Absalom\'s Hair
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Bjornstjerne Bjornson >> Absalom\'s Hair
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9 Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
ABSALOM'S HAIR
BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON
CHAPTER 1
Harald Kaas was sixty.
He had given up his free, uncriticised bachelor life; his yacht
was no longer seen off the coast in summer; his tours to England
and the south had ceased; nay, he was rarely to be found even at
his club in Christiania. His gigantic figure was never seen in the
doorways; he was failing.
Bandy-legged he had always been, but this defect had increased;
his herculean back was rounded, and he stooped a little. His
forehead, always of the broadest--no one else's hat would fit him-
-was now one of the highest, that is to say, he had lost all his
hair, except a ragged lock over each ear and a thin fringe behind.
He was beginning also to lose his teeth, which were strong though
small, and blackened by tobacco; and now, instead of "deuce take
it" he said "deush take it."
He had always held his hands half closed as though grasping
something; now they had stiffened so that he could never open them
fully. The little finger of his left hand had been bitten off "in
gratitude" by an adversary whom he had knocked down: according to
Harald's version of the story, he had compelled the fellow to
swallow the piece on the spot.
He was fond of caressing the stump, and it often served as an
introduction to the history of his exploits, which became greater
and greater as he grew older and quieter.
His small sharp eyes were deep set and looked at one with great
intensity. There was power in his individuality, and, besides
shrewd sense, he possessed a considerable gift for mechanics. His
boundless self-esteem was not devoid of greatness, and the
emphasis with which both body and soul proclaimed themselves made
him one of the originals of the country.
Why was he nothing more?
He lived on his estate, Hellebergene, whose large woods skirted
the coast, while numerous leasehold farms lay along the course of
the river. At one time this estate had belonged to the Kurt
family, and had now come back to them, in so far as that Harald's
father, as every one knew, was not a Kaas at all, but a Kurt; it
was he who had got the estate together again; a book might be
written about the ways and means that he had employed.
The house looked out over a bay studded with islands; farther out
were more islands and the open sea. An immensely long building,
raised on an old and massive foundation, its eastern wing barely
half furnished, the western inhabited by Harald Kaas, who lived
his curious life here.
These wings were connected by two covered galleries, one above the
other, with stairs at each end.
Curiously enough, these galleries did not face the sea, that is,
the south, but the fields and woods to the north. The portion of
the house between the two wings was a neutral territory--namely, a
large dining-room with a ballroom above it, neither of which was
used in later years.
Harald Kaas's suite of rooms was distinguished from without by a
mighty elk's head with its enormous antlers, which was set up over
the gallery.
In the gallery itself were heads of bear, wolf, fox and lynx, with
stuffed birds from land and sea. Skins and guns hung on the walls
of the anteroom, the inner rooms were also full of skins and
impregnated with the smell of wild animals and tobacco-smoke.
Harald himself called it "Man-smell;" no one who had once put his
nose inside could ever forget it.
Valuable and beautiful skins hung on the walls and covered the
floors; his very bed was nothing else; Harald Kaas lay, and sat,
and walked on skins, and each one of them was a welcome subject of
conversation, for he had shot and flayed every single animal
himself. To be sure, there were those who hinted that most of the
skins had been bought from Brand and Company, of Bergen, and that
only the stories were shot and flayed at home.
I for my part think that this was an exaggeration; but be that as
it may, the effect was equally thrilling when Harald Kaas, seated
in his log chair by the fireside, his feet on the bearskin, opened
his shirt to show us the scars on his hairy chest (and what scars
they were!) which had been made by the bear's teeth, when he had
driven his knife, right up to the haft, into the monster's heart.
All the queer tankards, and cupboards, and carved chairs listened
with their wonted impassiveness.
Harald Kaas was sixty, when, in the month of July, he sailed into
the bay accompanied by four ladies whom he had brought from the
steamer--an elderly lady and three young ones, all related to him.
They were to stay with him until August.
They occupied the upper storey. From it they could hear him
walking about and grunting below them. They began to feel a little
nervous. Indeed, three of them had had serious misgivings about
accepting the invitation; and these misgivings were not diminished
when, next morning, they saw Kaas composedly strolling up from the
sea stark naked!
They screamed, and, gathering together, still in their nightgowns,
held a council of war as to the advisability of leaving at once;
but when one of them cried "You should not have called us, Aunt,
and then we should not have seen him," they could not help
laughing, and therewith the whole affair ended. Certainly they
were a little stiff at breakfast; but when Harold Kaas began a
story about an old black mare of his which was in love with a
young brown horse over at the Dean's, and which plunged madly if
any other horse came near her, but, on the other hand, put her
head coaxingly on one side and whinnied "like a dainty girl"
whenever the parson's horse came that way--well, at that they had
to give in, as well first as last.
If they had strayed here out of curiosity they must just put up
with the "NIGHT side of nature," as Harald Kaas expressed it, with
the stress on the first word.
For all that they were nearly frightened out of their wits the
very next night, when he discharged his gun right under their
windows. The aunt even asserted that he had shot through her open
casement. She screamed loudly, and the others, starting from their
sleep, were out on the floor before they knew where they were.
Then they crouched in the windows and peeped out, although their
aunt declared that they would certainly be shot--they really must
see what it was.
Yes! there they saw him among the cherry and apple trees, gun in
hand, and they could hear him swearing. In the greatest
trepidation they crept back into bed again. Next morning they
learned that he had shot at some night prowlers, one of whom had
got "half the charge in his leg, that he had, Deush take him! It
ain't the prowling I mind, but that he should prowl here. We
bachelors will have no one poaching on our preserves."
The four ladies sat as stiff as four church candles, till at
length one of them sprang up with a scream, the others joining in
chorus.
The visitors were not bored; Harald Kaas dealt too much in the
unexpected for that. There was a charm, too, in the great woods,
where there had been no felling since he had come into the
property, and there were merry walks by the riverside and plenty
of fish in the river.
They bathed, they took delightful sails in the cutter and drives
about the neighbourhood, though certainly the turn-out was none of
the smartest.
The youngest of the girls, Kristen Ravn, presently became less
eager to join in these expeditions. She had fallen in love with
the disused east wing of the house, and there she spent many a
long hour, alone by the open window, gazing out at the great lime-
trees which stood straggling, gaunt, and mysterious.
"You ought to build a balcony here, out towards the sea," she
said. "Look how the water glitters between the limes."
When once she had hit upon a plan, Kristen Ravn never relinquished
it, and when she bad suggested it some four or five times, he
promised that it should be done. But on the heels of this scheme
came another.
"Below the first balcony there must be another wider one," said
she in her soft voice, "and it must have steps at each end down to
the lawn--the lawn is so lovely just here."
The unheard-of presumption of her demand inoculated him with the
idea, and at length he consented to this as well.
"The rooms must be refurnished," she gravely commanded. "The one
next to the balcony which is to be built under here shall be in
yellow pine, and the floor must be polished." She pointed with her
long delicate hand. "ALL the floors must be polished. I will give
you the design for the room above, I have thought it carefully
out." And in imagination she papered the walls, arranged the
furniture, and hung up curtains of wondrous patterns.
"I know, too, how the other rooms are to be done," she added. And
she went from one to the other, remaining a little while in each.
He followed, like an old horse led by the bridle.
Before their visit was half over he most coolly neglected three
out of his four guests.
His deep-set eyes twinkled with the liveliest admiration whenever
she approached. He sought in the faces of the others the
admiration which he himself felt: he would amble round her like an
old photographic camera which had the power of setting itself up.
But from the day when she took down from his bookshelf a French
work on mechanics, a subject with which she was evidently
acquainted and for which she declared that she had a natural
aptitude, it was all over with him. From that day forward, if she
were present, he effaced himself both in word and action.
In the mornings when he met her in one of her characteristic
costumes he laughed softly, or gazed and gazed at her, and then
glanced towards the others. She did not talk much, but every word
that she uttered aroused his admiration. But he was most of all
captivated when she sat quietly apart, heedless of every one: at
such times he resembled an old parrot expectant of sugar.
His linen had always been snowy white, but beyond this he had
taken no special pains with his toilet; but now he strutted about
in a Tussore silk coat, which he had bought in Algiers, but had at
once put aside because it was too tight--he looked like a clipt
box hedge in it.
Now, who was this lion-tamer of twenty-one, who, without in the
least wishing to do so, unconsciously even (she was the quietest
of the party), had made the monarch of the forest crouch at her
feet and gaze at her in abject humility?
Look at her, as she sits there, with her loose shining hair of the
prettiest shade of dark red; look at her broad forehead and
prominent nose, but more than all at those large wondering eyes;
look at her throat and neck, her tall slight figure; notice
especially the Renaissance dress which she wears, its style and
colour, and your curiosity will still remain unsatisfied, for she
has an individuality all her own.
Kristen Ravn had lost her mother at her birth and her father when
she was five years old. The latter left her a handsome fortune,
with the express condition that the investments should not be
changed, and that the income should be for her own use whether she
married or not. He hoped by this means to form her character. She
was brought up by three different members of her wide-branching
family, a family which might more properly be termed a clan,
although they had no common characteristics beyond a desire to go
their own way.
When two Ravns meet they, as a rule, differ on every subject; but
as a race they hold religiously together--indeed, in their eyes
there is no other family which is "amusing," the favourite
adjective of the Ravns.
Kristen had a receptive nature; she read everything, and
remembered what she read; that is say, she had a logical mind, for
a retentive memory implies an orderly brain. She was consequently
NUMBER ONE in everything which she took up. This, coupled with the
fact that she lived among those who regarded her somewhat as a
speculation, and consequently flattered her, had early made an
impression on her nature, quite as great, indeed, as the
possession of money.
She was by no means proud, it was not in the Ravn nature to be so;
but at ten years old she had left off playing; she preferred to
wander in the woods and compose ballads. At twelve she insisted on
wearing silk dresses, and, in the teeth of an aunt all curls and
lace and with a terrible flow of words, she carried her point. She
held herself erect and prim in her silks, and still remained
NUMBER ONE. She composed verses about Sir Adge and Maid Else,
about birds and flowers and sad things.
On reaching the age at which other girls, who have the means,
begin to wear silk dresses, she left them off. She was tired, she
said, of the "smooth and glossy."
She now grew enthusiastic for fine wool and expensive velvet of
every shade. Dresses in the Renaissance style became her
favourites, and the subject of her studies. She puffed out her
bodices like those in Leonardo's and Rafael's portraits of women,
and tried in other ways as well to resemble them.
She left off writing verses, and wrote stories instead; the style
was good, though they were anything rather than spontaneous.
They were short, with a more or less clear pointe. Stories by a
girl of eighteen do not as a general rule make a sensation, but
these were particularly audacious. It was evident that their only
object was to scandalise. Instead of her own name she used the
nom-de-plume of "Puss." This, however, was only to postpone the
announcement that the author who scandalised her readers most, and
that at a time when every author strove to do so, was a girl of
eighteen belonging to one of the first families in the country.
Soon every one knew that "Puss" was she of the tumbled red locks,
"the tall Renaissance figure with the Titian hair."
Her hair was abundant, glossy, and slightly curling; she still
wore it hanging loose over her neck and shoulders, as she had done
as a child. Her great eyes seemed to look out upon a new world;
but one felt that the lower part of her face was scarcely in
harmony with the upper. The cheeks fell in a little; the prominent
nose made the mouth look smaller than it actually was; her neck
seemed only to lead the eye downward to her bosom, which almost
appeared to caress her throat, especially when her head was bent
forward, as was generally the case. And very beautiful the throat
was, delicate in colour, superb in contour, and admirably set upon
the bust. For this reason she could never find in her heart to
hide this full white neck, but always kept it uncovered. Her
finely moulded bust surmounting a slender waist and small hips,
her rounded arms, her long hands, her graceful carriage, in her
tightly-fitting dress, formed such a striking picture that one did
more than look--one was obliged to study her, When the elegance
and beauty of her dress were taken into account, one realised how
much intelligence and artistic taste had here been exercised.
She was friendly in society, natural and composed, always occupied
with something, always with that wondering expression. She spoke
very little, but her words were always well chosen.
All this, and her general disposition, made people chary of
opposing her, more especially those who knew how intelligent she
was and how much knowledge she possessed.
She had no friends of her own, but her innumerable relations
supplied her with society, gossip, and flattery, and were at once
her friends and body-guard. She would have had to go abroad to be
alone.
Among these relations she was a princess: they not only paid her
homage, but had sworn by "Life and Death" that she must marry
without more ado, which was absolutely against her wish.
From her childhood she had been laying by money, but the amount of
her savings was far less than her relations supposed. This rather
mythical fortune contributed not a little to the fact that "every
one" was in love with her. Not only the bachelors of the family,
that was a matter of course, but artists and amateurs, even the
most blase, swarmed round her, la jeunesse doree (which is homely
enough in Norway), without an exception. A living work of art,
worth more or less money, piquante and admired, how each longed to
carry her home, to gloat over her, to call her his own!
There was surely more intensity of feeling near her than near
others, a losing of oneself in one only; that unattainable dream
of the world-weary.
With her one could lead a thoroughly stylish life, full of art and
taste and comfort. She was highly cultivated, and absolutely
emancipated--our little country did not, in those days, possess a
more alluring expression.
When face to face with her they were uncertain how to act, whether
to approach her diffidently or boldly, smile or look serious, talk
or be silent.
What these idle wooers gleaned from her stories, her
characteristic dress, her wondering eyes, and her quiet
dreaminess, was not the highest, but they expended their energy
thereon; so that their unbounded discomfiture may be imagined
when, in the autumn, the news spread that Fruken Kristen Ravn was
married to Harald Kaas.
They burst into peals of derisive laughter they scoffed, they
exclaimed; the only explanation they could offer was that they had
too long hesitated to try their fortune.
There were others, who both knew and admired her, who were no less
dismayed. They were more than disappointed--the word is too weak;
to many of them it seemed simply deplorable. How on earth could it
have happened? Every one, herself excepted, knew that it would
ruin her life.
On Kristen Ravn's independent position, her strong character, her
rare courage, on her knowledge, gifts, and energy, many,
especially women, had built up a future for the cause of Woman.
Had she not already written fearlessly for it? Her tendency
towards eccentricity and paradox would soon have worn off, they
thought, as the struggle carried her forward, and at last she
might have become one of the first champions of the cause. All
that was noblest and best in Kristen must predominate in the end.
And now the few who seek to explain life's perplexities rather
than to condemn them discovered--Some of them, that the defiant
tone of her writings and her love of opposition bespoke a degree
of vanity sufficient to have led her into fallacy. Others
maintained that hers was essentially a romantic nature which might
cause her to form a false estimate both of her own powers and of
the circumstances of life. Others, again, had heard something of
how this husband and wife lived, one in each wing of the house,
with different staffs of servants, and with separate incomes; that
she had furnished her side in her own way, at her own expense, and
had apparently conceived the idea of a new kind of married life.
Some people declared that the great lime-trees near the mansion at
Hellebergene were alone responsible for the marriage. They soughed
so wondrously in the summer evenings, and the sea beneath their
branches told such enthralling stories. Those grand old woods, the
like of which were hardly to be found in impoverished Norway, were
far dearer to her than was her husband. Her imagination had been
taken captive by the trees, and thus Harald Kaas had taken HER.
The estate, the climate, the exclusive possession of her part of
the house: this was the bait which she had chosen. Harald Kaas was
only a kind of Puck who had to be taken along with it. But it is
doubtful whether this conjecture was any nearer the truth. No one
ever really knew. She was not one of those whom it is easy to
catechise.
Every one wearies at last of trying to solve even the most
interesting of enigmas. No one could tolerate the sound of her
name when, four months after her marriage, she was seen in a stall
at the Christiania Theatre just as in old days, though looking
perhaps a little paler. Every opera-glass was levelled at her. She
wore a light, almost white, dress, cut square as usual. She did
not hide her face behind her fan. She looked about her with her
wondering eyes, as though she was quite unconscious that there
were other people in the theatre or that any one could be looking
at her. Even the most pertinacious were forced to concede that she
was both physically and mentally unique, with a charm all her own.
But just as she had become once more the subject of general
conversation, she disappeared. It afterwards transpired that her
husband had fetched her away, though hardly any one had seen him.
It was concluded that they must have had their first quarrel over
it.
Accurate information about their joint life was never obtained.
The attempts of her relations to force themselves upon them were
quite without result, except that they found out that she was
enceinte, notwithstanding her utmost efforts to conceal the fact.
She sent neither letter nor announcement; but in the summer, when
she was next seen in Christiania, she was wheeling a perambulator
along Karl Johan Street, her eyes as wondering as though some one
had just put it between her hands. She looked handsomer and more
blooming than ever.
In the perambulator lay a boy with his mother's broad forehead,
his mother's red hair. The child was charmingly dressed, and he,
as well as the perambulator, was so daintily equipped, so
completely in harmony with herself, that every one understood the
reply that she gave, when, after the usual congratulations, her
acquaintances inquired, "Shall we soon have a new story from
you?"--she answered, "A new story? Here it is!"
But, notwithstanding the unalloyed happiness which she displayed
here, it could no longer be concealed that more often than not she
was absent from home, and that she never mentioned her husband's
name. If any one spoke of him to her, she changed the subject. By
the time that the boy was a year old, it had become evident that
she contemplated leaving Hellebergene entirely. She had been in
Christiania for some time and had gone home to make arrangements,
saying that she should come back in a few days.
But she never did so.
The day after her return home, while the numerous servants at
Hellebergene, as well as the labourers with their wives and
children, were all assembled at the potato digging, Harald Kaas
appeared, carrying his wife under his left arm like a sack. He
held her round the waist, feet first, her face downwards and
hidden by her hair, her hands convulsively clutching his left
thigh, her legs sometimes hanging down, sometimes straight out. He
walked composedly out with her, holding in his right hand a bunch
of long fresh birch twigs. A little way from the gallery he
paused, and laying her across his left knee, he tore off some of
her clothes, and beat her until the blood flowed. She never
uttered a sound. When he put her from him, she tremblingly
rearranged--first her hair, thus displaying her face just as the
blood flowed back from it, leaving it deadly white. Tears of pain
and shame rolled down her cheeks; but still not a sound. She tried
to rearrange her dress, but her tattered garments trailed behind
her as she went back to the house. She shut the door after her,
but had to open it again; her torn clothes had caught fast in it.
The women stood aghast; some of the children screamed with fright:
this infected the rest, and there was a chorus of sobs. The men,
most of whom had been sitting smoking their pipes, but who had
sprung to their feet again, stood filled with shame and
indignation.
It had not been without a pang that Harald Kaas had done this, his
face and manner had shown it for a long time and still did so; but
he had expected that a roar of laughter would greet his
extraordinary vagary. This was evident from the composure with
which he had carried his wife out; and still more from the glance
of gratified revenge with which he looked round him afterwards.
But there was only dead stillness, succeeded by weeping, sobbing,
and indignation. He stood there for a moment, quite overcome, then
went indoors again, a defeated, utterly broken man.
In every encounter with this delicate creature the giant had been
worsted.
After this, however, she never went beyond the grounds. For the
first few years she was only seen by the people about the estate,
and by them but seldom. Sometimes she would take her boy out in
his little carriage, or, as time went on, would lead him by the
hand, sometimes she was alone. She was generally wrapped in a big
shawl, a different one for each dress she wore, and which she
always held tightly round her. This was so characteristic of her
that to this day I hear people from the neighbourhood talk about
it as though she were never seen otherwise.
What then did she do? She studied; she had given up writing: for
more than one reason it had become distasteful to her. She had
changed roles with her husband, giving herself up to mathematics,
chemistry, and physics, she made calculations and analyses--
sending for books and materials for these objects. The people on
the estate saw nothing extraordinary in all this. From the first
they had admired her delicacy and beauty. Every one admired her;
it was only the manner and degree that varied.
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