Tales from the German Volume I Part 12

'Bold and insolent as usual!' grumbled the old man. '_Quasi re bene gesta_ comes he before me, while he thinks I am not acquainted with his conduct. Who joined himself to the deputation which endeavored to have the duke of Holstein proclaimed in the camp as king of Sweden? Who obtruded himself as a companion upon colonel Brenner, that he might insult the queen and warn Goertz of his well-deserved fate? Who threatened colonel Baumgardt with a challenge for doing his duty? Who has been this very day to visit the daughter of the arch-traitor, for whom the scaffold is already preparing?'

'You are very accurately informed, my father,' answered Arwed. 'I am too proud to deny what I have done, nor do I believe it deserves your anger. The king, when he appointed me a captain in the royal service, thereby rendered me independent of parental authority, and thenceforth free to follow the dictates of my own judgment. You yourself must concede, that the right was doubtful between the princess and the duke.

I, however, am firmly convinced that it is entirely on the side of the latter, and have acted accordingly. I wished to save Goertz, because I believed him innocent. His crime is, that the king, so little in the habit of receiving advice from others, honored him with his exclusive confidence; that he is a foreigner, and the capable and dreaded servant of a young prince who is a candidate for a crown which you think he ought not to have.'

'You believe all this, because you love his daughter!' remarked the father.

'Colonel Baumgardt,' proceeded Arwed, 'has injured me personally, and we shall settle that matter as is usual among men of honor, as soon as my cares for Georgina may leave me time.'

'Arwed!' cried the father, 'do you then really entertain a hope that I will give my consent to this foolish connection?'

'Do as you think proper, my father,' answered Arwed. 'My resolution is taken, whatever may betide. Nor could you yourself approve my conduct if, now that the storm is breaking over her innocent head, I should desert the maiden whose heart I won when the sun of prosperity shone brightly upon her.'

'The queen will forbid the union,' said the old man.

'And were it the bold Margaret herself,' cried Arwed with pa.s.sionate warmth, 'who united upon her own head the three northern crowns, and held them there with a strong hand, she would not dare attempt to regulate the impulses of our hearts! How much less, then, this poor Ulrika, whose only crown, to which she has no right, was shamefully bought with the costliest jewel of royalty, the sovereignty.'

'You are deep in const.i.tutional principles,' said the counsellor peevishly--but his strong displeasure was already melted into secret satisfaction with the talent and spirit of his son. He appeared, standing there before him with his flas.h.i.+ng blue eyes, his scarred cheek and n.o.ble bearing, as if he were about to plant again the Swedish standard upon a stormed wall. 'Upon honor!' at length exclaimed the old man, 'if you had not conducted yourself so bravely before Frederickshall, I would reckon with you in another fas.h.i.+on. But the deed of arms which Charles the XIIth rewarded with an embrace, must be considered as truly heroic--and to a hero much must be forgiven. To that, we Swedes have long been accustomed.'

'Nor was that embrace the best of the king's favors,' said Arwed eagerly. 'For beating back a sally of the Danes, I had his word for my marriage with Greorgina. And surely you would not have resisted the request of Charles.'

'Yes,' answered his father, turning away from him; 'and now all that has been changed forever by one bullet! 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 G.o.d,' 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. Give me the necessary permission.'

'That is not to be thought of for the present,' answered the father.

'Perhaps it may be obtained a little later, after the sentence has been p.r.o.nounced. Besides I am not the person who has power to grant it. Upon such a request the president of the special commission, landmarshal Ribbing, must decide.'

'Alas, that heart of stone!' cried Arwed. 'Give me at least a letter of introduction to him, that he may do from favor what is only a duty.'

'I can have nothing to do with the affair,' said the father angrily.

'You presume upon my forbearance.'

He pointed towards the door. Arwed wished to speak to him yet once again, but the counsellor, turning his back upon him, walked to his writing-table and the son in sadness departed.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Every effort to move, to win, to alarm, which the eloquence of the soul could inspire, had Arwed lavished upon landmarshal Ribbing. But powerless as the waves against the rocks, were his words with the immovable man; and, with anger at the refusal rankling at his heart, the young man now stood in the high arched bas.e.m.e.nt story of the council house upon the Suedermalm, where Goertz was held in confinement, seeking, with his open purse in his hand, and not without secret reluctance, to try the effect of gross corruption upon the gaoler.

But the gaoler shook his head suspiciously. 'G.o.d knows,' said he, clinking the keys attached to his waist-belt, 'G.o.d knows how willingly I would take your gold. But one must have discretion, captain, and use the little judgment G.o.d has given him. Your purse would be very useful to me, but my head is still more so, and it is that which I should peril. Therefore have the goodness to retire, that I may not suffer inconvenience from being seen talking to you here.' With this he opened a little wicket by the side of the great gate, and pointing the way out, made at the same time a very low bow.

Arwed angrily complied with the hard necessity, and, as he now considered the rejected purse as unworthy of being returned to his pocket, he threw it to an invalid soldier who limped past him on his crutches, and was on the point of hastening away.

'Take me with you, count Gyllenstierna!' cried a low, melodious voice, behind him. He turned around, and saw a man of about forty years of age, with an intelligent, bold and honest face, in a clerical dress, who had followed him out of the house.

'Do you know me, reverend sir?' asked Arwed with surprise.

'Only from the conversations of the unfortunate man to whom you just now wished to purchase admission,' answered the clergyman, proceeding with him towards the city. 'But your whole manner and bearing told me that you must be captain Gyllenstierna, and there is no one to whom I could better appeal than you. I am preacher to the German community in this place. Baron von Goertz has requested my spiritual a.s.sistance, which I have truly rendered to him with both joy and sorrow. But the undeserved fate of my unhappy countryman has so affected me that I am determined to do something more for him. His immortal soul is well prepared by a blameless life, and by a true and genuine faith which I have perceived in him. I would also gladly save his mortal body, that the intelligent and well disposed man may be enabled yet further to labor for the benefit of this country, or for some other, if Sweden is unwise enough to repudiate him.'

'Worthy servant of G.o.d!' exclaimed Arwed, with a sudden pressure of his hand.

'First of all,' proceeded the preacher, 'I will make an effort with the queen. I have been to the palace three times already. Her majesty, however, was never to be spoken with, which I attribute to the numerous enemies which Goertz has made amongst the courtiers.'

'You might as well attribute it to the ill will of the queen herself,'

said Arwed.

'So much the better!' cried the preacher. 'That would be a good sign for me. Then does she shun the truth, which she would hear from me; and if I can only succeed in obtaining an audience, I augur the happiest consequences. You are well acquainted at the palace, count. Procure me an audience of the queen, and the rest shall be my care. She is, at any rate, a woman, and must have a compa.s.sionate heart.'

'You have chosen a bad protector, sir pastor,' said Arwed, with a sad smile. 'But I will procure for you an audience with the queen, if I have to open a path to her with my sword.'

While they were thus conversing they had pa.s.sed the bridge connecting the Suedermalm with the city, the streets of which they threaded until they approached the Ritterholm.

'Announce us to the queen,' begged Arwed of the valet-de-chambre whom they found before the door of the queen's apartments, flipping some pieces of gold into his hands. 'The count Gyllenstierna and pastor Conradi beg that she will graciously grant them a short audience upon a most pressing concern.'

'I will do my best,' said the valet-de-chambre in the most friendly manner, going in.

After a short time he returned. 'It was all succeeding well,' said he, 'but the name of the black coat spoiled all. By that was the attention of her majesty arrested, and she then asked whether it was the younger or elder Gyllenstierna who had requested to be announced. She cannot see you now, and the gentlemen may hand in their request in writing, by the chamberlain in waiting.'

'Perdition!' cried Arwed, indignant at his own helplessness.

'This amounts to a refusal,' stammered Conradi. 'When the great of the earth demand that a pet.i.tioner shall put the all-powerful words of his mouth into cold, dead characters upon paper, and hamper the strength of his good cause by a submission to prescribed formulas, it is because they are determined not to grant his request, and wish to avoid p.r.o.nouncing with their lips the refusal of which in their hearts they are ashamed.' Meanwhile it had become night, and the servants lighted the lamps in the ante-chamber.

A high officer entered the ante-room for the purpose of pa.s.sing through it into the audience chamber.

'Who is this gentleman?' whispered Conradi to the valet-de-chambre.

'Lieutenant general Rank,' answered the latter.

'Goertz has named him to me as his last friend,' said Conradi to Arwed; 'perhaps he can do something for us.'

'Have the goodness to grant us a word, general,' said Arwed hastily to him.--He turned and approached them.

'We are here,' said Arwed in a moving tone, 'to present a pet.i.tion in favor of baron Goertz. The queen has refused us an audience. You are going directly to her majesty, and therefore we beg of you to endeavor, if possible, to obtain for us a hearing. We are indeed unknown to you, but your own heart will be our advocate.'

'To whom is the brave Gyllenstierna unknown,' said Rank in the kindest manner; 'neither is this worthy pastor a stranger to me. What little influence I may have, I will willingly exert for you; but I know the queen, and doubt a favorable result.'

He went in. The two confederates stood waiting in the ante-room until he returned. 'The queen,' said he, 'will pa.s.s through here when she repairs to the grand hall, and will hear you as she pa.s.ses. Speak submissively and briefly, and may G.o.d guide your tongues.'

The folding doors flew open. Two bedizened pages lighted the way with torches. Between two richly embroidered and highly scented chamberlains, rustled forth the proud Ulrika, oppressed by a heavy silken and gold-embroidered hoop petticoat, with clouds of lace about her bosom, and her arms, hands, breast and ears overloaded with jewels, and above her high, frizzed curls glistened the little crown of brilliants. Pages bore her long train, and her maids of honor followed.

The queen looked displeasedly towards the unwelcome pet.i.tioners.

Conradi approached, fell upon one knee, pressed the hem of her robe to his lips, and then with a soft and winning dignity of manner said, 'I beg a hearing of your majesty upon a question of mercy.'