Johan

“ Here was Johan arrested, and here would he have stood forever; for, after looking upon this angel, he saw nothing more: every thing vanished from before him, and nothing remained but the small bronze statuette. Johan had seen plenty of angels before in the churches, fresh-colored, chubby children, and he often thought his own little Rosechen would look just like them if she had wings; but this was something far different. A youth under twenty, and yet it gave no more idea of either age or sex than of any other earthly condition. ”

“ Johan ran up the winding stair into the organ-loft, but Frantz had gone, and Johan knew that he was locked in the cathedral for the night. He made up his mind to sleep there where he was, and he was just taking one of Frantz's missals to use as a pillow when he became aware that he was no longer alone. Sitting on the bench in front of the keys was a strange figure. It was an old man with a grey beard, twinkling eyes, and a deep voice like the buzzing of a hornet. He wore a brown coat and grey stockings, and a black three-cornered hat.
"Who are you?" asked Johan. ”

“ Johan went out. The baron, exhausted by the effort he had made, fainted in Jacob’s arms, and the physician, hastily recalled, had a great deal of difficulty in bringing him to his senses. Then the patient recovered a feverish energy.
“Off with you, doctor!” he cried; “I am tired of your face! You are ugly! every one is ugly! He is beautiful—beautiful, if they speak the truth; but that will not help him any. When one is dead he soon becomes hideous, does he not? Still, if I should die before him, I should like to leave him my fortune—that would be droll! But if I live, he must die ”

“ M. Johan,” exclaimed Christian, with well-affected emotion, “without meaning it, you are asking me a very painful question. You do not seem to know that nature has been pleased to make me frightfully ugly, and that my unfortunate appearance is my only reason for taking so much pains to conceal myself.”
“It is so reported,” replied Johan, “but the contrary is also asserted; and his lordship, as well as all the company, and the ladies particularly, are extremely anxious to know what they are to believe.” ”

“ What human idea could be put into hod-carrying, mortar-spreading, and stone-cutting? Could not an animal or a machine do as much? For the first time, perhaps, in his life, Johan felt that he had a soul not to be bounded by the limits of his work or the daily necessities of existence ”

“ Would he have asked if he had known—anything?”
“Here he approaches,” said Prince Lyon with a little smile. “Maybe because the Lady Blaunche comes this way from the chapel—does he know that already? Ah, dan Cupid!”
“Oh, peace!” murmured Johan in a tone of anguish; he turned his dark head and gazed passionately at the two knights who were entering the long gallery.
Sir Hew was a tall and well-favoured man, but his son, Sir Maryon, though well enough, was over fair and had a look of weakness; but to Johan's jealous eyes he loomed a very Phœbus, scattering light and conquering. ”

“ Johan Johan himself, with his boasting and cowardice, his eagerness to be deceived, and futile attempts to put a good face on the matter, his burning desire to partake of the pie, his one moment of self-assertion, to which disappointed hunger spurs him, and then his fresh collapse to ludicrous uneasiness,—who can deny that he is a triumph of dramatic art, just human enough and natural enough to seem very human and natural on the stage, but with the ludicrous side of him so sedulously presented to the spectator that there is never any risk of compassion for him becoming uncomfortably acute? ”

“ Sir Maryon bent his head, and Johan of Gaunt went on his knees; when his prayer was ended he rose up and was going his way, but Sir Maryon came after him and goaded him.
“No true knight are you, Sir Johan, if you refuse to fight with me—and I shall go back and speak of it before the King and before the Lady Blaunche.”
“For one new come to court you are very easy with my cousin’s name,” returned Johan. “And I will fight since you will not be satisfied another way.” ”

“ Johan had no other idea in his head when he rose in the morning than the day's work, the same as it was yesterday, and would be to-morrow; no other thought when he returned from it in the [Pg 26] evening than that Frudchen had his supper ready for him, that little Wilhelm and Johan would run to meet him, and that little Rosechen, the baby, would crow out of her cradle at him, if awake, and that after his supper he would just walk down to the "Gold Apfel," and smoke a pipe with Karl and Caspar as usual. ”

“ How can the higher aspirations of that soul be reflected in man's every-day life? and whether a human mind should be bounded by the narrow routine of plodding toil, for the supplying of common wants? And all these thoughts, vague, unformed, a dim and undefined sense of something, passed through Johan's brain as he sate cutting away at the stone, and trying to form the angel in his little garret, in the little town of ——, on the Rhine. ”

“ As good as dead—for what have I but my honour? And have I not vowed, and has not Sir Hew, my father, vowed that I must have grace for that blow or be shamed?”
“I will not fight with you,” said Johan of Gaunt hastily. “Go your ways for me.”
Sir Maryon bewailed himself.
“It may not be—-my father has vowed—if I were disgraced now I must leave the court and the brightest lady I have ever seen.”
“Ah!” said Johan of Gaunt darkly.
“Certes, she is the phænix of all ladies,” continued Sir Maryon, “and even that bird of Araby was not so rare——” ”

“ One day, many years after Johan’s disappearance, it was again the farmer’s turn to furnish a horse to a traveler. Grumbling at the fate of Johan, he went to the pasture.
“It was too bad for the boy,” said he to himself. “I wonder if he has been caught by the Trolls?” At the same time he chanced to look upward at the cliff where the servant had seen the Troll maiden, and there stood Johan, but with lusterless eyes, staring into vacancy.
“Johan, my dear boy, is that you?” shouted the farmer. “Come down.” ”

“ Johan of Gaunt rose swiftly.
“Sir Maryon says he overthrew me?”
“Yes; in the fields behind St. Peter’s church. Ah, Johan!”
The elder Prince was all bewildered, for he had never considered a lie possible to any but a varlet; a very great rage burnt in his blood; he put his hand to his brow and strode from the chamber, little Thomas fearfully after him. They reached the supper hall and found it full of company.
The great King sat at the head of the board, and Sir Hew stood beside him: before them was Sir Maryon, white and erect. ”

“ Meanwhile, the cunning Johan took advantage of M. Akerstrom’s kindness. Unwilling to reply, he pretended to faint. The minister blamed Christian for his brutality; and the servants, who one and all felt very uneasy about their own fate if the redressers of wrongs should begin their office, seemed much more inclined to defend their comrade than to submit to the authority of an unknown. ”

“ His father was a military man, and some time after Johan's birth became captain of the Dalecarlia regiment. The future poet and preacher was one of a large family, much larger than accorded well with the somewhat restricted means of the captain of a regiment.
At a very early age, young Johan evinced a taste for books, and for study generally; but the circumstances of his family were not such as to encourage the hope of an academic career. As has often happened in such circumstances, the talents of the boy commanded attention; and he was not left without a good primary education. ”

“ HE CLIMBED ON TO THE MANUALS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE HEART OF THE ORGAN
"At any rate," said Johan, "you will not miss that wedding. But where have Vox Angelica and Lieblich Gedacht gone to for their honeymoon?"
"They have gone to Lieblich Gedacht's cottage in the Woods of Melody, and they will live there for the rest of their lives; for all their lives will be one long honeymoon," said Quint. As he said this he climbed on to the manuals, and disappeared into the heart of the organ.
And Johan noticed that the sun had risen and that the sacristan was opening the cathedral for early Mass. ”

“ To his intense surprise, Keith found that Johan already knew all about the new game, and that he was quite willing to play it. And for a couple of years it became an important part of what they had in common. Chances were not lacking, for Johan's mother was too wrapt up in her postils and religious speculations to watch them closely, and there was always the outhouse to which they could retire for privacy. ”

“ Dat vas de beginning, Johan," said the old man, shaking from head to foot with horror, as he helped his son lift down the body.
"Yes!" answered John; "that must be it. I expect he has been mad all along. I do not believe last night was the beginning. It was not like any sane man to be so gloomy as he was, and never speak to a living soul. But I never once thought of his being crazy. Look, father!" he continued, his voice breaking into a sob, "he has left these flowers here for Carlen! ”

“ We put poison in every attractive way we can think of all about, but they seem to like it and thrive upon it. Johan, having had a Danish sailor recommended to him, allows him to live in a room up-stairs and to help a little in the house while waiting for a boat. He is very masterful in his movements, and handles the crockery as if it were buckets of water, and draws back the portieres as if he were hauling at the main-sheet. ”

“ In the last act, the whole town is preparing to give the great philanthropist and benefactor, the eminent pillar of society, an ovation. There are fireworks, music, gifts and speeches in honor of Consul Bernick. At that very moment, the only child of the Consul is hiding in The Indian Girl to escape the tyranny of his home. Johan, too, is supposed to sail on the same ship, and with him, Dina, who has learned the whole truth and is eager to escape from her prison, to go to a free atmosphere, to become independent, and then to unite with Johan in love and freedom. ”

“ In front of the royal palace stands a great bronze equestrian statue of Carl Johan, the first Bernadotte king of Sweden. On one side of the pedestal is the motto of the king, “The love of the people is my reward,” and on the other is the statement, “This monument was raised by the people of Norway.” ”

“ Still, as Johan was nothing after all but an upper servant, without education or real finesse, Christian had no difficulty in playing a better comedy than he, and in effectually persuading him of the perfect innocence of his intentions. And in the meanwhile, for his own part, he obtained from the interview a quasi-certitude in regard to the story of Baroness Hilda. It seemed to him perfectly evident that a drama of some kind had been enacted at Stollborg, and that the baron had either been terrified or enraged at witnessing his performance ”

“ If my credit is not impaired, I shall soon be a millionaire, when certain company projects mature. Johan, go away, and I will share with you. I have staked all I possess on schemes now about to mature, but if my character is impaired, my utter ruin is inevitable.
To the surprise of Bernick, Johan announces that he will go to America, but will shortly return for Dina, and that accordingly he will sail next day in the Indian Girl, the captain having promised to take him. He will sell his farm and be back in two months, and then the guilty one must take the guilt on himself. ”

“ These accidents are too frequent—when I think that even I myself—”
[Pg 551]
“Monsieur Stangstadius!” cried Christian, “look at this man. Do you not know him?”
“By heavens, it is a fact!” replied Stangstadius; “it is Master Johan, the ex-major-domo of Waldemora. Oh then, there is no great harm done! He confessed in prison; it was this very fellow who assassinated poor Baron Adelstan, in former years—à propos! yes, your father, my dear Christian. This Johan was once a miner in Falun, and he was a great scoundrel. ”

“ What sayst thou?
Johan. Mary, I say,
It is mete for a woman to go play
Abrode in the towne for an houre or two.
Tyb. Well, gentylman, go to, go to.
Johan. Well, let us have no more debate. 135
Tyb [aside] . If he do not fyght, chyde, and rate,
Braule and fare as one that were frantyke,
There is nothyng that may hym lyke. [253]
Johan [aside] . If that the parysshe preest, Syr Jhān,
Dyd not se her nowe and than,
And gyve her absolution upon a bed,
For wo and payne she wolde sone be deed.
Tyb. For goddis sake, Johan Johan, do the not displease,
Many a tyme I am yll at ease. ”

“ One actor was obviously intended to play many parts, for stage directions such as “Go out Ynglond, and dress for Clargy” are by no means uncommon. The MS. of Kynge Johan was discovered between 1831 and 1838 among the corporation papers at Ipswich, where it was probably performed, for there are references to charitable foundations by King John in the town and neighbourhood. ”

“ But in this respect there was nothing more to be had out of Johan.
At school he began to join a group of boys who always gathered in a corner of the assembly hall during the pauses instead of mixing with the mob in the schoolyard. The centre of that group was Swensson, a handsome young chap of more advanced age than the others who had spent two years in most of the grades. He was always behind in his studies, but he seemed to know more of life than all the rest put together. A large part of the time he was telling stories--always about girls--or relating adventures--always with girls. ”