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Page 94
"If the rascal has left no children, by the terms of the contract which
Mr. Durrien has just read, Erik is the sole inheritor of the entire
property; and according to all accounts he ought to have in Pennsylvania
an income of one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars a
year!"
"Ah, ah," said the doctor, laughing. "Behold the little fisherman of
Noroe become an eligible _parti!_ Laureate of the Geographical Society,
author of the first circumpolar periplus, and afflicted with the modest
income of two hundred thousand dollars. There are not many such husbands
to be met with in Stockholm. What do you say Kajsa?"
The young girl blushed painfully at being thus addressed, but her uncle
had no suspicion that he had made a cruel speech.
Kajsa had felt that she had not acted wisely in treating Erik as she had
done, and she resolved for the future to show him more attention.
But it was a singular fact that Erik no longer cared for her, since he
felt himself elevated above her unjust disdain. Perhaps it was absence,
or the lonely hours which he had spent walking the deck at night, which
had revealed to him the poverty of Kajsa's heart; or it might be the
satisfaction he felt that she could no longer regard him as "a waif"; he
only treated her now with the most perfect courtesy, to which she was
entitled as a young lady and Dr. Schwaryencrona's niece.
All his preference now was for Vanda, who indeed grew every day more and
more charming, and was losing all her little village awkwardness under
the roof of an amiable and cultivated lady. Her exquisite goodness, her
native grace, and perfect simplicity, made her beloved by all who
approached her. She had not been eight days at Val-Fray, when Mrs.
Durrien declared positively that it would be impossible for her ever to
part with her.
Erik undertook to arrange with Mr. Hersebom and Dame Katrina that they
should leave Vanda behind them, with the express condition that he would
bring her himself every year to see them. He had tried to keep all his
adopted family with him, even offering to transport from Noroe the house
with all its furniture where he had passed his infancy. But this project
of emigration was generally regarded as impracticable. Mr. Hersebom and
Katrina were too old to change their habits. They would not have been
perfectly happy in a country of whose language and habits they were
ignorant. He was obliged, therefore, to permit them to depart, but not
before making such provision for them as would enable them to spend the
remainder of their days in ease and comfort, which, notwithstanding
their honest, laborious lives, they had been unable to accomplish.
Erik would have liked to have kept Otto at least, but he preferred his
fiord, and thought that there was no life preferable to that of a
fisherman. It must also be confessed that the golden-haired and
blue-eyed daughter of the overseer of the oil-works had something to do
with the attractions which Noroe had for him. At least we must conclude
so, since it was soon made known that he expected to marry her at the
next "Yule," or Christmas.
Mr. Malarius counted upon educating their children as he had educated
Erik and Vanda. He modestly resumed his position in the village school,
after sharing in the honor of the decorations bestowed by the
Geographical Society of France upon the captain of the "Alaska." He was
also busily occupied in correcting the proofs of his magnificent work on
the "Flora of the Arctic Regions." As for Dr. Schwaryencrona, he has not
quite finished his "Treatise on Iconography," which will transmit his
name to posterity.
The latest legal business of Mr. Bredejord has been to establish Erik's
claim as sole proprietor of the Vandalia mine. He gained his case in the
first instance, and also on appeal, which was no small success.
Erik took advantage of this, and of the enormous fortune thus accruing
to him, to purchase the "Alaska," which he converted into a pleasure
yacht. He uses it every year to go to Noroe in company with Mme. Durrien
and Vanda, to visit his adopted family. Although his civil rights have
been accorded to him, and his legal name is Emile Durrien, he has added
that of Hersebom, and among his relatives he is still called only Erik.
The secret desire of his mother is to see him some day married to Vanda,
whom she already loves as a daughter, and, as Erik evidently shares this
desire, we may suppose that it will be realized one of these days.
Kajsa still remains single, with the knowledge that she has lost her
opportunity.
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