Evil Legacy

by Margit Sandemo

  Gabriella blushed deeply with embarrassment and felt a sudden lump in her throat. “I’ll write to them at once and thank them for everything,” she said without looking at him. “I’ll write and tell them I’ve forgotten all about the episode with Simon.”

  “But have you forgotten it?”

  She paused to draw a long, slow breath, choosing her words carefully. “I’ve forgotten Simon, but I don’t think I dare to trust anyone at all, ever again.”

  “Not everyone is like him.”

  “That may be so, but I’m unchanged – plain to look at, shapeless, and unwanted; not at all attractive. These aren’t the sort of things one forgets,” she replied.

  “So whenever you’re speaking to another person, your mind is always on how you look? What would it be like not to focus on one’s unimportant self for a moment and give some thought to someone else? To show some interest in somebody else’s life and worries?”

  Gabriella didn’t answer because she knew that she had nothing to say in her defence.

  “Kaleb, don’t be so nasty to Gabriella!” objected Eli. “She’s nice. And she gets sad when no one likes her. So do I.”

  “I just want to help her be at ease with herself, Eli,” said Kaleb to the little girl as he drove the horse on a little faster through the snow. “And you can be, Gabriella. We’ve all noticed that when you’re with the children, you think only of what’s best for them. With them, you’re kind and caring. Once you’ve returned to your elite circles at Court, can’t you just try to behave in the same way towards the men there?”

  “Back to Court ...” muttered Gabriella quietly and turned her head away. “Of course I want to return to Gabrielshus, to my family – but back to Court? No, I don’t care about them! I much prefer to be with everyone here.”

  “That all sounds very well,” said Kaleb. “But you’ve got a long, long way to go yet. Take this as a good example. We’ve talked only about you since we set off. You’ve spoken not a single word to find out more about Eli or me.”

  “Oh, forgive me, Kaleb,” she replied, her face becoming the colour of a beetroot again. “I know nothing at all about your life after you escaped from the mines.”

  “No, you don’t and there’s precious little to tell.”

  “But I do want to know!”

  “Another time, maybe, when your interest is a little more spontaneous than it is right now.”

  Gabriella fell silent. She realised that she’d been openly snubbed and that it was no more than what she deserved. Unexpectedly, a picture of a simple, fair-haired girl came into her mind – Kaleb’s ideal – and for some reason that made her even more depressed.

  Her mood changed for the better when Eli was reunited with her bedridden granddad. It was wonderful for them to hear the girl tell him all about the ‘fairy-tale castle’ she was living in and how splendid everything was.

  At that moment they knew that they’d made a great leap forward. Or, as Kaleb put it, their feeble efforts would never improve the lot of all the impoverished children in Norway, but they were at least giving four of them a chance to enjoy a more worthwhile life. And they’d have to content themselves with that because Kaleb was no longer prepared to battle with the authorities. It was, as he put it, like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon. Here at least, their work would generate a tangible result, albeit a small one.

  ***

  Andreas would often come up from Linden Avenue to spend time with them as there was little to occupy him at home during winter. In the evenings, when the children had gone to bed, the young people would sit together chatting to pass the hours. Liv joined them when the mood took her and because she’d always been a youthful person, nobody ever thought it odd that they had a sixty-two year old in their midst.

  Then one day, not long before Christmas, something seemed to trouble Liv. She became increasingly introverted. Finally Mattias asked her: “Is something troubling you, Grandma?”

  “Oh, no, it’s nothing,” she said, startled.

  “Come now. Tell me what it is. Are you worried about the children?”

  “No, no. I think I must be getting old, that’s all. I keep hearing noises now and again.”

  Gabriella, who enjoyed these conversations because they made her feel as if she belonged somewhere at last, shivered slightly when she heard this.

  “Noises?” she repeated.

  “Yes,” replied Liv. “Unpleasant noises. I can’t say where they’re coming from or what sort of noises they are. They’re so faint.”

  “That sounds peculiar. Not ghosts, I hope?” smiled Mattias.

  “There have never been ghosts at Graastensholm before.”

  “Before?” said Gabriella in astonishment. “What a worrying little word it is!”

  “No, that wasn’t what I meant,” said Liv reassuringly. “We won’t say anything more about it ... Now, Gabriella, I noticed that you were making some drawings for the children today and they were very good. I never knew you could draw. You’re very clever.”

  “Thank you!” Gabriella smiled happily, blushing a little as Kaleb looked at her in surprise.

  But she’d misread the reason for his reaction and she realised this a moment later when Andreas told her: “You’ve got a lovely smile, Gabriella. We don’t see it often but when we do, it seems to come from deep within and light up your whole being! Unfortunately, most of the time you look sulky.”

  “You don’t mean sulky, Andreas,” Liv corrected him. “Unhappy is a better description.”

  Deeply embarrassed by the frankness of the observations being made about her, Gabriella retreated and crept back into her shell.

  “I also saw your drawings,” Mattias chipped in. “Where did you get such talent from?”

  “From my mother, Silje,” said Liv, answering for her. “You’ve seen her wall paintings, haven’t you? In my youth I also painted a little, but my first husband criticised whatever I did, so I never dared take it up again.”

  Gabriella’s eyes met Liv’s. In an instant she suddenly realised what they both knew in their different ways: what it meant to lose faith in oneself. But she had no time to dwell on this realisation because the others were all demanding to see examples of Liv’s work. And Liv, feeling like an awkward little girl again, went off to search for some to show them.

  “Grandma is so very kind,” said Mattias as they searched together with the others for her store of pictures. “I believe this project with the children means an awful lot to her.”

  “It means an awful lot to all of us,” added Gabriella. The others were also searching with them. All nodded eagerly in agreement.

  When they carried Liv’s watercolours back to the drawing room, everybody was astonished. They shouted for Tarald to come and see them.

  “Why, Mum,” he said. “Why haven’t you ever told us? Why didn’t you start painting again?”

  “It was exactly as I said,” she told him. “My confidence took a hard knock.”

  “They’re magnificent,” said Yrja.

  “Yes, they are,” said Andreas enthusiastically. “May I take them back to Linden Avenue and show them to Mum and Dad?”

  “Dear me,” said Liv, embarrassed. “These are nothing special.”

  “Nothing special!” exclaimed Kaleb. “That’s just not so.”

  “This is the best,” said Gabriella, pointing to one of the paintings.

  Liv’s eyes looked sad. “Do you honestly think so? I also thought so once. That was the painting I was going to give to my first husband as a surprise. I was confounded when he told me that women shouldn’t dabble in art. It was unladylike, he said, and a woman’s only job should be to serve the wishes of her husband.”

  “I’ve never heard such utter drivel,” said Kaleb. “A man and a woman should live on equal footing in marriage. If they don’t, the marriage has no valu
e.”

  Everyone agreed with what Kaleb said and Gabriella looked at him thoughtfully.

  “Well, of course I know all that now,” Liv told them. “But at the time I was young and very sensitive. That’s why I can understand Gabriella’s lack of equilibrium at the moment. You’re just as vulnerable as I was back then, my dear. But believe me, one grows stronger with the years.”

  “I hope so,” Gabriella smiled back. “Anyway, I’m glad to say that I’m thinking less and less about Simon. As a matter of fact, I find myself forgetting him altogether now. Oh, I’m sorry ...” her voice tailed off and she cast an anxious glance at Kaleb.

  “Why do you apologise?” wondered Mattias.

  “Because Kaleb doesn’t want me to talk about myself.”

  “That isn’t true,” snapped Kaleb. “Why do you always go from one extreme to the other? Why can’t you strike a balance?”

  She was startled by the sharpness of his voice. But he was annoyed and spoke his mind.

  “For many years now I’ve lived surrounded by the most appalling poverty and squalor among the unfortunate people of the city. Their suffering has etched itself into my soul and I’m sick and tired of not being able to help any of them! Then I come here and find I’m to feel sorry for someone’s wounded vanity – someone who has everything in life one could wish for. Someone who eats more at one mealtime than those poor creatures eat in a week! No, it’s just too much.”

  Gabriella sat, head bowed, withdrawn and unhappy.

  “Come, Gabriella,” prompted Mattias. “Surely you’re not afraid of Kaleb. Say something.”

  “I don’t want him to be angry with me,” she whispered and much to her annoyance she noticed that she was starting to cry. She hadn’t shed a single tear since the horrible episode with Simon and now, for some unaccountable reason, she’d lost control. “Excuse me,” she muttered and fled from the room.

  “But I’m not ...” Kaleb tried to call after her, dismayed.

  “In her eyes, you’re angry,” Liv said calmly. “I know you’re trying to make her wake up to herself but that was quite harsh! You think that she’s terribly self-centred at the moment, don’t you? But I’m not sure you truly understand what it feels like to be rejected in the way she has been. When every nerve is torn to shreds and one’s expecting to hear ‘you’re not wanted here’ from every person one meets, that’s not being self-centred. Believe me, I know because I went through the same thing. I was diminished and ridiculed so much by a man that it destroyed me, and it took all of Dag’s patience and a great deal of time to make me well again. Although Gabriella isn’t herself at the moment, she’s sweet and considerate, no more selfish than any other girl her age – and probably far less.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Kaleb. “I’ll go and apologise right ...”

  Liv reached out a hand and stopped him. “No, let her be on her own now. I don’t think she wants other people to see her in tears. Oh. See, she’s coming back already.”

  They all welcomed Gabriella back enthusiastically and praised her for recovering her composure and returning so soon. Then, for the rest of the evening, they kept their conversation to uncomplicated, cheerful topics and everybody relaxed and enjoyed themselves again.

  ***

  Later that night, Gabriella discovered that strange things were taking place at Graastensholm. She’d been sleeping in her own room again for some time, but this night, after she’d gone to bed, she heard whispering and the padding of footsteps in the corridor. Then came a hesitant tap on her door.

  “Gabriella, are you awake?” whispered a voice through the keyhole.

  She got out of bed, lit a candle and opened the door. The flickering candlelight was reflected in four pairs of frightened eyes.

  Nikodemus spoke first. “We can hear noises.”

  “Come,” Gabriella told them and the four of them tiptoed into her room.

  “Ooh, it smells nice here,” exclaimed Eli.

  “Yuck! No!” Per, the Little Thrush, said with a look of disgust. “It stinks of perfume!”

  Gabriella chuckled and then she asked: “What was it you heard?”

  “Someone moving about above our heads,” said Nikodemus.

  “Heavy, dragging steps,” Frida added dramatically.

  “Nah!” Per said. “They weren’t heavy. They were creeping. Like a restless spirit.”

  Gabriella shuddered.

  “We daren’t go back to our beds,” whispered Eli.

  “Well, you girls snuggle up in my bed and you boys climb into the other one. I’ll sit and listen for a while.”

  A moment later they were all under the bedcovers.

  “Can you get Kaleb and Mattias?” Frida wondered.

  “No, not in the middle of the night.”

  Gabriella didn’t want to admit that she was frightened by the thought of walking such a long way down the dark stairways and corridors so she settled herself into a chair. But instead of remaining quiet, the children lay sniggering and whispering excitedly to one another.

  “How am I to be able to hear anything if you all keep making so much noise?” Gabriella asked, and immediately the room was hushed.

  She didn’t like the idea that Graastensholm might be haunted.

  She knew that the house had a large attic because she’d seen inside it briefly many years ago. She remembered thinking how horrible it had looked then. How had she got up there, she wondered? Hadn’t there been a stairway somewhere?

  When at last the children were sound asleep, Gabriella, deprived of a bed, curled up in the armchair and closed her eyes. But it proved impossible to make herself comfortable. She twisted and turned and almost decided to go into the girls’ room, but that thought scared her and she decided to stay put. ‘You coward,’ she scolded herself inwardly. ‘You’ve got no courage!’

  But these self-critical reflections didn’t help her and she found that all thoughts of sleep had disappeared by now. Then suddenly she sat bolt upright in the chair. Her cheeks were suddenly burning hot. Something was moving about up in the attic! It didn’t sound human, it sounded ...

  Yuck! Gabriella was furious with herself for having such a macabre imagination. Yet it sounded like a thing, a corpse or some indescribable entity was making its way strenuously across the attic floor above the ceiling, looking for the stairs maybe. And if it found them, it would come directly down her corridor.

  Fear and panic took hold of her. The door? Was it locked? Could it be locked? ‘Dear God, what am I do do?’ she wondered anxiously. ‘Shall I fetch Kaleb?’ But why Kaleb? Because he was the biggest and strongest, of course!

  Finally, she decided that she’d never be brave enough to go out into the corridor – never in a dozen lifetimes. And what was it Grandma had said about hearing strange noises? It must have been these sounds that she heard as well.

  Then the sounds stopped as suddenly as they’d begun. There was silence from the attic above. Deathly silence. Oh, why couldn’t she stop her imaginings?

  In the end, Gabriella didn’t sleep a wink that night and when she went down to join Liv, Kaleb and Mattias for breakfast the next morning, her sunken dark-ringed eyes and grey pallor made her look every bit a ghost herself. As she entered the breakfast room, Kaleb looked at her questioningly but said nothing.

  It was Mattias who commented on her appearance.

  “Gabriella, you look as though you’ve forgotten the art of sleeping,” he said in a concerned voice. “As if you didn’t sleep at all.”

  “You could say that,” she answered. “I had all four children for company last night. I gave them my bed and spent the whole night in an armchair.”

  Liv stared at her. “Did you hear something?”

  Gabriella nodded. “Yes, and so did the children. What I heard sounded quite horrible.”

  “We should discuss this before th
e four youngsters join us,” said Kaleb. “What exactly did you hear?”

  Gabriella tried to look at him calmly and without letting any shyness show. “The children heard footsteps, everything from ghostly tiptoeing to heavy chain-dragging thumps, all depending on whose fantasy you listen to.”

  “And you, marquise?”

  She described the awful feeling she had that something was up there, moving about, and that it wanted to come downstairs.

  “That sounds very unpleasant,” agreed Mattias, his sincere gaze alive with excitement. “And you, Grandma. What did you hear?”

  “I heard nothing at all last night. I slept soundly. But the night before ... it was something ... very diffused.”

  “It seems to have been on your side of the attic the whole time because neither Kaleb nor I have heard anything. What’s up there?”

  “All sorts of junk. This house is quite an old building, as you know, and Graastensholm has been in the Meiden family long before our time. I don’t really know of anything very specific ...”

  Her voice faded away as she sat in deep thought.

  “What are you thinking, Grandma?”

  “Nothing. It’s ridiculous.”

  Three voices urged her on in a chorus. “Tell us, please tell us!”

  “Alright, but I’m sure it can’t have anything to do with what’s happening now. Do you recall the year when Tarjei and Kolgrim died?”

  “Ten years ago,” answered Kaleb. “I don’t think that any who were present then will ever forget it.”

  Liv, who was fumbling to find a thread in her story, said: “They both spoke of something they’d discovered in the attic – and both of them spent an age up there. Kolgrim two days and Tarjei one whole night.”