Litchfield enquirer., 1875-04-08
WHOLE NO. 26O1.
began to descedd the slope.

W1Cn leap ho was agaln aG her e1Q0s ! stopped down over her, and, in hoarse, passionate whisper, spoke the secret of
 his life. She gazed fOr.a moment steadi-
 ly into his face, then, in few hurried
 words, ,she pledged h1m her love, her faith, | her all. And in the stiffness of that sum-
 mer night they planned together their | flight to greater and freer land, where no worid-old prejudice frowned upon the
 union of two kindred souls. They would
 wait in patience and silence until spring;
 then come the fresh winds from the ocean,
 and, with them, the birds of passage which awake the longings in the Norsemen's
 breasts, and the American vessels which ! give courage to many a sinking spirit,
 strength to the wearied arm, hope to the
 hopeless heart.
 During that winter Truls and Borghild
 seldom saw each other. The parish was 1 filled with rumors, and after the Christ 1 mas holidays it was told for certain that the proud maiden of Spogi had been promised in marriage to Syvert Stein. It was the general belief that the families had made the match, and that Borghild, at least. had hardly any voice in the mat ter. Another report was that she had Hat ly refused to listen to any proposal from that quarter, and that, when she found that resistance was vain, she had cried three days and three nights, and refused 1 to take any food. When this rumor reach cd the pastors ear, he pronounced it an idle tale; ''for," said he, "Borghild has | always been 8 proper and well-behaved maiden, and she knows that she must hon. l or father and mother, that it may be well with her. and she live long upon the land" But Borghild sat alone in her gable win dow and looked longingly toward the ocean. The glaciers glittered, the rivers swelled, the buds of the forest burst, and great white sails began to glimmer on the far western horizon.
 If Truls, the Nameless, as scoffers were won't to call him, had been a greater per- sonage in the valley, it would, no doubt, have shocked the gossips to know that one fine morning he sold his COW, his gun and his dog, and wrapped sixty silver dollars In leather bag, which he sewed fast to the girdle he wore about his waist. That same night some one was heard playing wildly up in the birch copse above the Spogi mansion; now it sounded like 8 vail of distress, then like fierce, defiant laugh, and now again the music seemed to hush itself into heart broken, sorrow full moan, and the people crossed them selves, and whispered: "Our Father" but Borghild sat at her gable window and listened long to the weird strain. The midnight came, but she stirred not. With the hour of midnight the music ceased. From the windows of hall and kitchen the light streamed out into the damp air, and the darkness stood like a wall on either side; within. maids and lads were busy brewing, baking, and washing, for in 6 week there was to be a wedding on the farm.
 The week went and the wedding came. Truls had not closed his eyes all that night, ,aI and before daybreak he sauntered sea-birds whirled in great airy surges around the bare crags. Far up above the noisy throng an ospray sailed on the blue expanse of the sky, and quick as thought swooped down upon a halibut which had .ventured to take peep at the rising sun. The huge fish struggled for moment at the waters edge. then, with a powerful stroke of it's tail, which sent the spray hiss ing through the air, dived below the sur face. The bird of prey gave 8 loud scream, Tapped fiercely with it's broad wings, and for several minutes thicken- ing cloud of applauding ducks and sea- gulls and showers of spray hid the combat from the observers eye. When the birds scattered, the ospray had vanished, and CA0 WaL0ES dSd1u morning sun. Truls stood long, vacantly staring out upon the scene of the conflict, and many strange thoughts whirled through his head.
 "Holloo, fidlerl'. cried couple of lads who had come to clear the wedding boats, 'syou are early on foot to-day. Here is q scoop. Come on and help us bail the boats"
 Truls took the scoop. and looked at it as if he had never seen such O thing be- fore he moved about heavily, hardly knowing what he did, but conscious all the while of his own great misery. His limbs seemed half frozen, and a dull pain gathered about his head and in his breast in fact, everywhere and nowhere.
 About ten o'clock the bridal procession descended the slope to the fjord. Syvert Stein, the bridegroom, trod the earth with a firm, springy step, and spoke many cheery word to the bride, who walked, with silent and downcast eyes, at his side. She wore the ancestral bridal crown on her head, and the little silver disks around its edge tinkled and shook as she walked They hailed her with firing of guns and loud hurrahs as she stepped into the boat; still she did not raise her eyes, but re- mained silent. A small canon, also an heirloom in the family, was placed amid ships, and Truls, with his violin, took his seat in the prov. A large solitary cloud, golden trimmed but with thunder in its breast, sailed across the sky and threw it's shadow over the bridal boat as it was pushed out from the shore, and the shad- ow fell upon the brides countenence too; and when she lifted it the mother of the bridegroom, who sat opposite her, shrank back, and instinctively made the sign of the cross, for the countenance looked hard, as if carved in stone-in the eyes Q mute, hopeless appeal; on the lips a frozen prayer. The shadow of thunder upon l1fe that was opening-it was an ill omen, and it's gloom sank into the hearts of the we'd ding guests. They spoke in undertones and threw pitying glances at the bride. Then at length Syvert Stein lost his pa- tience. ...-. ...
 ''In sooth, cried he, springing up from his seat, ''where is to-day the cheer that | is won't to abide in the Norseman's breast? Methinks see but sullen airs and ill-bod l ing glances Ha, fiddler, now move your strings Justify! None of your funeral airs, my lad, but 6 merry tune that shall sing through the marrow and bone, and make the heart leap in the bosom" - - Truls heard the words, and in a slow, mechanical way he took the violin out of its case and raised it to hls chin. Syvert in the meanwhile put huge silver beer jug to his mouth, and, ,pledging his guests, emptied it even to the dregs. But the brides cheek was pale; and lt-was SO still in the boat that every man could hear his own breathing. ...... ,
 ''Ha, to-day is Syvert Stein's wedding dayY shouted the bridegroom, growing hot with wrath. 'Iet us try if the iron | v0i0a of kho cannon con Vvako rnv vnaafa | from their slumber"
 He struck match and put it to the touch-hole of the cannon; a long boom rolled away over the surface. of the waters and startled the echoes of the distant gla- ciers. A faint h1rrah sounded from the nearest craft, but there came no response from the bridal boat. Syvert pulled the