ngst
the dead, and announced that such afflicted creatures were to be where
St. Bridget once ruled?

Pace lightly over the floor! Thy foot treads on the graves of the
pious: the flat, modest stone here in the corner covers the dust of
the noble Queen Philippa. She, that mighty England's daughter, the
great-hearted, the immortal woman, who with wisdom and courage
defended her consort's throne, that consort who rudely and barbarously
cast her off! Vadstene's cloister gave her shelter--the grave here
gave her rest.

We seek one grave. It is not known--it is forgotten, as she was in her
lifetime. Who was she? The cloistered sister Elizabeth, daughter of
the Holstein Count, and once the bride of King Hakon of Norway. Sweet
creature! she proudly--but not with unbecoming pride--advanced in her
bridal dress, and with her court ladies, up to her royal consort. Then
came King Valdemar, who by force and fraud stopped the voyage, and
induced Hakon to marry Margaret, then eleven years of age, who thereby
got the crown of Norway. Elizabeth was sent to Vadstene cloister,
where her will was not asked. Afterwards when Margaret--who justly
occupies a great place in the history of Scandinavia, but only
comparatively a small one in the hearts--sat on the throne, powerful
and respected, visited the then flourishing Vadstene, where the Abbess
of the cloister was St. Bridget's grand-daughter, her childhood's
friend, Margaret kissed every monk on the cheek. The legend is well
known about him, the handsomest, who thereupon blushed. She kissed
every nun on the hand, and also Elizabeth, her, whom she would only
see here. Whose heart throbbed loudest at that kiss? Poor Elizabeth,
thy grave is forgotten, but not the wrong thou didst suffer.

We now enter the sacristy. Here, under a double coffin lid, rests an
age's holiest saint in the North, Vadstene cloister's diadem and
lustre--St. Bridget.

On the night she was born, says the legend, there appeared a beaming
cloud in the heavens, and on it stood a majestic virgin, who said: "Of
Birger is born a daughter whose admirable voice shall be heard over
the whole world." This delicate and singular child grew up in the
castle of her father, Knight Brake. Visions and revelations appeared
to her, and these increased when she, only thirteen years of age, was
married to the rich Ulf Gudmundsen, and became the mother of many
children. "Thou shalt be my bride and my agent," she heard Christ say,
and ever