in time, to give her hand to a man whom she has long loved; and I
sought in travel to dissipate the feeling of desolation which had seized
on my heart. It was at this moment that business, or rather Providence,
conducted me to you. Admiration, and an interest whose power I cannot
describe, drew me towards you; perhaps, unknown to me, darkly operated
in me the delightful recollections of my childhood. At this moment they
have ascended in all their clearness. I seem now again transported into
the years of boyhood, when I called you mother, and loved you even to
adoration; and now--" and with passionate tenderness Harald seized the
hand of Mrs. Astrid, while he stammered forth--"now ... what says your
heart?... Can you trust this dim recollection ... this narrative without
all testimony?... May I again call you mother? Can you, will you,
receive me as son?"

"Do I wish it?... Feel these tears of joy! I have not shed many such
upon earth. I cannot doubt ... I believe ... I am happy!... Thou art my
sister's son, my child ... I have thee again. But oh! have I found thee
merely to see thee die--die here--for my sake? Am I then born to be
unfortunate? This moment is bitter."

"But delightful also!" exclaimed Harald, with warmth; "we have found
each other; we are united."

"To die!"

"Rescue is yet possible!"

"But only through a miracle."

"Providence permits wonderful things to happen; we have just had
evidence of it!" said Harald, with a gentle, admonitory tone.

"Thou art right, Harald; but I have been so unhappy! I have difficulty
to believe in happy miracles. But, at all events, God be praised for
this moment, and let His will be done!"

"Amen!" said Harald softly, but with manly fortitude; and both ceased,
exhausted, and all was in deep darkness around them, for the moon was
gone down, and the snow fell thickly. They seemed to be entombed alive.

But the miracle of rescue was near. There gleamed a light--there were
heard voices out of the snowy wilderness.

"Susanna!" exclaimed, with one voice, Mrs. Astrid and Harald. "Susanna,
our angel of salvation!"

And it was Susanna, who, with a blazing torch in her hand, rushed into
the dark vault. It glittered at once as with a million of diamonds. Some
of these gleamed in human eyes.

"You are saved, God be praised!" exclaimed Susanna. "Here are good,
strong men who will help you. But we must hasten; the snow falls
heavily."

Several peasants, bearing lights and