not glad to think it dead? And cannot I spread the
story of your infamy through all the villages where you are known? Is
not the wretched boy himself a living witness of the attempt you made to
kill him? Does not that scar speak against you? Would not Olaf Gueldmar
relate the story of the child's rescue to any one that asked him? Would
you like all Bosekop to know of your intrigue with an escaped criminal,
who was afterwards caught and hung! The virtuous Ulrika--the zealous
servant of the Gospel--the pious, praying Ulrika!" and the old woman
trembled with rage and excitement. "Out of my power? Never, never! As
long as there is breath in my body I will hold you down! _Not_ a
murderess, you say--?"

"No," said Ulrika very calmly, with a keen look, "I am _not_--but you
_are_!"

CHAPTER XVI.

"Il n'y a personne qui ait eu autant a souffrir a votre sujet que
moi depuis ma naissance! aussi je vous supplie a deux genoux et
au nom de Dien, d'avoir pitie de moi!"--_Old Breton Ballad_.

In a few more days Thelma's engagement to Sir Philip Bruce-Errington was
the talk of the neighborhood. The news spread gradually, having been, in
the first place, started by Britta, whose triumph in her mistress's
happiness was charming to witness. It reached the astonished and
reluctant ears of the Reverend Mr. Dyceworthy, whose rage was so great
that it destroyed his appetite for twenty-four hours. But the general
impression in the neighborhood, where superstition maintained so strong
a hold on the primitive and prejudiced minds of the people, was that the
reckless young Englishman would rue the day on which he wedded "the
white witch of the Altenfjord."

Gueldmar was regarded with more suspicion than ever, as having used some
secret and diabolical influence to promote the match; and the whole
party were, as it seemed, tabooed, and looked upon as given up to the
most unholy practices.

Needless to say, the opinions of the villagers had no effect whatever on
the good spirits of those who were thus unfavorably criticised, and it
would have been difficult to find a merrier group than that assembled
one fine morning in front of Gueldmar's house, all equipped from top to
toe for some evidently unusually lengthy and arduous mountain excursion.
Each man carried a long, stout stick, portable flask, knapsack, and
rug--the latter two articles strapped together and slung across the
shoulder--and they all presented an eminently pictu