Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 19 - Dragon´s Teeth

Sölve’s eyes were beautiful. And they had a magnetic effect on women – he had seen the evidence of that many times. The demimondaines he met on the street shot him inviting glances, but they weren’t the kind of women he wanted. He wanted to marry Renate, partly to get hold of her fortune, partly because she had this almost elusive, intense sensuality about her that he was determined to explore. He was also determined to get his revenge on her snooty parents! Once he was married to their daughter he would be in a position to humiliate them!

He made sure to write home. He boasted greatly and claimed that he had become a consul. Who would be able to testify against him? He was slightly worried about the situation back home. His mother had been suffering from lung disease for a long time and now his father, Daniel, was also suffering from it. Ingela was contemplating marriage, and everyone wanted Sölve to return home.

But he couldn’t! Not with those eyes of his!

While he was making thorough preparations in advance of approaching the Wiesen family, a letter from home in response to his own had time to reach him.

It was from Ingela, and seeing her handwriting on the envelope made him nervous.

After he had read the letter he had to lie down on his bed, fit for nothing.

Ingela blamed him for never returning home. Their mother and father had read the letter in which he wrote that he had become a consul and they had been very proud of him. But they were both now dead. When their mother died it had been as though their father had lost his resilience, and he followed her that same week. Ingela had married a young farmer in the locality and now their childhood home was deserted. What was she to do with it? She had settled down in Vingåker for good. She had been working as a housekeeper for Axel Frederik Oxenstierna, Johan Gabriel’s brother, and she had retained that position after her marriage.

In other words, Gråstensholm would fall into Sölve’s hands. But grandmother Ingrid was lonely – why didn’t he return home soon?

Father and Mother dead? Was he never to see them again? Another tie to normal human life had now been broken for Sölve. That evening he was vulnerable for the last time. That evening his heart felt weighed down with the sadness that reached him from far away.

By the next morning, he was as hard as stone. There wasn’t much left of the human Sölve.

There wasn’t much time left now. He would have to hurry and approach Renate’s family before the new consul arrived.

Never had he put so much effort into dressing properly! He cleaned, polished and brushed everything, acquired a new wig and several new items of clothing. No one would be able to point a finger at anything!

He would also need a dowry. Something he could offer her. More than the title of consul. So Sölve approached something new: a bank!

He had never been into one before. He made a minor transaction, but one that required the bank clerk to leave his desk. And then Sölve tried a new trick. The clerk could see Sölve sitting in his chair in the office all the time, but it was just an illusion. In a moment’s inattention on the part of the clerk, the real Sölve moved behind him and with some neck-breaking manipulations he managed to smuggle a leather bag full of money into his inner pocket.

No one could suspect him. After all he had been sitting in his chair, far away from where the bank’s cash was stored.

The cashier had not seen a thing. He bowed politely and told Sölve he would be welcome to visit the bank again. He did not notice that Sölve had great difficulty standing up straight without tipping over.

It was even more difficult to walk out of the building but he managed it by a hair’s breadth.

Back in the safety of his own home Sölve counted his loot.

It was a lot more than he had expected. He sat for a while completely dumbfounded over having acquired so much money. And he had to promise himself never to fall into the temptation of doing it again. He had had luck on his side this time, but you couldn’t get away with doing something like that repeatedly without getting punished for it. They knew he had been in the bank that day, and there would be a big commotion because of the theft and someone would have to take the blame. Sölve didn’t care who they blamed. The main thing was that if he were to return and another robbery were to take place they would surely grow suspicious. “The man with the yellow eyes ...” He was much too easy to recognize, that was the worst thing about being cursed.

Then it dawned on him that he was rich now. He could acquire a better place to live, perhaps a horse and carriage. Was there really any limit to what he could get?

Yes, there was, of course!

But he would have to have something with which to impress his future in-laws!

The next day Sölve was ready. He prepared to approach Renate’s house.

How happy she would be!

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