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Cornell University Library 
 PT 8911.N5 1897 
 
 Niobe / 
 
 3 1924 026 350 474 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026350474 
 
NIOBE 
 
Ibelnemann'g 5nternatlonal Xtbrarg. 
 
 Edited by EDMUND GOSSE. 
 
 Crown Zvo, in paper covers, 2s. 6d., or doth limp, 3^. 6rf. 
 
 1. IN GOD'S WAY. From the Norwegian of 
 
 BjORNSTJERNE BjORNSON. 
 
 2. PIERRE AND JEAN. From the French of 
 
 Guy de Maupassant. 
 
 3. THE CHIEF JUSTICE. From the German 
 
 of Karl Emil Franzos. 
 
 4. WORK WHILE YE HA VE THE LIGHT. 
 
 From the Russian of Count Lyof Tolstoi. 
 
 5. FANTASY. From the Italian of Matilde 
 
 6. FROTH. From the Spanish of Don Armando 
 
 Palacio Vald^s. 
 
 7. FOOTSTEPS OF PATE. From the Dutch 
 
 of Louis COUPERUS. 
 
 8. PEPITA JIMENEZ. From the Spanish of 
 
 Juan Valera. 
 , 9. THE COMMODORE'S DA UGHTBRS. From 
 the Norwegian of Jonas Lie. 
 
 10. THE HERITAGE OF THE KURTS. From 
 
 the Norwegian of BjQrnstjerne BjSrnson. 
 
 11. LOU. From the German of Baron von 
 
 12 DONA LUZ. From the Spanish of JuAN 
 Valera. 
 
 13. THE JEW. From the Polish of Joseph I. 
 
 Kraszewski. 
 
 14. UNDER THE YOKE. From the Bulgarian 
 
 of Ivan Vazoff. 
 
 15. FAREWELL LOVE I From the Italian of 
 
 Matilde Serao. 
 
 16. THE GRANDEE. From the Spanish of Don 
 
 Armando Palacio Valdbs. 
 
 17. A COMMON STORY. From the Russian of 
 
 Ivan Gontcharoff. 
 
 18. WOMAN'S FOLLY. From the Italian of 
 
 Gemma Ferruggia. 
 
 19. SIREN VOICES. From the Danish of J. P. 
 
 Jacobsen. 
 
 20. NIOBE. From the Norwegian of Jonas Lie. 
 
 Each Volnmi contains a specially written 
 Introditction by the Editor. 
 
 London: W. HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C. 
 
N I O B E 
 
 BY 
 
 JONAS LIE 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN 
 KY 
 
 H. L. BR^KSTAD 
 
 LONDON 
 WILLIAM HEINEMANN 
 
 1897 
 
 [/4// rights reserved] 
 

INTRODUCTION 
 
 Early in the spring of 1874, the present writer 
 happened to be the guest of the late head of the 
 great Gyldendal house of publishers, the elegant and 
 hospitable Mr. Frederik Hegel, in the classic parlour 
 of his firm in Copenhagen. A clerk brought in, 
 fresh from the press, the first copy of a new novel, 
 on whose pale green paper cover was an engraving 
 of a boat, in heavy weather, tacking outside a Nor- 
 wegian promontory. " You shall take this with you, 
 if you will," said Mr. Hegel, as he wrote my name 
 with venligst og cerbbdigst fra Forlceggeren,"3.nA make 
 acquaintance with Jonas Lie." " And who is Jonas 
 Lie .' " I asked. " He is a Norwegian," he answered, 
 " like our friends Bjornson and Ibsen, and, though 
 comparatively few people know his name to-day, I 
 predict that in ten years' time he will have more 
 readers than any other Scandinavian writer." The 
 prophecy has come true, at all events so far as 
 Scandinavia itself is concerned. At this moment 
 Jonas Lie is locally the most popular of the Northern 
 novelists. 
 
 At the date I speak of Lie was already more than 
 
vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 forty years of age. Jonas Lauritz Edemil Lie was 
 
 born on the 6th of November 1833, at Hougsund in 
 
 the country parish of Eker, near Drammen, in the 
 
 south of Norway. At the age of five he was removed 
 
 to the port of Tromso, in the Arctic regions, his father 
 
 having been appointed sheriff of that town. There he 
 
 remained until he was thirteen years old, enjoying an 
 
 untrammelled childhood among the shipping of the 
 
 little Nordland capital, and gaining acquaintance with 
 
 the wild seafaring life which he was afterwards to 
 
 describe in his early stories. He had a great wish 
 
 as a boy to go to sea, and in 1846 he was sent to 
 
 the naval station at Fredriksvaern to become a cadet. 
 
 His extreme near-sight unfitted him, however, for 
 
 service, and after a few months' training, which was 
 
 not lost on the futuire author of TAe Commodore's 
 
 Daughters, he was sent to the Latin school at Bergen. 
 
 There he remained until 1849. Two years later he 
 
 went up to the University of Christiania, where Ibsen, 
 
 Bjornson, and Vinje were among his fellow students, 
 
 and ultimately among his friends. While these young 
 
 men, however, early showed their native bias towards 
 
 literary production. Lie displayed no such inclination. 
 
 He pursued his studies as a lawyer, took his degree 
 
 in law in 1858, and presently settled down in practice 
 
 as a solicitor in the small town of Kongsvinger. In 
 
 i860 he married his cousin Thomasine Lie, to whom 
 
 he had long been attached. 
 
 Meanwhile the plays and stories of his early 
 
INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 contemporaries were making them famous. Lie was 
 seized by a spirit of emulation, and at Christmas 
 1 866 he published his first book, a volume of "Poems," 
 in which the influence of Wergeland was strongly- 
 marked. In 1868, at the somewhat mature age cf 
 thirty-five, he gave up his professional career, and 
 came to the capital to try his luck as a man of letters. 
 His poems enjoyed no success and for the next two 
 years Lie carried on a struggling existence as an 
 obscure journalist. At the close of 1870 appeared 
 his first story, Den Fremsynte (" The Man with the 
 Second Sight "), a melancholy little romance of life 
 in the Arctic part of Norway, the world of brief 
 lustrous summers and age-long winters. This tale 
 was written in the manner which Bjornson had brought 
 into fashion, but it showed original features of its 
 own, both in treatment and in location. It was full 
 of memories of the author's childish days in Tromso. 
 He was conscious, however, that these memories 
 needed refreshing, and in 1871 he obtained a small 
 travelling stipend from the State, which enabled him 
 to make a journey through Nordland and Finmark. 
 From these Arctic provinces he immediately betook 
 himself to Rome. 
 
 Den Fretnsynte was well received in Norway, and 
 Lie was now assured of literary work. But neither 
 in his short stories, Fortcsllinger, 1871, nor in the 
 novel which followed them, Tremasteren Fremtiden 
 ("The Three-master 'The Future'"), 1872, did he 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 achieve a complete success. Treinasteren was an 
 attempt to give a realistic impression of life in the 
 Arctic ports, but it is not artistically put together, 
 and the movement of the tale is slack. At the age 
 of forty, Jonas Lie was still far from being a distin- 
 guished man even in his own country. Yet as early 
 as 1869 Bjornson, speaking at a public meeting at 
 Tromso, had said of Lie : " His friends know that 
 he only needs to dip the net down into himself to 
 bring up a full catch." The image was an excellent 
 one, for Lie's nature, during the varied experience of 
 these apparently barren years, had been stocking 
 itself, like a fish-pool, with every variety of living 
 forms. 
 
 His first great book was that which appeared in 
 1874, and called forth from his publisher the per- 
 sonal expression of faith to which I have referred. 
 The novel of Lodsen og hans Hustru (" The Pilot and 
 his Wife ") was written in a small mountain town in 
 Italy. A comrade of those years has recorded that 
 the composition of it was accompanied by so painful 
 a nostalgia for the sea that Lie became almost ill with 
 longing, and one summer day, throwing up his work, 
 trudged many miles through the blazing heat that 
 he might kneel for a few moments by the lapping 
 Mediterranean, and wash his eyes and mouth in the 
 waves. This intense devotion to the sea, and this 
 pre-occupation with marine instincts, gave a peculiar 
 character to Lodsen og hans Hustru, which is one of 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 the saltest stories ever published ; it is odd to think 
 that a book so full of cool foam and fresh wind should 
 have been written in a hot Italian inland village. 
 This admirable novel has appeared in two English 
 versions, and has been translated into most of the 
 languages of Europe. It deals with the adventures 
 of the two homely folk who give it its name, and 
 with life on the North Sea and in various tarry sea- 
 port towns of Europe. 
 
 Lie's next venture was a drama in verse, called 
 Faustina Strozzi, 1876, founded on a passage in 
 recent Italian history. This is not regarded as a 
 work of great importance. It really marks a crisis 
 in the author's life. He was no longer satisfied with 
 giving a romantic treatment to the seafaring life 
 that he had learned to touch as a child. His 
 ambition was to address a larger class of readers, 
 with work produced on a more cosmopolitan basis. 
 It was some time before he discovered that his 
 talent did not lie in painting modern Italian life, 
 nor even such Christiania manners as inspired his 
 next two novels, Thomas Ross, 1878, and Adam 
 Schrader, 1879. His next work was a comedy, 
 Grabow's Cat, the only play Lie has brought out on 
 the stage. In Rutland 1 881, and Gaa paa ! ("Go 
 Ahead!"), 1882, he returned to his original field — 
 sea-life in the Norwegian merchant-navy, gaining 
 by these two books, for the first time, the ear of the 
 great public. 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 But the true importance of Jonas Lie as a student 
 of human nature, and as the constructor of a strong 
 and original plot, was first exhibited by his powerful 
 novel called Livsslaven (" The Slave for Life"), 1883, 
 which dealt with the toils and pleasures of artisans 
 in the Norwegian capital ; this is a gloomy and 
 pessimistic story of a smith's apprentice, with his 
 struggles for existence and his ultimate final failure 
 owing to the irresistible indulgence of a passionate 
 physical instinct. Livsslaven achieved a very great 
 success ; it was realistic and modern in a certain 
 sense and to a discreet degree, and it appealed, as 
 scarcely any Norwegian novel had done before, to 
 all classes of Scandinavian society. It was followed 
 within a few months by Familjen paa Gilje (" The 
 Family at Gilje "), another study of the sinister side 
 of modern life, illuminated, however, by a genuine 
 humour, an element which here made its appearance 
 in Lie's works for the first time. Since 1883, Jonas 
 Lie has published eight novels, En Malstrdm ("A 
 Whirlpool"), 1884; KommandSrens Dottre (The 
 Commodore's Daughters), 1886, which has already 
 appeared in the "International Library;"; Et 
 Samliv (^' AWtdd&A Life,") 1887; Maisa Jons, i^^^, 
 the story of a sempstress ; Onde Magter (" Evil 
 Forces,") 1890; Niobe, 1894, which is here trans- 
 lated; Naar Sol guar ned ("At Sunset") 1895 ; 
 and Dyre Rein, 1896. He , has also published 
 in book-form a collection of eight short stories, 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 Otte Fortcellinger, a new volume of poems, 1 890 ; 
 and a collection of twelve stories of seafaring life, 
 called Trold, Christmas 1891. 
 
 Like so many of the leading writers of Norway, 
 Jonas Lie has been mainly a voluntary exile from 
 his fatherland. He left Norway in 1871, and, except 
 for a visit which he paid to his country in 1882, he 
 has lived abroad ever since. In 1875 he was 
 decorated by the Norwegian government, and his 
 friendship with Bj5rnson was presently interrupted 
 by a controversy on the propriety of accepting 
 decorations. After leaving Italy Lie settled in 
 North Germany, then removed to Berchtesgaden, in 
 Bavaria, where he had a summer dwelling, his 
 winters being spent in Paris. Not till 1893 did he 
 return to Norway. This prolonged absence from 
 home is the more remarkable because his books 
 deal almost exclusively with local types and local 
 manners — are not merely Norwegian, but provincially 
 Norwegian. It is the characteristic of the later and 
 greater works of Jonas Lie that in them he has 
 presented to us clearer and simpler aspects of Norse 
 life than any other author. Without reaching the 
 intellectual passion of Ibsen or the romantic tender- 
 ness of Bjornson, Lie comes really closer than either 
 of these more inspired poets to the genuine life of 
 the Norwegians of to-day. As Herman Bang 
 reminds him, in the graceful essay of dedication 
 which precedes Bang's volume of tales called Under 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Aaget ("Under the Yoke"), 1890, Jonas Lie has 
 known how to present to us the solemn figures of 
 the Fates, clad in the garments of to-day. He 
 stands, as a novelist, with those minute and 
 unobtrusive painters of contemporary manners who 
 defy arrangement in this or that school. He is 
 with Mrs. Gaskell or M. Ferdinand Fabre ; he is not 
 entirely without relation, in some of his books, to 
 that old-fashioned favourite of the public, Fredrika 
 Bremer. It would be a mistake to call him a great 
 creative artist. He has slowly discovered his 
 vocation, and late in life has secured an audience. 
 His truthfulness, his simple pathos, his deep moral 
 sincerity, have gradually conquered for him a place 
 in the hearts of his countrymen and countrywomen 
 which no one can dispute with him. His style, 
 which is colloquial almost to a fault, presents certain 
 peculiarities which the translator of Niobe has 
 attempted to preserve. English readers may be 
 pleased to read one of the most characteristic stories 
 of a writer who is innocent of any " ism " and pro- 
 fesses to teach no " gospel," but who is the best 
 beloved of the living novelists of his fatherland. 
 
 In November 1893, Arne Garborg published 
 Jonas Lie, en Udviklingshistorie {Asckehoug : 
 Christiania), an eulogistic critical biography of our 
 author. 
 
 Edmund Gosse. 
 
NIOBE 
 
 I 
 
 There was a scene in the study. The doctor, 
 pale with excitement, bounded from his chair into 
 the middle of the room, as if about to execute the 
 first steps of a hailing* He was crushing a 
 letter in his hand, while two or three of the sheets 
 belonging to it had been thrown on the table among 
 his surgical instruments. 
 
 "If I only had him here, if I only had him 
 here . . . " 
 
 He looked up at the ceiling, and drew a deep 
 breath. 
 
 " To have the impudence to come with such con- 
 founded stuff and nonsense ! " 
 
 " Well, Borvig," rejoined his wife, who was stand- 
 ing by the bookcase watching his movements, " I 
 suppose we must put up a little with our children, 
 while they grope about and find their way. Young 
 * The hatUing is one of the national dances of Norway. 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
■i NIOBE 
 
 people nowadays will have their rights — will go in 
 for what they think will give them most happi- 
 ness." 
 
 " Put up with — put up with — — no— o." He 
 came close up to her, looked fixedly into her face, 
 and said slowly, '' No — o, Bente — I will — I will not 
 put up with it." 
 
 The quiet, grey eyes he encountered were firmer 
 than his own. He had no intention of frightening 
 or overawing her ; he only wanted to reveal to her 
 what was at the bottom of his heart, to let her 
 clearly understand that no contradiction or per- 
 suasion, or any kind of reasoning whatever with 
 him afterwards, when he had quieted down, would 
 be of any use. 
 
 After a hurried walk round the room, during 
 which he was apparently seeking an object on 
 which he could vent his anger, he sat down again in 
 his armchair. 
 
 " No — o, Bente ! — this time he has run his head 
 against a wall. He cannot get any farther — no — 
 no — farther." 
 
 He folded his hands with the sorrowful resigna- 
 tion of the man of intellect. 
 
 "First he tried the Church But that 
 
 came to nothing. He had no longer any belief — 
 pure and simple, such as they teach it at the uni- 
 versity . . . . " 
 
 " Well, Borvig, we must respect him for that," 
 
NIOBB 3 
 
 " Pooh ! — in my days they were not so particular 
 
 -to a point or two about one's belief. .... That 
 
 cost him two and a half years' study, and us three 
 
 thousand crowns. But let that pass. Then he 
 
 tried philology and the roots of languages. There 
 he felt himself a ' coming discoverer.' Wasn't that 
 so, Bente ? The coming discoverer of ' The road 
 to the origin and life of mankind, from prehistoric 
 times ' .... he was ' fired with the spirit of 
 research,' — wrote about the fire of the investigator, 
 as if he were cut out for a North-Pole explorer. — , 
 Oh yes, Bente ! And instead of sobering him 
 down a bit, you rather encouraged him. Everything 
 was always to be on such a grand scale with him." 
 
 " Do you think it was so wrong of me to en- 
 courage the lad .' Endre's nature is such, that he 
 must always be high-strung to enable him to go on 
 with his work at all." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! — first of all a prophet — Endre the 
 prophet ! — and then Endre the discoverer ! — — 
 Ha, ha, ha 1 " laughed the doctor, shaking his head, 
 and waving the letter above his head. " And then 
 
 Endre the singer ! Yes, by Heavens, he 
 
 wants to be a singer ! " 
 
 He jumped up, and held the letter before her. 
 
 " Here it is — I tell you, here it is," he shouted. 
 " He wants to sing, the fellow wants to sing — ' to 
 captivate the world with the power of his tones,' " 
 he repeated mockingly, §\yinging himself round, and 
 
4 NIOBE 
 
 beginning to warble an operatic melody. He then 
 stopped as if perplexed, the veins in his forehead 
 swelling. 
 *" I wish I were struck down dead ! " 
 
 "God preserve you from your violent temper, 
 Borvig ; I wish you would rather lay hands on me 
 as an outlet to your temper. I don't suppose you 
 would quite kill your wife .' " she added, with a 
 peculiar tenderness in her voice. 
 
 "Yes — then there would be no bread in the 
 house .... nothing but the bare empty walls to 
 satisfy one's hunger," he burst out, as in a fit of 
 anger and spite he began to follow up the idea. 
 "To begin with, there would be no remittances 
 every month. — Then he could sing .... till his 
 stomach shrieked with hunger like a posthorn — 
 and go through the whole scale up to the high F. 
 .... Only there would be no dinner — no, none at 
 all. . . . And then, perhaps, common sense would 
 have a chance, and it would no longer be considered 
 too degrading to think of such trivial items as 
 dinner and supper. — — For, of course, it ought 
 never to be mentioned in this house, that it was for 
 the sake of such material commonplaces as earning 
 one's food that he went in for theology and philo- 
 logy. It was always with a higher object in view ! 
 I have never understood these high-flown arguments 
 — they have always made me feel uncomfortable, as 
 if a cat were in the room But you, Bente, 
 
NIOBE S 
 
 have been helping them all ! — Always encouraging 
 them in their high-flown ideals." 
 
 " We are in a new age, Borvig. It is no longer 
 so difficult to make your way in the world as in my 
 youth, when you had only to take what offered itself 
 and resign yourself to your fate." j 
 
 " Yes, they must search and sniff for ' what will 
 give them most happiness,' as you so beautifully 
 remarked. It has become the fashion to possess an j 
 ' inner being, which must be saved ' — they must first 
 of all ascertain what kind of idle life would be most 
 to their liking. It has become their holy duty to 
 solve this." 
 
 " You are wise and intelligent enough, Borvig ; ( 
 but you do not follow the times. You resist through 1 
 sheer obstinacy." 
 
 " Ah, ha ! — indeed .... Ah, ah ! Of course 
 now he sacrifices himself for Art — the Art of 
 Song ! — is that not what it is called in the modern i 
 jargon ? " ' 
 
 " My dear, do try and take things more quietly." 
 
 "You buy boots — I swear you buy boots, Bente, 
 to keep your feet warm," he shouted, " and not to 
 
 support the boot-trade Ugh ! how I hate 
 
 these arguments." 
 
 He repeated these words over and over again, 
 impatiently passing his hand across his massive fore- 
 head. 
 
 A pause ensued, during which his wife went 
 
6 NIOBB 
 
 quietly towards him. Like a gentle lion-tamer she 
 let her fingers glide soothingly through his hair. 
 
 '■ Yes, say you pity me, Bente ; I have both the 
 might and the right, but am not allowed to strike 
 out in any direction for your confounded tender 
 considerations and effeminacy. I tell you, I shall 
 just die of it some day." 
 
 " If we could only agree to talk sensibly about it 
 together, you would see, how much easier it would 
 make things," said Mrs. Borvig, comforting him, now 
 that the worst of the paroxysms seemed over. 
 
 " Four and twenty — four and twenty pages, full of 
 silly phrases and stilted, imbecile conceit. None of 
 the professors are, of course, even good enough to 
 black his boots. The profession now produces only 
 new broods of narrow-minded pedants every year, 
 whose proper place is in Rome and Greece, and who 
 
 go about like spectres haunting the world. And 
 
 out of all the fume and smoke and all this bombastic 
 brew comes the essence of it — now he wants to be 
 a singer. Faugh ! " 
 
 He accompanied this exclamation with a smack 
 of the iips, and an affected, idiotic stare. 
 
 "No, my dear, his conscience will not give him 
 rest if he is going to live on in the knowledge that 
 he has ' betrayed his duty ' — that's what he writes." 
 
 " My dear, can you not think of something else to 
 torture and plague me with ? Is it not the boy that 
 we are both concerned about ? " 
 
NIOBE 7 
 
 "And then he cannot bear to have his future 
 fettered in these narrow-minded professions — to be 
 obh'ged to go about as a state-official at a quiet, 
 jog-trot pace, everlastingly in the same spiritless 
 routine; till one has completely forgotten that there 
 exists anything which is called free will-inspiration. 
 — You understand, Bente — will-inspiration ? " 
 
 " Yes, my dear, — have your say ! You must give 
 vent to your feeling, I know. — I am so grieved for 
 you." 
 
 She tried to appease him by speaking to him in 
 a soothing voice, but her face wore an anxious ex- 
 pression, as if something were brewing within her. 
 
 " He would look upon it as a degradation, he 
 writes, if he became such an official — like a pivot 
 in a piece of machinery.* Aha 1 you see, Bente, you 
 are married to a pivot in a piece of machinery. 
 .... But if he thinks he will ever get a penny 
 
 from me he " He threw the crumpled letter on 
 
 the table. 
 
 " But we are agreed about one thing, Borvig, — we 
 want to make the best we can of the boy .... 
 and a fear has grown upon me." Here she bent 
 over him greatly agitated, her voice falling to a 
 whisper. " What if all this overwhelming feeling 
 and sentiment in him should be the expression of 
 an artistic nature .?.... Ah, Borvig — what if we 
 
 * In the country districts of Norway the parish doctors are 
 appointed and paid by Government. 
 
8 NIOBE 
 
 have urged and driven his talents into channels which 
 are uncongenial to him ? — I understand so little of it 
 all — I can scarcely see through it. . . . He is of 
 such a disposition that he must be at a high pitch 
 in everything he goes in for ... . and we want, 
 yes, we do want to do everything we can for the 
 boy — that he may find his right vocation and 
 not become unhappy," she cried, with such earnest 
 sincerity in her tones that the doctor at once felt he 
 must be on his guard. 
 
 " Ah ! I see ; now he has become gifted with an 
 artistic nature," he burst out, jumping up from his 
 seat. " I do believe she is going crazy as well — 
 — no — not a penny !...." 
 
 He tore open the parlour door so violently, that 
 the framework shook. 
 
 " Why, father ! " a voice exclaimed. 
 
 It was that of his eldest daughter, Minka, eighteen 
 years old, who stopped her exercises on the piano 
 in her sudden fright. 
 
 " Oh, it's nothing, ray dear child," he said irritably. 
 " Only your brother Endre. He is going to give up 
 philology and become a sing — er," — he moaned 
 despairingly, with a sweep of his hand towards the 
 piano. " And your mother is beginning to ponder 
 and worry herself about his artistic tempera- 
 ment already " 
 
 " But father," demurred Minka, " if he really feels 
 it is his calling." 
 
NIOBE 9 
 
 " Calling — calling ! I think the whole house must 
 be ablaze with phrases ! " ' 
 
 " But Endre has such a beautiful voice," interposed 
 Minka somewhat hesitatingly ; " when he is out at 
 parties, they always press him to . . . ." 
 
 " Pshaw ! these drawing-room talents that force 
 themselves into publicity — I have known enough of 
 them ! Formerly all fools and good-for-nothings , 
 
 went to sea ; but now they go in for art '/ 
 
 Endre has always gone about blowing his own' 
 trumpet, till he believes himself to be a personage 
 of importance. And now he is going to amuse 
 himself by disgracing his family." 
 
 " I don't see how there can be any disgrace in 
 using one's own talents, father," hazarded Minka 
 vehemently. 
 
 The doctor turned angrily round to his wife : 
 
 " It seems as if they had all taken leave of reality 
 altogether. Disgrace .... disgrace .... what 
 does it signify .' Minka sits there and does not 
 know, God help her, what it means .... disgrace! 
 Mad ideas are very catching in a house, Bente ! I 
 have been reckoning that Endre, up to the present 
 time, has used two years and a half to each of his 
 freaks — what is it I call them ? " — he stopped and 
 lifted his arm with a stately gesture — "of each of 
 his great aims of life. Of course, nothing less than 
 
 aims of his life Well — he shall at any rate 
 
 have a plain answer. The whole thing is very 
 
lo NIOBE 
 
 simple. Sing away for all I care, Mr. Endre — but, 
 not one penny !".... 
 H The study door slammed after him. 
 
 Everything went wrong that day. No sooner were 
 the lamps lighted, than Kjel, the doctor's second 
 and favourite son, came strolling in from the autumn 
 rain and slush, with a cigar stump in his mouth. 
 
 He kept his top coat still buttoned up, and paced 
 to and fro, deeply absorbed in thought, and petu- 
 lantly chewing the end of his cigar. His appearance 
 and manners were those of the smart business man. 
 
 After a turn or two round the room, he finished 
 up his deliberations by throwing his cigar stump into 
 the fire. 
 
 " A fellow is rather loth to trouble his father .... 
 but there is no other way out of it, if I am not 
 literally to throw money into the sea," he ex- 
 claimed. " You must help me, father, by putting 
 your name to a bill for six hundred crowns." 
 
 Only a creak was heard from the arm-chair. 
 
 " I have ordered seventy loads of timber for 
 sawing at the mill." 
 
 " Of course, of course — when one does business in 
 such a wholesale way " 
 
 " Well, the saw-mill cannot possibly be kept 
 standing, so that the good people in the district may 
 get the idea that I am in want of both capital and 
 custom — and all the timber for sawing goes down to 
 
NIOBE II 
 
 Johansen's mill — just at the time — the critical 
 moment, so to speak, when the business should show 
 that we can stand the competition." 
 
 No answer came, so Kjel felt the necessity of 
 filling up the pause. 
 
 " That confounded Johansen ! that he should think 
 of starting just in the same hne of business. If 
 one begins making reels, for instance, all the others 
 are sure to follow. I ought to have bought that 
 little waterfall of his at the time ; but then I had no 
 money. I saw it, of course, but would not press 
 you for more." 
 
 The unpleasant silence continued. 
 
 " Well, you have security for your money in the 
 timber, or rather in the planks and deals, so I have 
 no scruples in asking you, for once, to back a bill for 
 me — but — ," he paced up and down the room with 
 a superior air ; " I do not like it. Besides you have 
 already advanced me money for the mill .... 
 although, of course, you have security for it. — But — 
 if you should be willing to do your second offspring 
 the favour, — otherwise I must go somewhere else and 
 get it somehow. — I could, of course, manage " 
 
 " It is very kind of you, Kjel, to think of your 
 father on such an occasion," the voice from the 
 table replied dryly. Behind the green lamp shade 
 could be seen the doctor's grey hair and, now and 
 then, a glimpse of the gold spectacles over the sharp 
 nose. 
 
12 NIOBE 
 
 " Well, well, father, — I must see about helping 
 myself, I suppose." 
 
 " I am not going to back any bills,— no one shall 
 see my name on such papers." 
 
 " Good Heavens, my dear father, no one is forcing 
 you to do it." 
 
 " You got me to invest most of the little I have in 
 your mill. It was the only way to get you started. 
 You could not get on, you said, until you had 
 something you could manage yourself. .... But 
 then, you must know, there can be no question of 
 my finding any capital for carrying on the business." 
 
 " But, my dear, dear father, — " here Kjel patted 
 the doctor lovingly on the shoulder, — " that is the 
 reason I mentioned it quite casually to you — in case 
 it were .possible, you see — for the space of three 
 months .... but had I thought it would in any 
 
 way affect your good temper, then . So we 
 
 won't talk about it Let it be as if it were 
 
 unsaid, my dear father. You know I can manage 
 six hundred crowns. I wish to goodness I had 
 never spoken about it to you. Let it be forgotten, 
 won't you ^ " added Kjel, preparing to go. 
 
 " But Kjel, why can't you close the mill for that 
 time ? " 
 
 Kjel went on buttoning up his coat and adjusting 
 the collar. 
 
 " You don't follow the times, father — " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed the doctor jumping up ex- 
 
NIOBE 13 
 
 citedly. "Are you also going to begin with 
 that ? " 
 
 " Well, as a doctor you may be a very clever 
 man. But as for business ; — no, that's a different 
 thing ! — For instance you have no idea of what 
 puffing means nowadays. You would go and 
 build a saw-mill and let it stand idle. That might 
 have done in former days. But now, in the midst 
 of the struggle and competition with Johansen, to 
 
 close the mill into the bargain. Yes, indeed, and 
 
 then Johansen's mill would be the only one at work 
 within a dozen miles. That would indeed be a fine 
 stroke of business ! . . . . No, father — you have got 
 to advertise yourself — you have to understand that 
 and know how to make the most of it ; you have at 
 times to throw dust in people's eyes. Well, here, 
 fortunately, it does not cost anything, so it is hardly 
 worth discussing." 
 
 " H'm, you are not going into the parlour, I 
 see " 
 
 " No, I have an invitation to Simonsen's to-night, 
 to play cards." 
 
 " The cashier's .' " 
 
 "Yes, — and there I'll get what I want without 
 any ado, if only he has got it," said Kjel in an off- 
 hand way. 
 
 The doctor stretched out his hand towards the 
 lamp and lifted the shade. 
 
 " Now listen, Kjel — if I authorise you to take the 
 
r4 NIOBE 
 
 six hundred crowns out of your mother's savingSr 
 
 bank account I only say, if I did that — 
 
 are you sure, I can have the money back here," said 
 the doctor bringing his hand down with force on the 
 table, " in three, no, let us say for safety in four 
 months, that will be in March ? . . . . Do you think, 
 — are you quite sure, that you can do that, my boy ; 
 quite sure and certain ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ; the mill might by that time be 
 washed away by the iloods, or be burnt down — or 
 the world might have come to an end or something 
 of that sort," he answered peevishly. 
 
 " Well, well, you shall have my authority to draw 
 out the amount for this time only. But there must 
 be no more of that sort of thing, you understand, 
 however plausible matters may appear." 
 
 The doctor remained seated in thought, while 
 the son walked to and fro in front of the writing 
 table. 
 
 " It's just as well I need not trouble Simonsen 
 about any loan ; in fact, it's quite a relief, father. 
 One can finger one's hand at cards so much more 
 freely, eh father 1 ha, ha, ha ! " laughed Kjel, 
 feeling greatly relieved ; — " they cheated Johansen 
 last autumn, anyhow, over at least thirty dozen of 
 timber — a case of dry-rot, every blessed stick of 
 them. And now — ha, ha, ha ! — the stacks of deals 
 are standing down there at the mill like a pile of 
 bleached bones. He believes everything you tell 
 
NIOBE IS 
 
 him. And my hopes partly rest on that ; in fact, I 
 am counting on it. — That's what we call profitable 
 items, father." 
 
 The doctor lay back in his chair, stretching his 
 legs and his hands buried in his pockets, — conscious 
 of a certain pleasurable feeling of admiration for his 
 son. 
 
 " If it were a smart rival I had to compete with, 
 then .... ha, ha, ha ! I wonder if he could be 
 prevailed upon to take some more of that same dry 
 stuff. It's all competition, father. A fellow has 
 to be hard-hearted, if he is going to become a self- 
 made man nowadays. So," he added with a nod 
 from the doorway, "you stumped up after all, old 
 
 man Good night, father, and don't sit and 
 
 worry any more about money matters ! " 
 
 At supper every one felt somewhat depressed. 
 
 The doctor, cutting away at his beefsteak, sat 
 deeply buried in thought. He. expected to be called 
 out in the course of the night to a patient, and was, 
 therefore, fortifying himself with an extra hot dish. 
 Minka still seemed to be in an offended mood, and 
 sat with her eyes on the table cloth, playing with 
 her serviette ; this evening it was her youngest sister 
 Berthea's turn to hand round the tea-cups as her 
 mother filled them. The twelve-year old Arnt was 
 eating away, his mouth cram full, and looking along 
 the table at his father, while Massy, cross and 
 
l6 NIOBE 
 
 petulant, was making some opposition against having 
 her serviette tied round her neck. 
 
 Schulteiss, the children's tutor, who was of a 
 sensitive disposition, felt acutely the strained state of 
 things around him. He was hunch-backed, and as 
 he let his head sink into his chest, the deformed 
 shoulder rose higher and higher. 
 
 While thus coiled up in himself and his own 
 thoughts, he could not resist stealing a glance at 
 Mrs. Borvig. Her face was clouded and overcast, 
 and she seemed on the point of tears all the 
 
 time It struck him that she must have had 
 
 curly hair when she was young, for to-night a glossy, 
 obstinate curl had wriggled itself astray on her fore- 
 head. Perhaps it was there at other times also, but 
 this evening. .... 
 
 There was something strange about her every 
 time she glanced at the doctor to see that he wanted 
 
 nothing " No, it is the cheese your father 
 
 wants, Minka. — Get your father a clean plate, Massy 
 dear." 
 
 There's something in the air ... . there's some- 
 thing in the air, thought Schulteiss. 
 
 The doctor beckoned impatiently with his knife 
 for the butter, and absent-mindedly helped himself 
 twice to cheese. 
 
 For a moment the situation changed for the 
 better, when the doctor sent to the kitchen to know 
 if any message had come. 
 
NIOBE 17 
 
 Perhaps it was one of his patients, who had put 
 the doctor in such a bad humour ? That was hardly 
 possible ; he had been down to Kalntes yesterday 
 about this very same case 
 
 Schulteiss began looking stealthily, but more and 
 more anxiously at Minka. She appeared so strangely 
 depressed and absorbed. 
 
 He became lost in all kinds of conjectures. 
 
 Could there have been anything by the post to- 
 day which concerned her ? 
 
 Schulteiss became still more wrapped up in 
 
 thought Was there anything her father had 
 
 proposed, which she did not like, or anything she 
 wanted which her father objected to ... . the 
 mother was so upset. 
 
 A love letter ? . . . . the thought went like light- 
 ning through his brain ; he broke out in a perspiration, 
 and rubbed his clammy hands on his serviette. He 
 had long been trying to find out how she managed 
 to send letters secretly up to town 
 
 He shot hasty anxious side glances at her — the 
 room seemed to become darker, and to swim before 
 his eyes, while at one moment Minka's face seemed 
 far away, and then again close to him 
 
 It must be a proposal ! 
 
 He began to tremble, quite overcome with excite- 
 ment. 
 
 To such a young, innocent girl Of course 
 
 the father was right in not thrusting her into the 
 
 B 
 
l8 NIOBE 
 
 arms of the first-comer, to whom in her great inex- 
 perience she might take a fancy. — Mrs. Borvig must 
 be brought to see this 
 
 Should he speak ? Should he, with tears, 
 
 confide to the doctor — and his wife, how extra- 
 ordinarily gifted she was, quite an exceptional char- 
 acter; that she was still the heavy dreaming bud, 
 completely unconscious of her own splendid endow- 
 ments .' — — He would implore them not to 'let 
 any premature reality break or crush them before 
 they had been allowed to develop 
 
 He became lost in wild speculations, and could 
 not remember how he got away from the table, or 
 how, as was his custom, he found his way to the 
 corner in the sitting-room, just behind the piano. 
 Here he would bury himself, and with his head 
 leaning against the wall, feast his eyes on Minka, 
 who, in return, regarded him as her secret audience, 
 whose admiration she was always sure to gain by 
 her expressive and spirited performance. 
 
 The doctor, as usual, disappeared into his study. 
 
 He stood with the lamp in his hand, in front of 
 the bookcase, searching for a volume, and did not 
 turn round, when his wife and the servant entered 
 bringing his coat and things for the journey. 
 
 " As I have said," he remarked curtly, as soon as 
 he had found his book and seated himself — " not a 
 penny. — I shall write and tell him to-morrow." 
 
 -Mrs. Borvig remained standing awhile, as if she 
 
NIOBE 19 
 
 needed time to collect herself after her late agita- 
 tion. 
 
 " That is not my opinion, Borvig ; I am his 
 mother, and have also a right to a voice in the 
 matter. I am not at all prepared, I tell you, to 
 take that responsibility upon myself. I have seen 
 him before me the whole of the day, walking about 
 angry and bitter in his heart against us, and 
 
 perhaps with some justice I tell you, I 
 
 cannot bear it ! " 
 
 "Tell the girl to take away my things .... 
 
 tell her to take them away I don't know 
 
 why I should rush and tramp about, and slave, and 
 go out at night in slush, and frost, and darkness, so 
 that he can sing away the money. After this I 
 shall only continue with my day practice." .... 
 
 " Is it right to go onAn this way, when we have 
 such a serious matter before us .' . . . . From your 
 point of view it is hard for you, I understand that 
 well enough. But I don't suppose you want to cut 
 off all bonds between us and the boy." 
 
 " Yes, yes — as if he were proud flesh, Bente. 
 
 .... That is the only way It is a case 
 
 of mortification having set in — silly hollow conceit 
 — and it must be operated upon — he must be 
 brought face to face with necessity 1 " 
 
 " You must think it over, Borvig," said his wife, 
 in a tone which made him feel uncomfortable. " I 
 am his mother — and I am afraid you would be 
 
20 NIQBE 
 
 operating upon me as well — ^you would be cutting 
 away more than the boy." 
 
 " You are going quite mad, Bente." 
 
 " I will tell you at once, Borvig, that I have 
 made up my mind. Endre is not going to be left 
 to himself. .... I will go straight to him, if 
 necessary ! I have money in the bank, as you 
 know." 
 
 '-'Now, now, now, Bente .... be calm .... 
 just look at things for a moment .... and " — 
 he sprang up from his chair — " I believe, by Jove, 
 you want to frighten me — to point a pistol at my 
 
 breast No, no, Bente — come here and let 
 
 us talk — you are quite overstrung, hot, flushed." .... 
 He sprang up again, and struck. the table. "My 
 God ! what a rascal of a boy. I believe he will end 
 
 by taking Kis mother from me, • — and this is 
 
 the way they press money out of me," he added 
 bitterly. " Well, well, Bente, go his errands." 
 
 " I go no one's errands — I only do what has to 
 
 be done, to preserve peace in the house The 
 
 five thousand crowns my brother left me — I suppose 
 I can dispose of them as I like — two thousand can 
 go for his training." 
 
 "Your five thousand in the savings bank?" 
 The doctor sat silent for a moment, his face darken- 
 ing with anger. — " By all means, by all means, you 
 
 shall have them," he said coldly " I am 
 
 almost afraid I have made free to-day with your 
 
NIOBE 21 
 
 money. I lent Kjel five hundred out of it ... . 
 but I can assure you, on my honour, I have full 
 guarantee that the sum will be repaid in March — 
 the money will then lie promptly here on the table 
 at your disposal. . . . Only I want to have nothing 
 more to do with your money — or with any remit- 
 tances to our son — the singer." 
 
 " Don't show such pettiness, Borvig. Have I, at 
 any time, even so much as mentioned that money .' 
 .... But only tell me, is there any other way out 
 of it } Or do you mean to say it will be of any 
 use to drive Endre back to what he has once given 
 up } That, at all events, is sure to lead to 
 nothing." 
 
 "You let that boy run away with you, Bente," 
 he interrupted flippantly ; " you are quite, quite blind 
 to all his follies." He leant back in his chair and 
 looked at the ceiling. 
 
 A hot flush overspread Mrs. Borvig's features. . . . 
 " Have I at any time objected, with as much as a 
 word, to your putting money into Kjel's mill > " she 
 asked, passionately. 
 
 " What — Kjel i" — are you going to bring him into 
 the question ? . . . That's another matter. Kjel 
 understands his business ; he is quite cut out for it 
 — seems to be made for it. And I don't suffer from 
 any blindness in that quarter." 
 
 " I am not so sure about that, Borvig. First, 
 with much difficulty, we got him to go in for farm- 
 
22 NIOBE 
 
 ing. But I never saw him as much as touch a 
 spade with his own hand — not even a garden 
 spade." 
 
 " No, of course not ; he wasn't made for that." 
 
 " Do you remember the grand calculations and 
 plans he went about with when he wanted to take 
 over Rognerud Farm without any capital i' — He 
 only thought of riches and luxury ! . . . . Now we 
 have seen how that would have ended ; I felt quite 
 happy when he bought this saw-mill with our savings 
 and got out of that business." 
 
 " Ah — that was Kjel's way of sowing /us wild 
 oats — all those calculations ! . . . . His one idea is 
 to get on in the world. — No, he is the very opposite 
 to Endre — he wants to make money, not to waste it. 
 .... And now I think the only thing to be done 
 is to get Master Endre back to something like a 
 sober state of mind." 
 
 " The only thing we have to do, Borvig," said his 
 wife with a determined look, showing that her mind 
 was made up, "is to help him. Besides, I do not 
 think you quite understand what a real singer is. 
 It is not a strolling minstrel that Endre wants to 
 be." 
 
 " No, by Heavens, with the best will in the world 
 I cannot get rid of that thought. . . . But of course 
 you have the money — dispose of it by all means for 
 his edification." 
 
 At this moment he heard the sound of sledge 
 
NIOBB 23 
 
 bells outside, and as he rose to depart his wife went 
 up to him to help him on with his fur coat. 
 
 " Well, Borvig, you may think as you like, but 
 these two thousand crowns I must have — to do as I 
 like with for Endre. I cannot bear the thought that 
 he should slip away from us. I should have no 
 peace of mind ! " she criedj greatly distressed. 
 
 " I have told you you shall have them, Bente. . . ." 
 
 He waived her abruptly aside as she offered to 
 help him on with his coat. 
 
 " You know well enough I have never thought of 
 that money, Borvig — nor troubled myself about 
 what you decided to do with it. . . . No, let me tie 
 your scarf a little tighter . . <, . it is you who work 
 for us all ... . and Endre has made things very 
 difficult for you with his constant changes and dis- 
 appointments. ... I don't wonder you are getting 
 tired of it after all, poor dear. . . . But " — here the 
 little, slight figure raised itself on tiptoe to pull up 
 the fur collar over his scarf — " but then you love the 
 children no less than I. . . . And when we nmsf, 
 well then " 
 
 " When /" must, then .' " he thundered. 
 
 She started back a little, and looked at him. 
 
 "Yes, I understand," he exclaimed in a bitter 
 tone, walking hastily towards the door in his heavy 
 top boots, " I must help him to what will end in his 
 ruin .... quite against my own conviction. . . . 
 But, Bente," he added, sternly, turning round at the 
 
24 NIOBE 
 
 door, while she took up the lamp to light his way, 
 "that letter to-morrow, with the liberal encourage- 
 ment to the singer, you must be good enough to 
 indite yourself. — I am afraid I should take away his 
 belief in himself in language not over polite," he 
 finished, as he passed out of the front door into the 
 darkness. 
 
II 
 
 The snowflakes fell closely and heavily against the 
 schoolroom window panes at the doctor's at Elvsaet. 
 
 It was a grey morning, and it was scarcely 
 possible to distinguish the wooded hills on the other 
 side of the river. 
 
 The pupils sat round the long table, divided into 
 three classes. Nearest to the wall could be seen the 
 auburn shock of hair belonging to Minka, — a girl of 
 seventeen or eighteen — who was deep in a German 
 exercise, a German reader, dictionary, and a couple 
 of other books being piled up like a fence between 
 her and her sister Berthea, a thin, slight girl, who 
 was busy gnawing the end of a slate pencil, and who 
 represented the second class. 
 
 The lowest and more numerous third class con- 
 sisted of the doctor's youngest children and some of 
 the neighbours' sons. 
 
 " Now then," said the little hunch-backed tutor, 
 shouldering the ruler and placing himself in position, 
 " now then, Arnt, what was the name of the king 
 whom the Danish women ransomed with their jewels 
 from his prison in Wendland ? " 
 
26 NIOBE 
 
 " Sweyn — Sweyn Forkbeard." 
 
 " Pshaw ! does not your natural instinct of beauty 
 tell you that such a king was not likely to be called 
 Fork -beard — For-k -beard ! " 
 
 Schulteiss drew himself up, gave a side glance at 
 Minka and continued : " It must have been a man 
 who could fire the imagination of woman." 
 
 He walked to and fro with half-closed eyes and 
 the lofty air of a seer, which was an indication that 
 he was about to enter upon one of those grandilo- 
 quent lectures, of which the third class understood 
 nothing, but that to-day there would be some fun and 
 they would escape all further hearing of their lessons. 
 
 " Rather a man with handsome features, through 
 which shone a master mind. Sharp, severe eyes, 
 which could suddenly become fascinating," he looked 
 majestically around him, " a fine intelligent head 
 upon a pair of broad shoulders." 
 
 Minka and Berthea exchanged glances. 
 
 " Well then, they sacrificed their jewels 
 
 Did they repent it .' " 
 
 " There is nothing about that in the book, Mr. 
 Schulteiss." 
 
 " I ask, if you think they repented it ; I address 
 myself to your undeveloped intellect. Do you think 
 for instance, your sister Minka would have repented 
 it, if she had given her beautiful brooch ? " 
 
 Minka bridled up as if she thought the comparison 
 rather personal. 
 
NIOBE 27 
 
 " It would depend what sort of a king he was," 
 put in Berthea, much interested. 
 
 " Allow me to inform Berthea, that without that 
 patriotic act of sacrifice a noble deed would have 
 been lost to history — a glorious deed." 
 
 " Anyhow I shouldn't give up my brooch to Peter 
 nobody-knows-who," she retorted. 
 
 " If he had had a hunch like a dromedary " . . . . 
 whispered Ole the sheriff's son, with dilated eyes, 
 ready to burst out laughing. 
 
 " In the meantime,— -what's that noise over there ? 
 It was about the position of woman in former times 
 here in the north, that I was speaking. This about 
 the jewels showed one characteristic — that of enthu- 
 siastic devotion — then I mentioned Olaf Trygvason's 
 queen, Thyra, who sat below deck and wept, when 
 Olaf fell in the battle of Svolder, and who died of a 
 broken heart." 
 
 " She might have helped to finish off a few of the 
 enemy,- instead of sitting down and howling," said 
 Arnt. 
 
 " It reveals another trait in her ; depth of emo- 
 tion," continued Schulteiss, quietly disregarding the 
 remark, "depth of emotion." 
 
 " I read lately about a dog, which died on its 
 master's grave," Minka thought fit to remark from 
 the depth of her studies. 
 
 " Quite right," he replied with a complaisant bend 
 of the head, " we are now coming to the more inter- 
 
28 NIOBE 
 
 esting emotions — Sigrid the haughty ! . . . . The 
 battle of Svolder was her- political work, her 
 revenge, which she had pondered over for days and 
 nights, and which she most artfully and ingeniously 
 carried into effect — all because King Olaf had 
 deceived her. Here we have the individuality of 
 woman at its best. The man who offends her pride 
 and her love she kills — she kills 1 " 
 
 He shrieked the last words in such a high voice, 
 that it almost cracked. 
 
 Berthea bent her head and giggled in her girlish 
 way, giving her nose a twitch, a trick at which she 
 was an adept, and stealing furtive glances at Minka. 
 
 Minka straightened herself with a jerk, her mind 
 apparently quite differently engrossed, and set to 
 work at her exercise with renewed zeal. This matter 
 did not concern her. 
 
 With a peculiar, quiet smile of satisfaction and a 
 somewhat defiant look, Schulteiss again resumed his 
 lecture, addressing himself to the third class, which, 
 however, seemed to be quite unimpressed with its 
 contents. 
 
 " We find woman then, in her true character, when 
 she appears in a different rdle to that of the house- 
 wife or the spinner at the wheel. She is filled with 
 the great desires of life : love, the wish to rule and 
 govern outside her own little domestic circle, the 
 claim also to call man to account and demand her 
 rights from him, to whom she can no longer blindly 
 
NIOBE 29 
 
 and submissively give herself up ; with whom she 
 shall share interests, development and growth. Such 
 women also demand that they should retain their 
 own name, that it should not become lost by their 
 marriage. . . . She, to whom I referred, will for 
 ever be called Sigrid the haughty. I can almost 
 describe her appearance. . . . Rich, auburn hair," 
 he glanced at Minka's abundant tresses, "a strongly 
 marked face with the family likeness — something 
 
 like — hem — like Mrs. Bente and with dreamy 
 
 eyes . . . ," he muttered absently. 
 
 " I must ask you, Mr. Schulteiss, to leave mother 
 out of these comparisons," interrupted Minka sharply. 
 " Besides, outside the family, she is generally called 
 Mrs. Borvig." 
 
 " Figure and stature as entirely different as a 
 great and powerful one from a small and delicate. 
 An unusually strongly built, firm neck, and splendid 
 shoulders — but when young, Sigrid the haughty was 
 in appearance a tall, erect, fair and capricious girl 
 with wild eyes." 
 
 " I suppose you mean that nobody would have 
 been able to get her to sit and write German exer- 
 cises," snapped the incorrigible Berthea. She had 
 long been noticing Schulteiss' weakness for getting 
 her sister interested in the subject. 
 
 " This woman possessed the indomitable uncon- 
 querable nature, which the world has never been able 
 to subdue. There was a maidenly haughtiness about 
 
30 NIOBE 
 
 her person, which brought kings to compete for her 
 favour, while she rejected them and drowned them in 
 her vats of mead like flies. .... Then came Olaf 
 Trygvason, the handsomest and proudest man in 
 Norway ; he had ascended the Smaltserhorn." 
 
 Schulteiss stretched his neck, gazing upwards as if 
 he saw the well-known peak itself. 
 
 " Him she loved, and to him she would give her- 
 self. And when he thereupon rejected her, and in his 
 fanaticism struck her in the face with his glove, and 
 called her a heathen jade, because she would not 
 change her faith, one desire — one alone — possessed 
 
 her soul — to kill him And this came to pass 
 
 at the battle of Svolder, where Queen Thyra sat below 
 deck, with no thoughts of her distaff 1 " 
 , " The King had to change his sword, for his own 
 was quite jagged," Ole enlightened him. 
 
 " Yes, and then he jumped overboard ; he would 
 not be defeated," protested Arnt. 
 
 " I think it is generally admitted," resumed 
 Schulteiss with a glance at Minka, " that these two 
 women were personalities of the highest rank, each 
 perfect in her way. The one was the brave and 
 faithful queen, the ideal of the domestic hearth — 
 the other was the forerunner — the forerunner — " he 
 suddenly raised his voice and beat the air with 
 his ruler, as Minka, in a fit of abstraction, looked at 
 him — " of the liberated womankind, who fight for 
 their individuality in our time ! " 
 
NIOBE 31 
 
 He felt greatly tempted to turn round and address 
 himself to Minka, but roused himself with an effort, 
 and began, with a severe expression, to examine the 
 children : 
 
 " What do you know about Gyda, Arnt ? " 
 
 " She proposed — no, Harold the Fair-haired pro- 
 posed to her. But she said that if he came again 
 and proposed to her, before he had conquered the 
 whole of Norway, then " 
 
 " H'm, h'm — you see — the ladies were not so 
 over modest in those days either," remarked Schulteiss 
 slyly, with half-closed eyes. " A personality," here 
 he looked fixedly at Minka, " conquers the kingdom 
 .... and from that standpoint one looks down 
 with infinite contempt upon the insignificant 
 persons far below — the myriads with their cringing 
 bent backs " 
 
 There was a titter among the boys. 
 
 " Harold the Fair-haired had a regular swarm of 
 wives and children," cried Ole. 
 
 "And still he was only twelve years old," interrupted 
 Arnt. 
 
 " Solomon had more ; he had seventy-two," broke 
 in Tor, the son of the parish clerk. 
 
 " I might here remark,"' said Schulteiss sarcasti- 
 cally, " that with the exception of the before men- 
 tioned Gyda, and his later queen, Ragna from 
 Jutland, they were all women of no character what- 
 ever Whether there be one or a dozen 
 
32 NIOBE 
 
 spinning-wheels it matters little in this case. In 
 the course of time we have learnt how to restrict 
 ourselves to only one — virtually from economic 
 
 considerations It has even been poetically 
 
 exalted with the beautiful name of ' Freya's spinning 
 wheel.' Certainly something for a young lady in our 
 times to direct her longings and dreams to." 
 
 His look during the last sentences was unmistake- 
 ably directed at Minka, who sat absent-mindedly 
 playing with her pen, her thoughts anywhere but on 
 her exercise. 
 
 " Doesn't he feel proud of himself and think he is 
 a grand speaker ! " whispered Berthea with a con- 
 tortion of her flexible nose-tip "And see, 
 
 now he is trying to make himself look dignified." 
 
 " Be quiet, will you ; he'll see you are making fun 
 of him," chided Minka. 
 
 Schulteiss strutted thoughtfully up and down the 
 room, staring at his feet, the shape of which he 
 particularly prided himself upon. He placed them 
 precisely and elegantly before him step for step, and 
 at each turn he made a deep bend of the knees, 
 answering to the amount of mental work he was 
 engaged upon. 
 
 He became more and more excited, the turnings 
 more and more hurried, and the bends with the 
 knees more and more pronounced. 
 
 Suddenly he stopped with a beaming self-confident 
 smile. 
 
NIOBE 33 
 
 " ' The history of the spinning-wheel ' . . . . that 
 is the title of a work I intend to write — in several 
 volumes. What has there not been spun out of the 
 spinning-wheel ? . . . , The men have gone through 
 the thread-loop like dots of wool. That is to say, 
 h'm," he threw his head back and exclaimed with 
 an air of superiority, "all this about woman in 
 the romantic light, I'll leave to all the petty 
 scribblers in the world .... I, I — " he burst out 
 passionately till his voice almost approached a 
 squeak, " I will light a fireband, — show up the slave, 
 who is being bought, and sold ; who is chained to the 
 spinning wheel. And then. Miss Minka," he stopped 
 and looked solemnly yet slyly at her, as if to a con- 
 federate, " then begins the struggle for liberty. But 
 first — first the history of the injury which has been 
 
 done to her; her deep fall A highly complicated 
 
 and delicate subject, which only a genius with the 
 most penetrating psychological mind will be able to 
 unravel — to expose in all its details. Such a man 
 must know the womanly heart to the core, to the 
 core! . . . ." 
 
 At this moment Arnt snatched at Schulteiss' 
 handkerchief, which was sticking out of his coat-tail 
 pocket. 
 
 " But when my pen is once let loose," he shouted, 
 waving and flourishing his right arm, so that his bare 
 bony wrist could be seen far out of his sleeve, " I 
 will make some revelations — ah ! some revelations." 
 
 c 
 
34 NIOBE 
 
 Arnt just then succeeded in partly pulling out the 
 handkerchief which hung down like a tail. 
 
 " I will lay bare all her weapons — the whole of 
 the arsenal ! . . . . Step by step will I follow up 
 her wretched path and prove how this constant 
 hidden struggle of self-defence and intrigue against 
 man — the lord of creation — has turned her innermost 
 holiest feelings into sharply-pointed, poisoned 
 weapons, into the most wily allurements, and made 
 her a master of all treacherous snares, and perfected 
 her in deceit and duplicity — reduced her hate and 
 her love to that of the narrow-minded, faithless, 
 crafty bondswoman. Yes, I maintain, changed her 
 nature entirely, to the very core of her heart . . . ." 
 He shot a iiery glance at Minka. 
 
 " She plays and coquettes with man as egotistically, 
 dispassionately and blood thirstily as the cat with the 
 
 mouse She — she — she-e," he continued, 
 
 with a bland smile, " she sits bewitchingly by the 
 trap, flattering and enticing — and when the fool has 
 jumped into it," he accompanied this with a con- 
 temptuous "kick, " he gives his life, a whole world of 
 emotions — ; " his large pale lips began to quiver. 
 " She weeps — her tears are irresistible and heart- 
 rending." 
 
 He paced hastily up and down the room, while 
 the handkerchief wagged to and fro behind him. 
 . . . . " She has been turned into the great impostor 
 of the world .... a low, satanic instinct, whose 
 
NIOBE 35 
 
 passion it is to allure .... a dangerous, I say, a 
 dangerous, venomous, creeping thing, sparkling with 
 a thousand seductive colours " 
 
 His voice suddenly changed and became fiendish 
 and sarcastic. " A creature, h'm, h'm — which — which 
 ought to be studied psychologically, and watched 
 over with the same distrust as a snake, which you 
 think you have tamed." 
 
 " Hee, hee, hee ! hee, hee ! hee, hee, hee ! — the 
 snake, look at the snake," laughed the children. 
 
 Ole had been busily attempting to drag the hand- 
 kerchief altogether out of the tutor's pocket with 
 the end of a switch. 
 
 Schulteiss assumed a straddling position and 
 began rocking backwards and forwards, his head 
 thrown back, and his half-closed eyes fixed on the 
 ceiling. 
 
 The " snake " was now hanging straight down, and 
 the children were all attentively watching if it would 
 move again. 
 
 " I have just revealed a terrible picture to you," 
 he said, taking a deep breath and turning towards 
 Minka. 
 
 Minka looked up at him from under her drooping 
 eyelids with an innocent, preoccupied air. — "What? 
 — I beg your pardon ! I am busy with my exercise, 
 Mr. Schulteiss." 
 
 A pallor suddenly overspread his features ; his 
 whole dignity seemed to shrivel up and disappear — 
 
36 NIOBE 
 
 there was only the fussy, nervous, little figure left ; 
 he coughed and with a stutter began : 
 
 " I had next .... I had next intended to 
 represent woman at that stage, when a keen sense 
 of her own dignity is awakened — her grand and noble 
 ■ struggle in our time and deep — deep " 
 
 " Hee, hee, hee, ee ! — the snake .... there lies 
 the snake ! " Here the boys burst out into a wild, 
 uncontrollable fit of laughter. 
 
 Schulteiss looked round bewildered, 
 
 " There — there, Mr. Schulteiss," .... exclaimed 
 Berthea pointing obligingly. 
 
 He hastily picked up the handkerchief, went 
 towards his books and passed somewhat flurriedly on 
 to another lesson. 
 
 " H'm — and now for some geography. The 
 Langfjeldene . . . ." 
 
 " You shut him up at last," whispered Berthea 
 exultantly to her sister. 
 
 Schulteiss nervously turned over the leaves of his 
 book. 
 
 Meanwhile the boys had attentively watched the 
 hands of the clock in the corner. 
 
 " It is ten minutes to twelve, Mr. Schulteiss," 
 remarked Arnt, artfully, " and we haven't got our 
 lessons set for next time yet." ' 
 
 " Ah, yes — in history you can take to the end of 
 the chapter." 
 
 " To the end of the chapter ? When we have not 
 
NIOBE 37 
 
 yet been heard the first part Shall we have 
 
 two lessons in the same hour ? " . ... grumbled 
 the boys, slyly trying to waste the few minutes that 
 were left. 
 
 As the fingers of the clock approached the stroke 
 of twelve, the sons of the parish clerk and the sheriff 
 jumped up with their bundle of books under their 
 arms. They were always so very particular about 
 the time, on account of the strict orders they made 
 out they had from home to be in time for dinner. 
 
 Massy, the doctor's youngest daughter, was at 
 Minka's side the next moment, and Berthea rushed 
 downstairs to be present when the boys tied on their 
 snow-shoes outside the front door, and to watch 
 them going down the hill behind the storehouse. 
 
 Schulteiss, with an air of indifference, began 
 collecting some books he had left on the table. 
 
 "You must excuse me for not quite finishing the 
 exercise to-day," said Minka, as she put her things 
 together, " but I really became quite absent-minded ; 
 you spoke with such vehemence." 
 
 " Oh, I am no Argus, I assure you ; I do not 
 attempt to supervise a pupil who has outgrown con- 
 trol," he exclaimed, hotly, his voice trembling with 
 emotion. 
 
 Minka stood as if she were thinking about some- 
 thing. 
 
 " Mr. Schulteiss," she began, cautiously, " do you 
 know anything about Miss Feiring ? " 
 
38 NIOBE 
 
 " Miss Thekla Feiring ? . . . Yes. ... I ac- 
 knowledge her, if nobody else will ; but this is 
 between ourselves — only between ourselves ! . . . 
 I have been told a thing or two about her. . . . 
 She is one of the ladies who write in T/ie Twentieth 
 Century, . . . one of the birds who twitter, unknown, 
 in the tree — quite anonymously." 
 
 "She is coming here to-day, Mr. Schulteiss," 
 eagerly confided Minka ; " she is on her way to 
 Judge Preus', where she is going to be governess. 
 Oh ! I am so excited ! " she cried, and rushed out 
 of the room. 
 
 Schulteiss stood for some time looking at the door 
 after it had closed upon her. 
 
 It was nearly four o'clock before the sledge bells 
 were heard outside, and Miss Feiring arrived. The 
 heavy fall of snow and the bad roads had delayed 
 her. During the ensuing bustle, while the doctor's 
 man was taking the horse out of the sledge, Schul- 
 teiss stood in the schoolroom, rubbing the frost from 
 the window pane, and looking out ; and Kjel, the 
 doctor's second son, rushed out, bareheaded, to 
 receive Miss Feiring. 
 
 As she entered the hall she looked like a snow- 
 covered road-post, deaf to all persuasions to enter 
 the parlour until she was divested of all her travel- 
 ling wraps, and had taken off the heavy hair socks 
 which enveloped her feet. 
 
 She was a slightly built girl, dressed in a fashion- 
 
NIOBE 39 
 
 able, tight-fitting, tailor-made jacket, trimmed round 
 the sleeves and at the bottom with fur. One of the 
 buttons at the back dangled loosely by a thread ; 
 and from the rich, silk-lined muff, which was 
 suspended from her neck, there came a strong odour 
 of perfumery. 
 
 Together with the rumpled handkerchief could be 
 seen something which resembled the yellow cover 
 of a magazine. 
 
 Kjel felt her searchingly scanning his thick 
 winter jacket, and the loose, country-made trousers, 
 which were tucked into a pair of high top-boots. 
 
 How provoking, that he should be obliged to 
 present himself thus to the fashionable town-lady ! 
 
 Quite unconcernedly, he began beating his jacket 
 and trousers with his hands, as if he were brushing 
 off snow. 
 
 " We wear regular country clothes in such 
 weather. Miss Feiring, for wading through the snow- 
 drifts." 
 
 She was not listening to him ; her small black 
 eyes were, with lively interest, following Minka, 
 who, with great care, was carrying the travelling 
 wraps into the dining-room, and spreading them 
 across two chairs to warm them. 
 
 " So you are Miss Minka .■' I did not imagine 
 you thus — a little paler," she remarked, as, with a 
 smile of greeting and a courteous bow, she entered 
 the sitting-room. 
 
40 NIOBE 
 
 She appeared to dispense with the usual formal- 
 ities ; she looked round silently, reserving her 
 opinions for herself. 
 
 " Well, at any rate, you have plenty of room out 
 here in the country," she said, in the midst of her 
 reflections. " One gets directly the impression of 
 having entered a better world when one finds people 
 burning birchwood instead of coals." 
 
 " But where did you get your idea of Minka .' " 
 asked Mrs. Borvig. 
 
 Miss Feiring looked at the young girl, with a 
 smile. 
 
 " I really seem to know her quite well. Your 
 son — the philologist — the philologist that was to be 
 — has told me so much about his sister. He under- 
 stands her so thoroughly." 
 
 Minka busied herself over at the stove, getting 
 redder and redder. 
 
 " So you know our son Eiidre — quite well ap- 
 parently," said Mrs. Borvig, feeling her way. 
 
 " Oh, yes, and what a gifted man he is ... . 
 how beautifully he sings. I have met him almost 
 every day for the last six months, with Figer, the 
 singer. When he is talking about singing — there is 
 no getting away, Mrs. Borvig ! Quite a revolution 
 has taken place in that art also— the impression 
 must be realistically, dramatically embodied in the 
 personality." 
 1 Mrs. Borvig looked nervously and uneasily 
 
NIOBB 41 
 
 towards the study door, where she every moment 
 expected her husband would appear. 
 
 " A duet by him and Figer — the one tenor, the 
 other bass — is a treat beyond all description, and 
 they are continually practising new things." 
 
 " Now, Miss Feiring, I am afraid your dinner is 
 getting cold," said Mrs. Borvig, inviting her to the 
 table. 
 
 "Thanks, thanks .... Figer and he are in- 
 separable — always to be seen together " 
 
 " But now you must really come and have some- 
 thing to eat, Miss Feiring." 
 
 " He is sure to become a great singer ! There is 
 something so noble and sincere about his disposition 
 that cannot be mistaken. I can assure you there are 
 many besides Figer who think the same " 
 
 While Miss Feiring was partaking of some of the 
 dishes which had been kept for her from dinner, 
 she went on discussing the same delicate subject 
 with the greatest zeal, in spite of all attempts to 
 divert the conversation. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of \is out here in the 
 country .-' " began Kjel, when his mother left the 
 room for a moment. 
 
 " I really thought you would have asked me 
 something about the fish-balls," she laughed. 
 " Meat-balls, I beg to say." 
 
 " Well, then, meat-balls ; it is the study of food 
 which is the most important subject in the country 
 
42 NIOBE 
 
 .... and thrushes en geUe " Here she gave 
 
 a sympathetic glance first at the dish, and then at 
 the door through which Mrs. Borvig had dis- 
 appeared. "When I think of all the toil and 
 trouble ! " she exclaimed, as with her fork she lifted 
 a thrush on to her plate. " In town we send to the 
 restaurants for a dish of this kind when we feel 
 inclined for it. That is all the thought and trouble 
 
 it gives us Ah ! " — and she turned from 
 
 Kjel to Minka — " I felt at once, when we came to 
 the first railway tunnel, that now we were rushing 
 into a cavern, where everything breathed of food 
 and cooking." 
 
 " A most agreeable feeling to have, Miss Feiring, 
 when coming into the country," suggested Kjel, in 
 a patronising manner, as he leant back in his 
 chair. 
 
 "And when, at the station, I was put straight 
 into the sledge and buried in a wolf-skin, I felt 
 swallowed up by it all. I dared not even touch 
 the skin at first — I thought it must be a real 
 wolf." 
 
 " Quite piquant," said Kjel, with a wink, pulling 
 from his waistcoat pocket a finely coloured meer- 
 schaum cigar-holder. 
 
 " It makes such a doomed one stupid, you know 
 .... all that grey snowstorm right in ,my face 
 from the mountains and the endless, dreary, white 
 river along which I was driving. At last I became 
 
NIOBE 43 
 
 SO pleasantly sleepy, and imagined that I was 
 snowed up and frozen to death — till I should wake 
 in heaven amongst my town acquaintances." 
 
 " Well, you mustn't get too exaggerated an idea 
 about the innocence of country life. Miss Feiring," 
 remarked Kjel. " Now and then we also get up a 
 
 little excitement I can tell you, that one of 
 
 our transactions in deals, which often runs into 
 thousands, acts quite like a tonic. I will not 
 mention the amounts ; they might make you dizzy. 
 
 Miss Feiring And with regard to one's life 
 
 and doings — that is to say, in private life — we are 
 really not so much behind the times, I can tell you. 
 
 And — as far as I'm concerned — unfortunately 
 
 .... well, one doesn't talk about that in one's 
 own family." 
 
 Minka stared at her brother. Her look betrayed 
 that, in her opinion, he was making both a prig and 
 a fool of himself. 
 
 " But, of course, you need not remain out here for 
 ever," said Minka to Miss Feiring, sympatheti- , 
 cally. I 
 
 " I assure you, I felt as if I was being suffocated, ' 
 and if I had not had the proof of a capital little I 
 article for T/ie Twentieth Century to read .... It \ 
 was like the last ray of sunshine from town, with 
 which to warm my frozen hands ! " I 
 
 She directed her discourse to Minka as the only 
 one who could possibly understand her. 
 
44 NIOBE 
 
 " It had such an attractive title," she remarked 
 lightly, and glanced carelessly out of the window, as 
 Mrs. Borvig came in. 
 
 " Can you guess it ? " 
 
 Minka turned pale and looked hurriedly round to 
 see who was in the room. 
 
 "'Woman's awakening.' . . . The editors were 
 quite agreed it ought to be published." 
 
 Minka stared at her, trembling, and all in a 
 perspiration. 
 
 "There was such a delicious spirit of revolt in it. 
 And then, all those excellent quotations from history. 
 . . . Many, many thanks, Mrs. Borvig. Just fancy 1 
 cakes and preserves as well. ... I assure you, if I 
 met the authoress I .should take her by the hand and 
 press it, just as I am now pressing yours. Miss Minka," 
 — here she stretched out her hand and pressed 
 Minka's, — " and would ask her to continue to write, 
 — to keep on sending more." 
 
 Something in the tone of the one, and the excited 
 look of the other, roused the attention of Mrs. Borvig, 
 who glanced searchingly and inquiringly at them 
 both. Then, as if trying to suppress something 
 painful, she exclaimed with a sigh : 
 
 '.' AK 1 that's not an easy task you have under- 
 taken — to educate and bring up two young girls, 
 Miss Feiring. ... A great responsibility, difficult 
 as the times have now become, both for parents and 
 children." 
 
NIOBE 45 
 
 Miss Feiring looked up with a gentle smile and a 
 little pout. 
 
 " When the parents are obliged to cling to the old 
 state of things as long as possible, it is often because 
 they feel that the new has not yet succeeded in 
 getting a firm and settled hold amongst us," con- 
 tinued Mrs. Borvig. 
 
 Miss Feiring directed an inquiring glance at the 
 little figure. Here undoubtedly was the true country 
 housewife, with her solid whys and wherefores for 
 her deeply rooted views of life. But she yielded 
 involuntarily to the firm, penetrating eyes. 
 
 " I suppose it's not such an easy thing," she said, 
 ingratiatingly. 
 
 " No, not at all easy. A mother has her great 
 troubles nowadays, I can assure you, Miss Feiring." 
 
 The doctor, who had been detained by patients in 
 his study, now hurriedly entered the room. 
 
 " How do you do, Miss Feiring .'' I hope they 
 are looking after you. You are going to Judge 
 Preus', I hear. ... A queer crank he is, I can tell 
 you." 
 
 " Indeed > An original .? I am so glad." 
 
 " He has one great idea. If you can only 
 thoroughly believe in that, and ask hitn all sorts of 
 questions about it, then you have conquered the 
 man." 
 
 " Really .? A man of ideas .? " 
 
 "That is to say, of one idea, and that with a 
 
46 NIOBE 
 
 vengeance. He believes in cremation, he quite raves 
 about it. We are going to have it introduced next 
 year. He has assured me of this all the eighteen 
 years I have lived here." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " Otherwise he is a good sort of a fellow, as old- 
 fashioned and conservative as can be ; but he does 
 not impose any restrictions. . . . He is always 
 troubled with a cough when he returns from the 
 town fogs, from all the pernicious opinions up there, 
 he says, and spends a whole week in expectorating 
 them all up." 
 
 " But I must really protest against the notion 
 that the air which is filled with ideas should be less 
 pure than one without any, Dr. Borvig." 
 
 "The odours are bad enough that ascend to us 
 from all the stuff you are using under your furnaces 
 — bad in every respect." 
 
 " There have, for instance, been interests awakened 
 for a world which has no fuel to burn," she remarked 
 severely — " a world which the people have now had 
 their eyes opened to — the proletariat." 
 
 " You mean the world that wants to throw the 
 whole of society on the fire," retorted the doctor, 
 sweepingly. 
 
 " If we are going to stick to logic, doctor " 
 
 she resumed bravely. 
 
 " Female logic — of course, of course," he interrupted 
 in a satirical tone, " that is well known, . . . but 
 
NIOBE 47 
 
 don't enter into any arguments with the judge about 
 mending the world. He is so terribly satisfied with 
 the old one, you understand. ... Of course, you 
 know there are people so fond of their old boots that 
 they would rather have them rpended a hundred 
 times than put on new ones. . . . He is just one of 
 them." 
 
 Miss Feiring's small, round, restless eyes reminded 
 one somewhat of those of a mouse, running back- 
 wards and forwards, searching for an outlet between 
 the wires of a trap. She was apparently uncertain 
 whether she should rest content with such a sportive 
 issue to the discussion, and continued her meal, 
 swallowing silently and slowly one bit after the 
 other, with an expression of reserve. 
 
 " You make me feel quite sick at heart, doctor," 
 she exclaimed to give vent to her feelings ; " I feel, 
 as if I were being transported to Munkholm,* or 
 some other island far away from the world. Not a 
 human being with whom to talk about .... about 
 .... all that takes place in the world .... I 
 shall only be cramming down German, English, 
 History and Geography — and as a proper governess 
 not contradict the master of the house. . . , To 
 speak the truth, doctor, is not this the position to 
 which your humble servant here is relegated .? " 
 
 " You know, Miss Feiring — it is no use for 
 Ministers of State to offer themselves as government 
 * A prison fortress on an island near Trondhjem. 
 
48 NIOBE 
 
 clerks. One can be unsaleable, because one is 
 too fine a piece of goods. ... It never does to 
 let one's intellectual aspirations go beyond one's 
 position." 
 
 "That is to say, the unjust laws of society are 
 now transporting me to my Siberia," she burst out. 
 
 Minka had become quite excited and greatly- 
 interested in the conversation ; she felt a stinging 
 sensation in her eyes. 
 
 Kjel sat in a state of revolt, . . . 
 
 There was his father walking about making him- 
 self witty at her expense ! . . . . He did not 
 ujiderstand that he was trampling on the most 
 delicate and refined nerves. . . . 
 
 He sprang suddenly from his chair : 
 
 "Well, father, .... according to your arguments, 
 I have no right to any intellectual aspirations, as 
 long as I make nothing ; but if to-morrow I make a 
 nice profit on my deals, then I have a right to 
 them. It is so narrow-minded and old-fashioned ; — 
 nowadays we have all intellectual aspirations, that's 
 my opinion. . . . 
 
 " Yes, all these aspirants to intellectuality ! " 
 muttered the doctor. " You yourself told .me some- 
 thing about having lately discharged a dissenter 
 from your sawmill, because he wanted to convert 
 his fellow workmen, instead of doing his work . . . 
 I believe you treated him with something to the 
 effect that his mind was too .superior for your mill." 
 
NIOBE 49 
 
 " Ah ! — a case like that — quite an exception — 
 quite different circumstances," said Kjel, dismissing 
 the subject with a toss of his head, as much as to 
 say, that his father was not well informed on the 
 matter. 
 
 Really a remarkable girl, to say the least, thought 
 Kjel to himself. . . . The mere way in which she 
 bends her head and speaks to people — such a 
 piquant smile of superiority. . . . Then again, that 
 little way she has, from mere habit, of leaving her 
 gloves in her lap while she eats. ... It is really 
 too bad that she should be doomed to slave at the 
 judge's ... he would have liked to tell her some- 
 thing about the great risks he had been running — 
 for instance, the time he drove across the river on 
 the half-inch thick ice, in order to pass Ring the 
 lawyer and be first at the auction at Kjestad, and 
 perhaps a little about the risky business he was now 
 engaged in, and how twice a day he went about in 
 fear and trembling, waiting for the postman, so that 
 they at home should not know anything about his 
 affairs. He did not wish to disturb the peace of the 
 household. 
 
 " Well, Miss Feiring," said the doctor, when they 
 had finished their coffee, " it is not from inhospitality 
 that I want to turn you out into the snowstorm, but 
 if you don't want to be too late, we ought to see 
 you into your wraps and packed in the sledge 
 again." 
 
50 NIOBE 
 
 " And then — ding-dong — off we go to Siberia," 
 said Miss Feiring good-humouredly, as she tendered 
 her thanks and began putting on her things. " I 
 can at least say I have halted at a pleasant 
 station on the way. The editor will take anything 
 -you write," she whispered, as she bent over Minka, 
 who was helping her on with her travelling socks ; 
 " we must try somehow to correspond with one 
 another." 
 
 As Miss Feiring, enveloped in her wraps, was 
 lighted out, Kjel, in his fur coat and whip in hand, 
 was waiting at the front door, through which the 
 snow came sweeping in. 
 
 "It is dark, and the roads near the river are 
 dangerous and slippery, so if you have no objection, 
 I think I had better drive you to the judge's — it is 
 only a dozen miles off." 
 
 "I call that most considerate and humane of you, 
 Mr. Borvig. I am really so terribly frightened at 
 the thought of it all," was the answer from among 
 the wraps. 
 
 " Ugh ! Am I to be buried again in all this .'" she 
 asked as, in the darkness outside, she was packed up 
 in the furs of the sledge. 
 
 The snow creaked under the runners of the 
 sledge. . . . She heard Kjel's reassuring whoa-a ! 
 as with a sure hand, and an occasional crack of his 
 whip, he manoeuvred the restive horse along the 
 slippery road. 
 
NIOBE SI 
 
 The jingling of bells was soon lost in the white 
 mist behind the storehouse. 
 
 The dining-room was now in darkness with the 
 exception of the gleam of light from the lamp in 
 the sitting-room. Both the chairs on which Miss 
 Feiring's wraps had been lying still stood by the 
 side of the stove. 
 
 Minka glided noiselessly about the room like a 
 shadow, so that no one should think of calling or 
 disturbing her. 
 
 It seemed as if she could retain the event of the 
 day as long as the chairs remained there untouched 
 .... so long was Miss Feiring still present, assuring 
 her that her article would be printed, and really 
 appear in The Twentieth Century with its heading 
 and all. 
 
 Under one of the chairs she caught a glimpse of 
 a little white object. 
 
 A cigarette ! a very fine one, no doubt 
 
 just under the place where Miss Feiring's muff had 
 been hanging. She put it hurriedly in her pocket. 
 Now she really had something tangible, that she 
 could cling to. 
 
 She roamed about uneasily, nursing her new born 
 happiness without being able to give vent to it. She 
 wondered now and then, as she was sitting with the 
 others at the supper table, at her own anonymous 
 greatness. 
 
52 NIOBE 
 
 I //■ they only knew If they only suspected, 
 
 I that she, who sat there, and was hardly able to 
 swallow her bread and butter, was among those who 
 I struck a blow in the cause of progress. 
 
 She felt almost as if she were a kind of secret 
 nitrd-glycerine or dynamite among them. She held 
 up her head in quite a proud, warlike mood, when 
 they were discussing Miss Feiring, and could quite 
 overlook whatever they might think fit to say about 
 her out here in the country 
 
 How Mr. Schulteiss would mope, if he knew it 
 
 After supper she sat down and played a triumphal 
 march and all sorts of fantastic bits. 
 
 Schulteiss took his place behind the piano. 
 
 She gazed and laughed at him with flashing eyes, 
 as he leant back against the music stand, arranging 
 the pose of his head so that the shadow of his profile 
 on the wall assumed a likeness to that of Napoleon. 
 
 Minka's mobile, changing countenance seemed to 
 be full of unutterable communications. 
 
 She lifted her head with dignity and became quite 
 
 imposing while Schulteiss, pale with emotion, 
 
 was carried away with ecstasy. 
 
 When he, as in a delirium, bowed good night, she 
 looked at him with a mysterious expression, as if she 
 
 had much to say His hand trembled on 
 
 the balustrade, as he mounted the stairs to his 
 room. 
 
 Later on in the night, after having assured herself 
 
NIOBE 53 
 
 that her sister slept, Minka put on a skirt, threw a 
 shawl around her, and left her bedroom. 
 
 And up in the attic she sat in the darkness, think- 
 ing and smoking, and enjoying herself quite in a 
 bohemian style as she thought, until she felt she 
 could stay there no longer. 
 
 It was long before Mrs. Borvig fell asleep 
 She awoke suddenly in great uneasiness and 
 anxiety. 
 
 As a doctor's wife she had become accustomed to 
 being disturbed at nights. It was seldom that she 
 did not get up through some fit. of anxiety or other, 
 when she would make a tour of inspection across the 
 big, cold drawing-room and upstairs to the children's 
 bedrooms. It might be to see if the little girls had 
 put out their light, or if Massy had kicked off the 
 clothes and lay coughing, or it might be to see if the 
 turpentine poultice round Arnt's neck had got dis- 
 placed ; if the .shoes and stockings were wet, and 
 had been left on the floor instead of taken down to 
 be dried ; or if any of the stoves were smoking. 
 
 On such occasions she would lie thinking out her 
 mode of procedure, how she could manage to get up, 
 light the candle and leave the room, without waken- 
 ing her husband ; who had returned home late, or 
 might be called out any time during- the night to 
 some patient. 
 
 She knew by experience what she might venture, 
 
54 NIOBE 
 
 according to the position in which he lay, or whether 
 he slept lightly or heavily. 
 
 She had studied his face as he lay by her side, 
 till she almost guessed his dreams — always such a 
 beautiful, placid expression, compared with the stormy 
 one she had to encounter when he was awake. 
 
 She would walk about in the large, yellow drawing- 
 room, when it was not too cold, and many a time she 
 had felt almost happy there — enjoying a rest, and 
 
 alone with her own thoughts But to-night 
 
 she started up as if from a bad dream. 
 
 Something had happened 
 
 What did all this between Minka and Miss Feiring 
 mean 1 . . . . 
 
 Some secret understanding between them — some- 
 thing that had to be concealed and kept from her 
 
 The article, which Miss Feiring had spoken so 
 
 much about It must be something Minka 
 
 had written. 
 
 Her face — her ill-concealed joy With a 
 
 feeling of increasing bitterness she saw plainly that 
 this was kept from her — the mother 
 
 And what could she have written .' — " Woman's 
 
 Awakening," was the title Minka had always 
 
 been clever with her pen. 
 
 Ah ! but it wasn't because Minka had written 
 anything — it wasn't that. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig could only think of one thing— her 
 thoughts continually reverted to it. 
 
NIOBE 55 
 
 The confidence between them was gone — no longer i ( 
 
 existed Minka had developed unknown to 
 
 her 
 
 She weighed it over and over in her mind .... 
 the cleft seemed to grow wider and wider — she felt 
 as if struck by a cold gust of wind. 
 
 She had lost Minka ! . . . . 
 
 The eldest daughter who had been brought up by 
 her own hand, and under her very eyes till she was 
 grown up — in whom she believed so fully and 
 thoroughly 
 
 But the very best of her life she had lived shut 
 up in herself. She no longer knew the way to her 
 innermost self. . . . 
 
 She had lost Minka ! 
 
 She felt an uncontrollable deiire to hasten to her 
 side. . . . 
 
 Only to look at her, while she slept . . . as if to 
 take a last leave of her illusion. . . . 
 
 A little while after, she stood with the candle in 
 her hand in the yellow drawing-room, by the old- 
 fashioned table, where all the clean linen had been 
 placed. 
 
 The room lay in obscurity, the huge stove 
 looming threateningly in the background. 
 
 The oppressive feeling from which she was 
 suffering increased more and more. 
 
 To begin with, there was Endre, whom she 
 supported with all her might on his new career. 
 
S6 NIOBE 
 
 Then there was Kjel 
 
 Did she know them — what their opinions were, 
 and what they thought ? Was she in their con- 
 fidence ? 
 
 Or had she, if not in exactly the same way, lost 
 them also long ago — both her eldest sons ? 
 
 She recalled how they, each in their own way, 
 were in the habit of remaining silent and smiling, 
 when she spoke warmly about anything. 
 
 How bitter Endre was against his father. . . . 
 
 And then there was Arnt, and there was Massy, 
 still to lose. 
 
 In her perplexity and fear she only felt she must 
 I save whatever she could. 
 
 \ A cry of despair died on her lips — she would not 
 'lose any more — not any more! . . . 
 
 She walked restlessly to and fro, as if she were 
 looking for something. 
 
 Had they given the children too little liberty 
 . . . had they not confided sufficiently in them .' 
 
 She herself was so attracted by the ideas of the 
 day — had hoped so much for a better state of things. 
 But when it came to the point, they were not so 
 easy to carry out after all ... had not yet teken 
 shape and form. 
 
 She stopped in front of the cabinet, where the 
 doctor kept all his drugs, and absent-mindedly held 
 the light up to the numerous parcels, jars, bottles and 
 boxes, big and small, as if to study the inscriptions. 
 
NIOBE , 57 
 
 Presently a bright gleam came into her 
 eyes 
 
 To-morrow we will order The Twentieth 
 Century ! . . . . 
 
 And then, quite casually, we will mention to 
 Minka that she ought to try and write something — 
 try what she can do with her pen. 
 
 She walked slowly across the floor towards tlie 
 card-table, nodding approvingly at her own thoughts. 
 The different pieces of furniture were like oases 
 where she could rest and put down her candle. 
 
 A feeling of tranquillity stole over her. 
 
 How exaggerated everything became at 
 night 
 
 Of course, she had had nothing to eat at supper, 
 owing to all the disturbance caused by Miss Feiring. 
 .... One never sleeps well on an empty 
 stomach. 
 
 What if she went down to the larder and cut 
 herself a piece of bread and butter ? 
 
 The light disappeared along the landing 
 
Ill 
 
 The doctor had gone off in his kariol early in the 
 cool, summer morning. 
 
 The housemaid had begun to clean the windows 
 in the study, and to perform other domestic work, 
 which was always undertaken during the doctor's 
 frequent absences. 
 
 The appearance of Schulteiss in the rooms down- 
 stairs between meals depended a good deal on the 
 goings and comings of that kariol. His nerves 
 always became depressed by the doctor's presence — 
 by the mere knowledge that he was there 
 
 He would make a tour of inspection through the 
 rooms ; or walk and strut about outside the house, 
 inhaling the fresh air, with his thumbs stuck in the 
 armholes of his waistcoat — or stand gazing at the 
 grinding-stone while it was being turned, and one 
 of the haymakers was sharpening his scythe ; or, 
 with an air of understanding, peer in through the 
 door of the wood-shed, where the farm lad was 
 chopping wood ; give short ironical views of life 
 over the fence for the benefit of the sow and her 
 pigs ; or philosophise with the old goat. 
 
NIOBE 59 
 
 Down the garden they were busy weeding and 
 watering in the cool shade of the early morning. 
 
 Schulteiss, in the midst of his ruminations, had 
 just begun to balance himself, and with precise steps 
 to walk along one of the logs outside the cow-house, 
 when Minka saw him and came hurriedly through 
 the garden gate. 
 
 He made a rush, as if he intended to reach the 
 end of the log, but jumped suddenly down, with 
 a deep, elegant bend of the knees. 
 
 " Mr. Schulteiss," she exclaimed, anxiously, " you 
 are not so absent-minded, I hope, as to forget to 
 watch for the postman before Kjel arrives. You 
 know he always meets him, and looks through the 
 bag down by the gate." 
 
 Schulteiss' quiet, confident smile dispelled all 
 doubt on this point. 
 
 " It must be nearly ten o'clock, and you are still 
 here." 
 
 " I assure you, Miss Minka, . . . Can you for a 
 moment doubt, ..." exclaimed Schulteiss, Hur- 
 riedly. 
 
 ■' Couldn't you, for instance, just as well be taking 
 your walk down on the main road, Mr. Schulteiss .' " 
 
 " And thereby risk being observed by Mr. Kjel .' " 
 he exclaimed, triumphantly. " His suspicions would 
 be awakened — and your interests compromised. . . . 
 In a little while,'' he said, pulling out his watch and 
 showing it to her, '' you will see a person carelessly 
 
6o NIOBE 
 
 lounging along the road, and disappearing down the 
 path behind the summer house." 
 
 " What — not half-past eight yet ? Is your watch 
 right, are you sure ? " she interrupted eagerly. 
 
 " I guarantee it ! depend upon me, Miss Minka ! " 
 he replied, in a deep, sepulchral tone; 
 
 " Humph ! You do so tease one, Mr. Schulteiss," 
 she said, coquettishly scolding him ; " why couldn't 
 you have told me the right time at once .■' '^ 
 
 " I always refrain from contradiction — I am silent 
 . ..." he said with a bow, while his face beamed. 
 
 " Do you hear, Mr. Schulteiss .' the thing is to get 
 The Twentieth Century from among father's papers. 
 The article, which I called " The soft little word 
 
 Yes," I do not want mother to see She will 
 
 recognise my style at once And you know 
 
 when she wants to speak with me about it, and when 
 all that one writes has to be taken to the jvindow, 
 and aired, and looked into .... oh, it is intoler- 
 able . . . . ! If they have accepted it I think it is 
 
 sure to appear in this number It makes my 
 
 blood run cold when I think how many a young girl 
 — perhaps the very same night on which she, in a 
 foolish moment, has given her ' yes ' — is lying in 
 tears, and regretting that she has given herself 
 
 wholly away to the autocrat I could not 
 
 rest until I had put down my ideas in writing — that 
 a woman's promise should only hold good when 
 divorce is obtained under fairer conditions, and when 
 
NIOBE 6i 
 
 she has the exclusive right to her own property, and 
 full equality with the m,in otherwise/' 
 
 "Ahem ! — the idea is in itself excellent — even 
 brilliant — if it — hem — had any prospect of becoming 
 
 That would at once become woman's full 
 
 protection, coupled by law to her promise — become, 
 so to speak, the diamond of liberty in her bridal 
 crown — — ahem — but — " 
 
 " Yes, isn't that so," exclaimed Minka trium- 
 phantly, striking him across the fingers with a straw 
 she was playing with. " I have — what was it he 
 called it, he who discovered . . . .'" 
 
 " Eureka — that was Archimedes." 
 
 " Eureka, Eureka ! The solution of the whole 
 question. I am beside myself with joy." 
 
 " H'm," said Schulteiss, with an air of doubt. 
 
 " Why do you look like that ? " said Minka. 
 
 " H'm, h'm ! I only meant — I only wish it could 
 be carried out. Miss Minka." 
 
 " Haven't you so many times yourself said " 
 
 " But, unfortunately — you forget, in your unso- 
 phisticated heart, the autocrat, the oppressor. . . . 
 He will not so easily sanction such a law.'' 
 
 " You only stand there contradicting yourself" 
 
 " I beg to be allowed to explain my standpoint. I 
 maintain the idea is brilliant .... persistently 
 maintain it. But the obstacles " 
 
 " What obstacles You have always 
 
 obstacles when it comes to the point, Mr. Schul- 
 
62 NIOBE 
 
 teiss. You are altogether such a man for obsta- 
 cles." 
 
 " To get that law passed-;— presupposes .... I 
 will not hide it from you — nothing less than that the 
 woman question must first have conquered all along 
 the line." 
 
 " Ugh ! what an inconsistent contradictory person 
 you are ! " she burst out. 
 
 Schulteiss looked supplicatingly at her, having 
 nothing to say in defence. 
 
 Minka stamped her foot impatiently. 
 
 " You are so tiresome, you always find something 
 to throw in one's way .... Now that you tell me 
 there is no chance of getting such a law passed, my 
 article will fall to the ground," she cried in despair. 
 .... "I shall soon begin to hate everything that 
 goes by the nafne of man. . . ." 
 
 "Well, Miss Minka, with an enthusiasm like 
 
 yours, something might be done Hate must 
 
 push the work of liberation forward, till at last every- 
 thing will go of itself — from love." 
 
 " In any case, Mr. Schulteiss," she said, after a 
 little hesitation, " should the article appear — and you 
 really think it is well done — although I care no 
 longer for the idea, if it cannot be realised for a 
 hundred years — ^but if you think it will create at- 
 tention, you must clap your hands three times at the 
 garden gate, as if to the pigeons. And then Mr. 
 Schulteiss .... there will very probably be an 
 
NIOBE 63 
 
 answer to-day from Miss Lund, if they have been 
 able to arrange that long walking tour. In that 
 case Miss Feiring will be coming here directly to 
 ask leave for me to join them. But father and 
 mother must not know that I have had anything to 
 
 do with it You understand, Mr. Schulteiss. 
 
 You'll have plenty to see to, to-day." 
 
 He nodded, and went his way with the happy 
 smile of the confidant, while Minka hastened down 
 the garden again. 
 
 The excitement on the arrival of the post was 
 over ; and the letters and papers, after having under- 
 gone the usual overhauling down on the main road, 
 had been placed on the study table. Among the 
 papers could be seen peering out of its wrapper the 
 yellow cover of the new number of Tke Twentieth 
 Century which, in the meantime, had not occasioned 
 any signalling at the garden gate. 
 
 Schulteiss had strolled restlessly about till he had 
 succeeded in informing Minka of the comforting 
 possibility that perhaps there had not been space in 
 this number for the article. 
 
 He was on his way to his room, when he was 
 stopped by Mrs. Borvig, who came out from the 
 sitting-room. 
 
 " We have had a letter from Endre Won't 
 
 you come in and sit down, Mr. Schulteiss .'.... 
 the letter is from Dresden." 
 
64 NIOBB 
 
 " From the city of art, the beautiful Florence on 
 the Elbe," added Schulteiss complacently. 
 
 " It is art, of course, Mr. Schulteiss — isn't it .' I 
 mean singing in operettas," she asked inquiringly. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, Mrs. fiorvig — beyond all doubt." 
 
 " He says that the operas of the so-called first 
 rank make the artist a brawler — a brother to the 
 street-crier, in fact, through having to sing in the 
 enormous buildings, and that a singer under such 
 circumstances can only reproduce his coarsest 
 tones." 
 
 " Quite a striking comparison," said Schulteiss. 
 
 " I understand, of course, so little about it 
 
 There is a good deal in his letter which I think you 
 could explain to me. He writes that he will not 
 study under the celebrated Lutzmann." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! But that was the reason he " 
 
 " He has found another teacher, who is no celebrity 
 at present, but who is the leader, I understand, of a 
 new movement down there — quite a new and more 
 natural method. The old teachers have been spoiling 
 and destroying the voice,, they say. And there may 
 be some truth in that, Mr. Schulteiss ! Endre's voice 
 is so soft, you know — so soft ! " she said, gently, as 
 if the recollection of it overwhelmed her. 
 
 " Yes ; the present age wants what is natural — in 
 fact, realism. That is the ideal around which all 
 rally," demonstrated Schulteiss. 
 
 " But the life down there in Dresden is not at all 
 
NIOBE 65 
 
 that I imagined All these friends — this 
 
 intercourse with singers and actresses — for we must 
 remember it is the operetta he is going in for. And 
 besides, it is Fraulein this and Frau that, of such 
 and such an operetta company " 
 
 " The artistic mind needs, above all, to live in an 
 atmosphere of art, Mrs. Borvig. The fish must not 
 be taken out of its element." 
 
 " Is that your opinion, Mr. Schulteiss .? " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig sat rocking herself to and fro, buried 
 in her own thoughts. 
 
 " You know, of course, a mother is always over- 
 anxious. I thought he would have led quite a quiet 
 life there, only occupied with his studies — that he 
 would have purposely hidden himself away from his 
 past for the next two or three years till he could 
 
 have appeared as a finished and perfect artist 
 
 But this must take up a good deal of his time .' " 
 
 Schulteiss bowed deferentially as he proceeded to 
 remonstrate with her. 
 
 " Pardon me, Mrs. Borvig., If you judge an 
 
 artist from a commonplace standpoint But 
 
 then " — here he raised his voice — " an artist's feelings 
 are not commonplace ; they are of a somewhat 
 indomitable nature, and cannot easily be suppressed 
 any more than the wild bird will submit to sit with 
 clipped wings in a cage. If there is none of this 
 indomitable nature in him," he exclaimed excitedly, 
 " then he is no artist." 
 
 s 
 
66 NIOBE , 
 
 Mrs. Borvig seemed to be collecting her thoughts : 
 " No doubt you are right, Mr. Schulteiss, quite 
 
 right. One must not go by ordinary rules, when 
 
 it is a question of uncommon things." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig sat long at her work-table after 
 Schulteiss had gone upstairs, her face bearing a 
 pained, thoughtful expression. She sighed deeply, 
 lifted the table-lid, took out the letter once or 
 twice, and put it mechanically back again 
 
 Then she began to pace restlessly up and down, 
 her hand pressed to her side, as if in physical pain. 
 
 Towards evening the doctor's house suddenly 
 presented a lively appearance. On the steps and in 
 the hall lay knapsacks, plaids, and sticks, while 
 gentlemen and ladies in tweed costumes, woollen 
 stockings, and thick-soled boots, moved noisily and 
 merrily about the rooms. 
 
 A party of pedestrians, three ladies and two 
 gentlemen, had arranged to meet Miss Feiring at 
 the doctor's, where she had already arrived 
 earlier in the day, and was now busily engaged in 
 persuading the doctor and his wife to allow Minka 
 to go with them. They had planned a three or 
 four days' walking tour into the neighbouring moun- 
 tainous district. Kjel was, of course, to be one ot 
 the party — Miss Feiring had undertaken to arrange 
 that. They would have to depend upon his reliable 
 
NIOBE 67 
 
 fishing-rod for the red mountain trout, which they 
 would grill over the fire when they encamped. 
 
 They were to start before sunrise the next morning, 
 so that they might rest when the heat became too 
 oppressive in the middle of the day. 
 
 Doors and windows were open, and the rooms 
 were filled with the scent of the new-mown hay, 
 while the party was resting after the day's exertions, 
 and smoking pipes and cigarettes. 
 
 Kjel's effusive hospitality turned the house upside 
 down. The supplies which the party had brought 
 with them were overhauled and supplemented with 
 any tasty relish that could be found in Mrs. Borvig's 
 larder, such as smoked salmon, smoked mutton, ham, 
 and sundry other things. 
 
 But his father's cognac, .... he could not very 
 well recommend that ; he winked at the two 
 gentlemen and smiled. The aquavitae, on the other 
 hand ! . . . . 
 
 A boat was to be ready for them at the lake, 
 where they were going to fish ; they must have a 
 horse, in case any one became too fatigued and to 
 carry the heaviest of the baggage. He would see to 
 it all ; he had people and horses at his disposal all 
 over the district. 
 
 As they looked at Kjel's face, with the short, 
 bushy moustache, and listened to his confident, high 
 and mighty assertions, they felt that in him they 
 were indeed fortunate in finding an all-powerful 
 
68 NIOBE 
 
 protector in that part of the country — a combination 
 of plutocratic influence and local popularity, 
 
 Arnt and Massy were running about among the 
 guests, greatly interested in everything, and soon 
 became acquainted with them all. 
 
 The doctor showed himself from time to time in 
 their midst as the hospitable host, saying a few 
 words here and there. With an imperturbable ex- 
 pression he watched the cigarette smoke, which 
 drifted in a dense cloud over the group of ladies. 
 
 The slight form of Berthea could be seen flitting 
 to and fro, her bright eyes peering inquisitively forth 
 from the little round face with its stumpy nose. 
 She avoided more and more the eyes of the dark, 
 handsome Mr. Krefting, a young M. A., when he 
 looked towards her, till at last he approached her 
 and began teasing and questioning her — making 
 himself exceedingly interesting and telling her, she 
 was a bud which would soon become a rose 
 
 Minka was seen but seldom ; she glided in and 
 out, with an uneasy, nervous smile. 
 
 She was apparently very busy ; if she were going 
 with them, she must of course get her dress and 
 knapsack ready, shorten her skirt, etc. 
 
 As she rushed through the hall, her father beck- 
 oned to her from the study door : 
 
 " Minka ! just one moment ! . . . You would 
 like to go with them, I understand," he said, when 
 she had closed the door. 
 
NIOBE 69 
 
 " Very much, father, I have never been on such a 
 tour." 
 
 " I must tell you, my dear Minka — well, how 
 shall I say it without distressing you too much ? But 
 as a doctor, you see, and as your father, I am some- 
 what anxious whether you are strong enough for 
 this long, trying tramp through forests and fields. 
 .... No, no, my child, I don't mean to forbid it — 
 only to leave it to your own judgment. Sup- 
 pose you suddenly became exhausted and ill, far 
 away in the forest." 
 
 " Oh, I am quite sure that will not happen, father. 
 If I became ill," here she burst into tears — " it would 
 be because I was not Allowed to go." 
 
 " But you may go," he exclaimed. " Listen, Minka ; 
 remember I shan't be vexed with you on that account. 
 I do not wish to compel you .... but if you give 
 up this tour, I will give you a gold watch on your 
 eighteenth birthday in September next, with a 
 fine, handsome chain," he added, as he saw signs 
 of refusal in Minka's face. 
 
 She turned pale, as she looked at him. 
 
 " No, no, father," she exclaimed, quite excitedly; 
 "If you forbid it, I will stay at home, but I will not 
 give *t up for gold." 
 
 " No, no — you mustn't look upon it in that way. 
 You know I forbid you nothing. But you under- 
 stand well enough that I had to tell you this about 
 your health But there, there — that was all 
 
70 NWBE 
 
 I wanted to say, Minka. If your mother says yes, 
 
 you know I shan't say no There, don't be 
 
 distressed, my child But you must be a little 
 
 on your guard against those two dandies — the Chris- 
 tiania lions. You are a sensible girl, of course, but 
 we don't know what sort of manners they have ; — 
 — that was all I wanted to tell you. I only thought 
 a gold watch would have^iven you greater pleasure." 
 
 " And you allow her to go ? " said the doctor 
 excitedly, to his wife, when he got up into the bed- 
 room, where she sat stitching away at Minka's 
 walking dress. 
 
 " Well, I don't think we can do otherwise." 
 
 " H'm — there you are — I understand nothing — 
 absolutely nothing about these things. Formerly, if 
 a young girl ran about the woods with strange men 
 in this way, she would be talked about — lose her 
 reputation, I can tell you." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig tossed her head. '" I know it would 
 have done me good, if they had given me more liberty 
 when I was young. . . ." 
 
 " What ! you, Bente > " 
 
 " I was no doubt like other girls. We went about 
 like a flock of sheep. Good and bad — we all became 
 silly creatures, filled with all sorts of ideas of life. 
 When we got on in years, we had to learn all over 
 again." 
 
 " To go off like this in all .sorts of company — is 
 
NIOBB 71 
 
 that the right thing for a respectable girl ? Do you 
 think that any man of position would care for such a 
 harum-scarum ? " 
 
 " People think otherwise nowadays, Borvig — I 
 think many a man would. Just look at Kjel and 
 Thekla Feiring." 
 
 " Don't talk about Kjel," he exclaimed, excitedly. 
 " I tell you, Bente .... in short, I ask you : Are 
 we bound- — compelled to let Minka go .? " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig sighed deeply as she hurried on with 
 her sewing. 
 
 " I know of no better way out of it, Borvig, than 
 to let the children have their own way, and learn 
 to use their liberty — for one thing is certain — if we 
 refuse it them we shall lose them altogether. . . ." 
 
 Minka now came in to try on her dress. 
 
 " Was father worried about the tour, mother > — 
 Was that what he was here talking about .■■ " asked 
 Minka, when they were alone. 
 
 " You see, this is the first time you go away from 
 us," said her mother, avoiding the question. " These 
 experienced townspeople understand so well the 
 difference between chaff and flattery, and what is 
 really meant. You know you mustn't take all they 
 tell you for gospel." 
 
 " I'm not such an innocent from the country, 
 mother. . . . None of them can come up to Thekla 
 Feiring. Besides, I think I may say I am quite a.s 
 advanced as far as ideas go." 
 
72 NIOBE 
 
 " H'm ! " murmured Mrs. Borvig, with a thread 
 between her lips, "it is not exactly the interesting 
 questions and discussions I am thinking about, 
 Minka .... there, you can take your own stand. 
 It is more, what shall I say .... the way in which 
 they associate with one. One glides so easily into 
 confidences and friendships and such like, — and then 
 a straightforward girl like you can easily take for 
 good what these " 
 
 " Well, I must really laugh at you, mother. You 
 seem to be afraid of flirtations and love-making and 
 that sort of thing. . . . Pooh ! — we have quite other 
 interests now .... there will be plenty of time 
 yet to get married and be troubled with a lord and 
 master." 
 
 "Well, you see, one likes to see people in the 
 light of the ideals they champion, but it mustn't be 
 taken for granted that they always answer to one's 
 expectations, Minka " 
 
 Minka shook her head with a superior air. 
 
 " Don't imagine, my dear mother, we trouble our 
 heads about those things. That was the case 
 perhaps in former days .... but, mother dear 
 .... won't you ask father to lend me his field- 
 glasses i" — to carry strapped round my shoulders, you 
 
 know It looks so sportsmanlike You 
 
 need not be afraid of any infatuations, mother — oh, 
 I am so happy, I cannot tell you how happy I am. 
 I know I shall not get a wink of sleep to-night 
 
NIOBB 73 
 
 It is tiresome that I have to show myself downstairs 
 in this poor, summer dress while the others have 
 such fine tourist costumes. Louisa Lund is nowhere 
 with her cheviot and brass belt— Thekla is the 
 smarter, she has more style — it's quite inborn in 
 
 her, as Kjel said the moment he saw her It 
 
 was a splendid idea of his to have all the melke- 
 ringe * brought out to them on the steps — it gave, 
 at once, a picnic-air to it all. And I noticed Kjel 
 winking at Thekla ; they were so amused, they 
 could see Louisa was not accustomed to smoke 
 cigarettes. Oh, no, mother, don't make it tighter 
 at the waist, make it still looser — stylish like Anna 
 Rists', so that one can tell at once you do not wear 
 stays. Ready, mother } Then I'll put it on at 
 
 once You might have made it shorter," said 
 
 Minka, as she turned about and looked at herself. 
 " Thekla's is shorter ; it allows one a fuller swing." 
 
 " She is shorter waisted and has much longer legs 
 than you, Minka. It would not suit you; you would 
 look too stumpy." 
 
 " Remember to ask for the field-glasses, mother." 
 
 " Go and get something to eat, Minka, you have 
 had no supper." 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't think of it, mother," she exclaimed, 
 as she hurried out of the room. 
 
 Schulteiss was, as usual, on the alert, and hovered 
 
 * A national dish, somewhat like the Devonshire junket, kept and 
 served in round, shallow wooden vessels. 
 
74 NIOBS. 
 
 round the groups, keeping sufficiently distant to avoid 
 being entrapped. Suddenly, in a fit of high spirits, 
 he made his way through the rooms, where the 
 party, now highly animated, were gathering round a 
 bowl of summer-cup, which Kjel knew so well how 
 to make of all sorts of mystic ingredients. 
 
 If they had been down at his place, there would 
 have been some champagne in it as well, he hinted. 
 
 Schulteiss had seen Minka come down in her 
 walking dress, and thus understood that she had 
 gained the day. The consciousness of having been 
 more intimately associated with the scheme, made 
 him feel quite sympathetic with travelling as a diver- 
 sion. He began to expatiate on Napoleon's talent 
 for economising space in packing his knapsack. He 
 waited till Minka came to the door to hand her the 
 county map ; he was with them in the spirit, and 
 marked roads on the map, one in blue and one in 
 red. In his fancy he was standing on the brinks of 
 abysses — watching and guiding Minka's steps, .... 
 helping her along the logs across the streams — was 
 her unseen providence, .... saw himself watching 
 over her, with the stars above him, while she slept. 
 
 He ran up to his room and came down again with 
 the printed legend about Roslake, and the dragon 
 there — to read to the party at a suitable opportunity, 
 when they rested in the fishing hut. 
 
 On passing through the hall, his attention was 
 arrested by a peal of laughter, coming from the 
 
NIOBE 75 
 
 direction of the hall steps. Minka, beaming with 
 smiles, stood talking unconstrainedly to one of the 
 two strangers. It was Varberg, an engineer, who had 
 received an appointment on the new railway, the 
 construction of which was to be begun the next 
 spring. 
 
 Schulteiss took in at a glance the hawk-like nose, 
 the thin sparse hair about the forehead — the pale, 
 marked features — the restless, alluring eyes — a cool, 
 cunning tempter ! 
 
 " It is no longer any secret, that one can overcome 
 the most trying exertions by sheer psychic force," 
 he heard the engineer remarking. " It can be 
 developed in any one who has mediumistic powers ; 
 I order you to go ten miles, and you go ten miles." 
 
 "Yes, when one has first been forced into 
 obedience," Minka answered presumptuously ; " you 
 might try with Thekla — ]\Iiss Feiring — try if you 
 are able to crush her will. I should say she'll give 
 you enough to do ... . otherwise we would all 
 like to have that sort of machinery put into us when 
 we are going on a long walking-tour." 
 
 " You are incredulous, Miss Borvig ; but if I'm not 
 mistaken, you are an excellent medium yourself" 
 
 " Indeed .'.... do you think so ^ How can you 
 tell } " she asked in eager curiosity. 
 
 " Your hand, which lies there on the railing — 
 Will you allow me to stroke it, only with the tip of 
 my finger a few times ? . . . . Well i* — Is it not a 
 
76 NIOBE 
 
 pleasant, soothing sensation ? — If I stroked it suffi- 
 ciently long, you would go to sleep I am 
 
 now convinced, you are an excellent medium." 
 
 " Pardon me, Miss Minka," said Schulteiss, spring- 
 ing forward, " but that kind of experiments I 
 
 should advise you to be on your guard against 
 
 Your father, Fm sure, would warn you strongly 
 
 against them " He bowed, and his teeth 
 
 gleamed, as he smiled complacently. 
 
 " We are here entering upon unknown regions ; 
 there are results and consequences which cannot be 
 reckoned with beforehand .... a giving away of 
 one's will." 
 
 He spoke by fits and starts, his face growing paler, 
 as he kept on bowing in an exaggerated way, while 
 he clasped and rubbed his hands in nervous excite- 
 ment. 
 
 The engineer stared at him in amused surprise, 
 and exchanged looks with Minka, who had really 
 never noticed before what a caricature Schulteiss 
 was, till he made this exhibition of himself before 
 the stranger. 
 
 " The preceptor, I presume, who has guarded the 
 footsteps of your youth 1 " he asked, with undisguised 
 merriment. 
 
 Schulteiss stood for a moment confused, then 
 quickly withdrew, and rushed at a furious speed up 
 the stairs. 
 
 The door of his room slammed to. 
 
NIOBE 77 
 
 He lay on his bed — gnashing his teeth in the 
 stillness of the evening. 
 
 " Miss Minka," he began imploringly, with dis- 
 torted features and solemnly uplifted arm, " he wants 
 
 to paralyse and capture your will ; I warn you 
 
 I beseech you — avoid him and all his works — his 
 
 look as well as his touch I will move heaven 
 
 and earth — appeal to your father and mother " 
 
 He lifted himself in his bed and exclaimed 
 threateningly ; 
 
 '.' Oh— that dev— il ! " 
 
 It was late before Mrs. Borvig got to bed after her 
 troublesome and anxious day. She lay half asleep 
 thinking about colds and wet feet and sleeping in 
 sheds at night ; and was wondering whether she 
 should give Minka one more hint — or whether it was 
 at all wise to say anything. Admonitions and 
 warnings might so easily savour of home authority. 
 Perhaps she could convey it so gently to her, that 
 she might act upon it, as if it were her own incen- 
 tive. 
 
 She must put a bottle of stomach-bitters in Minka's 
 knapsack, and an extra vest. 
 
 Then begun the bustle and noise of calling every- 
 body. 
 
 The breakfast, consisting of coffee, bread and 
 butter and eggs, was on the table in good time ; — 
 they must not go out into the damp, cold, morning 
 air, without having partaken of something warm 
 
78 NIOBE 
 
 The party left at early daybreak, while the mist 
 still lay like white fleecy wool over the river. Boots 
 and petticoats soon became saturated with the heavy 
 morning dew. 
 
 Apparently both people and animals had all got 
 up too early ; the morning dragged wearily on from 
 four o'clock when the haymakers were sharpening 
 their scythes and going to cut the grass while the 
 dew was still upon it, till five o'clock, when the streak 
 of sunlight which fell on the bell tower of the store- 
 house roof, began to glide down the wall, until it 
 reached the starling's cage, and then it was only half- 
 past five. 
 
 A deep stillness had settled over the place, which 
 wore an aspect of painful desertion. 
 
 Massy and Arnt would not go to bed again after 
 they had once been at the trouble of getting up. 
 
 Arnt's perspiring face and hay-covered jacket 
 betrayed that he had been diligently assisting the 
 whole morning in carting hay from the fields to the 
 loft. Massy, who had a talent for discovering 
 where the hens laid, had just been out searching for 
 new-laid eggs. 
 
 The doctor came down to breakfast at the usual 
 time, having had his full night's rest. 
 
 " Well," he exclaimed, as he cracked his new-laid 
 egg ; " Minka is off", then ? .... If I had seen my 
 way to do it, Bente, I assure you, I should have 
 stopped it — such a vagabond life." 
 
NIOBE 79 
 
 " You must remember, Borvig, that young people 
 nowadays want quite a different kind of recreation 
 than in our time ; their interests are more universal." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! ha, ha ! Of course, they are no 
 
 longer ordinary mortals, oh dear no Now 
 
 they only write and talk and philosophise about 
 
 love with each other We only knew of yes 
 
 or no ! But these people, they understand how to 
 get quite a different enjoyment out of the matter — 
 these ladies and gentlemen — these kindred spirits — 
 in the woods !...." 
 
 " A healthy and cheerful out-door life may lead 
 to something better than the old sneaking about in 
 corridors and corners," said Mrs. Borvig. 
 
 " Oh bosh, Bente ! Sweethearts always will 
 conceal themselves." 
 
IV 
 
 The willow-trees in front of the doctor's house were 
 shedding their last leaves, while their tops bent 
 moaning over the ridge of the roof. 
 
 For weeks the weather had been grey and un- 
 settled — storms, driving rain, and clouded skies, with 
 intervals of quiet autumn days, shrouded with fog 
 and misty rain. 
 
 The doctor came and went in his kariol, well 
 provided against the weather, with his top-coat 
 and oilskin, cape, and his kariol-apron tightly 
 buttoned around him. The front door was kept 
 shut, and the scraper and pine branches on the 
 steps were used by all sorts of feet, which came 
 through the autumn mire from all quarters to see the 
 doctor. 
 
 The only change visible in the house this Sunday 
 was that the double windows had been put in for 
 the winter. The rooms were somewhat darker, 
 while the heat from the stove made them more 
 pleasant and cosy. Now and then a long wavy 
 streak of moisture, produced by the damp fog out- 
 side, found its way down the window panes, while 
 
NIOBB 8 1 
 
 from the gutter above large drops fell with an 
 inaudible splash to the ground. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig and Massy had driven to church, and 
 had afterwards paid a hurried visit to the parsonage. 
 On their way back they crossed the river by the 
 ferry, near the saw-mill, to look in upon Kjel. 
 
 Berthea had taken advantage of their absence and 
 the quietness that reigned to get a letter written up 
 in her bedroom. 
 
 The bailiff's son, Ole, who was two years her 
 junior, had made her the object of his wild, boyish 
 passion. She had .undoubtedly encouraged him, 
 and in school a finger-and-sign language had been 
 indulged in between them. 
 
 But yesterday he had slipped into her hand a 
 letter, which informed her that his father had 
 decided to send him to town to be apprenticed to 
 his uncle, the gunmakrer. He knew he should not 
 be able to endure it, and proposed they should run 
 away together to America. In Dakota gold could 
 be found by merely digging for it, and one could 
 easily subsist by hunting. There were foxes and 
 otters, buffaloes and bisons, and plenty of wild 
 horses to hunt them with. He finished by saying 
 that he only meant to carry out this plan when he 
 had been confirmed, in the autumn of the following 
 year. 
 
 As Berthea wrote she let her tears fall, so that 
 both ink and paper could tell of her despair. 
 
82 NIOBE 
 
 Arnt spent the long forenoon down by the wood- 
 shed, making shafts for his h'ttle sledge, a task he 
 had long been intent upon finishing for the winter. 
 
 The old farm goat now and then put in an 
 appearance, looking inquisitively through the open 
 door, and watching him attentively. 
 
 He was interrupted by a peasant, who had brought 
 a brace of capercailzies for the doctor on his way to 
 church, a usual method of paying in natura for 
 medical treatment. It was the first game of the 
 season of that kind. Doctor Borvig would never 
 hear of accepting any game shot in close time. 
 
 Arnt stood for some time in the kitchen entrance 
 amusing himself by stroking back the upright feathers 
 on the bird's neck. 
 
 " Look here, Minka," he said, spreading out one of 
 the bird's wings, " here is the hole where the shot 
 has gone through — ^just in there. ... It can't be so 
 
 long since it was alive It is still warm — just 
 
 feel it Well, I declare, she daren't touch it ! 
 
 Daren't you really t " 
 
 The two capercailzies hung on a nail in the 
 portico, with red edged, half-closed eyes ; a small 
 twig of pine was stuck in their beaks, and the blood 
 dripped now and then from them, forming a small 
 pool on the floor. 
 
 Minka stood staring at it. 
 
 " Daren't you even open its beak .? — Just look 
 here," continued Arnt. 
 
NIOBE 83 
 
 " Don't touch its head," exclaimed Minka, pale 
 with terror ; " don't you see, it is fixing its dead 
 eyes upon us ? . . . . Don't touch it, don't touch it, 
 
 I tell you You shall not touch it .... " 
 
 she exclaimed, shuddering, as she ran indoors. 
 
 Just before dinner a number of people, returning 
 from church, stopped outside the doctor's. A 
 wounded man was being carried towards the door. 
 It was the same peasant who had brought the 
 capercailzies in the morning. He had been found 
 lying apparently lifeless near a milestone, with a 
 gaping wound in his head. His horse had bolted 
 down one of the hills ; the trap had been overturned 
 and dragged along. 
 
 The man lay on a stretcher with his pale, death- 
 like face turned upwards, a dark red streak extend- 
 ing towards the wet clotted hair. The dim, filmy 
 eyes, bloodshot from extravasated blood, stared un- 
 pleasantly from beneath the half-closed lids. 
 
 Minka and Arnt came running out, and forced 
 their way to the front. 
 
 Suddenly Minka uttered a wild shriek. 
 
 The doctor came out on the steps, shouted 
 angrily to his children to go in, and ordered the 
 man to be carried into his study, and placed on the 
 sofa. 
 
 Schulteiss, as usual, stood looking out of the 
 passage window upstairs, when Minka came running 
 up, as if distracted. She made her way hastily 
 
84 mOBE 
 
 towards the drawing-room, but on seeing Schulteiss, 
 she raised her arm, as if trying to shut out some 
 object from her sight, and exclaimed : 
 
 " Oh, those eyes .... I shall never get rid of 
 them ! " 
 
 " But how could you be so careless, Miss Minka, 
 as to expose your delicate nerves to such a shocking 
 sight ! " 
 
 " Exactly the same red eyes as the capercailzies' 
 .... They stared at me with such a deathlike 
 glare, just as if they knew of something far within 
 me, of which I was so terribly afraid — a kind of 
 soul or spirit, which looked at me through those 
 eyes, and threatened me." 
 
 She opened the drawing-room door, and looked 
 in, but closed it again hastily. 
 
 "I don't think I dare be alone I will stay 
 
 here till dinner time " 
 
 She sat down in a corner with her face buried in 
 her hands. 
 
 " I think it is possible. Miss Minka, to distinguish 
 between nervous impressions and real spirit mani- 
 festations," began Schulteiss, cautiously. — " No, no — 
 I speak with reserve ; I do not at all deny the 
 
 possibility But bloodshot eyes, such as those, 
 
 are in themselves sufficient to .... " 
 
 " I tell you it was not the eyes — there was some 
 
 one beyond them, who had something to say to me 
 
 . . . Oh, I cannot bear it ! . . . They want me. 
 
NIOBE 85 
 
 for something .... they seem to be forcing and 
 dragging me," she mumbled. 
 
 Suddenly she sprang to her feet. 
 
 " Now I am thoroughly convinced, Mr. Schulteiss, 
 about all that Mr. Varberg told me on the tour last 
 
 summer Now, for the first time, I see it 
 
 all. Every word is true — now I have had a 
 proof. . . . . " 
 
 She stood pondering. 
 
 " What can it be that the spirit wanted to tell me 
 — what could it be ? ... . Do you think it wanted 
 to warn me — against anything in the future — any 
 serious misfortune .-' " 
 
 " If it should really be a communication, which 
 I, however, greatly doubt . . . . " 
 
 " I must beg you, once for all, to spare me from 
 your superior discourses on this subject, Mr. Schul- 
 teiss — that which I know, I know. And if it is 
 your intention to be always criticising and doubting 
 it would be better, perhaps, not to speak with you 
 about it." 
 
 She was apparently piqued, and turned to go. 
 
 " / superior ! — / discourse ! .... in face of your 
 
 inner convictions — which are so sacred to me 
 
 No, Miss Minka ! " he said, striking his breast. 
 " Here you may safely unburden your thoughts ! 
 And if you really think — really think that it was 
 any kind of materialised spirit, any kind of embodi- 
 ment through the peculiar expression of the eyes. 
 
86 NIOBE 
 
 truly the most exquisite and refined spiritual lan- 
 guage . If you believe it, then I believe it, 
 
 just as 1 believe in you." 
 
 " But was it only a warning, do you think ? " 
 began Minka again. 
 
 " Scarcely anything else, presumably only a warn- 
 ing voice ! " 
 
 " Do you mean .... do you really believe ? — 
 The blood actually froze in my veins from terror. 
 But what can it be .' There is such a restless- 
 ness in me, as if I am being dragged — expected. 
 .... Just fancy, Mr. Schulteiss," she laughed 
 suddenly, " I felt this morning as if I must abso- 
 lutely go up to town. The same feeling came upon 
 
 me directly after I had seen the capercailzies 
 
 Very strange .... quite mystic enough to make 
 
 one shudder But why should I especially be 
 
 selected .? " she continued, looking absently before 
 her. " Could it be any one who was longing for me 
 .... thinking of me .... who wants me .■' " 
 
 " Oh, no, no, Miss Minka," interrupted Schulteiss 
 suddenly, dismissing the idea entirely. " Everything 
 seems to imply that it is a warning — only a warning 
 voice — almost something hostile !...." 
 
 "Well, that's not how I feel about it I 
 
 should like to see still more," she exclaimed all of a 
 sudden. "We must get to know something more, 
 
 Mr. Schulteiss we must If you are of 
 
 the same mind as myself, we will try spirit writing, 
 
NIOBE ■ 87 
 
 which Mr. Varberg told me about. But nobody 
 
 must know anything about it Now, that's 
 
 settled, Mr. Schulteiss, we'll try It's only a 
 
 piece of round paper with some verses and some 
 big letters around it. We then turn it round, and 
 
 try to get answers Listen ! — now they are 
 
 calling us to dinner But after dinner, about 
 
 coffee time, we'll begin " 
 
 While Minka and Schulteiss during the quiet 
 afternoon were busy up in the schoolroom with 
 questions and answers from the spirit world, the 
 doctor sat downstairs in the sitting-room, with his 
 newspapers and periodicals. There was always 
 plenty of reading matter put on one side for the 
 Sunday, from the busy week. 
 
 Now and then he put away the papers and went 
 to the windows and looked out. 
 
 The grey weather was thickening, and the damp 
 lay like a veil on the panes ; while drops were 
 constantly falling from the window ledges. 
 
 About this time he was expecting Kjel with his 
 fiancee, Thekla Feiring ; Kjel had set out for Judge 
 Preus' early in the morning. 
 
 The doctor began looking more and more fre- 
 quently at his watch. 
 
 Just then the gig drove up to the door. 
 
 " Here are your letters by the post, father," said 
 Kjel, as he entered the room. 
 
 The doctor hurriedly looked through his letters, 
 
88 » NIOBE 
 
 and then sharply up at his wife, who followed quickly 
 into the room — warm and excited from the reading 
 of a letter from Endre, which she had crushed into 
 her pocket, but which she had scanned sufficiently to 
 know that there was another unexpected demand for 
 money. 
 
 There seemed to be a tacit understanding that 
 the doctor should not be troubled with any of 
 Endre's correspondence. 
 
 "A new fur jacket, mother," said Kjel, taking 
 Thekla by the hand and presenting her ; " ordered 
 from town. It only arrived this morning, just in 
 time to take it to her myself .... Elegant, eh .' 
 Rather expensive, however .... lined with soft, 
 fine wolf-skin inside, with collar of skunk. Thekla 
 likes it very much. If you could only see for 
 yourself how well it fits you ! " exclaimed Kjel, as he 
 helped her off with it. " By the bye, in our house 
 we must have, a long pier glass, so that you can see 
 yourself from head to foot .... We've been doing 
 nothing else but talk about our house on the way .... 
 It's going to be quite a modern, up-to-date one — and 
 everything arranged for two independent persons." 
 
 " H'm ! " drawled the doctor, " the easiest way to 
 arrange that would be to live apart as you have 
 done." 
 
 " Well, Thekla is not likely to put up with any 
 old-fashioned arrangement — the house is going to 
 be a tip-top one. Isn't that so, Thekla .? " 
 
NIOBE 8g 
 
 But Thekla had vanished ; she knew what was 
 now going to be discussed. 
 
 " Yes, I really think of building ; — after all said 
 and done, it will be cheapest," he said with a shrug 
 of the shoulders, as he began pacing up and down, 
 " the cheapest after all." 
 
 " Bless my soul, Kjel .... but the money — the 
 money ! " 
 
 Kjel turned round sharply and said irritably, 
 " It's only a question of what costs the most, father, 
 say for five years — either to build or not to build 
 
 .... money — of course, one must have money ! 
 
 But it all depends on being able to distinguish 
 between the money you see and that which you 
 don't see. To live like a poor man is, however, the 
 most luxurious one can think of." 
 
 The doctor did not appear to be satisfied with his 
 son's arguments ; he shook his head from time to 
 time in grave displeasure. 
 
 " You see, Kjel," gently demurred his mother, 
 " both your father and I thought it would be safer 
 if you waited to build" till you had a little capital 
 laid by to go on with." 
 
 " How idyllic, mother — quite idyllic !....' Love 
 in a cottage ' .... It is just that old-fashioned way 
 of living which does not pay — to live down there in 
 the old house by the mill — with the whirl of the saw 
 in your ears — and a wife who longs for all the 
 requirements of the age .... And then not to be 
 
90 NIOBE 
 
 able to make a proper appearance socially, as I in 
 my position, and as a married man, should have to 
 do, if I am to make any sort of impression of 
 solvency upon my fellow creatures, and not sink 
 
 down into quite another sphere where they — 
 
 God help me ! — would soon stop my credit .... I 
 
 have thought it all over. The most probable 
 
 thing that I would have to be prepared for with that 
 cottage of yours, mother, would be to file my declara- 
 tion of bankruptcy." 
 
 " But there is something called thrift, Kjel," 
 sharply rebuked his mother, "and two young people 
 like " 
 
 " Then the other side, father," exclaimed Kjel 
 excitedly, " the credit side. One must look things 
 straight in the face : — The wife must feel contented, 
 it's a saving of time — a home where you may form 
 valuable connections, and reckon among your 
 acquaintance the foremost business men .... One 
 need not then run about the place begging for names 
 to a bill — one may even have the chance of becom- 
 ing director of the savings bank, and feel secure that 
 the . money one has the use of is not recalled at 
 inconvenient times, and so on, and so on, as far as 
 you like. The advantages of ppssessing what is 
 called influence . . . ." 
 
 " Bills, bills," shouted the doctor excitedly ; " why 
 must you absolutely have bills 1 Extend the busi- 
 ness as you get on and make money." 
 
NIOBE 91 
 
 " Yes, there you are — there's the rub — " here 
 ,Kjel stopped short, apparently in despair at having 
 to explain himself to such uncomprehending people — 
 " I will attempt to make it clear to you, father — just 
 tell you, that a man who carries on a big business 
 is always in want of money. It is like water to the 
 wheel. The more business he does, the more money 
 he wants .... And then, of course, a good deal 
 depends whether one can work one's way to obtain 
 influence and credit — and especially to an important 
 position in the banks .... If I were only a director 
 in the savings bank, they would all have to come to 
 me — every business man in the district — to get his 
 bills discounted — Aha ! " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig gave a deep groan and sighed. 
 
 " Goodness knows, mother, why you mix yourself 
 up in this. It will only worry and trouble you. I 
 should say it's my business and my back that will 
 have to bear the brunt of it .... or if father, per- 
 haps, will pay for the house, I shall feel much 
 obliged," he said, jestingly. 
 
 " The boy must manage his business as he thinks 
 best, mother — I see no other way," opined the 
 doctor. 
 
 " In any case, you ought to have thought of pay- 
 ing back your father some of what you owe him. 
 It looks so unreliable, Kjel." 
 
 " It's very kind of you, I'm sure, mother, to talk 
 of that just now — ^very kind indeed . . . ." blurted 
 
92 NIOBE 
 
 Kjel. " At any rate, Thekla and I agreed that we 
 should tell you this afternoon that we have made up 
 our minds to get married before Christmas, and 
 then get the building so far ready, that we can move 
 into the new house for the summer/' 
 
 The veins in the doctor's forehead began to swell ; 
 he looked at his wife, and she at him 
 
 "Your mother thinks, Kjel, that you ought to 
 wait till you have something substantial to set up 
 house with, before you think of getting married and 
 of building." 
 
 " In other words, till I'm rich, mother — till I can 
 dispose of the saw-mill and retire on my money- 
 say in thirty years No, indeed, Thekla and 
 
 I will have to take our chance, and face the future 
 for better or worse, .... besides, I can't stand it 
 any longer, that she should go on slaving and wear- 
 ing herself out at the judge's So now you 
 
 know our plans," he added, as he strolled out ; " you 
 cannot treat me quite like a child, either " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig, pale with agitation, remarked 
 sharply : 
 
 " Well, Borvig, I think we must set ourselves 
 tooth and nail against this, as far as our influence 
 and authority go. Then, at any rate, we shall have 
 done what we could ; for it will never end well if it 
 is to begin in this way." 
 
 "There you are again — you never will understand 
 that boy ! " said the doctor, springing up — " Kjel is, 
 
NIOBE 93 
 
 after all, one of those who cannot have his interests 
 divided. He puts his whole heart and soul into 
 all he does. Formerly his mind was completely 
 taken up with the saw-mill — now it is quite taken 
 up with Thekla Feiring. That's just his strength — 
 
 which you'll never understand, Bente The 
 
 best thing after all will be to let him have her, and 
 then the rest will work itself right. What else has 
 he been doing but rushing to and fro to Judge 
 Preus' from early last winter till now ? It has 
 almost become the usual reply down at the mill, I 
 
 hear, that he is not there Things will never 
 
 be right until they are married, I can quite see that ! 
 .... Let them marry ; the sooner the better ! " 
 
 A silence ensued, which was only broken when 
 the doctor turned over the paper he was reading. 
 
 Steps were heard upstairs, pacing to and fro, and 
 occasionally, during the grey, wet afternoon, the 
 sound was heard of people scraping their feet out- 
 side, and entering the kitchen. 
 
 Minka glided soflly into the room, and began 
 searching for something on the music stand and the 
 piano which she could not find. Then she went to 
 the work table and to the console, among the nick- 
 nacks and photographs " It's only my 
 
 thimble, . . . ." she explained, while her hands 
 cautiously felt about to avoid upsetting anything. 
 
 " No, not here either, . . . ." she looked round 
 for other possible places. . ■ • . 
 
94 NIOBE 
 
 "Just fancy, Thekla is going up to town on 
 Thursday to buy her trousseau," she remarked, care- 
 lessly. 
 
 " Indeed ! — father and I have not heard anything 
 about that as yet," replied her mother, in a voice 
 which trembled with indignation. 
 
 "Well, at any rate they are talking about it — she 
 and Kjel, .... and so I thought " 
 
 " Well, well, mother," said the doctor, soothingly, 
 looking at her, as she sat as if quite lost, appealing 
 to the four walls, " they can't go so very far, no 
 farther than the money reaches." 
 
 " Far, far over our heads," muttered his wife. 
 
 " You have such a way of painting everything in 
 black, pitch-black," burgt out the doctor. He knew 
 it was unbearable, when his wife got these fits of 
 despair. " Why are you standing there, wriggling 
 about, Minka .■• " he exclaimed. " Is there anything 
 the matter with you as well ? I declare, mother, 
 you depress us all so much with your misgivings, 
 that we shall go mad at last." 
 
 " I was thinking," stammered Minka, " I have 
 really been thinking about it so long — quite since 
 last summer — that — that I should speak to you 
 about it — ask if — if I might not go up to town for 
 the winter. . .' . . I should so much like to be on 
 my own account for a time. I feel I am losing my 
 self-reliance by always going about here as a child 
 and daughter of the house And then I 
 
NIOBE 95 
 
 thought that Kjel and Thekla might easily find some 
 place for me, where I could live." 
 
 " Quite easily Very cleverly thought out 
 
 .... Quite wonderfully planned. .... It can be 
 managed as easily as anything — if only you've got 
 the money to pay with, .... ha, ha, ha ! Yes 
 indeed, a brilliant idea ! " 
 
 " I suppose Minka is thinking about her further 
 development, Borvig," said her mother, coming to 
 Minka's assistance. 
 
 " I do so long to get away from this continual 
 sameness here," burst out Minka, without attempt- 
 ing to restrain herself any longer. 
 
 " Oh yes ! mother and I would also like to get 
 away — I should very much like to be pensioned off 
 and live in town, instead of driving about here 
 
 attending to my practice day after day To 
 
 speak the truth, I think you ought to be ashamed of 
 yourself, Minka, to come with such a proposal now, 
 when you know how much money we have to pay 
 out in all directions. 
 
 " Well, if I don't get away — if I have to stop at 
 home this winter also .... then I don't care to 
 live .... no, no," she cried, while despair burned 
 in her pale face. 
 
 " It's anzemia ! — this is nothing else but anaemia, 
 Bente .... she must have some iron pills — plenty 
 of physical work in the house, instead of all this 
 high-flown, over-strained intellectual nonsense — ^you 
 
96 NIOBE 
 
 see what it leads to, Bente ! . . . . Bless me, how 
 she exaggerates everything " 
 
 He stopped suddenly in his walk ! 
 
 " Why doesn't Minka, for instance, help you in the 
 
 housekeeping ? Why must you everlastingly 
 
 be on the trot from early morning till evening, while 
 your lady daughter lies in bed and rests — and must be 
 left in peace to read interesting works — and to think 
 about her soul, her sympathies, and her sentiments ? 
 .... Why, I ask you, why lie awake and worry 
 about the future of woman and all sorts of fads ? " 
 he thundered. " No wonder you cannot sleep, when 
 the body gets no exercise the whole of the day — no 
 wonder you are pale and ill ... . Why, in the 
 name of common sense, can't we get rid of one of 
 the servants, Bente, and let Minka help you ?...." 
 
 " Minka is not exactly suited for hard work, 
 Borvig^so little adapted for it ; but you know very 
 well I had thought of it." 
 
 " Why not suited for it ? — " the doctor went on. 
 " Just because she has not been accustomed to use 
 her hands and bodily strength in practical work. All 
 these confounded interests, as they call them, were of 
 
 course so much more important Just stop 
 
 that blubbering, Minka," he shouted, stamping his 
 foot. " Yes, there she is, possessed by some or other 
 of these wild notions. Now she wants to go up to 
 town — actually to town — to a higher sphere. .... 
 But look here, my girl, there shall be none of that — 
 
NIOBE 97 
 
 until you can earn the money for yourself, and be 
 
 your own mistress From to-day it must be 
 
 arranged so, that you lead a different and more 
 healthy life .... first of all your health must be 
 
 restored I wt/l have it so, Bente. 5he must 
 
 take up and be responsible for that part of the 
 household work which you consider most suitable — 
 ironing, darning stocking."?, and sewing, so that her 
 time is filled up like that of any other useful being's." 
 
 " You can compel me, of course, father," said Minka, 
 turning pale. "But I think I also have a right to 
 improve myself, and follow my natural bent, and if 
 that is to be denied me . . . ." 
 
 Kjel's laughter and noisy chatter with Thekla was 
 heard in the hall. 
 
 " That'll do, Minka," the doctor interrupted 
 harshly — " I will have no exhibition of such domestic 
 scenes before strangers " 
 
 The door opened, and Thekla came laughing and 
 tumbling into the room, apparently having received 
 a push from behind. 
 
 With an offended look she hastily drew herself up, 
 and took a seat near Mrs. Borvig, while Kjel strolled 
 jauntily round the room. 
 
 " There was something we had to talk over with 
 your father and mother," Thekla reminded him. 
 
 Kjel stopped with the tips of his fingers stuck in 
 his waistcoat pockets, and remarked with a non- 
 chalant air : 
 
 G 
 
98 NIOBE 
 
 " Oh, by-the-by ! Thekla and I are going up to 
 town on Thursday to buy her trousseau and the 
 things for the house .... I have worked it out 
 and find it will be cheaper to buy everything at the 
 same time — furniture and all — so that everything 
 in the new house shall harmonise." 
 
 " H'm — yes .... but what about the money, 
 Kjel .' " objected the doctor sharply. 
 
 " Pooh, I can get as much as I want now from the 
 bank, and pay it back by instalments at my leisure. 
 Whether I make the bill one or two thousand is all 
 the same to them." 
 
 " I suppose there is really nothing, then, that you 
 wish to have your parents' opinion about," said Mrs. 
 Borvig coldly, her lips tightly compressed. 
 
 Thekla fixed her small, round, black eyes on Mrs. 
 Borvig. 
 
 " I should like you to understand that I'll have 
 nothing whatever to say as to /low much Kjel ought 
 to buy. I have only asked, that what we buy shall 
 be to our own taste," 
 
 " It's just this — " continued Kjel, placing his 
 finger on his nose, and looking confidentially 
 through his half-closed eyes at his father — " I 
 shall save a couple of hundred at least — perhaps 
 three, if I am very lucky — if I make the bill two 
 thousand, and buy it all wholesale." 
 
 " No one can wish more than I that you should 
 become a rich man," exclaimed Mrs. Borvig with a 
 
NIOBE 99 
 
 deep sigh, " after all your calculations and specula- 
 tions," she added half aloud. 
 
 " I dare say it goes a little beyond the ideas of 
 
 every-day household economy, mother You 
 
 would have me save the skilling and let the dollar 
 go," said Kjel, in an off-hand, confident way, dragging 
 one foot after the other, as he paced up and down 
 the room. 
 
 " I have been looking at you, Minka," said Thekla, 
 breaking the painful silence. " Is there anything the 
 matter } You look so poorly." 
 
 Thekla's lively eyes glanced searchingly from the 
 doctor to his wife and back again. She then 
 exchanged a look with Minka and met with a shake 
 of the head in reply. ^ 
 
 " In a house like ours one is obliged to renounce 
 so much, but one can live happily for all that," said 
 Mrs. Borvig, seriously, with a severe look at Thekla. 
 " Minka has just been told that we cannot afford to 
 let her stay in town for the winter." 
 
 Kjel continued walking up and down, muttering, 
 and reasoning with himself as if he only felt still 
 more confirmed in his theory of " save the skilling, 
 etc." 
 
 " I have .... been counting so much upon this 
 winter," said Minka, softly, with sobs in her voice. 
 
 " We shall all have to accustom ourselves to 
 disappointments," remarked her mother. 
 
 " I would willingly have worked night and day," 
 
lOO NIOBE 
 
 asserted Minka, " if it were only something I took an 
 interest in." 
 
 " One should always take an interest in one's 
 work, Minka," said the doctor, cutting her short. 
 
 Kjel stood rocking himself to and fro, his hands 
 in his pockets. With a glance at Thekla, whose 
 eyes sparkled with excitement, he began : 
 
 " I wonder if the same beautiful sentence could 
 not be used to comfort those who are spending their 
 days in a convict-prison, father." 
 
 " I don't understand at all why I exist," burst out 
 Minka, excitedly, " if I cannot be allowed to do what 
 I take an interest in ... . but must always be kept 
 
 back and shut in on all sides It is suffocating. 
 
 .... If I cannot follow up that for which I have an 
 inclination and desire, then I can't understand why 
 I should go on living." 
 
 " Then you'd better leave it alone," answered the 
 doctor, severely. 
 
 " I never asked to be put into the world," she 
 sobbed. 
 
 " I suppose you think that I stood, cap in hand, 
 bowing and asking my parents," retorted the doctor. 
 
 " Children are not born so entirely without rights," 
 broke in Thekla, bitterly. " There must surely be 
 some responsibility at least between human beings." 
 
 " It is just that which we parents feel so sorely," 
 suddenly interposed Mrs. Borvig. " I think we may 
 say we pluck the down off our own breasts, so that 
 
NIOBE , loi 
 
 we almost lay ourselves bare, for every child we 
 have — stake our whole existence and happiness for 
 
 their sake It is, perhaps, only our instinct 
 
 so to speak And when our children reason 
 
 about it, and ask us why the world which they have 
 come into is as it is, we have only our worn-out souls 
 and bodies to answer with, my dear Thekla," said 
 Mrs. Borvig, her voice trembling with suppressed 
 emotion. 
 
 Minka glided hastily across the room, sat down 
 behind her mother's chair, and threw her arms 
 passionately round her mother's neck. 
 
 " There, there, mother," said the doctor in a play- 
 ful tone. " Don't take it so much to heart. You 
 know children are such cannibals." 
 
 While it rained and dripped continuously outside, 
 the conversation later in the t^yilight turned upOn 
 the trousseau, which was discussed and settled with 
 the aid of Minka. 
 
 Thekla's dainty buttoned boots appeared now and 
 then in the gleam from the stove, as she swayed 
 backwards and forwards in her rocking-chair, on the 
 back of which Kjel's arm rested. Berthea lay on 
 her knees in front of the stove, keeping her eyes on 
 the apples she was roasting in the cinders, and from 
 time to time proffering opinions which she was sure 
 were of more value and importance than the others 
 seemed to think. 
 
 Over in the darkest part of the room, just behind 
 
102 NIOBB 
 
 the rocking-chair, Schulteiss, his hands behind him, 
 walked to and fro, his steps small and measured, 
 since there was only room for short turnings. 
 
 He was all ears, straining every nerve to glean 
 from the conversation any hint as to whether she had 
 really got permission to carry out this most fatal idea 
 of hers — to spend the winter in town under the in- 
 fluence of this Mr 
 
 Suddenly he turned round with a bright smile. 
 
 There was not a word about Minka's trip to town. 
 
V 
 
 KjEL was A popular fellow. He drove about with 
 his wife, paying visits, and the standing joke on 
 entering a house was always the same cheerful and 
 merry one : " New sledge, new bearskins, new 
 wife." He dared not say "new iilly," which on 
 the first occasion, in a moment of inspiration, 
 had almost escaped him. But the cream-coloured 
 mare had really only just been bought, and was, 
 besides, a trotter of which he need not be 
 ashamed — eight miles in three-quarters of an 
 hour ; only an hour and a half all the way to the 
 judge's. 
 
 The judge himself received them ceremoniously 
 and gallantly at the front door, offered Mrs. Kjel his 
 arm, escorted her to the sofa in the drawing-room, 
 brought out his best Madeira, and declared he would 
 have done the same if his clerk had been appointed 
 lord-lieutenant ; so what would he not do for a 
 young lady who had always been of the same 
 opinion as himself about the one idea which was 
 worth anything at all nowadays — cremation ? He 
 would now show her the statement of the expenses 
 
104 NIOBE 
 
 in four different countries, and the number of crema- 
 tions during the last year. *■ 
 
 On the various visits which Kjel and his wife 
 paid there was much stiffness and uneasiness at 
 first as to whether Thekla would be pleased 
 with her reception and the position assigned 
 her. It was not an easy thing — and it had to be 
 gone through in the same way as when a recruit 
 mounts his steed for the first time — to accustom the 
 ladies of the district to treat one who, only two 
 months before, had been a governess, as one who 
 was now their full equal in rank. The recollection 
 was too fresh, and their demeanour became some- 
 what severe and stiff, when the newly-made wife 
 determinedly, and as a matter of course made her 
 way to the sofa and nonchalantly seated herself. 
 
 Kjel would then, where it was convenient, have 
 his little private conference with the master of the 
 
 house Good opportunity to get money now, 
 
 if you want any, he would say with a good- 
 humoured wink — from my good friend the bank 
 director — a relative of my wife, by-the-by. He has 
 asked me to give him my opinion about the state of 
 affairs up here — the people's standing, of course .... 
 and a word from me .... of course, he would 
 prefer, he said, if I myself would back the bills, but, 
 no thank you, I am much obliged to him ; I under- 
 stand his little game. A sly, old fox, you see 
 
 Oh yes, I dare say, if he got me to back them .... 
 
NIOBE 105 
 
 but between you and me — a word of recommenda- 
 tion frotrt me would not be out of the way, just now 
 .... consequently I only recommend what is as 
 good as gold. And it isn't all bad gold that glitters, 
 eh .? Ah well, it was only a little friendly hint — 
 in case — you might possibly — well, you know now 
 what I can do." 
 
 With a certain superior, mystic, business air, they 
 would then return to the comfortable drawing-room, 
 where Thekla's presence undeniably had the effect 
 of a wet blanket upon the ladies, no less by her 
 fashionable toilette and » her long elegant gloves, 
 than by her superior dissertations on higher 
 subjects. 
 
 But Thekla never intended to yield to these 
 ladies ; she had quite made up her mind to come off 
 victorious in the struggle. 
 
 " My good parents believe, of course, that I have 
 been doing nothing but amuse myself the whole 
 time, eh ? " said K|el on one of his confidential 
 
 visits to his father and mother. " Not at all 
 
 I have got up a company for buying the whole of 
 the Black Forest — 4000 acres ! Don't be afraid, 
 mother ! — No, I am not in it, that is to say, if I 
 don't choose — I am helping some of the buyers to 
 
 get the money in town 1 prepare the possibility 
 
 no, I am not in it ... . there is only one 
 
 thing I have reserved myself — the trifling stipula- 
 tion, that all the timber shall be sawn at my mill — 
 
io6 NIOBE 
 
 just about 1500 dozen in the course of this and 
 next year." 
 
 " But this sounds well — quite sensible, Borvig," 
 exclaimed his mother suddenly, with tears in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Just listen to mother ! Now she lifts her eyes to 
 heaven because she has discovered that her son has 
 a bit of common sense in his skull." 
 
 " And no risk, Kjel .' " said his mother, trying 
 him once more. 
 
 " None at all, mother, only that I may count 
 
 upon double profit, when we get the railway ready. " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig wept. 
 
 " I was so much in need of some good news, my 
 dear boy," she sobbed, as she regained her com- 
 posure, and left the room. 
 
 " Mother has become so nervous, I must tell you, 
 Kjel," said the doctor, " we must spare her as much 
 as possible. 1 expect it is that delightful Mr. Endre, 
 
 who is worrying her to death I don't want 
 
 to ask her how much of the money, the two thou- 
 sand, she has left ; it might wound her feelings. 
 If you can find it out on the quiet, let me know ; 
 but not to-day — she cannot stand any more just 
 now." 
 
 " Tut, tut ! I suppose I could put a little towards 
 it. Things are surely not so bad that we can't 
 afford to keep one person going with so much a 
 month till we get some sort of result, father. He 
 
NIOBE 107 
 
 is mad, of course ! But his own family cannot very- 
 well consign him right off to the asylum, either, 
 without having had a fair trial. I am awfully sorry 
 
 for mother And she has such wonderful 
 
 judgment, too, when it comes to the point. For 
 instance, this about the Black Forest — she saw it at 
 once — in a moment ! " 
 
 " Well there, you see, Bente," said the doctor later 
 on, " was I right or not when I said that Kjel 
 would soon be himself again when he got married .'' 
 Now the mill is in full work, and the sawdust is fly- 
 ing right and left It's quite a pleasure to 
 
 stand here and look at the lights down there in the 
 evenings before one goes to bed." 
 
 "Yes, it really seems as if things are coming 
 right now," acquiesced his wife thoughtfully. 
 
 What with all sorts of parties and visiting, Kjel's 
 honeymoon lasted till the spring, when the snow 
 began to melt and the sledges could no longer be used. 
 
 The work on the new railway had already begun 
 on the other side of the river, and the whistle of the 
 locomotive could be heard in and out of season. 
 Short, shrill shrieks ; long continuous signalling ; the 
 low thunder of dynamite explosions, as if there was 
 always something amiss — disturbed the usual quiet- 
 ness of the district, and made people start up 
 nervously in their sleep at night. 
 
io8 NIOBE 
 
 Schulteiss could not tolerate all this screeching. 
 He would stop in the middle of the lessons, draw up 
 one leg and grin, as if the whining sounds went 
 through his bones and marrow. 
 
 How heartily he hated all this noise. He would 
 grind his teeth and press his nails into his hands. 
 
 Minka had become more regular all at once in 
 taking the morning walks which her father had so 
 strictly insisted upon. Schulteiss heard her down- 
 stairs early in the morning, as she put on the neat, 
 new goloshes, which Kjel had made her a present of, 
 and hurried out in her pretty cloak with a becoming 
 veil round her hat as a protection against freckles 
 and the weather. She would take her walks in 
 different directions, sometimes towards the sheriff's, 
 sometimes to the tenant's settlements in the forest, 
 or down towards the saw-mill. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, Schulteiss, with the cautious, 
 searching look of the sportsman, hurriedly descended 
 the front door steps. He crossed field after field ; 
 climbed along the hillsides, followed the path behind 
 the fence, or hurried across the doctor's m.oorland 
 property and round the hill behind the summer-house. 
 His object was to reach unseen a point from which 
 he could command a view of Minka's movements. 
 For whatever direction she took, her walk invariably 
 brought her into the main road leading to the rail- 
 way bridge. 
 
 This had been her walk every morning for the 
 
NIOBE 109 
 
 last week, and she had always been so anxious to 
 have Berthea with her. It was only since the day 
 before yesterday, when Mr. Varberg had appeared at 
 the end of the bridge and so gallantly conducted 
 them on their way home, that she found it necessary 
 for her health to rise so early that her sister did not 
 care to accompany her. 
 
 And sure enough — his sharp eyes never deceived 
 him — Mr. Varberg was there to-day also to meet 
 her. He had come from some place near the bridge 
 and was now walking back with her. 
 
 Yes — ^just so far, that they could not be seen from 
 the windows at Elvsset — so far and no farther .... 
 strange to say, exactly to that point — he could 
 even lay down the line. ..... 
 
 And there they remained standing — why didn't 
 they go another twenty or thirty paces, right up to 
 the gate .' — There they would apparently have re- 
 mained, if Miss Minka — fortunately for the sake of 
 propriety — had hot been obliged to be home so 
 punctually at eight o'clock to pour out the tea at 
 breakfast. 
 
 With long strides he walked homewards to be able 
 to meet her, as if by accident, in the hall or on the 
 steps, and anxiously read or guess from her myste- 
 rious, sparkling eyes and animated face, whether it 
 was to be the path — the one leading straight down to 
 
 the river — that he must take He saw it as plainly 
 
 as if it were an inky line across the snow, going 
 
no NIOBE 
 
 straight, direct towards the whitish-greenish pieces 
 of ice, which in their half-melted condition were 
 floating down with the stream, passing over the in- 
 scrutable darkness below them. 
 
 Afterwards he went on with his studies up in his 
 room, irritably clawing the backs of his hands. . . . 
 Had anything happened .'.... Was she lost to 
 him .... or only on the way to become so ? .... 
 He gave himself up to wild, furious ravings, while 
 pacing up and down the room. He would .... he 
 would .... 
 
 In the afternoon Minka stole up to the yellow 
 drawing-room. She stood by the furthermost window, 
 from whence she could see the light, grey cutting on 
 
 the railway over there Varberg had taken up 
 
 his quarters only about two miles to the south on a 
 farm by the river. 
 
 She listened and listened She gave a start 
 
 every time the steam whistle shrieked through the 
 air. It seemed to convey mystical messages to her — 
 Shrill hisses . „ . . sharp, short blasts .... long 
 melancholy wailings .... sudden, wild threaten- 
 ings, impregnated by a strong will, which impelled 
 
 irresistibly It hissed and wheezed maliciously, 
 
 virulently, scoffiiigly — wiih long drawn-out echoings. 
 
 When the shriekings broke into deep, long, mono- 
 tonous dronings,- she listened in a pale ecstasy 
 
 It was his will which built a bridge through the 
 air across to her. She saw it weaving itself into a 
 
NIOBE III 
 
 fine network of gossamer — across which she had to 
 walk on the strength of his will alone — on higher 
 and higher arches through the air. 
 
 The sound rose into a wild, anxious shriek, and 
 then suddenly all was quiet 
 
 It was her fault. She was not a sufficiently good 
 medium .... was unable to receive the whole of 
 his will 
 
 Far below, the black foaming river rushed wildlyon. 
 
 She must again venture further out on this bridge 
 of will ; for the shriek arose again, shrill, impelling, 
 dominating. 
 
 She was floating, floating — till she suddenly, and 
 to her great horror, discovered that she no longer 
 belonged to herself, that she was passing over into 
 another's — into his entity and will .... vanishing, 
 losing her soul — inexorably, irrevocably. 
 
 She saw his face, with the veiled, mysterious smile 
 of yesterday, which told so surely that his was the 
 power 
 
 Soon after dinner Varberg came suddenly into the 
 room, where Mrs. Borvig and Minka were sitting, 
 and asked for the doctor, who he knew was expected 
 home. One of his workmen had injured himself and 
 required the doctor's attention. 
 
 He looked about — as if he wanted to see through 
 the open door into the dining-room — to ascertain, of 
 course, if Thekla was there. How tiresome that he 
 
112 NIOBB 
 
 could not tolerate her, thought Minka. But she under- 
 stood him so little really. And, besides, she had 
 changed a good deal, and was now married and quite 
 taken up with the importance of her new position. 
 
 He would wait, he said, till the doctor came — but 
 did not wijh to disturb them. He asked Mrs. Borvig 
 for permission to sit and read the papers meanwhile 
 .... Now and then he pulled out a memorandum 
 book and began some calculations, his thoughts 
 apparently busily engaged on the work going on over 
 at the railway. 
 
 Berthea came and whispered a message to her 
 mother, who rose and left the room. 
 
 Minka knew that Berthea and Massy would be 
 on the watch in the other room, and that it was only 
 a stratagem of Berthea's to get her mother out. 
 Her vivacious mind was full of wild ideas. She had 
 become so remarkably considerate in not pressing her 
 company upon Minka in the mornings. 
 
 The door in the other room opened, and the 
 cautious steps of a man were heard crossing the 
 floor .... 
 
 Ugh ! was Schulteiss about again with his un- 
 bearable jealousy ? 
 
 She would have risen, but was prevented by 
 Varberg's eyes, which became involuntarily fixed 
 upon her while busy with his calculations .... 
 They gazed thoughtfully and intensely at her, with 
 a blue-greyish light glimmering from far within 
 
NIOBE 113 
 
 them — they fixed themselves repeatedly upon her, 
 each time for longer and longer. 
 
 The memorandum book lay upon the table in a 
 gleam of sunlight, his hand with the pencil resting 
 upon it ... . The look was so absent-minded and 
 absorbed that she could not evade it. It was as if 
 it came from his dream-life to something far within 
 herself Her eyes followed his powerless hand. It 
 seemed as if the pencil began to trace characters — to 
 write slowly — letter after letter .... till at last 
 they became a whole line in large, plain writing, and, 
 as if by a jerk, the hand was carried back. A new 
 line was begun and again a new one .... 
 
 Everything within her seemed to become paralysed 
 by a drowsiness — from which she could not possibly 
 rouse herself .... the letters swam before her on 
 the table, becoming larger and plainer, as if she 
 were looking through some bewildering magnifying- 
 glass. She thought she saw a grey, misty hand 
 in the gleam of sunlight stretched towards the 
 pencil .... 
 
 Without knowing it she moved towards him and 
 looked over his shoulders. 
 
 She read : 
 
 " Your spirit speaks with hers of that which' you 
 do not yourselves understand." 
 
 She looked into the wonderful depth of his 
 sparkling eyes ; she felt him putting his arm round 
 her waist and pulling her down on his lap — and 
 
 H 
 
H4 NIOBE 
 
 before she could prevent it, he had pressed a 
 passionate kiss on her lips. 
 
 Taken thus by surprise, she stared in consterna- 
 tion at him, trying to discover — as if by a sudden 
 flash of magnesium light — by his face and person, if 
 he — he really were the man she would give herself 
 up to. The half- playful, self-confident smile, which 
 rested upon her, filled her with fear. 
 
 Like a sudden panic the feeling of fear came again 
 upon her, she felt that she was losing her own in- 
 dividuality — being mysteriously bound by some 
 compact which lay outside her will and power. 
 
 She pushed him from her with a slight scream 
 and a bewildered look towards the door. At the 
 same moment she heard her mother's step outside, 
 and hastily sat down at the work-table, red and 
 excited, bending her head over her. sewing. 
 
 In her confusion and fear that her mother might 
 have noticed something, she scarcely had time to 
 wonder at his audacity and self-possession, as he, 
 coolly and unconcernedly, turned half round to 
 Mrs. Borvig, his eyes apparently fixed on his memo- 
 randum book, and said with a veiled, tremulous look 
 at Minka : 
 
 " I have made good use of my time, Mrs. Borvig ; 
 I have finished the whole calculation for one of the 
 railway curves north of this place." 
 
 While Mrs. Borvig was busy preserving straw- 
 
NIOBE 115 
 
 berries in the afternoon, her mind was filled with 
 anxious thoughts about Minka. 
 
 She was altogether too easy of approach. One 
 burning interest succeeded another. Apparently she 
 had now lost all inclination for writing, and all her 
 ambition in that direction seemed to be gone .... 
 These visits of Varberg to the family, which became 
 more and more frequent, might easily lead to some- 
 thing else .... he was not exactly the one she 
 would have liked for Minka — he did not give the 
 impression of being one who would sacrifice much 
 in his relations with one. Not exactly gentle or 
 pliable .... But he was, at any rate, a clever^ 
 energetic young man .... and honestly and wholly 
 
 infatuated by these spiritualistic ideas But 
 
 Minka would never find any one who cared so much 
 for her as poor, poor Schulteiss. 
 
 The doctor was long in returning. He must have 
 gone to attend some other patient, so Varberg 
 remained through the evening, deeply absorbed in 
 spiritualistic conversation with Minka. 
 
 Schulteiss was the restless spirit in the room. 
 He glided in and out, obstinately maintaining an 
 antipathetic silence towards Varberg, who, evidently 
 guessing what was passing in Schulteiss' mind, 
 amused himself and egged him on by becoming 
 doubly attentive and communicative to Minka. 
 
 Schulteiss was not to be deceived. He had a 
 presentiment that something was in the air 
 
ii6 NIOBE 
 
 These strange answers that Minka gave Varberg — 
 it really seemed as if the two were carrying on a 
 deeply interesting guerrilla warfare with one another. 
 .... One moment she would look at him as if 
 offended, the next as if defying him — and there could 
 be no mistake about it — her hand trembled and she 
 changed colour, as with an affected air she handed 
 him his tea-cup. 
 
 Since early in the afternoon Schulte'iss' irritability 
 had been steadily increasing. He would — quite 
 unconcernedly, quite dispassionately, and as if it were 
 nothing, to him — intellectually reduce, crush, this 
 insignificant being .... right before Minka's eyes, 
 expose this preaching lady-hypnotiser, who was 
 sitting there holding forth before the whole family 
 upon phenomena and possibilities in the mystic 
 world, as dryly, curtly and obviously, as if he were 
 
 discussing doorposts and windows But there 
 
 should be an end to this ! . . . . 
 
 " Pardon me," he began suddenly in a savage 
 tone, with a wild gleam in his eyes, " I believe that 
 you, Mr. Varberg, may personally be in possession 
 of both magnetic and hypnotic powers — which, by- 
 the-by, a good many possess. For instance, my 
 eyes have a certain power . . . ." here he gave a 
 keen glance at Minka, " but a deeper, scientific — 
 
 pardon me if I have my doubts As it happens, 
 
 I have given this subject some attention ; and I may 
 say that you cannot get to the bottom of it quite off- 
 
NIOBE 117 
 
 hand — profitable though it may be to popularity- 
 professors " 
 
 " I bow to your superior wisdom, Mr. Schulteiss," 
 retorted Varberg in a sarcastic tone, without allow- 
 ing himself to be interrupted in his discourse. " We 
 are in the midst of researches about a still more far- 
 reaching struggle for life than has hitherto been 
 heard of," he continued. " The stronger compels ] 
 the weaker, independent of space, by will-power 
 alone " 
 
 Minka felt his glance through the twilight to 
 where she sat in the shadow of the stove. 
 
 " H'm, h'm ! " began Schulteiss in a whining 
 voice, " we shall then have quite a fantastic belief in 
 spiritualism — founded on a science of nerve 
 physiology." 
 
 " I refer exclusively to the facts we get, Mr. 
 Schulteiss — by scientific methods. If the experiment 
 shows me an Indian, I believe it is an Indian," and if 
 it reveals a spirit to me, I do not flinch from that 
 fact either." 
 
 " Pardon me," said Schulteiss, bowing and smiling 
 sardonically and jerking his neck in remonstrance, 
 "this scientific method of obtaining results depends 
 altogether upon who it is that experiments. In the 
 hands of the faddist it is apt to bring forth a whole 
 world of ghostly Indians." He looked across at 
 Minka to see if he made any impression on her. 
 " Ghosts with all sorts of heads and tails which,' I 
 
ii8 NIOBE 
 
 believe, has been the case And believers 
 
 there are always in plenty — imagination appeals, as 
 you know, to imagination, Mr. Varberg — it spreads 
 like fire, till it becomes a spiritual epidemic 
 altogether. We shall have witches and sorcerers in 
 our daily life, an abundance of lay-preachers for the 
 cause, and all sorts, of magnetically gifted capacities, 
 who perform wonders on neryous people, and 
 especially on ladies undergoing hypnotic treatment. 
 .... Most dangerous individuals, Mr. Varberg." 
 
 " I'll only remark," retorted Varberg flippantly, 
 with suppressed rage, "that psychic energy is the 
 latest great discovery of mankind. Compared with 
 this power, that of steam and electricity count for 
 nothing." 
 
 Schulteiss turned suddenly round and looked 
 ironically at him through half-closed eyes. 
 
 " I have read it — read it — hee, hee ! — all in the 
 introduction to three spiritualistic works — the self- 
 same expressions, Mr. Varberg. Exactly the same 
 words — about these supernatural wonders of our will, 
 .... they always prove effective to the gallery. 
 .... But that which science establishes cannot 
 eo ipso be beyond our means of understanding, which, 
 as experiments show, can only be our perception 
 of the material. An immaterial spirit finds itself 
 absolutely outside the line, Mr. Varberg. I may 
 possibly believe in its existence, but shall never be 
 able to perceive it with my senses." 
 
NIOBB 119 
 
 " You can even photograph it," Varberg informed 
 him, in a weary, indifferent voice. 
 
 " Excuse me, if I permit myself on this point also 
 to go somewhat deeper into the subject, Mr. Varberg. 
 . . . There is really no rational objection to being 
 able to photograph our ideas. Memory is, we know, 
 a photographic apparatus, full of pictures in layers, 
 so to speak, which the imagination creates and 
 which photography ought to be able to reproduce, if 
 they were only sufficiently intense. The Icelanders 
 see in their ' Skinlseka ' the image of an absent one. 
 If you are thinking of any one who is on the point of 
 
 death, he will appear to you It is all energetic 
 
 will-currents, which we must presume by some 
 unknown law or other, like electricity, transmit the 
 conceptions independent of our usual conception of 
 time and space. But science — science, Mr. Varberg 
 — knows nothing whatever about ghosts, or ghosts 
 which write. It still abides by the probability that 
 these phenomena are due to our own unconscious 
 production." 
 
 " You speak like a well-trained university professor 
 Mr. Schulteiss. But you see, the age of doctrines 
 and pedagogues . . . ." 
 
 " You mean popularised science, ha ha ! . ... 
 So psychic power is a new discovery ! " 
 
 Schulteiss stopped again suddenly in the middle 
 of the room. "As if all mythology and the Bible 
 are not full of it ! ... . ApoUonius of Tyana, 
 
120 NIOBE 
 
 Alexander Aboniticus, and a whole series of miracle- 
 mongers about the time of Christ You should 
 
 study those things, Mr. Varberg, and you would 
 be surprised to find what antiquated experiences 
 people now permit themselves to dish up as new — 
 quite brand new — not to mention the account of Simon 
 Magus, which, of course, you know .... Eh ! — 
 you don't i" — He's mentioned, among other places, in 
 the Acts of the Apostles, Acta Apostolorum .' . . ." 
 
 Schulteiss looked around him with an air of self- 
 satisfaction and enjoyment, feeling that in the eyes 
 of Minka he had come off victorious ; his falsetto 
 voice, and the numerous positions he assumed became 
 more and more ridiculous. 
 
 " He could, according to the testimonies of that 
 time, perform all miracles, appear in different places 
 at the same time, see what happened afar off, 
 vanish before the eyes of his judges, and so forth 
 and so forth. When he began preaching false 
 doctrines St. Peter followed him, according to Bible 
 history, to Rome, to take up his stand against him. 
 There Simon Magus ascended into the air, before 
 Emperor Nero's eyes — the same trick, by-the-by, 
 which the Indian fakirs perform. But it goes on to 
 say, that when St. Peter prayed against him and 
 defeated him by his higher power, he was dashed to 
 
 the ground and perished And then to give 
 
 out — to cram down our throats, to trumpet forth as 
 something new — that power which Christ, eighteen 
 
NIOBE 121 
 
 years ago characterised as the one which could move 
 mountains " 
 
 Confident of having triumphed, Schulteiss paced 
 up and down the room with long demonstrative 
 strides, his half-closed eyes fixed on the ceiling. 
 
 Varberg was becoming exasperated, but smiled 
 derisively at Schulteiss' figure and movements, which 
 he appeared to follow with some surprise. 
 
 " Really," continued Schukeigsfin a voice quivering 
 with contempt, " I must call it a shallow, most 
 commonplace sign of the times, Mr. Varberg — this 
 general gambolling in devil-worship and spirit in- 
 cantations, and mystic superstition, which, in the 
 exciting times when any new doctrine has been 
 -preached, has always played such a rdle in the 
 imagination of the half-cultured .... I would not — 
 I do not refer to any one in particular ; I only refer 
 to the movement itself," he shouted. " I would not 
 really condescend to throw myself into this common 
 — vulgar — ephemeral wave of excitement — and be 
 polluted, drowned — driven to suicide . . . ." He 
 bent his knees and looked up at the ceiling, as if to 
 represent the act of hanging himself. 
 
 Varberg leant back comfortably in his chair, as if 
 he was thoroughly enjoying the comedy. His 
 critical reflections betrayed themselves from time to 
 time in a look, full of pent-up raillery, which he shot 
 across at Minka and Berthea. 
 
 " Most interesting . , . . a jealous philosopher 
 
122 NIOBE 
 
 .... passionately jealous," he began to mutter 
 mockingly. " I mean, of course, from a scientific 
 standpoint," he corrected himself, with an insolent 
 twinkle in his ej'es. " ' The jealous philosopher,' a 
 splendid title for a play . . . ." He smiled pro- 
 vokingly at Minka, as if he had no doubt whatever 
 of her — the pupil's — enthusiastic blind admiration for 
 the teacher, and that she might also have her part 
 to play in it. 
 
 " Before I would join in this blind, idiotic dance 
 of the masses, this can-can," .... began Schulteiss 
 again, as he tripped across the room, and finished 
 with a kick. 
 
 " Could you not deliver your discourses without 
 accompanying them with dancing as well .' " burst 
 out Minka, as she jumped up and impatiently 
 pushed back her chair, " I really cannot stand 
 it " 
 
 Schulteiss stopped suddenly, and stared at her 
 with a bewildered expression, as if he had fallen 
 from his pinnacle, and were sinking slowly through 
 infinite space. His expression became confused, 
 almost idiotic ; he had evidently some difficulty in 
 taking in the situation. 
 
 " I maintain — maintain my standpoint ! " he 
 shrieked, quite beside himself with sudden passion 
 and shaking his clenched fists threateningly. 
 
 No one answered, and he stood staring and look- 
 ing about him in painful silence 
 
NIOBE 123 
 
 With a shy look at Minka, he stammered almost 
 inaudibly : 
 
 " I understand .... I shall not — inconvenience 
 you with my presence.'' 
 
 He gave Varberg a scornful infuriated look, and 
 went fumbling his way out of the room. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig followed close behind him up the 
 stairs. 
 
 " Mr. Schulteiss, Mr. Schulteiss — you must not take 
 it so to heart." 
 
 He did not hear; he rushed into his room, and 
 threw himself on his face on the bed. 
 
 " Mr. Schulteiss, I tell you, you must not take it 
 so seriously — ^you must not take any notice of an 
 over-hasty word." 
 
 Schulteiss buried his face in the pillow. 
 
 " You, who understand so well how to speak for 
 yourself" 
 
 His deformed back shook with convulsive jerks, 
 while stifled, smothered sounds like suppressed sobs 
 were heard from the pillow ; they increased more 
 and more, till they rose to a wild howl. Mrs. Borvig 
 sat down on the edge of his bed and took his hand, 
 which lay back, and held it in hers. 
 
 " You take it far too much to heart — " she said, 
 when there was a moment's silence. " You — who 
 had such superior arguments — and came off un- 
 doubtedly the best." 
 
 No answer. 
 
124 NIOBE 
 
 " I assure you — I thought from the beginning that 
 
 you were completely master of the subject 
 
 The fact is, that you had the better of the argument 
 altogether, Mr. Schulteiss." 
 
 Schulteiss groaned and turned his head a little. 
 
 " Ah, so you are good enough to say, Mrs. 
 Borvig. . . . ." 
 
 He wanted to bury his head in the pillow again, 
 but Mrs. Borvig patted him comfortingly on the 
 shoulder. 
 
 Her touch had a sudden effect upon him, and he 
 immediately sat up on the side of the bed. 
 
 " Your opinion, Mrs. Borvig — you are the person 
 I have most respect for in the world .... forgive 
 me, excuse me " 
 
 " I can also tell you," she said, rising, " that this 
 is really Minka's opinion as well." 
 
 " Do you think so ? . . . . Do you really believe it. 
 possible, Mrs. Borvig .■'.... 
 
 " I could see quite well what she was thinking, 
 during the discussion," she persisted. 
 
 " Did you notice — did you see Mrs. Borvig — that 
 she ? " 
 
 " There can be no doubt about that, Mr. Schulteiss." 
 
 " You believe, Mrs. Borvig, that Minka really — 
 that she at least appreciated — I mean, partly shared 
 my views ? " 
 
 " I am quite sure of it, Mr. Schulteiss." 
 
 " I will confide to you, Mrs. Borvig, that I have 
 
NIOBE 125 
 
 purposely availed myself of every opportunity to 
 undermine this Mr. Varberg's pernicious influence 
 
 upon Minka's nerves No good character 
 
 either .... quite a suspicious . . . ." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig stood as if she was thoughtfully con- 
 sidering. 
 
 " You have had your large share in Minka's 
 education a^ well, Mr. Schulteiss. I do not know if 
 you feel as I do — that we have been a little too 
 
 sure about her — that she still is ours It is 
 
 foolish, I know ; still I seem to dread the time when 
 
 she will be separated from me And I 
 
 thought that you, Mr. Schulteiss, might understand 
 
 this I often think to myself that I must not 
 
 be too selfish. — I must accustom myself in time to 
 meet the inevitable " 
 
 He tried to fathom what her meaning might be, 
 and his face gradually assumed a grotesque expres- 
 sion of dismay. 
 
 " But Minka — Minka," he exclaimed passionately. 
 . . . . " It must not be forgotten — or overlooked, 
 that she is in every respect an exceptional person, 
 over whom a protecting hand must be held — one 
 who must be carefully guarded. — A peculiar, highly 
 sensitive and tender nature — one in a thousand 
 .... so susceptible to every impression, so easily 
 guided .... truly a phenomenal faculty for ab- 
 sorbing all the ideas of th^ day .... a sublime, 
 precious quality. But dangerous — that is her great. 
 
126 NIOBE 
 
 great danger, which cannot have escaped your 
 motherly eye .... which subjects her for a time 
 — certainly only for a time — to be deceived by 
 every phenomenon which knows how to surround 
 itself with an ideal nimbus. I see the abyss yawn- 
 ing beneath her unsuspecting step and that 
 
 I, to-day, like a Curtius, blind to my own destruc- 
 tion, precipitated myself into it. — I dp not regret it 
 — I would throw myself a thousand times into it, if 
 I could open her eyes." He stretched out his 
 arms wildly. " This Mr. Varberg — a superficial 
 humbug ! " 
 
 "Yes, I know you mean it so well, Mr. Schul- 
 
 teiss A mother's and a spiritual teacher's lot 
 
 is no better, — to be resigned^ — to live in the 
 memory .... of what good we may have done to 
 her . . . one has to make up one's mind for 
 that." 
 
 She spoke sadly, as if seeking to find comfort in 
 view of the fate that might befall them both. 
 
 She had almost got outside the door, when she 
 returned, and said, in an admonishing tone : 
 
 " I am thinking, Mr. Schulteiss, that you are 
 really a little too careless about your appearance. 
 I know, of course, you do not trouble yourself about 
 such things, and consider yourself above them. But 
 for all that, you must take a little pride in yourself. 
 .... I have a nice red necktie in my chest of 
 drawers, which Borvig will not use — he doesn't like 
 
NIOBE 127 
 
 the colour. You must wear it, Mr. Schulteiss ; it 
 will just suit you, quite splendidly. . . . I'll send 
 it up to you." 
 
 The door closed. 
 
 Schulteiss took a few turns, as if undecided, but 
 stopped, with pursed lips, in front of the little 
 japanned looking-glass, pulled his collar up around 
 his neck, righted himself, raised his chin, buttoned 
 up his coat, and then again unbuttoned it. . 
 
 It is bright colours one ought to wear ! . . . . 
 Mrs. Borvig saw that at once — red — blood-red, 
 radical — harmonising at once both with one's person 
 and one's views. ... So much depends on one's 
 appearance to attract attention and captivate the 
 imagination 
 
 With perpetual changes of necktie and collar, 
 there then followed a series of facial expressions — 
 pathetically threatening, intelligently refined, 
 cunningly insinuating and sarcastic, stately superior, 
 Napoleonically abrupt — now and then accompanied 
 by gesticulations and half-audible exclamations ; 
 " Ghostly Indians ! . . . . hypnotising lady practi- 
 tioners ! . . . . Ah, ha 1 Some one did strike home 
 — expose this superficial ignorance .... thrust 
 the steel home .... a deathly thrust .... in 
 the most vulnerable part ! " 
 
VI 
 
 " Is he still asleep, Bente ? " 
 
 " No, Endre is up," Mrs: Borvig answered, some- 
 what hesitatingly. 
 
 " A pleasant surprise, isn't it, to have one's eldest 
 son return home after such a successful career ? . . . . 
 No, no; I do not blame you in any way, Bente ! The 
 unfortunate two thousand cfowns you are thinking 
 of are, after all, a small matter. You will, of course, 
 have to add to that all the unpaid bills which are 
 
 sure to follow him It is just a mother like 
 
 you that such a son worries to death — utilises to the 
 last thread." 
 
 " I ought to tell you, Borvig, that" I had a long 
 talk with him last night. He said he was so un- 
 happy, and specially on our account, because he had 
 been such a drain on our purse and disappointed us 
 so much.'' 
 
 " Yes ; that sort of person is always so willing to 
 acknowledge his sins and trespasses .... is never 
 ashamed to avow his own unworthiness." 
 
 " Do not be so hard on him, Borvig. He wants 
 to work — to get some teaching to do, until he can 
 
NIOBE 129 
 
 find some position. He is not blind ; he looks upon 
 himself as one who has gone through bankruptcy 
 and only wants to save the wreck. With his talent 
 for singing he thinks he will be able, without much 
 difficulty, to succeed as an actor. He says it has 
 always been his dramatic talent, more than his sing- 
 ing, which has been appreciated." 
 
 " Indeed ! An actor is it to be now 1 Ha, ha, ha ! " 
 laughed the doctor, walking across the room, panting 
 with excitement. 
 
 " Let us remember that he does not care for drink, 
 that he is very sober and abstemious," interposed his 
 wife. 
 
 "What I know, I know, my dear Bente .... a 
 chronic condition of nervous debility with an excited 
 
 imagination In my time they took to drink. 
 
 Nowadays they are the victims of their ever-changing 
 fixed ideas. The old roving, drunken geniuses over 
 again, only in a new form ! They all lack the one 
 necessary thing — the will to work, tp_ be doing 
 something. They return home to the paternal roof 
 at regular intervals, as regular as clockwork, minus 
 clothes and health, each time to be fitted out anew, 
 encouraged, and set on their legs again. I know it, 
 
 I know it all, Bente The time is long gone 
 
 by when they could walk about, acting the interesting 
 prodigal genius on the strength of it. Now we have 
 
 registered it as an established disease Such 
 
 fellows you'll find knocking about in most families." 
 
13° NIOBE 
 
 " I think you are trying to frighten the life out of 
 me, Borvig. Endre hasn't quite come to that, thank 
 God. When he gets into regular work and routine 
 again, then " 
 
 The doctor gave her a peculiar, hurried look. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! When the fellow finds there is work, 
 then — h'm Ah, well, try it. Under the circum- 
 stances it's the only thing to be done. Mend and 
 
 dress him up — arrange it all for him But 
 
 don't mix me up in it By-the-by, Bente, let 
 
 him have his breakfast before he comes to me." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig looked dubiously at him. 
 
 " I do not want any of his candour or confessions 
 of frailty, you understand. If once he gets the 
 privilege of being considered an object of pity, to 
 drift about like some helpless, leaky boat — well, then," 
 he said, with a flourish of his hand, "the game is 
 up." ■ 
 
 As his wife went out, the doctor heard Kjel's 
 voice in the dining-room, saying : 
 
 " Well, isn't the genius coming down .' It will be 
 jolly to see him again." 
 
 Then followed greetings and welcomings, in the 
 midst of which Kjel's loud voice could be heard, as 
 he chatted away in brotherly good humour. 
 
 The doctor was turning over the pages of a 
 magazine, dipping his pen in the ink and putting it 
 aside again. 
 
 There was a knock, and the door opened slowly. 
 
NIOBE 131 
 
 " Hope I do not disturb you, father Well, 
 
 here I am." 
 
 " I wish you welcome home." 
 
 " Well, I've not exactly come back with laurels 
 this time," said Endre, as he quietly took a seat, 
 " but you must bear with me a little longer." 
 
 " Laurels — laurels .'.... Good heavens, I never 
 expected anything so grand of you, my boy. Laurels ! 
 Why, there are only one or two in the country who 
 can hope for them." 
 
 Endre drew himself up, showing his long, elegant 
 figure to advantage, and ran his fingers through his 
 beautiful dark hair. 
 
 " Well, after all, one ought not to boast of what 
 one has not got." 
 
 " It strikes me you had better drop these high 
 and lofty airs now, Endre. Be sensible and practical, 
 my boy, as matters now stand." 
 
 " Yes, of course, father. You mustn't think I 
 don't see that," burst out Endre, passionately. " If 
 you only knew how many a night I have been lying 
 awake thinking and measuring my abilities and 
 chances — I have cried and been in such despair, 
 that " 
 
 " Wellj I too was in despair when I had spent all 
 my money, two years before I took my degree. But 
 then, I knew that no one else would pay for me, 
 that I had better pull myself together and earn the 
 money myself First of all, I got into an office 
 
132 ' NIOBE 
 
 where I had to slave ten hours a day, and after- 
 wards I went out as tutor. The last thing I dreamt 
 of doing was to grumble and complain of my lot." 
 
 " If you think I come here begging you make a 
 mistake, father. I would rather starve, rather break 
 stones," said Endre, starting up and clenching his 
 fists. 
 
 " I should like to see that you were man enough, 
 Endre, to make an effort and become economically, 
 independent. For talking and prating and all that 
 sort of thing .... Well, what are you thinking of 
 doing .?....! can tell you I am not able to give 
 you any further support. I have got too much upon 
 my hands already, and Arnt and your sisters have 
 also to be helped on in the world." 
 
 " I have never asked any such thing of you, father." 
 
 "What do you mean by saying you have never 
 asked any such thing of me — directly after you have 
 had twenty thousand odd crowns out of us } Are you 
 mad, or is all you say mere empty talk ? Have you 
 never asked for anything ? " 
 
 " I mean not now." 
 
 " Yes, by heavens, but you do ask now. Your 
 mother will have to sew and stitch for you, and I'll 
 have to find clothes for your back. Why can't you 
 be straightforward ? " 
 
 Endre stuck his eyeglass in position, and. placed 
 one leg over the other, apparently reviewing the situa- 
 tion in great surprise. 
 
NIOBE 133 
 
 " H'm ! — all this sounds very much like a tailor's 
 bill .... It only wants the items for needles and 
 thread" .... 
 
 " Quite so ; even they must be bought. One does 
 not get anything for nothing .... I suppose 
 it is I who will have to work for it." 
 
 " I understand — the prodigal son must again be 
 put through the full confession of sins, wade through 
 his moral A B C in tears" .... 
 
 " Again .' — as if he had ever attempted anything 
 of the kind." 
 
 ". . . . Be bent and twisted — and forced — tor- 
 tured into domestic pettiness — for edification and 
 repentance. How much this button and that patch 
 cost." 
 
 " Not forgetting to take your mother into consider- 
 ation, Endre, who will have to do all the work and 
 sewing for you." 
 
 " Have done — spare me, father .... Are we 
 now to be sentimental as well ? " burst out Endre 
 excitedly, his voice quivering and his face growing 
 darker. "I think you have been piling on the agony 
 enough .... You have seen me sufficiently crushed 
 and humiliated at your feet .... It almost borders 
 on ... . And then my own mother ! . . . . Not 
 even hesitate to use that weapon .... To drag 
 her across my conscience as if she sat in utter 
 despair stitching and crying and ruining her health 
 sewing till her fingers bled. It is a little too 
 
134 i<itosn 
 
 pathetic, father — over a pair of trousers ! — If 
 it only were not so terrible to think of . . . ." 
 
 "Well, father, you are right this time. I admit 
 you are right. But if you think to cow me, crush 
 me, exterminate that in me which is called ambition 
 — the feeling that I possess talent, that I am an 
 artist, in order to make me earn my bread in some 
 practical way — then you are greatly mistaken in me. 
 I know I have ability ; I will not let myself be 
 trodden under foot." 
 
 " No, no, do not let yourself be trodden under 
 foot .... you shall have board and lodging here 
 this summer and clothes and your travelling expenses ; 
 in other words all those little insignificant trifles you 
 will want in order to show yourself again in the 
 world." 
 
 " You mean humiliated, bereft of all self-respect — 
 thanks." 
 
 " In short, my boy, will you have it or will you 
 not have it .' I suppose you do not expect that I shall 
 fit you out with the necessary self-respect as well." 
 
 " You do not understand the feelings of an artist, 
 father ; you twist my words about." 
 
 " Be good enough to answer me in plain language. 
 Do you accept or do you not accept .' I am really 
 mean enough to consider it as a gift — to think it 
 worth something. If you can get along without my 
 help, it will be a great relief to me." 
 
 Endre stared resignedly at the floor. 
 
NIOBE 135 
 
 " Many an artist has been obliged to fight the 
 way for his talent under insulting, mortifying circum- 
 stances — like a mother who strives for her child, who 
 does not hesitate to starve or suffer humiliation for 
 it," exclaimed Endre greatly excited, his voice 
 trembling with emotion. 
 
 " Pooh ! . . . . All stuff and nonsense ! Isn't it 
 because you have not succeeded as a singer that you 
 have now come home ? What kind 'of an artist — 
 what child — are you talking about ? " 
 
 "My only mistake was in not knowing in what 
 direction my talent lay — in what particular line I 
 was an artist, father," he said with some assurance. 
 
 " Well, show it then in due course. But we two 
 must be agreed that for the present there is no 
 artist, no triumph to be proud of ! Only a mistaken 
 career to mourn over — and many wasted years, 
 which we would rather not speak about .... Now, 
 Endre, will it ever be possible to get you nailed 
 down to stern reality ? " 
 
 " Truly prosaic language, which it would be 
 difficult to equal, which sweeps away and uproots 
 both one's faith and hope. One is not Lkely to feel 
 encouraged to go in for anything after that." 
 
 "Surely you don't mean to say that the new 
 artist you have just discovered within you is also 
 dead "! All that you have been talking about — both 
 the one who was and the one who was to be, exists 
 only in your imagination .... Try for once to pull 
 
136 NIOBE 
 
 yourself together and make it clear to yourself, lad, 
 what you can do and what you cannot do. Try 
 seriously to discover whether you still have any ability 
 within you, and whether you possess will enough that 
 all shall not end in empty words and smoke .... I 
 propose, Endre," said the doctor thoughtfully, cutting 
 himself short, " that you take up some work for me, 
 so that you can say you are earning something and 
 paying for yoUr keep — only some copying out, nicely 
 done, you know — two pages every day from this 
 day-book. I cannot very well spare the time for it 
 myself Take it up with you to your room. But 
 you must show me what you have done every 
 Saturday morning — without my having to remind 
 you of it. Let this be a matter between our- 
 selves." 
 
 "You mustn't think, father," exclaimed Endre 
 warmly, "that I have no feelings — I see — I under- 
 stand that you mean well by me, although I do not 
 exactly " . . . . 
 
 "Tut, tut, tut .... no more prating .... go 
 away, my lad ; I am busy." 
 
 The doctor sat thouglitfully polishing his spec- 
 tacles, his face glistening with perspiration as he held 
 the glasses up against the light. 
 
 " Phew !".... He took his cap and went 
 outside and began talking to the farm servant about 
 the time the barley should be cut in the field below 
 the garden. 
 
NIOBE 137 
 
 He did not care to meet his wife, whom he knew 
 he should only be worrying ; and the sitting-room, 
 with Endre in it, had become unpleasant to him. 
 
 He heard the rumbling of wheels on the road, 
 and soon he saw Thekla driving up, and Massy, 
 Arnt, and Minka rushing out on the steps to meet 
 her. Thekla had lately been in the habit of driving 
 up the hill from the mill — in a month or two a 
 little heir was expected. 
 
 After having finished his talk about the barley, 
 he examined and gave orders with regard to a 
 couple of rotten laths in the garden fence, and then 
 proceeded to have a good look at that side of the 
 house where the gutter hung down broken. He 
 then walked into the garden, and poked with his 
 stick among the woodbine under the windows. 
 
 Kjel's jovial voice could now and then be heard 
 through the window ; he was evidently doing his 
 best to enliven the company. 
 
 Endre soon caught the infection, became quite 
 animated, and began what seemed to be a recitation. 
 
 Suddenly the doctor heard a moan and a cry — 
 and then something like a fall. 
 
 He rushed in, and was met in the doorway <by 
 Minka, who motioned him to be silent, and 
 whispered that Endre was playing Hamlet. 
 
 The doctor made a grimace, as if he had a bitter 
 taste in his mouth, stopped, and looked on. 
 
 There they were, with Kjel and Thekla, all sit- 
 
138 NIOBE 
 
 ting together as spectators, while Endre was lying 
 on the floor in a half-reclining attitude, whispering 
 with suppressed passion 
 
 Bitter irony could be traced in every word and 
 gesture. The feeling that he, notwithstanding all 
 his will and knowledge, was unable to do anything 
 great — the intelligent, sardonic despair at his own 
 impotence, trembled about his lips. There he lay 
 on the verge of an abyss, looking helplessly at them 
 with a quiet quivering smile — a wreck of intellectual 
 endowments. 
 
 The doctor's face showed signs of violent agita- 
 tion. Why, this was Endre himself — in all his 
 wretchedness ! . . . . 
 
 The doctor suddenly turned round, and drew his 
 wife away with him. 
 
 " Perhaps .... perhaps — you know, this looks 
 really something like We must certainly en- 
 courage him, help him a little You must try 
 
 to comfort him, poor fellow I say, he seemed 
 
 as if he were lying on burning coals." 
 
 " Oh, my God, what misery ! " burst out his wife. 
 
 " Now, now, mother .... we must help him, I 
 tell you — do our best to put some courage and con- 
 fidence into him. We must take him about a little 
 .... invite people here. It is we, first of all, who 
 should believe in him ; they must see that.'' 
 
 Kjel was out in the larder with his mother, eating 
 
NIOBE 139 
 
 with great relish some gingerbread freshly arrived 
 from town, and which he had spread with newly 
 churned butter — while a plate with the same deli- 
 cacy was being prepared for Thekla, who was rest- 
 ing on the sofa in the sitting-room. 
 
 While he was eating he chatted confidentially 
 about his brother. Endre had, of course a screw loose 
 — very loose indeed .... but what talent ! . . . . 
 He was, of course, to be pitied, but he shall not be 
 without some one to back him up. 
 
 " Well, the battle isn't lost yet It's awfully 
 
 nice, mother — and the butter churned to-day, isn't 
 it ? I think it will do Thekla good — she is very 
 fond of gingerbread — anything as long as there is 
 honey in it." 
 
 Berthea came running in. 
 
 " There is a telegraph messenger outside — with a 
 telegram." 
 
 " Let the man come in. He might have left it as 
 usual, down at the mill, I think, instead of following 
 at my heels. I want to be left in peace when I'm 
 up here." 
 
 Soon after the messenger appeared in the half- 
 open door, and Kjel, still busy eating, opened the 
 envelope with a kitchen knife. 
 
 He stared at the telegram for some time, then, 
 with an air of indifference, put it in his coat pocket. 
 
 It struck Mrs. Borvig that her son's face, as he 
 read the telegram, became, for the moment, over- 
 
140 NIOBE 
 
 shadowed with an expression of concern, but no 
 doubt it was only her usual anxiety 
 
 Kjel hastily swallowed his last bit of gingerbread 
 and took Thekla's plate. 
 
 "That's quite enough, mother. Thekla will not 
 
 be able to eat any more quite enough, I 
 
 assure you .... there, do let me take it 
 
 By-the-by, do you know what the telegram was all 
 about ? " he asked, abruptly. " It's from Wahl him- 
 self, the bank director — he's coming up here — wants 
 personally to investigate the state of affairs in the 
 district. We shall have to make some fuss over 
 him, you understand. — If necessary, you'll have to 
 invite him here as well. — He is coming straight to 
 me from the station. That will be about three, or 
 half-past." 
 
 Kjel looked hurriedly at his watch, and stood 
 ruminating a moment. 
 
 " Rather short notice that, .... but with my 
 mare, and father's kariol, I'll .... You must drive 
 Thekla home directly after dinner, mother," he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 Scarcely five minutes later the kariol rattled down 
 the road. 
 
 Just before noon, while in the middle of the last 
 lesson, Schulteiss, from the schoolroom window, saw 
 Kjel driving at a sharp trot down the hill, with reins 
 well held in. 
 
NIOBE 141 
 
 It did not interest him. He would have taken 
 more notice of a crow or a flying insect. 
 
 His reason for continually looking out of the 
 window was to ascertain if Varberg was now- 
 beginning to come there for dinner also — to be 
 formally admitted as an intimate friend of the 
 family. 
 
 Since last Monday, when he put in an appearance 
 so near the dinner hour that the doctor was obliged 
 to ask him to stay, the possibility of repetitions 
 had weighed anxiously on Schulteiss' mind. This 
 summer Varberg had, up to the present, limited his 
 visits to the hours when the family took coffee or 
 tea. These visits, however, invariably ended in those 
 interesting walks with Minka during which they 
 seemed to be so deeply absorbed in each other's 
 conversation. 
 
 It seemed that this gentleman no longer de- 
 sired a critical audience ; he rather avoided any 
 one who was likely to interrupt him in his ful- 
 minating and interesting outpourings from the spirit- 
 world 
 
 It was the impressionable womanly pupil — the 
 spiritually subjugated 'being — that he wanted to 
 secure in her — a medium for his experiments. 
 
 But he — Schulteiss — ^would not give in ; he would 
 tear her from the monster — would fight to the 
 last! 
 
 Did not he know her thoughts ? Did not he know 
 
142 NIOBB 
 
 her feelings. Could any one whisper or penetrate to 
 her heart as he ? She did not love Varberg. Why, 
 didn't she even hate him ? 
 
 He observed how, in spite of her fear and resis- 
 tance, she became overpowered — how she always 
 met Varberg in a strange, shy manner, yet constantly 
 followed him as if bereft of all will-power. And 
 afterwards, when he would suddenly, surprise these 
 hypnotised looks, it was always the same — over and 
 over again the same. . . . 
 
 She must be brought back to herself — out of this 
 terrible, erotic infatuation . . . she must see his — 
 h's — outstretched arms 
 
 Just then some one appeared down on the road — 
 some one who was continually swinging a thin 
 walking-stick. He stopped from time to time, and 
 looked about him. 
 
 Not Varberg ! 
 
 Ah ! — he breathed freely. 
 
 A young man. — Yes, he was coming towards the 
 doctor's. 
 
 Berthea quite accidentally ran against the new 
 arrival in the hall. 
 
 " May I see Mr. Endre Borvig .'.... My name 
 is Finsland — student Finsland. I hear that my 
 friend, Mr. Endre, is home again." 
 
 Berthea bowed in return, ran to the sitting-room 
 door to call Endre, and turned round again to the 
 stranger, saying graciously : 
 
NIOBE 143 
 
 "Won't you be good enough to walk in ? . . . . 
 He'll be here immediately." 
 
 She ran off and met Minka, who was laying the 
 cloth in the dining-room. 
 
 " A student, Minka, who wants to see Endre ! 
 Just at dinner-time, too — I must run and tell 
 mother " 
 
 In the sitting-room the young fellows could be 
 ■ heard greeting each other with boisterous joviality, 
 and Endre, with much pomp, introduced Mr. Alvor 
 Finsland, writer and poet : 
 
 " My mother — my sister Minka, ditto Berthea " 
 
 He had been in Dresden for some time last 
 winter, with a govern ment^ allowance. Endre had 
 wanted to sing one of his songs at a concert 
 there, which did not come off. 
 
 He was now staying with his uncle Finsland, the 
 inspector of roads in the district, and was finishing 
 a volume of poems. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig scrutinised him searchingly. 
 
 So this young man was one of Endre's sort. One 
 who had really attained something At din- 
 ner she could not fail to notice in him a spirit of 
 combativeness. He took note of them all, assumed a 
 polite line of defence in his conversation, or spoke 
 with great self-confidence, according to circum- 
 stances — chatted gaily and sportively with Berthea, 
 and listened with flattering attention to every little 
 remark made by Minka. 
 
144 NIOBE 
 
 His short, well-built, elastic figure contrasted 
 strangely with the broad forehead and the small, 
 shrewd chin. They did not seem to iit into one 
 another ; one felt inclined to divide the face below 
 
 the nose The cold blue eyes, with their 
 
 quick, observant look, gave one the impression that, 
 notwithstanding his warm nature, he was infinitely 
 more egoistic and cold-blooded in judging his 
 surroundings than Endre, poor fellow, could 
 ever be. 
 
 After dinner the two friends retired to the 
 summer-house, where they began an animated con- 
 versation over their cigars. The latest literary and 
 artistic news was discussed in slashing terms, 
 accompanied by a flaying criticism of the corypheuses 
 of the day ; celebrated names were denounced and 
 pulverised as lightly as a branch is stripped of its 
 leaves. 
 
 Berthea whisked about within hearing between 
 the spirea hedge and the flower-beds. 
 
 The coffee was now brought out to them in the 
 summer-house. 
 
 "Berthea! I say, Berthea," called Endre, 
 beckoning and winking mysteriously at her ; " you 
 most artful of sisters ! " 
 
 Berthea protested vivaciously she was not at all 
 artful. . . . Endre could only remember her as a 
 child ! 
 
 "Just listen, Berthea," said Endre, fanning her 
 
NIOBE 145 
 
 with the corner of her smart apron, " don't you think 
 you could manage to find something which would 
 impart an extra flavour to the coffee — something in 
 small glasses ? " 
 
 Berthea glanced at the poet and began giggling, 
 her bright face beaming with fun and merriment ; 
 then she darted away like an arrow, gathering up 
 the skirt of her blue summer dress round her nimble 
 legs. 
 
 She returned with a small bottle of cognac, taken 
 from the doctor's travelling case, a box of matches, 
 and a red wax taper to light the cigars with. 
 
 " Sister Berthea, you have surpassed my most 
 sanguine expectations." 
 
 " Well, it's only because you have just returned," 
 replied Berthea, with a roguish glance at Finsland. 
 " I remember you well enough, Endre — if I do a 
 thing for you to-day, you demand it as a right to- 
 morrow Wait a bit 1 " she exclaimed, striking 
 
 a match and lighting the wax taper for Finsland. 
 
 " Is it less dangerous to do it for me then, do you 
 think ? " he asked gaily. 
 
 " It's only for this once — for really I don't intend 
 striking any more matches for you if you come here 
 again." 
 
 " I am sure to come . here again Your 
 
 voice is so charming, it reminds me of the young 
 Lady Lightheart." 
 
 " Is that in a fairy tale ? " 
 
 K 
 
146 NIOBE 
 
 " No ; it is something which has just struck me." 
 
 " What is it about ? " 
 
 "About a beautiful young girl who has never — 
 what shall I call it ? — never suffered from any kind of 
 toothache in the heart, Miss Berthea." 
 
 " Oh — h ! " exclaimed Berthea in an offended 
 tone, looking down at the table as if she could, but 
 did not intend, to answer. 
 
 " My heroine suddenly took it into her head 
 never to strike matches for gentlemen any more, 
 except for some old toothless pastor. And that's 
 just the moral in the fairy tale .... never to strike 
 matches ; a lady might so easily burn her beauti- 
 ful " 
 
 " Goodness, what nonsense ! " 
 . She remained standing, fingering and twisting 
 Endre's hat, which lay on the stone table. 
 
 " Wait a bit, and I'll put a gillyflower in it," 
 she suddenly exclaimed, running off to the flower- 
 bed. 
 
 Finsland threw off his hat and rushed after her. 
 
 " Won't you decorate mine also with one, and 
 then we shall look equally festive ? " 
 
 " I'm not so sure about that. I haven't promised 
 you anything at all ! " was the saucy answer from 
 across the Hovrer-hed. She was, however, taken 
 aback when she saw Finsland suddenly turn away 
 from the broad gravel walk. 
 
 He had caught a glimpse of Minka's dark eyes 
 
NIOBE 147 
 
 and auburn hair as she bent her pretty neck over the 
 hedge. 
 
 " I'll take refuge with you, Miss Borvig, since your 
 sister is so proud," he exclaimed. " I asked her for 
 
 something pretty for my hat I can see you 
 
 don't like gillyflowers .... common, vulgar plants, of 
 the same family as the garlic. It brings tears to one's 
 eyes to smell them .... and only very inexperienced 
 young girls could appreciate them, or, perhaps, those 
 
 wild ones in their forties That is the reason 
 
 they are so deceitful, "he looked at Minka significantly, 
 "those wise, cold women who want to mimic love — 
 who violate the passion — offering burning cinders for 
 
 — for all that which they have not I assure 
 
 you I should be taking my hat off every moment to 
 see if it were not on fire, if I knew there was a gilly- 
 flower in it." 
 
 " Why you must be more nervous than any 
 woman, Mr. Finsland," laughed Minka. " I will try 
 among the gentle, meek flowers to find you one 
 which will not set your imagination on fire." 
 
 " Don't talk about imagination .... illusion ! 
 It is life itself. Miss Borvig," he exclaimed passion- 
 ately. " The stronger we possess it the more 
 intensely we live — the more gloriously and 
 intoxicated with life do we buzz about in the sun- 
 shine, till — till .... well, perhaps you can tell 
 me— the soap bubbles around the great dark 
 vacuum called nothingness " 
 
148 NIOBE 
 
 " And you, a poet, can say that ? Now, at a time 
 when one is almost in touch with the spirit world," 
 .... she burst out with conviction. "We have, 
 as you know, unmistakable answers from there." 
 
 Finsland smiled sadly. 
 
 " The best answer we get regarding our existence 
 is by speaking to a skull. It always gives the same 
 truthful and clear answer : ' Nil — dark vacuum.' .... 
 No, the soap-bubble — that, too, is a belief. That 
 is every one's life-poem, every one's conception of 
 
 beauty And to be able to multiply it — to 
 
 make it so dazzlingly beautiful and richly coloured 
 for ourselves — so full of promises of happiness that 
 we, foolish worms, can, at any rate for a moment, 
 be jubilant. Yes, that is the problem. .... That 
 is to say, I fill the bubble first for myself and then 
 for the others! And that is a deed which gives 
 satisfaction ! " he interposed satirically. " To let a 
 
 gleam of sunlight into a semi-dark vacuum 
 
 What are we but butterflies overtaken by the way — 
 why not fly and flutter while we can .' " 
 
 As he spoke, Minka gradually lapsed into a 
 
 reverie — she saw a new world, in which this young 
 
 / / man, who carried his head so well on his shoulders, 
 
 showed her with so much sadness and so much 
 
 i I knowledge — how everything lay in a beautiful, 
 
 ' glittering, palish-golden sunset, with such a strange 
 
 deathly fear at the transitoriness of it all. 
 
 How richly endowed he was with soul, how un- 
 
NIOBE 149 
 
 happy he was with his profound views of life, his 
 look so defiant, so satirical ! 
 
 They were still deeply absorbed in conversation, 
 when Berthea came sauntering towards them, her 
 straw hat at the back of her head and a bold sailor- 
 like air about her. She plucked a black currant 
 here and a red currant there. 
 
 " Are you talking about spirits .' " she asked 
 
 curtly. " For when Minka is busy with spirits — she 
 
 and Mr. Varberg, I mean — I always keep away." 
 
 She held up a bunch of ripe red currants. 
 
 " I only go in for eating, I do," she remarked 
 
 displaying her large, irregular, white teeth as she 
 
 munched away. "But Minka, she thinks she 1 
 
 say Minka," she whispered coniidentially across the 
 hedge, " I have just seen Mr. Varberg down on the 
 road. He'll no doubt be impatient, when he asks 
 for you and does not find you. Shall I send him 
 down here ? " 
 
 " Oh no, Berthea," said Minka with a suppressed 
 laugh, evading the question, " he is not so very 
 interesting after all." 
 
 Berthea began humming to herself, snatched some 
 berries from the bushes and strolled up the path. 
 
 Directly afterwards she was seen at the garden 
 gate hurrying down the road past the store- 
 house. 
 
 " Ah ha ! Minka really thinks I shall always 
 remain a child — while she ..." 
 
ISO NIOBE 
 
 She strolled along the road till she met Var- 
 berg. 
 
 " Do as I do, Mr. Varberg, for I have gone away 
 
 and left them They have been doing nothing 
 
 else the whole afternoon but discussing problems of 
 life down the garden — Minka and a poet, called 
 
 Finsland — Alvor Finsland Did you ever 
 
 hear such a name ? — Alvor ! well perhaps it's not so 
 bad. He knocks all the spirit-business on the head 
 — and Minka will soon be converted — -jshe is quite 
 
 fascinated I was not wanted at all 
 
 But you try now, Mr. Varberg. If you can find it 
 more entertaining with them, all right. Good-bye 
 then, Mr. Varberg, I am going to look for father." 
 
 She swung her hat round ^by the ribbon as she 
 hurried off, then she looked back, put out her tongue 
 at Varberg, giggling in great glee. 
 
 Varberg entered at the upper end of the garden, 
 and began prodding the flower-beds with his stick, 
 as he walked slowly along expecting Minka would 
 come towards him. 
 
 There was no doubt that she saw him better from 
 where she was than he could see her ; but her head 
 was all the time turned away. 
 
 " Here, Mr. Varberg — will you have some 
 morellas ? . . ," exclaimed Massy running towards 
 him. Arnt and I have been gathering cherries for 
 mother ever since dinner. Endre has come home 
 you know and then there is a poet here. . . . 
 
NIOBE 151 
 
 They are all down there He is going to stay 
 
 with the road inspector this year, and write poetry, 
 all about the river — about our river," she enlightened 
 him. 
 
 Varberg's face became serious. He stood a 
 moment in uncertainty before he strolled down to 
 them and was introduced. 
 
 Schulteiss, whom he could not tolerate, had also 
 put in an appearance, and was talking to Endre. 
 
 Minka greeted him in an extremely friendly 
 manner, as an old acquaintance, and smiled, showing 
 her pretty, white teeth ; but her attention was wholly 
 taken up with the conversation. Endre received him 
 most affably, while the poet only had a slight nod 
 for him, being busily engaged in entertaining Minka. 
 
 " And then — above all, Miss Borvig — it is not 
 beautiful," said Finsland passionately, " this belief in 
 
 spiritualism is not beautiful Life becomes 
 
 burdened with something shadowless, colourless, 
 terrifying — something not quite dead — a corpse 
 
 which is not completely dead, only half so 
 
 Instead of the final end, something slimy, clammy 
 with the breath of the sepulchre. When a Caesar, 
 Homer, Shakspere, Goethe or a Byron dies, he must 
 henceforth crawl about our legs at night like a cold 
 toad." 
 
 " YeSj yes, yes ! " ejaculated Schulteiss much 
 pleased. " And then all sorts of necromancers and 
 spiritual quacks are supposed to have permission to 
 
1 52 NIOBE 
 
 pull the bellrope and make them appear — Napoleon 
 and Hannibal, and Frederick the Great, and Dante, 
 
 and Virgil don't you think, Mr. Poet Finsland, 
 
 this might be just the hell to which they are con- 
 demned — their purgatory ? " 
 
 " Ugly, ugly, the whole thing is ugly ! " grinned 
 Finsland. "No superior personality would risk any- 
 thing — would expose his breast to the sword, to be 
 reduced to a flitting, sighing spectre to frighten 
 children and country folk." 
 
 " If the matter is to be judged from the point 
 of beauty, then — " remarked Varberg satirically ; " I 
 thought the scientific experience regarding facts " 
 
 " If we are to judge by experience," snarled 
 Schulteiss from among the bushes, "it is most 
 extraordinary and remarkable that a spirit has never 
 yet taken money out of bank-safes. It would be so 
 convenient for cashiers, who had got into trouble — 
 ha, ha, ha ! — to direct attention to mediums — we 
 should be modernising our witch trials of old." 
 
 " A man like Flammarion — astronomer — a man of 
 science — whose competence can scarcely be dis- 
 puted," continued Varberg unperturbed, " his ' In- 
 habited Worlds '...." 
 
 " Of course, of course, Mr. Varberg, we know it," 
 snapped Schulteiss ; " those inhabited worlds where, 
 after death, we are preferred from sphere to sphere 
 just as you promote a skipper to larger and larger 
 vessels." 
 
NIOBE I S3 
 
 " And I am of opinion, the smaller the mind the 
 more spirits 1 " said Finsland decisively, with an air 
 of superiority. 
 
 " Certainly, one may scoff and be witty over what 
 is best and highest.. It is so cheap, Mr. Poet Fins- 
 land — particularly when imagination is one's strong 
 point," retorted Varberg coldly. He gave Minka a 
 hurried glance : she knew that look so well ; if she 
 only dared to ... . 
 
 "So cheap, so cheap," gasped Schulteiss in his 
 eagerness. " Let me tell you," he said with half- 
 closed eyes and a grimace of contempt ; " the 
 founders of religion have always been people of 
 intellect. They have never debased the hope of 
 immortality, never preached a mere common repeti- 
 tion .... the skipper promotions .... What they 
 have intimated most profoundly has always been a 
 complete change to something which the human 
 mind cannot comprehend — somewhat similar to 
 your so-called ' fourth dimension ' — if you like, 
 Mr. Varberg, which our conceptions cannot grasp. 
 And not only a fourth, but a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, 
 and so on ad infinitum^' he cried. " It is something 
 of this sort that Mahomet seems to have preached 
 when he spoke of being transported into many 
 heavens, and what St. Paul had in mind, when he 
 says he saw and heard things which mankind had 
 no language to express." 
 
 " One can only believe what it is in one's power 
 
154 NIOBE 
 
 to believe," exclaimed the poet. " I believe that I 
 am standing here eating the most excellent cherries 
 with Miss Borvig. And what do you believe now, 
 Miss Borvig ? " 
 
 " About spirits ? I think with you that on the 
 whole they are not poetical .... And not particu- 
 larly interesting either," she added defiantly, burying 
 her head down among the bushes to reach a currant. 
 " But they may exist for all that," she added timor- 
 ously ; she could feel and see Varberg's severe 
 expression and threatening look. 
 
 " And something more, Minka," said Endre 
 merrily, who had not followed the conversation and 
 did not understand the situation. " When one must 
 needs believe in such things, why not believe in one 
 single, great spirit, in an Almighty God at once, 
 instead of all these special spirits ; otherwise we 
 shall be on a level with the savages. Don't let 
 this poetaster lead you into disbelief, I warn you." 
 
 " It appears to me, Mr. Endre," remarked Schul- 
 teiss, rubbing his hands with satisfaction as they 
 went towards the house for tea, " that Mr. Varberg 
 has been properly sat upon to-day .... Eh > — He's 
 our great popular philosopher in the district, you 
 know . . . and you had him splendidly over those 
 special spirits." 
 
 " I— I had Varberg ? indeed I " 
 
 " Ah, splendidly ! You hit the nail on the head. 
 Miss Minka could never have found a more convinc- 
 
NIOBE 155 
 
 ing Shibboleth .... And as for your friend the 
 poet, I bow with all respect to him. When one 
 
 observes these contrasts — — eh, hey! -the 
 
 popular philosopher and then this man of intellect 
 .... just like a mountain and a vacuum — like a 
 mountain and a vacuum." 
 
 During the evening Minka felt that Varberg's eyes 
 became colder and colder, and more threatening. 
 Cold beads of perspiration stood upon her brow, as 
 dog-like she humbled herself to his will and wishes, 
 and exerted herself to converse amiably with him 
 and show herself particularly attentive. She was 
 seized with a kind of panic — was in a living dread 
 of this silent, severe face which chastised and 
 domineered over her to the very roots of her 
 nerves. 
 
 Oh, this terrible, sombre mysticism, which had 
 seized hold of her overwrought imagination, all these 
 visions in the dark in which she had become 
 subdued and confined ! To-day she had seen the 
 trap-door of the cellar standing open, in the darkness 
 of which a sunbeam was basking and playing with 
 all the wild joy of day, quite regardless of everything 
 between the heaven and earth. 
 
 She sat at the piano, her finger-tips on fire, accom- 
 panying Endre while he sang. 
 
 While he was in the midst of one of his bravuras 
 Varberg came and stood close beside her. 
 
 " May I trouble you, Miss Borvig, to get me the 
 
156 NIOBE 
 
 book you have been good enough to put aside for 
 me ? " he uttered curtly when the song ended. His 
 voice was like the sound of a cold, rasping sword- 
 blade. Minka ran upstairs, searched for the key of 
 her chest of drawers, and brought down the cloth- 
 bound volume, with his notes on spiritualism. 
 
 She saw him on the steps in the semi-darkness 
 with hat and coat on, ready to go. 
 
 " But, Mr. Varberg, why are you leaving me like 
 this ? " she asked anxiously. 
 
 " You ask that, Minka .' After having dared with 
 laughter and scorn to betray all that which has 
 spiritually bound us together." 
 
 " But, dear me, if I had known you objected the 
 least bit to our laughter ! " 
 
 " To our laughter ! . . . . the poet and Miss Minka ; 
 it has come to ' our ' now .... the partners in a 
 firm . . . ." 
 
 He walked along the road without taking any 
 notice of her ; then suddenly stopped, and she felt 
 his hand resting heavily on her shoulder. 
 
 " And you dared — dared to do it ! " 
 
 He stared down into her eyes, fixedly .... 
 crushingly .... with the quiet, self-confident 
 smile which always succeeded in paralysing her 
 will. 
 
 In her heated imagination he began to assume 
 the form of a green-eyed tiger. 
 
 His hand pressed heavier and heavier upon her 
 
NIOBE 157 
 
 .... it seemed as if he wanted to force her down 
 on her knees. 
 
 She smiled, looking steadily at him — knew that she 
 could satisfy his vanity — retain him as her admirer, 
 if she would now really humble herself — again let 
 him feel his unlimited power over her. 
 
 She felt him softly stroking her templel with his 
 other hand. How easy, what a relief it would be, 
 to give in ! . . . . But to-night the spirit of revolt 
 came over her. like a sudden gust of wind, and she 
 roused herself with an effort. 
 
 " Of course ! of course I " she exclaimed. " I must 
 not, of course, forget to obey when you pull th? bell- 
 rope." 
 
 " The bell-rope ! .... Is that to be the name for 
 our spiritual communication, the magnetic connection 
 between us .? " 
 
 " For your selfishness and your tyranny ! " she 
 burst out. 
 " Minka ! " 
 
 " I said the bell-rope, and I meant the bell-rope ! " 
 " Take care ! I am afraid your tongue will be 
 cutting the cord, whatever it may be." 
 
 " I will not be treated like a thing without a will 
 of my own!" she shouted. "I will not, I will 
 not ! " 
 
 " Without a will of your own 1 Ah 1 .... As if 
 I cannot see with half- an eye what my good lady 
 really wants — to get her liberty, to hum and buzz 
 
158 NIOBE 
 
 round about this new light, the poet. Only a will- 
 o'-the-wisp, to be sure " 
 
 Minka felt herself again under the influence of his 
 angry, threatening look. It held her fast, and she 
 felt her power of resistance beginning to forsake her. 
 He stood with a gruesome smile, like one who 
 watches the sufferings of the animal he is torturing ; 
 and he said with pale scorn : 
 
 " You may succeed in becoming indifferent to me, 
 but you will never be released from my will." 
 
 The spirit of revolt again rose within her, her lips 
 became contracted, and she writhed as if in intense 
 pain. 
 
 " Oh, that I had never known you ! " she screamed, 
 quite beside herself, tearing herself loose and running 
 a few steps, as if to flee from him. 
 
 Varberg laughed maliciously 
 
 " Be sure, be sure that you are a bird in m^ hand, 
 wherever you fly " 
 
 He lifted his hat high, bowed, smiled sardonically, 
 and walked rapidly away; 
 
 Minka stared after him, quite dazed, till he, with- 
 out having once looked round, vanished down the 
 hill. 
 
 Thor, the farm dog, barked and yelped and gave 
 vent to all sorts of expressions of joy when Kjel 
 made it jump over his stick *nd over himself, as he 
 hurried up to the door. There he met Massy, seized 
 
NIOBE 159 
 
 her round the waist, and pitched her in front of him 
 into the sitting-room. 
 
 "You here, JVIr. Finsland ? Good evening. . . 
 Already ferreted out Endre ? The nose of a poet is 
 
 a fine one But as far as that goes, we have 
 
 all got fine noses here in the parish. By Jove, 
 
 he must get up early who thinks he can take us in ! 
 He, he, he ! Ingenuity, you see, my lord poet, is 
 
 many-sided There are some ingenious people 
 
 who don't write verses at all Well, Minka, 
 
 play us something jolly, and Schulteiss and I will 
 dance. No ; try something serious, and Endre will 
 
 sing something worth hearing You should 
 
 have seen him play Hamlet this morning, my lord 
 poet. By Jove, it was enough to inspire any one ! Just 
 fancy a prosaic fellow like myself — a regular yokel 
 in that respect — it impressed me to such an extent, 
 
 that By-the-by, mother, I suppose you 
 
 haven't got a drop of brandy — though I've had suffi- 
 cient of all sorts to-day. But, without beating about 
 the bush, I just want an innocent little glass now — 
 or perhaps as much as would make a glass of toddy, 
 
 to soothe my nerves with Been feasting, you 
 
 see, the whole day at different places, on account of 
 
 the bank director It tells upon one 
 
 I'll go with you, mother. It's the sacred bottle, to 
 which father treats one, that I want to squeeze a 
 drop out of." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig understood that her son wanted to 
 
i6o NIOBE 
 
 unbosom himself. Since the morning, when the 
 telegram had come and she had heard him mention 
 the bank director and seen him rush off, she had felt 
 very uneasy, and at times so anxious that she could 
 hardly breathe. The words " bank director, bank 
 director," had been ringing in her ears the whole of 
 the day. 
 
 As soon as they got out into the pantry, Kjel 
 gave a leap in the air. His mother noticed how pale 
 he was, but he seemed in such good spirits that he 
 could hardly contain himself. 
 
 " I say, mother, it was a regular battle .... the 
 worst I've had in my life, anyhow. But then, I have 
 
 won, you see It's time enough to boast of it 
 
 to-morrow ; to-night I'll take a rest I've got 
 
 him — the bank director, you understand. Don't say 
 a word about it — but now I've got him in my hand 
 
 This man is solvent— —that one is unsafe — 
 
 signed Kjel Borvig — such a dash, you know ! And 
 if at any time I underline a name in this way " — here 
 he made a sweep with his hand—" it means he must be 
 
 on his guard Ugh ! Let me have a drop of 
 
 brandy neat first. I need it, by Jove .... this son 
 of yours, mother, deserves some sympathy. But just 
 now he's knocked up — quite knocked up ; otherwise 
 perfectly satisfied, mother," he laughed. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig looked into her son's face, which bore 
 traces of the day's feting. His tongue failed him 
 often as he went on talking to his mother. 
 
NIOBE i6i 
 
 " Ah, that has done me good ! It gives the 
 finishing touch to a multiplicity of questionable glasses 
 
 and toasts, mother 1 would not have you mixed 
 
 up in such business for anything .... the world 
 is not very good, mother .... I shall be director 
 
 of the savings bank before Christmas But 
 
 I'm not going to tell you how I've paved the way 
 to it, not on any account. — Well, there is nothing 
 criminal about it, you understand. But you see 
 there are so many things," here he twitched his 
 nose and sniffed the air, " which are not quite in 
 accordance with what is called virtue, not exactly 
 superfinely honourable. — Well, you see — to tell you 
 plainly, mother — but you must not say anything to 
 father about it. You promise me that. I think I kept 
 my countenance pretty well, but that telegram came 
 just at a time when the devil himself could not 
 have thought of anything worse, even if he'd been 
 
 paid for it I thought at once that the bank 
 
 director had heard something or other in town from 
 
 some good friend. And then I had to have 
 
 3700 crowns by me — it was no use meeting 
 him unless I had .... the bank had my acknow- 
 ledgment that the money from the forest syndicate 
 had been paid in, and I should have remitted it. 
 But then, you know, the one hand must often wash 
 the other clean in such a business as mine, wages 
 and instalments and such like . 3700 crowns 
 
 on the spot !— or else — yes, it is that ' or else,' you 
 
 I, 
 
1 62 NIOBE 
 
 understand. If that fellow only had as much as 
 a grain of suspicion he would begin clearing up the 
 ground here in such a way that there would not be 
 many left on their legs. There was no help for it, 
 
 so I set off to Simonsen's — drove like fury 
 
 Three thousand seven hundred crowns, Simonsen, 
 for eight days — till I have been in town — I give you 
 transfers for the whole stock of deals on hand. 
 Ugh ! It was a close shave, but I managed it. — 
 
 And then home like a shot The most polite of 
 
 hosts — Thekla, dressed for the occasion, the most 
 dignified and imposing of hostesses, and besides a 
 
 relation of his, you know But afterwards, 
 
 when we got into the study, I began like an angry 
 wolf to grumble about the interest — till at last he 
 became red as a turkey cock, and said he had never 
 in his life had such a rubbing. I made quite an 
 
 impression upon him 'I don't know what 
 
 others may think of you, but you will do for me,' 
 said the director, ' you will be a rich man.' " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig was painfully affected ; she poured 
 the hot water into her son's glass till it over- 
 flowed. 
 
 " Is it you, or I, mother, who is not quite right in 
 our balance to-night," he drawled, " a little bit un- 
 steady, eh 1 You must empty some of that water 
 — about half-and-half— that'll just do." 
 
 He took the glass of toddy and tasted it, as he 
 went into the other room. 
 
NIOBE 163 
 
 Mrs. Borvig remained behind in the larder resting 
 against the dresser, rbcicing herself uneasily to and 
 fro and breathing with difficulty. 
 
 This seemed to be very much like what the}/ call 
 swindling 
 
 She clenched and wrung her hands. Poor, poor 
 boy, you have already got far beyond where your 
 mother can help you 
 
 The dim twilight of the July evening, fell on her 
 disturbed, agitated face. 
 
 Light, hurried steps were heard outside, and 
 Berthea put her head in through the door of the 
 larder. 
 
 " Mr. Varberg is gone already, mother ! I think 
 he had enough of it — of being only so much air. 
 Minka is now quite taken up by Mr. Finsland," she 
 went on, anxious to tell the news, " only Mr. Finsland. 
 She did not even notice Mr. Varberg for this poet ! 
 Minka and he are soaring high above us. And she 
 is quite enraptured with those remarkable verses of 
 his, which Endre sang. Mr. Varberg went away 
 directly afterwards." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig's face darkened during her daughter's 
 tittle-tattle, which became more and more unendur- 
 able to her. 
 
 At this moment her cup of bitterness flowed over, 
 a look of impatience and despair came into her face, 
 and swift as lightning she dealt Berthea a sharp 
 ringing box on the ear. 
 
164 NIOBE 
 
 " It's both wicked and mean of you !".... 
 she exclaimed as she followed it up with another. 
 " This will soon be a nice house ! — What evil can 
 have befallen it ? " she went on, in a loud quivering 
 voice, while her daughter crouched down by the 
 door, crying and glancing, terrified, at her mother, 
 who stood trembling with excitement. 
 
 " Whatever I do, and wherever I look, it seems as 
 
 if misfortune is sure to follow But I tell you 
 
 — both you and Minka and Endre and Kjel — that 
 if you can so easily forget you have a mother who 
 does not know what good she can do for you — 
 who does nothing but think and worry about you 
 day and night, you may find that some fine day I 
 shall take leave of you. — Do as you like ! — go, go — 
 
 out of this house ! 1 have Arnt and Massy still 
 
 left!" .... 
 
 " But mother, mother ! " bellowed Berthea. 
 
 " You are not my children ! What does Minka, 
 what do you, and Endre, and Kjel care for me, when 
 there is anything you take a fancy to ? .... If only 
 I could leave off caring for you all 1 " 
 
 She sank down on a chair, hid her -face in her 
 hands, and sobbed violently. 
 
VII 
 
 Grandfather Borvig was very much in demand. 
 He had to call on the little one down by the mill as 
 often as he possibly could, and if he was pressed for 
 time, they would hold up the child to him at the 
 window as he drove hurriedly past in his kariol. 
 
 He showed a great weakness for baby Baard ; 
 the boy was to be called Baard after him. And 
 Baard Kjelsen Borvig looked quite a sensible baby 
 as he lay in his cradle. 
 
 But to be his doctor — no, thank you. Better go 
 to the new doctor, Mr. Stenvig ; he is a specialist for 
 children, and has studied both at home and abroad. 
 
 Grandfather Borvig held his head aloft with a 
 certain amount of pride when he made his usual 
 ditour round by the mill, and drove right through 
 the whirr and the burr of the machinery, and then 
 along the timber yard with the stacks of deals, and 
 past Kjel's new house, built in Swiss style, with zinc 
 roof and large windows .... It really seemed as 
 if Kjel had now succeeded in making his business a 
 lucrative one. He undoubtedly began to occupy an 
 important position in the district, which enabled him, 
 
1 66 NIOBE 
 
 with his inborn business talent, to get all the custom 
 and timber business to sift through his mill, as he ex- 
 pressed it. .... It was not altogether unlikely either 
 that Kjel might become director in the savings bank- 
 It was talked about in many quarters how the voting 
 would turn out ... . The doctor had heard little 
 birds singing about it in more thaft one place. 
 
 Kjel preserved his firm sound common sense ; he 
 did not allow himself to be entrapped in any of the 
 speculations of the day. He was quite proof against 
 new ideas — whatever he otherwise might say to 
 please his strictly ideal, theorising better-half .... 
 
 " Little Baard is all right again, Bente," reported 
 the doctor, when he returned home, and was taking 
 off his fur coat and top boots ; " spasms of that sort 
 go just as suddenly as they come .... I spoke 
 to Dr. Stenvig down the road ; he had just left 
 there, and everything was all right ..... He gives 
 Thekla regular lectures, you know," he said winking, 
 " so, just now, it is like a college for the treatment 
 of infants over there .... Discussions as to why 
 the stomach is out of order, and why it is sure to 
 come right again. Thekla, you know, likes to go to 
 the bottom of everything ; and the doctor gives as 
 many explanations as he can think of, if she will 
 only take them for granted." 
 
 " Here is an invitation to you from Rognerud for 
 a game of whist to-night. Kjel is also invited," said 
 his wife ; " but I think you should stick to your old, 
 
NIOBE 167 ■ 
 
 accustomed circle of friends, Borvig, and not allow 
 yourself to be dragged away from it. All this party- 
 going of Kjel's round the parish, with cards and 
 toddy, is not for us." 
 
 " Well, I can't say I care much to sit and play 
 cards and be boon-companion to my own son and 
 be treated to all sorts of witticisms. But one must, 
 of course, do something to back the lad up, you see." 
 
 " I rather think it is time we gave up mixing 
 with these people .... You are a doctor, Borvig. 
 The honour and .esteem you enjoy you have paid for 
 with the honest, hard work of a life-time. No one 
 shall take that from you, neither in misfortune nor 
 sorrow!" she exclaimed, greatly agitated. "Our 
 house shall be our house — the one we have built in 
 the face of God and man ! And Kjel's house shall 
 be Kjel's. We can borrow no honour or benefit 
 from them, if they build ever so high ! " 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Bente .'.... I 
 shall soon begin to think you can't tolerate Thekla 
 either. As for Kjel, I know he is once for all 
 excommunicated,", he muttered dejectedly. "Of 
 course, she is a little conceited," he resumed in a 
 conciliatory tone. " Something of the grandiose 
 style about her, when she comes sweeping into the 
 room .... But you are not the one to let yourself 
 be swept on one side so easily, either." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig looked at him with a strange ex- 
 pression. 
 
i68 NIOBE 
 
 " We will rest satisfied with our own old-fashioned, 
 worn silver, stamped with Baard Borvig's name. 
 Our house does not rest on Kjel's lofty specula- 
 tions. It rests, and skaU rest, on you and me ! " 
 
 " How seriously you take things, Bente. It seems 
 as if you never want to hear about Kjel ! By the 
 way, I think he might soon begin and pay me back 
 a little," the doctor opined. 
 
 " Don't ask him for it, Borvig ; it might happen to 
 be more inconvenient for him at the moment than 
 he would care to own. And thank God, I had 
 nearly said — we have no more money to help him 
 with, if he should want any." 
 
 " Oh, not at all, it seems he can help himself 
 now." 
 
 The doctor walked away whistling to himself. 
 
 Thekla considered her duties as a mother anything 
 but easy to fulfil. She was always anxious to make 
 clear to herself any new phase of life upon which. she 
 had entered. She generally made a study of things. 
 But an infant's life was so full of complications that 
 one's reason often came to a standstill. And then a 
 messenger would be sent for Dr. Stenvig. 
 
 She stood so much in need of, longed so much for 
 his enlightening explanations. He had such a 
 remarkable ability for entering logically into a 
 question. And when, nevertheless, anything re- 
 mained enigmatical, the young doctor, in his free 
 
NIOBE 169 
 
 and easy way, so devoid of the superior air of the 
 man of authority, knew so well how to elucidate the 
 various scientific views on the subject in order that 
 she might see and judge for herself. 
 
 His theories about the treatment of infants were a 
 complete protest against the old-fashioned method 
 of swathing the child — a method which checked the 
 functions of the skin and prevented the body from 
 coming into contact with the air — a complete 
 
 revolt against old usages and customs His 
 
 views were undoubtedly those of the most advanced 
 man she had met since her happy days in town. 
 He was in fact a combination of the teacher and the 
 
 doctor And like a secret conspirator she 
 
 enjoyed his sceptical look and smile at the prevailing 
 customs regarding the treatment of infants. 
 
 Her first and foremost principle was that one 
 must above all preserve oaeself as a human being, 
 and be such to one's children and in one's home. 
 This was the principal reason why she surrendered 
 her child to the cares of the wet nurse ; it prevented 
 any disturbance at night, &c. 
 
 Mrs. -Kjel, Minka, and Finsland, after drinking 
 their coffee, had settled down in the sitting-room, at 
 Elvsaet. 
 
 Thekla felt that something like a breath from the 
 outside world now pervaded the house since Mr. 
 Finsland, the poet, had become a frequent visitor. 
 
170 NIOBE 
 
 Mr. Varberg, that sombre spectre of the night, had 
 only darkened the place with his presence. 
 
 The relations between him and Minka, with the 
 frequent misunderstandings, petty quarrels and con- 
 sequent state of high tension, seemed mysterious 
 enough. But one thing was certain — Minka had 
 for the present a rage for poetry and not for 
 spirits 
 
 It was difficult for any one to say whether she 
 preferred the poet or the engineer, for both came 
 constantly to the house, and faithfully abused one 
 another to her. But she seemed in a way to extend 
 her favours to both. 
 
 Thekla had taken it into her head this afternoon 
 to get to the bottom of the real principles of Finsland's 
 poetry by dint of many searching questions, both 
 direct and indirect. 
 
 Finsland parried and avoided them ; he was ap- 
 parently quite absorbed with Minka. 
 
 " I was just thinking," exclaimed Thekla with 
 warmth, " what an immeasurable amount of good a 
 man, with the gift of language, like you, could do — 
 if you would take up some question of reform, would 
 let yourself be moved by the distress of mankind 
 . . for, I suppose, you do not call yourself an 
 intellectual hot-house flower," she concluded sar- 
 castically. 
 
 " My flower is called discontent — transitoriness — 
 ■ despair .... perhaps some one or other who sees 
 
NIOBE 171 
 
 it and inhales its perfume may be inspired to take 
 up the work.'' 
 
 " You should speak to Dr. Stenvig, Mr. Finsland," 
 said Thekia, authoritatively. " He is a man with 
 wide sympathies, who has thoroughly thought out 
 
 and sifted the questions of the day He will 
 
 open your eyes." 
 
 " And let myself be deposited in a dried state in 
 a medicine chest, like a beneficial herb for children's 
 powders," added Finsland. 
 
 Minka laughed, showing her white teeth ; she had 
 long ago entered into Finsland's spirit and way of 
 looking at things. 
 
 " Society cries out and calls aloud for help, I can 
 assure you," said Thekia eagerly. 
 
 " Well, madam, I am myself one of those who cry 
 out. Some will have food, others will have beauty ; 
 I feed them and myself, as well as I can — I hunger 
 
 and I sing But what useful work are you 
 
 engaged upon now, Miss Borvig .' " he asked 
 wantonly. " I will tell you .... exactly the same 
 as the poem .... you exist. — So abundantly rich 
 in colour — a harmony in brown — it colours everything 
 wherever you go. You powder one brown as with 
 flower dust, far into one's soul and memory; one thinks 
 
 in brown, dreams in brown At present I only 
 
 blow brown soap bubbles," he exclaimed. 
 
 Thekia looked somewhat troubled at the mention 
 of soap bubbles. 
 
172 NIOBE 
 
 " One moment, madam," cried Finsland. " There 
 are those who take their colour and luxuriance from 
 
 the crevices of a decaying community They 
 
 sing the song of corruption, while the sun yields to 
 the night and dies away on the walls." 
 
 " Mankind is in distress, Mr. Finsland. As long as 
 there is such an overwhelming number of problems 
 for everybody, beauty must really be satisfied to 
 stand a little in the background — and wait." 
 
 " I beg your pardon — beauty is in the vanguard ! 
 Just as the banners are in front of the regiment^^ — 
 high up in the air — like a longing awakened .... 
 a new and more beautiful time cannot arrive until 
 .some one gets people to long for it." 
 
 " I thought it was dire necessity which brought 
 that about." 
 
 " I thought it was the people with imagination, 
 poets and artists, who had the ability to show us 
 something better." 
 
 Thekla appeared somewhat perplexed, butprepared 
 for a retort. 
 
 The sound of sledge bells was suddenly heard, and 
 she looked out of the window, then drew back her 
 head again hastily, saying bitterly : 
 
 " A person with interests should never marry." 
 
 It was Kjel who arrived. He made a great noise 
 in the hall while taking off his top boots, and came 
 into the room quite flushed and red in the face. 
 
 " Devilish cold Had to give up the whist 
 
NIOBE 173 
 
 after the coffee, over at Berg's ; the ladies from the 
 parsonage arrived on a visit, so I thought I would 
 drive up here and fetch you home, Thekla." 
 
 " Thank you, you know I prefer to walk down 
 hill." 
 
 " But it was a happy thought of mine, you'll admit 
 anyway, henny-penny." 
 
 Thekla, in trying to conceal her ill-humour, pursed 
 her lips, and her faced assumed a peaky expression 
 not at all unlike that of a hen. 
 
 " What .' Cross, Thekla dear, cross ? " he exclaimed, 
 going up to her. " Have I interrupted you in some 
 lofty intellectual flight .'.... At home I always 
 decamp when you and Stenvig begin discussing these 
 higher subjects. You know that, Thekla, don't 
 you .? " 
 
 Thekla remained silent, her two black eyes fixed 
 intently on the ceiling. 
 
 " You're so confoundedly intolerant ! " he began. 
 " I deny most emphatically that your interests are 
 an inch loftier than mine. They lie in another 
 direction, that's the only difference." 
 
 He stood before her, with a patronising, critical 
 expression, and jingled his bunch of keys. 
 
 " So business is not an art ! . . . . Let us take an 
 instance^ — Monitor and Merrimac on the Potomac 
 river. That was quite a different drama to any of, 
 Schiller's or Goethe's. It changed naval warfare all 
 over the world ; we have had to take to iron instead of 
 
174 NIOBE 
 
 wood The prices of timber down at our saw-mill, 
 
 in our very walls, would now be considerably higher 
 but for that battle. If it had not taken place we two 
 would perhaps have been " — here he cut himself 
 short, and appeared to be going over some calcula- 
 tions in his mind. " Well, I'll say no more — only 
 we should have been worth something like a couple 
 of hundred thousand .... and when I now think 
 of some " 
 
 " Berthea, dear, bring me a glass of water," said 
 Thekla, who looked as if she were feeling qualmish. 
 
 " I have never heard that the art of making money 
 belonged to classical arts," she muttered. 
 
 " I say, when I think of such a sra^W matter, for 
 instance, as that of getting all the business men in 
 the district — whether they are conservative or belong 
 to the opposition — under one hat — my hat, you 
 understand. Each train-load will bring in gold ! — ■ — 
 We will mature the timber ourselves, and export it 
 
 direct, you know — avoid the town Well " — 
 
 here he tapped his forehead with his forefinger — 
 " that requires some talent, I should imagine." 
 
 " Most beautiful Minka," interrupted Finsland, 
 " may I hold the skein of wool for you while 
 you wind .'.... I cannot bear to see you using 
 the back of a chair — I grudge it the honour, in 
 fact." 
 
 Kjel sauntered carelessly out of the room, leaving 
 ihe dpor half open. 
 
NIOBE 175 
 
 " Never before in this world have I wished to be 
 a skein-winder, for all eternity a skein-winder," con- 
 tinued Finsland. " Here I am, sitting and watching for 
 the least hint from under your eyelids — I am actually 
 trembling lest they should open and look angrily at me. 
 .... And that," he suddenly went on, as he caught 
 sight of Varberg, " while the spirit-conjurer himself 
 stands in the door, glaring at me, fixing his eyes upon 
 me, as if he wanted to search one's heart and marrow. 
 .... No ; you need not wind the least bit quicker, 
 
 Minka You might as well cut my thread of 
 
 life as shorten the miserable five minutes of happiness 
 I still have left." 
 
 Minka did not venture to look up ; she felt Varberg's 
 gaze resting upon her downcast eyelids. 
 
 When he was present this overwhelming, oppress- 
 ing feeling of his power came over her, however 
 much she thought she had freed herself from it. She 
 knew she hated him — that she did not love him ! 
 But nevertheless she was in fear and trembling, lest 
 she, in spite of all, was possessed by an irresistible 
 attraction for him which she could not con- 
 trol 
 
 " Have you had any coffee, Mr. Varberg .' " she 
 inquired, flurriedly. 
 
 He smiled in his peculiar way. 
 
 " I came to propose a sledge-drive on the ice. 
 Miss Minka. You know that I " 
 
 He sat down behind Finsland and looked fixedly 
 
176 NIOBE 
 
 at her, as he rocked himself backwards and forwards 
 in the rocking-chair. 
 
 Minka turned pale and nervously went on wind- 
 ing. 
 
 " I believe men think we are always ready," inter- 
 posed Thekla, sharply. " Now, you, Mr. Varberg, 
 want to drive, and off one must go ! " 
 
 " Pardon me, madam, you misunderstood me. It 
 
 was Miss Minka I addressed And you, Miss 
 
 Minka, I ask with the right of an older friend — which 
 
 you, no doubt, will acknowledge " He spoke 
 
 imploringly, with a tender, fascinating look. 
 
 Minka knew the tone. 
 
 " I particularly wish you to take this drive with 
 
 me And I may as well tell you the reason 
 
 why I still persist with my request," he said after a 
 
 pause, as no answer came, " although it was 
 
 my intention only to inform you of it when we were 
 
 out on the ice I have suddenly been appointed 
 
 the sectional- chief for the district north of this, and 
 this afternoon is the only opportunity I shall have of 
 saying farewell." 
 
 He fixed his cold, bird-like, blinking eyes upon 
 her. 
 
 Minka felt the moment for the inevitable decision 
 had now arrived. 
 
 His look had its influence upon her after all, and 
 she rose mechanically to follow him. 
 
 As she wound the last of the wool, she en- 
 
NIOBE 177 
 
 countered Finsland's mocking expression, which, 
 together with his suppressed laughter, had the effect 
 of totally dispelling all mysticism. 
 
 She sat down again hurriedly. 
 
 " Thank you, I do not care to go out driving with 
 you, this afternoon, Mr. Varberg ; " she said, in a 
 quivering voice, " I will say farewell now ! " she 
 cried, and rushed out of the room. 
 
 Varberg stood a moment as if he thought she 
 might possibly return. 
 
 " Miss Borvig's highly emotional nature is subject 
 to many changing influences," he said, sarcastically. 
 " Well — I have to say good-bye to many pleasant 
 hours in this house." 
 
 In the course of the winter Finsland returned to 
 the capital. 
 
 Until now Minka had never understood Thekla 
 when she complained how empty and devoid of 
 interest the place was. How intellectually dead 
 and lonely for a hungering soul in this apparently 
 busy life among people who were always toiling and 
 driving timber and planks, and talking about money 
 and business in restless excitement — ^or among lady 
 friends from the neighbouring families of the official 
 and moneyed classes, who were only thinking of 
 balls, and betrothals, and finery— or longed to go to 
 America, when the question was raised about a girl 
 becoming anything like independent nowadays. 
 
 M 
 
178 NIOBE 
 
 .... They would not venture upon anything here 
 at home. 
 
 Berth'ea was just one of them — gadding about and 
 bent on pleasure wherever Kjel was invited, gossip- 
 ing, and poking her nose into everybody's business 
 — really thinking of nothing but falling in love — all 
 frivolity and giddiness ! 
 
 It was so deadly dull. Minka knew the paths 
 and roads about the place so aggravatingly well, 
 every stone, every ditch, every tree. 
 
 And to Schulteiss she confided in her bitter hours 
 all her profound weariness of life. 
 
 To him she unbosomed herself — he had to sym- 
 pathise with her sighs, and find words for what she 
 suffered — how she went about without any outlet 
 
 for her longings He had to read the letter 
 
 she received from Finsland, to join in her enthu- 
 siasm, and see how she had cried over this or that 
 part of it — and to guess and wonder as to what he 
 could have meant about her by this phrase or that 
 expression. 
 
 And Schulteiss would put his head on one side 
 and wince and wriggle into saying " yes " or " no " 
 according to the answer she might wish — he would 
 decry what he, the moment before, had been expati- 
 ating upon and praising in eloquent words. 
 
 He had now become so humble and small — he 
 had even to swallow her glowing enthusiasm for 
 Finsland — was, so to speak, all eyes, full of anxiety 
 
NIOBE 179 
 
 and suffering, which, in a glance swift as hghtning 
 divined hef wishes. 
 
 Nobody but Schulteiss understood her. That 
 sigh from Minka was his reward, his silent happiness. 
 He only waited to hear it again, and, as he listened 
 to it, his heart stood still. It thrilled him with a 
 feeling of happiness, upon which he could live for 
 days. 
 
 It seemed as if Kjel's success in business had put 
 the doctor in a more liberal frame of mind, the out- 
 come of which was that he even agreed, with a 
 certain amount of sympathy,'' to Minka's idea of 
 going up to town. 
 
 And after many deliberations and much hesita- 
 tion, it was settled that she should go with the 
 object of finishing her musical education. Miss 
 Endreson, who had been her teacher for so many 
 years, was, of course, a most able pianist — there was 
 no question of that ; but her name was no 
 authority. 
 
 Then began a busy time with the cutting out and 
 sewing for her outfit. A dressmaker was engaged, 
 and every one in the house who could ply a needle 
 was called upon to assist her. 
 
 Berthea's tongue worked busily. 
 
 " Minka has always had an easy time of it be- 
 cause she is such a bad hand at sewing but she 
 
 has had nice dresses for all that, .... this walk- 
 
I So NIOBE 
 
 ing dress with the yellow revers — she intends to 
 create a sensation in town, if I know her 
 rightly " 
 
 In the meantime Minka was leaning over an open 
 drawer up in her bedroom, reading for the twentieth 
 time a poem which Finsland had sent her, entitled 
 " Minka." 
 
 She critically surveyed her much lauded " brown " 
 beauty in the mirror, humming to herself, before she 
 placed the paper in the drawer again. 
 
 On the landing she met Schulteiss ; she looked at 
 him with a mysterious smile as if occupied with some 
 pleasant thought which she did not care to impart to 
 him. 
 
 Endre had once remarked about Minka's expres- 
 sion on such occasions that she seemed to take as 
 much pleasure in herself as if she was enjoying a 
 piece of sugar. 
 
 She took a delight in noticing how she had more 
 and more succeeded in gaining Schulteiss' ear, and 
 how happily he smiled as she confidentially gazed 
 into his eyes. 
 
 She was now taken up with the idea of realising 
 life as a personality of womanly power, as Finsland 
 had expressed it, to throw out sunlight and carry 
 on her work through beauty. 
 
 " I am going up to town on Saturday, Mr. Schul- 
 teiss." 
 
 "Ah, Miss Minka, I dare not think how dreary 
 
NIOBE i8i 
 
 and dark it will be here .... Oh God ! to me the 
 sun will have set when I know that you no longer 
 tread these stairs, that your hand no longer touches 
 this railing " . . . . 
 
 " Well," Mr. Schulteiss, " I shall never find any one 
 to talk with like you — you with your fertile mind. 
 And then you have always understood me, Mr. 
 Schulteiss." 
 
 "Do you really think so, Miss Minka? I have 
 noticed and taken a delight in every bud that has 
 shot forth and blossomed in you. You have been 
 my garden, my world of beauty. You have " 
 
 " You must remember that if I gain any success 
 in the world, it is you who have equipped me for it. 
 I want to follow the bent of my nature you see, Mr. 
 Schulteiss. I want to live, to know that I inspire 
 those who have the power and the ability to hoist 
 the right sails and have the courage to use them. 
 That is what I want. I say it to you and to no one 
 else ; I want to set out in the world as a female 
 pirate 1 " she cried, knitting her fist coquettishly at 
 him. 
 
 " I have told father and mother that I want to 
 continue my musical studies. You see, one is always 
 supposed to be studying or working at something. 
 But what I want to do is to live and work as Minka 
 Borvig — I do not mind what people say or think ; 
 their prejudices are so much straw to me. Perhaps," 
 she went on with a mysterious smile, "you may 
 
i82 NIOBE 
 
 some fine day hear something about a concert or 
 music-hall singer, whose name is Minka." Here she 
 patted herself on the chest. " For father's and 
 mother's sake we will not put Borvig to it. I only 
 say — perhaps. One must first and foremost try to 
 assert oneself, get to the front and be seen, if one is 
 
 to do any good. And then, and then," she burst 
 
 out showing her enchanting white teeth, "then comes 
 Minka's history — her life — life — life, Mr. Schulteiss ! 
 She is not going to spoil her life by getting married — 
 like Thekla down at the mill." 
 
 Schulteiss stood despondent; he began guardedly: 
 
 " You know, of course, there is no one who respects, 
 values, and appreciates your great courage and 
 independence as I do, or who believes in your innate 
 right, so to speak, to attain the highest and rarest 
 distinction .... you are that successful work of 
 nature which can compel universal admiration .... 
 But as I warned you, in spite of your misjudgment 
 of my motives, warned you against Mr. Varberg's 
 illusory fascinations .... allow me to appeal to 
 your profound and sound instinct with regard to the 
 dazzling representations of a poet who is more — I 
 must say it — more conceited than renowned." 
 
 " I knew it .... I could see it was coming .... 
 You are so envious that you make yourself quite 
 objectionable." 
 
 " That gentleman's profession is to set up Fata 
 Morgaiias" Schulteiss declared passionately in a loud 
 
NIOBE 183 
 
 voice. " Like all the less gifted poets he confounds 
 realism with idealism — in fact, I may say he eats, 
 drinks, and declaims in a lofty, grandiloquent manner 
 and writes verses in a low, often quite hackneyed style. 
 .... Yours is an ideal nature, Miss Minka. You 
 are possessed with the great gift of appreciating a 
 soul's grandeur. I beseech you, I beseech you ! " he 
 cried, " Oh, Miss Minka, you who in your beauty 
 possess reality, you who yourself are a richly coloured 
 pulsating poem, what have you to do with the 
 castles in the air conjured up by such an ordinary 
 person ? " 
 
 " Ugh ! Mr. Schulteiss ! You always talk so 
 malignantly of any one who understands me a little. 
 You seem to think no one must understand me but 
 yourself .... And now when I am so much in 
 need of support and encouragement and cheering 
 words .... I shall never forget it ; just as I have 
 confided everything to you, you cannot even control 
 your petty jealousy, but must vent your venom on 
 the poem Mr. Finsland has written me. Yes, for it 
 is that which is troubling you — I wish I had never 
 shown it you " . . . . 
 
 " Minka— Miss Minka ! " he burst out, " only let 
 me lie outside your door like a watch-dog ! I will 
 lick the hands of your friends, even if it should kill 
 me." 
 
 " It always pains me when you talk and go on 
 like this, Mr. Schulteiss. You make it quite 
 
1 84 NIOBE 
 
 impossible to speak to you about anything 
 
 But now I must hurry downstairs and try on my 
 walking-dress. Quite in the height of fashion, as 
 
 you may imagine You shall see me in it this 
 
 afternoon when it is ready. Then you will see 
 
 what I shall look like when I am in town," she said, 
 smiling at him. 
 
VIII 
 
 In the spring, when the melting snow flooded the 
 river, Lars the ferryman found plenty to do. All 
 at once he would be called upon to ferry across a 
 kariol, or a gig, or a carriage ; or he would be hailed 
 from the opposite side by people of the district — by 
 business men, from John Vaaler, the most important 
 of them, who was now building some large planing 
 works, down to the timber-floating superinten- 
 dents. 
 
 And then the vehicles would rattle along the wet 
 muddy roads, with the slush dripping from the 
 wheels, till they turned in at the gate of one or 
 other of the houses for an afternoon whist or an 
 evening boston party. 
 
 And late at night Lars the ferryman was again in 
 requisition. There they stood, two or three at a 
 time, on the bank of the river hallooing, and there 
 was often very little peace for him till one or two in 
 the morning. 
 
 It was a busy time in the district ; there was 
 great excitement in view of the approaching general 
 
i86 NIOBE 
 
 meeting of the savings bank on Saturday the six- 
 teenth of June. 
 
 It was no secret that there was an agitation on 
 foot to turn out the old board of directors. During 
 the last two or three years there had been more and 
 more speculations, principally due to Kjel's influence 
 in turning the forests to account — the manufacture 
 of wood-pulp, the building of saw-mills, planing 
 works, etc. 
 
 It was quite time the new generation took up 
 arms against the old. The principal object was to 
 inspire the directors of the savings bank with con- 
 fidence in their business, and thereby make it easier 
 to obtain loans and advances of money. 
 
 During this time Kjel kept himself conscientiously 
 away from all the boston and whist parties outside 
 his own house. He lounged about among his stacks 
 of deals and planks — ^he would not be accused of 
 taking any part in the agitation. 
 
 Now and then a vehicle would stop outside his 
 door. Sometimes it was a friend who came to give a 
 report about the voting ; it might be some one who 
 thought this a convenient time to obtain Kjel's 
 recommendation for stability, in order to secure a 
 loan in one of the banks in town. 
 
 And Kjel was not inexorable, although he 
 generally required a good deal of pressing. 
 A regret expressed with sufficient indignation 
 that it was so very difficult for a business 
 
NIOBE 187 
 
 man to obtain loans in the district's own 
 savings bank generally settled the matter ; and 
 Kjel's recommendation on such occasions was as 
 good as a vote in his own favour. It might also 
 happen that Kjel on suitable occasions would in 
 return ask a slight favour in connection with a bill 
 which had suddenly come upon him. He had on 
 the whole a great number of names at his disposal 
 among those clients whose credit outside the district 
 he upheld by his recommendations. " It's the 
 simplest thing in the world," he would say in his 
 cordial, almost brutal way ; " if you back me, I'll 
 back you amongst my friends in town." 
 
 To-day Kjel was strolling about between his office 
 and his stacks of deals, while in the sitting-room 
 Dr. Stenvig was as usual holding forth on some 
 subject or other. 
 
 If there was anything which could induce Kjel to 
 break through his voluntary retirement and have his 
 horse put in, it was when this young coxcomb of a 
 doctor called, and together with Thekla began to 
 reform humanity from its very cradle. No end to 
 
 this confounded talk about development 
 
 Thekla would pace up and down, nervous and 
 expectant, and in quite a bad humour if the doctor 
 did not call there on his way to or from his 
 patients. 
 
 At last he was going . . . and Thekla came 
 to the door with him. 
 
l88 NIOBE 
 
 " Adieu, adieu," grinned Kjel. 
 
 Strange to say, as soon as the doctor's .kariol 
 was out of sight, she set out up the hill to Elvsset. 
 
 Kjel strolled leisurely after her. 
 
 As soon as they had entered the sitting-room, 
 and Thekla had comfortably seated herself, she 
 began : 
 
 " I have come here on an errand to you, Mrs. 
 Borvig, with reference to a general appeal from the 
 wives and mothers of the district to Dr. Stenvig to 
 give some lectures at the parish hall on the hygiene 
 and management of children. A reform is greatly 
 
 needed Those who have once gone into the 
 
 matter and seen how wrong the present treatment of 
 infants is, can only look upon it as inhuman ; the 
 present state of things is indefensible. We must 
 begin in this district to take up social questions at 
 
 some time or another I now want to ask 
 
 Mrs. Bente Borvig to place her name first on the list, 
 of course, so that the subject can be properly 
 discussed at once." 
 
 " You must really excuse me, Thekla — won't you 
 take your hat off.' But I have had children of my 
 own and have also some idea of what my husband 
 from his long experience thinks on the subject. I 
 cannot say that I quite agree with all Mr. Stenvig's 
 new theories ; they seem to me to come from a man 
 fresh from his books — at least what I have heard 
 of them. And so you will understand that I am 
 
NIOBB 189 
 
 not exactly the right person to approach in the 
 matter." 
 
 " I must say," burst in Kjel, " I must say, that 
 that fellow .... that doctor .... in fact I am 
 perfectly astonished .... for it is so confoundedly 
 impudent — not to say bare-faced — to want to 
 advertise himself in the district from the very house 
 
 of his colleague, his rival It would be exactly 
 
 the same if I asked the wife of the savings bank 
 director to lend her name to a meeting got up in 
 opposition to her husband. It's all humbug ! . . . . 
 Self-advertisement ! Pshaw ! You can see it your- 
 self, Thekla " 
 
 " Yes, what I see is — sawdust — and sawdust — 
 and nothing but sawdust .... no breathing space 
 for any of the questions of the day ! " exclaimed 
 Thekla rather warmly. 
 
 " No, no, just listen Thekla — can't you listen i" — I 
 only mean that he avails himself of your knowledge 
 of the higher subjects — yes, for Thekla is a woman 
 
 of great intelligence, mother And when I 
 
 become rich you shall not want means for carrying 
 out your ideas. I tell you, Thekla, you shall have 
 me and no one else to thank that you are not left 
 pent up in a sufTocating room with your ideas .... 
 on Saturday night the sixteenth I am bank director, 
 as sure as " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig gave a start. 
 
 " As sure as I live, mother. And considering 
 
igo NIOBE 
 
 I think of nothing else but of building up a golden 
 throne for you, Thekla, and of placing you upon it, 
 I think you might have a little respect for what is 
 mine," he said with much emotion as he left the 
 room. 
 
 A hard look came into Mrs. Borvig's face as she 
 stopped Thekla, who was tying her hat strings and 
 preparing to go. 
 
 " One moment, Thekla, since you are here ; just 
 sit down a bit and listen to me. I only want to 
 warn you .... you mustn't be offended." 
 
 Thekla looked surprised and irritated, partly 
 guessing what was coming. 
 
 " There are things one shrinks from saying and 
 one would rather put off as long as possible. But I 
 think there is no one who can say this to you so 
 clearly as I, without running the risk of being mis- 
 understood. It is about Stenvig." 
 
 " I thought as much ! " 
 
 " I must tell you plainly I have noticed so many 
 significant smiles, and have heard so many words 
 dropped here and there, that I feel I ought to tell 
 you of it." 
 
 Thekla eyed Mrs. Borvig up and down once or 
 twice, with a surprised inquiring look — this sort of 
 thing — from her ! 
 
 " I care nothing for what it pleases people to say 
 or think about me. A friendship which rests on many 
 strong interests, as mine and Stenvig's, cannot pay 
 
NIOBE 191 
 
 any attention to parish' gossip Every intel- 
 lectual relationship between man and woman must still 
 be prepared to be misjudged — I say still, Mrs. Borvig, 
 as long as there are so many who look upon every- 
 thing connected with, a more highly developed modern 
 life with the obscure notions of ordinary people .... 
 but I hardly expected it would begin here. . . ." 
 
 " Well, I consider that a wife ought, both for her 
 husband's and her own sake, to be careful also about 
 appearances." 
 
 " I do not think so. And if this is any errand of 
 Kjel's, I can only say I decline all interference — 
 pray excuse me if I speak out so plainly." 
 
 " Kjel has nothing whatever to do with what I am 
 telling you, I can assure you. But when I warn you 
 it is because I find that these ordinary people, as you 
 call us, are not altogether wrong." 
 
 " What do you mean, Mrs. Borvig .? " 
 
 " I will tell you. When a wife's heart and joy, 
 her sympathy, as well as her intellectual interests, 
 are not with her husband, but with another — ^then 
 all healthy-minded people feel there is something 
 wrong, although there may not be even a shadow of 
 what we, in every-day language, call faithlessness. 
 The worst part of it is, that the man is cheated out 
 of that which is most essential to him — that which 
 is the kernel in their relationship — and is left only 
 with the husk. It is that which one feels in a case 
 like this, Thekla — if I also am to speak plainly." 
 
192 NIOBE 
 
 " Have I, then, no human rights ? Why, any one 
 can see how void of interest, how totally without 
 comprehension, Kjel is to everything except business, 
 that he cannot possibly enter into my life." 
 
 " Why did you take him, then, Thekla, when you 
 knew so well that his happiness could never become 
 yours ? " 
 
 "We will not lose ourselves in the laws of the 
 
 eternal struggle for existfence, Mrs. Borvig. 
 
 But the meaning of it all is this, then," she said, 
 throwing back her head—" that I must not even 
 have permission to cultivate my intellectual interests. 
 
 I must die in all this sawdust. To speak out 
 
 quite clearly, I intend, as far as I am concerned, to 
 trample under foot all these narrow-minded con- 
 siderations to acknowledge no law — none — 
 
 except my own free self-respect. .... Well, I 
 suppose I shall have to accept Mrs. Borvig's refusal 
 to my application," she said, rising to go. 
 
 The candle was flickering again to-night upstairs 
 
 in the yellow room After a while it was 
 
 placed on the edge of the long painted table, where 
 it burnt steadily. 
 
 Since Mrs. Borvig had spoken to her daughter-in- 
 law her mind had become filled with anxiety and 
 
 restlessness She had not been able to battle 
 
 against the current — had not been able to stem Kjel's 
 lofty admiration for Thekla, although she had seen 
 
NIOBE 193 
 
 just as clearly then as now, how little the two were 
 suited for one another, whither they would drift, and 
 how unhappy this union would be. It seemed as if 
 Kjel's tendency for wild speculations had developed 
 into a kind of mania for possessing everything which 
 lay beyond his reach — whether it were something 
 ideal or financial speculations. His own personal 
 happiness, poor fellow, was irretrievably lost. It had I 
 become a complete subjection, which would be con- 
 tinued and continued under Thekla's method of 
 
 theorising This fraud, this fatal mistake, he 
 
 would suffer for to the bitter end. 
 
 But that which, so to speak, had stiiled this — had 
 rested over her the whole day as an ever-growing, 
 terrible calamity that threatened the family^ — was 
 Kjel's confident assertion that he would be elected 
 director of the savings bank. 
 
 It came upon her like a clap of thunder. 
 
 She could see it plainly The figures which 
 
 now went into thousands would hereafter be written 
 in tens of thousands .... would bubble and swell 
 
 like a flood into hundreds of thousands The 
 
 ruin, when it came, would be on quite a different 
 scale — a boundless ocean of debts, with disaster and 
 shame. 
 
 The name of Borvig would be cursed, would 
 become notorious over the whole country ! 
 
 She stood pale and motionless in front of the 
 candle, her lips quivered now and then, as if speak- 
 
 N 
 
194 NIOBE 
 
 ing or answering herself. She saw Kjel before her 
 as the broad-shouldered active boy who had been 
 the best snow-shoe runner and the best wrestler, and 
 who had always got through his lessons so cleverly 
 without learning them ; and now she beheld in him 
 a wily, crafty man of business with a thick layer of 
 good-natured, winning ways — a fat, morally dropsical 
 person .... the first person he deceived, in the 
 midst of all these artifices of which he was fully 
 conscious, was himself. He worked himself into 
 illusions till he became dizzy — dared only think that 
 he was on the broad way to wealth — only barred by 
 some obstacles, to overcome which was a joy and 
 satisfaction, and tended to show what a clever head 
 
 he had She had watched and noticed how 
 
 his face had changed in the course of years — his 
 eyes had acquired this quick, shrewd, anxious 
 expression. 
 
 He had been at one time just as simple and 
 straightforward as Massy, who was lying in there 
 asleep, relying so trustfully upon father and mother 
 and all of them — except upon Berthea — and who was 
 always wondering about Minka and asking after her. 
 
 It was enough to bring one to weep tears of 
 blood Borvig, Borvig, poor Borvig ! 
 
 But it must not happen — Kjel must not get the 
 savings bank into his hands to trifle with. It must 
 not happen, even if she had to shout aloud that he 
 was insolvent, 
 
NIOBE 195 
 
 The unfortunate part of it was that Kjel had got 
 old Arne Bergersen, whom every one knew to be 
 prudence itself, to join him at the time in this 
 
 forest syndicate of his It was on the strength 
 
 of that name that Kjel had allured the other 
 speculators into the venture, and thereby raised 
 himself at once to the position of chief and manager 
 of an important business in the district, and was 
 able to start these new and untried undertakings. 
 
 An idea dawned upon her. 
 
 She sat thinking and pondering, and watching the 
 flickering candle while the stearine melted and ran 
 down its sides. 
 
 The cautious old Arne Bergersen was no doubt 
 one of the two or three in the parish whose vote 
 would decide the general election. 
 
 What if she went and confided to him how 
 unhappy she would be if Kjel was elected 
 director 1 — 
 
 The reason . 
 
 She would not give any, except that .she i 
 considered him quite unfit for the post, that it 
 would simply be a misfortune for him. 
 
 " It can't be helped, Kjel," she mumbled to herself, 
 her face rigid and cold. " It is treachery. But it i 
 will soon come to this, that I shall be obliged to I 
 
 kill my own children and," — here she raised 
 
 her hand threateningly, the shadow showing on the 
 wall, " — did I not know that ^you v/tre already 
 
196 NIOBE 
 
 insolvent — that the disgrace is already there .... 
 I would run down on the main road, and cry out 
 that all must be on their guard against my son Kjel, 
 the swindler." 
 
 Berthea had just before Christmas broken off her 
 engagement with a Mr. Valentinsen, of the Customs, 
 and was now secretly engaged to the handsome Mr. 
 Schiolberg, in the county judge's office. 
 
 She generally kept her circle of special friends 
 and acquaintances quite apart from her relations. 
 There was nothing that happened in the district 
 that did not interest her — engagements, marriages, 
 family troubles and quarrels ; and she knew quite 
 well how the agitation for or against Kjel went on, 
 and all the gossip in the parish on that subject. 
 
 Through a friend of hers, Anna Lund, she had 
 received quite different accounts both about Endre, 
 who was busy studying King Lear, Hamlet, and 
 other great character parts, and about Minka, 
 than what appeared in the letters they sent 
 home. 
 
 They seemed to be quite infatuated with Minka 
 in town. She associated with Finsland and poets 
 and artists, both early and late — some were to 
 paint her portrait, and others to write verses to her. 
 . . . . " They find her so mysterious and interesting," 
 wrote Anna .... "and they are always going to 
 theatres and music-halls." 
 
NIOBE 197 
 
 But not a word was breathed about all this in 
 their own letters. 
 
 And Schulteiss was always about, rummaging 
 and prying among the letters for everything Minka 
 wrote. He had to content himself now with confiding 
 in Berthea. ) 
 
 " You see, Berthea," he would say mysteriously, 
 "your sister is no negative or destructive personality. 
 She is something positive — a source of strength. 
 Everything that comes under the -spell of her 
 magnetic touch becomes imbued with life and 
 sentiment, with fulness and energy — ^hem ! — a perfect 
 
 contrast to Mrs. Kjel down at the mill 
 
 Formerly she was influenced by others — now she 
 
 rises to unfold her strength Now she soars 
 
 above them all, higher and higher, according to the 
 
 nature inherent in her Now it is she who 
 
 sets the powers of others in motion, giving the key- 
 note to all sides, as on a piano. She does not give 
 herself up to any one — she only inspires, causing them 
 all to vibrate, to become full-toned, each according 
 
 to his nature. It is her high calling — I know 
 
 it — from herself .... But she does not give her- 
 self up to any one, that is the point — the important 
 
 part of it Isn't that so, Miss Berthea .? " he 
 
 suddenly asked, with an appealing look ; " but she 
 does not give herself up to any one, don't you also 
 think so ?".... he asked again, looking search- 
 ingly into Berthea's eyes. 
 
igS NIOBE 
 
 " She soars far too high above them for that ! " was 
 Berthea's decisive answer, as he turned on his heel. 
 
 Saturday, the day of the general meeting, was 
 only two days off. 
 
 It was obvious that Dr. Borvig was all excite- 
 ment. He had a feeling that quite a stirring contest 
 
 was in the air He never mixed himself up, 
 
 in such matters — was doctor on principle, and 
 nothing else but doctor among the families — and did 
 not particularly sympathise with all the modern 
 ideas. But he would not have possessed the heart 
 of a father if he had not taken an interest in this 
 
 election And really not altogether on Kjel's 
 
 account. These old fogeys wanted a good shaking 
 
 up, to shake all the dust out of them Just 
 
 fancy, as good as to refuse to support the new rail- 
 way with the savings of the district, and to compel 
 business men to borrow money outside the district 
 
 at a higher rate of interest He began to lean 
 
 to the opinion that some one like Kjel was really 
 much wanted as one who could be the helm of the 
 savings bank. Well, that's their business 
 
 He was taking a turn round the room for, per- 
 haps, the hundredth time in these days, his reflections 
 always bringing him to the same conclusion, when 
 Kjel came in, pale and hurried. 
 
 He threw himself into a chair and sat there silent, 
 staring vacantly before him. 
 
NIOBE igg 
 
 " Anything wrong with the savings bank ? " asked 
 the doctor, sharply. 
 
 Kjel sat dumb, 
 
 " Well, one must not always take it for granted | 
 that things will succeed." 
 
 Kjel shook his head, so the doctor understood he 
 was on the wrong tack. 
 
 " A nice look out ! " Kjel exclaimed. " Doesn't 
 it seem as if the devil himself is in it .?.... i 
 Everything in order — absolute majority. — The 
 thing was so sure that I might say I had it in my 
 pocket right up till this afternoon, when I got this 
 letter. Arne Bergersen refuses to renew — will 
 not undertake any further responsibilities for the 
 
 company He drives us into a regular corner, I 
 
 demands a statement of affairs, and wants to get out ' 
 of the business altogether ; has given notice that he 
 withdraws his guarantee. — And if I cannot get a 
 good name in his place at once, we shall stand there 
 on Saturday as defaulters. The bank granted the 
 money on the security of all our eleven names. — 
 And then — adieu to the directorship. It would not 
 do even to propose me. — Such a vile trick. — Just a 
 day or two before it falls due, so that I should not 
 
 have time to get another name instead So 
 
 shamefully calculated, too ! — For he knows well 
 enough that if I have to look for a new man as 
 guarantor, it will only bring the company's credit to 
 be talked about and discussed If it had only 
 
20O NIOBE 
 
 been the day after, I could easily have got three for 
 every one right on the spot. But just now ! " — 
 Kjel stared gloomily at the floor. 
 
 " Not the slightest risk — safe and sound in every 
 respect .... a dividend next year of fifty per 
 cent, at the very least. — There stand their names as 
 guarantors, one for all and all for one, eleven men 
 in all. — Well, there is no help for it, I must give it 
 up as lost — hard though it be ! " He sighed. 
 " Any ordinary, well-known name in the parish 
 
 would do. If I could only be sure of his name on 
 
 the bill till Monday or Tuesday I could easily arrange 
 matters, and let him off," exclaimed Kjel. "But now! 
 Well, well, what is lost is lost ! — I must be off, 
 nevertheless, and get a name somehow — and then the 
 idea of becoming director will have to be given up." 
 
 A stillness fell upon the room in the gathering 
 twilight. 
 
 " Yes, it is hard, Kjel, I must admit." 
 
 Kjel pulled out his handkerchief, wiped his eyes, 
 and blew his nose. 
 
 " I say, Kjel," the doctor said in a low voice, 
 " you never keep your word to me." 
 
 " Oh, you know well enough, father — if it came 
 to a push, then — " 
 
 " Would my name do, do you think 1 " 
 
 " Oh, a less important than yours would do," said 
 Kjel, in his off-hand way, " any name known in the 
 parish." 
 
NIOBE 201 
 
 " Well, you give me your word as my son that 
 
 you will not get me into any trouble Will you 
 
 give me your word of honour that I shall be out of 
 it on Monday or Tuesday— for preference, Monday ? 
 
 — then you shall have my name I will put 
 
 my name to it, my lad, so that you can become 
 director now, when so much depends on it." 
 
 Kjel blew his nose. 
 
 " Since you offer it to me, father .... This is 
 really good of you I shall never forget it ! " 
 
 " But we'll say nothing to mother — nothing to 
 mother about it, Kjel, .... she, she, she — it 
 would worry her too much. Give me the paper, 
 and let me have done with it — I might repent it," 
 he said, hastily. 
 
IX 
 
 It was a quiet, still September day, with a clear sky. 
 The trees had nearly all cast their leaves, but here 
 and there one could see the sparse yellow leaves of 
 the birch, or the red leaves of the ash, down by the 
 river which flowed past the farmsteads, bright as a 
 silver streak. 
 
 In the afternoon the sound of kariol wheels was 
 heard on the main road. 
 
 It was Kjel. He threw the reins to the servant- 
 lad, and rushed into his father's study. 
 
 " This is now the fourth message you have sent 
 for me. The people down at the mill must think 
 there is something wrong here. I know well enough 
 it is your name you want back, right off on the 
 
 spot And you shall have it back. But one 
 
 can't do more than what is in a human being's 
 power." 
 
 " In a human being's power ! " thundered the 
 doctor. " It is two months now since the day I was 
 to have my good name back — two months, in which 
 every day has been a torture to me, Kjel — every 
 day, I tell you." 
 
NIOBB Z03 
 
 " But father, can't you listen ? " cried Kjel. 
 
 " No, I will not listen — 1 will have my name 
 back .... two months, I tell you, in which I have 
 not been able to drive, a single day, through the 
 parish without thinking that it is known that Dr. 
 Borvig has taken to speculating in forests — ^has put 
 his name to a business venture twenty times bigger j 
 than what he is worth." 
 
 " Oh, yes, running the risk of making a couple of 
 thousands next year." 
 
 " Silence, Kjel !- — do you hear i" — silence, or by 
 heaven ! " — shouted the doctor lifting his arm. " Not 
 a day, I tell you of all the sixty-three. — I have 
 counted them and the nights as well — not a day, on 
 which I have been able to look your mother in the 
 face. I avoid her, .... we, who have lived to- 
 gether as in a dovecote for thirty-four years. I tell 
 
 you — out with my name, lad " The doctor 
 
 made a step forward, and clutched at him, as if to 
 seize him by the throat. 
 
 " What the devil ! " exclaimed Kjel, pushing a 
 chair in front of him. " If you are mad and won't 
 listen .... I tell you, you shall have your name. 
 That's the very thing I have been attending to — so 
 that, once and for all, I can get rid of these lamenta- 
 tions and foolish messages." 
 
 " When, when, when .? At what time .' " 
 
 " I don't know ! If you won't listen I must go 
 home and write a letter to you." 
 
20+ NIOBE 
 
 " Well then, speak ! — out with it." 
 
 " Bless me, if I've ever seen anything like this ! 
 Here I come with such results .... my pocket 
 full, so to speak, of news — better than I ever hoped 
 or expected — and then I hear, ' Out with the name, 
 out with it ! ' It's a mercy one hasn't been strangled ! 
 How can I help it, if this little good name of yours, 
 as you call it, will stick to the paper as if it were 
 pasted down .■' If they didn't think so much of you 
 they would be glad enough to let you out of it — for 
 it isn't exactly for the pleasure of having to do with 
 you that . . . ." 
 
 " Well, well— and then } " 
 
 " Well, I came to tell you that the company has 
 to-day bought the rest of the Black Forest — thirty 
 thousand acres — on condition that the owners go 
 equal shares, whether loss or profit, and mind you — 
 
 all the timber is to be sawn at my mill the 
 
 company in consequence is to be enlarged — the 
 profits simply incalculable ; as far as I am concerned 
 it is only a simple rule of three. If four thousand 
 acres have yielded me so much sawing in the year, 
 what then about the thirty thousand which really 
 includes the full-grown trees 1 And, as far as you are 
 concerned, it means that now four for every one would 
 
 buy you out the moment the papers are signed 
 
 They simply envy you the profits ; it's only a question 
 whether I should not use the opportunity to secure 
 you a premium for retiring." 
 
NIOBE 205 
 
 " No ; not a cent — not a cent, Kjel. I'll have it 
 settled in private — only get the name off the 
 paper. I shall not have any peace till that is 
 done. The day I get it back your father will 
 be another man. God forgive you, that you could 
 lead me into all this which is altogether so far 
 and away from anything I want to be mixed up 
 in." 
 
 " It ought all to be settled in the course of next 
 week," remarked Kjel, pensively. " Yes, father, this 
 will now be quite a future for me — to date from to- 
 day And I must say I can no longer stand 
 
 seeing the shavings from John Vaaler's planing 
 works floating down the river past my mill. I am 
 
 going to extend my place as well — at once 
 
 I have really been so successful that I am almost 
 afraid of myself. I must now be off" to Thekla, and 
 tell her about it. Phew ! father, it was a tough job 
 before it could be arranged." 
 
 " Well, well ; it may be right enough, and satis- 
 factory enough. But the name, the name, my lad. 
 .... I shall feel as if I had just come out of prison 
 the day I see it again." 
 
 " Well, I never thought you could be so over 
 
 anxious, father Your name you shall have 
 
 back in any case, and with many thanks into the 
 bargain. For it was that which made me director 
 of the bank, and which has brought me all the success 
 up till now, together with to-day's." 
 
205 NIOBE 
 
 " Well, that's a comfort anyhow," mumbled the 
 doctor. 
 
 " And I shall still remain director, of course. No 
 
 one can turn me out after this I am like the 
 
 old man of the sea, now they have once got me on 
 their back .... for the more they do to uphold 
 me the more d-edit they get themselves. It is a 
 case of up with me, up with themselves ; down with 
 me, down they go, and the whole of the new 
 business world here. I am just their man — I and 
 nobody else ! " he nodded, as he put on his hat. 
 
 " Here is the postman, father," he called from the 
 front door. 
 
 Shortly after reading his letters, the doctor 
 sauntered down the garden path with a paper in his 
 hand. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig was in the garden, gathering her 
 choicest apples, which had to be picked one by one, 
 and not shaken down. She stood on a step-ladder, 
 which Massy was steadying, picking and handing 
 them carefully down, to be placed on a cloth spread 
 out on the ground. 
 
 " It is very curious, Bente, but things don't look 
 
 so very bad after all I really believe I am 
 
 beginning to reap some benefit through Kjel's trans- 
 actions. Here are no less than two hundred crowns, 
 sent to me as commission by Harstad the forest- 
 proprietor. I am very much mistaken in human 
 pature if this isn't a kind of prudent desire on his 
 
NIOBE 207 
 
 part to be on the good books of the bank director's 
 
 father I cannot very well send them back 
 
 either, with an intimation that they would not 
 influence the applications for loans in the savings 
 bank " 
 
 An apple fell down and rolled on to the cloth. 
 
 "They will just come in usefully to send to 
 Minka, you see." 
 
 " This is no jesting matter, Borvig. If it really 
 is as you think, it is not a very pleasant thing to 
 receive this money." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know, Bente ; I think I may ven- 
 ture to take upon my conscience a small, indirect 
 fee like this, in return for all I sacrifice for the wel- 
 fare of the family One gets, unexpectedly, 
 
 a few benefits, when one's son is getting on in the 
 world, in the shape of increased respect and esteem. 
 .... And Kjel is getting a good deal to the 
 front now." 
 
 " We must bear in mind that this sort of business 
 carries risk with it, like Blond in walking across 
 Niagara," she muttered. 
 
 "Oh yes, let us by all means go on looking 
 gloomily at things. The more progress the more 
 
 suspicious we become When his saw mill is 
 
 so filled with timber from the Black Forest that he 
 doesn't know which way to turn, and must soon 
 extend his place — then we must mourn and sigh — 
 and scowl at him until he is nearly driven mad. 
 
2o8 NIOBE 
 
 Yes, for now he has really succeeded in securing 
 that part of the business which is without risk to 
 him — the sawing of the timber for the whole com- 
 pany. That's the very cream of it." 
 
 " Well, I only hope it may turn out as well as 
 you think. It is altogether so grand that it makes 
 one anxious — and — can one really carry on business 
 without any risk, Borvig .■' " 
 
 " Pooh ! What madness. You always seem to 
 think there is a powder magazine down at Kjel's. 
 .... When things go forward you want them to go 
 
 backwards It has come to this, that I actually 
 
 dread to bring a bit of good news from Kjel's — 
 you wilfully throw cold water on my happiness. . . i . . 
 I should really like to know if I came and told you 
 the whole business was on the point of failing " 
 
 " And it was all up," came involuntarily from the 
 top of the ladder. 
 
 " What ?....! really think you sit up there in 
 
 the apple tree like a bird of evil omen very 
 
 pleasant and encouraging, isn't it } " 
 
 " As long as no flood from down there carries our 
 house and your good name away with it." 
 
 " Fie for shame ! always this eternal, irritating 
 ' Keep away, keep away,, keep away ' from your own 
 
 son 
 
 I " 
 
 " There is a kariol — two — coming up the hill," 
 called out Massy. " The first is Mr. Lunde, the 
 manager, and then the inspector." 
 
NIOBE 209 
 
 The doctor appeared much relieved in his mind 
 as he walked to the garden gate. 
 
 There would, at any rate, be an opportunity for 
 killing time this evening with a game of boston 
 .... perhaps, after all, only good news, which 
 justified a glass of toddy. 
 
 Massy, who had been down to the saw-mill in the 
 morning, on a visit to little Baard, resumed the 
 interrupted conversation and prattle with her 
 mother : 
 
 " I'll never marry a fool, mother." 
 
 " No, I quite agree with you in that, Massy." 
 
 " Kjel is a fool." • 
 
 " H m 1 " 
 
 Massy would not give any reason ; but Kjel was 
 a fool. 
 
 She stood thinking awhile. 
 
 " If I marry, my child might easily become an 
 inventor br a learned man, or a big man, who would 
 come to govern the country. It might happen, 
 mightn't it ? " 
 
 " Bless the child ! — you mustn't go about with such 
 ideas, Massy. You mustn't get such mad notions 
 into your head." 
 
 " But it might happen. I am only asking 
 
 It might happen. Neither Caesar's nor Luther's 
 mother knew she would have such a wonderful child, 
 .... nor Napoleon's mother, either, whose son 
 became Emperor." 
 
 o 
 
210 NIOBE 
 
 " Look round you in the parish, Massy, and see if 
 you think there are any Napoleons or Hannibals 
 among the young men." 
 
 Massy did not appear to be convinced. 
 
 " And fancy how disappointed all mothers would 
 be over their children if they had been dreaming of 
 only Hannibals and Martin Luthers. And what- 
 ever I might wish to think about you, children — you 
 
 are certainly not of that sort, any of you A 
 
 mother must be thankful if her children turn out 
 good and respectable." 
 
 "Yes, but it might happen, you know, mother," 
 continued Massy, eagerly, " that's all I mean." 
 
 " Such extravagant notions only end in disap- 
 pointments. Massy. Those who only expect little are 
 all the more thankful when they get more." 
 
 " But did you expect so little then, mother 1 — for 
 you are fond enough of us." 
 
 " I don't say. Massy," laughed Mrs. Borvig, " that 
 your mother, when she was your age, didn't also 
 have her dreams that life would be a wonderful 
 j fairy-tale, ' south of the sun, and east of the moon, 
 I at the back of Babylon's tower.' But we soon grew 
 out of that. It seemed to be in the air at that time 
 to be contented. Now it is as if a whole wall has 
 been pulled down — leaving the whole world open to 
 us in all its dazzling brightness ; it seems, in fact, 
 that nothing is impossible any more. . . , . But you 
 see. Massy, strength and work are necessary 
 
NIOBE 211 
 
 And there are now so many who Hve only in illu- 
 sions and think themselves great," she went on, 
 bitterly. " Now it is the fashion to dream, and im- 
 agine oneself born to great things and a brilliant 
 destiny. But as far as I can see, it comes to 
 nothing but castles in the air and disappointments ; 
 — I never see that they reach their goal. Don't 
 delude yourself. Massy, with the belief that you are 
 an exception." 
 
 " But it might happen, mother ; I only say that it 
 might happen." 
 
 " I don't even believe that it might happen. 
 Hannibal's father and mother felt, I am sure, that 
 they wrere of a good stock ; it did not come quite 
 so unexpectedly upon them." 
 
 Massy appeared to be lost in thought — she felt 
 there was still something more to be said on the 
 subject .... She would reserve that for Schulteiss, 
 when she would introduce it so skilfully, and pretend 
 she referred to Minka. 
 
 " I will take the basket, mother, and carry all the 
 apples — only" do come down carefully from that 
 ladder." 
 
 When the apples had been taken upstairs into the 
 yellow room, and she had finished spreading them 
 out on the table, she attacked Schulteiss, who stood 
 at the landing window watching Arnt's experiments 
 in dynamite blasting over by the summer-house, 
 the explosions of which rattled through the air and 
 
212 NIOBE 
 
 disturbed the stillness of the quiet autumn day with 
 their far-reaching peal of thunder. 
 
 " I should be awfully sorry if Minka got married 
 to a stupid man while she's up in town," she 
 began. 
 
 Schulteiss gave a start. 
 
 " Is there anything — -have you heard anything .' " 
 he exclaimed hurriedly. 
 
 " Oh, no ; I only say if — and that I should be so 
 sorry." 
 
 " Really a most remarkable flight of fancy, Massy 
 — so entirely outside the bounds of possibility — 
 unless — " his expression became startled again, 
 " unless you have some intimation, ever so small a 
 
 proof, on which you could build your None .' 
 
 None .'.... Really none .' No, of course 
 
 Ha, ha ! " he laughed. " But you would be sorry, if 
 it were to happen ? Yes, so should I ; a stupid 
 husband, a stupid husband .... truly a ridiculous, 
 an impossible idea." 
 
 " Yes ; but supposing now she did marry a stupid 
 man — one whom she thought was clever, but who 
 
 was really stupid Wouldn't that be a very 
 
 sad thing ? " 
 
 " Impossible — quite impossible." 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you I have been thinking to my- 
 self that she might have quite remarkable children — 
 and I should be their aunt, and if she now " 
 
 " A strange subject A — so to speak — almost 
 
NIOBE 213 
 
 intolerable, terrible supposition, which I would rather 
 
 not discuss Ah ! the naivete of young girls 
 
 is truly surprising." 
 
 " I simply want to know if a stupid father doesn't 
 have stupid children." 
 
 " Yes — that is to say — — but perhaps the 
 mother on the other hand might be all the more 
 gifted. After all there are so many sides to that 
 question." 
 
 " But if Minka was fond of a really handsome, 
 fine man " 
 
 " Minka I beg you. Massy, not to talk like 
 
 that ; you make me feel hot all over ! " 
 
 " You always say yourself that Minka is so re- 
 markable — and if her husband were also remark- 
 able " . • 
 
 Schulteiss stood silent a moment ; he was becoming 
 more and more excited. 
 
 " Your train of thought betrays want of feeling," 
 he exclaimed ; " can only be excused by the gross 
 and grotesque conceptions of immature girlhood. 
 Your mind is still filled with dolls in spite of your 
 
 sixteen years Why the very thought of it is," 
 
 .... here he threw back his head " Minka ! 
 
 The proud woman — with her great mission in life — 
 and her great expectations — she — she will never give 
 herself up to anybody ' remarkable ' — to any remark- 
 able, handsome, fine man — with or without 
 moustaches — to any remarkable professional man — 
 
214 NIOBE 
 
 any remarkable North Pole explorer For, 
 
 understand me clearly, young lady^let it also 
 penetrate into your still obscure mind ! — she un- 
 consciously carries in her glorious nature the great 
 craving for love — ^she does not demand goods 
 chattels, or gold — nor external skin-deep beauty, 
 nor this nor that particular intellectual ability — 
 
 nothing, nothing of that kind Her noble and 
 
 ideal nature, so full of sentiment, craves for the great 
 passion — a love strong as life and death .... and 
 when she finds that burning — even if in a fragile 
 frame — she will, the day when her eyes are open, 
 
 give herself up at last Such a love is as 
 
 unfathomable as the elements the transitory 
 
 body glows in it, and the spirit soars upwards, and," 
 he stared pale with ecstacy up into the heavens, " I 
 do not say that it should not possess the ability to 
 call forth, to create geniuses .... that which is 
 beyond — beyond all understanding — beyond all 
 understanding ! " 
 
 Massy noticed with horror that his eyes were 
 rolling as if loose in their sockets. 
 
 A little while after Schulteiss sat in his room 
 reading a letter, which the doctor had handed him 
 across the whist-table. 
 
 The letter which Minka had once promised him, 
 the one he had so long been waiting for, had come 
 to-day. 
 
NIOBE 215 
 
 Pale blue, in an elegant, perfumed envelope — 
 addressed to Mr. Ananias Schulteiss, M.A., doctor 
 of languages . . . sealed by Minka herself 
 
 " Dear Teacher of my Youth, 
 
 " Whom in all this wide, wide world could I 
 venture to confide in but one — one alone ? In you, 
 Mr. Schulteiss " . . . . 
 
 The words danced before his eyes, and he was 
 obliged to read them over again. He drew a deep 
 breath. 
 
 " You, my tried friend, — to you I venture to 
 show myself as I am. You will always understand 
 me, you who have an eye for that which to me 
 appears as the one glorious thing in life — to kindle 
 beauty and ideality in the great men of the time. 
 You understand me ? 
 
 " I will now tell you a little about myself. .... 
 Dressed in brown, with red and yellow trimming, a 
 hat with a broad brim, and a short veil which hides 
 the eyes until you suddenly come upon them 
 unawares — you only suspected they were there. 
 
 " Pretty boots, buttoned high — you know I have 
 pretty feet, Mr. Schulteiss — so that one can step 
 out both smartly and daintily, as if mindful of 
 the mud. But what I have been obliged to 
 study thoroughly till at last I have mastered it, is 
 
2i6 NIOBE 
 
 how to carry myself, how to walk. I have heard 
 the gentlemen's remarks when they look back after 
 the ladies. It's those with the wavy, undulating 
 gait that they like, — and an erect figure . . . Either 
 unsoiled gloves or none. And a pretty parasol 
 with a stylish handle. Behind this lurks the serpent 
 — the magnetic element — oscillating from behind 
 its shelter. One receives salutes — and one smiles — 
 smiles as if at one's own thoughts and as if one saw 
 nothing . . . ." 
 
 " Great Heaven ! her beautiful smile," sighed 
 Schulteiss. 
 
 " Starts as if taken by surprise — and a thousand 
 other innovations of woman's genius — an armoury 
 of effective weapons. 
 
 " Yes, thus is the pirate equipped, the one who 
 was launched from your homely port, Mr. 
 Schulteiss. 
 
 " I confide myself to your profound understanding. 
 Your soul must not be darkened by the suspicion 
 that I am likely to give way to any weakness — to 
 anything like an ordinary love affair. I feel that I 
 nearly — very nearly — have Mr. Finsland in my power 
 — that I possess an influence over him which he can- 
 not resist. If I only had him wholly in my power, 
 I might put all my fire and colour into his poetry. 
 Oh, Mr. Schulteiss, to electrify such a man's pen, to 
 feel that it is really I who sparkle in it — that all his 
 poetry is only Minka ! But there is something in 
 
NIOBE 217 
 
 the way which throws a shadow. And now I will 
 be doubly candid, Mr. Schulteiss. 
 
 " I am so afraid that you may mislay or lose my 
 letter in some way, and that I shall be betrayed, or 
 that your looks will awaken suspicion ! 
 
 " I have not been in town this summer as the 
 postmarks and the dates on the letters have led 
 you all to believe. I have been on a walking tour 
 up in the mountains in company with some literary 
 and artistic friends. We took up our quarters on 
 three setters* and rocked ourselves on a glorious 
 mountain lake where we saw ourselves as in a magic 
 mirror ; and I dressed in peasant costume and was 
 painted. 
 
 " I felt like a princess, a being perfumed by a 
 higher aroma, until the time when Mr. Finsland had 
 so suddenly to go back to town. Why .■' Why ? 
 That is the shadow which darkens 
 
 " It seemed to me, all at once, as if the whole 
 spirit of the thing, that which had given all the 
 intoxicating fascination, was gone. I was only 
 myself again when the day before yesterday I found 
 myself back in town again, breathing the same air 
 as he 
 
 " I intended to have continued this letter — but 
 fancy ! As I was out walking this evening, a man 
 stooped down and looked at me. . . . Those eyes 
 
 * Norwegian mountain dairies. 
 
2i8 NIOBE 
 
 haunt me — those terrible eyes You can 
 
 guess who it was. That terrible person — ^ — " 
 
 "Varberg! . . . . Great God !" burst out Schulteiss. 
 He sat down, and rocked his head in his hands 
 moaning, while the pale September sunlight cast its 
 waning light upon him. 
 
X 
 
 Mrs. Kjel Borvig walked hurriedly along the road 
 holding her umbrella up against the rain. She did 
 not give herself time to take off her goloshes and 
 cloak in the hall, but went straight into the doctor's 
 study. 
 
 " I should like to speak to you, grandfather," she 
 exclaimed excitedly. 
 
 " Anything the matter with little Baard ? " 
 
 She shook her head and sat down on a corner of 
 the sofa. She seemed greatly agitated and it was 
 some time before she could speak. 
 
 " I have come to ask your advice. I have been 
 awake the whole night and have considered the 
 matter from every point of view, and I would now like 
 to know how far one has to consider one's family 
 .... I want to know exactly how far my duty as 
 a wife goes. With regard to my duty as a human 
 
 being I am quite clear Here is the dilemma 
 
 — to what extent have I by marriage bound my 
 person ? " 
 
 " But, my dear Thekla, you speak as if there was 
 something serious the matter between you and Kjel." 
 
220 NIOBE 
 
 Thekla smiled bitterly and leant her head against 
 the back of the sofa : 
 
 " Oh no, as far as that goes — to tell the truth — 
 we are only sorry we ever got married." 
 
 " I would ask you first, Thekla, to consider if it is 
 quite right to mix your husband's parents up in 
 your affairs. I know Kjel's weak point is his 
 devotion for you ; and that you are, at all events, 
 a true friend and dutiful wife to him ; of that I 
 am equally convinced. I respect your character, 
 Thekla." 
 
 Thekla breathed heavily. 
 
 " I have to ask advice of the only person I dare 
 confide in, my husband's father. I ask again and 
 again what is a wife's duty and how far does it go .' 
 Am I obliged to live, eat, drink, clothe myself — in 
 short, take part in the speculations of a man who I 
 have no doubt is carrying them on with other people's 
 money .' " 
 
 " Good heavens, Thekla ! What is it you say .■' " 
 
 " There is no doubt about it." 
 
 " You must be mistaken, Thekla," remarked the 
 , doctor coldly. " What foundation have you for it .'' 
 Have you any facts to go upon ? " 
 
 " That is just what I have come to confide to you 
 .... I came home unexpectedly yesterday from 
 the branch of the Society for distribution of useful 
 literature, and from my bedroom I heard Kjel 
 talking loudly, trying to appease some one in the 
 
NIOBE 221 
 
 dining-room. They talked quite openly about bank- 
 ruptcy and their despair in connection with their last 
 purchase, the Black Forest. I thought myself justified 
 
 in listening further For that was certainly 
 
 not how Kjel had represented the matter to me ! 
 The stranger was one of the partners in the company. 
 He seemed to be utterly crestfallen. The much 
 talked of ten thousand acres which they had 
 bought appeared to have been thinned down to a 
 surprising extent; a large quantity of saleable 
 timber had been disposed of just before the owners 
 got their misere foisted upon Kjel and his partners. 
 And Kjel replied with some argument to the effect 
 that a bad speculation must be retrieved by a good 
 one — that the company would have to begin buying 
 forests on a large scale, even if they had to carry 
 on by raising money on bills till there was an 
 opportunity of making a coup ! The first thing the 
 company now had to show was that it could produce 
 
 timber For there was plenty of time to go 
 
 bankrupt, he repeated. And now I should 
 
 like to know how far a wife's duties go." 
 
 The doctor's face had turned ashy grey. 
 
 " It seems as if Kjel has had the rather difficult 
 task to perform of pacifying a partner who has been 
 seized with a panic,'' he said, coolly and reassuringly, 
 " and that he has advised them to try and make up 
 for a bad speculation with a more successful one. 
 I think, Thekla, it is a wife's absolute duty to 
 
222 - NIOBE 
 
 hold her tongue about her husband's affairs and 
 not to make things more difficult, if there is any 
 trouble." 
 
 Thekla nodded slowly, and said bitterly : " I am 
 
 bound by golden fetters I see I must take 
 
 the consequences 
 
 " Excuse me, Thekla," the doctor interrupted 
 suddenly, " but I must ask you to go now — I — 
 I " 
 
 The doctor seized hold of a chair as if to support 
 himself 
 
 " I can only say," said Thekla, sighing deeply and 
 rising, " that I go no wiser than I came. I am con- 
 fronted with the same dilemma I must ask 
 
 you to give my compliments to the ladies in the^ 
 sitting-room, and say that your son's wife is not in a 
 humour to-day to look in upon'them." 
 
 When she was gone, the doctor began pacing 
 hurriedly up and down the room, his forehead bathed 
 in perspiration. Suddenly he made a rush for the 
 window, threw it open, and was seized with a violent 
 fit of vomiting. It was a complaint from which he 
 suffered when he became greatly agitated and could 
 not give vent to his feelings. 
 
 A messenger was sent for Kjel. 
 
 Kjel was just stepping into his kariol to attend a 
 meeting of the company, which had been suddenly 
 called. He could not get to Elvsaet till four o'clock. 
 
 The doctor sat at his desk, resting his head on his 
 
NIOBE 223 
 
 arm. He was absorbed in thought and evidently in 
 great distress, and did not look up when Kjel entered 
 the room. 
 
 " Well, father, . . . you are deucedly quiet 
 
 Is there anything wrong again .' " 
 
 " You might be a little more straightforward with 
 me, Kjel," he said quietly. " That last purchase of 
 the Black Forest was only so-so, I presume, if not to 
 say " 
 
 " Where have you heard that, father .'.... Has 
 any one said anything ? " asked Kjel hastily. 
 
 " No, but 1 go about a good deal among the 
 tenants and hear a little of everything — the wood- 
 cutters — " 
 
 " Tut, tut — straightforward — straightforward 
 
 If that were all that was necessary ! I am only too 
 willing to acknowledge that we are in low water, very 
 low at present. I should deny it, of course, to any- 
 one else who might happen to say anything of the 
 kind, but between ourselves — well, yes. It is true 
 we have been cheated over the transaction, shame- 
 fully cheated, and not to a small extent either, it 
 seems to me .... but it isn't quite so bad as I 
 thought at first — I feared that the ground had been 
 swept entirely clear of everything in the shape of 
 timber. To begin with, that is not exactly the case 
 .... and if we can only wait a few years, the 
 forest will have grown again, and we shall have the 
 same chance. The whole thing reduces itself to a 
 
224 NIOBE 
 
 question of waiting — to be able to retain the property 
 in the meantime .... of course it will try our 
 pockets somewhat ; but then, we are sufficiently 
 numerous to stand it." 
 
 The doctor sat staring absent-mindedly. The 
 furrows in his forehead became more and more 
 prominent. 
 
 " Kjel, could you not in some way get me out of 
 the business ? " he asked confidingly. " It. is worry- 
 ing the very life out of me .... you must get me 
 out of it ... . don't you think you could do that 
 for your father, my lad } You have so many 
 resources \yhen you once set to work. And I am not 
 worth so very much after all ... . just find some 
 way of getting me out of it." 
 
 " It's a beastly difficult affair . . . ." said Kjel, 
 beginning to stride up and down the room in great 
 excitement. " You know, of course, father, that had 
 we not really been pushed, I would have got you 
 out of it long ago, and not let it run on ever since 
 midsummer last year. But one can't do every- 
 thing one likes, and this swindling business which 
 came so confounded inconveniently — all this means 
 it will take much more time to settle up every- 
 thing You see it takes longer to pull a load 
 
 up hill than to sit and slide down with it when 
 everything is going well. . . . ." 
 
 " Kjel," said the doctor, rising suddenly from his 
 seat, " I will pay to get out of it — I'll pay what I 
 
NrOBE 225 
 
 can get together — two thousand crowns. I will 
 pay you in cash." 
 
 " It's a pity, a great pity, that matters should 
 take such a turn. One feels inclined to take one's 
 shirt off and sell it, jf it would do any good." 
 
 " And you think you can't do anything for it, 
 Kjel — now, soon," he said, imploringly, "not — not 
 even if I pay the two thousand .' " 
 
 " I both can and will, father, if you'll only give 
 me time ! Surely I ought to iind somebody 
 amongst all the names I have at my disposal, 
 especially when I have as much as two thousand 
 crowns to pull it through with." 
 
 " You shall have them, Kjel — on the spot, if only 
 I get my name back." 
 
 " For two thousand crowns is a very tempting 
 morsel, father, in these hard times." 
 
 Kjel paced up and down, pondering, his eyes 
 fixed on the floor. 
 
 " I think, by Jove, I've hit on the very man — 
 still highly thought of in the bank — especially on 
 account of his well-known promptitude, and also on 
 
 account of my warm recommendation I 
 
 shall have to proceed as they do with the Russian 
 soldiers, when they are sent under fire — cannons at 
 the back of them and encouragement in front of 
 
 them It is really too bad that you should 
 
 have to pay out this money .... but I will owe 
 it you as quite a separate item, for it is I who " 
 
226 NIOBE 
 
 " On this table — you will find them on this table, 
 Kjel — only my name ! " 
 
 " To think of all the money that is tied up in the 
 
 sawmill It is insured for forty-five thousand 
 
 — a small enough amount — besides the deals, the 
 value of which varies. If I only had that money at 
 my disposal, or if it wasn't so impossible to get a 
 loan on that class of security, I should be a Croesus 
 at once — should buy the Aaseral forest ! I have 
 been offered it for thirty-five thousand, cash. I 
 have the refusal of it in writing ; in fact, the rest of 
 the purchase-money can be paid in yearly instal- 
 ments .... and there is this remarkable thing 
 about the forest — I have really seen it, both I and 
 others — that it is full of timber for hundreds of 
 thousands, has stood almost untouched for twenty- 
 three years .... and the reason is that the river 
 and the right of floating belongs to the Black Forest, 
 so it scarcely pays to cut the timber there, unless — 
 mark you, father — unless both forests belong to the 
 same party. Then the outlook is different. Now you 
 understand what I am driyjng at. And thirty-five 
 thousand — five and thirty thousand. If only it had 
 been last year ! If only it had been before Christmas, 
 I could have found the money as easily as anything. 
 Anyhow, the grapes do not hang beyond my reach." 
 
 " I say, Kjel," suggested the doctor, as his son 
 was about to leave, " there would be no harm in 
 telling Thekia now and then a little about your 
 
NIOBE 227 
 
 affairs. A wife so easily begins to worry herself if 
 there is anything she does not understand, and she 
 may be going about imagining all sorts of things to 
 herself. I don't say you should unbosom yourself 
 entirely about your difficulties .... but this about 
 Aaseral, for instance, would interest her, you know ; 
 it would give her some encouragement. She will be 
 anxious enough to know something about your 
 affairs — I'm sure she will — although it is only 
 business." 
 
 Endre arrived quite unexpectedly to spend part of 
 the summer at home. 
 
 He had just gone through some painful explana- 
 tions in the study with his father, whom he had 
 found strangely softened and a good deal aged. 
 He then beguiled his time in lounging round the 
 farm acompanied by Massy whom he questioned 
 about the various affairs of the family — about Arnt, 
 who was greatly interested in the construction of the 
 railway, and was busily engaged in road-making 
 and engineering works and dynamite blasting over 
 in the hill behind the summer house ; and how 
 Schulteiss thought he would be able to get him 
 passed at the forthcoming examination in the spring 
 so that he could enter the Technical School ; she 
 herself had already passed the examination this 
 year. Massy was in a hurry to get out into the 
 world and learn something, also at a Technical 
 
228 NIOBE 
 
 School for preference. She wanted to be an archi- 
 tect — to draw and invent and fit up houses, each 
 prettier than the other. Drawing and mathematics 
 were her strong subjects. She had already made up 
 her mind how she would build her own house . . . 
 but that, of course, would depend whether she got 
 married or not — and that again would depend 
 whether she found any one whom she liked very, 
 very much. 
 
 Endre stuck his eye-glass in position and 
 muttered : 
 
 " All alike — whether they build in the air or 
 build of bricks, a man is sure to appear on the 
 scene." 
 
 And what was that about Berthea, who rushed off 
 to-day to the auction at Lystad .' Was she engaged 
 to this parish dandy Scholberg, the auctioneer, 
 or was she not 1 Or was Massy a silly goose 
 who didn't know anything about so complicated a 
 business ? 
 
 Endre now caught sight of Schulteiss, who came 
 out of the front door, and shouted to him as he 
 lifted his hat. 
 
 " Back again under the paternal roof, you see — 
 the moral stud farm where one is bred and fed with 
 the fodder of illusions — ready to be slaughtered as 
 soon as one finds oneself on the world's market- 
 place. Isn't that so .' . . . . One needs a little 
 recreation, now and then, you know, after one's daily 
 
NIOBE 229 
 
 struggle in a career — in which one doesn't seem to 
 get on too fast — " he said, nodding to Schulteiss 
 and going up the steps to meet him. 
 
 " So here we are back again in the family strong- 
 hold — walled in, bricked up and nailed down — even 
 to one's views .... Can one imagine anything 
 more satanically adapted for misleading the mind 
 than such a perfect walled-in home .-' — where one may 
 work oneself into illusions of all kinds ; where one 
 certainly gets one's food three times a day and one's 
 bed at night .... one comes out into the world 
 with his knapsack full of simplicity," he exclaimed 
 with a jaunty air, as Mrs. Borvig came to serve the 
 coffee. 
 
 " I should have thought it was well not to lose 
 too much of that self-same simplicity, Endre," 
 answered Mrs. Borvig; " it is after all the cheerful 
 belief which keeps up one's courage." 
 
 "I fancy I hear the hammer nailing down maxims 
 
 again The belief in what ? The belief that 
 
 every thing is just and righteous in this world ! " he 
 laughed scornfully. 
 
 " Well, one may of course meet with disappoint- 
 ments ; but after all there is always something 
 which in the end supports one." " 
 
 " Nails and hammer blows ! Yes, we are terribly 
 righteous as we sit here in this room — particularly 
 when we declaim from our high and lofty pinnacle. 
 I come home like a drenched dog after all the 
 
230 NIOBE 
 
 teachings of my childhood. . . . This naiveti 
 which will never wear out .... but it seems it is 
 necessary — it seems it must be continually repro- 
 duced in the homes in order that there may be a 
 sufficient number of people who are willing to let 
 themselves be led by the nose, and be allured into 
 illusions. It is nature's own wise arrangement, it 
 appears." 
 
 " I cannot bear to hear that language, Endre," 
 said his mother, reproving him somewhat sharply, 
 
 " Well, well, mother — I'll say no more." 
 
 " I should have provided a morally unclean home 
 for you children in your youth ; is that what you 
 mean ? Speak out, Endre." 
 
 " Oh, no ; but a little draught of air, and a few 
 cracks and crevices leading out to some of the 
 wickedness of this world — a little early experience 
 of the golden righteousness — would not have harmed 
 us. One must not cheat, one must not swindle, 
 but one may be cheated, one may be swindled. But 
 I will not disturb the idyl, mother." 
 
 Endre placed one leg over the other and began 
 gulping down his coffee. 
 
 " Take, for instance, the reason I have not yet 
 succeeded in getting an appearance," he commenced 
 excitedly ; " why, it's all intrigues and back ways, 
 flattery and cringing, scandal-mongering and private 
 influence ! .... If I had only been taught at home 
 how to put some of those wheels in motion ! . . . . 
 
NIOBE 231 
 
 One may be a sounding-board both for a Shakspere 
 and a Goethe and possess ever so much under- 
 standing and feeling — but if, for instance, some one 
 with a hooked nose or a pointed chin, or a pair of 
 eyes that roll and goggle — in other words, if one is 
 not an automaton one is rejected. And if one is an 
 automaton, possessing only t^ai smile, ihi^ voice to 
 vibrate with, t/iat grin which at a distance looks as if 
 one were deeply moved, one may be ever so 
 stupid and empty-headed and brainless — then /le 
 may play Shakspere, Ae may play Schiller. For Ae 
 is the man — according to the judgment of this 
 righteous world ! Whereas he is but an empty, 
 empty automaton " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Mr. Endre — it's the eternal struggle 
 between the outer husk and the spirit," acquiesced 
 Schulteiss. 
 
 " Otherwise I know so deucedly well how I 
 ought to tackle them," continued Endre. " I begin 
 
 to think I was born to be a critic One 
 
 would scarcely feel such burning indignation unless 
 
 there were a vocation at the bottom of it 
 
 The world greatly needs to know what criticism is. 
 And one's position would at once become so awfully 
 favoured, mother — so pleasant, so comfortable, so 
 lucrative .... instead of being one of those who 
 are criticised — one of the victims — to become one of 
 those who criticise, who can hiss or applaud as much 
 as they like, and kill a poor actor by simply gaping. 
 
232 NIOBE 
 
 Yes, there is really nothing else to say about 
 
 the whole blessed thing" — he exclaimed with a 
 blasd air, " nothing else but that one feels so mightily 
 inclined to ' shuffle off this mortal coil ' . . . . Life 
 
 is of so little value If only one had a little 
 
 of that wretched article called money — for then 
 everything glides along smoothly enough in this 
 righteous world. That is to say, if you could satis- 
 factorily explain to me, Mr. Schulteiss, whether, 
 on the whole, it is really worth while keeping up 
 such a thing as one's will. The Chinese say that 
 life is too short to make it worth while becoming rich 
 by saving." 
 
 Schulteiss looked up startled. He had been sitting 
 absent-mindedly taken up with only one thought — 
 to get some news of Minka. 
 
 " But so accustomed have we . become to this 
 ' good world ' where persons of mind and ideals must 
 petition the blockheads, that people like us, Mr. 
 Schulteiss — who have been so thoroughly cheated 
 out of our portion of the ideal — only drag along, 
 only drag along — instead of now and then falling 
 into a reverie over such a little dynamite cartridge 
 as Arnt is playing with over there, instead of now 
 and then feeling a certain inclination — a shiver — the 
 blood gurgling in revolt — and crash ! down goes the 
 whole show. It's only a little playful thought of 
 
 mine, mother This incomprehensible state 
 
 of things — why should we attach such an exorbitant 
 
NIOBB 233 
 
 value to this suffering, preposterous, stupid, mean 
 existence ? We actually cling to it to the last by 
 our very nails, when a slight blow on the detonating 
 cap of the cartridge would settle the whole thing — 
 burst open the gate — to perhaps a greater stage 
 than this of which we are so heartily tired. A proud 
 
 spirit throws " 
 
 " A proud spirit would not use such language, 
 Endre," said his mother. " You must pardon me 
 for saying it, but if there is any one in whose hands 
 I would securely place the dynamite, without fear of 
 its being used for any other purpose but declama- 
 tion and silly talk, it would be in yours," she said 
 angrily, as she took up the coffee-tray and left the 
 room. 
 
 " Pardon me, Mr. Endre .... your sister. 
 Miss Minka," began Schulteiss, turning towards him. 
 " How is she, if I may ask .? " 
 
 " She sends you her compliments, Mr. Schulteiss, 
 begs to be remembered to you. Oh, well, by-the- 
 bye," he drawled out, " this new career of hers, you 
 know .... some gift she has within her. But 
 this is strictly between ourselves, Mr. Schulteiss — 
 she was found the other day in a hypnotic sleep — 
 remembered nothing afterwards — most remark- 
 able She is just a string of quivering 
 
 nerves She considers herself at times two 
 
 persons She has created not a little sensa- 
 tion in town. There is a rumour that Finsland has 
 
234 NIOBB 
 
 made a complete psychological study of her and 
 will make her the principal figure in a dramatic 
 poem." 
 
 Schulteiss' face suddenly brightened up. 
 
 " Highly — highly interesting ! . . , . The object 
 of the poet's cool reflection : she takes her place as 
 
 the inspiring soul in his work But does not 
 
 give herself away — does not give herself away — is a 
 free force, all conscious of herself — truly a result 
 already ! " 
 
 The doctor was on his way home from his rounds. 
 
 He had been out all day over long and stony 
 byroads, visiting some poor patients in his district 
 and was now driving comfortably in his kariol along 
 the broad highway. 
 
 He had not felt so well and strong for a long 
 time. Had he not been riding an old jog-trot mare 
 fourteen miles through the woods, and gone on 
 foot the last two miles of hilly, almost impassable 
 roads there and back, as if it were nothing .',... 
 Just as tough and young in the legs as when he was 
 twenty 
 
 He put his hand to his breastpocket, where he 
 kept his pocket-book, as if feeling for some- 
 thing 
 
 He had done this from time to time during the 
 whole of the day since Kjel had caught him up that 
 morning on the road above the mill and handed him 
 
NIOBE 235 
 
 the paper — the one with Baard Borvig on it, which 
 had cost him so many anxious hours — he would not 
 go through them again for ever so much. He felt 
 he had begun to age through it — that he would have 
 broken down if the matter had not soon been 
 settled. But now he had it there safe enough. He 
 felt unconsciously at his breast-pocket again. 
 
 Kjel had done well by him ! 
 
 It seemed as if he had never had peace to think 
 all this time, as if he had gone about taken up with 
 fear and anxiety, and had really let things at home 
 drift, all on account of this one thing. 
 
 By Jove, what a greeting he would give 
 Bente ! 
 
 The motion of the kariol, on its flexible shafts of 
 ash, was quite soothing. He had been too busy 
 earlier in the day with all sorts of people and 
 patients and work to realise thoroughly — to under- 
 stand — appreciate his new position. 
 
 " Well, well ! " he puffed, as a feeling of pleasure 
 stole over him. " I am already beginning to feel 
 
 like Borvig again Things at home will have , 
 
 to be managed with a firmer hand. The control of j 
 late has been somewhat slack both with Minka and \ 
 
 Berthea It is time one began to think a 
 
 little about the future 
 
 " And there is Endre back again .... with his 
 nervous, sickly, self-contemplation in exaggerated 
 reflection, and his own remarkable self, constantly 
 
236 NIOBE 
 
 in an illuminated transparency. One cannot con- 
 scientiously put him to any work. 
 
 " The fact is, he is not fit for anything. As soon 
 as it is a question of perseverance and work and 
 fulfilling one's duty he becomes impossible. 
 
 " Of course he ought to have been tackled when he 
 
 was growing up It is a case of decomposition 
 
 or combustion of th e enti re will-power, all energy 
 having been at last replaced by mere imagination, 
 so that any kind of work becomes intolerable. 
 
 " Then such people get these divine inspirations, 
 which must be cultivated .... they feel themselves 
 ' called,' " he mumbled bitterly. " Who cares to 
 work hard for many patient years at one's books or 
 with the hay-fork, the plough, or the horse, or blister 
 one's hands cutting timber, if one can escape it all 
 by climbing on a pedestal and bragging and talking 
 about oneself — one's own most interesting self ? 
 
 " One has a feeling of something abnormally misty 
 over everything. It must be a general softening of 
 the brain in our time — which breaks out in all sorts 
 
 of nervous diseases Should have liked to be 
 
 young again and go into the matter, have it properly 
 laid before the world. The result no doubt of the 
 overwhelming number of important inventions and 
 discoveries which have been made in our generation ; 
 the brain has not been able to receive and digest 
 
 them all The consequences of each one, 
 
 being so far reaching change the possibilities and 
 
NWBE 237 
 
 conceptions to such an extent that only the next 
 generation or perhaps the one after that, born under 
 the new state of things, will be able fully to under- 
 stand and live up to it If we suddenly got 
 
 into daily postal communication with Mars, we should 
 not feel surprised at it for more than half an hour, 
 and in a week we should be quite accustomed to it. 
 We have no time to think out the results of the new 
 
 impressions on the brain Quite a new epoch 
 
 in human culture which will fall like an avalanche 
 upon the race." 
 
 The doctor drove on, his thoughts — fanned by a 
 gust of the old ambition from the days when it was 
 a question whether he should go to the university — 
 dwelling upon the scientific problems which just 
 now brought his profession so prominently to the 
 front. 
 
 A solitary, reddish star, just visible above the trees, 
 worked its way into his train of thought. 
 
 He could hardly see the rails of the fence by the 
 side of the road. Now and then he was challenged 
 by some carters in front of him, and he was obliged 
 to stop and drive carefully to one side, for some load 
 of planks which came creaking along through the 
 darkness on its way to the railway. 
 
 He now entered upon the long sandy plain and 
 whipped up his horse, which knew that part of the 
 road well. His master's impatience asserted itself, 
 and the horse fell into a sharp trot as they ascended 
 
238 NIOBE 
 
 the steep hill from which the doctor's house could be 
 seen. 
 
 The doctor saw the lights at Elvsaet, and a pale 
 moonlike gleam emanating from the mill below. 
 
 This was the first time for more than a year that 
 he had been able to pass the mill and breathe like a 
 human being. " You have nothing to do with it now, 
 Borvig — nothing — not mixed up in any kind of 
 folly. The whole thing does not concern me — 
 whether it goes up or down. 
 
 " H'm — m ! I don't mean that exactly — if Kjel 
 
 failed But he has shown he can do his father a 
 
 good turn .... it may have cost him promises and 
 saddled him with responsibilities besides my two 
 thousand — he could see it was worrying the life out 
 of me. 
 
 " But I'm only thinking of myself and my own 
 interests. 
 
 " Poor boy, how flurried and worried he looked 
 
 this morning He has now got to rid himself 
 
 of this mad business with the Black Forest. Always 
 bills, and always in want of money, of course, and 
 it's he and no one else who can manage it and keep 
 
 up the courage of the others If he only had 
 
 the thirty-five thousand at his disposal for the Aaseral 
 
 Forest And with Thekla's eyes continually 
 
 upon him at home She, with all her theories, 
 
 is really most unfit to stand by him in these uncertain, 
 fluctuating times. 
 
NIOBE 239 
 
 " Thirty-five thousand ! thirty-five thousand ! — 
 — and the boy would be all right, free and full of 
 courage again ! . . . . Just as glad and free as I am 
 to-day." He put his hand to his breast pocket 
 
 The horse's hoofs clattered over the small bridge 
 by the mill where a strong light from the reflectors 
 of the paraffin lamps under the roof threw a blinding 
 glare over him and his horse. 
 
 " Ugh ! If a spark fell down among those shavings 
 and everything was in a blaze, the boy would be 
 saved, he . . . ." 
 
 " God forgive me ! " 
 
 Suddenly he became unpleasantly affected by the 
 thought, whipped up his horse, and the kariol rattled 
 swiftly away into darkness again. 
 
 He did not slacken the pace till they had got far 
 up the road leading to his house. 
 
XI 
 
 The idea for which Thekla had been working with 
 such perseverance had — she might say with satisfac- 
 tion — created a certain sensation. 
 
 The meeting for the organisation of the " Society 
 for Reform in the Management of Children," had 
 unexpectedly been well attended; a number of the 
 younger married ladies of the district had put in an 
 appearance, and the seats were otherwise well filled 
 with persons interested in maternal affairs. 
 
 After Dr. Stenvig had introduced the subject 
 with a calm and temperate paper, there ensued an 
 eager and warm discussion, during which differences 
 of opinion were expressed freely and sharply enough. 
 
 Even the well-known authority of the doctor 
 could not prevent opposite views being advanced 
 and courageously discussed. The debate lasted two 
 hours and thirty-five minutes, including the voting, 
 with the result that fourteen, against nine, voted for 
 establishing the society on the basis of the principles 
 which Dr. Stenvig had proposed and Thekla so 
 strenuously upheld. 
 
 Conscious of having fought a pitched battle against 
 
NIOBE 241 
 
 old antiquated views and prejudices, with eyes still 
 aglow with the excitement of the discussion, and her 
 blood all on fire with the success of victory, Thekla 
 took her seat in the sledge with Stenvig, who had 
 promised to drive her from the meeting to Dr. 
 Borvig's, where she was to fetch her little Baard. 
 
 With the most scrupulous precision, and submitting 
 herself to his judgment, she recapitulated one by one 
 the mistakes she felt conscious of having committed 
 during the debate in defending his ideas. 
 
 Stenvig's attention was engrossed by this interesting 
 and, to him, flattering exchange of ideas. 
 
 The reins hung loose, and the horse worked his 
 way laboriously up the hill. 
 
 " So to-day we have won the first real victory for 
 our principles," he uttered, seizing her begloved right 
 hand and giving it a hearty shake ; " let it not be the 
 last, Mrs. Borvig 1 " 
 
 Thekla gave a start ; the look of animation in her 
 face gave place suddenly to an expression of un- 
 certainty. 
 
 " To me there is nothing more glorious than ideal 
 sympathy, Dr. Stenvig .... and therefore the in- 
 tellectual ties are " 
 
 " Those which make the best friendships," finished 
 the doctor, enthusiastically. 
 
 " Yes — such as that which exists between us," she 
 sighed. "Are we not two lonely intellectual beings 
 who live in a different world to the rest } " 
 
 Q 
 
242 NIOBE 
 
 Stenvig looked suddenly away from the sledge, 
 and remarked : " What a very fine view there is from 
 this hill all the way down the river — till it seems to 
 disappear into the wooded hills " 
 
 An expression of resolution came over Thekla's 
 face ; she fixed her piercing black eyes intently upon 
 him. 
 
 " We will go our own way, dare to speak to each 
 other as we like — express our thoughts — our wants to 
 each other, Dr. Stenvig! And I, at least, want a 
 complete adjustment of affairs. You know full well 
 how I am situated — that I — I acknowledge it honestly 
 and openly — have inveigled mjself into a marriage 
 with a man for whom principles — ^higher interests — 
 are mere words — who might as well belong to quite a 
 different atmosphere from the one which I breathe. 
 You know I have given him the most satisfactory ex- 
 planations — that my hope in this hopelessness was only 
 
 to save my little Baard from this living burial 
 
 It was the only prospect I could see of enduring life, 
 Dr. Stenvig — until you came .... and you will 
 understand the desire of a kindred, womanly spirit 
 for candour and a final understanding — candour as 
 regards your thoughts and intentions in the event of 
 my tearing myself loose. I tell you frankly that it 
 will depend upon you whether I can justify my 
 breaking the fetters to myself and to my son. I am 
 not ashamed of my question — it is my liberty, my 
 intellectual life, I am fighting for." 
 
NIOBE 243 
 
 Dr. Stenvig raised his red moustaches and stared 
 out into space in deep deliberation. 
 
 " Indeed, Mrs. Borvig," he exclaimed in his ready, 
 explicit manner, " one of my life's greatest doubts is 
 whether an intellectual being on the whole has any 
 right to enter into a connection like marriage, which 
 is so fettering to one's liberty .... unless, .so to 
 speak, one is carried away by an irresistible, all 
 absorbing passion — when the only excuse is that 
 nolens volens one is dragged down into a state of nature 
 again." .... He laid his hand in a friendly, con- 
 fidential manner on hers. " I sympathise deeply with 
 you in your unfortunate position .... and to return 
 your candour and sincerity in like measure — I do not 
 deny that personal gratification has played a part, an 
 important part — and that a future brightened by your 
 presence might strengthen the feeling to such an extent 
 
 that But a youthful passion, of the kind which 
 
 deranges one's mind and senses, can scarcely be said 
 to have existed in our relationship, which has really 
 been a development for the benefit of us both towards 
 a better understanding and grasp of the questions 
 of the day. In the present state of things I find, as 
 far as I am concerned, that the situation is not 
 
 altogether clear You are — gee up, gee up ! " — 
 
 this was accompanied by a crack of the whip, " you 
 are my friend and intellectual companion in arms — a 
 relationship which I hope will increase in strength and 
 sincerity as we work together , , . . gee up, gee up ! 
 
244 NIOBE 
 
 It is really dangerously slippery here at the bend of 
 
 the road " 
 
 Mrs. Kjel stepped out of the sledge on her arrival 
 at Elvsset, and went into the sitting-room. 
 
 After a hasty greeting and many impatient " phews " 
 at the heat, she took off her fur cap and handsome fur 
 cloak bordered with skunk, and threw herself on the 
 corner of the sofa, looking around her and apparently 
 in no mood for conversation. 
 
 Massy pushed a footstool towards her, but looked 
 up bewildered as she noticed that Thekla kicked it 
 away from her. 
 
 " Well, sister-in-law," remarked Endre, " has the 
 battle been lost .? Are the cradles still to be rocked on 
 the old-fashioned runners in this obstinate district .' " 
 
 " No, it has been won. Will you kindly tell your 
 mother this distressing news ? I would rather not 
 
 occasion any sorrow in the house I see your 
 
 mother is going out to make some chocolate — I 
 suppose I shall have to drink it although I am hot 
 enough already ! " she said, puffing and unhooking 
 some wrap at her throat. " It is Berthea's week at 
 housekeeping I can see, since Mrs. Borvig has to do 
 everything herself. .... Where is she to-day.' Is 
 there anything going on in the parish .' And one may 
 as well ask what the young lady is really up to. Her 
 
 interests are quite numerous, it seems Is she 
 
 taken up with . . . engaged to Mr. Scholberg the 
 auctioneer, or to the wretched little student over at 
 
NIOBE 245 
 
 the parsonage ? She is a most lively young person. 
 It is just as easy for Berthea to put on a lively 
 expression suitable for an auction, as a quiet demure 
 one fit for a parsonage." 
 
 " I really must admire your gentle tongue, Thekla. 
 Could you not be a little more communicative, for 
 instance, about the great meeting to-day ? I am 
 longing to hear something about the battle — really 
 dying of curiosity." 
 
 Thekla did not condescend to answer. 
 
 " Now put that profound melancholy on one side 
 .... I promise I will report the whole thing in the 
 best and most elegant manner for the newspapers-r— as 
 an event, a sign of the times up here. Oh nonsense ! 
 Just tell me all about it, and I will serve it up with a 
 suitable sauce. I am at present practising a journal- 
 istic style — preparing myself." 
 
 " You must excuse me, Endre ; but the world is 
 already so full of twaddle, and this is just the sort of 
 thing that you least of all can understand — a real 
 
 mission. Yes, it may seem strange, but for the 
 
 present we do not want to be advertised in any way, 
 
 not till we have actually done something I 
 
 suppose you think that is contrary to the usual order 
 of things," she continued, mercilessly and sarcas- 
 tically. 
 
 " Do you know you are really becoming too much 
 like a saw blade, always rasping and grating," he 
 burst out, putting up his eyeglass and taking a look 
 
246 NIOBE 
 
 at her, " one would almost think you were suffering 
 from the effects of some domestic scene at home." 
 
 " Oh no ; you know everything goes smoothly 
 there The last thing which was of no conse- 
 quence — nothing is ever of any consequence to Kjel — 
 was that one of his partners is on the brink of 
 bankruptcy. But that seemed the most fortunate 
 thing that could happen ; at least, so I understood 
 him to say." 
 
 After Thekla had departed Mrs. Borvig stood at 
 the window in the yellow room. 
 
 It was a misty day, and the steady mild rain beat 
 against the windows, and against the white mountain 
 sides stood out in black contrast long stretches of 
 bleak birch-trees which the mild weather had already 
 freed of the snow. 
 
 Perhaps it meant spring — an early spring this year. 
 
 The winter had been such a long weary one, and 
 to-day such a longing came over her to see a little 
 sunshine again, a little bare moist ground again, and 
 some green shoots bursting forth here and there. 
 
 It was now twenty-two years since she and Borvig 
 
 first came to Elvsaet She always remembered 
 
 the linden trees with the small window panes behind 
 them, and the green front door with the leafy boughs 
 above it on their arrival at their new home. 
 
 She herself had planted the avenue of trees, and 
 laid out the whole of the garden with fruit trees, 
 
NIOBE 247 
 
 currant bushes, and asparagus beds ; the aspen trees 
 she had planted on the summer house hill were now 
 so large that they almost hid the view down the river. 
 
 They had so long been in darkness — so long 
 been buried in snow and ice which lay thick and 
 heavy around them. 
 
 It was so every winter. Elvsset would arise bright 
 and green, with the bursting forth of spring, the 
 twittering of birds in the hills around, and the letting 
 loose of the cattle from their winter imprisonment. 
 
 But this year — — .' 
 
 A voice within her cried for something bright, for a 
 sunbeam, a glimpse of this bright sparkling dawn of 
 spring which seemed to throw such a sharp glare 
 through all the windows and doors— she would receive 
 it without flinching. 
 
 These dark nights had lasted too long. She almost 
 began to fancy herself a spectre walking about the 
 yellow room. 
 
 This dark outlook and continual anxiety for the 
 children .... for Minka whom she so little under- 
 stood, and for Berthea whom she understood too 
 well — and like a heavy threatening cloud hovering 
 over the whole — Kjel ! . . . . His beaming coun- 
 tenance, his restless ways and forced manner, his loud 
 voice and confident boasting ; but behind it all how 
 clear to her was his utter despair. Yes, she under- 
 stood his unpleasant exuberant gaiety so well ; her 
 knees trembled — she believed the crash' would come 
 
248 NIOBE 
 
 to--morrow or in the course of the week Since 
 
 Christmas he had hardly done anything else but 
 drive and rush about in his sledge or by rail up the 
 district or to the capital ; always merry-making and 
 
 card-playing, a life of fating and pleasure 
 
 Was he thus trying to drown his own pangs of con- 
 science, or did he think he could deceive those around 
 him, while all these rumours were afloat that the 
 credit of the company was so deeply affected ? . . . . 
 How did he manage to keep things going ? . . . . 
 
 She had not the slightest doubt but that it was the 
 money of the savings bank he was now scattering 
 
 about him that she would see him standing 
 
 before her, a pale, trembling thief and swindler, if she 
 accused him of it to his face. 
 
 And was Borvig blind ? 
 
 Her thoughts were often so confused that in her 
 anxiety she did not know what to wish .... Would 
 it. not be best that the crash and ruin came at once, 
 while she and Borvig were still strong and active, and 
 the swindle and the defalcations were still perhaps on 
 a small scale .' 
 
 At times she was seized' with a frenzy, an un- 
 governable desire to step in and have the whole thing 
 exposed. 
 
 The front door suddenly banged to, and the doctor 
 came hurriedly up the stairs with his top boots still 
 on. He had his portable medicine chest in his hand, 
 and placed it in his cupboard. 
 
NIOBE 249 
 
 " Ole Maagestad is on the point of declaring him- 
 self bankrupt— he is one of Kjel's partners." / 
 
 Mrs. Borvig started ; she saw at once the whole 
 house of cards tumbling together. 
 
 " You understand, of course, Bente, that this is a 
 serious business — a hole in Kjel's calculations — more 
 than alarming. The credit is shaken — and it is Kjel / 
 who will have to keep it all together. .... I am afraid I 
 you were in the right, Bente . . . . he has really had 
 too small a capital to work with from the first." 
 
 " I have all along been afraid, Borvig, that he was 
 carrying on too grandly." 
 
 " Goodness knows how it will all end," he muttered 
 sadly. " And outside the circle of these newly sprung 
 up business men, only enemies, only people who wish 
 
 him no good I tell you, Bente — the whole 
 
 thing may collapse some fine day. I wonder you 
 
 don't see it Kjel cannot get money out of the 
 
 air. .... He has gone to town this morning." 
 
 " Out of the air, no ... . but I suppose he will 
 find a way out of it this time also, Borvig." 
 
 The doctor stood between the open doors of the 
 glass cupboard. Suddenly, with a gesture of despair, 
 he ran his fingers through his hair. 
 
 " I suppose he'll never think of running away to 
 America, and leave us to face out all the scandal .' " 
 
 Mrs. Borvig started at the thought — until now she 
 had only seen visions of the convict's garb. 
 
 " You should not excite yourself with all sorts of 
 
2SO NIOBE 
 
 ideas. No, no, Borvig, I do not therefore mean that 
 we should be unprepared, and not try and accustom 
 ourselves to the situation, whatever it may be — let us 
 even imagine the worst so that we shall not be 
 altogether overwhelmed if anything happens .... 
 Kjel has such a talent for getting out of difficulties 
 .... and with the savings bank as good as at his 
 disposal," she began cautiously, " there might be 
 temptations — some irregularity or other." 
 
 "Just so ; we may as well imagine at once that the 
 
 day of judgment has come Just as if Kjel goes 
 
 about with the money of the bank in his pocket ! As 
 if there isn't a board of directors, a cashier — in all five 
 men — that's to say four besides Kjel — who look after 
 the business. You think they can^go about pilfering 
 there as the children in your larder. I can tell you 
 all that sort of thing has been made impossible — as 
 long as the bank-safe has not been broken into, or 
 the cashier run away. And we must pause a moment 
 before we make out that Kjel is a burglar .... but 
 that's always the way — once let a grain of terror into 
 a woman's imagination, and you have hysterics at 
 
 once — no end of exaggeration You are getting 
 
 too nervous of late, Bente ; we shall really have to 
 take care not to frighten you. And you know I 
 came down upon you too suddenly, poor Bente, with- 
 out thinking how little you can stand After 
 
 all, nothing else has happened except that this fellow 
 has gone and smashed But Thekla, Thekla you 
 
NIOBE 251 
 
 know — Kjel is likely to get into hot water over this ; 
 you might ■ go down and see her, Bente, and try to 
 appease her." 
 
 The doctor was very irritable in these days. He 
 would fly into a passion at the slightest provoca- 
 tion. 
 
 His temper became so bad that Endre would give 
 a tug at his collar and swear he would leave the place. 
 It seemed as if his presence was not tolerated in the 
 house while he was preparing for his journalistic 
 career. And Berthea always made her escape out 
 at one door when her father came in at another. 
 She was driven, so to speak, by a kind of atmospheric 
 pressure on the appearance of her father, to take 
 refuge in the opposite end of the house, always in 
 fear that some kind of threatening thundercloud 
 would burst over her head — a summons to the study, 
 with a demand for a full explanation as to some of 
 the incredible gossip circulating in the parish about 
 her. She spent anxious moments in trying to dis- 
 cover which of her escapades would be brought up 
 against her, and in devising all sorts of answers ready 
 for use as the occasion might demand. Perhaps 
 about the dances with Mr. Scholberg at the Jorstads' 
 when at home they believed she was on a visit to the 
 parish clerk's .... or the anonymous letters she had 
 written to Mr. Jacobsen, the manager, about his fiancee 
 .... or — — 
 
252 NIOBE 
 
 The doctor on retiring to his bedroom began 
 weighing and .considering Kjel's position from all 
 points of view, and remarked finally to his wife : 
 
 "Can't you see I'm trying to discover what you 
 already have foreseen ? I'm worrying myself to death 
 to discover it. . . . You were never stupid, Bente — 
 and have never been mistaken — I really cannot 
 
 understand And then this about the savings 
 
 bank. There are some minds, you know, which are 
 born suspicious. But how in all the world did you 
 come to think oiif}" . . . . 
 
 The doctor's kariol was rumbling and splashing 
 along the high road in the mud and slush late in 
 the evening. There was a rumour of diphtheria in 
 the lower part of the parish. 
 
 Driving against the strong wind on the sandy plain 
 he met Kjel going at full speed in the direction of 
 the railway station. 
 
 The doctor started, and the blood rushed to his 
 head as his son suddenly stopped, his lips com- 
 pressed with the effort of reining in his high-spirited 
 horse. 
 
 " I'm off to- town by the evening train, father. — 
 
 Have you heard if the bell has rung .? Must be 
 
 there to-morrow early .... the bank you see," he 
 shouted, whipped up his horse, and was soon far on 
 the road. 
 
 " The bank," .... echoed in the doctor's ear like 
 
NIOBE 253 
 
 a cry of distress, while the rumbling of the wheels 
 died away along the plain in the distance. 
 
 The doctor saw shooting lights before his eyes 
 .... this generally happ.ened when his nerves went / 
 wrong. 
 
 He took off his fur cap to cool his head against the 
 wind. 
 
 Gee up, gee up ! — crack ! — He must hurry on to 
 the child with the diphtheria. 
 
 It was late before the doctor started homewards. 
 He had not been able to convince himself that it was 
 a case of diphtheria, but had taken all necessary pre- 
 cautions to isolate the case and prevent contagion. 
 
 He was jogging along in his kariol down the ill- 
 kept byroad accompanied by one of the people 
 from the farm who carried a lantern and led the 
 horse by the rein, while the doctor was enforcing 
 upon him the importance of following the directions 
 he had given with regard to the sick child. 
 
 There was no moonlight at this time of the night — 
 it was so dark he could scarcely see the reins, only 
 now and then a glimpse of a half-melted snowdrift. 
 He did not expect to get home till after one. 
 
 It had been a relief to him that his thoughts had^ 
 been occupied by the threatening epidemic, and the 
 precautions which had to be taken to quell it in its 
 birth. 
 
 On reaching the main road the man left him ; the 
 
254 NIOBE 
 
 doctor pulled his muffler higher up round his neck, 
 and fell into a reverie, hearing only in the darkness 
 the slow even trot of his horse, and now and then the 
 clash of his hoofs. .... Kjel's stiff, terror-stricken 
 face appeared again before him 
 
 He had seen despair written on it, had read in it 
 something which meant " break or bear." 
 
 And this point, to which he continually reverted, 
 — ^^the temptation he was exposed to in the savings 
 bank 
 
 This continually increasing anxiety which he tried 
 to shake off, but which always returned accompanied 
 by still further reasons, by still greater probabilities. 
 
 Kjel's firm belief in being able to overcome all diffi- 
 culties — his sanguineness 
 
 No doubt hard driven — worried to death ; perhaps 
 the question of means of subsistence staring him every 
 day in the face. 
 
 One would not be human — it would not be Kjel, 
 if 
 
 Only an order for payment by the managing 
 director a slight abuse in granting money 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! " he groaned and leant forwards, " Oh, 
 Oh!" 
 
 If Kjel smashed. 
 
 The thought had up till then stood before him as 
 
 something terrible, overwhelming After all 
 
 what did it really amount to i" — an ordinary failure — 
 such as happens everywhere in the commercial world 
 
NIOBE 2SS 
 
 in bad times ... he might have had to give up his 
 house and his position and find something in a sub- 
 ordinate one, sufficient to live upon. Well, that 
 would not kill any one — 
 
 But this .... 
 
 The doctor stared blankly before him as at a dark 
 wall, his fears increasing every moment .... found 
 guilty of fraudulent practices against the bank which 
 had been entrusted to him — seized, arrested, con- 
 demned to a convict prison. 
 
 "And we — the convict's father, the convict's mother, 
 the convict's sisters and brothers, wife and child." 
 
 He clenched his teeth and shook his fists. 
 
 " Poor, poor boy ! . . . . 
 
 "Only thirty -five thousand, and he would be on his 
 legs again — would not be a convict — not a " 
 
 " Whoa, whoa ! " . . . . The doctor reined in his 
 horse and sat lost in thought 
 
 "With that everything could be got over .... 
 with that " . . . . He groaned as he leant forward in 
 his kariol. 
 
 " Nonsense .... Am I mad .' Why the devil has 
 the horse stopped here in the middle of the road ? 
 Gee up ! " and he gave the horse a slash with the 
 whip. 
 
 " Only thirty-five thousand ! Kjel looked so fright- 
 fully worried." 
 
 " Convict life is no joke Little Baard would 
 
 be turned out of his nest into poverty " 
 
2S6 NIOBE 
 
 The roar of the waterfall near the mill began in the 
 darkness tomingle with his thoughts. 
 
 " And Kjel who had gone about there so secure and 
 safe, and so much liked among them .... now — 
 swindler — cheat — the millstone which would drasr 
 them all to the bottom — impostor, forger. The 
 savings bank left like an empty gap in the parish 
 
 after him The devil knows what I wanted 
 
 with this cigar." 
 
 The kariol rolled along at a rattling pace, while the 
 doctor now and then reined in the horse, and then 
 again urged it on with the whip. 
 
 The horse soon fell into an even, but quick, sharp, 
 trot. 
 
 Near the bridge by the mill, the horse, as was its 
 wont, slackened its pace. 
 
 Suddenly, in the darkness among the shavings, 
 gleamed the phosphorescent streak of a couple of 
 matches, which had been lighted and thrown down in 
 passing. 
 
 The doctor took a pull or two at his lighted cigar. 
 
 " Now " 
 
 He turned hurriedly round, staring in the direction 
 in which he had thrown the matches 
 
 " Nonsense — that's the look-out of the wind and 
 the shavings " 
 
 The horse now set out with its usual eagerness 
 homewards. 
 
 " I really don't see why any one should cry, if an 
 
NIOBE 257 
 
 accident did occur," he muttered, as he drove up the 
 hill . . . . " the insurance company — the bank — 
 abstract personalities, without any blood in them 
 . . . who have no Borvig and no Bente to wring 
 their hands and die of shame and sorrow — no 
 little Massy to hide the fact that her brother is a 
 convict. ... 
 
 " Nonsense All bosh and nonsense 
 
 Have I lost my senses } . . . ." 
 
 The cigar which he had chewed to pieces he spat 
 out near the fence outside his house. 
 
 He called the farm lad to take the horse and asked 
 for a lantern and a light. He had to go into the 
 small disinfecting room in one of the out-houses and 
 disinfect himself after his visit to the diphtheric patient. 
 
 He stood in the carbolised air washing his hands. 
 
 " If anything should happen . . . ." he thought, 
 beginning to feel anxious. 
 
 " Well — if anything should happen — Kjel is in 
 town. 
 
 " I think there is something wrong with me to- 
 night—a regular fever .... standing here and rea- 
 soning as if I were the worst Two miserable 
 
 matches, which , . . ." he pooh-poohed the idea ! . . . . 
 " This meeting with Kjel has upset me altogether. 
 
 'Ki w ^ ''^ V 
 
 The doctor woke up with a start, as if suddenly 
 roused from a heavy uneasy sleep or dream, by a 
 gleam of light from the window A sudden 
 
 R 
 
2S8 NIOBE 
 
 terror took possession of him. The perspiration 
 stood on his brow, 
 
 He did not lift his head from the pillow but lay- 
 looking at the blind 
 
 "The moon of course .... more of those wild 
 
 notions — ^got them on the brain The 
 
 moon " 
 
 He lay watching. 
 
 It became dark again and the blind could no 
 longer be seen ; then it lightened up again — by fits 
 and starts. 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense — the moon, of course, which 
 
 has risen " 
 
 He felt an irresistible desire to get up and look 
 out of the window in the yellow room ; but he felt he 
 dared not. 
 
 He sat upright in bed. Speak to Bente 
 
 No 
 
 One would surely have heard something — some 
 kind of cry or alarm if there was anything wrong. 
 
 He began slowly and irresolutely to put on his 
 clothes. It was a respite for the moment. 
 
 " What is the matter, Borvig ? " asked his wife. 
 All the doctor's energy returned suddenly — he 
 jumped up and rushed into the yellow room. 
 
 " Great heavens ! what a strange light through the 
 door — the wall is quite red ! " cried Mrs. Borvig ; she 
 was up in a moment and struck a match to light the 
 candle. 
 
NIOBE 259 
 
 The doctor stood awhile at the window before he 
 spoke. 
 
 " It really seems as if there is some kind of a fire 
 down there," he uttered hoarsely. " Perhaps only a 
 
 chimney on fire You see there isn't much light 
 
 there now — hardly anything." 
 
 Suddenly the fire broke out again in a thick 
 whirling smoke mixed with flames, so that the river 
 with the floating ice, and the sheriff^'s farm, could be 
 seen quite clearly. 
 
 The doctor opened his mouth as if to shriek, but 
 closed it again. He drew his breath with difficulty. 
 
 "We must get dressed, Bente — and try and get 
 down there-^-we must send a horse and boy." 
 
 " Heaven preserve us, Borvig, do you see .' " shouted 
 his wife. 
 
 The doctor stood speechless, seized with an un- 
 defined fear. 
 
 A yellowish glare was now thrown over the fields 
 with the melting snow. The tenants belonging to 
 the neighbouring farms came running out of their 
 houses, and people and horses were seen on the road 
 coming from all directions. 
 
 Suddenly the fire seemed to be extinguished, the 
 whirling cloud of smoke became black aa pitch, and 
 the landscape was buried in darkness — if only the 
 moon .... 
 
 "They have got the fire under — they have got it 
 under ! " gasped the doctor, seized by a sudden wild 
 
26o NIOBB 
 
 hope. " They have got out the engine at the mill and 
 
 are working it They will master it, you'll see. 
 
 .... There are people enough " 
 
 But suddenly the flames shot up again— higher and 
 higher in the air— like so many fiery tongues against 
 the dark sky, with a shower of sparks from the burning 
 sawdust and shavings. 
 
 The doctor breathed quickly, as if the air was too 
 hot for him — he turned round with a gesture of 
 despair, as if trying to shut out the sight from his 
 eyes 
 
 The stacks of deals .... there could be no doubt 
 that they had caught fire. .... 
 
 Mrs. Borvig walked despairingly round the bedroom, 
 moaning and groaning. .... 
 
 " My God, my God ! — from sin to crime. . ..." 
 
 "Fortunate for Kjel," said the doctor, "that he is 
 not at home to-night. He went up to town by the 
 evening train." 
 
 "Is that true, Borvig — Borvig.?" She clung con- 
 vulsively to him. " And I, who suspected him ! " 
 
 " Bente — be quiet, be quiet, do you hear. Are you 
 going with me or not ? . . . ." 
 
 Down at the saw mill the doctor was rushing about 
 without his coat— between and on the top of the stacks 
 of planks directing the extinguishing of the fire, while 
 the fire-engine was kept hard at work, and the hose 
 was being plied in vain upon the sea of fire and flames. 
 
NIOBE 261 
 
 His begrimed figure could be seen in the smoke 
 and sparks among the stacks, eager in search of 
 means and ways to stop the conflagration. 
 
 He was still there when the deals began to crackle 
 and fall together ; at last the flames drove him away. 
 
 And after the attempt had been abandoned at one 
 point, he tried persistently to direct the work of 
 extinguishing into the narrow passages between the 
 stacks till the workmen refused to proceed any further 
 into the suffocating heat, protesting that it was not a 
 question of human life. 
 
 As the day broke the smoke lay in black, drift- 
 ing clouds over the river, and the doctor could be 
 seen in torn, scorched clothes at his hopeless work, 
 trying to save a last small corner of the timber- 
 yard. 
 
XII 
 
 The spring had been delightful, and the summer cool 
 and pleasant. Kjel had enjoyed them to the full, 
 sitting in his dust coat under the awning on the 
 verandah, and had grown quite stout. His credit 
 flourished, he was again the power absolute in the 
 savings bank, he paid cash for every transaction, and 
 all rumours and whisperings had subsided after the 
 immense realisation of his stock through the fire last 
 spring — in all nearly eighty thousand crowns, includ- 
 ing the deals. 
 
 He had now been able to breathe freely and enjoy 
 a holiday for nearly six months, had not been troubled 
 by renewals of bills and by incessant journeys ; had 
 in fact been free to stretch himself and take the rest 
 he so well needed. Only a little superintendence at 
 the saw mill, which was now being rebuilt. 
 
 The year on the whole had been in many ways 
 propitious to him. 
 
 It seemed as if Theklahad become more reasonable 
 and conciliatory, not only in her ungovernable mania 
 for demanding information and explanations, but her 
 enthusiastic support of Dr. Stenvig had also cooled 
 
NIOBE 263 
 
 down, so that Kjel was spared seeing him at his house 
 more than once a week. 
 
 Next month the trouble and worry of getting 
 names to his bills, with instalments and renewals, 
 would begin again. He was tolerably well prepared. 
 Occasionally, however, he had some trouble over a 
 bill in one place, while in another persuasive or over- 
 awing tactics would be necessary ; — the fur coat and 
 top boots would be again in requisition. But most 
 things were so cleverly arranged that he only had the 
 autumn instalments to settle. 
 
 Down at the mill, where they were building and 
 sawing and hammering, Endre was to be seen in his 
 straw hat taking his usual mid-day walk till his cigar 
 was finished, when he would call and get some 
 refreshment and a new Havanna at Kjel's. 
 
 " Isn't it true, Mr. Schulteiss," he began as he over- 
 took him on the way home, " that Mrs. Kjel always 
 thinks in squares ? But as it happens, the world is 
 round and has both zigzag and curved lines, and so 
 one's train of reasoning is accordingly. She is a nut- 
 cracker, who goes up and down cracking the Whys and 
 the Wherefores, — but the world's nuts are too hard for 
 
 her Totally unsusceptible to sardonic humour 
 
 — in fact, to humour of any kind .... with no mind 
 — for anything else but dried fish. When the news- 
 papers refuse to take my articles — which, as a matter 
 of fact, has happened this summer — a unanimous con- 
 spiracy, you see, because they threatened to demolish 
 
264 NIOBE 
 
 the whole of the existing self-appointed, narrow- 
 minded system of criticism — then I have an exit — my 
 revolver, in case I find I have to make my choice." 
 
 "You see, Mr. Schulteiss, I am making a special 
 study of the waterfall down there .... one part of 
 it in particular, a deep whirlpool just below the great 
 
 curve of the fall I have tried to throw chips 
 
 and bits of wood into it. I have watched the logs 
 which shoot suddenly into the pool at that point. 
 They disappear altogether and only rise to the 
 surface after a good minute .... do you understand 
 my idea .' — such a creamy, whirling eddy, like frothing 
 champagne one could joyfully end one's exist- 
 ence in it. I gaze at it — always with my own corpse 
 in. my mind — the hat drifting down the river .... 
 and a moment later the owner of it rising to the 
 surface, lifeless as the logs — past, away — washed away 
 by the current of life." 
 
 Schulteiss, quite taken up by his own thoughts, 
 put all his usual courtesy into his answers — he heard, 
 yet heard not. 
 
 At the end of the week both his pupils, Arnt and 
 Massy, were going up to town to enter upon a course 
 of study at the Technical School, and he himself was 
 leaving Elvsset and all that he had lived for in these 
 many strange years. 
 
 Minka was only a young girl when he had first 
 come there, now she was preparing for her d3ut on 
 the world's stage. 
 
NIOBE 265 
 
 He would stand buried in thought on the spot 
 where that conversation had taken place .... where 
 
 her feet had rested He remembered how, 
 
 before she was quite grown up, he had been the 
 privileged one to stand by the half-hour and swing 
 her. He called to mind her fresh laughter, and young 
 lithe figure flying through the air, her feet stretched 
 out before her, and how she always wanted to go a 
 little higher still — still a little higher. 
 
 He would stand^on the landing lost in self-oblivion, 
 his eyes fixed on the door to the yellaw room — 
 
 waiting. That was Minka coming He would 
 
 slink shyly away, or look up idiotically if any one else 
 appeared 
 
 He stood listening .... heard her step on the 
 staircase. 
 
 There was one board on the stairs which some- 
 times creaked and foretold her approach .... her 
 step was so different from any one else's, such an index 
 to her mind .... when she reached the top of the 
 stairs, her form would shut out the dazzling light 
 from the window at the opposite end of the land- 
 ing 
 
 He would sit"beside the piano, with closed eyes, 
 his neck against the music shelf till Berthea or Massy 
 came and wanted to play, when he would jump up as 
 if he were in a hurry, or had forgotten something. 
 
 He would stand with bent head, wrapped in 
 thought, on the steps outside the front door, then 
 
266 NIOBE 
 
 he would suddenly draw himself up, and look im- 
 
 passionedly around This was his spiritual 
 
 estate — his ground : the seat on which she, in her 
 unspeakable, ever varying beauty, had sat ... . the 
 steps on which she had trodden. 
 
 His long, thin, white fingers grasped the railings ^^ 
 if to hold fast against some current which he felt was 
 washing him away. 
 
 No, he would not let himself be dragged away 
 from that railing. He would stay so near that he 
 could seize it again on the day when she returned. 
 
 He had been offered a position at the new judge's 
 .... but he would not let himself be carried away 
 by circumstances. He had made up his. mind long 
 ago — had arranged to establish a school for bigger 
 children on the sheriff's farm. There would then be 
 only the grove, the summer-house hill, and the short 
 piece of ground across the plain to get over before 
 he could see her again. 
 
 Arnt's and Massy's trunks stood open in their 
 rooms, ready to be packed with the new clothes 
 which were being laid out on chairs beside them, 
 after having been marked and ironed. Mrs. Borvig's 
 slender figure flitted lightly up and down stairs, now 
 with some marked linen on her arm, now with a 
 bundle of handkerchiefs. No sooner was anything" 
 ready than she ran upstairs with it ;, she insisted on 
 doing all the packing herself. 
 
NIOBE 267 
 
 Her whole mind was taken up with the prepara- 
 tions for the children's departure. She would chat 
 with Arnt ; or listen attentively, as he accompanied 
 her up and down stairs, to his enthusiastic account of 
 the railway across the Andes, with the terrible inclines 
 — one of forty, and one of thirty degrees. She would 
 then begin to talk to Massy, who was so awfully 
 tired of Endre's chaff and nonsense, and would .speak 
 openly and confidingly to her, knowing that they 
 understood each other so well. 
 
 And Schulteiss' clothes had also to be seen to, and 
 mended. 
 
 It was Friday, the day before he was to leave 
 Elvsffit. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig was up in his room counting and 
 handing him his clean linen, which he received 
 with many profound bows and expressions of grati- 
 tude. 
 
 " So this is the last time I shall look after your 
 clothes, Mr. Schulteiss," said Mrs. Borvig. 
 
 " Pardon me, if I cannot for the moment find the 
 right expression for your never-to-bfe-forgotten kind- 
 ness." 
 
 He looked up at her with a pained, unhappy 
 expression. 
 
 "When people have lived so much of their life 
 together as we, Mr. Schulteiss, and have both given 
 and taken, we know quite well that each is beholden 
 to the other. You have shared so much anxiety 
 
268 NIOBE 
 
 with me all these years," said Mrs. Borvig, after a 
 pause. "I shall miss that also — many a word in 
 confidence." 
 
 " It has been part of my poor joy — my real 
 . . . . " burst out Schulteiss, struggling to keep back 
 his emotion. 
 
 " You understand one so well — it is that which has 
 
 been such a comfort And — and " she 
 
 sighedj "one has so many anxieties, Mr. Schulteiss. 
 
 .... Borvig is not getting any better It 
 
 seems as if his strength is failing him — he seems to 
 
 be running down Don't you think he is very 
 
 much changed, Mr. Schulteiss, that he has become 
 very thin .?.... I am afraid he is more ill than he 
 will admit — his system received a shock at the fire 
 
 last spring Oh, how relieved I should feel if 
 
 I could see him now and then fly into a passion as 
 he used. He is so strangely indifferent, has lost all 
 interest. It quite worries him if I speak to him 
 
 about the children And then the two youngest 
 
 who are going away " — Mrs. Borvig sighed as she sat 
 down with some linen in her lap — " he seems to take 
 
 no interest in them either And I have such 
 
 bright hopes of them — feel more sure of them." 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Mrs. Borvig, their abilities are con- 
 siderably above the average, and both are of a perse- 
 vering nature." 
 
 " Yes, dear Mr. Schulteiss, you have given them the 
 best a teacher can give — an intellectual education. 
 
NIOBE 269 
 
 You are, in many respects, one of those rare, genial 
 teachers to whom pupils will remain grateful all their 
 lives. But I should like to say something ; it seems 
 as if the desires and exigencies of life during all the 
 intellectual development and the great prospects of 
 the possibilities of the time so easily lead people 
 astray. Look at Endre for instance .... Arnt and 
 Massy on the other hand I have tried to keep close 
 to reality— have confided in them, have not kept our 
 daily troubles and difficulties from them — what we 
 call sorrows, which children are supposed not to know 
 anything about ; they know quite well what are the 
 failings of their brothers and sisters." 
 
 " H'm — with regard to Miss Minka, Mrs. Borvig — 
 excuse me but I really think she will justify even the 
 highest expectations." 
 
 "There is so vauch. future in the air, Mr. Schulteiss, 
 that a young person who grows up inhaling that air 
 must become deranged. But reality is hard, full of 1 
 competition, and blocked for all the weak and indolent. 
 .... It is not wisdom, but the bitter experience of 
 my life which has taught me this. I also once thought 
 one had only to jump into it all." 
 
 "Quite right, Mrs. Borvig," he gasped under his 
 breath, "only as far as Miss Minka is concerned I 
 must make a reservation." 
 
 "Yes, of course, Mr. Schulteiss. You see it's the 
 fashion now for every one to have a vocation, and that 
 is all well and good ! But so many wish to be geniuses 
 
270 NIOBE 
 
 — to become famous. And so they get into trouble 
 and become unhappy. It is my great hope — and in 
 this I wish so much that you would support me, Mr. 
 Schulteiss — that she will soon get rid of these aspira- 
 tions. I think, however, you will agree with me that 
 she had to go out into the world to test her illusions, 
 they had become too deeply rooted in her." 
 
 "Mrs. Borvig, excuse me, but for such an ideal 
 nature as Minka's the new age with its many currents 
 may be expected to free her latent powers .... and 
 in truth — here may be the opportunity to uphold the 
 right of her exceptional talent as borne out by history, 
 
 to open up new careers " 
 
 " Poor .... poor Schulteiss," said Mrs. Borvig to 
 herself as she went downstairs .... "he is quite 
 mad about everything that concerns Minka." 
 
 They had been busy the whole afternoon till it was 
 time to go down to supper. Massy sat on her trunk 
 which had just been shut down, ready for the departure 
 next morning. 
 
 " Well, I can go away now with six good consciences, 
 mother." 
 
 Massy began to count them on her fingers, checking 
 them off one by one : 
 
 "I have passed my middle school examination. 
 " Have got on as far as necessary with mathe- 
 matics. 
 
 " And with perspectives. 
 
 "Always looked after my housekeeping week so 
 
NIOBE 271 
 
 well that you have never once had to help me, mother — 
 that you must acknowledge — except when I went 
 up for my examination. 
 
 " Learnt to swim this summer. 
 
 " And now I've finished with my sewing and paid 
 all my farewell calls." 
 
 "Yes, Massy, always be practical .... you are 
 beginning in a new era. And remember it will be 
 
 whatj/ou make it It is a great responsibility, 
 
 you see. I must tell you, Massy, old as I am, and 
 weary as I have often been, I would gladly live my 
 life over again in this new era and do my best to bring 
 quite a different strength, efficiency and joy into life, 
 than what we have — and get many of your good con- 
 sciences brought into play." 
 
xni 
 
 Christmas passed with a succession of parties, all of 
 which the doctor punctiliously attended ; but pressing 
 duties were always put forth as an excuse for leaving 
 early in the evening. 
 
 It was a relief to find himself back in his sledge 
 again, to look out upon the mountain ridges and 
 tree-tops on the horizon in the moonlight with the 
 snow gently falling. 
 
 To sit there, lost in the monotony of the horse's 
 jog-trot, while the sledge-runners creaked as they 
 glided over the ground, burying himself deeper and 
 deeper in his fur collar till he could only see the 
 gleam of a star high above him or feel the touch of a 
 snowflake which found its way down to his face, and 
 thus forget everything around him. 
 
 The only place where he could take a nap was in 
 the sledge, while the horse trotted steadily along, 
 where he could sleep without fear of dreaming and 
 starting up. 
 
 The year had come to a close with New Year's 
 Eve. The river was murmuring in the starlit evening 
 under its white covering of snow, with black spaces 
 
NIOBB 273 
 
 near the mill, where the fall was foaming amidst ice- 
 pillars and clusters of icicles. 
 
 Lights were burning in the windows down at Kjel's 
 house, which was illuminated in honour of the new 
 saw-mill which had just been completed and enlarged. 
 
 Thekla, little Baard, and Kjel had driven up on a 
 short visit to Elvsaet, where New Year's Eve was being 
 kept quietly. The doctor himself had returned home 
 late from his patients. 
 
 He was tired — did not offer to take little Baard on 
 his knee, but sat absorbed, following his movements 
 with his eyes as he sipped his glass of stout. His 
 wife had proposed that he should drink this in the 
 evenings on account of his increasing insomnia. 
 When Kjel and his wife were leaving he took 
 Baard's hands, looked long at them, and kissed 
 them both. 
 
 Long after the sledge had disappeared down the 
 hill, and the sound of the bells was lost, the doctor 
 stood at the door looking after them. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig lay listening to the distant strokes of 
 
 the clock down in the kitchen as it struck twelve 
 
 The New Year had begun ! 
 
 It seemed to her that Borvig was restless and 
 uneasy, and breathed heavily. 
 
 " Yes, the New Year, Bente," he said. " I was just 
 thinking how differently the New Year can begin for 
 some of us as long as there is hope and enjoyment 
 
 s 
 
274 NIOBE 
 
 and all that ; but then look how many people there 
 are around us who think it is only a new millstone 
 
 round their neck But remember, Bente, that 
 
 everything — everything — depends upon one's courage. 
 One must not let oneself be trodden down as long as 
 there is a spark of hope or prospect left — something 
 — only something to live for ! " 
 
 "It is such a relief to hear you talk like that, 
 Borvig." 
 
 " As long as there is anything at all left to fight for 
 — the smallest shred — I beg you to remember that, 
 
 Bente — even if I should forget it at any time 
 
 You see," he said, after a pause, " I cannot get it out 
 
 of my head These poor creatures round about 
 
 us here and there to-night who feel they have nothing 
 at all left to struggle for — because they have been 
 bereft of hope — and then, ugh ! — to take a whole year 
 again upon their shoulders ! " 
 
 " Ah ! it's only because you are in low spirits, 
 Borvig, that you lie there brooding " 
 
 "Some may have a secret crime upon their 
 conscience. And there may be many in the world 
 to-night in trouble about their conscience," he 
 muttered, sighing deeply 
 
 " When one has lived many years and has had one's 
 eyes opefned to the amount of unknown sorrow and 
 suffering this world can contain, when one has driven 
 about in one's practice and seen people illuminating , 
 their windows to welcome the New Year — then one 
 
NIOBE 275 
 
 cannot avoid such thoughts And such a 
 
 criminal .... I mean one who has committed 
 something serious, say, for instance, a murder .... 
 who knows that if he confessed it would be the ruin 
 and misery of all his beloved ones — he is really in a 
 strange position — confined, so to speak, within four 
 silent walls, in solitary imprisonment for life, within 
 himself — he need not be condemned and transported, 
 
 no suppose he had a wife, whom he loved as 
 
 dearly as his life, and children to bring up . . . ." 
 
 " For shame, Borvig ! how unpleasant to talk like 
 this on New Year's Eve." 
 
 " You must be forbearing with me, Bente ; I can't 
 
 sleep till I have said what is on my mind He 
 
 could not confide in his wife — could not tell her that 
 he was a murderer — he would lose her innermost 
 esteem from that moment. — And even if he could 
 retain her love — " 
 
 " That might easily happen, Borvig. — It depends a 
 good deal — " 
 
 " Well, even in such a case you see — he could not 
 love her much if he made her a sharer in his crime ; 
 made her his silent accomplice, who also would be 
 unable to look people in the face, and who would 
 live in continual fear of discovery, and the shame and 
 ruin it would bring upon herself and hers, and be 
 exposed to tlie risk of becoming the wife of a convict, 
 mother to a convict's children. He would have 
 placed the burden of the crime upon the one he loved 
 
 s 
 
276 NIOBE 
 
 best in the world, the one he would sacrifice everything 
 
 for So you see no confidence would be 
 
 possible there, no confidante for him any longer. He 
 is shut out — shut out of the garden of Paradise — 
 compelled to remain silent. It is like the threaten- 
 ing angel that is so, Bente. Such people are 
 
 terribly to be pitied ! " 
 
 " Borvig dear, do take a little soda or naphtha — you 
 lie there fossing about, a prey to such despairing 
 thoughts, I am almost afraid your mind is wandering." 
 
 "Oh no, no, Bente. The best thing for me is to 
 let me have my say out .... for I know that then 
 I shall sleep and not before .... Then there is 
 this, you know .... the poor wife could never really 
 forgive him for having in this way darkened her whole 
 life — made her his companion in crime. She might 
 perhaps love him ; but forgive him from the bottom 
 
 of her heart — no Mortals cannot forgive such 
 
 things .... That is why forgiveness is placed so high 
 in religion, as high as the sun above us.'. . . . And 
 so, you see — to him — to such poor unfortunate crea- 
 tures — New Year's Eve is like a dark wall — it's no 
 use illuminating there. .... To them the last spark 
 
 of hope has. expired — disappeared That may 
 
 be called New Year's Eve misery, Bente And 
 
 now I think I can go to sleep .... Just see if all the 
 lights are out down at Kjel's " 
 
 Then suddenly he pressed her convulsively to him, 
 put his arms round her and kissed her. 
 
NIOBE 277 
 
 On New Year's morning the doctor stood in his fur 
 coat before his medicine cupboard searching for some- 
 thing, before he got into the sledge. He had to visit 
 a patient suffering from nervous fever, and was in a 
 hurry to get away before the New Year's congratula- 
 tions began. 
 
 He scanned the windows carefully as he drove 
 away from home, stopped at the turn of the road just 
 outside the gate, and sat looking back at the house 
 till the farm lad wondered if he had forgotten 
 anything — lifted his fur cap a little, whipped up 
 the horse and set off down the hill at great 
 speed. 
 
 Later in the morning the sitting room at Elvsset 
 
 was filled with l5ew Year visitors Sledges of 
 
 all sizes, with jingling bells and bear and wolfskin 
 rugs, stood in a row in front of the house along the 
 road, which was piled on each side with snow. The 
 neighbouring families had all dropped in after church. 
 They were wishing the doctor's family and each other 
 a happy New Year, and were partaking of wine and 
 cake, while Endre made a most eloquent deputy for 
 his father. He did not make use of the hackneyed 
 New Year greetings, but varied his expressions and 
 introduced brightness and seasonable good humour 
 into the conversation. 
 
 His store was still unexhausted when at two, o'clock 
 the last visitors who had tarried behind, drove away 
 down the hill, and he had good-humouredly ensconced 
 
278 NIOBE 
 
 Taimself behind their sledge to continue the New Year 
 visits down at Kjel's. 
 
 On the way down the hill he met his father's horse 
 and sledge driven by some one, but in his exuberant 
 condition he did not give the matter a thought. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig knew the horse and w.ent to the door 
 to receive Borvig ; she had felt so anxious and uneasy 
 since last night. 
 
 It struck her as strange that she did not hear any 
 sledge bells, and that the sledge, contrary to the 
 doctor's custom, stopped in the middle of the yard 
 instead of outside the door. 
 
 When a strange man stepped out of it her blood 
 seemed suddenly to turn to ice in her veins, and she 
 had to support herself by the railing* to go down the 
 steps. 
 
 Kjel and Endre were gone to bring home their 
 father. 
 
 The doctor — such was the sad news — had suddenly 
 met his death — he had been overtaken by an attack 
 of heart disease, or nervous apoplexy, just as he had 
 partaken of a glass of ice-cold water after having 
 attended to his patient. 
 
 Along the passage, to the girls' bedroom could be 
 heard Berthea's sobs, and now and then a loud 
 wail 
 
 In the window of the yellow room Mrs. Borvig 
 stood alone in the darkness. 
 
NIOBE 279 
 
 She had stood there since the twilight set in, rigid, 
 motionless 
 
 She again heard his voice, his words of the night 
 before — each word as it fell — heavily .... with a 
 sigh. 
 
 It was all clear to her now. 
 
 She saw the flames down at the mill, seething, 
 licking, consuming .... wailing woe — woe, out into 
 the still air. .... 
 
 She looked fixedly before her like one turned into 
 stone. 
 
 Outside were heard the creaking of a sledge as it 
 cautiously drew up to the door, and subdued voices. 
 
 The front door was opened slowly and the men 
 carried the doctor silently up the stairs. 
 
 Mrs. Borvig stood motionless while they placed him 
 on a couch in the yellow room .... she turned 
 round — and stared 
 
 Her sons had gone downstairs. 
 
 Then she glided softly over to his side and placed 
 her face close to that of the dead, chin to chin — 
 benumbed — tearless 
 
XIV 
 
 The summer passed quietly and monotonously at 
 Elvsset. 
 
 There were no arrivals or departures of the doctor 
 in, his kariol, no strict orders and injunctions as to 
 what should be done inside and outside the house. 
 No kariols or carriages came driving up the hill with 
 casual callers, no patients came to the door to ask for 
 the doctor. 
 
 In the study everything was unchanged ; the 
 doctor's pipes and surgical instruments were all in 
 their old place, his portable case as usual on the 
 right hand side of his writing-table. 
 
 The land belonging to the farm had been let till 
 the autumn, when the property would be sold. Mrs, 
 Borvig in the meantime managed the housekeeping 
 and the garden. Now and then there came letters 
 from Arnt and Massy. Mrs. Borvig had invested 
 ^:he rest of the money she had inherited for their 
 education ; and questions were asked and answered 
 in long anxious letters as to how the money could 
 best be applied. 
 
 Her steps were still to be heard, only more hushed 
 
NIOBE 
 
 2^ 
 
 than before, pacing up and down the desolate yellow 
 room, which, with the furniture spread about, the 
 long unpainted table, and household articles, looked 
 almost like a lumber room. 
 
 " As long as there was a spark of hope — something 
 to live for," Borvig had said. 
 
 That was the silent burden which, like the river, 
 was not heard in the day, but which grew into a roar 
 in her mind in the lonely hours she spent beside the 
 window in the yellow room. 
 
 Minka. . . . 
 
 This summer, since she returned home, she had 
 been walking about, a living enigma to her mother — 
 a flickering hope. . . . Minka — the child of her heart, 
 upon whom she had set such store these many years 
 .... whom she had loved even to weakness — the 
 loss of whom she felt she could not endure. . . . 
 
 Ever since Minka's return Mrs. Borvig had been 
 painfully conscious that her daughter had been 
 affected by her late surroundings, and the influences 
 she had been subjected to. . . . This dreamy subsi- 
 dence into her own self. . . . The senses apparently 
 impaired and unfit for the limits and considerations of 
 everyday reality^ — befogged, affected self-conceit. . . . 
 She returned, as it were, with something clinging to 
 her from another atmosphere, full of imbecile theories 
 and notions. . . . 
 
 So uncontrollably nervous in her speech, sensitive 
 in every fibre. . .> . 
 
282 NIOBE 
 
 She should now stay at home the whole summer, 
 to rest and gain strength .... regain her beautiful 
 nature, regain the balance of her mind. 
 
 In the autumn, yes ! in the autumn when the home 
 at Elvsaet wguld be broken up. . . . 
 
 Then every effort must be made; Minka must 
 give lessons in music, while she herself kept house 
 for her children up in town. 
 
 And Berthea with her deplorable giddiness should 
 be sent to a school to learn household management. 
 
 Minka carefully avoided meeting Schulteiss — in 
 fact could not bear to see him ; her nerves were 
 quite uncontrollable in his presence. From the first 
 moment she had met him again she had notice some- 
 thing deranged about him ; a look had betrayed it 
 and filled her with , terror — she could not endure the 
 thought that he was watching and spying her steps — 
 a feeling of insecurity took possession of her, and 
 she would scream with fear if anything merely moved 
 behind a fence or bush. 
 
 And Schulteiss went spying and prowling about 
 in the roads and woodlands between the sheriffs and 
 Elvsaet. He must get a glimpse at Minka. . . . 
 
 He would stand absorbed, wrapped up in himself, 
 among the trees in the grove — waiting in the certainty 
 that she would appear in the course of the day — 
 oblivious to the rain, the damp ground on which he 
 stood, and the time He was talking with 
 
NIOBE 283 
 
 Minka, was discussing some of his great ideas with 
 her — was in spiritual communion with her .... 
 whispering to her, adoring and worshipping her in his 
 
 imagination 
 
 In happy, lonely hours of abstraction, his eyes 
 would twinkle mysteriously, he would smile before 
 the looking-glass mumbling to himself about spiritual 
 trysts .... about Minka, who never gave herself 
 away 
 
 Berth ea appeared one morning at breakfast with 
 her eyes red with weeping, and a swollen face. 
 
 There was nothing the matter with her — nothing 
 at all — only a tooth-ache. 
 
 In the course of the morning, she set off to the 
 letter-box at the railway station, with a thick letter 
 in her pocket, which she had written during the night. 
 It was addressed to Mr. Ole Berg, Iowa City, Iowa. 
 U.S.A. 
 
 She surprised every one by remaining at home 
 during the whole month of July. 
 
 And then one day a letter came 
 
 The frequently rejected, yet faithful lover of her 
 schooldays, Ole, the sheriff's son, had answered her 
 letter by return : " Come, come to my open arms ! " 
 
 And now she must get the money for the journey 
 from Kjel or her mother — she must — she ■must 
 
 She left behind her on her departure, an impression 
 
284 NIOBE 
 
 of being a complication of insolvable enigmas, which 
 would long have occupied the divining proclivities 
 of the parish, if suddenly the attention had not 
 wholly and effectually been engrossed by the rumours 
 of new failures among the owners of the Black Forest, 
 and by nothing less than the question whether 
 Kjel Borvig's affairs should be put under adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 All sorts of rumours were in circulation. 
 
 It was stated on good authority that Mrs. Kjel had 
 suddenly driven up to the judge's, and asked to be 
 allowed to account for things as far as she was con- 
 cerned, had given a complete list of her furs, silk 
 dresses and jewellery — everything in her possession. 
 She had only desisted when she was told that the 
 preliminary statement of affairs which Kjel had pro- 
 duced, showed a surplus of no less than sixty thousand 
 crowns. 
 
 When Endre, contrary to his usual quiet ways, 
 noisily burst in upon them at home with a report of 
 these rumours, his mother did not utter a word of 
 surprise. 
 
 That which now would cause trouble and anxiety 
 to others, was a matter of the past to her — she had 
 long ago fought it all out and resigned herself; She 
 had suffered and gone through all that could possibly 
 happen .... and much more. 
 
 " As long as there is still a spark of hope — remem- 
 ber that above all, Bente," Borvig had said 
 
NIOBE 285 
 
 She must now take care of what she had left. 
 
 She felt more and more how difficult it was to get 
 to the bottom of Minka's nature. 
 
 So tender, so full of lovable understanding for the 
 moment, it seemed always to be a case of beginning 
 over again. And when it devolved upon her to take 
 a decision, she faltered and slunk away. 
 
 She now rather avoided those confidential moments 
 when something might be guardedly broached about 
 future plans and prospects ; on these occasions such 
 a mysterious pained expression always came into her 
 face. 
 
 Of late she had become so restless, so abrupt in 
 her manners ; would start as if frightened and answer 
 timidly if spoken to. She had received many letters, [ 
 and had written many. 
 
 Although Mrs. Borvig had never had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the handwriting on the envelopes, / 
 she understood it was Varberg she was correspond- 
 ing with. 
 
 And now she heard he had returned to the neigh- / 
 bourhood, and lodged with the station-master. 
 
 He had apparently again succeeded in inveigling 
 Minka into this unfortunate hypnotic mysticism. 
 
 This fascination — which had begun by stupefying 
 or exalting a single bent of her will, and had gone 
 on uprooting her whole being and destroying all 
 character and independence — must end with the 
 murder of a soul ! In her despair, she saw 'Minka 
 
286 NIOBE 
 
 before her, a medium — devoid of all will — the victim 
 of an experimenter — acting upon his promptings — a 
 wandering corpse 
 
 Kjel came slowly up the steps to the front door, 
 stopping from time to time, lost in thought. 
 
 He searched through all the rooms for his mother, 
 walking as if quite dazed, and stopped at last outside 
 the still-rooni, fumbling with the door 
 
 He heard Mrs. Borvig's voice in the mangling- 
 room, where she and Minka were sorting and putting 
 all the linen in order ready for the removal. 
 
 As Mrs. Borvig saw him come stumbling into the 
 room, her face became stiff and rigid, and overspread 
 by a sudden pallor. 
 
 He righted himself up against the wall, and moaned 
 aloud ; it was like the suppressed bellowing of a bull. 
 
 "Bankrupt, mother! — Summoned to appear at 
 three o'clock this afternoon — about the savings bank," 
 he burst out disjointedly. " And — and this evening 
 I shall be arrested — I know it " 
 
 He leant heavily forward, as if he could not sup- 
 port his body ; his face was livid, his eyes placid and 
 full of fear — he gaped idiotically. 
 
 "All is going wrong — mother," he growled in a 
 hollow voice. " I had to come straight away from 
 home." 
 
 Endre came in ; he was already aware of the catas- 
 trophe. 
 
NIOBE 287 
 
 " Here is a glass of brandy — of your own sort, Kjel 
 — you need it " 
 
 Kjel turned it aside with a languid movement. 
 
 " You must pull yourself together no — not even 
 
 taste it ? One must know how to meet one's fate like 
 a man — whatever it may be — at any rate show a 
 
 front, you know ; don't collapse altogether except I 
 
 at death's door," he added, theatrically. ' 
 
 " Penal servitude — without a doubt penal servitude ! " 
 ejaculated Kjel, hoarsely. I 
 
 "Here, drink some water, Kjel," said his mother. 
 " Lie down — sit down in the chair there. ." . . ." 
 
 He gulped down some water. 
 
 " This afternoon, mother — this after " he mut- 
 tered, his hand trembling so violently that she had to 
 take the glass from him. 
 
 "You mustn't let yourself be so overcome, Kjel," 
 said his mother, stroking his face and hair absent- 
 mindedly, while he panted heavily. " Don't give way 
 
 like this Your mother, who has borne and 
 
 nursed jBu, Kjel, will not desert you." 
 
 "Penal — penal servitude!" muttered Kjel, gulping 
 down the words. 
 
 He sat stupefied, with his head drooping, while his 
 mother wiped his brow. 
 
 Endre began pacing up and down with folded 
 arms. 
 
 " There are moments, decisive moments, when it is 
 necessary to survey the situation — attempt to be 
 
288 NIOBE 
 
 master of it When the ordinary conventional 
 
 ideas no longer apply to one — when a man has 
 got outside the pale of society, so to speak — then 
 one must look at it from that standpoint — must 
 choose extraordinary means." He turned round. 
 "You understand me, Kjel — I advise you to make 
 up your mind to leave, to flee the country — bury 
 \ your existence somewhere on the other side of 
 
 the Atlantic for your own sake and that of the 
 
 family " 
 
 Kjel looked up with a dull stare. His expression 
 I told that any idea of prompt and vigorous action was 
 ' out of the question. 
 
 Endre threw himself down on the bench against the 
 j wall, kicking savagely in his excitement. 
 
 ",As matters now stand, one could almost be 
 
 , tempted to take some bold stroke at once — to give 
 
 Arnt's dynamite cartridges in the lumber-room in 
 
 there a blow with the axe .... become desperate 
 
 — do the worst " 
 
 He stared at Kjel for a moment. 
 " I say, Kjel, I, your brother, will go with you 
 I this afternoon into court. I mean to defy public 
 opinion." 
 
 Minka from time to time started up fitfully, and 
 , then sat down again with her hands before her eyes — 
 ' stared in trembling dismay at the broken down, 
 helpless figure of her brother. 
 
 She seemed to be trying to shut out some dread 
 
NIOBE 289 
 
 vision with her hand. Suddenly with a wail she 
 burst out : 
 
 " I may as well speak out about myself. .... I 
 must tell you, mother. — I could not bring myself to 
 distress you with it. — But now .... well, I have 
 said yes to Varberg !....! cannot help it — nor do 
 I wish it otherwise," she exclaimed in a state of 
 nervous excitability. " I want to follow him, I tell 
 
 you, mother. — I have bound myself to him 
 
 He is to be my impresario, and we will give seances 
 all over the world. Through me, as his medium, he 
 will open the way for the new truths." 
 
 The expression of Mrs. Borvig's eyes all at once 
 assumed that of a lynx. 
 
 " How you look at me, mother .... 1 must tell 
 you, that it has already been settled between Varberg 
 
 and me, since early this summer It is a gift I 
 
 have. He can develop my particular faculty 
 
 I must follow my calling." 
 
 Mrs. Borvig stood as if paralysed — her face pale 
 with despair. A shadow of madness came over her 
 face. 
 
 She heard again the " woe, woe " . . . . long wailings 
 in the air, like a supernatural shriek. 
 
 She saw Minka sitting talking, and striking out 
 with her arms like an automatic puppet, distorted — 
 creaking of emptiness. " 
 
 And there was Endre with no future before him, 
 walking about preaching dynamite. 
 
290 NIOBE 
 
 Then suddenly she saw Kjel before her with the 
 convict's collar of iron round his neck 
 
 A sudden dizziness seized her ; the burden was too 
 overwhelming — it was more than Arnt and Massy, as 
 
 the bearers of Borvig's name, could endure 
 
 Mrs. Borvig looked slowly and fixedly from one to 
 the other of her three children with an ominous, 
 strange expression 
 
 Her rigid face became ashy grey, corpse-like, as she 
 glided into the lumber-room. 
 
 She quietly searched among Arnt's things for his 
 tin box, with the dynamite cartridges, which he had 
 hidden away, then seized the axe, and with a wild 
 cry of terror struck the fatal blow 
 
 At a quarter to eleven that morning the people of 
 the parish were startled by a violent explosion at 
 Elvsset. 
 
 The calamity, it was believed, must have happened 
 through the accidental ignition of some dynamite, 
 which had been kept in the house. 
 
 The whole of one side of the house was laid in 
 ruins, and among the logs and splinters lay four 
 crushed bodies — those of Mrs. Borvig and her three 
 grown-up children. 
 
 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson <&* Co, 
 London &^ Edinburgh 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Uniform with this Volume. 
 Cloth, 3S. 6d.; Paper, 2S. 6d. 
 
 THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS. 
 
 "In ' The Commodore's Daughters ' 
 we are taken to a seaport in Norway, 
 and there introduced to the family of the 
 Commodore, consisting of the Commo- 
 dore himself, his wife, two daughters, 
 and a son. The history of their lives for 
 the next ten years, follows — a history full 
 of pathos. -. . . The book is undeniably 
 true to life." — The Guardian. 
 
 London : WM. HEINEMANN, 
 21 Bedford Street, W.C.