The Song of the Blood-Red Flower | Page 2

a word! How you frightened me!"
"I was just going to call when you turned round."
They shook hands, heartily, as comrades.
"Look!" he cried eagerly; "isn't it just like a palace all round--the castle of Tapio, and I'm the lord of the castle, and you're the forest fairy, come to visit me. And your clothes smell of the pine woods, and there's a scent of birch in your hair, and you come playing on a shepherd's pipe, music sweet as honey...."
The girl looked up in astonishment. "What--what makes you talk like that?"
He stopped in some perplexity. "'Tis the forest talks so. But now you must come in--right in to the palace."
They went through to the middle of the clearing.
"And have you felled all those, all by yourself?" She cast a warm glance at his sunburnt neck and powerful shoulders. "How strong you are!"
The boy stepped on more briskly.
"There! Now we're in the palace. And here's the seat of honour--isn't it fine? And here's a bench at the side--but a guest must always have the seat of honour."
"And what about the master of the house?" asked the girl, with a laugh.
"He'll sit on the bench, of course."
They smiled at each other.
"And see, it's decked out all ready, with sprays of green and red fir blossoms."
"Yes, indeed--a real palace. It's two years now since we had a talk together, and now to meet in a palace...!"
"We've not seen much of each other, it's true," said he, with a ring of remembrance in his voice. "And we used to be together whole summers in the old days. Do you remember how you were mistress of the house, with twenty-five milch cows in the shed, and as many sheep as Jacob at the end of his last year's service?"
"Yes, yes, I remember." Her blue eyes sparkled, and the two young people's laughter echoed over the hillside.
The forest woke from his dreams, and stopped to listen to the tale of the children at play.
"And how we played snowballs on the way home from school? And your hair was all full of snow, and I took it down--do you remember?--and did it up again in the middle of the road."
"Yes, and did it all wrong; and the others laughed."
The trees winked at one another as if they had never beard such talk before.
"And the confirmation classes after!" said the girl warmly. "Oh, I shall never forget that time--the lovely summer days, and the shady birches near the church...."
The trees nodded. The house with a cross on top--all they had heard of it was the bell that rang there, and the big firs had wondered what it was. Now here were human beings themselves telling what went on inside.
"And you've grown up to a great big girl since then! It seems so strange--as if you were the same and not the same."
"And you!" The gentle warmth of a woodland summer played in the girl's blue eyes. "A tall, big woodcutter you've grown."
They were silent for a while.
The trees listened breathlessly.
A warm flood rose in the young man's breast--like a summer wave washing the sands of an untrodden shore.
The girl's kerchief had fallen from her head. He picked it up and gave it to her. Through the thin stuff their fingers touched; the youth felt a thrill in every limb. Suddenly he grasped her hands, his eyes gazing ardently into hers.
"Annikki!" he whispered. He could find no words for the tumult in his veins. "Annikki!" he gasped again, entreatingly.
A faint flush had risen to her cheeks, but her glance met his calmly and frankly. She pressed his hand in answer.
"More than anyone else in all the world?" he asked passionately.
She pressed his hand again, more warmly still.
He was filled with joy, yet somehow uneasy and confused. He wanted to say something--warm, fervent words. Or do something--throw himself at her feet and clasp her knees--anything. But he dared not.
Then his eyes fell on one of the treetops close by He slipped one hand free, and broke off a cluster of blood-red flowers.
"Take them--will you? In memory of how you came to the castle--to Tapiosborg."
"Olofsborg," she laughed.
The word broke the spell. They looked at each other, and again their laughter rang through the woods.
He drew closer to her side, and tried to fasten the red flowers at her breast. But as he bent down, his hair touched hers. He felt it first as a soft, secret caress, hardly daring to believe it, then it was like a burning current through his body, that stayed tingling like fire in his veins. His breath seemed to choke him, his heart felt as if it would burst. Passionately he threw his arms about her and held her close.
The girl blushed. She made no resistance, but hid her troubled face against his shoulder.
He pressed her closer.