8. Sir Archie'S Flight

Elsalill came into the tavern wrapt in her long cloak and went

straight to a table where Sir Archie sat drinking with his

friends. A crowd of customers sat about the tables in the cellar,

but Elsalill took no heed of all the wondering glances that

followed her, as she went and sat down beside the man she loved.

Her only thought was to be with Sir Archie in the few moments of

freedom which were left to him.

When Sir Archie saw Elsalill come and sit by him, he rose and

moved with her to a table that stood far down the room, hidden by

a pillar. She could see that he was displeased at her coming to

meet him in a place where it was not the custom for young maids to

show themselves.

"I have no long message to bring you, Sir Archie," said Elsalill;

"but I would have you know that I cannot go with you to your own

country."

When Sir Archie heard Elsalill speak thus he was in despair, since

he feared that, if he lost Elsalill, the evil thoughts would again

take possession of him.

"Why will you not go with me, Elsalill?" he asked.

Elsalill was as pale as death. Her thoughts were so confused that

she scarce knew what answer she made him.

"It is a perilous thing to follow a soldier of fortune," she said.

"For none can tell whether such a man will keep his plighted

troth."

Before Sir Archie had time to answer, a sailor came into the

tavern.

He went up to Sir Archie and told him he was sent by the skipper

of the great gallias which lay in the ice behind Klovero. The

skipper prayed Sir Archie and all his men to make ready their

goods and come aboard that evening. The storm had sprung up again

and the sea was clearing far away to the westward. It might well

be that before daybreak they would have open water and could sail

for Scotland.

"You hear what this man says?" said Sir Archie to Elsalill. "Will

you come with me?"

"No," said Elsalill, "I will not go with you."

But in her heart she was very glad, for she thought: "Now belike

it will turn out so that he may escape ere the watch can come and

seize him."

Sir Archie rose and went over to Sir Philip and Sir Reginald and

spoke to them of the message. "Get you back to the inn before me,"

he said, "and make all ready. I have a word or two yet to say to

Elsalill."

When Elsalill saw that Sir Archie was coming back to her, she

waved her hands as though to prevent him. "Why do you come back,

Sir Archie?" she said. "Why do you not hasten down to the sea as

fast as your feet may carry you?"

For such was her love for Sir Archie. She had indeed betrayed him

for her dear foster sister's sake, but her most fervent wish was

that he might escape.

"No, first will I beg you once more to come with me," said Sir

Archie.

"But you know, Sir Archie, that I cannot come with you," said

Elsalill.

"Why can you not?" said Sir Archie. "You are a poor orphan, so

forlorn and friendless that none will care what becomes of you.

But if you come with me, I will make you a noble lady. I am a

powerful man in my own country. You shall be clad in silk and

gold, and you shall tread a measure at the King's court."

Elsalill was shaking with alarm at his delaying while flight was

still open to him. She could scarce calm herself to answer: "Go

hence, Sir Archie! You must tarry no longer to importune me."

"There is something I would say to you, Elsalill," said Sir

Archie, and his voice became more tender as he spoke. "When first

I saw you, my only thought was of tempting and beguiling you. In

the beginning I promised you riches in jest, but since two nights

ago I have meant honestly by you. And now it is my purpose and

desire to make you my wife. You may trust in me, as I am a

gentleman and a soldier."

At that moment Elsalill heard the march of armed men in the square

outside. "If I go with him now," she thought, "he may yet escape.

If I refuse, I drive him to destruction. It is for my sake he

tarries here so long that the watch will lay hands on him. But how

can I go with the man who has murdered all my dear ones?"

"Sir Archie," said Elsalill, and she hoped her words might startle

him, "Do you not hear the tramp of armed men in the square?"

"Oh, yes, I hear it," said Sir Archie; "there has been some

alehouse brawl, I doubt not. Let it not fright you, Elsalill; it

is but some fishermen that have come to clapper-claws over their

cups."

"Sir Archie," said Elsalill, "do you not hear them stand before

the town hall?"

Elsalill was trembling from head to foot, but Sir Archie took no

note of it; he was quite calm.

"Where else would you have them stand?" said Sir Archie. "They

must bring the brawlers here to lay them by the heels in the watch

house. Listen not to them, Elsalill, but to me, who ask you to

follow me over the sea!"

But Elsalill tried once more to put fear into Sir Archie. "Sir

Archie," she said, "do you not hear the watch coming down the steps

to the cellar?"

"Oh, yes, I hear them," said Sir Archie; "they will come here to

empty a pot of ale, since their prisoners are safe under lock and

key. Think not of them, Elsalill, but think how tomorrow you and I

will be sailing the wide sea to my dear native land!"

But Elsalill was pale as a corpse, and she shook so that she could

scarce speak. "Sir Archie," she said, "do you not see them

speaking with the hostess yonder at the bar? They are asking her

whether any of those they seek is within."

"I'll wager they are charging her to brew them a warm, strong

drink this stormy night," said Sir Archie. "You need not quake and

tremble so mightily, Elsalill. You can follow me without fear. I

tell you that if my father would have me wed the noblest damsel in

our land, I should now say her nay. Come with me over the sea in

full security, Elsalill! Nothing awaits you there but joy and

happiness."

More and more of the pikemen had collected about the door, and

Elsalill was now beside herself with terror. "I cannot look on

while they come and seize him," she thought. She leaned toward Sir

Archie and whispered to him: "Do you not hear, Sir Archie? They

are asking the hostess whether any of Herr Arne's murderers is

here within."

Then Sir Archie threw a glance across the room and looked at the

pikemen who were speaking with the hostess. But he did not rise

and fly as Elsalill had expected: he bent down and looked deeply

into her eyes. "Is it you, Elsalill, who have discovered and

betrayed me?" he asked.

"I have done it for my dear foster sister's sake, that she might

have peace in her grave," said Elsalill. "God knows what it has

cost me to do it. But now fly, Sir Archie! There is yet time. They

have not yet barred all doors and lobbies."

"You wolf's cub!" said Sir Archie. "When first I saw you on the

quay I thought I ought to kill you."

But Elsalill laid her hand on his arm. "Fly, Sir Archie! I cannot

sit still and see them come and take you. If you will not fly

without me, then in God's name I will go with you. But do not stay

longer here for my sake, Sir Archie! I will do all you ask of me,

if only you will save your life."

But now Sir Archie was very angry, and he spoke scornfully to

Elsalill. "Now, mistress, you shall never go in gold-embroidered

shoes through lofty castle halls. Now you may stay in Marstrand

all your days and gut herrings. Never shall you wed a man who has

castle and lands, Elsalill. Your man shall be a poor fisherman and

your dwelling a cabin on a cold rock."

"Do you not hear them setting guards before all the doors to bar

the way with their pikes?" asked Elsalill. "Why do you not hasten

hence? Why do you not fly out upon the ice and hide yourself in a

ship?"

"I do not fly because I have a mind to sit and talk with

Elsalill," said Sir Archie. "Are you thinking that now there is an

end of all your joy, Elsalill? Are you thinking that now there is

an end of my hope of atoning for my crime?"

"Sir Archie," whispered Elsalill, rising from her seat in her

terror; "now the men are all posted. Now they will catch and seize

you. Make haste and fly! I shall come out to your ship, Sir

Archie, if only you will fly."

"You need not be so frightened, Elsalill," said Sir Archie. "We

have some time left to talk together. These fellows have no

stomach to set upon me here, where I can defend myself. They mean

to take me in the narrow stair. They think to spit me on their

long pikes. And that is what you have always wished me, Elsalill."

But the more her terror gained on Elsalill, the calmer became Sir

Archie. She never ceased praying him to fly, but he laughed at

her.

"You need not be so sure, mistress, that these fellows can take

me. I have come through greater dangers than this. I'll warrant I

was harder put to it some months since in Sweden. Some slanderers

had told King John that his Scots guard was disloyal to him. And

the King believed them. He threw the three commanders into dungeon

and sent their men out of his realm, and had them guarded till

they had passed the border."

"Fly, Sir Archie, fly!" begged Elsalill.

"You need not be troubled for me, Elsalill," said Sir Archie with

a hard laugh. "This evening I am myself again, my old humour is

come back. I see no more the young maid that haunted me, and I

shall hold my own, never fear. I will tell you of those three who

lay in King John's dungeon. They stole out of the tower one night,

when their guards were drowsy with liquor, and ran their ways. And

then they fled to the border. But so long as they were in the

Swedish king's land they durst not betray themselves. They had no

choice, Elsalill, but to make themselves rough coats of skin and

give out that they were journeymen tanners travelling the country

in search of work."

Now Elsalill began to mark how changed Sir Archie was toward her.

And she knew he hated her, since he had found out that she had

betrayed him.

"Speak not so, Sir Archie!" said Elsalill.

"Why should you play me false, just when I trusted you most?" said

Sir Archie. "Now I am again the man I was. Now none shall find me

merciful. And now you'll see, Fortune will favour me, as she has

done hitherto. Were we not in bad case, I and my comrades, when at

last we had walked through all Sweden and come down to the coast

here? We had no money to buy us honourable clothes. We had no

money to pay for our shipping to Scotland. We knew no remedy but

to break into Solberga parsonage."

"Speak no more of that!" said Elsalill.

"Yes, now you must hear all, Elsalill," said Sir Archie. "There is

one thing you know not, and it is that when first we came into the

house we went to Herr Arne, roused him, and told him he must give

us money. If he gave it freely, we would not harm him. But Herr

Arne resisted us with force, and so we had to strike him down. And

when we had dispatched him, we had to make an end of all his

household."

Elsalill interrupted Sir Archie no more, but her heart felt cold

and empty. She shuddered as she looked upon Sir Archie, for as he

spoke a cruel and bloodthirsty look came over him. "What was I

about to do?" she thought. "Have I been mad and loved the man who

murdered all my dear ones? God forgive my sin!"

"When we thought all were dead," said Sir Archie, "we dragged the

heavy money chest out of the house. Then we set fire about it,

that men might think Herr had been burnt alive."

"I have loved a wolf of the woods," said Elsalill to herself. "And

him I have tried to save from justice!"

"But we drove down to the ice and fled to sea," Sir Archie went

on. "We had no fear so long as we saw the flames mounting to the

sky, but when we saw them die down we took alarm. We knew then

that neighbours had come and put out the fire, and that we should

be pursued. So we drove back toward land, for we had seen the

outlet of a stream where the ice was thin. We lifted the chest

from the sledge and drove forward till the ice broke under the

horse's hoofs. Then we let it drown and sprang off to one side. If

you were aught but a little maid, Elsalill, you would see that

this was bravely done. We acquitted ourselves like men."

Elsalill kept still; she felt a sharp pain tearing at her heart.

But Sir Archie hated her and delighted to torment her. "Then we

took our belts and fastened them to the chest and began to draw

it. But as the chest left tracks in the ice, we went ashore and

gathered twigs of spruce and laid them under the chest. Then we

took off our boots and went over the ice without leaving a trace

behind us."

Sir Archie paused to throw a scornful glance at Elsalill.

"Although we had prospered in all this, we were yet in bad case.

Wherever we went our bloodstained clothes would betray us and we

should be seized. But now listen, Elsalill, so that you may tell

all those who would be at the pains to give us chase, that they

may understand we are not of a sort to be lightly taken! Listen to

this: As we came over the ice toward Marstrand here, we met our

comrades and countrymen, who had been banished by King John from

his land. They had not been able to leave Marstrand because of the

ice, and they helped us in our need, so that we got clothes. Since

then we have gone about here in Marstrand and been in no danger.

And no danger would threaten us now, if you had not been faithless

and played me false."

Elsalill sat still. This was too great a grief for her. She could

scarce feel her heart beating.

But Sir Archie sprang up and cried: "And no ill shall befall us

tonight either. Of that you shall be witness, Elsalill!"

In an instant he seized Elsalill in both his arms and raised her

off her feet. And with Elsalill before him as a shield Sir Archie

ran through the tavern to the doorway. And the men who were posted

to guard the door levelled their long pikes at him, but they durst

not use them for fear of hurting Elsalill.

When Sir Archie reached the narrow stair and the lobby, he held

Elsalill before him in the same way. And she protected him better

than the strongest armour, for the pikemen who were drawn up there

could make no use of their weapons. Thus he came a good way up the

steps, and Elsalill could feel the free air of heaven blowing

about her.

But Elsalill's love for Sir Archie was changed to the most deadly

hatred, and her only thought was that he was a villain and a

murderer. And when she saw that her body shielded him, so that he

was likely to escape, she stretched out her hand and took hold of

one of the watchmen's pikes and aimed it at her heart. "Now I will

serve my foster sister, so that her mission shall be fulfilled at

last," thought Elsalill. And at the next step Sir Archie took up

the stairs, the pike entered Elsalill's heart.

But then Sir Archie was already at the top of the stairway. And

the pikemen fell back when they saw that one of them had hurt the

maid. And he ran past them. When Sir Archie came out into the

market-place he heard a Scottish war cry from one of the lanes: "A

rescue! A rescue! For Scotland! For Scotland!"

It was Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who had mustered the Scots and

now came to relieve him.

And Sir Archie ran toward them and cried in a loud voice: "Hither

to me! For Scotland! For Scotland!"