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

Though that was a very impressive position, it was not good enough for Sölve.

He aspired to higher things, and he definitely didn’t plan to return home that summer! He wrote a friendly letter to the family about how he was doing so well now at work that it would be unwise to take a career break. But he eventually intended to return as a high-ranking official and settle down wherever his parents and grandmother Ingrid wanted him to. If his father wished him to continue in the service of the Oxenstierna family he would gladly do that, but if the choice came down to taking over Gråstensholm then he would be equally satisfied doing that, for he had always thrived in Norway and was certain that he could fulfil his duty there.

He received a letter in which his parents and grandmother expressed satisfaction with his decision but said that he wasn’t to wait too long. Ulvhedin had recently died, at the age of ninety-seven, and Ingrid was no longer young.

They didn’t mention the fact that Ulvhedin had passed away joyfully during a drinking orgy that he and Ingrid had enjoyed all alone at Gråstensholm. The old giant had reached a state of intoxication from which he never awoke, and everyone agreed that he had had a dignified death. Well, perhaps not everyone would have taken that view, but the church and the moralists were never informed of the circumstances.

Well, at least that beast is out of the way, Sölve thought gleefully. So he no longer needed to worry about getting caught!

At this point even he was able to see the yellow spots in his eyes. They both impressed and worried him. Indeed, there were even times when looking at them made him euphorically ecstatic. Not to mentiom that no one knew him down here in Vienna.

He started to retreat from Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna’s circle of acquaintances. He did not want his friend to notice the transformation he was undergoing.

The separation did not prove difficult, because they had naturally grown apart from one another. They met on one last occasion, in the evening, because Sölve did not want the sharp sun of Austria to shine in his eyes.

This time Johan Gabriel was in very low spirits. He was absentminded and melancholy, and in a gloomy voice he read aloud his own epitaph since he was never going to have his Susanna.

It was with half an ear that Sölve listened to “Ode to Camilla at the Start of an Illness”. Johan used the name Camilla for Susanna when he was being romantic. In the poem he dreamed that she let a flower fall on his grave, dedicating a few affectionate tears to her love’s sad resting-place. And he wished that death would hurry and cut him down, like a withered straw awaiting a scythe.

But it probably wasn’t meant that seriously, for Johan Gabriel managed to survive this heartbreak as well. He no longer had any influence on Sölve’s life. That evening would be the last time the two childhood friends would see each other.

The future fate of Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna is well known. After four years he returned to Sweden where, by virtue of his amiable personality and intelligence, he became a kind of court bard to Gustav III. After a while he was made a member of the State Council, a position for which he had absolutely no qualification. But that did not matter, since Gustav III was intent on ruling alone. Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna was merely a figurehead with a prestigious name and fine manners. He did not prosper in his post and remained poor his whole life, even though he managed to marry into a wealthy family. His greedy father in-law was always sitting on the money. However, his family life was peaceful and contented, his wife was pleasant and they had a son. Unfortunately, the birth took its toll on his wife and she never fully recovered from it. Johan Gabriel lost her much too early.

His poetry was his strength. He himself was never at ease in a hard and materialistic world, and he was truly happy only for brief periods in his life.

Sölve’s life followed a different trajectory, and was also completely different from what he had expected.

It changed its initial course as soon as he had his first encounter with the Wiesen family.

This was on New Year’s Eve, 1773, at a gathering held by the Swedish trade consul at his home. Sölve had been invited as the consul’s most trusted confidant, which he should have regarded as an honour. But then, it had been Sölve’s little unseen manipulations that had enhanced the consul’s reputation and finances.

Sölve had now begun to wear a wig in order to avoid attracting too much attention. He had a well-justified feeling that he ought to keep a low profile if he was to reach the goals he had set for himself. He wasn’t exactly proud of being invited just for the sake of formality. He was green with envy at the sight of the consul’s gorgeous home, filled with the art treasures of Vienna. Sölve himself lived much too meanly for a man of his standing. But that was soon going to change, he decided, upon seeing all the glory surrounding him.

In various ways that we don’t need to go into, Sölve had learned to dress suitably to frequent the superior homes of the middle class. He had turned into something of a dandy, wearing a lace-frilled shirt and gold embroidered waistcoat, bottle-green velvet jacket with long tails, dazzling white, tight-fitting knee-breeches that left little to the imagination, white stockings and elegant shoes with silver buckles and rather high heels.

He did indeed look good!

It wasn’t long before he discovered a young girl who drew his attention.

She was sitting between her parents, who seemed to watch over her like hawks. The father was big and very fat with piercing eyes below thick black eyebrows; the mother was severe and had a very visible moustache on her expressionless face. But the girl, the girl! Ooh, Sölve thought. It wasn’t that she was all that beautiful, because she really wasn’t. But she was attractive and pleasing to look at.

Those eyes! They burned with a glow that revealed much too clearly that this girl-child was full of sensuality and desires that she had not had the chance to experience. While seeming so properly modest, the sly glances she cast at Sölve flashed with repressed lust.

You’ll get your share, my girl, Sölve thought, you’ll get your share. Trust me, you have found your equal!

A young man was buzzing around the family: Sölve found him indescribably boring and it appeared the girl did as well. The young man gave the impression of being an overly nice, well-meaning sort of person who would bend over backwards for other people. And it appeared that he had obtained a kind of favour in the eyes of the girl’s overbearing parents. Not that he was given the slightest chance to get close to the girl. No, no, but he was allowed to fetch delicacies and a cushion and assist the mother in smoothing out the creases of her crackling black skirt.

Sölve asked the consul who they were.

He learned that the father was a highly influential jeweller, the mother was of noble descent, and the family name was Wiesen. The daughter, Renate, was literally worth her weight in gold. The young suitor? Unfortunately, he was a man of such distinguished descent that he did not need to work. He was the youngest son of a rich family and rather simple-minded. The girl’s family would most probably choose that young man for her. Because it would, of course, be the parents who would make the final decision about whom she would marry.

Well, upon my word, thought Sölve. He wasn’t about to let such a fine opportunity for marriage pass him by.

After dinner there was dancing. Sölve had, together with Johan Gabriel, learned all the dances that were fashionable in Vienna, and when an appropriate amount of time had passed and the girl had had the chance to dance with the boring youth – whose name, it seemed, was Carl Berg – Sölve ventured across the floor. He noticed how Renate’s eyelashes quivered as he approached her and she cast her eyes down. But her hands clenched her lace handkerchief. Sölve bowed to her father politely, introduced himself and respectfully asked for permission to have the next dance with his beautiful daughter.