Part 42

“Oh, Christian has a very good cause!” said M. Goefle, who had come to listen to the examination, and who, now that it was concluded, was conducting his guests to his apartment, which he called his bear-manor. “We should have plenty of weapons against the baron if we could succeed in freeing old Stenson, who has been carried, whether he would or not, to the chateau. You must help us, gentlemen, to accomplish it.”

“That would be quite out of my power, M. Goefle,” said the major. “The chatelain is judge on his own domain, and consequently in his own house. I do not know what M. Stenson’s case can have in common with Christian’s, but my advice is not to complicate this affair with any other. Above all things, I should like to know whether Christian has chanced to find a gold goblet in his ass’s pack-saddle, which the baron--like Joseph of old, wishing to try his brothers, but, I presume, with much less pacific intentions--ordered to be placed there.”

“Upon my word,” said Christian, “I don’t know anything about it; let us go and see.”

They went to the stable, where they found Puffo, pale and trembling, in a corner. They searched him, and found the goblet about him. He begged for mercy, and confessed after his fashion. An hour before he had seen Master Johan, he said, bring this precious object there, and had guessed what his design was. Not supposing that he was watched, he had resolved to take it, so as to carry it back to the chateau and prevent his master from being accused of a theft of which he was innocent; but when he tried to go out, he found that the stable-door was fastened, and in spite of all his efforts he had been unable to open it; which was the reason that he had not gone to his master’s assistance during the combat. In consequence of these very suspicious statements, the major ordered Puffo to be bound like the rest, and conducted to the _gaard_, where Peterson, summoned to lend assistance, had taken the place of the officers in watching the three prisoners. The gold goblet was taken in triumph by M. Goefle, and placed upon the table of the bear-room.

Meanwhile, Martina Akerstrom ran to meet her betrothed, without the slightest fear of what people would say, and without being the least embarrassed by the presence of the major and the corporal. The good and simple-hearted child, who was making tea for “those poor gentlemen, who must be so cold,” had now only two causes of anxiety: the uneasiness that her absence might be occasioning her parents, and the want of sugar for her tea. She requested to have some one sent to the new chateau to reassure the authors of her being, and to bring back some sugar.

Nils, who had been waked up by the noise around him, and who was very much delighted at beholding so much fine company, was able to gratify good Martina as to the latter point, for the child had an excellent reason for knowing where the sugar was to be found which Ulphilas had brought in the morning; but it was not so easy to comply with her first request. They had no messengers, and the major, besides, was anxious to take down forthwith Martina’s deposition, together with that of the lieutenant, in regard to the conversation between the bandits, which they had overheard two hours before at the entrance to the tower of the new chateau. As this was the all-important point in the affair, he required them to repeat the whole conversation with the utmost accuracy; and, as he wrote down their statement, he expressed his regret that the third witness, Countess Margaret, was not present, to add on her signature.

Margaret was in the guard-room, where Christian, who had hurried on in advance for the purpose, had begged her to go, so that she need not be seen by the young officers, in whose eyes there would not have been the same excuse for her presence as for Martina’s: the plausible, and, in Sweden, sacred excuse of having come out of anxiety for the safety of her betrothed. But the young countess, who was standing close to the door, heard that her assistance was required, and knowing well that she need have no fear of being slandered or misjudged by any of the persons present, all of whom were known to her, threw the door open and came in. She was eager to swear, as well as the others, that the accusation of theft which the infamous baron had intended to bring against Christian, was a conspiracy that had been announced, beforehand, in her presence; and to sign her name to the statement to this effect.

On seeing her, the major and the lieutenant could not repress an exclamation of surprise, but M. Goefle, with his usual presence of mind, undertook to explain everything.

Mademoiselle Akerstrom could not have come alone, he said. She had no one to accompany her, and the officers had charged her so strictly to keep perfectly silent as to the affair, that she could not venture to take any other escort than the servant of Countess Margaret, who was in the secret as well as herself. Naturally, Countess Margaret had wished to accompany her friend, whom Peterson otherwise might have objected to escorting, on account of the bad weather. M. Goefle, once launched, brought forward a number of good reasons of a similar character, to prove how natural it was that she should have come. Martina, with her primitive simplicity, might, perhaps, have said that he did not understand what had really happened, and so far was she from suspecting Margaret’s predilection for Christian, that she would infallibly have done so, if she had not been absorbed in the all-important duty of serving tea, and even porridge, with the assistance of Nils; who, moreover, had discovered in the _gaard_ the dishes intended by the absent Ulphilas for his uncle’s supper, and that of the guests of Stollborg. The gloomy bear-room, therefore, presented, for the moment, a tranquil scene, which formed a wonderful contrast to its previous aspect; one of those eternal contrasts which nature and destiny are constantly presenting in every life: now agonies, struggles, dangers; and the very next moment, a home circle, a repast, conversation. However, M. Goefle and Martina were the only two of the company who sat down to their supper. The others swallowed a few mouthfuls standing, and in great haste, while impatiently awaiting either for new events to occur, or for a reinforcement which would enable them to form new resolutions.

It is certain that every person in this singular gathering had cause for great anxiety. Margaret asked herself whether she would not be missed and sought after by her aunt, in consequence of the necessary change in the programme of the evening’s entertainment at the new chateau, occasioned by the absence of the _burattini_; and whether Mademoiselle Potin herself would not share her surprise and alarm, on learning of the continued absence of Martina, with whom she had left her. Martina did not take the anxiety of her family so much to heart. Thoroughly practical and unimaginative, she said to herself that the chateau was very large, that her mother trusted her implicitly, and being herself very fond of cards, was not in the habit of looking after her when she went hither and thither, from hall to hall, with her young companions; and lastly, that the soldiers might arrive at any moment, when she would be once more at liberty. But when she thought how small a number of defenders Stollborg had, she felt for the moment very anxious about her lover, and thought the reinforcement very slow in arriving.

Christian, in his anxiety for Margaret, scarcely thought about his own perils. The major was uneasy both for Christian and for himself. He continually repeated aside to the lieutenant that he did not consider the affair at all in a proper shape to be brought before a court. The lieutenant was troubled because the major was so; and as for M. Goefle, he was greatly alarmed about old Stenson, and his apprehensions about him led him back to his inward cogitations about Christian’s birth and destiny.

The situation, in short, was not reassuring for any of them, when at last they heard a knocking and ringing at the door of the court. The officer and soldiers they were waiting for had perhaps arrived, but there was an equal chance that it was a second band of bravos, despatched by the baron to assist or deliver the first. The major and the lieutenant loaded their pistols, and rushed out, ordering Christian, with the legal authority with which they were clothed by their position, to remain behind them, and make no movement until at their command. Then Larrson, at the risk of being struck down by the scoundrels whom he wished to arrest, resolutely opened the door of the court himself, and, on doing so, recognized with joy his friend the adjutant, and the four soldiers who lived nearest to his cantonment. From that moment he was safe. The baron was of course impatient to learn the issue of his scheme, and on receiving no intelligence in regard to it, he would not fail to send a new band of his foreign footmen to discover what had happened, but they would now be prepared to receive them.

The adjutant made his report, which was brief. He had got lost with his men, and had only discovered Stollborg by accident at last, after wandering for a long time in the fog. As far as he could judge, he had not met any one during the whole time; if this had happened, it had been without his knowledge.

“However,” he added, “the fog is beginning to lift about the shores of the lake, and in less than a quarter of an hour it will be quite possible to make a round. Moreover, as the noise of the fanfares and fireworks has entirely ceased at the chateau, we can distinguish, now, the slightest sounds from without.”

“It will be all the easier to make a round,” replied the major, “since we have with us a man of the country, a certain Peterson, who has the divining instinct of the peasants, and who, even now, could lead you anywhere; but wait awhile longer. Stand sentinel at the two outer gates, in profound silence, and keep well concealed. Close the doors of the pavilion of the _gaard_. See that the prisoners are well guarded, and threaten them with death if they speak a word, but let this be merely a threat. The one dead man on our hands is one too many; we may be held responsible for his death ourselves.”

XVIII.

THE brave and prudent major had just made these arrangements, when a shadow passed close to him just as he was groping his way back to the bear-room to continue his examination, for he had yet to receive M. Goefle’s opinion--a most important one--about all that had happened in relation to Christian. This shadow moved with an uncertain step, and the major resolved to follow it, and did so, until, on encountering the wall of the donjon, it began to swear in rather a mild voice, which Christian recognized as that of Olof Bœtsoi, the son of the danneman.

“Whom do you want to see, my child?” he said, taking him by the arm. “And how is it that you have come here, instead of returning to your house?”

As he spoke, they all three entered the bear-room together.

“Faith, if you had not been there,” said Olof to Christian, “I should have been a long time looking for the door. I know the outside of Stollborg well, I could come to it with my eyes shut, but I don’t know anything about the inside! I have never been here in my life before. You can suppose that I could not return to the mountain right off, in this cursed weather. At last it began to brighten a little, and, after passing two hours at the major’s bostoelle, I set out on foot, lest my father should be uneasy; but, first of all, I wanted to bring back a portfolio which you left in the sleigh, Herr Christian. Here it is. I have not opened it. Whatever was in it you will find as you left it. I did not wish to intrust it to any one, for my father has often told me that papers are sometimes more precious than money.”

And Olof, in concluding, handed Christian a portfolio of black morocco, which he did not recognize at all.

“It is yours, perhaps,” he said to the major. “It may have been in the coat that you lent me.”

“No, I never saw it before,” replied Larrson.

“Then possibly it belongs to the lieutenant?”

“Oh, no indeed!” cried Martina; “he has no portfolios, except those that I embroider for him.”

“It is easy to find out, at any rate,” said the major; “he is close by, in the _gaard_.”

“Wait a moment!” cried M. Goefle, who was always on the breach with his fixed idea. “Did you not tell me, Christian, that you had upset the baron this evening, on returning from the hunt?”

“I told you that the baron had overturned me, and was upset himself in consequence,” replied Christian.

“It is all the same thing,” rejoined the lawyer; “whatever was in the two sleighs must have rolled pell-mell together on the road; and this--”

“It belongs to the physician, I wager!” said Christian. “Leave it here, Olof; we will send it to him.”

“Give it to me!” resumed M. Goefle, in a brief, authoritative tone. “The only way of finding out to whom an anonymous portfolio belongs, is to open it, and that shall be my duty.”

“You assume the responsibility, Monsieur Goefle?” said the scrupulous major.

“Yes, monsieur,” replied M. Goefle, opening the portfolio, “and I call upon you to witness what I do. You are here to examine the facts of a lawsuit, which it will perhaps be my mission to plead. Here is a letter from M. Johan to his master. I know his writing, and at the first glance, I see in it: ‘The man with the marionettes--Guido Massarelli--The chamber of roses!’--Ah, indeed! the baron, like the senate, assumes the privilege of having his own! Major, this document is very important, and the other, perhaps--for there are two--is still more so. Your commission requires you to acquaint yourself with them.”

“May I go?” said the young danneman, who, like the peasants of all countries, was terribly afraid of the law, and who accordingly, as soon as he began vaguely to understand that the examination for a suit was going on, wanted to make his escape, lest he should be involved in it by having to give his testimony.

“No,” replied the major, “you must remain and listen.”

He turned to Margaret and Martina, who were whispering together about the possibility of returning to the new chateau, and laid the same injunction upon them.

“I beg and require you,” he said, “to remain also, and listen. Our opponent is very powerful, and we may be accused of having forged false proofs. In this case documents have been placed in our hands in your presence, and you must learn their contents at the same time with ourselves.”

“No no!” cried Christian; “these ladies must not be mixed up in a lawsuit.”

“I am grieved that it must be so, Christian,” replied the major; “but the laws are stronger than we, and I shall do what they require me to do, rigorously. A man has been killed this evening whom it would certainly be more to our advantage to hold alive. I know that you had nothing to do with this, and that you yourself were wounded in the scuffle in which he perished. You are passionate--you are brave and generous--but you are not prudent in what concerns yourself. As for me, I tell you that this affair may lead you to the scaffold, because you acknowledge honestly having given provocation to your enemies, while the rogues deny insolently their part in the transaction. Let us read, then, and neglect no means of making the truth triumph.”

“Yes, yes, major, read, I am listening!” cried Margaret, who had turned pale as she looked at Christian’s bloody sleeve; “I will testify, no matter at what cost!”

Christian would have refused to take advantage of the devotion of this noble girl, and he could ill endure the authority which the major assumed over her. The major, however, was right, and Christian felt this, since in this affair the honor of the officer was at stake no less than his own. He seated himself brusquely, and covered his face with his hands to conceal and repress the vehement emotions by which he was agitated, while the major read in a loud voice the journal of Master Johan, written by himself, and sent to the baron during the hunt.

“This seems to me a very mysterious document,” he said, on concluding it; “it proves a deep-laid plot against Christian, but--”

“But you cannot understand,” said M. Goefle, who, while the major was reading, had rapidly glanced through the second paper contained in the portfolio, “such hatred against an unknown, without name, without family, and without fortune, on the part of the high and mighty seigneur the Baron de Waldemora. Well, for my part, I understand it perfectly, and, since we see the effect, it is time to know the cause; here it is--Lift up your head, Christian de Waldemora!” added M. Goefle, striking the table with energy; “for Heaven has led you here, and old Stenson was right in saying, ‘The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.’”

During the silence that followed--for all were struck dumb with amazement--M. Goefle read aloud what follows:

“_Declaration intrusted by me, Adam Stenson, to Taddeo Manasses, Merchant, born in Perugia: To be delivered up to Christian on the day when the circumstances herein mentioned shall permit_:

“ADELSTAN CHRISTIAN DE WALDEMORA, son of the noble Seigneur Christian Adelstan, Baron de Waldemora, and the noble lady Hilda de Blixen, born the fifteenth of September, 1746, in the castle of Stollborg, in the chamber called that of the bear, on the domain of Waldemora, province of Dalecarlia;

“Secretly confided to the care of Anna Bœtsoi, wife of the danneman Karl Bœtsoi, by me, the undersigned, Adam Stenson, and by Karine Bœtsoi, daughter of the above-named, and confidential waiting-woman of the deceased Baroness Hilda de Waldemora, _née_ de Blixen;

“The said infant suckled by a tame doe, and brought up in the house of the said danneman Karl Bœtsoi, on the mountain of Blaakdal, until the age of four years, where he passed for the son of Karine Bœtsoi, who, out of devotion for her deceased mistress, consented to be thought bewitched, and in communication with evil spirits, and who thus preserved the child, of whom she called herself the mother, from the pursuit of his _enemies_;

“The said child, carried away by me, Adam Stenson, to withdraw it from suspicions, by which his safety was beginning to be compromised, in spite of the precautions hitherto taken;

“Was taken by me, the undersigned, to Austria, where I have a married sister, who can testify to having seen me arrive at her house with a child named Christian, speaking the Dalecarlian language;

“And, by the advice of my very faithful friend and confidant, Taddeo Manasses, of the religion of the Old Testament, and formerly well known in Sweden, under the name of Manasses, and very highly esteemed by his lordship the late Baron Adelstan de Waldemora, as a man of his word, and of discretion and honesty in his business, the trading in objects of art, of which the said baron was a great amateur;

“I, the undersigned, went to the city of Perugia, in Italy, where then resided the above-mentioned Manasses, and where, during the carnival, I presented myself, being masked, to the very honorable couple, Silvio Goffredi, Professor of Ancient History in the University of Perugia, and Sophia Negrisoli, his legitimate wife, of the family of the illustrious physician of that name;

“And to them surrendered, confided, and, as it might be said, _gave_ the said Christian de Waldemora, without making known to them his family name, his country, or the special reasons which had made me resolve to separate from him;

“In giving this well-beloved child to the above-mentioned Goffredis, I believed that I was fulfilling the wish of the deceased Baroness Hilda, who desired that he should be brought up far from _his enemies_, by learned and virtuous people, who, without any selfish motive, would love him like their own son, and make him what he should be, in order to sustain worthily, some day, the name he is to bear, and the rank he is to recover, after the death of _his enemies_, the which death, according to the order of nature, ought greatly to precede his own;

“And, in case the death of the undersigned should occur before that of the _said enemies_, the undersigned has charged Taddeo Manasses to make such inquiries as may be necessary, so that, at the death of _his enemies_, Christian de Waldemora should be warned, and put into possession of the present declaration: in faith of which--after having made a contract with my good friend Taddeo Manasses, who is never to lose sight of the said Christian de Waldemora, who is to reside where he shall reside, and to come to his assistance if other protection shall fail him; who, in case of serious illness, threatening him with death, is to put another person sure as himself in his place, to fulfil the same duties; and finally, who is to give once a year news of his welfare to the undersigned--the undersigned, wishing to keep his place in the chateau de Waldemora, so as not to arouse suspicions, and to earn money to provide against coming emergencies, the probable removals, and journeys of Taddeo, and the eventual needs of the said child, quitted, not without grief, the city of Perugia, to return to Sweden, the sixteenth of March, 1750, believing and hoping to have done what was best to preserve from all danger, and to place in a happy and honorable situation, the son of his deceased master and mistress.

“ADAM STENSON.

“_Witness_:

“TADDEO MANASSES,

“_Sworn keeper of the paintings in the Exchange, at Perugia._”

“Speak, Christian!” said M. Goefle to his young friend, who remained silent and stupefied. “Everything must be verified. Was this Manasses really an honest man?”

“I have no reason to doubt it,” replied Christian.

“Did he not offer you assistance, at one time, on the part of your family?”

“Yes; I refused it.”

“Do you know his signature?”

“Perfectly. He had several business transactions with M. Goffredi.”

“Look at this: is it his writing?”

“It is his writing.”

“For my part,” said M. Goefle, “I recognize perfectly, in the body of the document, the hand and style of Adam Stenson. Will you be so good as to open this portfolio, major, and verify the similitude? These are the accounts of his affairs, prepared and signed by the old steward at nearly the same period; that is to say, in 1751 and 1752. Besides, his writing has not changed, and his hand is still firm. Here is the proof of it: these three verses of the Bible written yesterday, and whose application, as interpreted by him, is quite evident, and will be useful in evidence.”

The major made the verification, but the whole affair, if not utterly enigmatical, still seemed to him very obscure. Had the baron forged false documents to establish that his sister-in-law had left no heirs to contest his rights? He was quite capable of this, but M. Goefle had seen these documents. They were actually in his possession, having been confided to him by his father, whom he had succeeded.