, and have royal permission, to be your guests for some time, partly with a learned and scientific object." He now presented to the commandant Master Poppe and Master Rumelant from Swabia, as renowned professors of the noble art of minstrelsy, who had visited the territories of many lords and princes, and who were now desirous also of seeing and knowing all that was remarkable in Denmark respecting the manners and the customs of the people, and the state of art and science, compared with that of other nations. "These learned persons," he added, "are commended to you as the king's guests, so long as it is their desire to remain here. It is the king's pleasure that they should have free access to the royal collection of manuscripts and the archives of the castle."

"Well, these learned guests are welcome," answered the commandant, saluting the strangers with some embarrassment; "it is probably the chronicles they desire to search into, and the ancient manuscripts which lie here, treating of the affairs of Denmark and the German kingdoms in olden times. There was lately here a learned monk from Nye, who, by the king's command, had much to do with these writings. They are treasures which I, to say truth, know but little how to prize; but scholars can never sufficiently laud our king's carefulness in collecting such writings, and the free use of them which he allows both to native and foreign scholars. The Lord help me. Sir Drost!" he whispered to Aage, "they are surely most awfully learned; they perhaps do not understand a word of Danish?"

"Are not your king's famous 'Congesta'[18] to be found here?" asked the tall master Poppe, in a half German half Danish dialect; "we desire especially to become acquainted with that important historical collection, as well as with the copy which is here to be seen of your famous Saxo Grammaticus, likewise Sveno Agonis[19], and whatever may be found here of collections of old ballads, and of Norwegian or Icelandic poems, and Sagas of heathen time; item, all remarkable monumenta and volumina antiquitatis."

"What I specially rejoice over," said the enthusiastic little Master Rumelant, "is what I here expect to meet with of your famous theological lumina and christian poets, particularly the far-famed Hexameron of the great Andreas Sunonis, of which I have never been able to trace any copy among my countrymen, or among any of the noble lords and princes, my gracious well-wishers and benefactors, whose praises I have sung according to my poor ability."

"So far as I know, the manuscript you speak of is to be found here among the learned Latin writings, from the time of King Waldemar the Victorious, of blessed memory," answered the commandant, endeavouring to hide his impatience; "but it is only of what is written in the language of the country that I can give account to you--your study shall be next to the manuscript chamber--the castle chaplain has the superintendence of it; he will no doubt be able to give you all the information you want. I will arrange every thing in the best way I can for you, learned sirs; but I pray you to excuse me, who am a layman, and straight-forward soldier, for my ignorance of such matters. Permit me now to install you among my family, and to entreat you will be content for the present with some food for the body."

"Allow me first a few words in private here with the Drost," said Master Petrus, remaining behind in the vestibule with Aage, whose pale cheek was for a moment tinged with a crimson hue as the door of the ladies' apartment closed, and he was but half able to greet Margaretha. It was evident that he had suffered from a dangerous wound. He still held his head rather stiffly, and his left arm was in a sling.

The tall ecclesiastic took him by the hand, and gazed on him earnestly, with his serene, intellectual eye. "It is chiefly for your sake, Drost Aage, the king sent me hither," he said; "you know how dear you have been to him from his childhood, and how greatly he needs must miss you; but ere it is permitted me to speak one word to you of the king's and state affairs, I am enjoined to certify myself of the health both of your mind and body. It is said you have not only been dangerously wounded, but sick at heart besides, and plagued with all manner of disquiet thoughts and confused dreams, so that you have oft stood more in need of a spiritual than of a bodily physician. If you place any trust in me, then confide to me that which seems still to disquiet you."

"I have been a visionary since I was excommunicated," said Aage; "I know it right well. The trial was too much for me; but now, praise be to the Lord and our Lady! a light hath dawned upon my soul, which reconciles me to what is dark and mysterious in my life and destiny.--But _my_ feelings and concerns are of no moment. Tell me only what the king is about; how can he and the country be saved from downfall amid all these perplexing events; for the Lord's sake tell me?"

"Not a word of that as yet, dear Drost," interrupted Master Petrus; "I must first see how far you are capable of acting in worldly matters. The spirit that would work mightily for the peace and happiness of king and country must first be at peace with itself."

"I _have_ that peace, venerable sir! My soul is as well at ease as it ever will be in this world. When I heard the archbishop was fled, and the king excommunicated, I threw myself on my horse, and would have hasted to Sjoeborg, but they brought me back here half dead. What I have since heard of the king's impetuosity and wrath hath more than ever disquieted me, and in my tendency to dark presentiments I have many a night, in my fevered dreams, beheld the king surrounded by robbers and murderers."

"Be easy on that score, noble Drost. No sovereign was ever more beloved by his people; an invisible guard of the angels of love and righteousness accompany the young Eric, even when traitors and deadly foes are nigh him. I know you were with the king's father in Finnerup-barn on that bloody St. Cecilia's eve. What you then witnessed as a child you surely have never been able to forget?"

"No, never!" exclaimed Aage, with breathless earnestness; "and I have often mourned I had neither courage nor might to avert that catastrophe. It was not till the barn burst into flames around the murdered king that I fully recovered the use of my senses. I snatched the sword from the old insane Palle, when he threw himself on the body to maltreat it, and struck the same murderous steel into his breast with which he had slain his liege. That bloody scene, and the dying look of that crazed old man, hath often been fearfully present to me. The horrid spectacle, however, was nearly effaced from my memory, when, two years back, I was one day sent by the king to the captive archbishop at Sjoeborg to bring him to confession; but when I looked on yon terrific prisoner, as he uplifted his fettered arm, and gave me over to the Devil, with the church's most dreadful curse, it seemed to me as though I stood once more in the barn at Finnerup, and as if a condemning spirit spoke through the archbishop, and thundered forth the words of excommunication over me for my sins' sake. In the fever caused by my wound I have often suffered from the most fearful visions, and dreamed of fighting with all manner of monsters and demons; but when it was at the worst I ever saw a heavenly angel at my side, who, with pious prayers, chased away the evil spirit, and whispered comfort and consolation to my soul. At last a mild light dawned upon me--I felt I might yet redeem from the curse that life which in my childhood I had neither power nor courage to sacrifice for my former master, by my devoting it to his son, our noble young King Eric. This is now my firm and stedfast purpose; I have renounced all thoughts of happiness for myself. Yon angel of consolation hath since appeared to me in a mortal form; but she neither desires nor is able to turn me from my resolve. It was the eldest and most estimable of Marsk Stig's daughters. Venerable sir! to you alone I confide it--she hath become dear to me as my own soul, and she hath herself wonderfully strengthened me in my resolution. By saving my life, and preserving it for the service of him who hath pronounced her whole race outlawed, she hath sought to atone for a share of her dreaded father's crime. Each step I follow my beloved young sovereign will and must separate me and Marsk Stig's race in this world; yet, with the Lord's help, that shall not stop my progress, or impair my loyalty. Mark, venerable sir! from the moment in which the future destiny of my life was clear before me I was freed from the evil spirits which persecuted me, and I now feel myself nearly healed both in body and soul. Now you know all, tell me, I beseech you, that which is of far greater moment, what message bring you me from the king?"

"One word more of yourself first, noble Drost," answered Master Petrus, in an affectionate tone, taking his hand, and gazing with his usual look of calm intelligence on Aage's melancholy but resolute countenance; "your determination I must laud as fair and noble, although it still in some measure betokens your tendency to extremes, even in what is good and praiseworthy. You can devote your life and powers to the service of your king and country without seeking the death of a martyr; you need not yourself renounce the enjoyments of life because a higher aim of existence stands in your view; but I will not upbraid you for such youthful extravagances,--There _was_ a time when I desired myself to die a martyr in honour of the Holy Virgin; even now I should glory in it were it so ordered for me; but I no longer hanker after martyrdom with blind enthusiasm and spiritual pride. The consoling angel you speak of, noble Drost, she who stood before you here in the form of a captive maiden, I only desire her justification and acquittal, and then assuredly you need not renounce all hope in respect of the secret wishes of your heart. I also have known such a being," he continued, with emotion; "next to the Holy Virgin she is even yet to me the most precious soul of her sex that lives and hath ever lived in the world; she is, in truth, the bride of Heaven here upon earth, and her duty and condition, as well as mine, separate us here below. But I believe, to speak truly, neither you nor any worldly man can be called on or have strength to make such renunciation; but Providence and its high disposer will care for this. I rejoice from my heart that the fairest feeling of humanity is awakened in your soul. Even when attended by the greatest sacrifice and the extreme of privation, it is, next to the joys of Heaven, the richest treasure that can be bestowed on a human being."

"Yes, assuredly!" exclaimed Aage, with joyful enthusiasm; "wholly wretched I never now can be. I have now told you the whole state of my case. Conceal not any thing longer from me!"