Universities the Economy Routledge Studies in Business Organization and Networks 1st Edition Helen Lawton-Smith
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- 5. Universities the Economy Routledge Studies in Business Organization and Networks 1st Edition Helen Lawton- Smith Digital Instant Download Author(s): Helen Lawton-Smith ISBN(s): 9780415324939, 0203358058 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 1.29 MB Year: 2006 Language: english
- 7. Universities, Innovation and the Economy In the twenty-first century, universities are part of systems of innovation spanning the globe. While there is nothing new in universities’ links with industry, what is recent is their role as territorial actors. It is government policy in many countries that universities, and in some countries national laboratories, stimulate regional or local economic development. They are expected to be at the heart of networked structures contributing to the growth of productive knowledge-oriented clusters. Universities, Innovation and the Economy explores the implications of this expectation. Its purpose is to situate this new role within the context of broader political histories, comparing how countries in Europe and North America have balanced the traditional roles of teaching and research with that of exploitation of research and defining a territorial role. Helen Lawton Smith highlights how pressure, both from the state and from industry, has produced new paradigms of accountability that include responsibilities for regional development. This book utilizes empirical evidence gained from studies conducted in both North America and Europe to provide an overview of the changing geography of university– industry links. Helen Lawton Smith is Reader in Management, School of Management and Organisational Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and Director of Research, Oxfordshire Economic Observatory, Oxford University.
- 8. Routledge studies in business organizations and networks 1 Democracy and Efficiency in the Economic Enterprise Edited by Ugo Pagano and Robert Rowthorn 2 Towards a Competence Theory of the Firm Edited by Nicolai J. Foss and Christian Knudsen 3 Uncertainty and Economic Evolution Essays in honour of Armen A. Alchian Edited by John R. Lott Jr 4 The End of the Professions? The restructuring of professional work Edited by Jane Broadbent, Michael Dietrich and Jennifer Roberts 5 Shopfloor Matters Labor-management relations in twentieth-century American manufacturing David Fairris 6 The Organisation of the Firm International business perspectives Edited by Ram Mudambi and Martin Ricketts 7 Organizing Industrial Activities Across Firm Boundaries Anna Dubois 8 Economic Organisation, Capabilities and Coordination Edited by Nicolai Foss and Brian J. Loasby 9 The Changing Boundaries of the Firm Explaining evolving inter-firm relations Edited by Massimo G. Colombo 10 Authority and Control in Modern Industry Theoretical and empirical perspectives Edited by Paul L. Robertson 11 Interfirm Networks Organization and industrial competitiveness Edited by Anna Grandori 12 Privatization and Supply Chain Management Andrew Cox, Lisa Harris and David Parker
- 9. 13 The Governance of Large Technical Systems Edited by Olivier Coutard 14 Stability and Change in High-Tech Enterprises Organisational practices and routines Neil Costello 15 The New Mutualism in Public Policy Johnston Birchall 16 An Econometric Analysis of the Real Estate Market and Investment Peijie Wang 17 Managing Buyer–Supplier Relations The winning edge through specification management Rajesh Nellore 18 Supply Chains, Markets and Power Mapping buyer and supplier power regimes Andrew Cox, Paul Ireland, Chris Lonsdale, Joe Sanderson and Glyn Watson 19 Managing Professional Identities Knowledge, performativity, and the ‘new’ professional Edited by Mike Dent and Stephen Whitehead 20 A Comparison of Small and Medium Enterprises in Europe and in the USA Solomon Karmel and Justin Bryon 21 Workaholism in Organizations Antecedents and consequences Ronald J. Burke 22 The Construction Industry An international comparison Edited by Gerhard Bosch and Peter Philips 23 Economic Geography of Higher Education Knowledge, infrastructure and learning regions Edited by Roel Rutten, Frans Boekema and Elsa Kuijpers 24 Economies of Network Industries Hans-Werner Gottinger 25 The Corporation Investment, mergers and growth Dennis C. Mueller 26 Industrial and Labour Market Policy and Performance Issues and perspectives Edited by Dan Coffey and Carole Thornley 27 Organization and Identity Edited by Alison Linstead and Stephen Linstead 28 Thinking Organization Edited by Stephen Linstead and Alison Linstead
- 10. 29 Information Warfare in Business Strategies of control and resistance in the network society Iain Munro 30 Business Clusters An international perspective Martin Perry 31 Markets in Fashion A phenomenological approach Patrik Aspers 32 Working in the Service Sector A tale from different worlds Edited by Gerhard Bosch and Steffen Lehndorff 33 Strategic and Organizational Change From production to retailing in UK brewing 1950–1990 Alistair Mutch 34 Towards Better Performing Transport Networks Edited by Bart Jourquin, Piet Rietveld and Kerstin Westin 35 Knowledge Flows in European Industry Edited by Yannis Caloghirou, Anastasia Constantelou and Nicholas S. Vonortas 36 Change in the Construction Industry An account of the UK Construction Industry Reform Movement 1993–2003 David M. Adamson and Tony Pollington 37 Business Networks Strategy and structure Emanuela Todeva 38 Universities, Innovation and the Economy Helen Lawton Smith
- 11. Universities, Innovation and the Economy Helen Lawton Smith
- 12. First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 Helen Lawton Smith All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN10: 0-415-32493-9 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-35805-8 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-32493-9 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-35805-4 (ebk) This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
- 13. Contents List of illustrations viii Preface and acknowledgements x List of abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 New paradigms in the twenty-first century 8 2 The regional economy and the university 32 3 Measuring the impact 51 4 Europe 86 5 The United States 110 6 Labour markets in Europe and the United States 139 7 Grenoble and Oxfordshire 163 8 Stanford, Louisville and Princeton 193 9 Conclusions 223 References and further reading 232 Index 261
- 14. Illustrations Figures 1.1 Pasteur’s Quadrant 15 3.1 Federal R&D by discipline 60 5.1 The impact of MIT on the economy of the US 129 5.2 R&D systems in the US: paradigm shifts 132 Tables 1.1 Gains to university–industry interaction 18 3.1 Academic R&D share of total R&D performance, by selected countries: 2000 or 2001 54 3.2 Academic R&D expenditures, by country and source of funds: 1981, 1990 and 2000 55 3.3 Ownership of academic intellectual property in OECD countries: 2003 63 3.4 Number of published scientific articles for all types of organizations in a number of rich countries, 1999, in relation to GDP 73 3.5 Comparison of spin-off formation across the OECD 76 4.1 UK incentives to university–industry engagement 104 5.1 Major legislation affecting universities’ links with industry in the US 111 5.2 Leading US states by R&D performance, R&D by sector and R&D as a percentage of state gross domestic product: 2000 117 5.3 Quartile groups for high-technology share of all business establishments: 2000 124 5.4 Select data, 16 universities with most licensing revenues: 1999 126 5.5 Selected examples of state-level initiatives in California and Massachusetts 136–7 6.1 US graduate student enrolment in science and engineering, by enrolment status and sex, and post-doctoral students in science and engineering: 1992–2002 143
- 15. 6.2 European Union industry–university training and mobility programmes 148 6.3 Erasmus student mobility numbers: 2000/1–2002/3 149 6.4 Proportion of graduates remaining in region of study after completing degree and proportion of those who originate from the region 156 7.1 University and Scientific Pole of Grenoble – ‘Pole Scientifique’ 165 7.2 Undergraduate, graduate and professional courses in micro- and nanotechnology in Grenoble 170 7.3 Research laboratories and universities in Oxfordshire 173 7.4 Oxford University income from industrial sources 174 7.5 Student populations in Oxfordshire: 2002–3 181 7.6 Oxford University spin-offs 186 8.1 Student numbers, Stanford, Louisville and Princeton Universities: 2002–3 194 8.2 Stanford, Louisville and Princeton Universities’ income sources: 2002–3 194 8.3 Ranking of the top companies founded or co-founded by Stanford affiliates 205 Illustrations ix
- 16. Preface and acknowledgements Universities are now universally seen as sources of wealth creation. At the one extreme this means that they are mandated through legislation and financial ‘incentives’ to drive economic development, at the other they are seen as catalysts without which local high-tech economic development would not have developed. The reality is more complicated than either. The book is an attempt to explore that reality. This task would not have been possible without the help and support of many people. I am particularly grateful to Tim Cook and Tom Hockaday of Isis Innovation, Oxford University, for their support, patience and data and to Catherine Quinn, Jeremy Whiteley, Nigel Thrift also of Oxford University for their help on points of information. In the US, I would like to thank Alan Attaway, Nancy Davis, Andrew Lane and Teresa Fan of the University of Louisville for their kind help with the Louisville case study, and Joseph Montemarano, Princeton University for his advice and information. Philip Shapira, Alan Hughes and Jeff Saperstein are thanked for their kind permission for use of their material. John Banks did sterling work on copy-editing, but any mistakes are my responsibility. Finally I would like to thank Rob Langham, Commissioning Editor at Routledge, for his help in seeing the project through. This book is dedicated to Jeff Park for his love and inspiration.
- 17. Abbreviations ATP Advanced Technology Program (US) AUTM Association of University Technology Managers (US) CEC Commission of the European Communities CIS Community Innovation Survey CPD Continuing Professional Development DoD Department of Defense (US) DTI Department of Trade and Industry EC European Commission EPO European Patent Office EPSCoR Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (US) ERA European Research Area EU European Union (post-Maastricht Treaty 1991) FY Financial year GERD Government Expenditure on Research and Development HE Higher education HEFCE Higher Education Funding Council for England HEIs Higher education institutes HEIF Higher Education Innovation Fund (UK) HESA Higher Education Statistics Agency (UK) IPR Intellectual Property Rights ISAP International Association of Science Parks KIS Knowledge-intensive services MCA Medicines Control Agency MNCs Multinational companies MoD Ministry of Defence (UK) MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology NIS National Innovation System NIH National Institutes of Health (US) NSB National Science Board (US) NSF National Science Foundation (US) OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OST Office of Science and Technology
- 18. PROs Public Research Organisations RAE Research Assessment Exercise (UK) R&D Research and development RDAs Regional Development Agencies RIS Regional Innovation System RTD Research and Technological Development S&E Science and engineering S&T Science and technology SMEs Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises TTO Technology Transfer Office USPTO US Patent and Trademark Office VC Venture capital xii Abbreviations
- 19. Introduction Universities are at the heart of our productive capacity and are powerful drivers of technological change. They are central to local and regional eco- nomic development and produce people with knowledge and skills. They are at the hub of business networks and industrial clusters of the know- ledge economy. (Lord Sainsbury 2002 announcing the new Faraday Partnerships) This statement by the UK’s Minister of Science and Technology ideologi- cally and politically places universities at the centre of economic develop- ment per se and of contemporary local and regional economies. Academics researching in this field have made similar statements. For example, Leifner et al. (2004, 23) state that ‘A society’s economic competi- tiveness is dependent on the performance of its higher education institutions’ and Godin and Gingras (2000) argue that, despite a real diver- sification of the loci of production of knowledge, ‘universities still are at the heart of the system and all other actors rely on the expertise’. In answering the question ‘what is the role of universities in knowledge-based capitalism?’ Florida and Cohen (1999, 590) argue that ‘Science has emerged as an alternative to engine of economic growth to the classic triumvirate of land, labour and capital, the traditional sources of wealth’. This statement raises a number of questions. For example, what kinds of roles do universities play in economic development? One answer is that ‘The best of the world’s research universities are uniquely the sources of vitality, understanding and skills in highly developed societies’ (Kodama and Branscomb 1999, 4). Is this role unique to universities? The European Commission (EC) (2003a) finds that it is. In setting out its view of the role and uniqueness of universities, the Report claims, ‘The knowledge society depends for its growth on the production of new knowledge, its transmis- sion through education and training, its dissemination through information and communication technologies and on its use through new industrial processes or services’. Universities take part in all three processes and are ‘at the heart of the Europe of Knowledge’ (page 4). Thus as Florida and
- 20. Cohen (1999, 593) argue, the shift from industrial capitalism to know- ledge-based capitalism makes the university ever more critical as a provider of resources such as talent, knowledge and innovation. State intervention, therefore, is justified because the role for policy makers is to ‘introduce governance systems to make technological interactions and technological communications possible’ (Antonelli and Quere 2002, 1051) reducing the interaction deficit within and across national (and regional) innovation systems (Geuna et al. 2003) thereby improving the distribution power of the innovation system (David and Foray 1995). The ‘triple helix’ model of university–industry–government relations developed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1997) encapsulates this notion of interdependence and institutional change. It denotes ‘a transformation in the relationship among university, industry and government as well as within each of these spheres’ (Etzkowitz 2003, 295). It has gained common currency in both policy and academic discourses because of its articulation of a convergence in missions and strategies within each of these three spheres (Georghiou and Metcalfe 2002). It is also ‘a significant shift in the social contract’ between universities and society (Martin, B. 2003, 25). Such a convergence in missions at regional and local as well as national levels amounts to what Charles (2003) describes as an ‘instrumental posi- tion’. It is based on the underlying assumption that proximity is causal in improving the efficiency by which the process of innovation occurs – innovation being defined as ‘the process of transforming an invention into something commercially useful and valuable’ (Miller and Morris 1999). Now the key economic actor is increasingly expected to be a cluster of firms emanating from or at least closely associated with a university or other knowledge-producing institution (Etzkowitz 2003). The pervasive- ness of Porter’s (1990, 1998) cluster concept is a major factor in this narrat- ive, giving as it does a clear policy strategy to local or regional policy makers by suggesting that local linkages are a key factor in economic com- petitiveness. This position is increasingly being challenged, however, as assumptions are questioned about the economic significance of intra- regional linkages, including those of between universities and local firms, as evidence casts doubt on the connection, or indeed the existence of strong patterns of local linkages and indeed whether they are desirable in an increasingly internationalized economy (Malmberg and Power 2004). As the book will show, the impacts of universities, many of which will be at a regional or local scale, will vary considerably over time, over space between sectors, between firms of different sizes and that both academics and policy-makers need to be more aware of these variations. The background to the now normative position that universities are cre- ators of wealth is the slowdown in productivity growth and associated decline in competitiveness of firms in high-technology industries in the later 1970s and early 1980s which has been blamed on the decline in the rate of technological innovation (see Poyago-Theotoky et al. 2002). These 2 Introduction
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- 22. sick ... he has toothache." "Let us go and wait upon him," said one of the monks, entering the smaller room. But the other seized Larsson by the robe, and regarded him in a way which much alarmed the brave captain. "Quis vus et quid eltis!" said the captain in a regular dilemma. "Qui quoe quod, meus tuus suus ... go to the devil, you bald-headed baboons!" roared Larsson, unable to restrain himself any longer, and pushing the obstinate monk into the chamber he bolted the door. Then all four hastened at full speed down to the courtyard. The alarm was immediately given behind them; the monks shouting at the top of their voices, and the nuns joining in, until the crowd of people who thronged the courtyard began to listen. "We are lost!" whispered Ketchen, "if we do not reach the drawbridge by the back way." They hurried there ... the tumult increased ... they passed the guard at the large sally-port. "Halt! who's there?" "Petrus and Paulus," promptly answered Bertel. They were allowed to pass. Fortunately the drawbridge was down. But the whole castle was now alarmed. "We will jump into the river, the night is dark, they will not see us!" cried Bertel. "No," said Larsson, "I will not leave my girl, even if it should cost me my head." "Here stand three saddled horses, be quick and mount." "Up, you sweetest of all the nuns in Franconia, up in the saddle!" and the captain hastily swung the trembling Ketchen before him on the horse's back. They all galloped away into the darkness. But behind them raged tumult and uproar, the alarm bells sounding in all the turrets, and the whole
- 23. of Würzburg wondering greatly what could have happened on Xmas eve itself. CHAPTER IV. DUKE BERNHARD AND BERTEL. Three months after the events related in the preceding chapter we find Lieutenant Bertel one day in one of the rooms at the martial court, which Duke Bernhard of Weimar kept sometimes at Kassel and sometimes at Nassau, or wherever the duties of the war compelled him to go. It was a spring day in March, 1633. Officers came and departed, orderlies hastened in all directions; Duke Bernhard had the greatest share of the south and west of Germany to look after, and the times were most anxious. After having waited a good while, the young officer was conducted to the duke. The latter looked up irritably from his maps and papers, and seemed to wait to be spoken to; but Bertel remained silent. "Who are you?" asked the duke in sharp, harsh tones. "Gustaf Bertel, Lieutenant in his Royal Majesty's Finnish cavalry." "What do you want?" The young man coloured up and remained silent. The duke noticed this and looked at him with a discontented air. "I understand," the latter said at last, "you have as usual been fighting with the German officers about the girls. I will not allow this sort of thing. A soldier's sword should be reserved for his country's enemies."
- 24. "I have not been fighting, your highness." "All the worse. You came to ask for a furlough to go to Finland. I refuse it to you. I want all my men here. You will stay, Lieutenant. Good-bye!" "I do not come to ask for a furlough." "Well, What the devil do you want? Can you not speak out? Be short and quick! Leave the clergy to say prayers, and the girls to blush." "Your highness has received from his Majesty, the late king, a ring..." "I cannot remember it." "... which his Majesty asked your highness to give to an officer in his life-guards." The duke passed his hand over his high forehead. "That officer is dead," he said. "I am that officer, your highness. I was wounded at Lützen, and shortly after taken prisoner by the Imperialists." Duke Bernhard beckoned Bertel to come nearer, and gave him a searching look; he seemed satisfied with his examination. "Close the door," he said, "and sit down by my side." Bertel obeyed. His cheeks were burning with anxiety. "Young man," said the duke, "you carry on your forehead the marks of your origin, and I ask for no further evidence. Your mother is a peasant's daughter of Storkyro, in Finland, and her name is Emerentia Aronsdotter Bertila." "No, your highness, the person you speak of is my elder sister, born of my father's first marriage. I have never seen my mother."
- 25. The duke looked at him with surprise. "Very well," said he doubtfully, as he looked among some papers in his portfolio, "we will now speak of this sister of yours, Emerentia Aronsdotter. Her father had performed great services for Carl IX., and he was urged to ask a favour. He asked to be allowed to send his only daughter, then his only child, to Stockholm, to be educated with the young ladies of rank at the Court." "I know very little about this." "At thirteen years of age the peasant girl was sent to Stockholm, where her father's vanity and wealth procured her an abode, appearance, and education, far above her station. He was consumed with ambition, and as he himself could not gain a noble crest, he relied upon his daughter's high birth on her mother's side. Bertila's first wife was an orphan of the noble family Stjernkors, deprived of her inheritance by the war, and then rejected by her proud family on account of her marriage with the rich peasant Bertila." "This is all unknown to me." "The young Emerentia suffered a great deal in Stockholm from the envy and contempt of her aristocratic companions; for many of them were poorer than herself, and could not endure a plebeian at their side as an equal. "But her beauty was as extraordinary as her wisdom and goodness. Within two years she had acquired the habits of the upper classes, whilst preserving the rustic simplicity of her heart. This wonderful combination of mental and physical graces reminded old persons of a lovely picture of their youthful days—Karin Mansdotter." As he said these words, the duke closely watched the young officer; but Bertel did not betray any agitation, and remained silent. All this was something new and incomprehensible to him. "Very well," continued the duke after a pause. "This beauty did not long remain unnoticed. A very young man of high birth soon fell in love with the beautiful maiden, then only fifteen years old, and she returned his affection
- 26. with the whole devotion of a first love. This attachment soon became known to those who surrounded the noble youth; state policy was endangered, and the nobility were offended by the distinction thus conferred on a girl of low birth. They resolved to marry the maiden to an officer of the same origin as herself, who had distinguished himself in the Danish War. This intention came to the ears of the young people. Poor children! they were so young; he seventeen, she fifteen, both inexperienced and in love. Shortly after, the youth was sent to the war in Poland. The young girl's marriage came to nothing, and she was sent back by the offended nobility in disgrace to her cabin in Finland. Do you wish to hear any more, Lieutenant Bertel?" "I do not understand, your highness, what this account of my sister's life has to do with..." "... the ring you ask for. Patience. When the young man had a secret meeting with his beloved for the last time, just before his departure, she gave him a ring, whose earlier history I do not know, but which was probably made by a Finnish sorcerer, and had all the qualities of a talisman. She conjured her lover to always wear this ring on his finger, in war and danger, as he would thus become invulnerable. Twice this warning was forgotten, once at Dirschau..." "Great God!" "... the second time at Lützen." Bertel's emotions were of such a violent nature that all the blood left his cheeks, and he sat pale as a marble statue. "Young man, you now know part of what you ought to know, but you do not know all. We have spoken of your sister. We will now speak of yourself. It was his Majesty's intention to offer you a nobleman's coat of arms, and which you with your good sword have so well deserved. But old Aron Bertila, actuated by his hatred for the nobility had asked as a favour that the king would give you an opportunity to gain any other distinction than that one. The king could not refuse this request from a father, and therefore you are still a commoner by name. But I, who am not bound by any promise to
- 27. your father, will offer you, young man, that which has hitherto been denied you: a knight's spur and coat of arms." "Your highness ... this favour makes me wonder and mute; how have I deserved it?" Duke Bernhard smiled with a strange expression. "How, my friend? you have only half understood me." Bertel remained silent. "Well, with or without your knowledge and will, my friend, I already regard you as a nobleman. We will speak more about it another time. Your ring ... Ah! I have forgotten it. Do you remember what it was like?" The duke now searched zealously in his portfolio. "They say that the king wore a copper ring, and on the inside of it magic signs were engraved, and the letters R.R.R." "It is possible that I have mislaid it, for I cannot find it. And who the devil has time to think of such childish things? The ring must have been stolen from my private casket. If I find it again I will give it to you, and if not, you know that which is worth more. Go, young man, and be worthy of my confidence and the great king's memory. No one is to know what I have told you. Farewell; we will see each other again." CHAPTER V. LOVE AND HATE AGREE. Again we fly from Germany's spring back to the North's winter. Before we go further on the bloody path of the Thirty Years' War, we will pay a
- 28. visit to two of the chief personages of this narrative high up in East Bothnia. It was about Advent time, 1632. A violent storm with heavy snow beat against the old ramparts of Korsholm, and drove the waves of the Baltic against the ice-covered shores. All navigation for the year had ceased. The newly conscripted soldiers had gone to Stralsund by way of Stockholm, at the end of July, and were impatiently waiting for news from the war. Then it happened in the middle of November that a rumour was spread about the country of the king's death. Such reports fly through the air, one does not know how or where they come from. Great misfortunes are known at a distance as presentiments, just as an earthquake far beyond its own circle causes a qualm in the mind. But this report had more than once been spread and refuted. The people relied upon King Gustaf Adolf's good fortune, and when corroboration did not arrive, the whole matter was forgotten, all thinking it was a false story. It is an ordinary fact in life that, as we hate those to whom we have occasioned a wrong, so we feel well disposed towards persons whom we have had the opportunity of serving. Lady Marta of Korsholm was not a little proud of her brave defence against the drunken soldiers, and did not hesitate to attribute the preservation of the castle to the heroism she had then displayed. That she had saved Regina's life gave the latter great importance in her eyes; and neither could she refuse her admiration for the courage and self-sacrifice which the young girl had shown on the same occasion. The high-born prisoner was her pride; and she did not omit to watch her steps like an Argus; but she gave Regina a larger room, let her have old Dorthe again as a waiting woman, and provided her with an abundance of good food. Regina also was less proud and cold, she would sometimes answer Lady Marta with a word or a nod; but of all the nice things that were offered her, the choice meats, the strong beer, etc., she took little or nothing; she had sunk apparently into a state of indifference, told her beads devoutly, but in other respects let one day pass as another. Lady Marta held the deep conviction that her prisoner, if not precisely the Roman Emperor's own daughter, was, nevertheless, a princess of the highest birth. She therefore hit upon the unlucky idea of trying to convert so distinguished a person from her papistical heresy, on the supposition that
- 29. she would thereby accomplish something very remarkable when the war was ended and Regina was exchanged. Regina thus became exposed to the same proselytizing attempts which she herself had undertaken with the great Gustaf Adolf; but Lady Marta's were not so delicate or refined in their application as her own. She overwhelmed the poor girl with Lutheran sermons, psalm-books, and tracts, also often made long speeches interspersed with proverbs, and when this was without avail, she sent the castle chaplain to preach to the prisoner. Of course all this occurred to deaf ears. Regina was sufficiently firm in her faith to listen with patience, but she suffered from it; her stay at Korsholm became more unbearable every day, and who can blame her, if with secret longings she sighed for the day when she could regain her freedom. Dorthe, on the contrary, flamed up every time the heretic preacher or the plucky old lady began their sermons, and rattled through a whole string of prayers and maledictions both in Latin and Low German, the result generally being that she was shut up for two or three days in the dungeon of the castle, until her longing for her lady's company once more made her tractable. And so passed a half-year of Lady Regina's captivity. A better product of Lady Marta's goodwill was, that Regina was allowed to embroider, and fine materials were ordered for her in the autumn from Stockholm. Thus it became possible for her to work a large piece of silk with the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ in silver and gold. Lady Marta in her innocence considered the work a sacrament cloth, which Regina might present to Vasa church, as a proof of her change of sentiments. A warrior's eyes, on the other hand, would have discerned in it an intended flag, a Catholic banner, which the imprisoned girl was quietly preparing in expectation of the day when her work would wave at the head of the Catholic hosts. Still Lady Marta was not quite satisfied with the Holy Virgin's image, which seemed to her surrounded by too large a halo to be truly Lutheran. She therefore considered how she could procure her prisoner a more suitable occupation. It happened now and then that the daughter of the Storkyro peasant king, Meri, when she was in town, made an errand to
- 30. Korsholm, and in order to gain the favour of the lady of the castle, presented her with several skeins of the finest and silkiest linen floss, which no one in the whole vicinity could spin as well as Meri. Lady Marta consequently got the idea one fine day to teach her prisoner to spin, and to give her Meri as a teacher in this art. Meri on her part desired nothing better. The near connection in which the imprisoned lady had stood to the king, gave her an irresistible interest in Meri's eyes. She wished to hear something about him—the hero, the king, the great, never-to-be-forgotten man, who stood before her mind's eye with more than earthly lustre. She wished to know what he had said, what he had done, what he had loved and hated on earth; she wished for once to feel herself transported by his glory, and then to die herself—forgotten. Poor Meri! So Meri made her second acquaintance with Lady Regina in the castle. She was received at first with coldness and indifference, and her spinning scarcely pleased the proud young lady. But gradually her submissive mild demeanour won Regina's goodwill, and a captive's natural desire to communicate with beings outside the prison walls finally made Regina more open. They spun very little, it is true, but they talked together like mistress and maid, especially during the days when Dorthe was shut up on account of her wicked tongue, and it was quite opportune that Meri recollected some German from more brilliant days. Meri knew how to constantly lead the conversation on to the subject of the king, and she soon divined Regina's enthusiastic love. But Regina was very far from having any idea of Meri's earlier experiences; she ascribed her questions to the natural curiosity which such high personages always excite in the minds of the common people. Sometimes she seemed astonished at the delicacy and nobleness of the simple peasant woman's expressions and views. There were moments when Meri's personality appeared to her as an enigma full of contradictions, and then she asked herself whether she ought not to consider this woman as a spy. But the next instant she repented this thought; and when the spinner looked at her with her clear, mild, penetrating gaze, then there was something which said to Regina's heart, this woman does not dissemble.
- 31. They were sitting one day in the beginning of December, and Dorthe was again shut up for her unseasonable remarks to the chaplain. There was a striking contrast between these two beings whom fate had brought together from such opposite directions, but who on one point shared the same interest. The first, young, proud, dark, flashing, and beautiful, a princess, even in captivity; the other of middle age, blonde, pale, mild, humble, and free, and yet very submissive. Regina now seventeen, could be considered twenty; Meri now thirty-six, had something so childish and innocent in her whole appearance, that at certain moments she might be taken for seventeen. She could have been Regina's mother, and yet she who had suffered so much, seemed almost like a child in comparison with the early matured southerner at her side. Lady Regina had been spinning a little, and during the operation broken many threads. Provoked and impatient, she pushed the distaff away and resumed her embroidery. This happened very often, and her instructress was accustomed to it. "That is a pretty image," said Meri, after a look at the piece of silk. "What does it represent?" "God's Holy Mother, Sancta Maria," answered Regina, as she made the sign of the cross, which she was always in the habit of doing when mentioning the name of the Holy Virgin. "And what is it for?" asked Meri with a naïve familiarity. Regina looked at her. Again a suspicion came into her mind, but it immediately passed away. "I am embroidering the banner of the Holy Faith for Germany," replied Regina proudly. "When it one day waves, the heretics will flee before the wrath of the mother of God." "When I think of the mother of God," said Meri, "I imagine her mild, good, and peaceful; I imagine her as a mother alone with her love." Meri said these words with a peculiar tremor in her voice.
- 32. "The mother of God is Heaven's queen; she will fight against the godless and destroy them." "But when the mother of God takes to strife, King Gustaf Adolf will meet her with uncovered head and lowered sword, bend his knee to her, and say: 'Holy Virgin, I am not fighting for thy glory, but for that of thy son, our Saviour.' 'He that fights for my son also fights for me,' she will reply, 'because I am a mother.'" "Your king is a heretic," excitedly answered Regina. Nothing irritated her more than opposition to the Catholic faith, of which the doctrine of the Holy Virgin as Heaven's ruler is a constituent. "Your king is a tyrant and unbeliever who deserves all the anger of the saints on his head. Do you know, Meri, that I hate your king?" "And I love him," said Meri in a scarcely audible voice. "Yes," continued Regina, "I hate him like sin, death, and perdition. If I were a man and had an arm and sword, it would be the aim of my life to destroy his hosts and his work. You are happy, Meri, you know nothing about the war, you do not know what Gustaf Adolf has done to the poor Catholics. But I have seen it, and my faith and my country cry out for revenge. There are moments when I could kill him." "And when Lady Regina lifts her white hand with the gleaming dagger over the king's head, then the king will expose his breast where the great heart beats; look at her little white hand with a glance of sublime calmness and say, 'Thou delicate white hand, which worketh the image of the mother of God, strike, if thou canst, my heart is here, and it beats for the freedom and enlightenment of the world;' then the white hand will sink slowly down, and the dagger will drop from it, unnoticed, and God's mother on the cloth will smile again. She knew well that it would be so. It would have been just the same with herself. For King Gustaf Adolf none can kill, and none hate, because God's angel walks by his side and turns human beings' hate to love." Regina forgot her work, and regarded Meri with her large, dark, moist eyes. There was so much that surprised and astonished her in these words,
- 33. but she kept silent. Finally she said: "The king wears an amulet." "Yes," said Meri, "he wears a talisman, but it is not the copper ring that the people speak of—it is his exalted human heart which gives up everything for what is good and noble on earth. When he was still very young, and had not yet acquired fame or renown, he only possessed his blonde hair, his high brow, and his mild blue eyes. Then he wore no amulet, and yet blessing and love and happiness walked by his side. All the angels in Heaven and all human beings on earth loved him." Regina's eyes glistened with tears. "Did you see him when he was young?" she asked. "Did I see him! yes." "And you have loved him like all the others?" "More than all the others, lady." "And you love him still?" "Yes, I love him much. Like you; but you would kill him and I would die for him." Regina sprang up, burst out weeping, clasped Meri in her arms and kissed her. "Do not think that I would kill him. Oh, Holy Virgin, I would a thousand times give my life to save his! But you do not know, Meri. It is an anguish that you cannot understand, it is a fearful conflict when one loves a man, a hero, the personification of the highest and grandest in life, and yet is commanded by a Holy Faith to hate this man, to kill him, to persecute him to the grave. You do not know, happy one, who only needs to love and bless, what it means to be tossed between love and hate, like a ship on the mighty waves; to be obliged to curse one whom you bless in your heart, to sit within the walls of a prison a prey to the battling emotions which
- 34. incessantly struggle for mastery in your innermost soul. Ah! that was the night, when I tried to reconcile my love with my faith, and bring him, the mighty one, to the way of salvation. If the saints had then allowed my weak voice to convince him of his error ... Then poor Regina would have followed him with joy as his humblest servant through all his life, and received in her own breast all the lances and balls that sought his heart. But the saints did not grant me—unworthy being—so great an honour, and therefore I now sit here a prisoner on account of my faith and my love; and if an angel broke down the walls of my prison and said to me, 'Fly, your country again awaits you,' I would answer: 'It is his will, the beloved; for his sake I suffer, for his sake I remain,' and yet you believe that I wish to kill him." Regina wept much and bitterly, with all the violence of an intense passion which had been pent up for a long time. Meri with gentle hands removed the dark locks from her brow, and looking mildly and kindly into her tearful eyes, said with prophetic inspiration: "Do not weep so, the day will arrive when you will be able to love without being obliged to curse him at the same time!" "That day will never come, Meri." "Yes, that day will come, when Gustaf Adolf is dead." "Oh, may it never come, then! Rather would I suffer all my life ... It is still for his sake." "Yes, lady, that day will come, not because you are younger and he is older. But have you never heard anyone say of a child which is brighter, kinder, and better than others, 'that child will not live long; it is too good for this world?' So does it seem to me about King Gustaf Adolf. He is too great, too noble, too good, to live long. God's angels wish to have him before his body withers and his soul grows weary. Believe me, they will take him from us." Regina looked at her with an alarmed air.
- 35. "Who are you that speaks such words? How your eyes shine! you are not what you seem! who are you then? Oh, Holy Virgin, protect me!" And Regina started up with all the superstitious terror that belonged to her time. Probably she could not account for her fear, but Meri's conversation had all along seemed strange and unaccountable, coming from the mouth of an uncultivated peasant woman in this barbarous land. "Who am I?" repeated Meri, with the same mild look. "I am a woman who loves. That is all." "And you say that the king will die?" "God alone presides over human destinies, and the greatest among mortals is still but a mortal." At that moment someone opened the door, and Lady Marta entered more solemnly than usual, and also somewhat paler. She now wore, instead of her bright striped woollen jacket, a deep mourning attire, and her whole appearance indicated something unusual. Regina and Meri both started at the sight. Meri became pale as death, went straight to Lady Marta, looked her fixedly in the face, and said mechanically with a great effort, "The king is dead." "Do you know it already?" answered Lady Marta, surprised. "God preserve us, the bad news came an hour ago, with a courier from Tornea." Lady Regina sank down in a swoon. Meri, with a broken heart, retained her self-possession, and tried to recall Regina to life. "The king has then fallen on the battlefield in the midst of victory?" she asked.
- 36. "On the battlefield of Lützen, the 6th of November, and in the midst of a glorious victory," replied Lady Marta, more and more surprised at Meri's knowledge. "Awake, gracious lady, he has lived and died like a hero, worthy of the admiration of the whole world. He has fallen in the hour of triumph, in the highest lustre of his glory; his name will live in all times, and his name we will both bless." Regina opened her dreamy eyes and clasped her hands in prayer. "Oh, Holy Virgin," she said, "I thank thee that thou hast let him go in his greatness from the world, and thus taken away the curse which rested upon my love!" And Meri dropped down at her side in prayer. But below in the castle yard stood a tall, white-haired old man, with his stiff features distorted by grief and despair. "A curse upon my work!" he cried; "my plan is frustrated beforehand, and the object for which I have lived slips from my grasp. Oh, fool that I was, to count upon a human being's life, and trying to hope that the king would acknowledge his son, and live until the son of Aron Bertila's daughter had time to win a brilliant fame in war, and walk abreast with the heiress to the Swedish throne! The king is dead, and my descendant is only a boy in his minority, who will soon be mixed with the multitude. Now it is only wanting for him to gain a nobleman's coat of arms, and place himself amongst the vampires between the only true powers of the state, the king and the people. Fool, fool that I was! The king is dead! Go, old Bertila, into the grave to fraternize with King John and the destroyer of aristocracy, King Carl, and bury thy proud plans among the same worms that have already consumed Prince Gustaf and Karin Mansdotter!" And the old man seized Meri, who just then came out, violently by the hand, and said: "Come, we have neither of us anything more to do in the world!"
- 37. "Yes," said Meri with suppressed grief, "we both still have a son!" CHAPTER VI. THE BATTLE OF NÖRDLINGEN. Until now the Swedish lion, through the wisdom and valour of Gustaf Adolf, and of the leaders and men trained under him, had hastened from victory to victory, and overthrown all his opponents. At last a day of misfortune dawned; in a great battle the Swedish arms suffered a terrible defeat. The brilliant Wallenstein had died the death of a traitor at Eger; now Gallas, the destroyer, overran central Germany, captured Regensburg, and advanced against the free city of Nördlingen, in Schwaben; Duke Bernhard and Gustaf Horn hurried with the Swedish army to its rescue. They had, however, but 17,000 men, whilst Gallas had 33,000. "We will attack," said the duke. "Let us wait," said Horn. They expected 5,000 men as a reinforcement, and fourteen days passed. Then Nördlingen came to sore straits, and began to light beacon fires on the walls at night. Again the duke wished to attack; again Horn preferred to entrench and assist the city without battle. Then they called this brave soul a cowardly man; and, indignant, but with dark presentiments, he resolved to fight. Repeated victories had made the Swedes over-confident, and they entered the conflict assured of success beforehand. The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1634. Outside Nördlingen is a height called Arensberg, and between it and the town a smaller one. Upon the last the Imperialists had raised three redoubts.
- 38. The Swedish army stood on Arensberg, Horn on the right and the duke on the left wing. The battle-cry was the same as at Breitenfeld and Lützen: God with us! Early in the morning a heavy rain fell. Once more the wise Horn wished to wait, but the duke, who held the supreme command, ordered an advance. Horn obeyed, and the right wing marched down the valley between the two heights. The impatience of the cavalry hastened the conflict, which resulted unfavourably even in the very beginning. The cannon of the Imperialists in the redoubts made great gaps in the lines of the cavalry, and the enemy's superiority made them hesitate. Horn sent two brigades to storm the middle redoubt. They captured it and pursued the enemy. Piccolomini checked their course and drove them back to the redoubt. There the powder happened to take fire. With a terrific explosion the earthwork flew into the air, and several hundreds of Swedes and Finns with it. This was the first calamity. Upon this position, however, depended the victory. For a few moments the spot stood empty; Piccolomini's soldiers, alarmed by the report and destruction, could not be induced to advance and occupy it. At last they did so. Horn asked for help in order to expel them. The duke sent the young Bohemian, Thurn, with the yellow regiment. He made a mistake, attacked the wrong redoubt, and engaged with a greatly superior force. Seventeen times he charged the enemy, and as often was he repulsed. In vain did Horn try to storm the height. Thurn's error was the second calamity. On the left wing the duke had begun the conflict against the artillery and cavalry. At the first encounter the Imperialists were hurled back, and the duke's German cavalry broke their ranks and pursued the enemy. But Tilly's spirit seemed to-day to give the Imperialists courage. They advanced their ordered and superior troops against the assailants, checked them, and drove them back with loss. The duke tried to get reinforcements into Nördlingen, but failed. In vain did he drive Gallas before him. New masses of the enemy constantly opposed him, and in his rear the Croats plundered his baggage- wagons. It was about noon. Horn's troops had been under fire for eight consecutive hours, and were worn out with fatigue. With every hour their hopes of victory grew less and less, but their unflinching, indomitable
- 39. courage remained the same. They had observed the disorder in the left wing. They themselves were in a desperate plight down in the valley, where Piccolomini's bullets fell every moment into the underbush, and sprinkled the fallen branches with blood. Then Horn proposed to withdraw to Arensberg, and the duke at last consented. He considered the matter, however, for nearly two hours; but these two hours he would afterwards have been glad to purchase with half a lifetime. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Horn made the Finnish cavalry make a feigned attack, so as to cover the retreat, and began like a prudent general to withdraw in good order. The Imperialists perceiving his intention, pressed on with double force. They began to hope, what they had not dared to entertain before, that even the Swedes might be conquered, and Piccolomini's stumpy figure flew through the ranks, urging his men to bear down with their collected forces upon the Swedes' exposed flanks, and totally crush them. In the valley behind the Swedes and between the two heights flowed a stream with high banks, and swollen by the abundant rains. At the little village of Hirnheim, the stream was spanned by a single bridge, and this point Horn had carefully guarded in order to secure the retreat. The artillery passed first over the bridge, and were safe on Arensberg. The first lines of Horn's wing had also reached the village, and the rest were only a short distance from it, when a new calamity occurred, the third and the worst on this most disastrous day. Duke Bernhard had undertaken to detain the enemy with his left wing until Horn and his men had crossed the stream. But he soon discovered that he had consulted valour rather than prudence. The enemy concentrated their forces, and increased their terrible attacks. Three times De Werth charged the duke's cavalry; three times was he repulsed. The fourth time, however, he broke through the duke's lines. In vain the latter sent a squadron to take him in flank. Mad with rage, the duke snatched his gold-embroidered banner from an ensign's hand, and followed by his bravest men, rushed into the midst of the enemy. It was all useless. His best men were slain, his horse shot under him, and the banner wrenched from his hand; wounded and overpowered he was nearly taken prisoner, when a young officer at his side lent him his horse, and he escaped with great difficulty. His infantry had already been routed, being unable to
- 40. support the attacks of the cavalry on the open plain; and when the wounded leader galloped away, his whole wing followed in the utmost disorder, convinced that all was lost. At that moment, Horn's infantry crossed the narrow bridge. Then confused and loud cries arose, that the battle was lost, and the enemy close upon them. First single horsemen, then whole troops of the duke's cavalry rushed along the road to the bridge, and rode amongst the infantry, trampling some under their horses' hoofs, and throwing the rest into fearful confusion. The efforts of Horn and his nearest officers to stay the frantic rout were fruitless. On the narrow bridge everything was mixed pell-mell— men, horses, wagons, dead, and wounded; and finally the duke's whole wing rushed to this fatal spot. Like a storm Piccolomini pressed upon the rear of the fugitives; he sent some light guns up on the heights, where they played with terrible effect on the retreating mass; every ball cut long lanes through it. Then the Croats fell upon the rout, and as friend and foe became mixed together, the artillery fire had to cease. The long lances and swords of the Imperial cavalry made great slaughter. All the Swedes and Finns seemed doomed to destruction. Gustaf Horn, the wise and courageous Finnish general, whom Gustaf Adolf called "his right hand," was now the last to retain self-possession and courage at this terrible crisis. With the remains of three regiments he had taken up a position by the bridge, and the fugitives fled past him without drawing his force into the current. They implored him to save himself; but his stubborn, Finnish will refused to listen to these appeals, and he stayed where he was. For a time the pursuit was checked, the only thing that Horn hoped to gain by his intrepid resistance. Gallas sent one of his best Spanish brigades to oust him. Horn drove them back with loss. The victorious De Werth fell upon him with his dragoons. The result was the same. The enemy now concentrated their forces, and Horn was attacked on three sides at once. They offered him his life if he would surrender. He replied with a sword-thrust, and his men gave the same response. Not one would ask for quarter. At last, when nearly all those near him had fallen, he was overwhelmed by numbers and taken prisoner. Then the few surviving heroes surrendered.
- 41. When the Swedish army in full flight rushed over Arensberg, Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tore his hair, and exclaimed that he was a fool, and Horn a wise man. Later on the duke consoled himself with Elsas, but that day he had reason to repent of his rashness. Six thousand Swedes, Finns, and Germans covered the blood-stained heights of Nordlingen; 6,000 were taken prisoners, and amongst them the two Finns, Horn and Wittenberg, who were well treated by the enemy. Of the other 10,000, half were wounded, and most of the remaining mercenaries deserted. The army had lost 4,000 baggage-wagons, 300 banners, and all their artillery. A miserable remnant made its way to Mentz, plundering and pillaging as it fled, and suffering from extreme want. More disastrous to Sweden than the loss of these 12,000 men was the damage to its prestige, and the enemy's regained belief in victory. The battle of Nordlingen became the turning point in the Thirty Years' War, and excited both joy and consternation. throughout Europe, until Baner's genius and victories restored their lost lustre to the Swedish arms once more. Amongst those who fought at Horn's side to the last, was our old friend, Captain Larsson. The sturdy little captain had on this occasion no time to open his talkative mouth; he perspired profusely from the heat, and had fought since dawn; yet he had not received the least scratch upon his fleshy person. Let it be said in his praise, that at Nordlingen he thought of neither Rhine wine or Bavarian nuns, but honestly plied his weapons as well as possible. Nevertheless, we will not assert that he then cut down thirty Imperialists with his trusty sword, as he afterwards declared in good faith. He was taken prisoner with Horn; but it was not his capture that most provoked the captain, but the terrible vexation he experienced on seeing the Croats afterwards empty at their leisure the Swedish stock of wine which they had captured with the baggage-wagons. Another of our friends, Lieutenant Bertel, fought at the duke's side all day, and was the one who offered him his horse. We shall see, by-and-by, that the duke did not forget this service. Bertel, like Larsson, was hotly engaged in the battle, but, less fortunate than the latter, received several wounds, and was finally borne along in the stream of fugitives to Arensberg. Almost without knowing how, he found himself the next day far
- 42. from the battlefield, and proceeded with the remnant of the duke's army to Mentz. CHAPTER VII. THE LOST SON. It is Epiphany, in 1635, thus in mid-winter. In Aron Bertila's "stuga,"* at Storkyro, a large fire of pine logs crackled on the spacious hearth, for at that time heavy forests still grew around the fertile fields. Outside rages a snow- storm, with a heavy blast; the wolves howl on the ice of the stream; the famished lynx prowls around to find shelter. It is Twelfth-day evening, an hour or two after twilight. The Storkyro peasant king sits in his high-backed chair, at a short distance from the hearth, listening with scattered thoughts to his daughter Meri, who by the firelight reads aloud a chapter of Agricola's Finnish New Testament, for at that period the whole Bible had not been translated into the Finnish tongue. Bertila has grown very old since we last met him, then still vigorous in his old age. The great ideas that constantly revolve in his bald head give him no peace, and yet these plans are now completely shattered by the king's death, like fragments from a shipwreck floating around on the stormy billows of a dark sea. Strong souls like his generally succumb only by destroying themselves. All the changes and misfortunes of his turbulent life had not been able to break his iron will; but grief over a ruined hope, the vain attempt to reconstruct the vanished castles in the air, and the sorrow of seeing his own children themselves tear down his work, all this gnawed like a vulture upon his inner life. A single thought had made him twenty years older in two years, and this idea was presumptuous even to madness.
- 43. * A large room, filling the entire house space with the exception of one or two small chambers. Sleeping bunks are arranged round the walls. The later peasants' houses have more rooms. "Why is not one of my own family at this moment King of Sweden?" Thus it ran. At times Meri raises her mild blue eyes from the Holy Book and regards her old father with anxious looks. She, too, looks older; the quiet sorrow lies like the autumn over green groves; it neither breaks or kills, but makes the fresh leaves wither on the tree of life. Meri's glance is full of peace and submission. The thought that shines forth from her soul like a sun at its setting, is none other than this: "Beyond the grave I shall again meet the joy of my heart, and then he will no longer wear an earthly crown." Near her, to the left, sits old Larsson, short and stout like his jovial son. His good-natured, hearty face has for a time assumed a more solemn expression, as he listens to the reading of the sacred book. His hands are folded as in prayer, and now and then he stirs the fire a little, with friendly attention, so that Meri can see better. Behind him in a devotional attitude sit some of the field hands; and this group, illuminated by the reflection of the fire, is completed by a purring grey cat, and a large shaggy watch-dog, curled up under Meri's feet, to which he seems proud to serve as a footstool. When Meri in her reading came to the place in Luke, where it speaks of the Prodigal Son, old Bertila's eyes began to glitter with a sinister light. "The reprobate!" he muttered to himself. "To waste one's inheritance, that is nothing! But to forget one's old father ... by God, that is shameful!" Meri read until she came to the Prodigal Son's repentance: "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."
- 44. "What a fool of a father!" again muttered Aron Bertila to himself. "He ought to have bound him with cords, beaten him with rods, and then driven him away from his house back to the riotous living and the empty wine- cups!" "Father!" whispered Meri reproachfully. "Be merciful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful, and takes the lost children to His arms." "And if your son ever returns..." began Larsson in the same tone. But Bertila stopped him. "Hold your tongues, and don't trouble yourselves about me. I have no longer any son ... who falls repentant at my feet," he added directly, when he saw two large, clear pearls glistening in Meri's eyelashes. She continued: "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." "Stop reading that!" burst out the old man, in a bad temper. "See that my bed is in order, and let the folks go to sleep; it is now late." At this moment horses' hoofs were heard outside on the creaking snow. This unusual occurrence on the evening of a sacred day made Larsson go to the low window, and breathe on the frost-covered pane, so as to look out into the storm. A sleigh, drawn by two horses, worked its way through the snow-drifts and drove into the yard. Two men in sheep-skin cloaks jumped out. Seized with a sudden intuition, Larsson hurried out to meet the travellers, and quick as lightning Meri followed him. The door swung to behind them, and there was a moment's delay before it opened again. But now a young man in a soldier's garb entered with bowed head, threw aside his plumed hat, white with snow, and going straight to old Bertila, knelt down, and bent his beautiful curly head still lower, as he said: "Father, I am here, and ask your blessing!"
- 45. And behind him stood Meri and old Larsson, both with clasped hands, and raising their pleading eyes to the stern old man, with the same words: "Father, here is thy son, give him thy blessing!" For a brief moment Bertila struggled with himself, his lips slightly trembled, and his hand was unconsciously stretched out, as if to lift up the young man at his feet. But soon his bald head rose higher, his hand drew back, his keen eyes flashed darker than ever, and his lips trembled no more. "Go!" said he, short and sharp; "go, you reprobate boy, back to your brother noblemen, and your sisters, the fine ladies. What seek you in the plain peasant's 'stuga,' which you despise? Go! I have no longer a son!" But the youth went not. "Do not be angry, my father," he said, "if in my youthful ambition I have at any time violated your commands. Who sent me out amongst the great and illustrious ones of the earth, to win fame and honour? Who bade me go to the war to ennoble my peasant name with great deeds? Who exposed me to the temptation of all the brilliant examples which surrounded the king? You, and only you, my father; and now you thrust away your son, who for your sake twice refused a patent of nobility." "You!" exclaimed the old man with foaming rage. "You renounce a patent of nobility, you, who have blushed for your peasant name and taken another which would look more imposing? No, on your knees have you begged for a coat of arms. What do I know about its being offered you; what do I care. I only know that since your earliest childhood I have tried to implant in your soul, recreant, that there are no other rightful powers than the king and people, that all who place themselves between, whether they bear the name of aristocrats, ecclesiastics, or what not, are monstrosities, a ruin, a curse to State and country ... all this have I tried to teach you, and the fruit of my teachings has been that you have smuggled yourself among this nobility, which I hate and despise, that you have coveted its empty titles, paraded with its extravagant display, imbibed its prejudices, and now you stand here, in your father's house, with a lie on your lips, and aristocratic
- 46. vanity in your heart. Go, degenerate son! Aron Bertila is what he has always been—a peasant! He curses and rejects you, apostate!" With these words the old man turned away, rose and went with a firm step and a high head into the little bed-chamber, leaving Bertel still on his knees in the same place. "Hear me, father, father!" cried Bertel after him, as he quickly unbuttoned his coat and took out a folded paper; "this paper I have intended to tear to pieces at your feet!" But the old father did not hear him; the paper fell to the ground, and when Larsson, a moment later, unfolded and read it, he saw it contained a diploma from the Regency in Stockholm, conferring upon Gustaf Bertel, captain of horse in the "life-guards," a patent of nobility, and a coat of arms with the name of Bertelsköld* at Duke Bernhard of Weimar's solicitation. * Bertila is a Finnish peasant name. Bertel is a burgher name. Bertelsköld is a noble name, indicated by the termination sköld, always a sign of nobility in Sweden and Finland. While all in the "stuga" were still perfectly stupefied by old Bertila's conduct, three of Fru Marta's soldiers from Korsholm entered in great haste. "Hullo, boys!" they exclaimed to the hands, "have you seen her? Here is something that will pay. Two hundred silver thalers reward to him who seizes and brings back, alive or dead, Lady Regina von Emmeritz, state prisoner at Korsholm." At the sound of this name Bertel was aroused from his stupefying grief, sprang up, and seized the speaker by the collar. "Wretch, what did you say?" he exclaimed.
- 47. "Ho, ho, if you please! Be a little more careful when you speak to the people of the Royal Majesty and the Crown. I tell you that the German traitress, the papistical sorceress, Lady von Emmeritz, succeeded in escaping last night from Korsholm castle, and that he who does not help to catch her is a traitor and a..." The man had no time to finish his speech, before a blow from Bertel's strong arm stretched him at full-length on the floor. "Ha, my father, you have wished it!" cried the young man, and in a flash was outside the door and in his sleigh, which at the next moment was heard driving off through the raging tempest. CHAPTER VIII. THE FUGITIVE LADY. We will now see what has become of Lady Regina, and what has induced her to exchange Fru Marta's tender care for the desperate adventure of fleeing in the middle of winter, through a strange country filled with desolate tracts, where she was profoundly ignorant of the roads and paths, and did not even know how to make herself understood in the language of the people. We must not overlook the fact that our story is laid in a period when Catholicism and Lutheranism were in the sharpest conflict; when Lutheranism, heated by the violent opposition, was as little inclined to religious tolerance as Catholicism itself. Fru Marta had once for all been possessed by the idea that she was in duty bound to convert Lady Regina to the Lutheran faith, and from this well-meant but futile enterprise, no one could dissuade her. She therefore persisted, in and out of season, to torment the poor girl with her views; sometimes with books, sometimes with
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