The invitations had all been sent out and accommodations arranged for all the guests they were expecting, including royalty. It had also been decided where the new married couple would be living.
“Simon wanted to be as close as possible to the Officers’ Mess,” Gabriella said. “Otherwise I would have preferred to live in the country. Copenhagen is so dirty. Oh, Mum! I’m so frightened I’ll not be able to cope with it all!”
“With the wedding? Don’t worry, everything will be just perfect.”
“No, I mean later on. How typical of a mother to think only of the celebrations,” she said a little unfairly. “All my married life! I’ll really try to make Simon happy. He deserves a good and loyal wife.”
“And does he treat you well?”
“Oh, yes, Mum. He’s friendly and polite and really respects me.”
As she spoke, a thought crossed her mind. Part of her wished that he didn’t respect her quite so much, but she pushed the thought away at once. Gabriella had been brought up to be a virtuous young lady and wouldn’t allow herself to have such frivolous thoughts.
At that moment she sighed audibly and said out loud: “Oh, I’m so excited about it all. Just let me get through this damned wedding and then we’ll see ...”
“Gabriella! Really! Watch your language!”
“Sorry, Mum! ...Last time I met him, he told me that yellow suited me. Do you think he’s right?” she asked uncertainly.
“It suits you perfectly.”
Wilhelmsen appeared at that moment, hovering in the doorway. He cleared his throat exaggeratedly before entering. “Your husband wishes you to join him in the drawing room.”
“Of course,” acknowledged Cecilie as she got to her feet. “You must finish that monogram, Gabriella, and not sit there daydreaming. You’ll just make that pillowcase dirty. ‘R P’ is all you need put on it. – ‘R’ for Simon’s family name and “P” for Paladin. Why should that be so difficult?”
“An ‘R’ is such an awkward letter to do well,” Gabriella moaned. “Why couldn’t he have a name beginning with ‘I’ instead?”
Then she paused and, out of the blue, asked: “Is the wedding night so terrible, Mum?”
Cecilie was taken aback by her daughter’s sudden question. Her mind raced back to her own somewhat unorthodox wedding night when a chessboard was placed between them and Alexander later faked bloodstains on the sheets.
A secretive smile crossed her lips. “Oh, no!” she said. “Wedding nights can be fun!”
Gabriella, somewhat shocked by the tone of her mother’s reply, stared questioningly at her as she left the room.
When Cecilie entered the adjoining drawing room, she found one of their friends, an officer, standing stiffly to attention and looking very pale and drawn. Alexander was standing beside him and Cecilie knew at once she’d never seen her husband looking as resolute and furious as he did at that moment.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
It was an effort for Alexander to speak. “My friend here has brought news. Simon has eloped to Germany with that lady-in-waiting – and hasn’t said a word to us!”
At first Cecilie didn’t believe what she was hearing. The words meant nothing to her. But the officer nodded grimly to confirm what Alexander had already said. Then he added: “Simon has brought dishonour on himself and been stripped of his rank. It wasn’t until today when a fellow officer in whom he’d confided, reported the news to us. Until now, we were unaware of any of this. I felt that it was my duty to inform you straightaway. Please accept my fullest sympathy.”
“Thank you,” muttered Cecilie as the awful truth sank in. “Oh, dear. How are we to tell Gabriella?”
“There’s no need,” Gabriella’s voice, dull and toneless, came from the doorway. “I heard what was said, Mum and Dad, but it’s of no consequence. I never truly believed he’d marry me anyway.”
She turned to leave as Tancred stormed in, his normally cheerful face red with despair. “I can see you already know! Two of your friends told me, Gabriella. They expressed their sympathy and then burst into fits of laughter. They laughed at my kind-hearted sister. If I hadn’t run off, I would have slapped the pair of them!”
In his anger, Tancred didn’t realise that he was rubbing salt into Gabriella’s wounds. Sniffing back a tear, she disappeared up the stairway to her rooms.
“Oh, Tancred,” Cecilie said, “why couldn’t you have been more discreet?”
“Sorry! I didn’t mean ... I’ll go up to her.”
“No, don’t do that! She knows your feelings – you’ve made them obvious. I think she should be left alone for a little while. We’re all deeply shocked by this, but it might later turn out to be for the best.”
“I agree,” added Alexander, but his face still had a grey pallor to it. “Obviously, Simon wasn’t the right one for her – and he felt our daughter wasn’t the right one for him either. I could have forgiven him if only he’d had the courage to tell me! He had many opportunities – he could have said he was interested in somebody else, right from the beginning. And again when I challenged him over the truth of the rumours about him and that lady-in-waiting – which he denied, you’ll remember! Instead he waited until the last minute, knowing that Gabriella would suffer the greatest possible humiliation. Then he just slips away, taking the easiest way out. He’s a coward.”
“I’ll tell her what you’ve just said,” Tancred told them solemnly. “Every word is true and I believe it may be of some comfort to her.”
Alexander turned to look out of the window. “My poor dear girl! We all know how she must be suffering on account of this.”
His friend nodded. “I’m sorry to be the one to give you such news – but I didn’t want you to hear it through gossip and rumour.”
“We’re grateful that you came,” said Cecilie. “In such cases, it’s usual that the person concerned is the last one to know. And as for Simon himself, well, I’m afraid he’ll soon discover that he didn’t choose the easy way out of his predicament. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now, Tancred, you may go up to Gabriella. We’ll come along in a little while.”
***
Following the revelation, Gabriella seemed to withdraw into herself. She’d never been blessed with much self-confidence and the events of that day did nothing to improve her self-esteem. She refused to leave the house and despite the love and sympathy everyone lavished on her, she remained reclusive. She didn’t complain outwardly, pretending nothing had happened. She tried to be happy. Gabriella smiled as best she could, but the smile never reached her eyes.
Alexander shared her pain. The topic dominated his waking hours to the exclusion of all else, and he became very distraught on her behalf.
“What on earth are we to do, Cecilie?” he asked in desperation. “Finding her a new husband at this time would be meaningless, don’t you think?”
“She couldn’t cope with that. It would be far too much for her. She could never believe he truly loved her. No, I think the shame weighs heavily on her – she should spend some time away.”
“You mean she should travel to Norway?”
“And visit my mother, Liv. Yes, she’s alone now and I know that although she has Tarald’s lovely family nearby, she still misses Dad dreadfully. I think that she and Gabriella will be good for each other. Mattias and Andreas are there as well and they’re all about the same age – and Mattias can work wonders with people.”
“Then let’s ask her.”
Gabriella listened to the suggestion with a certain apathy. Then she agreed – but on one condition: “You must write and ask Grandma first! I don’t want to arrive and cause an inconvenience.”
Poor Gabriella’s self-confidence had sunk to zero and she’d become afraid of being in anyone’s way.
***
One day as Christmas drew near, Mattias Meiden harnessed up
the small sleigh, hung a cowbell around the horse’s neck and set off into the countryside to visit an old man who was gravely ill.
Mattias now called himself a physician just as Tarjei had done before him. They had both studied the same subjects at Tübingen, but while Tarjei had spent time on research and the fundamentals of medicine, Mattias was more interested in providing practical and direct help to patients.
At one time, everybody had told him he should enter the priesthood. His gentle eyes and relaxing way with people seemed to make it a duty to do so.
But Mattias felt no urge to become a priest. He was the sole heir to the estates and farms of Graastensholm. Yet, unlike his dad who was born to it, he wasn’t suited to the life of a landowner.
Eventually he discovered that he could do more for his fellow man – and the less fortunate in society – as a physician. He didn’t think of it as a vocation, but as something that he could learn to do well.
Besides, he felt that because he’d inherited the Ice People’s store of herbs and potions, this placed him under an obligation.
In Norway it wasn’t possible to train as a physician, only as a field surgeon or ‘barber surgeon’. Anybody who wanted to become a doctor or medicus had to travel abroad to study. That was why Mattias had been drawn to Tübingen, just as Tarjei had been. When the university heard that he was a close relative of the now legendary Tarjei Lind of the Ice People, they did everything to enable him to complete his studies in record time. His remarkable and delightful influence on others was also a great help to him in everything he did.
All in all, at the tender age of twenty-one, he was an exceptionally good young physician. He’d returned to Graastensholm in 1645 – a mature young man, not too tall, with slightly wavy auburn hair and those remarkable blue eyes. His smile could soften the hardest heart and warm the iciest soul.
There was no doubt that he was a remarkable young man and his mother, Yrja, was enormously proud of him. His father, Tarald, had at last managed to overcome his feelings of guilt about not being able to love Kolgrim as he did his younger son. Yet Mattias had always understood his father’s quandary and realised why he’d distanced himself somewhat during earlier years. Tarald had often been unnecessarily hard on Mattias, only because he didn’t want Kolgrim to feel left out or ignored.
But now he no longer had any fear about showing his great affection for his son.
Despite Tarald’s efforts, nothing could have changed Kolgrim. He was who he was. For many years, he’d been a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Once he’d thrown off his disguise, he’d dragged many down into the mire with him: Mattias, Tarjei – and it must be said that Dag’s health had suffered badly as a result of Kolgrim’s final evil deed. He’d brought sorrow down on everyone but mostly on Tarald, who had already had to endure Sunniva’s horrible death and Mattias’s long, mysterious disappearance.
As Mattias sat in the sleigh listening to the cowbell’s dull, repetitive clang, his thoughts drifted to his reunion with Kaleb and he recalled how he’d been taken aback on seeing him again.
Kaleb had by now become a fully-grown man of twenty-seven, and there was very little left of the young idealist he’d once been. Instead, Mattias had discovered that his friend had become a somewhat hardened and embittered man. After some years as a legal court scribe, Kaleb had decided to try and make his own way in life and realise his youthful dreams. The court officials, who probably never took very much notice of any lowly scribe, readily released him from his indenture. Kaleb had done all he could to rescue children from poor working conditions but he invariably faced opposition wherever he turned. Nobody was prepared to listen to him because those with the authority to make changes were all too often exploiting children themselves. He made more enemies when he tried to take on the more brutal employers, and they proved to be powerful and influential.
If only Notary Dag Meiden had still been alive, things might have been different.
Kaleb had also left another dream unfulfilled. As a youth in the mine and afterwards, he’d often imagined he’d find a nice girl to be his wife. Unfortunately, he’d never managed to find such a woman among the people from the city slums he’d been trying to help. None of them had been the sort of woman one would choose as a bride and Kaleb had been at great pains to avoid intimacy with them all. Disillusioned and disappointed as a result, he’d developed a twisted opinion of young women – they weren’t the characters of his dreams, not in the least.
He’d managed to save a few children from a life of slavery – that was the only name for it – but to what end? They always ended up on the streets, begging or stealing.
Eventually his savings were gone and he was so unhappy that he felt he had to be in the company of old friends. He wrote to Liv, who’d always treated him as a friend and asked if he could come and visit her. She wrote back immediately to say that he would be most welcome.
When he arrived at Graastensholm, Kaleb almost collapsed from exhaustion. He spent his first few days sitting in a chair, hardly moving and Liv left him alone to recuperate. He confessed to Liv that he was bitterly disappointed that he hadn’t been more worthy of the trust that they’d shown in him.
“Now you listen to me,” she’d said firmly. “My husband, Dag, who you say you admired so much, fought against the same harsh issues in his youth as you’ve done. He tried to improve the conditions of the workers at a sawmill and was met with a storm of resentment. On that occasion, he was too young and inexperienced too, so you mustn’t feel you’re alone.”
Kaleb didn’t say anything, but merely nodded in gratitude. He was now a well-built man with strong, sharp features beneath his fair hair. His eyes were as blue as they’d always been, but the eagerness, the spark and will to work had been taken from them. Now small and narrowed, they showed only suspicion.
No one could endure so many setbacks and remain in high spirits – and that was how Mattias found him when he came home. The young physician was greatly saddened to see how his previously idealistic friend had become so cynical and so untrusting of other people.
***
These thoughts came to an end as Mattias arrived at the old man’s home and climbed out of the sled. The visit was a short one and he gave him a tonic. There was little more that he could do because, quite simply, the man’s body was tired and worn out.
Mattias stayed and chatted for a while in order to cheer up the old man. As he was preparing to leave, he realised that the old fellow was straining to say something else.
“Please ... please ...” his voice trembled and he had difficulty in saying the words. “Your eyes are so kind ... please ... can you try to do something for ... my granddaughter?”
Mattias’s voice always sounded cheerful and enthusiastic as if he was bubbling over with the joy of living and deep affection for everything around him. Leaning closer to hear the old man’s words better, he patted him gently on the shoulder. “Yes, of course I’ll help her if I can. Where is she? And what would you like me to do?”
“My little Eli ... works for that old woman at Nygaard Farm and I think she’s in a very bad way.” He struggled for a few moments to find enough breath to continue. “She’s looking so thin and pale in recent weeks and she hasn’t been to see me for many days. She always comes to see me – always!”
“I’ll drop by to see her on my way home,” Mattias promised. “Don’t worry any more.”
“You’re a good soul. God bless you!”
The old man’s relief was palpable and he managed a grateful smile and a wave of thanks as Mattias left. In fact, Mattias had been aware of the old lady at Nygaard since he was a child. Now she was a widow, whose daughters had long since left home. She was an unbelievably nasty piece of work, who grabbed everything she could and didn’t pay a penny for anything. As soon as Mattias heard where the granddaughter was to be found, he began to share the grandfather’s worst fears. He was quite su
re that young Eli, whom he’d never met, wouldn’t be at all well.
His doubts were well-founded, but he’d never expected things to be as bad as what he found when he arrived at Nygaard. When he entered the old lady’s cottage, he heard an elderly voice groaning weakly from the direction of the bed. But on arrival in the yard outside, he’d seen an elderly female watching him through the window.
“Ooh! Ahhh!” the figure in the bed wailed. “Ooh, what is a sick old woman like me to do?”
Mattias walked over to the bed where the old lady of Nygaard lay, looking for all the world as if she were about to meet her maker. Yet he also noticed her shoes showing from beneath the bedcovers.
“What’s wrong with you?” demanded Mattias in a matter-of-fact tone. “What’s wrong?”
“Ahh! How lucky I am that you’ve come to take care of me, good doctor! Here I lie, a poor lonely, sick and helpless woman and I get no help from that lazy young girl who can’t even be bothered to get up in the morning! Oh! I’m in such pain, such awful pain!”
“Where’s the pain worst?” asked Mattias as he looked around the room. A door leading to the chamber next to the scullery stood ajar and he could see the foot of a bed with somebody in it.
“Here, on my side and ...”
“Put my hand on the place,” said Mattias quickly.
“No, no,” replied the woman, startled, remembering that she was still fully clothed. “No, it’s here in my head. That’s where it’s hurting most. It thumps and bumps and aches ... I swear I’m soon to die! I haven’t slept a wink all night and ...”
“Then I’ll prescribe a good powder for the pain,” said Mattias in his best professional tone – and added teasingly, “but it’ll be quite expensive.”
“Dear me, no!” said the old lady hastily. “It would be quite wrong of me to use the good doctor’s valuable medications. Maybe there’s something that’s ... free? Maybe a little of something left over from another of your patients?”
Evil Legacy Page 17