Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 07 - Nemesis

“You’re quite right,” laughed Tancred. “Maybe some of the gracious widows will feel an urge to skip rope?”

After breakfast, Tancred took a break and rode out on one of the horses to see the surrounding area.

He had always liked the countryside around Aunt Ursula’s estate. The beech trees were still without leaves but small buds showed that spring was on its way. As Tancred rode into the big forest behind the estate, he heard the happy spring warbling of the great titmouse and the blue anemones bent under the horse’s hooves.

Spring is certainly starting earlier here than at Grandma’s place in Norway, he thought. His twin sister, Gabriella, had settled there, something which would require a strong love, he thought to himself. Norway was wonderful, but he preferred the milder Danish climate.

He rode through the forest along twisted paths with deciduous and hardwood trees. He was happy with life but at the same time had the restlessness of youth in him. Maybe he would not have the chance to experience something before it was too late. And too late would be around 30 years of age. You were ancient by then.

He stopped all of a sudden.

A fleeting brown shadow had quickly hidden itself underneath the bushes.

An animal? A deer or what?

Tancred spurred the horse and took up the weaponless hunt. He was curious, eager to experience something new no matter what it was. He had no intention of hurting the animal.

Where had it disappeared to? It could not be far away. He stopped the horse and listened.

Not a sound. The animal was probably lying flat to the ground.

Tancred stared into a mass of grey fir trees, bushes and roots ...

There. He caught a glimpse of the brown thing again. It had a somewhat reddish glow.

He dismounted the horse and tiptoed closer.

A bit stupid, he thought with a laugh. He and the horse were an excellent eye-catcher. He was dressed in a purple jacket and jodhpurs. The sleeves were slit so that golden-coloured silk peeped through, and the lace collar covered the shoulders. He wore tall, soft animal skin boots. Of course, the horse could be seen and heard by everybody.

When he was only a few metres from the brown object, the “animal” jumped up suddenly and dashed off.

It was a girl dressed in a brown coat with a hood.

Tancred hesitated for a moment then followed her. She ran lightly in front of him – leading him further into the forest. But her skirts got caught in the shrubs and Tancred was quicker. He threw himself at her and grabbed her.

“No, no.” she moaned. “Please let me go!”

She was dirty and her hair was unkempt. It was full of pine needles and small branches and her clothes were in tatters. But she had a pretty face. Her blue eyes stared at him, shocked.

“Who are you, sir?” she said in surprise. “Are you one of them?”

He was still holding her down.

“I’m Tancred Paladin, and I’m visiting Countess Ursula Horn at her mansion. I don’t think I’m one of ‘them’.” He did not mention to her that he was of noble birth because she seemed so simple ...

As Tancred spoke to her, the girl began to shout. She managed to break loose – mostly because Tancred didn’t want to hold her too hard. She ran off, lifting her skirts high to move faster.

But now Tancred had become curious. He wanted to know more about this fleeing little creature.

The forest was thicker than he had imagined, and he had a vague idea that it might be difficult for him to find the horse again. But he did not give up.

She probably thinks that I’m a rapist, he thought with embarrassment.

At last the girl was exhausted. She collapsed in the dead leaves with a slight moan.

Tancred tried to lift her up but she could hardly stand on her legs.

“Don’t be afraid of me,” he said gently. “I don’t want to hurt you. Who are you and why are you hiding?”

She tried to collect herself. “Molly,” she gasped. “Molly, sir. I’m just an ordinary servant girl.”

“And who are ‘they’?”

Her glance looked somewhat upset. “Nobody, sir. Just the kind of men who ... Well, you know what they do to girls.”

Tancred smiled. “Well, I’m not like that. May I take you home?”

“I don’t have a home, sir.”

“But you just said that you’re a servant girl.”

The girl was very pretty. Tancred had never seen anything like it.

“Not any longer. I was fired.”

“Where do you want to go now then?”

“I’ve thought of looking for a job in the neighbouring parish, sir.”

Tancred took a coin out of his pocket. “Look. Take this – then you don’t have to go hungry.”

The expression on her face surprised him. Her eyes sparkled and her nostrils flared for a brief moment.

Then she accepted the coin and curtseyed.

“Thank you, sir. You’re much too kind.”

He did not want to let her go. “Molly ... if ever you run into difficulties, you can call on me. I’m living in the Countess’s home, but only for a few weeks. After that I’ll be going back to Zealand, and then we won’t be able to see each other any more. I’m staying in the corner room facing the church. Promise you’ll call on me if you need anything?”

She nodded. “I promise.”

“May I ... meet you again?”A frightened expression crossed her face. “I’d rather not, sir. But thank you for your kindness. And ...”

She hesitated. “Don’t say anything to anybody about having met me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he said somewhat surprised.

She left and hurried away through the forest.

Tancred found his horse much quicker than he had imagined and rode back to his aunt’s fine mansion, deep in his own thoughts.

For the rest of the day he was very absentminded.

He could not get the modest Molly out of his thoughts.

‘It’s as if I am transformed,’ he thought. ‘Our family has a tendency to fall for people who are beneath our station. My dad did so. So did my sister – and my granddad, Dag Meiden.

Well, I suppose I’ll never see that girl again.

But she was pretty ... and her eyes were gentle!

It was so good to embrace her ...’

“Tancred!” Aunt Ursula’s sharp voice cut through the beautiful reverie. “The guests will be arriving shortly, and you haven’t changed yet.”

He hurried and changed into his finest clothes: A magnificent suit in moss green velvet, edged with gold lace and a white silk shirt with lace on the collar and broad cuffs. When he was ready, and looked in the mirror, he had to admit that he looked handsome. After a grimace at his self-admiration, he went down to welcome the guests together with his aunt.

What Ursula Horn meant by her “neighbours” were not the smallholders on the estate. No, the only ones allowed to mix with her were those who lived at the biggest and finest mansions in the area. That was why there weren’t so many guests. But those who did turn up were very fine. Only the great nobles, of course. Who else? Counts, barons and descendants of the Council of State. Most importantly, the family would have to be noble going back at least 300 hundred years.

Like most other elderly ladies, Ursula liked to try and marry off the younger family members. She had been most fervently against Gabriella’s marriage to “that Kaleb.”

“That is only because you’ve never met him,” Alexander had said calmly.

“He’s not of noble stock,” fumed Ursula. “May God prevent me from ever meeting him.”

“I doubt that will happen,” answered Alexander.

She had now made plans regarding Tancred. One of the guests was the young daughter of a Count, originally from Holstein, like so many Jutland noble families. She arrived with her parents, and Ursula introduced the two young people to each other with a beaming smile.