The Danes Sketched by Themselves Volume Iii Part 8

'It appeared to me, though, that you were reading one when I came in.'

'The letter I was reading is six years old,' said Kruse.

'Indeed! And at such a length of time after its date does it retain sufficient interest to carry it with you to your tent and read it on such an evening as _this?_'

'It is the memento of a loss--of a death; and you know, general, that the heart does not value its memories by their age, but by the estimation in which we hold those to whom they are traceable.'

'No,' said the general, 'I am not aware of any such feeling, for _I_ have no souvenirs, no cherished remembrances.'

Kruse looked up in amazement at the bitter and almost despairing meaning which lay in these words. Gregers continued:

'I came to ask you to visit me this evening. There is a subject on which I wish to have some conversation with you. Have you time to spare?'

'Yes, general.'

'Very well, come then to me in my tent, near the forest of firs, within an hour--not later, pray observe.'

'I shall be punctual,' said Kruse.

Gregers took leave, but, before doing so, he cast a glance towards the table, where Kruse had concealed the letter.

The captain remained behind, musing: he could not fathom the cause of this visit. Latterly, Gregers seemed to have avoided his society.

During the foregoing conversation, it struck him that there was something harsh and unfriendly in the expression of his countenance, which betokened a dark and hostile mood.

An hour later Kruse entered the general's tent. He found him sitting at a table, on which lay two pistols and a sealed letter. Gregers beckoned to him to come forward, and, pointing to a straw chair a little way from the table, requested him to be seated.

'Have you heard the news?' he began abruptly. 'We are to fight to-morrow.'

'Yes,' replied Kruse. 'So much the better!'

'I also would have thought the same at your age. I would, most likely, have thought the same now, if I, like you, were single, and had not bound another to my fate.'

'You allude to the amiable lady yonder, at Hald?'

'Yes; and perhaps you are surprised that I should be thinking of her just this evening?' asked Gregers sharply.

'No--certainly!' replied Kruse, somewhat astounded at the question.

'What is there to surprise me in your doing so?'

'You are not speaking the truth, captain. Among all living creatures, you are the only one who could dare to conceive a doubt on this subject. You,' he continued, in a hollow and moaning tone of voice, as if the words he were uttering could with difficulty pa.s.s his lips--'you, who love her, and whom--she loves in return.'

Kruse was speechless for a moment, while Gregers was making visible and violent efforts to regain his composure.

'Now I understand him,' he thought; 'he has found everything out, and intends to murder me.'

This thought had scarcely entered his mind when it took the shape of a conviction. In the deep silence now reigning in the tent, he heard the general's suppressed groans as he drew his breath heavily, and saw the arm by which he supported himself as he leaned it on the table, tremble.

'What answer have you to give me?' inquired the general.

Kruse raised his head:

'It is true what you say, general. I do love her.'

The admission did not make the slightest alteration in the expression of the general's countenance, as Kruse had expected it would have done.

'How long ago did your love for her commence?' he asked.

'I have loved Jeanne Ryse since my childhood. She was the first, the only one I ever loved--the only one I ever will love. And now, general!

After this confession, I wait to hear what further you have to say to me. I see that you have prepared for what was to happen,' he added, glancing towards the pistols which lay on the table. 'I have been long expecting it, and, when you came into my tent, I antic.i.p.ated that what sooner or later must end thus was close at hand.'

Gregers remained silent for a few seconds, and then said:

'You are mistaken, captain! I was not thinking of killing you when I asked you to come here this evening. If such had been my intention, it would have been carried out long ago. For three years, Kruse, I have known that you loved her, but I saw, at the same time, how little guilt there was in this secret love.' He held out his hand to Kruse. 'Poor fellow!' he continued, 'how could you help that you loved her? You, who were young, and whom G.o.d had destined for her. The error was, that no one gave me any idea of this until it was too late. I was a witness to the grief you both evinced; I heard the last words, the last sighs with which you parted from each other! I know it all. What you, on the contrary, do not know is--that I also loved Jeanne.'

'You!' cried Kruse.

'Yes; you are surprised at that, are you not?' continued Gregers, with a melancholy smile. 'An old man, who had no other right to that girl's love than what chance and authority bestowed. But I loved her, nevertheless, with an affection that in strength and devotion quite equalled your own. She was the only one, the last who bound me to life; my heart grew young again under the influence of this love, which, in spite of a husband's claims, preserved a lover's first timidity.'

'You loved her!' cried Kruse, as if he must have the words repeated, in order that he might take in the possibility of their truth. 'But Jeanne never suspected this.'

'Nay, do not think that I could betray my feelings when I so soon perceived that she was not able to return them! From the garden below have I, like you, often and often gazed up at her windows, until her shadow and her light disappeared; I have felt myself intoxicated at inhaling the perfume she scattered around her; in short, I have been more easily contented than you, for you told her that you loved her, while I hardly dared to confess so much to myself. Nor will she ever know it until I have ceased to live.'

Gregers stopped speaking for a few minutes, while he fixed his gaze on the empty s.p.a.ce before him within the tent Kruse could not find words to answer him, he felt so much moved by what he had just heard. A little after, Gregers continued:

'To-morrow we go to battle, or rather accept it, since the enemy offers it to us. It is possible that I shall not outlive the day; it is, indeed, almost certain.'

'Certain!' exclaimed Kruse.

'Yes, my friend!' replied Gregers quietly. 'As you said lately, one has one's presentiments in this world, let us suppose that mine will be fulfilled. In case this should happen, I have written a letter, which I now give into your keeping; take care of it, for it contains my last will. My first intention was that you should have remained for a time ignorant of its contents, but I have thought better of it. When I am dead, go back to Hald, its doors will open to you, not as heretofore, to receive your sighs and complaints--no, you will enter Hald as its master, Jacob Kruse! I give Jeanne to you, and when I have done that I have given you all, for my property shall belong to you both, since I am a childless man and the last of my race. Raise your head, my son!

Why do you bend over the table in this manner? She shall be yours, as a reward for her fidelity and your sufferings! You must love each other.

I bequeath her to you, and it is my wish and my prayer that you will make up for all the sorrow I have caused her.'

Gregers placed his hand on the young officer's drooping head. Kruse sank to the ground, and knelt before him! As Gregers raised him, he flung his arms round his neck and burst into tears. There was something very strange in this scene between the husband and the lover!

'Oh my G.o.d!' cried Kruse, 'I see it all; you will let yourself be killed.'

'No, certainly not that, my friend!' replied the general. 'But I shall be killed, that is all. I believe, as I told you, in presentiments, and I owe you both this reparation--you and her. Go, now! Go and take the letter with you. I wish to be alone a little time.'

So saying, the general opened the tent, and motioned to Kruse to leave it.

The next day, about mid-day, the battle near Gadebusk commenced. Twice during the morning Kruse had gone to Gregers's tent, but the general had declined receiving him either time, upon the plea of having much business to attend to. The drums and the trumpets shortly after called the soldiers to muster in their ranks, and the captain was obliged to hurry to his duty.

When Gregers Daa rode past Reventlow, to the head of the division he commanded, he stopped his horse, and turning to the commander-in-chief, said in a low tone, so as not to be overheard by those near,

'General! I have a request to make to you.'

'To me!' cried Reventlow, much surprised.