Obrazy na stronie
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dimly lighted by a melancholy lamp, and saw poor Elly sitting sobbing in a corner, not daring to lift up her eyes, Oswald could restrain himself no longer, but rushed towards her, and raised her in his arms. 66 'Elly, my own Elly-Goutta, mother Goutta," cried he, "my father has sent me to tell you that now he is determined I shall marry no other woman than the daughter of Uli Halder, who saved his life at Luciensteig." At these words, Elly awoke as from a dream. "What did you say, Oswald ?" said she; " 'your father sent you to me?" and Goutta crossed herself, and exclaimed, "Gracious Heaven! it cannot be possible!" By all the saints in heaven!" vociferated Oswald, "I swear that it is true; and I am come to fetch you, Elly, that my parents may give you their blessing." The gentle girl now turned away from her lover, and meekly kneeling before the image of the Virgin, which hung on the wall within a tinsel garland, clasped her little trembling hands together, and exclaimed, while warm tears trickled down her burning cheeks, 66 'Oh, thou blessed One! I have not prayed to thee in vain-to thee let me offer my first thanksgivings, for thou hast heard the prayers of thy children; thou hast given me what is dearer than all the world beside !" She then timidly arose, threw her arms round her lover, and still weeping, looked up in his face, and murmured in a low voice, "Now, Oswald, I am yours for ever; nothing but the cold hand of death can part us."

Goutta, bewildered with astonishment, and to whom the whole appeared an enigma, now began to inquire into particulars; and Oswald, with hasty eloquence, related all that had passed, and all that he had heard from the knight and from his father, at Mayenfeld; not forgetting to add, that the wedding was to be solemnized on St. Bridget's day, which was then very near at hand. "And now, come with me directly," cried he, impatiently,--" come both of you, for my father and mother are waiting for us. My mother, you know, after we are married, my

always loved you, Goutta, and

father has promised me that you are to live with us." "And so," whispered Elly,

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you had really run away

from me, and were going to the wars?

Cruel Oswald!

and were you not sure that I should have died of grief? But mind, now, I shall never let you go any where alone again and never, never, into the Flescherthal." "What! have you not forgot your dream yet?" said Oswald, laughing; "but you know that to dream of a corpse is a sure sign of a wedding."

They now, all three, hastened to Bathönier's house, where they were welcomed in the most friendly manner, by old Peter and Catherine, who bestowed their blessing upon the blushing Elly. Until a late hour, they sat together in social converse, discoursing of the future and of the past-of the brave Uli, and of his death at Luciensteig. Poor Goutta shed many a tear in the midst of her joy, for she had never before heard any

details of the last moments of her husband; and her only consolation for his loss, was in the idea that the noble deed of her dead hero would now be requited to his child.

Oswald was a restless lover; and, devoted as he was to his Elly, he could never remain half an hour quiet at her side, as she sat at her spinning, but was always bustling about, now here and now there, making some preparations or other for the wedding. First, he would be cutting and carrying wood, then getting together all his father's sheep and calves, to choose out the best for fattening; and for several days successively, in spite of Elly's entreaties, that he would not expose himself to such danger, he would climb with his gun the steepest summits of the Falknis, and follow the wild chamois, till at last he succeeded in killing three of the finest that could be seen. One of these, with the addition of two capital cheeses, he laid in his pannier, and then set off for Mayenfeld, through all the ice and snow, to carry his present to the chaplain, and engage him to come and perform the ceremony on the day appointed, Besides this; he had to invite his sister and her husband to the wedding, and to fetch home his father's halberd. without a thousand fears did Elly see him about to tread this dangerous path; but Oswald begged her not to be uneasy. I leave you now," said he, "that we may the sooner be joined together; and you need not be the least afraid of anything happening to me, for the chamois

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hunter treads firmly on his crampons, and is in no danger

of falling."

The chaplain was a long time before he could make up his mind to the idea of venturing up the mountain again at such an inclement season; for he still thought, with fear and trembling, of his escape at Christmas, and with his own good will he would not have undertaken the journey again before Easter; but the description of the feasting that was to be held on the occasion, at length brought him round, and as he contemplated the rich cheeses, and, above all, the fine large chamois, while Oswald assured him these were nothing to the presents he would receive after the wedding, he at length promised to prevail on a friend to accompany him to Stürvis, and to be there by eleven o'clock on St. Bridget's day. Much more readily did Verena and her husband accept the offered invitation; and it was settled that on the day before the wedding, Oswald, who would have to buy a good many things in Mayenfeld, should come and fetch his sister to their father's house. He found the halberd ready for him, at the knight Von Moos's, who told him, however, that he had had great difficulty in persuading Balz to give it up to him, and to take back the earnest-money. "The rude fellow began to be so loud and violent," said the knight, "that it required all my authority to silence him. I would have you to be on your guard against him, Oswald, for I think he will bear you a grudge for a long time, for having disappointed

him." But Oswald only laughed, and said, "that if Balz wanted to bring him to account, he thought he could soon settle him." The knight having business to attend to, and hearing that Oswald would be in the town again before his marriage, now dismissed him, with an injunction not to forget to call the next time for the present he had already told him of. Equipped as if for battle, with his halberd on his shoulder, the gallant youth pressed onwards, heedless of the dangerous path, and his heart glowing with hope and joy. A mild wind from the south having melted the snow in that direction, he surmounted the difficulties of the way, with less toil than usual; and near the forest, at a good distance from Stürvis, he was met by Elly, who had come out to meet him, and was impatiently looking for his return.

Meanwhile, the good mother Catherine had been indefatigable in her exertions that nothing might be wanting for the due celebration of her son's nuptials. All was now in readiness for the happy day, and all Stürvis had been invited to the bridal-feast. But since Oswald's last journey to Mayenfeld, it had snowed a great deal ; the cold was become intense, and the skies were loaded with threatening clouds; yet the bridegroom had to go down again into the valley, to finish his purchases, and to fetch home his sister, and the knight Von Moos's present.

The dawn of the last morning of January was just beginning to glimmer, as Oswald knocked at Elly's

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