'G.o.d forbid!' stammered one of the band. 'We should be disgraced for life!' cried another; and the former speaker, who by this time had risen from the floor, cried, 'let your crook-backed secretary nib his pen afresh, sir judge. We will now sing the song that you lords will but too willingly hear from such poor devils as we. Write! Everything that our captain has confessed is true from the beginning to the end.'

'Well now,' cried Megret, who could restrain himself no longer; 'you see that you may now, if you please, repay your captain for all the misfortunes he has brought upon you. The sinful ties which connected you with him are cut asunder, and you have no reason to spare him in the least. So tell the court freely and frankly--'who murdered the traveler on the road to Lulea?'

'That,' answered the robber with eagerness and proud satisfaction, 'was done by a brace of gallows-birds who did not belong to our band, but marauded on their own account, and we beg not to be confounded with them. Had we caught them we should ourselves have hung them upon the nearest tree; for we could not with indifference have permitted such good-for-nothing fellows to injure our reputation.'

'And who killed the poor Laplander, who was found hung upon the fir-tree before the entrance to your den?' asked the judge.

'Red Hialf,' answered the prisoner; 'but without orders. In consequence of which our captain arrested him, and on the morning when we were attacked, he was to have had his trial. He must have been found locked up in the vault of the second tower.'

'That place was not searched!' cried Arwed, with a shudder.

'He must have been blown into the air with the tower,' said Megret.

'There can be no question of it.'

'You must now be convinced,' said Christine, approaching the judge, 'that my husband is innocent of every murderous deed. Can you now give me any hope for him?'

'I should consider it great presumption to give you any,' answered the judge, 'and unjust to withhold it entirely. Our laws are severe and my duties strict. Yet can the queen pardon. Leave the decision to G.o.d!'

He directed the bailiffs to replace Mac Donalbain's chains. Christine watched the proceeding in silent sadness, bowed with a sweet and melancholy grace to the judges, and, supporting her child with one arm and her husband with the other, she moved with him from the room. Arwed and Megret followed her.

'Is it really your unalterable resolution, countess,' whispered the latter to her, 'to share the imprisonment of a villain, instead of fulfilling a daughter's duty by the sick bed of your n.o.ble father?'

But Christine turned away without answering him, and approached Arwed.

'Thy spirit breathed upon me in the court room,' said she with strong emotion. 'For the kindness I met there, I am indebted to thy benignant heart. Tire not! I well know that we are not worthy of all you are doing for us; but you are accustomed to the performance of all that is good and great, and will of yourself consummate your work, for its own sake, regardless of the object. Save but the life of this unhappy man, and you shall have my eternal grat.i.tude.'

'Listen not to her prayer, count,' cried Mac Donalbain, 'but suffer me to seek in the grave that peace which life can henceforth never give me.'

The conversation was interrupted by the guards whose duty it was to conduct the prisoners to their dungeon. Christine, shuddering, left Arwed, to follow her husband, '_Diable! Elle aime le larron, et elle l'aimera jusqu'a la potence!_' cried the enraged and despairing Megret as he rushed out.

CHAPTER XLVII.

It was already deep winter, and the judges were again a.s.sembled in the town hall of Umea. Once more Arwed leaned against the window, an interested spectator. Through his interposition Megret was this time denied entrance. With recovered health Mac Donalbain, his faithful nurse, his child, and his twelve comrades, were placed before the judgment seat. The chief judge showed the seal of the envelope covering the final decision, which had been received from Stockholm. After satisfying all present that the seal was still inviolate, he proceeded to break it and drew out the portentous doc.u.ment, through which he rapidly ran his eye.

'Your lives are spared!' cried he to Mac Donalbain with heartfelt joy.

'The mercy of the queen has commuted the death-sentence of you all into confinement to labor in the mines for life.'

'Oh my G.o.d! that is hard!' sighed Mac Donalbain.

'That is heart-breaking mercy,' dryly observed the humorous brigand, 'which compels us, who were never fond of labor, again to begin to move our bones like patient a.s.ses day after day, until happily relieved by death. However, something is always better than nothing, and we are duly grateful.'

Meanwhile Christine had fallen upon her knees in silent thanksgiving to G.o.d. She quickly arose however, and quietly asked the judge, 'what is the decision with regard to myself!'

'As was foreseen,' he answered. 'You are p.r.o.nounced free from all guilt and punishment, and you are left at liberty to dissolve your marriage with the prisoner.'

'What a good thing it is to have a royal counsellor for one's uncle!'

cried Christine, with derisive scorn.

'You can leave this place and go wherever you please without delay or hindrance. Yet you are expected at Gyllensten, and your n.o.ble kinsman is present to accompany you there.'

'That means, that I am to be separated from my husband by persuasion or force!' said Christine with intense anxiety, while a sudden resolution seemed all at once to re-animate her soul. 'You then are my master, Arwed,' she at length said to him. 'Against that I have no complaint to make. You will not be an unkind one, and therefore I confidently expect from you a compliance with my request. Allow me to accompany my husband to his place of destination.'

'Your father expects you to-day,' said Arwed impatiently; 'and I must not comply with your request.'

'Dear Arwed,' said she, hanging affectionately upon him, 'let me at least take a final leave of the wretched man before he parts forever from the blessed light of day. Then will I follow you to Gyllensten, or where else you please, patiently, as a lamb follows its mother. Do not this time say no. It is the last request I shall ever make of you.'

'So all-powerful is the magic of this singular being,' said Arwed to the judge, 'that she compels me to consent to what I ought to refuse.

Yours is a sad case, Christine; you might have prepared an earthly heaven for some worthy man, through your love.'

'That she might!' cried Mac Donalbain, agonized with sorrow and repentance, 'that she might, had she not thrown away her love upon me.

She is a cheerful sun which has lavished its rays upon a desert waste, full of monsters, instead of ripening wholesome fruits for the nourishment of men.'

'You say yes? I can prepare for the journey, can I not?' once more asked Christine, and kissing his hand as he nodded a.s.sent, she flew to make her preparations.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

The wagons of the prisoners, together with Arwed's carriage containing Christine and her child, were approaching the end of their journey. On one side of them the smelting furnace of Oesterby was rolling its clouds of smoke high into the winter sky; before them towered the bald, dark-gray iron mountains of Danemora-Gruben, and already the few buildings which animate this desolate and uncomfortable region had become visible. A dragoon, who had been sent forward to announce their approach to the superintendent of the mines, now returned and led them to the nearest shaft, where a number of the miners had already a.s.sembled to receive the new comers and expedite them to their destined location under ground.

While the young miners were taking their stations at the windla.s.s, and others were removing the robbers from the wagons, Christine drew Arwed aside.

'Arwed,' said the broken-hearted woman, 'you have always conducted yourself towards me in the n.o.blest manner. Give me one more proof of your generosity and kindness, and thus crown your work. Allow me to descend into the mine with Mac Donalbain. My anxiety for him will be less painful when I am made acquainted with his new residence.'

'What an insensate request!' cried Mac Donalbain, who had overheard it, 'It will be much better that we take our last farewell here above ground.'

'Because I have once yielded to your importunities,' replied Arwed, 'you hold me for a weak simpleton, and think you can move and turn me at your pleasure. I have fulfilled your last request, and now I must obey your father's commands. Take your last leave of Mac Donalbain, and then return with me according to your solemn promise.'

'Hold me not so closely to my word,' entreated Christine. 'What would I not have promised for the happiness of beholding my husband some days longer! Let me descend with him.'

'You must now take your leave,' said Arwed sternly, 'and then immediately return with me to Gyllensten. My resolution is unchangeable.'

Christine looked wildly about her. The robbers were all in the tub ready to descend, and waited only for Mac Donalbain, who now embraced his wife with frantic sorrow. 'Farewell, and forgive me!' he cried, and hurried to the shaft.

'If thou hast ever loved,' shrieked Christine, clinging to Arwed's knees, 'suffer yourself this time, only this time, to be softened. Let me follow my husband. For this shall a wife leave father and mother.

Hold G.o.d's word in honor, and permit an unhappy woman to descend into the bosom of the earth, from which she sprung.'

'I must do my duty; you remain behind!' decided Arwed. Meantime the windla.s.s had commenced its revolutions, and the prisoners had disappeared in the dark and yawning gulf.

'He is gone!' moaned Christine. 'Thou hast done thy duty, barbarian; now will I do mine!'

She took the suckling from her breast, and placed it in Arwed's arms.

'Be its father!' she cried, springing to the shaft.

'Back! the tubs have already descended!' shrieked a miner, whilst Arwed hastened after her to hold her back.