them,--and, light
as a bird, sprang on it and reached forward to gather them--ah!"--and
the wretched woman clapped her hands and broke into malignant
laughter--"I can hear her quick shriek now--the crash of the stones and
the crackle of branches as she fell down,--down to her death! Presently
the child came running,--it was too young to understand--it sat down
patiently waiting for its mother. How I longed to kill it! but it sang
to itself like the bird that had flown away, and I could not! But _she_
was gone--_she_ was silent for ever--the Lord be praised for all His
mercies! Was she smiling, Olaf Gueldmar, when you found her--_dead_?"

A strange solemnity shadowed the _bonde's_ features. He turned his eyes
upon her steadily.

"Blessing and honor be to the gods of my fathers!" he said--"I found
her--_living_!"

The change that came over Lovisa's face at these words was inexpressibly
awful--she grew livid and her lips twitched convulsively.

"Living--living!" she gasped.

"Living!" repeated Gueldmar sternly. "Vile hag! Your purpose was
frustrated! Your crime destroyed her beauty and shortened her days--but
she lived--lived for ten sweet, bitter years, hidden away from all eyes
save mine,--mine that never grew tired of looking in her patient,
heavenly face! Ten years I held her as one holds a jewel--and, when she
died, her death was but falling asleep in these fond arms--"

Lovisa raised herself with a sharp cry, and wrung her hands together--

"Ten years--ten years!" she moaned. "I thought her dead--and she lived
on,--beloved and loving all the while. Oh God, God, why hast thou made a
mockery of Thy servant!" She rocked herself to and fro--then looked up
with an evil smile. "Nay, but she _suffered_! That was best. It is worse
to suffer than to die. Thank God, she _suffered_!"

"Ay, she suffered!" said Gueldmar fiercely, scarce able to restrain
himself from seizing upon the miserable old woman and shaking the
sinking life out of her--"And had I but guessed who caused her
sufferings, by the sword of Odin, I would have--"

Ulrika laid her hand on his suddenly upraised arm.

"Listen!" she whispered. A low wailing, like the cry of a distressed
child, swept round and round the house, followed by a gust of wind and a
clattering shower of hailstones. A strange blue light leaped up from the
sparkling log fire, and cast an unearthly glow through the room. A deep
stillness ensued.

Then--steady and clear and resonant-