Chapter VI: Part 6

Accustomed to free himself from fear of the unknown, he at once formed suggestions to explain it, but stopped finally at the question, why the helmsman hid himself, for that there must be a helmsman on a sailboat, which did not drift, he had no doubt. Why did he not want to be seen? In usual cases one does not want to be seen when going on a bad errand, wishing to be by oneself, or intending to frighten somebody. That the unknown sailor did not seek solitude was probable, as he held the same course, and if he would frighten an intrepid person, who was not susceptible to superstition, he could find some better way. However he held his course onward towards the buoy, incessantly, doggedly pursued by the haunting boat to the leaward, still at such a distance, that it appeared only as condensed fog.

Upon coming farther out where the wind was stronger the mist seemed to grow somewhat thinner, and like long silver bullion lay the fog-silvered sunlight on the crests of the waves. With the rising of the wind the crying of the buoy increased, and now he steered straight into the sunlight where the mist had parted, and ran at highest speed towards the buoy. There it lay swinging on the wave, cinnabar-red and shining, moist as a taken-out lung with its great black windpipe pointed slanting upwards into the air. And when the wave next time compressed the air, it raised a cry, as though the sea roared after the sun, the bottom chain clinked until it had run out, and now when the waves sank and sucked back the air, there arose a roaring out of the depth as from the giant proboscis of a drowning mastodon.

It was the first mighty impression he had had after a month of prattle and trivialities.

He admired the genius of man, that had hung this buoy on the insidious wolf, the sea, that it should itself caution its defenseless victims. He envied this hermit, who was permitted to lie fettered to a bottom rock in the middle of the sea and with its roaring to beat the wind and wave day and night so that it could be heard miles around; to be the first to give the voyager a welcome to his land; and to wail forth its pain and be heard.

The sight was quickly passed, and the demi-darkness again closed round the boat, which now fell off towards the skerry for which he had started to rest. For half an hour he lay on the same tack until he heard the breakers beating on the strand; then he fell off to leeward and soon sped into a cove where he could land.

It was the last skerry outside the channel and consisted of a couple of acres of red gneiss without any vegetation other than a few lichens on places where the drifting ice had not scraped the rocks perfectly clean. Only sea gulls and mews had their resting place here, and now as the commissioner moored his boat and stepped up on the highest point of the skerry they gave forth cries of alarm. Here he wrapped himself in his blanket, and placed himself in a well-polished crevice, which made him a comfortable arm chair. Here, without witness, without auditors, he gave himself up to thoughts and let them loose, confessed himself, scrutinized himself inwardly and heard his own voice from within. Only two months of rubbing against other beings, and he had through the law of accommodation lost the better part of himself, had become used to acquiescing to avoid disputes, drilled himself to yield to avoid a break, and developed into a characterless, malleable, sociable fellow; with his head full of bagatelles and being urged to speak in an abbreviated, simplified vocabulary, he felt that his scale of language had lost its semi-tones, and that his thoughts had been switching in on old worn rails, which led back to the ballast place. Old lax sophisms about respecting others' belief, that everybody will be happy in his grime, had crept back into him, and he had from pure politeness performed as a wizard and finally got a dangerous competitor on his hands, who every moment threatened to liberate the only soul he would unite with his own.

A smile crossed his lips when he thought of how he had fooled these people, who believed they had fooled him: and with a subdued voice he involuntarily ejaculated, "asses," which made him start, frightened at the thought that somebody might have heard him.

And so the silent thoughts continued: They believed they had caught his soul, and he had caught them! They imagined that he went their errands, and they did not know that he used them as a gymnastical exercise for his soul and to feel the enjoyment of power.

But these thoughts, which he had not dared to acknowledge before as his own, proclaimed themselves now as the children of his soul, big, healthy children, whom he acknowledged as his own. And what had he done otherwise than the others had willed to do, but could not! And this young woman, who believed she had turned a hand organ for herself, did not suspect that she was selected to the sounding board of his soul....

At this moment he jumped up, and interrupted the course of his dangerous thoughts, for he plainly heard footsteps on the flat rocks in the fog, and although he at once guessed that it was an error of hearing, caused by the solitude and fear of being taken unawares, he turned his steps towards his boat. But when he found it in good condition, he decided to go around the skerry to search for the other boat, for there must be one here, since another being had come over. He climbed on the strand bowlders and soon found behind the next point on the lee side a boat with the same sprit sail rig, as he had seen out on the sea. It was thus evident that the sailor must be on the skerry, and now the commissioner began a razzia in the fog, but always kept in the neighborhood of the boats, so that he could cut off retreat. When after having cried out several times without getting an answer he finally saw that he must leave the boats in order to catch the mysterious being, he went down to the boats, and took off the tillers to make every escape impossible, and so he went into the mist again. He heard steps before him and followed them by the sound, but soon heard them in an entirely other direction. Tired of the hunt and provoked by the fruitlessness of the endeavors, he decided to make a short ending to the scene, as he had no mind to wait until the fog had disappeared.

With as loud a voice as he could command, he cried:

"If there is anybody there, answer, for I am going to shoot."

"Lord Jesus! Do not shoot!" was heard in the fog.

The commissioner seemed to have heard this voice before, but a very long time ago, perhaps in his youth. And now when he approached the place, where the unknown stood, and saw its silhouette outlines gray to gray, there awoke old memories of these contours of a human being. The inward bowed knees, the arms all too long and the deformed left shoulder had a counterpart picture in memory's storage of a schoolmate in the third class in the high school. But when he caught sight of the colporteur's American whiskers appearing through the mist, the picture did not correspond longer, and he only saw the man upon the rock, who had applied the Revelation to the mirage.

With a raised cap and a frightened look he approached the commissioner, who did not feel himself safe with this sneaking pursuer, for in reality he carried no firearms. To disguise his uncertainty he assumed a sharp tone, when he asked:

"Why do you hide from me?"

"I have not hidden myself, the mist did it," answered the preacher softly and insinuatingly.

"But why were you not sitting at the tiller in your boat?"

"Hm, I did not know that one was obliged to sit on the stern sheet and therefore I sat to windward to keep the boat buoyant! For you see I had a sheet on the end of the tiller such as we use up in Roslagen."

The explanations were acceptable, but still did not answer the question, why he followed the commissioner out here. And he felt now, that here must be a close fight of souls, for it was not by chance that they had met out here.

"What do you seek out here so early in the morning?" the commissioner took up the broken thread.

"Yes, how shall I say it, I feel sometimes, as though I am in need of being alone with myself." The answer found a certain echo in the questioner, and at the expression of sympathy, which the preacher could read in his face, he added:

"For, you see, when I search myself in meditation and prayer and find myself, even so I find my God."

A naïve confession lay in these words, but the commissioner would not translate the involuntary heresy and draw such conclusions as: God is thus my own self or in my own self, because he held a certain esteem for this man, who could be alone with a fiction, and thus to a certain degree alone.

While the commissioner regarded the preacher's face, which was overgrown with long brown whiskers except on the upper lip as sailors and colporteurs usually wear them, probably to let out the spoken word and still resemble an apostle, he seemed to perceive a face behind this face, and annoyed by this labor which his memory had unconsciously undertaken, he asked bluntly:

"Have we not met each other before?"

"Yes, certainly we have," answered the preacher; "and you, sir commissioner, have, perhaps without knowing it, had such a great influence on my life, that it might be said you determined my path."

"Oh, no! Tell me about it, for I do not remember it!" said the commissioner, and placing himself on the rock, he invited the other to sit down.

"Yes, it is certainly about twenty-five years ago that we were together in the third class at school ...

"What was your name then?" interrupted the commissioner.

"At that time I was called Olsson and nick-named Ox-Olle, because my father was a farmer and I was dressed in homespun clothes."

"Olsson? Wait a moment! You could reckon best of us all."

"Yes, so it was! But there came a day, and it was the principal's fiftieth birthday. We had dressed the school with leaves and flowers, and after the lessons were ended someone proposed that the boys in our class should take the bouquets and carry them home to the principal's wife and daughter. I remember that you thought it unnecessary as the family of the principal had nothing to do with the school, but often encroached on its affairs in a disturbing manner. However, you went--and so did I. As I walked up the steps, you caught sight of my homespun clothes I presume, and noticing that I carried the nicest bouquet, you burst out: 'Is Saul also among the prophets!'"

"That I have entirely forgotten," said the commissioner very shortly.

"But I never forgot it," responded the preacher with trembling voice. "I had had it thrown in my face, that I was the scabby sheep, the intruder, who could never seriously extend homage to a woman of station. I quit school in order to devote myself to business and thereby gain money and fine clothes quickly, and learn manners and refined language. But I never gained a first class position. My exterior, my language, my appearance were against me. Then I began to go alone by myself, and in the solitude I found powers growing in me which I had never suspected. Clergy-man I had first thought to be, but now it was too late. The solitude gave me fears of human beings, and these fears of human beings made me entirely alone, so alone that I must search for my only acquaintance in God, and in the Saviour of the neglected, the scabby, the outcasts, Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. This I have to thank you for!"

The last words were spoken with a certain bitterness, and the commissioner found it prudent to have fair play and broke out.

"Then you have gone on hating me for twenty-five years?"

"Excessively! But no longer since I have left the revenge to God."

"So, you have a God who revenges! Do you believe that He selects you for an implement, or do you think that he will let His electric spark strike me, or that He is going to blow over my boat or mark me with the smallpox?"

"The ways of the Lord are past knowing, but the ways of iniquity are manifest to everybody!"

"Do you see such gross iniquity in a boy's thoughtless talk, that God should persecute him a whole man's age? I wonder if that revenging God is not in your heart, where you lately insisted that you made appointments with Him?"

Snared by his own words the preacher could not longer control himself.

"You blaspheme! Now I know who you are! The apple does not fall far from the tree! Now I understand the whole craft of Satan. You build the Lord a house for a brothel as an offering to a harlot! You play wizard and magician to get people to fall down and worship the denier. But the Lord says: 'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie!'"

The last words he had thrown out with an incredible volubility and exaltation, without seeking for them elsewhere than on his lips, and just as though he feared a crushing answer which would weaken their impression, he turned his back and went down to his boat.

Meantime the mist had lifted, and the sea spread its pure blue water soothingly and acquittingly.

The commissioner remained awhile in his rocky chair, and meditated on the subjection of the soul under the same laws that govern the physical forces. The wind tore up a wave down on Esthonia; that wave chased another, and the last which transmitted the motion to the Swedish coast, removed a small pebble, which had afforded support to a rock; and after a man's age the results would be shown in the tumbling down of the rock; and this would be followed by a new undermining of the uncovered rock which now lay exposed.

His brain twenty-five years ago had thrown out what was to him a meaningless word, that word had penetrated an ear and put a brain into such a strong agitation that it still vibrated after having given direction to the whole life of a human being. And who knows, if this innervation current had not again been reënforced by contact and friction, so that it once more with invigorated force would unload itself and bring other counter forces into action, producing disturbances and destruction in the lives of others!

Now when the preacher's boat sped into sight round the point, bearing down to East Skerry, the commissioner got such a sure feeling that there sat a foe who was marching down to his forts, that he arose and went to his boat, to go home and place himself on the defensive.

* * * * *

When he was well seated in the boat and calmed by the gentle rocking of the waves, he was seized by a strong desire to still tarry a few hours on the sea in perfect solitude and let the last disquieting impressions blow away.

Why should he even fear this man's influence on his betrothed, as she would still show herself unsuited to a union for life, if she sunk back to a level with the uneducated. But nevertheless it grieved him that there existed this fear. It reminded of the behavior of those men, who were living in the fear of losses and which is stamped with the name jealousy. Was it the feeling of an inability to keep, which betrayed a frailness in him? Or was it not rather a frailness in her not to be able to retain a hold, when the balloon should ascend, leaving the sheet anchor religion, and throwing away the sacks of ballast, the feelings? Certainly the latter would have been the better way, notwithstanding they had got a certain authority with those, who had nothing to lose.

He now tacked and lay oft the skerry to south-east, a point from which he had not seen his prison before. Highest up on the hill he saw the skeleton of the unfinished chapel with its staging, but he did not see any laborers, although the morning was far advanced. He did not even notice any boats out fishing. There was on the whole a great stillness on the skerry, and no people were to be seen even by the custom house cottage or the pilots' outlook. He turned and stood on another tack to sail round the skerry. But when he came outside of the same, the sea became higher and he gained only a little by the tack, so it took a whole hour before he could scud down to the harbor. Now he saw the cottage where the ladles lived, and as soon as he had sped by the point of the harbor, he observed all the inhabitants of the island gathered round the house, on the porch of which the preacher stood bare-headed, speaking.

With a clear insight, that here impended a battle, he landed, furled the sail and went up to his chamber.

Through the open window he heard the people singing a hymn.

He would have liked now to sit down to his work, but the thought that maybe he would soon be interrupted, hindered him from beginning it.

A painful half hour passed during which he learned more plainly than ever before, that he did not own himself longer, did not rule over two square meters, on which he could lock himself up to avoid the touch of souls, which like barnacles on the whale's hide fastened themselves there to finally by their mass impede his motion.

The door opened now after a short knock, and Miss Mary stood before him, with a new expression in her face, resembling pained reproach and superior compassion.

She came besides with the feeling of being backed by the universal opinion of the people, and therefore felt strong against this solitary man.

He let her speak first so as to have a point to start from.

"Where have you been?" commenced she with an attempt not to sound too arrogant.

"I have been out for a sail!"

"Without inviting me?"

"I did not know that you were particular about that!"

"Yes, you did know it, but surely you would be alone with your dark thoughts!"

"Perhaps!"

"Certainly! Don't you think that I have observed it? Don't you believe that I have seen how you are becoming tired of me?"

"Have I proved tired of you, I who follow you day in and day out, though on a morning, when you usually are asleep, I took the liberty to sail for a couple of hours? But maybe you have become tired of learning to fish, for I have not seen you once out at sea."

"It is not the time to fish now as you well know," answered Miss Mary fully persuaded that she spoke the truth.

"No, I see that!" interposed the commissioner with the purpose of approaching the very mine, with the risk of an explosion. "I see how the people abandon their work to listen to sermons...."

Now an eruption was ready.

"Was it not you, who wished to have a church out here?"

"Yes, Sundays. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh go to church. Here no work is done any day, but there is preaching every day. And instead of making themselves and families an honest income here on this earth, they all race after such an uncertain thing as heaven. The very laborers on the chapel have left their work, so that we shall never see a roof on that church, and I expect every moment to hear that poverty has broken out, so that we must be prepared for charity...."

"That is just what I was going to speak about," interrupted Miss Mary, glad to have avoided taking up the subject herself, still overlooking that it was exhausted in advance by the commissioner.

"I have not come here to exercise charity; I am here to teach the people how to get along without charity."

"You are at the bottom a heartless person, although you appear to be otherwise."

"And you would show your big heart at my expense without being willing to offer a yard of the trimming from your gown."

"I hate you! I hate you!" burst out the girl with a hideous expression on her face. "Surely I know who you are, I know all, all, all!"

"Well, why not leave me then?" asked the commissioner in a steel cold tone.

"I shall leave you! I shall!" cried she and approached the door, but without going.

The commissioner, who had taken a seat at the table, took up a pen and began to write to avoid all temptation of taking up a conversation, which was ended, as everything had been said.

He heard, as in a dream, sobbing and how the door closed, how steps sounded in the hall, and squeakings of the stairs.

When he awoke and read the paper, over which his pen had been flying, he saw that the word Pandora was written there so many times, that he could calculate that a long while had passed since the scene was ended.

But the word struck him, and his inquisitiveness awoke as to its meaning, which he during the lapse of years had forgotten, although he had a faint memory about it from the mythology. He took his dictionary from the table, opened it and read:

"Pandora, the Eve of the ancients, the earth's first woman. Sent by the gods for revenge on account of Prometheus having stolen the fire, and given it to human beings, with all its misfortunes, after which they inhabitated the earth. Represented in poesy under the form of something good, which is an evil illusion, a creation, intended for deceit and surprise."

This was mythology like the tale of Eve, who debarred human beings from Paradise. But when the tale was confirmed from century to century and he had learned himself, how the presence of a woman on this little piece of earth out in the sea had already made dusk, where he would spread light, then there must have lain an idea in the Hellenic and Jewish poet's figurative style.

That she hated him, that he felt and knew, as she took sides with the low crowd down there, but, nevertheless he would not doubt her love, even if this love only consisted of the dandelion's attraction to the sun to borrow beams of light for a poor imitation of the yellow disk. But there existed besides something low as in that which is base, something evil with the desire to injure, a battle for power, which was out of place, as his aim was a victory over the irrational. To tell her this, yes, that would be to break the relation when this depended on his submission or at least his acknowledging her superiority, and this would be to build a life on a white lie, which would grow, wax and perhaps smother all possibility of an honest cohabitation. Just in this lay the deepest reason of all the relative misfortunes of marriage, that the man goes into the union sometimes with a willful lie, often the prey of an hallucination, when he fancies his ego into the being whom he would assimulate. Of this illusion; _second sight,_ Mill had become infatuated to such a degree, that he believed he got all his sharp thoughts from the simple woman whom he had lifted up to himself.

It was love's prize from time immemorial, that the man should conceal what the woman was, and on this secrecy centuries had built a chaos of lies, which science did not dare to disturb, which the bravest statesmen did not dare to touch and which cause the theologian to deny his Paul, when it comes to "women in the churches."

But his love had just begun and taken fire, when he saw her look up to him with beseeching glances; and that love had fled, when she came with the vanquishing smile of stupidity after having trampled down what he would have formed for her happiness and that of many others.

"Ended!" said he to himself, arose and locked the door.

Ended with his youthful hopes of finding the woman he sought. "That woman, who was born with the sense to see her sex's inferiority to the other sex."

He had certainly now and then met one or another, who admitted the fact, but who finally and always reserved themselves as to the reason of the fact, laying the blame on a non-existing oppression, and promising themselves that with greater liberty they would soon surpass the men; and then the battle was in full sway.

He would not wear out his intelligence in an uneven fight with mosquitoes, whom he could not hit with a cane, because they were too small and too many, therefore there must now be an end forever to this fruitless searching after the non-existing. He would let all his power go out in labor, lay aside kin, family, home and sexual impulses and leave the multiplying to other "reproductive animals."

The feeling of being free placed his soul at rest, and it seemed to him as though a pall had lost its hold in his brain, which began to operate without concern. The thought that he did not need more to make his exterior agreeable, caused him to lay aside a certain kind of collar which annoyed him, but which his bethrothed had explained to be _chic._ He arranged his hair in a more comfortable manner and observed how it calmed his nerves, for he had been in constant strife about the coiffure his betrothed liked best. The tobacco pipe which he loved as an old acquaintance and which he had been obliged to lay aside, was taken out again, the dressing gown and moccasins, that he had not dared to use for a long time, again gave freedom from pressure, which reminded of a more airy medium In which he could breathe without difficulty, and think without restriction.

And now, freed from all these accommodation constraints, he observed what tyranny even in small details he had lived through. He could walk in his room without the fear of being embarrassed by a knock at the door, deliver himself up to his thoughts without feeling himself false.

He had not long enjoyed the newly gained liberty, when somebody rapped at the door. His body jarred as though some mooring still held him, and when he heard the mother's voice, the oppressing thought struck him like a club, that it was not ended, that it must begin over again.

His first intention was to let the door remain closed, but a sense of propriety, the fear of being regarded as a coward determined him to open it. And when he saw the old lady's cheerful, prudent eye, as she with a kind smile and a roguish shake of her head stepped in, it was to him as though the last half hour's scene had been only a dream after which he had awakened glad that it was past.

"Have we now squabbled again?" commenced the old lady, taking away the disagreeableness of the remark by the familiar _we_. "You must get married, children, before there is a rupture I Believe an old woman's word; and don't think that you test your hearts as engaged, for the longer you are engaged, the worse it will become!"

"But after that it is too late to break it," answered the commissioner. "And when one has already discovered such a difference in disposition and opinions, so...."

"What are these opinions? You cannot have different opinions, no, though the girl did have it lonesome when Axel was away, and therefore she run after the colporteur. And as far as disposition is concerned, it comes and goes, according to the condition of the nerves. And Axel, who is such a knowing man, ought to know how women are!"

He could have kissed her hand at the first enchantment of finding that woman, who knew her own sex, but then he remembered that he had heard this manner of speaking ill about other women each time a woman would gain him, and that it was more of flattery than an admission, for when it came to earnestness, the utterance was always taken back with interest. Therefore he limited himself to answering:

"Let time pass, little mother! Get married out here I cannot, but let us only return to the city in the fall ... supposing that Mary shows more sympathy in my work and less repugnance to my way of seeing the world and living."

"Axel is so dreadfully profound, and if a poor girl cannot always follow it, why it is nothing to be astonished at."

"Yes, but if she cannot follow me upwards, I cannot on the other hand follow her downwards; but the latter seems to be her precise will, so precise, that it appears to me to-day, as though there lay a hidden hate behind it."

"Hate? It is only love, my friend! Come down now and say something friendly, and she will be all right again."

"Never, after the words we exchanged to-day! For either these words mean something and then we are foes, or they mean nothing, and then one of the party is irresponsible."

"Yes, she is irresponsible, but Axel should well know that a woman is a child until she becomes a mother. Come now, my friend, and play with' the child, otherwise she will select other playthings, which may be more dangerous."

"Yes, but, dearest, I cannot play the whole day without being tired, and I do not believe either that Mary is pleased to be treated as a child."

"Yes, she is, only it don't look so! Ah, what a child Axel is in such affairs!"

Again a politeness, which from anyone but a mother-in-law would have been an insult! And when she now took his hand to lead him out, he felt all resistance cease. She had by leaving his argument unanswered led the conversation away from the question; she had blown at the skein instead of untangling it, caressed his doubts to rest and stroked away the disquiet and by her womanly atmosphere, her motherly manner got him to lay aside his will and personal liberty.

And after he had changed his coat, he followed obediently, almost with pleasure the incessantly chatting old lady down the staircase to continue the play and put on handcuffs.

Upon reaching the hall he met the preacher, who delivered a letter to him with the Academy of Agriculture's stamp.

The commissioner broke the seal on the spot, and put the letter in his pocket, as though glad he had got something, a substitute for conversation, a lightning rod; he burned to communicate the news to the mother who was waiting.

"We are going to have a visitor," said he.

"The officials have sent me a young man who wants to learn to fish."

"So, it is delightful that Axel is going to have some man for company," said the mother with true sincerity.

And the commissioner went with light steps down to his waiting betrothed, sure that with a novelty on hand he could immediately pass over the most disagreeable of explanations.

CHAPTER TENTH

A few days later, the commissioner had been out sailing alone to lay down salmon trails secretly, and now after having delayed his dinner hour as he went up from the harbor, he heard chatting and laughter from the porch of the ladies cottage. Without intending to listen he went thither, and when he reached the westerly gable wall, he saw through the two windows in the large chamber, which were in the angle of the cottage corner, that the two ladies were eating dinner on the porch and had a male visitor at the table. He took a step forwards and caught sight of Miss Mary, who with sparkling eyes raised a glass of wine to pass it over the table to the guest, of whom he only saw a pair of broad shoulders. Suddenly it came to him, that he had seen these movements and expressions before in the girl's eyes, and he remembered her first appearance on the islet, when she treated the boatman to a glass of beer, and he had thought she coquetted with the churl! But now he was astonished, that he had never seen this expression in her eyes, when she looked at him. Could her glances only have reflected his? Or did she always hide her inner-most thoughts from him, who should be her victim?

He regarded her for a moment, and the longer he looked, the more strange seemed the expression in the girl's face, so strange, that he became frightened, as when one discovers a deceit in his nearest related.

When one can see so much, when not seen, what then shall one not hear? he thought and stopped behind the corner to listen.

The mother arose now and went into the kitchen, so that the young couple were left alone.

At the same time they lowered their voices, and Miss Mary's glances became humid, while she listened to the stranger's passionately spoken words.

"Jealousy is the dirtiest of all vices, and in love there does not exist any right of ownership...."

"Thanks for these words! A thousand thanks!" said Miss Mary, and raised her glass, while her eyes were moist with some half-shed tears. "You are a real man, although you are young, for you believe in woman."

"I believe in woman as the most magnificent the creation has brought forth, the best and the truest," continued the young man with rising transport.

"And I believe in her, because I believe in God!"

"You believe in God?" Miss Mary continued.

"It shows that you are also intelligent, for it is only stupidity that denies the creator!"

The commissioner considered that he had heard enough, and to see at the same time how great the power of dissimulation his chosen friend for life could possess, he stepped forth suddenly, after he had gained control of all his facial muscles and assumed a beaming expression, as though he was charmed to see again his desired one.

The girl retained the expression of enchanted revelry in her face, and with the same fire as the just expressed confession of faith in women had produced she received her betrothed's embrace and returned it with a kiss, more burning than ever before.

Thereafter she jokingly introduced Assistant Blom, who had arrived early in the morning and had gained all hearts on the skerry, being a fisherman unequaled before.

"And we were just talking about the herring off Bohus, when you came and disturbed us!" the girl ended the presentation with.

The commissioner let the lie, and the dangerous word "disturbed" and the challenge "all hearts" pass, while he reached his hand to a giant youth of about twenty and some years, who had less ability to dissimulate, and with a guilty look grasped the outstretched hand, and stuttered a few incomprehensible words.

At the same time the mother came out, greeted her future son-in-law and began to arrange the table.

A conversation was soon started, and Miss Mary, very likely in the feeling of having a support, began to joke at her betrothed's toilet.

"That veil there, is precious you know," joked she; "you should also have a parasol when you are sitting at the helm."

"That will come, that will come," answered the commissioner, hiding the disagreeable impression which this exposure before a subordinate and a stranger had made on him.

The assistant, who already felt himself above the considerate foreman, but still could not help feeling uncomfortable at the cruel treatment he received, was seized with a tactless compassion, and drumming with his long fingers on the veil, which the commissioner wore on his hat, he said:

"Yes, but this here is very practical!" And hastily falling again into the flirting manner he had begun at the first moment, he added: "And if Miss Mary were just as careful of her beautiful complexion...."

"As you about your beautiful hands--" slipped from the girl, while she touched the hand that rested on the table and which was rolling balls from bread; and she seemed at once to be back in the humor, which her betrothed could guess had prevailed the whole forenoon.

Feeling himself ridiculous like one who is eating alone in the presence of those who are satisfied, he needed all his nerve power to disguise the depression which the overheard conversation had produced. "They already compliment each other's members in my presence," thought he with loathing. But perceived at once, that he would be lost if he showed a single sign of discontent over the improper behavior, which discontent would immediately be stamped as that dirty vice, he had lately heard spoken of.

"The assistant has indeed an unusually beautiful hand bespeaking intelligence," said he, as with the mien of a connoisseur he examined the object of his betrothed's admiration.

But she, who did not wish for this agreement with her views, switched aside and searched for a new lash for his supposed stupidity.

"One cannot speak of intelligent hands," she broke out with a laugh, which sounded somewhat tipsy.

"Therefore I use the more correct expression of bespeaking intelligence...."

"Oh, you philosopher!" scornfully laughed the girl. "You dream, so that you do not see that we have eaten up all the radishes from you."

"I am glad that the traveler has a relish, and I see with pleasure that you have forestalled me in caring for his well being," said the commissioner, unconstrainedly. "Permit me to give you a welcome, Assistant Blom, and wish you much pleasure from your sojourn here in the solitude. And now I leave you in Miss Mary's care, she can give you all the preliminary explanations about fishing affairs; meantime I go up and rest myself. Farewell, my dove," he turned to the girl; "now take care of the young man and lead him in the right path. Good night, mama," he addressed to the widow of the exchequer officer and kissed her hand.

His sortie had come entirely unexpected, while its adequate motive and rounded form, leaving no trace of ill feeling, had saved him from protests and at the same time gave him the last word and a superiority which was grudged him.

* * * * *

Upon reaching his chamber, he had only time to be astonished that "the fear of loss" could bring him such incredible ability to dissimulate, suppress disagreeable perceptions, to harden himself, before he was lying on the sofa with a blanket over his head and sleeping without dreams. When he awoke after a couple of hours, he arose with a resolve, which he felt that he would hold fast to for life, to free himself from this woman.

But just as she through habit had eaten her way into his soul, so she could only be gnawed out the same way again, and the vacant place that he would leave in her, must first be filled by another. By him, whose soul had seemed to set her on fire at the first encounter.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

It was the preacher, who with many excuses stepped in and with some abashment tried to grind out what he had to say.

"Has not the commissioner," began he, "noticed anything like that the people out here have less conscience."

"That I observed at once," answered the commissioner. "What is it that has happened now?"

"Yer, see the laborer on the chapel say, they, have lost boards, so that there isn't enough to finish it."

"This does not surprise me, but what have I to do with that?"

"Yer, see, the commissioner was for it and procured what was necessary!"

"That was then! Now I have regretted it, since I have seen that your preaching has taken the people from their work and indirectly made them thieves."

"One cannot directly say...."

"No, therefore I said indirectly! But if you want money, go to somebody else. Tell me one thing; who is the new assistant here?"

"Yer, he has been a sea cadet, they say, you know, and now he would learn fishing as his father is rich, they say, you know."

The commissioner had placed himself at the window, when the conversation commenced, and witnessed now how Miss Mary and the assistant were playing lawn tennis. He had even seen how her gown had lifted in the front every time she leaned backwards to serve the other's ball. Now he saw how the assistant jokingly bent down when the skirt drew up, just as though by gesture and mien to indicate that he saw something.

"Listen now," he said, "I have long thought that it would be of great service for the people's best economy, if there was a provision store, so that the people need not row to the city for their purchases, and it might even be possible, that the merchant could advance them provisions, and sell their fish. What does Mr. Olsson say about it?"

The preacher stroked his long chin whiskers, while his face expressed a mass of shifting desires and changes of mind.

The commissioner now saw through the window, how the assistant had climbed the pole of the lookout and swung horizontally out by his arms, while Miss Mary clapped her hands below him.

"Yes, say, Mr. Olsson, if one could get a provision store here, it would only do good."

"But see, the commonwealth will hardly permit it, unless one could get a storekeeper that could be relied on, I mean a person who...."

"We will take a religious man and let a share in the benefit go to the chapel fund; thus we get both the commonwealth and the home mission on our side."

The face of the preacher now cleared up.

"Yes, in such a way it may work!"

"Yes, think of the subject and try to get a suitable person, who will not fleece the people nor wrong the church. Think of it awhile. Now to another subject: I think I have observed that morality stands somewhat low here on the skerry. Has Mr. Olsson seen or suspected, that matters are not as they ought to be down at Vestman's?"

"Hm! Yes, they say, of course, that there is something, but that one does not know! And I do not believe that one need to mix in it!"

"Do you say that! But I wonder, if one ought not to interfere in time, before they betray themselves, for such things generally end ill out here!"

The preacher did not seem at all willing to stir in the case; either he did not find it worth talking about, or he would not offend the people. Besides, his sickly looks seemed to absorb all his thoughts in his own suffering, so that he with a thwart turn took up his real errand.

"Yes, and so I should like to ask if the commissioner had something to give me, for I think I have got the fever and ague out here in the dampness."

"Ague? Let me see!"

On the impulse of the moment and without forgetting for an instant, that it was a foe who challenged, the commissioner examined the patient's pulse, looked at his tongue and the whites of his eyes and was ready with his prescription.

"Have you poor board at Oman's?"

"Yes, it is wretched," answered the preacher.

"You have malnutrition and shall have food from my table. Have you sworn off all strong drinks?"

"Oh, yes; however, I take a glass of beer...."

"Yes, here you have a preparation of china to commence with, which you are to take three times a day. When it is gone let me know."

Therewith he gave him a bottle of china bitters, after which he took the preacher's hand and said:

"You shall not hate me, Mr. Olsson, for we have great common interests, although we go different ways. If I can be of any service to you, I am ready whenever you wish it."

Such a simple manner as a little plausible good will was enough to pervert the sight of the simple man, so that he believed he had found a friend. With sincere feeling he reached out his hand and stammered:

"You have done me ill once, but God has turned it to good, and now I say thanks for everything and beg the commissioner not to forget about the provision store and the commonwealth."

"I shall not forget that!" finished the commissioner and made a gesture for him to go.

After having collected himself for a moment he went down on the hill to search for the assistant, whom he found engaged in a fencing exercise with Miss Mary, whose wrist and upper arm he took great pains to render as flexible as necessary for a nice guard position.

The commissioner after having complimented them begged to apologize for having troubled them, but he must speak with the assistant about his lodging.

"There does not exist any vacant chamber on the whole skerry except the attic room over the ladies' rooms," said he with a daring, as though he had made every effort to find another.

"No, that won't do!" cried Miss Mary.

"Why not?" argued the commissioner. "What is the obstacle? There is only that room; in case Mr. Blom should have mine, then I must live in the same house as the ladies, and that would not do at all."

As there was no other choice, the matter was settled, and the assistant's baggage was carried up.

"Now to duty!" continued the commissioner, after it had become calm again. "The stromling have come, and in eight days the fishing will commence. Therefore the assistant must at once, preferably to-night, while this wind continues, go out and try the drifting nets, as he already knows how."

"May I go too?" begged Miss Mary, imitating a child's squeaking voice.

"Certainly you may do that, my angel," answered the commissioner, "if Mr. Blom has nothing against it. But you must excuse me that I leave you alone now, for I must write reports the whole night. At one o'clock you must be out. You can take the coffeepot with you."

"Oh, won't that be fun, such fun!" exulted the girl, who seemed to have become ten years younger.

"And now I go to order a boat equipped and get the nets ready. Look out and go to bed early to-night, so that you will not oversleep."

Therewith he went away, surprised over the incredulous surety, with which he forced his own will, since he had left an impossible defense and gone over to the offensive.

For the first time he entered the cottage of the hostile fisherman Oman.

He noticed at once that there was a coldness and repugnance, but he was so precise in his questions and orders, that everything bent before him. He threw in some kindly questions about the children; promised that there would soon be better times on the skerry, and he would undertake all the risk himself, threw in a word about the provision store, and reminded the people to keep barrels and salt in readiness, and if they had not the money to buy with, they could have it advanced. He left as a friend to all and must promise at once to send down some strong medicine to the father who had taken cold.

Thereafter he went down to the boat houses and selected nets with strong floats and strings. Examined the best boat, and ordered out two able boys.

When he had finished the preparatory work, the bell rang for supper in the ladies' cottage.

At the supper table he spoke with the mother, while the young people, as he now called them, were devouring each other with their eyes; squabbling and pushing, as if their bodies were irresistibly attracted towards each other.

"Should you leave the two alone like that?" whispered the mother to him, when he had said good night to retire.

"Why not? If I show myself dissatisfied, then I become ridiculous, and if I do not show dissatisfaction..."

"So you will be still more ridiculous!"

"Thus; in either case. It is immaterial consequently what stand I take! Good night, mama!"

CHAPTER ELEVENTH

It had rained for eight days after the first trial with the drifting nets, which had passed without other results than a little scene between the engaged pair. The commissioner, who very well knew that there were no fish to get, as he had purposely led the young folks astray, had gone down to the beach to receive the home-coming fishers and had then been called idiot by his betrothed, who was entirely worn out by being up all night. When the boatmen snickered at this secretly, the commissioner, who feared a storm, had come between with a joke. At the dinner table the sport at the new method of fishing had taken wider range, and the commissioner had played deep humiliation so that Mr. Blom had several times regarded it his duty to defend him in a manner extremely wounding.

The rainy days following this had kept the company in doors, whereby an extremely intimate intercourse had formed down in the ladies' cottage, where the assistant had introduced the habit of reading aloud from the Swedish poets. The commissioner had at the beginning listened to it, but finally left with the explanation that Swedish poesy was written for confirmation classes and ladies and that he would wait, until there came a poet, who would write for men. He had then by common vote been declared unpoetical, at which he was satisfied, as it relieved him from the duty of being present at the seances.

The rainy weather had caused even the work on the chapel to stop, and the laborers were sitting in the cottages and furnishing the gin to what coffee they could get.

The colporteur, who could not gather the people out on the slope, passed the first days in the kitchen and would have read out of the Bible, but was received with indifference and fell into dispute with the laborers, who were mostly free thinkers. Whereupon he had withdrawn to his chamber, explaining that he was sick and he sent to the commissioner for the china preparation, as his bottle was emptied. Suddenly he had disappeared and it was said that he had gone with a steamer to the city.

He had now returned, the evening before, to the skerry, accompanied by a man, whom he called his brother and who brought a boat load of divers articles, mostly beer, which was packed up in a boat house, in the open door of which a plank on two barrels served as a counter, as the commonwealth wealth had permitted the opening of a provision store.

During the past few days fishing folks had commenced to gather from the islands near the mainland. And now the boat houses were opened where whole families were harbored, the cottages were filled with relations and acquaintances, and on the whole skerry there was a life, which strangely contrasted with the usual solitude.

As the skerry and the fishing waters belonged to a private individual in on the mainland, every boat paid a certain duty which was collected by an overseer who was sent here. With this overseer the commissioner had at once got on a bad footing, when he would speak about fishing with drifting nets, which would be followed by the abandoning of the shoals, and thereby the water tax would cease. But even this apparently unfavorable circumstance he had known how to turn to his benefit; for the overseer, when opposing the new method, was urged to propagate the old system by means of gin and would thereby against his will form the dark background, against which the effects of fishing with drifting nets would stand out in bolder magnificence. And the commissioner was perfectly sure of his victory, as night and day he had been sampling the water, dredging, fishing, and with his water telescope investigating the depths to find out where the shoals of fish were moving.