CHAPTER XV.

BERTEL AND REGINA.

We left our wandering knight of La Mancha asleep in a peasant's house at Ylihärmä. We found him again just now at Kajaneborg castle, vainly trying to secure the feared and hated Jesuit, whom he had seen through the window-pane of the wretched hut. Bertel's circuitous course during the days between can be perhaps imagined. Led on a false scent in his chase after the fugitives, he had scoured all the roads in East Bothnia, and even went as far up as Uleiborg, and only when he had lost every sign of them did he resolve as a last resource to seek the runaways in the far-off Kajana desert. Why the young cavalier pursued them with such unconquerable perseverance will soon be manifest.

Some hours after the scene on the bridge we find Bertel in the apartment which the Governor had assigned to Lady Regina, under the protection of one of his female relatives. More than three years have passed since they last met in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in the presence of the great king.

Bertel was then an inexperienced youth of twenty, and Regina an equally untrained girl of sixteen. Both had gone through many trials since then; in each case the burning enthusiasm of youth had been cooled by struggles and sufferings.

The distance between the prince's daughter and the lieutenant had been lessened by Bertel's military fame and lately acquired coat of arms; nay, at this moment, she, the abandoned prisoner, might consider herself honoured by a knight's attentions. But the distance between their convictions, their sympathies, their hearts--had it been diminished by these trials, which generally steel a conviction instead of destroying it?

Bertel approached the young girl with all the perfect courtesy which the etiquette of his time had retained as an inheritance from the chivalry of past centuries.

"My lady," he said in a slightly tremulous voice, "since my hope of finding you at Korsholm failed, I have pursued you through forest and wilderness, as one pursues a criminal. Perhaps you divine the cause that prompted me to do so."

Regina's long black eyelashes were slowly lifted, and she looked inquiringly at Bertel.

"Chevalier," she replied, "whatever has animated you, I am convinced that your reasons were noble and chivalrous. You cannot have meant to take an unhappy young maiden back to prison; you have only wished to snatch her from a man whom the poor deceived one has ever since childhood regarded as a holy and pious person, and whose deeply concealed wickedness she has now, for the first time, learned to know and abhor."

"You are mistaken," said Bertel warmly. "It is true I shuddered when I found that you were under the escort of this villain, whose real character I knew before you, and I then redoubled my efforts to deliver you from his hands. But before I imagined any danger from that quarter, I flew to find you with the glad tidings of a justice ... late, but I hope not too late."

"A justice, you say?" repeated Regina, with an emotion which sent the blood to her cheeks.

"Yes, my lady," continued Bertel, as he regarded her dazzling beauty with delight; "at last, after several years of fruitless efforts, I have succeeded in undoing this undeserved penalty. You are free! you can now return to your Fatherland under the protection of the Swedish arms, and here"--with these words Bertel bent one knee and handed Regina a paper with the regency's seal attached--"is the document which ensures your freedom."

Regina had controlled her first emotion, and received the precious paper with almost haughty dignity.

"Herr chevalier," she said in short measured tones, "I know that you do not desire my thanks for having acted like a man of honour before any of your compatriots."

Bertel arose, confused by this pride, which he, however, ought to have expected.

"What I have done," he said, with a touch of coldness, "I have done to efface a wrong which might have thrown a shadow upon the memory of a great king. Each and all of my countrymen would have done the same as I, had not the exigencies of war made them forget the reparation you had a right to demand. First of all would the noble King Gustaf Adolf himself have hastened to repair a moment's indiscretion, had not Providence so suddenly cut short his career. But," said Bertel, breaking off, "I forget that the king I love and admire, you, my lady, hate!"

At these words the bright and beautiful colour again rose to Regina's cheeks. Bertel had unknowingly touched one of the most sensitive chords in this ardent heart. A new discovery, a wonderful resemblance in figure, voice, gesture, nay, in thought--a likeness which she had never before observed, and which these three years had developed in Bertel's whole personality, made an indescribable impression upon the young Southerner's soul. It seemed to her as if she saw him himself, the greatest among mortals, the pride of her dreams, her life's delight and misery; he, the beloved and feared, her country's, her faith's, and her heart's conqueror ... and as if he himself had said to her in the well-remembered tones: "Regina, you hate me!"

This impression came so swiftly, so strongly, and with such a surprising power, that Regina suddenly grew pale, staggered, and was compelled to lean on Bertel's outstretched arm.

"Holy Virgin!" she whispered, bewildered, and not knowing what she uttered, "should I hate you ... you, whom I lo ...?"

Bertel caught this half incomprehensible word, so full of meaning, with a surprise as sudden and unexpected as Regina's. Beside himself with amazement, fear, and hope, he was still too chivalrous to avail himself of an involuntary confession. Mute and respectful, he led the young girl to her protectress, in whose care she soon recovered from her sudden prostration, an effect of long-suppressed emotions, which sought vent.

Bertel had obtained permission to escort Lady Regina to Stockholm, from whence she could return to her Fatherland, at the first open waters. He was, therefore, at liberty to remain at Kajaneborg until she was ready for the journey, and this was again delayed through lack of a fitting female companion for the high-born prisoner.

Weeks passed in waiting, and during this time entirely new relations were formed, which one could hardly have predicted after Regina's proud coldness towards her deliverer. Ah! this coldness was the ice over a glowing volcano; every day it grew thinner and melted away; every day the foundations of Regina's pride gradually became weaker, and finally only one barrier remained, the strongest one of all, it is true, namely, that of religious convictions. Vain wall! It, too, finally crumbled before the fire of a southern passion, and before these weeks were ended, the girl of nineteen, and the young man of twenty-three, had forgotten the great differences of faith and rank, and sworn each other fidelity for life.

Did Bertel know that he had to thank the memory of Gustaf Adolf for his beautiful, proud, black-eyed bride?

A singular destiny wished to seal this union in an unexpected and wonderful manner. With a secret apprehension for his future happiness, Bertel had tried in vain to discover the Jesuit's fate.

Since the morning when he leaped over the railing of the bridge, no one had heard or seen anything of him, until, three weeks afterwards, a peasant reported that on opening a hole in the ice, a little below Ämmä fall, they had discovered the body of a man without ears, clothed in a foreign garb, which the peasant brought with him, and which were recognised as those of Father Hieronymus. In addition, the honest Paldamo peasant produced a small copper ring, which had been found hanging by a cord on the dead man's neck.

Bertel looked at this ring with astonishment and delight.

"At last I have you!" he exclaimed, "the ring I have so long sought ... and with you the certainty of this terrible man's death."

"The judgment of the saints on the perjurer!" exclaimed Regina, awe-struck.

"The judgment of the saints, which confirms our happiness!" rejoined Bertel, and he placed on Regina's finger the _King's Ring_.