NOVEL

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 415, 28 April 1904, Page 2

NOVEL

llL—(Continued) Bat the cheering punned him, floating clearly through the still mountain air, which carries distent sound with wonderful distinctness. Several times he paused, wrestled with himself, and again continned Mi diliaJ TTHwrV Whenever, drawn by the alluring Bound, he turned about and hie purpose began to waver, he seemed to see his young fair wife, with hex babe in hex arms, standing in the road, barring the downward path., He was now close up to the forest; it was early in the day, and the sun was bat a few hours above toe eastern mountaintops. He sat down upon the trunk of a felled tree, and gased out upon the beautiful fiord valley. The air was teeming ■with sunshine; the fiord lay smooth and glittering in the bright light, and the inverted mountain-cones shone with their snowy peaks hi its depth. The angel of paaco was abroad; all nature rested in blessed security. The seagulls drifted lisily above the water; the patient fishermen sat in their boats gazing down into the green luminous deep, where the fishes moved placidly among the stones and the pale, filmy seaweeds which swayed gentry with the passing current. Baund about stood the mountains, in hoary majesty, stern and immovable as they had stood tor centuries psst; but down on the pier stood a few hundred men, shouting themselves hoarse ever an innovator who had come to disturb this blessed peace. Was there net, perhaps, some truth in the pastor's perpetual admonition that peace was the highest of all earthly blessings, for which reason Christ was called the Prince of Peace F Was it right to arouse discontent and aspiration in the bosom of men who had hitherto cherished no other desire than to have enough to eat while tbey lived and to go to heaven when they died t M tthetically that little band of roaring esthueiasta down on the' pier were a discordant phenomenon, and marred the harmony of a perfect day. Harold looked out over the wide fields of waving wheat; he saw the tall chimneys of the stately mansion which would in time be his; and a sensation which bad hitherto been alien to his nature gently stole over him. It was the indolence of possession, the rich man's repugnanoelto change - He began to comprehend his father's animosity to Bgesoson and his progressive followers, and he saw himself in spirit as the proprietor of his inherited estate, perpetuating the benevolent despotism of his predecessors. The cheering of the crowd came floating faintly up to him; Bjornson had made a speech; baa were thrown into the air, and the shouting wou'd have no end.

At this moment his . reflections were interrupted by the sound of hoof-beats near by. He looked up and saw his father riding slowly along the bridle path which led op into the glen. It was an nnnraal thing for the judge to be out riding at this time of the day, and it was itill nort extraordinary for him to depart from the beaten highway. The Judge liked to be seen, and professed no lore for nature in her uncultured state. It wm therefore obvious that he was runn'ng away from Bjorneon, or rather from the irritation which it would cause him to tee the obnoxious orator received with homage and honour. The scene' on the pier had given him a foretaste of what was in store for him, and he had concluded tb&t his temper could not bear the strain of more such demonstrations. The sight of his son, whom he suspected of sympathising with the agitator, did not under such circumstaaces affect him pleasantly.

.'What are you doing here P' ha asked grsSy; ' admiring the landscape P* •Yea.*

'Admiring fiddlesticks I Why don't you go down-to your friend there and give him a fitting reception P'

' I hadn't thought of it, hut if you are anxious to have ne go, I will have my name put on the committee.' The Judge had longed for a provocation to lose his temper, and Harold's answer aarred his purpose. •1 tell you, boy/ he cried, growing purple in his face, that lamm no joking humor to day; and I warn you, once for all, that if you dare to go near that fellow while he is here in the perish, I shall—l ■hall whip you as if you were a stripling. Ha ought to be in We penitentiary instead o* being permitted to range round the country, insulting the King and in-

A Gid of the Jg*,

BT Bjalmar H Boysen.

citing the people to disregard their superiors and despise their betters.' Harold sat for a moment still, gazing fixedly into the air. Then ha arose and walked quietly down the hillricK •Where are 70U going P' cried his father after him. . *Away.'

'lf you dare disobey me—' The Judge's voice failed him, and with a hoarse shout of wrath, he broke into a paroxysm of oaughing. 'That remains to be seen,' answered the son, striding across the fields toward the farm where Bjornson was-to hold his meeting.

Harold walked* on with large steps, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, and only conscious of one defiant purpose: to assert his independence against such unbearable tyranny. By one angry wave of feeling all his conservatism had been swept a*ay, and he burned to speak out loudly and freely the convictions which he cherished, and which had given dignity to his life. He wished to commit himself irretrievably as a safeguard against further attacks of cowardice. Wife and child and landed estate, for which he would but a moment ago have Bold his. souT, seemed now scarce a feather's weight in the balance.

It was a couple of miles to the farm where Bjornson was to speak; several hundred peasants had already gathered there, and the road leading up from the pier was nearly black with people A platform had been erected under a great tree on the shady side of the house, and a man who, in honour of the occasion, had provided himself with an asthmatic brass horn, sent melancholy echoes careering over the mountains. Harold took this to be a signal that the meeting was opened, and he redoubled his Bpeed. He saw Bjornson ascend the platform, and heard the cheering break out afresh. No one noticed the young student as he approached within hearing distance, he approached within hearing distance, but as he pressed eagerly .forward people gazed at him in astonishment and made way for him; and yet from the looks they sent him he perceived they were animated by no friendly feelings toward him; it was but a remnant of the innate respect which they had been accustomed to show to * gentlefolks.'

' Leek there,' he heard some one sajinS behind him j 'there is the Judge's HaroldI bet he means mischief.' • I scarcely think bo,' answered the one addressed. »He used to be a lively chap wh6n he was a boy. Bat the old man has taken the spunk out of him. They say he thrashes him yet.' With blazing eyes Harold turned round and glared at the men; but they returned his gaze quietly and seemed in no wise disturbed. They felt their power to-day and the dignity of jower. The orator had How fairly warmed up to his subject; he paced up and down the platform, tossing his blonde mane of hair back from his forehead, flinging forth laconic sentences which clung to the memory like burrs .Then the words came thicker and faster, and hia voice rang now softly and persuasively, now sharp and inspiring like a battle-cry. Harold stood riveted to the spot His whole soul was amused; he trembled with delight, it seemed inconceivable to.him that he ever, even in thought, cohid have been unfaithful. There breathed a warm, all embracing love for humanity through the orator's words, and It was this whioh touched Harold and made him feel hia own unworthiness. What had, in times past, inspired his defiance to - the paternal authority, had been a mere personal resentment, and perhaps a vague, youthful enthusiasm for great but half-com-prehended ideas. But this man's speech throbled with a nobler pasßion. Here were no vague moonshiny ideals, but definite purposes rationally conceived and eloquently elucidated. It was glorious to hear this rushing cataract of speech, plunging resistleeß'y onward, carrying the listener along on its mighty current. In his narrow and cramped life, hedged in by a Chinese wall of traditional proprieties, through which no large idea could penetrate, how often, oh, \ how often he had hungered for a breath from that fresh world of thought in which he had moved during his student days I And here, as hf a miracle, he was suddenly in

thetfmidst of it It blew and hammed about him like strong summer breezes, alluring his soul with bewildering melodj. For two hours Bjornson spoke, and the peasants stood or Bat in groups in the grass listening with thoughtful faces, and now and then with quiet nods of approval. But Harold, in whose breaat the mighty words had aroused a etom. of emotion, stood gazing with an exoited expression at the orator's face, and no sooner had the word been declared free than he sprang upon the platform. A murmur of digpleasure ran through tbe aasemply, * Down with him!' cried some. 'No, let him speakl' shouted the others. ' Let as have fair play.' And Harold spoke. The flood-gates of speech had been opened within him, and his words came with a glorious spontaneity and force; thoughts large and radiant tumbled forward, one pressing hard upon the other j and the world, as it lay shimmering at his feet, seemed an ocean of light. The crowd was at first dumfounded. 'lsn't this Harold, the Judge's BonP' they asked, marvelling. Yes. surely- was Harold, the Judge's soa; he was speaking apparently against his own father.

'The candidate of the right,' he was saying, 'worthy and honorable as he is, could in no sense really represent this district, for he knows not its people, does not sympathise with its wants, is remote from its aspirations. He is by birth, by character and position, wedded to the ancient oligarchic regime which it is your duty and your privilege to overthrow. Take courage, then, and vote honestly and fearlessly, allowing no external consideration to reafevin the free expression of your choice.'

A great cheering here interrupted the speaker; for it was well known throughout the valley that the Judge had threatened all his tenants with the loss of their holdings in case they dared to vote egainet him, and that epon the so-called ' marshmen,' whom he had himeeir helped to qualify as voters, he hail exercised all the restraint in his power. That the son had disapproved of these aibitrarjv proceedings had also been vaguely surmised, but that he should dare stand up in public and enter the lists against him upon whom his whole future depended was more than anyone had expected. Nevertheless it seemed a great and courageous deed, and excited unirersal admiration; for no one doubted whalt was in store for the young man when he should have returned to the paiernal mansion. Harold, however, was 'little troubled by such considerations.' The longer ha spoke, tbo more eloquent he became, the more persuasive grei his voice, and the more forcible his argument. For all the time this thought burned within him: 'I have been unfaithful, and I will do penance for my unfaithfulness. I will cut off my retreat into the land of indolent security and easja. I will stand by my colours. I will true to myself and take the consequences^ The meeting lasted until late in the afternoon. Wherever Harold weit he was met by friendly glances and hearty words. Many pressed up to him to shake hia hand. The distrust with which they had viewed him as a member of' that official bureaucracy which sits like a huge nightmare upon Norwayfs breast impeding her breath and smothering her cries, had suddenly vanished, and .fir the first time they looked upon* him as one of their own. And he, too,, felt a Warm eente ol fellowship spreading beneficently through his soul; he felt himself fre 3 and happy, and he felt, what had been a mere empty phrase to him before, that he was a Norseman. He walked about with Bjornson, and talked with him as he had never talked with any man before; for he had never before known the happiness of being completely understood. He laid his soul bare before him, and went away with a new strength and trust throbbing through his being. He Knew now a man cast in the heroic mold—a poet, a prophet, a warrior. A great liking had sprung up between them; they had felt strongly drawn to each other from the first moment. And when Harold went to face his father's wrath, something like a consecration seemed to have, descended upon him,-hallowing hits lifei to a great and noble work.

A drowsy red light was spreading from the late sua over floid and valley, as Harold in his exalted mood marched slowly homeward. There was something strangely unreal in the long, familiar scene, as if he had wjksd from, a dream the Tividsess of which made reality seem pale and phantasms!. Everything was hushed, water and air were oppressively still} but it was not the spontaneous stillaese of s'eep, but a sultry silence which rested heavily upon the sense. It was ad if Nature were holding her breath, A foreboding of a catastrophe of some sort took possession of Harold; yet hie courage in no wise deserted him. He s w in the anxious look of his wife, who stood waiting for him at the garden gate, that the story of his exploits bad preceded him, and that he would thus be spared the trouble of explaining. • O Harold!' she cried tremulously, running to meet him, 'don't let father see you. He is fnrions with you, and there is no knowing what he might do should he find you to-night. The sheriff was here an hour ago, and he has told him something that has incensed him terribly.' They were standing in the shadow of a great walnut tree at the entrance to the garden. She put her arms about his nec> and clung to him weeping. ' You will never do such a thing again, Harold dear,' she said imploringly. 'For my sake, for baby's sake, you will not do it*

He stood for a minute pondering, 'Lißten, Hilda,' he said at l%st firmly, ' henceforth you must make up your mind whether you will follow me or father. I have my work too in the world, and whether it leads to poverty and shame or o wealth and honor, I have no choice but to do it'

'Oh, that is that horrid Bjornson,' she cried, bursting into a fresh fit of weeping. ' I know that hateful spirit which I have «o long tried to quell in you, and now he has come and undone it all. We were so h*ppy until he came.' (To be continued.)