5. Haunted

The town with all its houses and buildings stood upon that side of

Marstrand island which looked to landward and was protected by a

wreath of holms and islets. There people swarmed in its streets

and alleys; there lay the harbour, full of ships and boats, the

quays, with folk busy gutting and salting fish; there lay the

church and churchyard, the market and town hall, and there stood

many a lofty tree and waved its green branches in summer time.

But upon that half of Marstrand island which looked westward to

the sea, unguarded by isles or skerries, there was nothing but

bare and barren rocks and ragged headlands thrust out into the

waves. Heather there was in brown tufts and prickly thorn bushes,

holes of the otter and the fox, but never a path, never a house or

any sign of man.

Torarin's cabin stood high up on the ridge of the island, so that

it had the town on one side and the wilderness on the other. And

when Elsalill opened her door she came out upon broad, naked slabs

of rock, from which she had a wide view to the westward, even to

the dark horizon of the open sea.

All the seamen and fishermen who lay icebound at Marstrand used to

pass Torarin's cabin to climb the rocks and look for any sign of

the ice parting in the coves and sounds.

Elsalill stood many a time at the cottage door and followed with

her eyes the men who mounted the ridge. She was sick at heart from

the great sorrow that had befallen her, and she said to herself:

"I think everyone is happy who has something to look for. But I

have nothing in the wide world on which to fix my hopes."

One evening Elsalill saw a tall man, who wore a broad-brimmed hat

with a great feather, standing upon the rocks and gazing westward

over the sea like all the others.

And Elsalill knew at once that the man was Sir Archie, the leader

of the Scots, who had talked with her on the quay.

As he passed the cabin on his way home to the town, Elsalill was

still standing in the doorway, and she was weeping.

"Why do you weep?" he asked, stopping before her.

"I weep because I have nothing to long for," said Elsalill. "When

I saw you standing upon the rocks and looking out over the sea, I

thought: 'He has surely a home beyond the water, and there he is

going.'"

Then Sir Archie's heart was softened, and it made him say: "It is

many a year since any spoke to me of my home. God knows how it

fares with my father's house. I left it when I was seventeen to

serve in the wars abroad."

On saying this Sir Archie entered the cottage with Elsalill and

began to talk to her of his home.

And Elsalill sat and listened to Sir Archie, who spoke both long

and well. Each word that came from his lips made her feel happy.

But when the time drew on for Sir Archie to go, he asked if he

might kiss her.

Then Elsalill said No, and would have slipped out of the door, but

Sir Archie stood in her way and would have made her kiss him.

At that moment the door of the cottage opened, and its mistress

came in in great haste.

Then Sir Archie drew back from Elsalill. He simply gave her his

hand in farewell and hurried away.

But Torarin's mother said to Elsalill: "It was well that you sent

for me, for it is not fitting for a maid to sit alone in the house

with such a man as Sir Archie. You know full well that a soldier

of fortune has neither honour nor conscience."

"Did I send for you?" asked Elsalill, astonished.

"Yes," answered the old woman. "As I stood at work on the quay

there came a little maid I had never seen before, and brought me

word that you begged me to go home."

"How did this maid look?" asked Elsalill.

"I heeded her not so closely that I can tell you how she looked,"

said the old woman. "But one thing I marked; she went so lightly

upon the snow that not a sound was heard."

When Elsalill heard this she turned very pale and said: "Then it

must have been an angel from heaven who brought you the message

and led you home."

II

Another time Sir Archie sat in Torarin's cabin and talked with

Elsalill.

There was no one beside them; they talked gaily together and were

very cheerful.

Sir Archie was telling Elsalill that she must go home with him to

Scotland. There he would build her a castle and make her a fine

lady. He told her she should have a hundred serving-maids to wait

upon her, and she should dance at the court of the King.

Elsalill sat silently listening to every word Sir Archie said to

her, and she believed them all. And Sir Archie thought that never

had he met a damsel so easy to beguile as Elsalill.

Suddenly Sir Archie ceased speaking and looked down at his left

hand.

"What is it, Sir Archie? Why do you say no more?" asked Elsalill.

Sir Archie opened and closed his hand convulsively. He turned it

this way and that.

"What is it, Sir Archie?" asked Elsalill. "Does your hand pain you

on a sudden?"

Then Sir Archie turned to Elsalill with a startled face and said:

"Do you see this hair, Elsalill, that is wound about my hand? Do

you see this lock of fair hair?"

When he began to speak the girl saw nothing, but ere he had

finished she saw a coil of fine, fair hair wind itself twice about

Sir Archie's hand.

And Elsalill sprang up in terror and cried out: "Sir Archie, whose

hair is it that is bound about your hand?"

Sir Archie looked at her in confusion, not knowing what to say.

"It is real hair, Elsalill, I can feel it. It lies soft and cool

about my hand. But whence did it come?"

The maid sat staring at his hand, and it seemed that her eyes

would fall out of her head.

"So was it that my foster sister's hair was wound about the hand

of him who murdered her," she said.

But now Sir Archie burst into a laugh. He quickly drew back his

hand.

"Why," said he, "you and I, Elsalill, we are frightening ourselves

like little children. It was nothing more than a bright sunbeam

falling through the window."

But the girl fell to weeping and said: "Now methinks I am

crouching again by the stove and I can see the murderers at their

work. Ah, but I hoped to the last they would not find my dear

foster sister, but then one of them came and plucked her from the

wall, and when she sought to escape he twined her hair about his

hand and held her fast. And she fell on her knees before him and

said: 'Have pity on my youth! Spare my life, let me live long

enough to know why I have come into the world! I have done you no

ill, why would you kill me? Why would you deny me my life?' But he

paid no heed to her words and killed her."

While Elsalill said this Sir Archie stood with a frown on his brow

and turned his eyes away.

"Ah, if I might one day meet that man!" said Elsalill. She stood

before Sir Archie with clenched fists.

"You cannot meet the man," said Sir Archie. "He is dead."

But the maid threw herself upon the bench and sobbed. "Sir Archie,

Sir Archie, why have you brought the dead into my thoughts? Now I

must weep all evening and all night. Leave me, Sir Archie, for now

I have no thought for any but the dead. Now I can only think upon

my foster sister and how dear she was to me."

And Sir Archie had no power to console her, but was banished by

her tears and wailing and went back to his companions.

III

Sir Archie could not understand why his mind was always so full of

heavy thoughts. He could never escape them, whether he drank with

his companions, or whether he sat in talk with Elsalill. If he

danced all night at the wharves they were still with him, and if

he walked far and wide over the frozen sea, they followed him

there.

"Why am I ever forced to remember what I would fain forget?" Sir

Archie asked himself. "It is as though someone were always

stealing behind me and whispering in my ear.

"It is as though someone were weaving a net about me," said Sir

Archie, "to catch all my own thoughts and leave me none but this.

I cannot see the pursuer who casts the net, but I can hear his

step as he comes stealing after me."

"It is as though a painter went before me and painted the same

picture wherever my eyes may rest," said Sir Archie. "Whether I

look to heaven or to earth I see naught else but this one thing."

"It is as though a mason sat within my heart and chiselled out the

same heavy care," said Sir Archie. "I cannot see this mason, but

day and night I can hear the blows of his mallet as he hammers at

my heart. 'Heart of stone, heart of stone,' he says, 'now you

shall yield. Now I shall hammer into you a lasting care.'"

Sir Archie had two friends, Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who

followed him wherever he went. They were grieved that he was

always cast down and that nothing could avail to cheer him.

"What is it that ails you?" they would say. "What makes your eyes

burn so, and why are your cheeks so pale?"

Sir Archie would not tell them what it was that tormented him. He

thought: "What would my comrades say of me if they knew I yielded

to these unmanly thoughts? They would no longer obey me if they

found out that I was racked with remorse for a deed there was no

avoiding."

As they continued to press him, he said at last, to throw them off

the scent: "Fortune is playing me strange tricks in these days.

There is a girl I have a mind to win, but I cannot come at her.

Something always stands in my way."

"Maybe the maiden does not love you?" said Sir Reginald.

"I surely think her heart is disposed toward me," said Sir Archie;

"but there is something watching over her, so that I cannot win

her."

Then Sir Reginald and Sir Philip began to laugh and said: "Never

fear, we'll get you the girl."

That evening Elsalill was walking alone up the lane, coming from

her work. She was tired and thought to herself: "This is a hard

life and I find no joy in it. It sickens me to stand all day in

the reek of fish. It sickens me to hear the other women laugh and

jest in their rude voices. It sickens me to see the hungry gulls

fly above the tables trying to snatch the fish out of my hands.

Oh, that someone would come and take me away from here! I would

follow him to the world's end."

When Elsalill had reached the darkest part of the lane, Sir

Reginald and Sir Philip came out of the shadow and greeted her.

"Mistress Elsalill," they said, "we have a message for you from

Sir Archie. He is lying sick at the inn. He longs to speak with

you and begs you to accompany us home."

Elsalill began to fear that Sir Archie might be grievously sick,

and she turned at once and went with the two Scottish gallants who

were to bring her to him.

Sir Philip and Sir Reginald walked one on each side of her. They

smiled at one another and thought that nothing could be easier

than to delude Elsalill.

Elsalill was in great haste; she almost ran down the lane. Sir

Philip and Sir Reginald had to take long strides to keep up with

her.

But as Elsalill was making such haste to reach the inn, something

began to roll before her feet. It seemed to have been thrown down

in front of her, and she nearly stumbled over it.

"What can it be that rolls on and on before my feet?" thought

Elsalill. "It must be a stone that I have kicked from the ground

and sent rolling down the hill."

She was in such a hurry to reach Sir Archie that she did not like

being hindered by the thing that rolled close before her feet. She

kicked it aside, but it came back at once and rolled before her

down the lane.

Elsalill heard it ring like silver when she kicked it away, and

she saw that it was bright and shining.

"It is no common stone," she thought. "I believe it is a coin of

silver." But she was in such haste to reach Sir Archie that she

thought she had no time to pick it up.

But again and again it rolled before her feet, and she thought:

"You will go on the faster if you stoop down and pick it up. You

can throw it far away if it is nothing."

She stooped down and picked it up. It was a big silver coin and it

shone white in her hand.

"What is it that you have found in the street, mistress?" asked

Sir Reginald. "It shines so white in the moonlight."

At that moment they were passing one of the great storehouses,

where foreign fisher-folk lodged while they lay at Marstrand.

Before the entrance hung a lantern, which threw a feeble light

upon the street.

"Let us see what you have found, mistress," said Sir Philip,

standing under the light.

Elsalill held up the coin to the lantern, and hardly had she cast

eye upon it when she cried out: "This is Herr Arne's money! I know

it well. This is Herr Arne's money!"

"What's that you say, mistress?" asked Sir Reginald. "What makes

you say it is Herr Arne's money?"

"I know the coin," said Elsalill. "I have often seen it in Herr

Arne's hand. Yes, it is surely Herr Arne's money."

"Shout not so loudly, mistress!" said Sir Philip. "People run here

already to know the cause of this outcry."

But Elsalill paid no heed to Sir Philip. She saw that the door of

the warehouse stood open. A fire blazed in the midst of the floor

and round about it sat a number of men conversing quietly and at

leisure.

Elsalill hastened in to them, holding the coin aloft. "Listen to

me, every man!" she cried. "Now I know that Herr Arne's murderers

are alive. Look here! I have found one of Herr Arne's coins."

All the men turned toward her. She saw that Torarin the fish

hawker sat among them.

"What is that you tell us so noisily, my girl?" Torarin asked.

"How can you know Herr Arne's moneys from any other?"

"Well may I know this very piece of silver from any other," said

Elsalill. "It is old and heavy, and it is chipped at the edge.

Herr Arne told us that it came from the time of the old kings of

Norway, and never would he part with it when he counted out money

to pay for his goods."

"Now you must tell us where you have found it, mistress," said

another of the fishermen.

"I found it rolling before me in the street," said Elsalill. "One

of the murderers has surely dropped it there."

"It may be as you say," said Torarin, "but what can we do in this

matter? We cannot find the murderers by this alone, that you know

they have walked in one of our streets."

The fishermen were agreed that Torarin had spoken wisely. They

settled themselves again about the fire.

"Come home with me, Elsalill," said Torarin. "This is not an hour

for a young maid to run about the streets of the town."

As Torarin said this, Elsalill looked about for her companions.

But Sir Reginald and Sir Philip had stolen away without her

noticing their departure.