Sven Elversson

“ Altogether, he seemed all that a young girl could wish for; a man to cherish and protect her, work for her, and give her a good place in the world. The young wife, too, was surprisingly beautiful. Sven Elversson was reminded of the type so favoured by some English painters: handsome women with tall, slender figure and sloping shoulders, slightly bowed head, rich hair prettily shading the face, straight eyebrows and delicate cheeks, and with a look in the brilliant eyes that seemed looking out of a strange world toward heaven. ”

“ Joel had told him of the fire at the school, having heard the news at church. He looked old and bowed and sad; it seemed that now, after this last failure, all ways were closed to his son's advancement.
Sven Elversson stroked his forehead softly as he lay, now with his finger-tips, now with the whole of his slender, delicate hand.
There was a strange sense of freedom and ease in his soul. His thoughts came to him clear and indisputable. He saw his way.
"Father," he said, suddenly, "this loathing is surely the strongest thing of all. No one can overcome it; no one can stand against it. ”

“ He turned now directly to Sven Elversson.
"We did not wish to tell you of this, Sven Elversson," he said, "until now, when we could at the same time make it known to all. But now I, your parish priest in former days, who once laid you under the ban of contempt and abhorrence, I have come to declare your innocence at the door of that church from which I once drove you forth. And I count it the greatest mercy of God that I myself am suffered to say these words. You are known to all now as an innocent man, and the disgrace that clung to your name is gone for ever. ”

“ And Gustavsson himself told me so. 'She came to me because Sven Elversson did not care for her'—that was what he said."
Sven Elversson raised his hands deprecatingly.
"Why must I hear all this?" he said. "How can you think it will make me happier to know it?"
"Yes," said Sigrun; "it is always good to know that one has been loved by one who was good. ”

“ Two of the men had sprung forward to force Mor Thala aside from the doorway; two of the others had gripped Sven by the shoulders and were thrusting him before them.
Without a moment's hesitation the old man flung himself upon them.
"Out with you! Leave the boy alone," he cried.
And suddenly Sven Elversson was himself again. Something within him was whispering: "Now, now is the time! Father and mother are fighting on your side."
"Ung-Joel," he cried to his brother, who was still keeping away behind the rest. "Open the door there, quick!" ”

“ Sigrun's face he could not see, but he fancied she shrugged her shoulders a little.
"Yes, of course," she said. "What else could there be for you to help me with?"
"It is good to remember that it is so," said Sven Elversson, in his gentle voice. "You realized, almost at once, the great wrong you had done your husband. It was impossible that you could condemn one who loved you to a whole life of solitude and longing. ”

“ Sven Elversson knew, of course, that the Pastor was honestly acting for the best. But—he had thought he would have found some other way. Still, perhaps after all this was best. He himself would hardly have known what to do.
"Listen to me, Sigrun," said the Priest. "You must surely understand that it is childish to give way to such ideas. The only thing to do is to overcome it. You are well and strong; you will not tell me that you cannot walk that little way. Anyhow, I must ask it of you, for the sake of our happiness—if you wish it to last for life, and not for a few weeks' honeymoon only." ”

“ It seemed so cruelly unjust that any one should ever think her husband jealous; the tears rose to her eyes again.
"Heaven knows how it is with that Sven Elversson," she said to herself. "There are many that cannot bear the sight of him, but they all say he is a good man. But perhaps, after all, he is not suffering undeservedly. How could Edward ever be jealous about me? And that was what he was reckoning out to himself while I was talking to him in the boat. ”

“ What does all the rest matter now that she is alive?"
Sigrun had long finished her story, and Sven Elversson sat silent, thinking what to say, what must be done. And watching him as he sat, she felt clearly that such a man as he could do nothing else but send her back to her husband. "This man cannot be led to any wrongful deed," she thought.
"And so it has all been in vain," she told herself. "All to no purpose. Death will not let me go." ”

“ Sven Elversson said nothing, but rose and walked across the room.
Now Sigrun in her turn sank down on a chair. "Death," she thought—"Death will not let me go. I had forgotten that the dead woman was Sven Elversson's wife when I asked him to help me." ”

“ The listener behind the trees marked that well. Sigrun was speaking to the man who loved her in the firm assurance that he understood she did not love him.
Sven Elversson felt the same. His voice was thick with emotion, but it never changed into the tone of passion.
"Be it so then! Let us talk like Lotta Hedman, if you wish. But if the dead woman's soul sent you here, might it not be as well for torture and punishment? She knew that my love could only increase, just as she knew that you could never come to love me in return." ”

“ Now for the first time Sven Elversson lost his self-control. Sinking down in a chair, he buried his face in his hands.
"What's the use?" he cried, desperately. "How can I defend myself when all the time I hate myself more than any of them can ever do? ”

“ Just then the speaker by the grave said a few words which claimed Sven Elversson's attention.
"Here, on the verge of this wide grave," he was saying, "I would speak to you, my friends, of the sacredness of death and of life.
"And I venture to say that there is none here among us who has not from youth up realized the sacredness of death. If any sinned against the inviolable holiness of death, he should be visited with the severest punishment.
"There was once a man here in Applum named Sven Elversson. His sin was that he had violated the sacredness of death. ”

“ Sven Elversson had drawn gradually closer to the man while speaking, and sat down now on the bench beside him.
"Do not say that," he urged kindly, laying one hand on the other's sleeve. "Five thousand kronor is a good sum, and fully enough for the purpose for which you would use it. You cannot say otherwise. More would not be good for the one who is to have the money, and less would hardly do. Five thousand is as good as could be." ”

“ Sigrun roused herself a little from her dreamy state and told Lotta something of Sven Elversson's story.
"I wish I knew where he is now," she said at last. "He was a very good man, and very unhappy. I believe he felt himself so despised, so trodden underfoot, that he looked on it as his business to attend to things which others counted themselves too good for. Once he let himself be shut up in a cell with a murderer, to get him to confess. He married a woman from a children's school, one of the ugliest creatures I have ever seen. That was out of sheer humility, too, I suppose. ”

“ Sven Elversson's face darkened.
"She was a good woman," he said, simply, without his usual wealth of words. "We were very fond of her while she lived here among us."
"Mor Thala has told me a great deal about her," said Sigrun. "She went out to Grimön, it seems, the day after the schoolhouse was burnt down. She wanted to tell you that both she and the schoolmaster had done their best to make the children comfortable there. And she begged you not to take the misfortune too much to heart. You had already gained friends through that work; people had begun to realize what sort of man you were." ”

“ On leaving the pilot, Sven Elversson climbed up to the top of a hill behind the village and stood for a long time looking out over the sea.
"If the trouble of my life," he said, "could bring people to remember that life should be inviolable; that a living man should not be robbed of his life or hindered in its use, then, after all, some good would have grown up out of the bitter seed of my misery." ”

“ There's many might well wish to be children again just to go to school in the place Sven Elversson's built.'"
Mor Thala could not but be pleased at this, and was glad now to feel that all her anxiety had been unfounded.
THE STONEHILLS SVEN ELVERSSON had been in to Göteborg to settle some accounts for building materials supplied for the schoolhouse, and came back by train. On arrival at the station nearest Applum, he found that the conveyance which was to have met him there had not come. ”

“ Do you not think that woman loved you?"
"No," said Sven Elversson. "I think she was trying to love me. She fought against all that she disliked in me, but at last it was beyond her power to go on, and then she went off with Gustavsson."
"It was not so," said Sigrun—"not that way at all. That was not why she went. But she knew you loved someone else. You had betrayed it somehow or other. There is a book of poems that is always on your table. Mor Thala says you often read in it, but only one of them all, an Icelandic love song, by Bjarni Thorarensen." ”

“ They see that Life is greater than Death.
"And to you, Sven Elversson, faithful servant of Life, I can now say that we, your former neighbours, no longer look on you as one stamped with a shameful mark. And we repent of ever having done so. We repent of the suffering we have caused you." ”

“ Finds ways and means that another would never have thought of, takes possession of another human being's will, leads, guides, accomplishes, whispering thoughts, dictating speech, compelling all things to her wish."
Sven Elversson shook his head. Very gently, but immovably, he said:
"Now you are talking like Lotta Hedman."
"Yes," said Sigrun, "I am talking like Lotta Hedman. I know it. And I will not deny that it was Lotta Hedman who taught me to believe in the power of the dead. But how do you know she is not right? What star was it that led the dying woman to me of all others? ”

“ I feel now as you felt in your dream."
"There," thought Sven to himself. "See how little one can judge things at first sight. Truly she could not have found a better husband than Pastor Rhånge. He has a good heart and a good head. Who else could have answered her so well?"
THE SEA THE newly married pair had come home on a Tuesday. On Saturday in the same week, Sven Elversson went up to the vicarage with some papers about the school. ”

“ Sigrun rose hurriedly and went into the house. Sven Elversson walked the opposite way, through the trees, and past the gatepost, down to a little quiet pool, where he stood, looking down into the water. He had passed within a few steps of the listener, but without noticing him.
And Rhånge felt that this man who loved Sigrun must die.
It would be easy enough. Just creep up behind him and throw him into the water. He felt, too, that this man would not even attempt to defend himself. He would greet death as a welcome friend. ”

“ Sven Elversson noticed that Mor Thala was crying. He himself felt, as he listened to the preacher's words, as if he were living over again all his past efforts to regain the goodwill of his fellows, but he did not weep. He stood there with untroubled eyes and easy bearing, and looked the speaker in the face.
"But now, of late," went on the Pastor, "we have seen that Death has gained more power in the world even than before. ”

“ When the Pastor had spoken these last words, he turned from the side where Sven Elversson stood, and addressed the crowd on the other hand.
"All that this man has suffered has been suffered for no crime," he said. Sven Elversson felt his heart beat faster, with increasing violence. "My poor heart is better used to bearing sorrow than joy," he thought. ”

“ And if one of them heard about you, I dare say he'd think he was a fine fellow compared to you."
"That may be," said Sven Elversson.
"But I say no!" cried Hjelmfeldt's wife, with loud-voiced eagerness. "If he thinks it's wrong to harm the dead, then let him think how it's a thousand times worse to make up such devil's tools to cripple the living, and leave a man helpless and miserable all his life. You've never done that. You only tried all you could to help us." ”

“ IN GOD'S HOUSE SVEN ELVERSSON, the man who had been greeted as a son by the two old folk at Grimön, sat in the church at Applum, thanking God that he had found a place of refuge where he was not looked upon with horror and disgust.
On the lonely, rocky little island with its two poor inhabitants, he had no fear of encountering that downward curve of the lips that signified loathing. His father was an old man, and felt no disgust toward him, having no strong feelings any longer in that way. His mother was sensitive as ever, but she loved him. ”

“ And well, too, that you need not now suspect her of deceit or fickleness. You see what it was: she was made of the same stuff as that soldier we have just read of, who came home from the wars. And so you see," Sigrun went on, "it was she who taught me how to love. How love can pass all understanding, how it can fill one's soul to such a degree that it lets its own body be destroyed."
She rose up, and stood behind Sven Elversson's chair. And in so doing, she turned so that her husband, from where he was, could see her face. ”

“ Sven Elversson was at a loss how to answer. "She is all alone," he thought, "and has no one to confide in; helpless and a stranger. And she needs someone to talk to; it helps her a little to talk of it this way."
And he said only that Fru Rhånge seemed to care very much for her friend. ”