Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 096.djvu/297

Rh "'This is a sad condition,' said he. 'Oh, Michel! Michel! you have done terrible wrong to us. I am now worth my five thousand dollars, too; and my mother's brother in Holstein has lately died unmarried—I am to be his heir.'

"'What's that you say? exclaimed my husband. 'It is a pity we did not know all this some time ago. But have patience; the girl will recover now.'

"Esben shook his head, but went up to my daughter, and taking her hand, said,

"'Cecil, speak sensibly now—we are both living; and if you will only be reasonable, your parents will give their consent to our marriage.'

"But she snatched her hand from him, and putting both her arms behind her back, she shrieked,

"'Away from me! What have I to do with you? You are a mortal man, and I am one of God's angels.'

"Thereupon he turned away, and began to weep bitterly.

"'God forgive you, Michel Krænsen!' at last he said; 'God forgive you for the evil you have done to us two miserable beings!'

"'Nay, take comfort,' said my good man, 'all may yet go well. Sleep here to-night, and let us see how she behaves in the morning.'

"It was towards evening, and a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning came on, the most fearful I ever witnessed in my life—one might have thought the last day was at hand. So Esben consented to stay with us, and by-and-by, when the storm had abated, we all went to bed; but through the wall I could hear Esben sighing, and almost sobbing. I fancied, too, that I heard him praying to our Heavenly Father: at length, I fell asleep.

"It might have been an hour or two past midnight when I awoke. All was still around. The storm was over, and the clear moonlight shone in calmly at the windows. I lay reflecting on the calamity that had befallen us—little did I think of that which I am now going to relate. It struck me, after a time, that Cecil was very quiet. Her little room was close to ours; I listened, but could not, as usual, hear her breathe; Esben, too, seemed to be extremely still. I felt a sort of foreboding that all, was not right; therefore, leaving my bed, I crept softly to Cecilia's, I looked in—I felt for her—but there she was not. I then became very uneasy, hurried to the kitchen, struck a light, and went to the room which Esben occupied. Oh, horror of horrors! what did I behold there! She was sitting on Esben's bed, and had laid her head upon his breast, but when I came closer I saw that he was as white as a corpse, and that the lower part of his face, and the sheets, were red with blood. I screamed, and sank to the ground, but Cecil beckoned to me with one hand, while she patted his check with the other.

"'Hush, hush!' she exclaimed, ha;f aloud, 'my dearest love is now sleeping the sweet sleep. As soon as you have buried his body, angels will carry his soul to Paradise, and there we shall hold our bridal, amidst joy and glory.'

"Alas! alas! merciful Father pardon her! She had cut his throat—the bloody knife lay upon the floor beside the bed!"

Here the unfortunate widow hid her face with both her hands, and wept bitterly, while horror and distress filled my heart.