Part 19 (1/2)
They also asked if they might be allowed to step into the hut, to see how it looked inside. That he could well afford to let them do, for Katrina always kept the house so clean and tidy that they could receive callers there at any time.
When the young misses from the Manor came into the house they were no doubt surprised that the great Empress had grown up in a little place like that. It may have done very well in the old days, when she was used to it, they said, but how would it be now should she come back? Would she reside here, with her parents, or return to Portugallia?
Jan had thought the selfsame things himself, and he understood of course that Glory Goldie could not settle down in the Ashdales when she had a whole kingdom to rule over.
”The chances are that the Empress will return to Portugallia,” he replied.
”Then you will accompany her, I suppose?” said one of the little misses.
Jan would rather the young lady had not questioned him regarding that matter. Nor did he give her any reply at first, but she was persistent.
”Possibly you don't know as yet how it will be?” she said.
Oh, yes, he knew all about it, only he was not quite sure how people would regard his decision. Perhaps they might think it was not the correct thing for an emperor to do. ”I shall remain at home,” he told her. ”It would never do for me to leave Katrina.”
”So Katrina is not going to Portugallia?”
”No,” he answered. ”You couldn't get Katrina away from the hut, and I shall stay right here with her. You see when one has promised to love and cherish till death--”
”Yes, I understand that one can't break that vow.” This was said by the young girl who seemed most eager to know about everything. ”Do you hear that, all of you?” she added. ”Jan won't leave his wife though all the glories of Portugallia are tempting him.”
And think of it! The girls were very glad of this. They patted him on the back and told him he did right. That was a favourable sign, they said, for it showed that all was not over yet with good old Jan Anderson of Ruffluck Croft.
He could not make out just what they meant by that; but probably they were happy to think the parish was not going to lose him.
They bade him good-bye now, saying they were going over to Doveness to a garden party.
They had barely gone when Katrina walked in. She must have been standing outside the door listening. But how long she had stood there or how much she had heard, Jan did not know. Anyway, she looked more amiable and serene than she had appeared in a long while.
”You're an old simpleton,” she told him. ”I wonder what other women would say if they had a husband like you? But still it's a comfort to know that you don't want to go away from me.”
BJoRN HINDRICKSON'S FUNERAL
Jan Anderson of Ruffluck was not invited to the funeral of Bjorn Hindrickson of Loby.
But he understood, of course, that the family of the departed had not been quite certain that he would care to claim kins.h.i.+p with them now that he had risen to such glory and honour; possibly they feared it might upset their arrangements if so exalted a personage as Johannes of Portugallia were to attend the funeral.
The immediate relatives of the late Bjorn Hindrickson naturally wished to ride in the first carriage, where by rights place should have been made for him who was an emperor. They knew, to be sure, that he was not over particular about the things which seem to count for so much with most folks. It would never have occurred to him to stand in the way of those who like to sit in the place of honour at special functions. Therefore, rather than cause any ill feeling, he remained away from the house of mourning during the early forenoon, before the funeral procession had started, and went direct to the church. Not until the bells had begun tolling and the long procession had broken up on church ground did he take his place among his relatives.
When they saw Jan there they all looked a little astonished; but now he was so accustomed to seeing folks surprised at his condescension that he took it as a matter of course. No doubt they would have liked to place him at the head of the line, but then it was too late to do so, as they were already moving toward the churchyard.
After the burial service, when he accompanied the funeral party to the church and seated himself on the mourners' bench, they appeared to be slightly embarra.s.sed. However, there was no time to comment upon his having placed himself among them instead of occupying his usual high seat, in the gentry's gallery--as the opening hymn had just begun.
At the close of the service, when the conveyances belonging to the funeral party drove up onto the knoll, Jan went out and climbed into the hea.r.s.e, where he sat down upon the dais on which the coffin rested on the drive to the churchyard. As the big wagon would now be going back empty, he knew that here he would not be taking up some other person's place. The daughter and son-in-law of the late Bjorn Hindrickson walked back and forth at the side of the hea.r.s.e and looked at him. They regretted no doubt that they could not ask him to ride in one of the first carriages. Nor did he wish to incommode any one. He was what he was in any case.
During the drive to Loby he could not help thinking of the time when he and Glory Goldie had called upon their rich relatives. This time, however, it was all so different! Who was great and respected now? and who was conferring an honour upon his kinsfolk by seeking them out?
As the carriages drew up in turn before the house of mourning, the occupants stepped out and were conducted into the large waiting-room on the ground floor where they removed their wraps. Two neighbours of the Hindricksons, who acted as host and hostess, then invited the more prominent persons among the guests to step upstairs, where dinner was served.
It was a difficult task having to single out those who were to sit at the first table. For at so large a funeral gathering it was impossible to make room for all the guests at one sitting. The table had to be cleared and set three or four times.