Читать книгу The Ice People 24 - Deep in the Ground - Margit Sandemo - Страница 8

Chapter 3

Anna Maria had been serious about her little crusade.

She began by trying to help the children in Gustav’s house who were suffering from lung disease.

She knew that Axel Frederik Oxenstierna was married to the daughter of one of Sweden’s most prominent doctors, Professor Abraham Bäck, who had reformed the entire Swedish health system. He had made a great effort to extend medical services to rural areas and to provide doctors with a much better education. He had been the head doctor at the Seraphim Hospital in Stockholm, where he was highly esteemed. But Professor Bäck was now dead and Anna Maria wasn’t sure quite how involved his daughter had been in his work. Besides, she had promised never to contact the Oxenstierna family.

So she couldn’t contact them for help in treating the children’s lung disease.

But there was someone else she could turn to.

The very next day Anna Maria wrote a letter:

Dear Uncle Heike!

Yes, I’m writing “uncle” even though you are really my father’s cousin. I’ve also taken the liberty of addressing you by the informal “you”, even though you are some years older than me – I hope that is all right? I have just turned nineteen so I’m a grown-up now!

I want to ask you if you would help me with something ...

Then she told him about her new life, explained about the sick children and asked what could be done for them. Heike had succeeded in completely curing a lawyer who had been suffering from lung disease – she believed his name was Menger. So was Heike not well known as a doctor by now? And did he have any suggestions as to what could be done for those children? The two children who were attending school now were probably the healthiest in the household. Klara had told her about the younger children: some of them were dying.

Then Anna Maria wrote a little bit about herself, but nothing about Adrian Brandt – she wanted to see how things would develop in that regard, and whether he had even noticed her existence – and she asked after Vinga and Eskil. She hoped they were well and sent her regards.

Anna Maria sent the letter right away. She wrote “Urgent” on the envelope and paid a little extra postage.

On Thursday evening Klara invited her into the kitchen, where Greta, somewhat helplessly, was trying to practise writing with a piece of charcoal from the oven while her three younger siblings were sleeping. Anna Maria discovered to her astonishment that she was living in their quarters, while they tried to make room for themselves in the cramped space of the kitchen. But there were probably good financial reasons for that arrangement.

They had just sat down at the kitchen table when a big, clumsy man with a benevolent face entered. He looked at Anna Maria with curiosity.

Klara brightened up. “This is my brother,” she explained. “Come in, come in. We’re just having a cup of coffee, the young Miss and I.”

So this was the Clump, the one who had been neglected and deceived. Yes, he was dragging one leg, which was clearly lame.

He thanked Klara for the invitation and sat down uneasily, with his hands in his lap. He said he was happy to see Klara in such good spirits. It had been several months since they had last seen one another.

“Yes, now I have someone to talk to who doesn’t laugh at me because my husband ran off,” Klara said dryly. “The young lady here is so easy to talk with, despite her being so cultivated and everything. Her family has served the Oxenstierna family! That’s a bit more refined than the miserly Brandt family!”

The Clump expressed proper admiration for Anna Maria’s fine connections. They mostly chatted about the weather, which looked as though it would get colder, until he said, “Yes, well, I grew curious about the young Miss. They said that she was so pretty to look at. Which is no lie,” he concluded, perfectly seriously, stealing a glance at Anna Maria.

She bowed her head. “I had no idea that anyone had taken any notice of me,” she muttered shyly. “I haven’t seen any of the miners except from a distance.”

“Ha, they talk of nothing else down the mine! The foreman is furious. He wishes the ‘confounded wench’ would go back where she came from!”

“Oh my!” Anna Maria cried out in fright. “That doesn’t sound good at all!”

The Clump realized that he had expressed himself clumsily and he tried, somewhat awkwardly, to remedy the damage. “Don’t worry about it, Miss. That’s the way Kol is. He has absolutely no refinement but he is a good person. Well, I’d better be going. If you two ladies need any help with anything just let me know. Anything at all!”

“Thank you, we know,” Klara answered in an affectionate, sisterly tone of voice. “How are you faring otherwise? My brother works as the cook for the workers, you see, Miss.”

“Oh, I can’t complain,” the Clump assured her. “But I’m so worried about my little girl ... I’m talking about my daughter, Miss Anna Maria. She is so little and delicate and sweet. Your husband, Klara, wasn’t very kind to his own children and I worry about how he’d behave towards a stepdaughter?”

“Indeed, that’s a good question,” Klara answered dryly.

Anna Maria lay awake in her uncomfortable bed in this strange and for her unusually humble house. She thought of all the good things she wanted to do for these people. Now she had taken the Clump’s burden on her shoulders as well. If only she could give him his daughter back!

Now don’t get too rash, Anna Maria Olsdatter, she told herself matter-of-factly. Who do you think you are? God himself? You may be one of the Ice People but you haven’t been endowed with special abilities. You are no Tengel the Good or Sol or Ingrid or Heike ...

If only Heike had been here! He would at least have done something for all these neglected people!

Anna Maria didn’t have much insight. She had lived a sheltered existence and didn’t know much about the lives of ordinary people. She didn’t understand that hundreds of thousands of Swedes and Norwegians lived in great poverty and that very few belonged to her privileged class. Anna Maria had seen only a tiny corner of the country, which was more than enough for her if she intended to carry through her crusade to improve their impoverished circumstances.

But after thinking it over, she realized that there was very little she could do, if anything.

And on that dejected note, she fell asleep.

On Friday, just before she finished the day’s lessons – still without slates or other materials, Adrian Brandt came to sit in on the class.

Anna Maria was frantic. For one thing she wasn’t sure if she was teaching in the correct manner; for another, she hadn’t expected him until the following day, and her own reaction took her completely by surprise. It wasn’t at all the way she had felt about him as a child. Anna Maria hadn’t met many men in her life. Her mother, Sara, had kept a close eye on her daughter, and in the last two years Anna Maria had done nothing but care for her mother and had seldom gone out. Adrian Brandt seemed even more appealing to her than before, now that she had grown used to his mature appearance and cultivated manners. He came from the same background as her, it was as though everything became easier when she saw him. She cared for all these people in Ytterheden and was happy in their company, but her heart ached with such tenderness and pity for them that she could hardly bear it. Adrian Brandt was a calm, confident man with a solid background. He did not awaken her sympathy in the same way. She looked to him for help and support.

She offered him her chair and he sat quietly in a corner and listened as she taught the children to read and write the word “bad” on the board. They hadn’t got any farther than that in the alphabet. Afterwards she read them a piece from one of her textbooks. A history book.

When the lesson was over and the children had gone outside to play for a little while, Adrian Brandt approached her. She was very much aware of the fact that he had constantly been observing her and not the children during the lesson.

“Well, Anna Maria, it certainly looks good!”

She looked down. “It will improve once we get the slates and counting frames for everyone.”

“Yes, I heard about those.”

Then he added, nonchalantly but with a barely concealed note of pride in his voice, “Incidentally, I can tell you that when I was on a small errand at the Parliament the minister told me he was very impressed with my initiative to start compulsory schooling here for the children. You know that it isn’t easy to get teachers to come out to the more remote regions of this big country. The minister was very amiable indeed.”

Anna Maria thought to herself that he wasn’t the one who had come up with the idea in the first place – but he was, of course, the one responsible for all the expenses, so in that sense he was right. Her speculations soon evaporated as she listened to his kind talk. She noticed that he covertly examined her in an almost pensive way.

“It’s wonderful to see that the children have taken such a liking to you,” he said absently.

“They have?” she said, brightening up. “Thank you, that’s very good to hear.”

He didn’t seem to have heard her response. He was deeply absorbed in his own thoughts. Then he suddenly asked, “Anna Maria, would you care to visit my mother and two sisters tomorrow night? They would like to meet you.”

“Yes ...” she answered, hesitantly.

“Yes, of course you already know Kerstin. You’ve met her before.”

“Yes, three or four times, at Aunt Birgitta’s house.”

“Well, will you come, then? At seven o’clock?”

Adrian Brandt looked so eager that she overcame her reluctance. “Yes, thank you.”

“I’ll come and fetch you, then. That way you won’t have to walk past the barracks alone, which can be rather unpleasant for a young girl.”

“Thank you!”

He stayed for a minute or two more to discuss the teaching. Now that he had the ministry’s approval he seemed more animated about the whole idea, even though the school was probably costing him a great deal of money. There seemed to be a rather feudalistic mentality in this little community. The mine owner was in charge of his employees and their families as well.

No, how could she have such unreasonable thoughts? Adrian Brandt was no bully – he seemed gentle and understanding. But he certainly knew what he wanted! He had managed to administer the fortune he had inherited from his father-in-law, and Klara had said that he had been a true bully! The new owner was a positive angel in comparison.

Adrian’s pleasant voice awakened her from her daydream. “My family and I so much enjoy coming out here at this time of year,” he said lightly. “The city can be so claustrophobic and gloomy in this season. I am partial to Ytterheden, I must admit. It’s as though it’s my project. I have concentrated all my efforts on the mine ever since I got it.”

“What kind of metal is being extracted?”

“Iron,” he answered, so quickly that Anna Maria couldn’t help wondering.

Then he started talking about something else. But it was clear that he found her agreeable, he was incredibly attentive and kind to her.

Anna Maria thought about this as she plodded home in the twilight. It was almost as though he were sizing her up and evaluating her.

As what? As a teacher, or ...?

Well anyway, his presence cheered her up here at Ytterheden. Anna Maria wasn’t used to the attention of men. While she had been talking to him she had felt terribly shy and had barely dared to look up. But now that she was alone, her chest was bursting with the utmost joy and sense of expectation.

This blossoming new interest in a man! It was so new! It was so wonderful! And so indescribably exciting!

The gentle, sheltered little Anna Maria, who had lived such a lonely life for the past two years during her mother’s illness, now experienced the release of hitherto unknown energies, and needed an outlet for everything that had lain hidden within her. The ones who are quiet and patient, the ones who wait in utter silence, knowing nothing of the primordial forces within them, experience everything twice as strongly at the moment they give in to their urges. Anna Maria wasn’t fully aware of what was happening, but she could sense that she was facing something pivotal in her young, lonely life.

It was a wonderful, magnificent, tingling and exciting sensation.

“Well?” Adrian’s sister Kerstin asked eagerly as he stepped through the door of the grand house on the hill. “Is she coming?”

“Yes, she’s coming.”

“Wonderful! She is perfect for you, Adrian! You must make a pass at her!”

He hung up his coat with an impatient gesture. “Look here, Kerstin, Anna Maria isn’t the kind of girl you just ‘make a pass at’. She is much too refined for that. And if I were to do anything like that it would have to be of my own accord, and not because you want me to further your shady plans. The way you’re pressuring me has made me dislike myself. She is sweet and very lovable and I like her. But I will choose for myself the kind of relationship I wish to have with her!”

The outburst had made his cheeks turn red.

“Yes, yes, of course, Adrian, don’t let us upset you. We only want what’s best for you. But we won’t utter another word about finding a suitable bride for you, I promise.”

“No, I certainly hope not,” Adrian muttered between his teeth as he went into his room.

Kerstin watched him with a satisfied smile on her lips. The plan had succeeded – he had started to become interested in Anna Maria Olsdatter.

So it was less important now whether he or they pursued it.

In his room, Adrian stood with his hands covering his tormented face.

“Confounded women!” he whispered. “The whole house is filled with meddling women! Can’t they leave me in peace?”

On Saturday Anna Maria had a free afternoon. Even though the weather was rather autumnal she took a walk in the brisk wind to see more of the village and its surroundings – something she hadn’t had the chance to do until now, as she had been so busy preparing her lessons.

The wind was blowing harder than she had expected but at the same time it gave Ytterheden a touch of magnificence. The beautiful house up on the slope enlivened the landscape. It must look impressive in the sunlight. That was where she was going tonight ...

It was a comparatively new mansion, with a lot of carving around the gables and the veranda.

From this prominent house the owner of the mine could look across his domain.

No, she was at it again! She had never perceived the upper classes in this light before. It was because she now had the opportunity to see society from the bottom up, so to speak, from the workers’ point of view, that her view had changed. But it wasn’t fair to Adrian, who was a very fine and modest man.

But what was his family like?

He was a widower, but he had a mother and two sisters ... she remembered Kerstin only vaguely as a tall, loud woman who had definite ideas about things but was not unsympathetic by any means.

But she was considerably more domineering than Adrian, who had a quiet sense of authority.

Over there lay the workers’ barracks and the road to the mine. She slowed down, as she still had an unpleasant experience from the night before fresh in her memory. She had been awakened by the sound of something knocking against the window. Thinking that it was one of the schoolchildren, she had got out of bed and opened the curtains. But she had seen the silhouettes of four or five men and heard eager giggles. She had closed the curtains again and gone straight back to bed. She had ignored their persistent knocks on the window, afraid that Klara might hear it and get cross. Eventually they left, shouting obscenities and loud remarks.

No, she didn’t want to pass the barracks: she didn’t want to meet anyone there now. This was to be her own little journey of discovery.

Instead, she climbed the hill until she had a view of the moor and the ocean.

Ugh! The strong wind grabbed hold of her so that she almost fell over backwards. The ocean was roaring and thundering and the grass on the moor was bent horizontal.

How changed everything was compared to the day she had arrived there! The colour of the heather had faded and it looked more like ash than anything else. The ocean was as dark grey as the sky, but with white crests of foam. It was baring its teeth.

The lonely houses looked even more exposed now, if that were possible, as though they might be swept away by the next blast of wind. There were two small farms, almost smallholdings, as far as she could discern, and farther off there were two more houses, more or less sheltered among the twisted pines. She could barely see one house while the other was half hidden in the trees.

She wondered how small Egon’s home was. She hoped he lived on the nearest farm so he wouldn’t have such a long walk to school in the mornings. On the other hand, that farm also looked like the best of them all, and Egon did not seem to have an easy time of it at home.

She wondered why his parents had allowed him to go to school. There was something about Egon that didn’t quite add up.

He looked as if he was beaten every day. And he looked so skinny and miserable, as though he never got any food.

And then they sent him to school! From out here of all places, where no one ever kept track of whether or not the children attended school.

She would have to remember to check his lunch bag and see whether they gave him any proper food to bring with him.

The sight of the enormous ocean increased her feeling of loneliness. The feeling that always came whenever she was forced to think back on the past.

It was impossible for her to stay up there on the cliff any longer. Her ears and cheeks were turning blue. The wind chilled her to the marrow. So she turned around.

On her way back, in a hollow between the cliffs she suddenly started. Three men were walking towards her.

She could see they were miners.

It wasn’t a good place to meet them. No one would be able to see them from the houses in the village.

Anna Maria was uneasy.

Two of the men were young, the third was older and kept a little in the background. He didn’t seem too intelligent and was constantly laughing nervously.

One of the young men was very good-looking, but in a cheap sort of way. He was the leader. The other two seemed to admire him quite a bit and emulated everything he did.

“Well, hello there, young Miss,” said the leader, and by his tone of voice she could tell that they had noticed her up on the cliff and had run down to cut her off at this very spot where no one could see them.

She greeted them and asked kindly, “Shouldn’t you be at the mine?”

“We are working the night shift,” the handsome one answered with an unpleasant smile. “Well, then, what is the young lady’s name?”

“Anna Maria Olsdatter. And yours?”

He didn’t answer. He just kept smiling with anticipation, as though he knew what was about to happen.

At that very moment a loud shout came from the hill that separated them from the settlement. “Sixten!”

The men turned around guiltily. Adrian Brandt was standing there, and never before had Anna Maria been so happy to see him! They all walked towards him, Anna Maria quickly and the men more hesitantly.

They slipped off their caps and passed the director as fast as they could.

Adrian Brandt didn’t say anything to them, just gave them a brusque glance and waited until they were out of earshot.

“Thank you!” said Anna Maria. “I wasn’t sure how to handle it. It was ... unpleasant.”

“Yes. I saw you from the window and I saw them coming so I hurried out. You should be more careful about going out alone.”

They set off towards the house.

“The men here have practically no contact with women,” Adrian said. “And Sixten is untrustworthy. He ...”

“Yes? What were you about to say?”

“No, it’s just some gossip that Nilsson is spreading. That Sixten visits a certain lady here.”

“Seved’s wife,” Anna Maria nodded. “Yes, Nilsson mentioned that.”

“You shouldn’t listen to that gossiper,” Adrian said excitedly. “The worst of it is that there’s always a grain of truth in what he says. How are you getting on otherwise?”

“Well, thank you. Everything is very nice and tidy at Klara’s.”

“That’s why I chose her house. Well, let’s part here, so that Nilsson doesn’t start gossiping about us, too. See you tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too. And thank you once again for helping me.”

She watched him for a moment as he left, an erect, elegant figure. “So that Nilsson doesn’t start gossiping about us, too ...”

That was a creepy thought. A little strange and unexpected.

Walking through the village was like running the gauntlet. Was Nilsson keeping an eye on her from the mine office? Or Adrian’s relatives from the big house?

In the house of Gustav the blacksmith everything was quiet. The only sound was a child coughing. But at Seved’s window Anna Maria saw a woman’s face. It quickly disappeared, but Anna Maria managed to discern a blonde beauty of the more simple kind. Doll-like, sweet and harmless. She was probably easy to seduce but more a victim of men’s desire than an outright tart.

Sixten had probably found something pleasing in her.

Anna Maria felt that eyes were following her from all the houses. She had, of course, managed to meet all the women who lived in the five houses, even though she had only greeted them and nothing more. She had also met a few of the miners.

But there was one she still hadn’t seen: the miner’s foreman, the one they called Kol. The one who had been so disappointed that it was a woman who had arrived and not a “proper” teacher.

Anna Maria didn’t feel much like meeting him either.

She stopped.

A strange mood reigned over the windswept, quiet village.

She had an unpleasant feeling that it was the quiet before the storm.