7. Unrest

Next day the storm had ceased. The weather was now milder, but it

had caused little shrinking of the ice and the sea was closed as

fast as ever.

When Elsalill awoke in the morning she thought: "It is surely

better that a wicked man repent and live according to God's

commandments than that he be punished with death."

That day Sir Archie sent a messenger to Elsalill, and he brought

her a heavy armlet of gold.

And Elsalill was glad that Sir Archie had thought of giving her

pleasure, and she thanked the messenger and accepted the gift.

But when he was gone she fell to thinking that this armlet had

been bought for her with Herr Arne's money. When she thought of

this she could not endure to look on it. She plucked it from her

arm and threw it far away.

"What will my life be, if I must always call to mind that I am

living on Herr Arne's money?" she thought. "If I put a mouthful of

food to my lips, must I not think of the stolen money? And if I

have a new gown, will it not ring in my ears that it is bought

with ill-gotten gold? Now at last I see that it is impossible for

me to go with Sir Archie and join my life to his. I shall tell him

this when he comes."

When evening was drawing on, Sir Archie came to her. He was in

cheerful mood, he had not been plagued with evil thoughts, and he

believed it was owing to his promise to make good to one maiden

the wrong he had done another.

When Elsalill saw him and heard him speak she could not bring

herself to tell him that she was sad at heart and would part from

him.

All the sorrows which gnawed at her were forgotten as she sat

listening to Sir Archie.

The next day was a Sunday, and Elsalill went to church. She was

there both in the morning and in the evening.

As she sat during the morning service listening to the sermon, she

heard someone weeping and sobbing close by.

She thought it was one of those who sat beside her in the pew, but

whether she looked to right or left she saw none but calm and

devout worshippers.

Nevertheless, she plainly heard a sound of weeping, and it seemed

so near to her that she might have touched the one who wept by

putting out her hand.

Elsalill sat listening to the sighing and sobbing, and thought to

herself that she had never heard so sorrowful a sound.

"Who is it that is afflicted with such deep grief that she must

shed these bitter tears?" thought Elsalill.

She looked behind her, and she leaned forward over the next pew to

see. But all were sitting in silence, and no face was wet with

tears.

Then Elsalill thought there was no need to ask or wonder, for

indeed she had known from the first who it was that wept beside

her. "Dear sister," she whispered, "why do you not show yourself

to me, as you did but lately? For you must know that I would

gladly do all I may to dry your tears."

She listened for an answer, but none came. All she heard was the

sobbing of the dead girl beside her.

Elsalill tried to hearken to what the preacher was saying in the

pulpit, but she could follow little of it. And she grew impatient

and whispered: "I know one who has more cause to weep than any,

and that is myself. Had not my foster sister revealed her murderer

to me I might have sat here with a heart full of joy."

As she listened to the weeping she became more and more resentful,

so that she thought: "How can my dead foster sister require of me

that I shall betray the man I love? Never would she herself have

done such a thing, if she had lived."

She was shut up in the pew, but she could scarcely sit still. She

rocked backward and forward and wrung her hands. "Now this will

follow me all day," she thought. "Who knows," she went on, growing

more and more anxious, "who knows whether it will not follow me

through life?"

But the sobbing beside her grew ever deeper and sadder, and at

last her heart was touched in spite of herself, and she too began

to weep. "She who weeps so must have a terribly heavy grief," she

thought. "She must have to bear suffering heavier than any of the

living can conceive."

When the service was over and Elsalill had come out of church, she

heard the sobbing no longer. But all the way home she wept to

herself because her foster sister could find no peace in her

grave.

When the time of evensong came Elsalill went again to the church,

being constrained to know whether her foster sister still sat

there weeping.

And as soon as Elsalill entered the church she heard her, and her

soul trembled within her when she caught the sound of the sobbing.

She felt her strength forsaking her and she had but one desire--to

help the dead girl who was wandering among the living and knew no

rest.

When Elsalill came out of church it was still light enough for her

to see that one of those who walked before her left bloody

footprints in the snow.

"Who can it be so poor that he goes barefoot and leaves bloody

footprints in the snow?" she thought.

All those who walked before her seemed to be well-to-do folk. They

were neatly dressed and well shod.

But the red footprints were not old. Elsalill could see they were

made by one of the group that walked before her. "It is someone

who is footsore from a long journey," she thought. "God grant he

may not have far to go ere he find shelter and rest."

She had a strong desire to know who it was that had made this

weary pilgrimage, and she followed the footprints, though they led

her away from her home.

But suddenly she saw that all the church-goers had gone another

way and that she was alone in the street. Nevertheless, the

blood-red footprints were there as plain as before. "It is my poor

foster sister who is going before me," she thought; and she owned

to herself that she had guessed it all the time.

"Alas, my poor foster sister, I thought you went so lightly upon

earth that your feet did not touch the ground. But none among the

living can know how painful your pilgrimage must be."

The tears started to her eyes, and she sighed: "Could she but find

peace in her grave! Woe is me that she must wander here so long,

till she has worn her feet to bleeding!"

"Stay, my dear foster sister!" she cried. "Stay, that I may speak

to you!"

But as she cried thus, she saw that the footprints fell yet faster

in the snow, as though the dead girl were hastening her steps.

"Now she flies from me. She looks no more for help from me," said

Elsalill.

The bloody footprints made her quite frantic, and she cried out:

"My dear foster sister, I will do all you ask if only you may find

rest in your grave!"

So soon as Elsalill had uttered these words a tall, big woman who

had followed her came up and laid a hand on her arm.

"Who may you be, crying and wringing your hands here in the

street?" the woman asked. "You call to my mind a little maid who

came to me on Friday looking for a place and then ran away from

me. Or perhaps you are the same?"

"No, I am not the same," said Elsalill, "but if, as I think, you

are the hostess of the Town Cellars, then I know what maid it is

you speak of."

"Then you can tell me why she took herself off and has not come

back," said the hostess.

"She left you," said Elsalill, "because she did not choose to hear

the talk of all the evildoers who gather in your tavern."

"Many a wild companion comes to my tavern," said the hostess, "but

among them are no evildoers."

"Yet the maid heard three that sat there talking among

themselves," said Elsalill, "and one of them said: 'Drink,

brother! Herr Arne's hoard is not yet done.'"

When Elsalill had said these words she thought: "Now I have helped

my foster sister and told what I heard. Now may God help me that

this woman pay no heed to my words; so I shall be quit."

But when she saw in the hostess's face that she believed her, she

was afraid and would have run away.

But before she had time to move, the hostess's heavy hand had

taken firm hold of her so that she could not escape.

"If you can witness that such words have been uttered in my

tavern, mistress," said the hostess, "then you were best not to

run away. For you must go with me to those who have the power to

seize the murderers and bring them to justice."