Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-29
TWO AND ONE:
From All the Year Round
CHAPTER I.

cayernous gorges, on the bare, bleak sides
of granite precipices, the awful silences Of
fallen snow and ice-bound waters were
broken. Great avalanches, awaking dull,
laundering echoes, crashed down from
mighty nights into chasms where the feet
of man had never trod. There was the
plunge and the roar of waters as the noun
tain torrents, swollen BY the melting
SHOWS, tumbled foaming into rivers SO
green and lucid that the stones of their
bed could be seen from the bank. 1t was
early yet in the year, but spring had come.
In England there were datfodiis and prim-
roses in the hedge-lined lanes and fields
here there was only the pale, tender CLINT
of new green, as spruce and pine clad
themselves in their fresh spring robes, and
the wonderful tints OF the moses. The
air was sharp and cold, but sweet and in
v1gorating. There is no atmosphere in
Europe to surpass the air Of Norway.
Still it was very cold. The sky was
gray overhead, as if threatening more
snow. 4 stolkjaerre was driving, at
rather an unusual speed for Norwegian
ponies, along the road that skirted the
precipitous side of the Romsdalen. Two
human beings, mufiled up in fUrs, occupied
the stolkiaerre One was tall, powerfully
built, with the strength and decision of
giant in appearance, and in manner
the meekness and Difference of 4 thorough
ly crushed school-bOy. This was the che"
The other was slender, delicate-faced, with
the most perfect feminine grace OF manner
and appearance, loyely-eyed and sweet
mouthed; but with the imperious Will of q
queen and the bewildering spirit of a
woman. This SHE" was silent now
but she had been very cross, very unrea-
sonable, very incomprehensive; She had
been angry with him for having brought
her; and vet it had been only at her i'm
perious insistence that he had consented
to drive her from Macs, where she had
been spending the winter on the Roms-
dalen Fjord, to Stuehaaten, after which,
with a sudden caprice, she had longed.
He himself had arrived at Naes-a per
feet stranger to her-three weeks before.
He was a Norwegian, she an English
woman. He was young, and she was
younger. She was beginning TO feel I'M
utterably dull and depressed Now that
the long monotony and dreariness Of
winter were over she had begun to wonder
how it was she had not gone mad before
the spring came.
The people of the station had been very
good to her all the winter. But they had
not been companions in the true sense of
the word.
She had felt that it was so when this
young man, with his chivalrous devotion,
Iia l-aa,, cultivated ;ptal1ar4 a,,a,.y,,.
enthusiasts, his strength, his Impotence
of all that.was petty and morbid and base,
came suddenly into the monotonOus, still
life she was living. They had, in those
few weeks, become very good friends.
Though, if their intercourse had been
measured by mere hours or days, It would
not have counted for much, for he spent
most Of his time out of doors.
But they met, naturally, as they were
living in the same house, every day, either
for meals or some short period. They had
taken one or two walks together, and it
was in answer to a sudden outburst of hers
that he had suggested that she should
leave Macs for little and go on 70 Stue-
haaten.
They had had a long days Journey,
leaving the ford early that morning. 1t
was now nearly in the afternoon, and he
was afraid she was worn out. From
Ormeim, the last station at which they had
stopped to change horses, he had driven
hard and fast The valley along which
they had come was magnificent in its
rugged grandeur. In the distance were
the everlasting peaks, shrouded in snow.
Below them the Rauma rushed and roared
along its stony bed.
81 am afraid you are very cold and
tired, he said, after long silence.
He spoke English with scarcely any ac-
cent.
al am very tired and very cold" Her
voice was sweet as music, but there was
decidedly peevish note in it at this mo-
ment. "And don't speak to me. When
you do, l have to look up and see the
mountains with their awful stiffness and
white-shrouded faces. | had grown used
TO them at Macs Now this is all strange
again, and-why did you let me come ~
He did not understand her in the least.
She bewildered him; but he was a wise
man, and attempted no answer.
"Br-r-r,' he cried to his pony and he
had the satisfaction of understanding and
being understood here at any rate. for the
brave little pony dashed on in obedience
to his encouraging cry, as if as anxious to
reach Stuetlaaten as he himself was
Their destination came in sight at last.
She had been covering down closer in her
furs, and had uttered no word since she
last spoke. She did not answer now when
he told her that they had arrived. He
drove up to the station. and, jumping
down, helped her to dismouut. An ex-
clamation Of alarm broke from him, and,
lifting her in his strong arms, he carried
her into the house. The mistress of the
station came to meet the new arrivals.
"The lady has tainted" he said.
They took her into the nearest room,
the young Norwegian still carrying her
The beautiful, delicate face rested on his
breast. He looked down at its deathly
whitenesS, and his own paled But, as he
laid her on the couch, faint tremor
stirred her. She opened her eyes, and,
looking up saw him bending over her.
For a second she gazed up st him. then
color rushed back into her face, and she
sat swiftly upright.
"Please 90 away and leave me alone
she said, irritably, but with shadow of
not my maid arrived vet ~ The maid was
following with the luggage. go and look
If you see her coming"
Olaf Ericsson did not return to the room
till supper was laid.
When he entered the room he found her
resting on the couch. There was some
thing so exhausted in her attitude that he
went up to her anxiously. But she sat up
and met his disturbed look with frank,
merry laugh.
CHAPTER II.
"How You must have hated me for
making such fuss ~ she said. "But it
was not the cold and fatigue that hurt NE
it was the awful silence and strength of
those snow-capped mountains. All life
seem paraiyzed by them ! could not
breathe. ] felt in the grasp OF 4 crnel.