Thelma

M >> Marie Corelli >> Thelma


"Oh, my dear! don't be angry with me!" implored Britta, with sparkling
eyes, rosy cheeks, and excited tongue all pleading eloquently together,
"I should die here without you! I told the _bonde_ so; I did, indeed I
And then I went to Sir Philip--he is such a grand gentleman,--so proud
and yet so kind,--and I asked him to let me still be your servant. I
said I knew all great ladies had a maid, and if I was not clever enough
I could learn, and--and--" here Britta began to sob, "I said I did not
want any wages--only to live in a little corner of the same house where
you were,--to sew for you, and see you, and hear your voice sometimes--"
Here the poor little maiden broke down altogether and hid her face in
her apron crying bitterly.

The tears were in Thelma's eyes too, and she hastened to put her arm
round Britta's waist, and tried to soothe her by every loving word she
could think of.

"Hush, Britta dear! you must not cry," she said tenderly. "What did
Philip say?"

"He said," jerked out Britta convulsively, "that I was a g-good little
g-girl, and that he was g-glad I wanted to g-go!" Here her two sparkling
wet eyes peeped out of the apron inquiringly, and seeing nothing but the
sweetest affection on Thelma's attentive face, she went on more
steadily. "He p-pinched my cheek, and he laughed--and he said he would
rather have me for your maid than anybody--there!"

And this last exclamation was uttered with so much defiance that she
dashed away the apron altogether, and stood erect in self-congratulatory
glory, with a particularly red little nose and very trembling lips.
Thelma smiled, and caressed the tumbled brown curls.

"I am very glad, Britta!" she said earnestly. "Nothing could have
pleased me more! I must thank Philip. But it is of father I am
thinking--what will father and Sigurd do?"

"Oh, that is all settled, Froeken," said Britta, recovering herself
rapidly from her outburst. "The _bonde_ means to go for one of his long
voyages in the _Valkyrie_--it is time she was used again, I'm sure,--and
Sigurd will go with him. It will do them both good--and the tongues of
Bosekop can waggle as much as they please, none of us will be here to
mind them!"

"And you will escape your grandmother!" said Thelma amusedly, as she
once more set her spinning-wheel in motion.

Britta laughed delightedly. "Yes! she will not find her way to England
without some trouble!" she exclaimed. "Oh, how happy I shall be! And
you"--she looked pleadingly at her mistress--"you do not dislike me for
your servant?"

"Dislike!" and Thelma gave her a glance of mingled reproach and
tenderness. "You know how fond I am of you, Britta! It will be like
having a little bit of my old home always with me."

Silently Britta kissed her hand, and then resumed her work. The
monotonous murmur of the two wheels recommenced,--this time pleasantly
accompanied by the rippling chatter of the two girls, who, after the
fashion of girls all the world over, indulged in many speculations as to
the new and strange life that lay before them.

Their ideas were of the most primitive character,--Britta had never been
out of Norway, and Thelma's experiences, apart from her home life,
extended merely to the narrow and restricted bounds of simple and severe
convent discipline, where she had been taught that the pomps and
vanities of the world were foolish and transient shows, and that nothing
could please God more than purity and rectitude of soul. Her character
was formed, and set upon a firm basis--firmer than she herself was
conscious of. The nuns who had been entrusted with her education had
fulfilled their task with more than their customary zeal--they were
interested in the beautiful Norwegian child for the sake of her mother,
who had also been their charge. One venerable nun in particular had
bestowed a deep and lasting benefit on her, for, seeing her
extraordinary beauty, and forestalling the dangers and temptations into
which the possession of such exceptional charms might lead her, she
adopted a wise preventive course, that cased her as it were in armor,
proof against all the assailments of flattery. She told the girl quite
plainly that she was beautiful,--but at the same time made her aware
that beauty was common,--that she shared it alike with birds, flowers,
trees, and all the wonderful objects of nature--moreover, that it was
nothing to boast of, being so perishable.

"Suppose a rose foolish enough to boast of its pretty leaves," said the
gentle _religieuse_ on one occasion. "They all fall to the ground in a
short time, and become decayed and yellow--it is only the fragrance, or
the _soul_ of the rose that lasts." Such precepts, that might have been
wasted on a less sensitive and thoughtful nature, sank deeply into
Thelma's mind--she accepted them not only in theory but in practice, and
the result was that she accepted her beauty as she accepted her
health,--as a mere natural occurrence--no more. She was taught that the
three principal virtues of a woman were chastity, humility, and
obedience,--these were the laws of God, fixed and immutable, which no
one dared break without committing grievous and unpardonable sin. So she
thought, and according to her thoughts she lived. What a strange world,
then, lay before her in the contemplated change that was about to take
place in the even tenor of her existence! A world of intrigue and
folly--a world of infidelity and falsehood!--how would she meet it? It
was a question she never asked herself--she thought London a sort of
magnified Christiania, or at best, the Provencal town of Arles on a
larger scale. She had heard her father speak of it, but only in a vague
way, and she had been able to form no just idea even to herself of the
enormous metropolis crowded to excess with its glad and sorrowful, busy
and idle, rich and poor millions. England itself floated before her
fancy as a green, fertile, embowered island where Shakespeare had
lived--and it delighted her to know that her future home, Errington
Manor, was situated in Warwickshire, Shakespeare's county. Of the
society that awaited her she had no notion,--she was prepared to "keep
house" for her husband in a very simple way--to spin his household
linen, to spare him all trouble and expense, and to devote herself body
and soul to his service. As may be well imagined, the pictures she drew
of her future married life, as she sat and span with Britta on that
peaceful afternoon, were widely different to the destined reality that
every day approached her more nearly.

Meantime, while the two girls were at home and undisturbed in the quiet
farm house, the mountaineering party, headed by Sigurd, were well on
their way towards the great Fall of Njedegorze. They had made a toilsome
ascent of the hills by the side of the Alten river--they had climbed
over craggy boulders and slippery rocks, sometimes wading knee-deep in
the stream, or pausing to rest and watch the salmon leap and turn
glittering somersaults in the air close above the diamond-clear
water,--and they had beguiled their fatigue with songs and laughter, and
the telling of fantastic legends and stories in which Sigurd had shone
at his best--indeed, this unhappy being was in a singularly clear and
rational frame of mind, disposed, too, to be agreeable even towards
Errington. Lorimer, who for reasons of his own, had kept a close watch
on Sigurd ever since his friend's engagement to Thelma, was surprised
and gratified at this change in his former behavior, and encouraged him
in it, while Errington himself responded to the dwarf's proffered
friendship, and walked beside him, chatting cheerfully, during the most
part of the excursion to the Fall. It was a long and exceedingly
difficult journey--and in some parts dangerous--but Sigurd proved
himself worthy of the commendations bestowed on him by the _bonde_, and
guided them by the easiest and most secure paths, till at last, about
seven o'clock in the evening, they heard the rush and roar of the rapids
below the Fall, and with half an hour's more exertion, came in sight of
them, though not as yet of the Fall itself. Yet the rapids were grand
enough to merit attention--and the whole party stopped to gaze on the
whirling wonders of water that, hissing furiously, circled round and
round giddily in wheels of white foam, and then, as though enraged,
leaped high over obstructing stones and branches, and rushed onward and
downward to the smoother length of the river.

The noise was deafening,--they could not hear each other speak unless by
shouting at the top of their voices, and even then the sounds were
rendered almost indistinct by the riotous uproar. Sigurd, however, who
knew all the ins and outs of the place, sprang lightly on a jutting
crag, and, putting both hands to his mouth, uttered a peculiar, shrill,
and far-reaching cry. Clear above the turmoil of the restless waters,
that cry was echoed back eight distinct times from the surrounding rocks
and hills. Sigurd laughed triumphantly.

"You see!" he exclaimed, as he resumed his leadership of the party,
"they all know me! They are obliged to answer me when I call--they dare
not disobey!" And his blue eyes flashed with that sudden wild fire that
generally foretold some access of his particular mania.

Errington saw this and said soothingly, "Of course not, Sigurd! No one
would dream of disobeying you! See how we follow you to-day--we all do
exactly what you tell us."

"We are sheep, Sigurd," added Lorimer lazily; "and you are the
shepherd!"

Sigurd looked from one to the other half doubtingly, half cunningly. He
smiled.

"Yes!" he said. "You will follow me, will you not? Up to the very top of
the Fall?"

"By all means!" answered Sir Philip gaily. "Anywhere you choose to go!"

Sigurd seemed satisfied, and lapsing into the calm, composed manner
which had distinguished him all day, he led the way as before, and they
resumed their march, this time in silence, for conversation was
well-nigh impossible. The nearer they came to the yet invisible Fall,
the more thunderous grew the din--it was as though they approached some
vast battle-field, where opposing armies were in full action, with all
the tumult of cannonade and musketry. The ascent grew steeper and more
difficult--at times the high barriers of rocks seemed almost
impassable,--often they were compelled to climb over confused heaps of
huge stones, through which the eddying water pushed its way with speed
and fury,--but Sigurd's precision was never at fault,--he leaped crag
after crag swiftly and skillfully, always lighting on a sure foothold,
and guiding the others to do the same. At last, at a sharp turn of one
of these rocky eminences, they perceived an enormous cloud of white
vapor rising up like smoke from the earth, and twisting itself as it
rose, in swaying, serpentine folds, as though some giant spirit-hand
were shaking it to and fro like a long flowing veil in the air. Sigurd
paused and pointed forward.

"Njedegorze!" he cried.

They all pressed on with some excitement. The ground vibrated beneath
their feet with the shock of the falling torrent, and the clash and
uproar of the disputing waters rolled in their ears like the grand,
sustained bass of some huge cathedral organ. Almost blinded by the spray
that dashed its disdainful drops in their faces, deafened by the
majestic, loud, and ceaseless eloquence that poured its persuasive force
into the splitting hearts of the rocks around them,--breathless with
climbing, and well-nigh tread out, they struggled on, and broke into one
unanimous shout of delight and triumph when they at last reached the
small hut that had been erected for the convenience of travellers who
might choose that way to journey to the Altenfjord,--and stood face to
face with the magnificent cascade, one of the grandest in Norway. What a
sublime spectacle it was!--that tempest of water sweeping sheer down the
towering rocks in one straight, broad, unbroken sheet of foam! A myriad
rainbows flashed in the torrent and vanished, to reappear again
instantly with redoubled lustre,--while the glory of the evening
sunlight glittering on one side of the fall made it gleam like a
sparkling shower of molten gold.

"Njedegorze!" cried Sigurd again, giving a singularly musical
pronunciation to the apparently uncouth name. "Come! still a little
further,--to the top of the Fall!"

Olaf Gueldmar, however, paid no attention to this invitation. He was
already beginning to busy himself with preparations for passing the
night comfortably in the hut before mentioned. Stout old Norseman as he
was, there were limits to his endurance, and the arduous exertions of
the long day had brought fatigue to him as well as to the rest of the
party.

Macfarlane was particularly exhausted. His frequent pulls at the whiskey
flask had been of little or no avail as a support to his aching limbs,
and, now he had reached his destination, he threw himself full length on
the turf in front of the hut and groaned most dismally.

Lorimer surveyed him amusedly, and stood beside him, the very picture of
a cool young Briton whom nothing could possibly discompose.

"Done up--eh, Sandy?" he inquired.

"Done up!" growled Macfarlane. "D'ye think I'm a Norseman or a jumping
Frenchy?" This with a look of positive indignation at the lively Duprez,
who, if tired, was probably too vain to admit it, for he was strutting
about, giving vent to his genuine admiration of the scene before him
with the utmost freshness and enthusiasm. "I'm just a plain Scotchman,
an' no such a fule at climbin' either! Why, man, I've been up Goatfell
in Arran, an' Ben Lomond an' Ben Nevis--there's a mountain for ye, if ye
like! But a brae like this, wi' a' the stanes lyin' helter-skelter, an'
crags that ye can barely hold on to--and a mad chap guidin' ye on at the
speed o' a leapin' goat--I tell ye, I havena been used to't." Here he
drew out his flask and took another extensive pull at it. Then he added
suddenly, "Just look at Errington! He'll be in a fair way to break his
neck if he follows yon wee crazy loon any further."

At these words Lorimer turned sharply round, and perceived his friend
following Sigurd step by step up a narrow footing in the steep ascent of
some rough, irregular crags that ran out and formed a narrow ledge,
ending in a sharp point, jutting directly over the full fury of the
waterfall. He watched the two climbing figures for an instant without
any anxiety,--then he suddenly remembered that Philip had promised to go
with Sigurd "to the top of the Fall." Acting on a rapid impulse which he
did not stop to explain to himself, Lorimer at once started off after
them,--but the ascent was difficult; they were some distance ahead, and
though he shouted vociferously, the roar of the cascade rendered his
voice inaudible. Gaining on them, however, by slow degrees, he was
startled when all at once they disappeared at the summit--and,
breathless with his rapid climb, he paused, bewildered. By-and-by he saw
Sigurd creeping cautiously out along the rocky shelf that overhung the
tumbling torrent--his gaze grew riveted with a sort of deadly
fascination on the spot.

"Good God!" he muttered under his breath. "Surely Phil will not follow
him _there_!"

He watched with strained eyes,--and a smothered cry escaped him as
Errington's tall figure, erect and bold, appeared on that narrow and
dangerous platform! He never knew how he clambered up the rest of the
slippery ascent. A double energy seemed given to his active limbs. He
never paused again for one second till he also stood on the platform,
without being heard or perceived by either Sigurd or Philip. Their backs
were turned to him, and he feared to move or speak, lest a sudden
surprised movement on their parts should have the fatal result of
precipitating one or both into the fall. He remained, therefore, behind
them, silent and motionless,--looking, as they looked, at the terrific
scene below. From that point, Njedegorze was as a huge boiling caldron,
from which arose twisted wreaths and coiling lengths of white vapor,
faintly colored with gold and silvery blue. Dispersing in air, these
mists took all manner of fantastic forms,--ghostly arms seemed to wave
and beckon, ghostly hands to unite in prayer,--and fluttering creatures
in gossamer draperies of green and crimson, appeared to rise and float,
and retire and shrink, to nothingness again in the rainbow drift and
sweep of whirling foam. Errington gazed unconcernedly down on the
seething abyss. He pushed back his cap from his brow, and let the fresh
wind play among his dark, clustering curls. His nerves were steady, and
he surveyed the giddily twisting wheels of shining water, without any
corresponding giddiness in his own brain. He had that sincere delight in
a sublime natural spectacle, which is the heritage of all who possess a
poetic and artistic temperament; and though he stood on a frail ledge of
rock, from which one false or unwary step might send him to certain
destruction, he had not the slightest sense of possible danger in his
position. Withdrawing his eyes from the Fall, he looked kindly down at
Sigurd, who in turn was staring up at him with a wild fixity of regard.

"Well, old boy," he said cheerfully, "this is a fine sight! Have you had
enough of it? Shall we go back?"

Sigurd drew imperceptibly nearer. Lorimer, from his point of vantage
behind a huge bowlder, drew nearer also.

"Go back?" echoed Sigurd. "Why should we go back?"

"Why, indeed!" laughed Errington, lightly balancing himself on the
trembling rocks beneath him. "Except that I should scarcely think this
is the best place on which to pass the night! Not enough room, and too
much noise! What say you?"

"Oh, brave, brave, fool!" cried the dwarf in sudden excitement. "Are you
not _afraid_?"

The young baronet's keen eyes glanced him over with amused wonder.

"What of?" he demanded coolly. Still nearer came Sigurd--nearer also
came the watchful, though almost invisible Lorimer.

"Look down there!" continued Sigurd in shrill tones, pointing to the
foaming gulf. "Look at the _Elf-danz_--see the beautiful spirits with
the long pale green hair and glittering wings! See how they beckon,
beckon, beckon! They want some one to join them--look how their white
arms wave,--they throw back their golden veils and smile at us! They
call to _you_--you with the strong figure and the proud eyes--why do you
not go to them? They will kiss and caress you--they have sweet lips and
snow-white bosoms,--they will love you and take care of you--they are as
fair as Thelma!"

"Are they? I doubt it!" and Errington smiled dreamily as he turned his
head again towards the fleecy whirl of white water, and saw at once with
an artist's quick eye what his sick-brained companion meant by the
_Elf-danz_, in the fantastic twisting, gliding shapes tossed up in the
vaporous mist of the Fall. "But I'll take your word, Sigurd, without
making the elves' personal acquaintance! Come along--this place is bad
for you--we'll dance with the green-haired nymphs another time."

And with a light laugh he was about to turn away, when he was surprised
by a sudden, strange convulsion of Sigurd's countenance--his blue eyes
flashed with an almost phosphorescent lustre,--his pale skin flushed
deeply red, and the veins in his forehead started into swelled and
knotted prominence.

"Another time!" he screamed loudly; "no, no! Now--now! Die, robber of
Thelma's love! Die--die--_die_!"

Repeating these words like quick gasps of fury, he twisted his meager
arms tightly round Errington, and thrust him fiercely with all his might
towards the edge of the Fall. For one second Philip strove against
him--the next, he closed his eyes--Thelma's face smiled on his mind in
that darkness as though in white farewell--the surging blood roared in
his ears with more thunder than the terrific tumble of the
torrent--"God!" he muttered, and _then_--then he stood safe on the upper
part of the rocky platform with Lorimer's strong hand holding him in a
vice-like grasp, and Lorimer's face, pale, but looking cheerfully into
his. For a moment he was too bewildered to speak. His friend loosened
him and laughed rather forcedly--a slight tremble of his lips was
observable under his fair moustache.

"By Jove, Phil," he remarked in his usual nonchalant manner, "that was
rather a narrow shave! Fortunate I happened to be there!"

Errington gazed about him confusedly. "Where's Sigurd?" he asked.

"Gone! Ran off like a 'leapin' goat,' as Sandy elegantly describes him.
I thought at first he meant to jump over the Fall, in which case I
should have been compelled to let him have his own way, as my hands were
full. But he's taken a safe landward direction."

"Didn't he try to push me over?"

"Exactly! He was quite convinced that the mermaids wanted you. But I
considered that Miss Thelma's wishes had a prior claim on my regard."

"Look here, old man," said Errington suddenly, "don't jest about it! You
saved my life!"

"Well!" and Lorimer laughed. "Quite by accident, I assure you."

"_Not_ by accident!" and Philip flushed up, looking very handsome and
earnest. "I believe you followed us up here thinking something might
happen. Now didn't you?"

"Suppose I did," began Lorimer, but he was interrupted by his friend,
who seized his hand, and pressed it with a warm, close, affectionate
fervor. Their eyes met--and Lorimer blushed as though he had performed
some action meriting blame rather than gratitude. "That'll do, old
fellow," he said almost nervously. "As we say in polite society when
some one crushes our favorite corn under his heel--don't mention it! You
see Sigurd _is_ cracked,--there's not the slightest doubt about
that,--and he's hardly accountable for his vagaries. Then I know
something about him that perhaps you don't. He loves your Thelma!"

They were making the descent of the rocks together, and Errington
stopped short in surprise.

"Loves Thelma! You mean as a brother--"

"Oh no, I don't! I mean that he loves her as brothers often love other
people's sisters--his affection is by no means fraternal--if it were
only _that_--"

"I see!" and Philip's eyes filled with a look of grave compassion. "Poor
fellow! I understand his hatred of me now. Good Heavens! how he must
suffer! I forgive him with all my heart. But--I say, Thelma has no idea
of this!"

"Of course not. And you'd better not tell her. What's the good of making
her unhappy?"

"But how did _you_ learn it?" inquired Philip, with a look of some
curiosity at his friend.

"Oh, I!" and Lorimer laughed carelessly; "I was always an observing sort
of fellow--fond of putting two and two together and making four of them,
when I wasn't too exhausted and the weather wasn't too hot for the
process. Sigurd's rather attached to me--indulges me with some specially
private ravings now and then--I soon found out his secret, though I
believe the poor little chap doesn't understand his own feelings
himself."

"Well," said Errington thoughtfully, "under the circumstances you'd
better not mention this affair of the Fall to Gueldmar. It will only vex
him. Sigurd won't try such a prank again."

"I'm not so sure of that," replied Lorimer; "but you know enough now to
be on your guard with him." He paused and looked up with a misty
softness in his frank blue eyes--then went on in a subdued tone--"When I
saw you on the edge of that frightful chasm, Phil--" He broke off as if
the recollection were too painful, and exclaimed suddenly--"Good God! if
I had lost you!"

Errington clapped one hand on his shoulder.

"Well! What if you had?" he asked almost mirthfully, though there was a
suspicious tremble in his ringing voice.

"I should have said with Horatio, 'I am more an antique Roman than a
Dane,'--and gone after you," laughed Lorimer. "And who knows what a
jolly banquet we might not have been enjoying in the next world by this
time? If I believe in anything at all, I believe in a really agreeable
heaven--nectar and ambrosia, and all that sort of thing, and Hebes to
wait upon you."

As he spoke they reached the sheltering hut, where Gueldmar, Duprez, and
Macfarlane were waiting rather impatiently for them.

"Where's Sigurd?" cried the _bonde_.

"Gone for a ramble on his own account," answered Errington readily. "You
know his fancies!"

"I wish his fancies would leave him," grumbled Gueldmar. "He promised to
light a fire and spread the meal--and now, who knows whither he has
wandered?"

"Never mind, sir," said Lorimer. "Engage me as a kitchen-boy. I can
light a fire, and can also sit beside it when it is properly kindled.
More I cannot promise. As the housemaids say when they object to assist
the cook,--it would be _beneath_ me."

"Cook!" cried Duprez, catching at this word. "I can cook! Give me
anything to broil. I will broil it! You have coffee--I will make it!"
And in the twinkling of an eye he had divested himself of his coat,
turned up his cuffs, and manufactured the cap of a _chef_ out of a
newspaper which he stuck jauntily on his head. "Behold me, _messieurs_,
_a votre service_!"