Part 25 (2/2)
”What a good-natured b.o.o.by, fool, idiot, I am!” he cried, with a scornful laugh. ”No, it is she who has been false and untruthful, she who must acknowledge it, she who is bound to give me, once for all, full explanation. Yes, it is she who must bend, and then she may have some claim to hear from me what I too may have to reproach myself for in my acts or bearing towards her. That is how it is, and that is how it shall be!”
A hard, inexorable look overspread his face as he said this; but for a moment he appeared almost moved again--
”I shall speak kindly to her--be so gentle--forget everything.
”But bend she shall,” he added; and that decision was evidently final.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
That evening was pa.s.sed by Elizabeth in a terrible struggle with herself. When Gjert had brought her clothes she had turned very pale, and had felt as if she had undertaken what she would not have strength to carry through. And now that the decisive moment had nearly come, this feeling increased almost to despair.
They had all gone to bed in the house. It was so quiet about her; and a feeling came over her such as she had experienced that time on the Apollo, as she sat and waited whilst they approached the sandbanks.
Early next morning the crisis would inevitably come; and it was a question now of losing more than the brig--of losing all they jointly possessed on earth! She saw a long, dreary life-strand stretching away beyond.
This time it was she who was at the helm, and steering a desperate course--to save her love. A solemn look came over her face. The prayer for seamen in danger, which she had so often used when the gusts were shaking the house out there on Merdo, and she sat waiting for him in her solitary home, came into her head now--the prayer that G.o.d might save him from a sudden death.
A sudden death!
If he really had been lost on one of those many occasions when he had parted from her with bitterness and anger in his heart! Would her love then have been a blessing to him?
”No, Salve!” she cried; ”you shall not have me to thank for such a life in your last hour!”
In the night she awoke with a scream. She had dreamt that Salve was going to leave her for ever, and she cried frantically after him, ”Salve! Salve!”
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
His two sons were waiting for him when the pilot came up to the jetty next morning. Little Henrik had begun to shout to him gleefully while he was still some way off; but Gjert was quiet. He had seen enough to feel that there must be something serious the matter between his parents, and he was depressed.
”Good morning, boys!” said their father, kindly; ”how is your--aunt?”
”Better,” replied Gjert.
”She sleeps in the daytime, too,” added the ”bagman,” triumphantly--he had discovered that this was what was required to make her well again.
He then threw his cap down on the stones with a great sailor air, and with an eager ”hale-hoi--o--ohoi!” began to haul in the sh.o.r.e-rope which his father had thrown, while Gjert, paying no attention whatever to his brother's efforts, made it fast to the mooring-ring.
”That's good lads! Stay here now, both of you, by the boat, and look after her till I come back,” said their father. ”See, Gjert, that Henrik doesn't leave the quay.”
He left them then, and went rapidly up the street.
Elizabeth was standing by the hearth expecting him; and something of a Sunday calm seemed to have come over her as she stood there. She heard him out in the pa.s.sage; and when he entered, a rapid flush pa.s.sed over her fine features, but it disappeared again immediately, and she stared at him with half-open lips, forgetting to greet him. At the same time, there was a conscious self-possession in her bearing which did not escape him. That was the Elizabeth he loved.
He came to the point at once; and looking her full in the face, began with great earnestness--”Elizabeth, I have a serious accusation to make against you. You have not been frank towards me--you have disguised your real feelings from me for many years, I am afraid during the whole time we have lived together.”
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