C. F. van der Velde

“ I pity you, poor youth, but your case cannot be helped!'
'I do not yet give up every hope,' said Arwed. 'They dare not murder Goertz without a trial, and if they will but give him a fair one he must be acquitted.'
'Do you think so?' murmured the old man; 'so do not we think here in Stockholm, and all Sweden cries out guilty against him.'
'The voice of the people is not always the voice of God,' said Arwed. 'I still trust in holy justice. But I have a favor to ask of you, my father. The baron's daughter wishes to see her father. ”

“ By heavens! it makes one wish to become a gipsy for the pleasure of possessing them."
"This masking is not to my taste," replied Tausdorf. "The burning eyes that sparkle from the fixed black faces have to me something almost supernatural. The open brow, and an open heart whether in joy or grief, are what I love."
"I understand you, my poor knight," said Francis mockingly. "You are already in the cage, and dare no longer take any pleasure in a handsome face, at least not show it, lest your lady wife should be angry, and hold a criminal court upon her faithless shepherd." ”

“ Divide the fruit and send it in the name of Daura to Ryno and Aliande. As soon as you hear that they are dead, bring their bodies here and lay them by the corpse of your wife. Then tear out their hearts and burn them with the wood of the tree. When the fire shall have destroyed the last fibre, Hiorba will expire with dreadful torments. I shall then be free and eternally grateful.'
'I am yours!' cried Idallan, cautiously proceeding to the sleeping chamber of the unhappy Daura, with the magic wand in one hand and his dagger in the other. A mysterious light preceded the monster's steps. ”

“ Christine kissed his hand in silence, and then leaned, weeping, against a tree.
'Yes! children are the gift of heaven!' said the old man to Arwed, 'and the joys they bring us are the best in life. But when they are given in anger, they become the most terrible scourges in his hands, through the sorrows they cause.'
He walked slowly towards the castle, and Christine suddenly approached Arwed, threw her arms passionately around him, impressed a burning kiss upon his lips, and sobbed, 'farewell, Arwed,--do not despise me! ”

“ I have, indeed, some influence with my father, especially since I am his only son; and, if I were to run the risk of his anger and put in a good word, I might at least, perhaps, gain you a short delay, and time gained, all is gained."
"Comfort often comes from where it is least expected," stammered Althea, looking at him with anxious doubt. "You, Mr. Christopher,--you have a heart for my sorrows?"
"What man of my years would not have a heart for so fair a lady?" replied Christopher, smiling; "but it is only death that can be had for nothing; life is expensive. ”

“ From your colonel's own mouth have I heard quite a different speech, and I shall go and ask him if he is about to give the lie to his own words.'
'First go to your own chamber as an arrested prisoner,' said the captain, with a smile of contempt; 'until I have had you tried for your rebellious speech. Lead him forth!' commanded he to the guards. 'Lock him up, watch him sharply, and if he attempts to escape shoot him down.'
'Eternal justice, judge and avenge!' cried Fessel, as the soldiers dragged him away. ”

“ You hope I shall pardon you in another world! It is possible I may, if in that world earthly conceptions of honor disappear, and a woman without virtue is no longer a disgrace to her sex.'
'Will you not make an attempt,' asked Arwed, 'to tear the poor victim from her seducer? Let us seek her! Your arm reaches further than she can have flown in the course of the night.'
'Why should I?' said the governor, with listless anger. 'Should I bring her back, I should be compelled to take the life of the villain, whose wife she already is in the sight of God, and she would have nothing left on earth. ”

“ You have solemnly sworn it to us, and must redeem your word, that God may one day not forget you in your dying hour."
"Leave us alone," said Francis to the jailer; and when the latter had gone, he exclaimed to Agatha, "What would you have of me? You ask help of one who is himself most helpless. Would I be here, if I had the influence which you attribute to me?"
"Your father is all-powerful in this city," cried Agatha, wringing her hands. "It is a trifle for him to help the man who is now to suffer for having saved your life."
"My father's hands are bound by the bishop and the furious nobles. ”

“ We are all clay in the hands of the Potter. The Spirit has just seated himself near the board in order to make a king. To that eminence will I raise thee up; for thou art a brave warrior, and moreover a handsome youth, and wilt administer the government with power and mildness, for the welfare of all.'
'Ah! do not propose such pranks to me,' said Alf. 'You have others more suitable for that office than I; and besides, Johannes Bockhold would make a powerful opposition to my mounting the throne.'
'Johannes Bockhold,' answered Tuiskoshirer, 'is a feather in the breath of my mouth. ”

“ Then will I follow you to Gyllensten, or where else you please, patiently, as a lamb follows its mother. Do not this time say no. It is the last request I shall ever make of you.'
'So all-powerful is the magic of this singular being,' said Arwed to the judge, 'that she compels me to consent to what I ought to refuse. Yours is a sad case, Christine; you might have prepared an earthly heaven for some worthy man, through your love.'
'That she might!' cried Mac Donalbain, agonized with sorrow and repentance, 'that she might, had she not thrown away her love upon me. ”

“ Come with me, brother Tausdorf; it is still far from evening, and you have not got a messenger to send to Bögendorf."
"I am no player," said the knight, excusing himself.
"Nor I, brother," replied Francis, and took Tausdorf's arm familiarly in his; "at least I don't love this push-pin work. It is another thing when one can stake life and limb upon the hazard; then, indeed, I am for you. But we'll not bowl, only look on and see how the poor devils fag themselves for a paltry stake. Come along."
"Do as he wishes, to avoid strife," whispered Althea; "but get away from him as soon as you can." ”

“ So near the source of eternal truth, I may now speak the truth to you. I have loved you, Arwed, loved you with all the powers of my passionate soul, from the moment when you stood before me in the knight's hall in the full perfection of youth and manliness. But this love was my misery, for I was already secretly married. The caprices with which I often tormented you, alas, they came from a bleeding heart! At Ravensten did Mac Donalbain's infamous profession first become fully clear to me, and I made every possible effort to withdraw him from it. But the chains of vice hold strong! ”

“ As he approached Trutlinger's house he was not a little astonished to find some of the yeomen of the guard, in the green and ash-colored livery, before the house door, holding some saddle horses. A milk white palfrey with costly trimmings and a purple gold-embroidered covering, particularly attracted his attention. Anxious to learn what it all meant, he walked into the parlor, where he encountered Tuiskoshirer and the lord steward Dilbek, in their court dresses.
'Hail, hail! prosperity has befallen thee, my brother!' cried the little prophet, ardently embracing him. ”

“ We will not make war upon you without the emperor's order, but your Schweidnitz shall henceforth be like a town, in which the pest rages. Woe to our serfs if they dare to bring you provisions; woe to your citizens if they dare to go beyond their walls; woe to yourselves if you are caught upon our land and soil. You shall see with terror that we know how to administer justice in our way: as a pledge of it I leave you my gauntlet. Whichever of you has courage enough may bring it after me. I will wait an hour for the messenger on the borders of your territory. ”

“ Read the letter for me, dear Arwed.'
He read:
'I esteem the memory of the renowned and unfortunate baron von Goertz too much to receive without emotion the intelligence that there is yet remaining one of those children who were made orphans by the tyranny and shocking injustice of the queen Ulrika Eleonore and of the persons who presided in her courts and councils. His innocent blood has remained too long unavenged. Sweden, through long, unhappy, desolating, distracting years, has paid the tribute demanded by the anger of heaven for the crime committed against a great and unfortunate man. ”

“ Deeper glowed the flush upon the blooming faces of the youth and maiden; constantly brisker and more radiantly moved their eyes; with constantly increasing warmth were their kisses given and received. The journeymen, rejected by the grieving Clara, could only keep to the goblet, until, overcome by Bacchus, they staggered one after the other to their places of rest. Alf and Eliza remained quietly sitting at table, as much occupied with each other as if there had been nobody else in the world. Leaning sadly upon her arm, Clara looked through her tears upon the happy pair. ”

“ But the weary animal made only a few weak efforts, and fell back again into his short trot, interrupted by frequent stumbles, while the sound of horses' feet kept constantly nearing.
"It is then a struggle for life or death!" cried Tausdorf; drew his sword, and his left hand grasped his holster-pistols.
"Stop, murderer, stop!" cried the first horseman, springing forward. "You are our prisoner. Follow us to Schweidnitz."
"Keep yourselves out of harm's way, good people," cried Tausdorf, turning round his horse: "I am well armed, and have nothing to do with you." ”

“ Christine gave Arwed an imploring look, but neither moved nor spoke.
The old man knit his eye-brows. His eyes flashed, and he angrily lifted up his hands. 'Shall I curse my disobedient child?' he thundered in her ears.
'Father!' groaned Christine, sinking to his feet.
'No further, my uncle!' cried Arwed, with generous anger. 'I should not deserve the name of a man if I could permit a noble maiden to be forced into my arms by a father's curse. The first severe word addressed to your daughter on my account, banishes me forever from Gyllensten. ”

“ Whosoever is not born of water and of the Spirit cannot enter into the kingdom of God. One king over us, one God, one Faith, one Baptism. At Munster, 1534.'
'That is God's government, may it soon extend over the whole world!' sighed Tuiskoshirer, most religiously rolling up his eyes.
'Under these kings we shall soon arrive at the pinnacle of prosperity!' exclaimed Eliza, turning over the money in Alf's hand. On the other side, the wild inspired face of the prophet, in his kingly dress, boldly cut and well resembling the original, presented itself to the eyes of the beholder. ”

“ Therefore pray a short farewell prayer, for we are Christians."
"Mercy!" groaned Christopher piteously. "I cannot pray. Take half my wealth as an atonement, but do not kill me."
"Ay!" retorted the mask, with cold sternness. "You and your whole race, with all your gold, would not outweigh the single head of the noble Tausdorf, whom your iniquity has slaughtered. There can be no talk between us of mercy or atonement, but of well-earned retribution: therefore, away with you, scoundrel! away to death!" ”

“ Arwed fell upon his knee before him, and clasping his hand exclaimed, 'give me Georgina for my wife, my father. She needs strong support in her trying situation, and I feel myself capable of affording it to her.'
'Even now?' cried Goertz, heartily embracing the youth, 'thou true heart! But I must still answer with a decided negative. The only sprout of one of the noblest houses of Sweden must never, under any circumstances, connect himself with the daughter of a condemned and dishonored traitor, whose body must moulder under the gallows.'
His voice was broken by the excess of his feelings. ”

“ The mad trash, invented by the dry brains of the poetasters to tickle your nobles, is for them poison. There it is they learn to build up air-castles in the midst of reality--there it is that they find every passion painted in fine colours, and, before they dream of it, their honour is gone, and--God deliver us!--their eternal salvation also."
"I give you my word," at length stammered Francis, "that Agatha's honour shall one day be redeemed before the world."
"You!" cried Onophrius,--"a husband! Heaven have mercy on us! ”

“ After a pause, shaking his head, he observed, 'I only wish to know what delight men can find in what is called love?'
'It is indeed the greatest happiness in life, your majesty,' answered Arwed with enthusiasm.
'It would not be well for me that it should be so, for then should I have missed the greatest good,' said the king. 'Yet will a place in history always remain to me, and fame with posterity!' He walked to the chimney, and, collecting the coals together with his foot, observed, 'I will cause her father to be written to. I will speak to Goertz myself. ”

“ Before the aloe, whose flowers seemed to burn in the evening red, stood Tausdorf, sunk in its contemplation.--"The plant is to be envied," he said to Rasselwitz; "he dies well, who, like it, dies at the moment of reaching the pinnacle of strength and beauty; and I could almost wish that such a death might one day be to myself."
"How earnestly and gravely you take every thing," replied Rasselwitz--"nay gloomily too! For my part, it is precisely when I got to the pinnacle that I should feel most eager to live on, because it is then that life is gayest. When one is gone, the best pleasure is over ”

“ But my whole life has been nothing but a long chain of frustrated wishes and abortive plans. The myrtle-wreath was torn from my brow, the laurel withers even while I grasp it, and I have failed to obtain the cypress crown.'
'Is the war over?' asked the uncle.
'For the present, yes,' answered Arwed, 'until it may please our enemies to recommence it--for there is no talk of peace either with the Danes or Russians.'
'Not with the nearest and most powerful of our enemies?' indignantly cried the governor. 'Woman's rule is everywhere the same--too weak for resistance, too wilful for reconciliation. ”