The Settlers (43 page)

Today for her journey to St. Paul she was wearing a new dress, with big puffed sleeves and a wide collar.

“Miss Skalrud says I deck myself in too much lace and flowers and embroidery,” said Ulrika. “The Norwegian says, ‘If you don’t get to be a priest’s mother it’s only a punishment for your vanity!’”

Kristina inspected the new dress: all upper-class ladies in America had puffed sleeves and wide collars, and they were not considered sinful or blasphemous decorations. Or did they tempt the menfolk to fornication? Ulrika’s new dress fit her well and was most becoming to her. Kristina couldn’t believe that because of puffed sleeves and lace and embroidery the Almighty would make Ulrika unable to bear male children.

“I would be glad to dress in potato sacks if I thought it would help,” exclaimed Ulrika. “But I keep hoping for next time. I’m only forty-two—I’ll be fertile still for a few years!”

Kristina explained why she was keeping Harald in bed and told Ulrika about the wildcat lurking in the bushes. When Ulrika also heard about Robert’s unexpected return her curiosity was aroused and she showered Kristina with questions: What had happened to Karl Oskar’s brother in California? How much had he told them? Had he earned any gold to bring back? Kristina replied evasively. Robert had gone out but Ulrika herself could ask him as soon as he came back. So far he hadn’t said much. She looked askance at the Swedish chest and was sorely tempted to confide in Ulrika about what lay hidden in it, but she dared not because of Karl Oskar. Nothing must be said to anyone as yet.

Robert did not return for the noon meal. Ulrika took his place at the kitchen table once she had thwarted Kristina’s attempts to set the table in the big room in honor of her guest.

“I’ve been to St. Paul to visit Elin.”

“Elin? Has your girl left Stillwater?” asked Kristina in surprise.

“Yes, she has a new job.” Ulrika became so serious that it surprised Kristina. She went on: “It was a hell of a thing. There are worse wildcats than those on four legs.” And Ulrika began to talk about the two-legged ones.

A great scandal had happened in the Baptist congregation in Stillwater. For more than four years Ulrika’s daughter Elin had been maid to Mr. Paul Hanley, the most prominent and richest member of their church. Hanley and his wife had been kind and generous to Elin. But a few times during the last year Elin had complained that Mr. Hanley acted peculiar toward her. She was asked to help him pull off his boots, she was told to sew buttons on his clothes while he had them on, and when his wife was away he called Elin to his room after he had gone to bed and asked her to make the bed while he was lying in it. These were chores he had thought up for the innocent girl, who wondered what it was all about.

And a few weeks ago she had come running home crying. He had tried to lead the girl astray and fornicate with her. His wife was at a party; he had called Elin to make the bed again—and then he had pulled her to him and thrown her down on the bed under him. Only with the greatest effort had she struggled free—luckily Elin was a sturdy, strong, full-grown girl—and, scared to death, she had rushed home to her mother. Ulrika realized at once what great danger the girl had been in: six or seven hooks had been torn loose from her petticoat.

Ulrika had gone straight back to Mr. Hanley and called him all the names he had earned, both in English and Swedish: adulterer, seducer, virgin-robber,
horkarl, knullgubbe.
He denied everything and called Elin an inveterate liar. But Ulrika had walked right into the elegant bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Hanley and, as luck would have it, happened to see four of the torn-off hooks and eyes from Elins underskirt right on the floor next to the bed. She recognized them at once, she had sewn them on herself when she had made the petticoat for the girl. She picked them up and stuck them right under Mr. Hanley’s nose: she had sewn those hooks and eyes to her daughter’s clothes—how did they happen to be in his bedroom, next to his bed?

At that the hardened seducer admitted that he had fondled his beautiful girl servant, but it had not been with any sinful or lewd intention. On the contrary: God himself had sent him the thought that it was his fatherly duty as her master to test the girl’s chastity. She was so attractive and thus constantly exposed to temptations and to the desire of men wishing to seduce her. As a true Christian it was his duty to guard the innocence of his girl servant. He had seen men approach her with decidedly dishonorable intentions, and he would hate to see her led astray by immoral men, into deaths destruction, so often the lot of beautiful servant girls. But the girl had not understood that with his fondling he only wanted, in a fatherly way, to test her chastity. And for this he was very sorry, since he had only touched her with pious intent.

But Ulrika had replied bluntly to his false excuse: Elin had a mother who guarded her maidenhead. And he—married as he was—what kind of guardian of girls’ chastity was he? Searching so forcibly in their underwear that hooks and eyes were torn off! Instead of leafing through petticoats he ought to leaf through the Bible and find the verse where it says: adulterers and those who break the vows of holy matrimony God will judge.

She demanded the balance of Elin’s wages on the spot. The girl would not come back to a service where she would fear to be raped by the master the moment his wife left the house. A wildcat might be a hairier beast than Mr. Hanley but hardly more dangerous. Ulrika had long been aware that that elegant gentleman suffered from secret desires for women; his pants protruded as soon as he heard the rustle of a skirt; such things an experienced woman knew by instinct.

She had told everything to Henry to make him get after the adulterer. And finally Mr. Hanley had confessed privately to the pastor, saying he was crushed with remorse. And Henry, who loved a human being more the greater a sinner he was, had given him absolution. They would keep the incident quiet and Mr. Hanley would remain as one of the trustees of the church—he had, over the years, contributed great sums to the congregation. And Ulrika, who once in her old body had been a great sinner, felt that he should be forgiven this time. But this she had said to Henry: if Mr. Hanley made any more attempts at rape, then she herself would openly tell the whole congregation about his try at Elin, and to prove it she would show the hooks from the girl’s clothes which she was keeping for that purpose. That would quickly push him out of the church.

And Mr. Hanley, although he was on secret probation, had already engaged a new girl who was almost as good-looking as Elin. So it didn’t seem as if the man was trying to avoid new temptations to sin. And now Ulrika wondered: would the hooks hold in the new girl’s petticoat when the master undertook his chastity test?

Elin had immediately got a fine position with the chief of police in St. Paul and was paid three dollars more a month than Mr. Hanley had given her. Ulrika had visited her daughter in St. Paul and was glad she liked it so well with the new people. After all, perhaps Mr. Hanley’s chastity test had been a good thing as it might contribute to her luck in life; as a servant to the chief of police himself, her maidenhead should be safe from two-legged beasts in pants.

Kristina had listened to Ulrika without interrupting her. Now she said, “There, you see—American men too are not to be trusted!”

“Yes, a beautiful woman is in trouble anywhere in the world,” sighed the experienced Mrs. Jackson.

Kristina tried to persuade her guest to stay overnight; they had plenty of sleeping places in their new house. But Ulrika was in a hurry today.

“No, I’m sorry, but we have speak-meeting in the church tonight. And Sunday we have love feast and bread-breaking, and that kind of meeting has to be prepared for days in advance.”

Ulrika would return home on the lumber company ox wagon, passing along the road near Sjölin’s claim, opposite Nordberg’s Island, where the men were just building the Lutheran church. She had been to that spot before, and even though she was a Baptist she must say the Lutherans had found a nice and pleasant place for a Lord’s temple there on the crest of the hill, with all the foliage around it. But however nicely a church was situated, false teachings could be preached in it.

Kristina said that Ulrika must also take a look at their cemetery, which had been consecrated last fall, a short distance farther on along the shore. As yet no grave had been dug in the cemetery.

Little Ulrika was having her noon nap, the other children were taking care of themselves, so Kristina walked with her guest almost to the edge of Olausson’s claim, where the ox team would meet her.

Ulrika’s visit had stimulated and cheered Kristina, taking her mind off the things that had been disturbing her. As she walked back it struck her that she never was on intimate terms with the neighbor women even though she often saw Manda Svensson and Johanna Kron and others. They talked only of daily chores, children’s troubles, their pregnancies and births—those they had experienced or were anticipating. These women came to her with all the troubles she had enough of, was in the midst of, which almost overwhelmed her, and therefore a visit with them did not especially enliven her. Nor was she able entirely to open herself to them and confide in them. Perhaps she had changed during her long isolation; she herself had been separated from people for so long that she could not admit anyone to her innermost thoughts.

Even Karl Oskar had once asked if she had grown shy of people. Whatever the reason, Ulrika was and remained her only intimate friend among women in America.

—3—

Robert had returned from his walk in the forest and was lying on his back in the shade of the huge sugar maples outside the house. Kristina was short of breath after her walk in the heat and sat down on the stoop for a moment. She said jokingly that she never knew where Robert kept himself during the day. Even though he was a grown man she thought they should still hang a cowbell on him so they would know where he was.

Robert smiled back. It was true—he had run away many times but he always came back.

He had a book in his hand which he showed her. It was the
History of Nature
he had brought with him from Sweden. He had left it here and he had just found it among the junk in the old log house. The book was torn, the pages held together at the back by a few thin, twisted threads; it wasn’t much to save.

“But I just ran across an amusing chapter. Listen to this, Kristina!”

And Robert read aloud:

“About Gold and Gold Coins.

“Gold is always found as a metal, sometimes mixed with silver. It is found in mountains, embedded in pyrites or quartz; but most gold is found in the earth, usually in fine grains. Then it is mixed with sand. Sometimes bigger lumps are found. Because the gold grains are so much heavier than the sand grains one can wash away the sand with water leaving only the gold; this is called washing gold.

“Gold cannot be changed either by air or fire if it is pure; that is why gold is called a noble metal.

“Pure gold is more than nineteen times heavier than water . . .”

He looked up from the book: “Did you hear that, Kristina? A noble metal! Nineteen times heavier than water! And worth more than human life! This last isn’t in the book, of course, but I’m going to write it there!”

Kristina listened abstractedly; at the moment it was hard for her to concentrate on gold and gold washing. She was thinking of her boy inside in bed; she must go and see how he was.

“A wildcat almost scared the life out of Harald this morning, down at the lake. Why don’t you take Karl Oskar’s gun and shoot it!”

“Why should I kill a wildcat?” asked Robert, looking up from his
History of Nature.
“He has the same right to live as you or I.”

“But it’s a dangerous and beastly critter!”

“There are no beasts except white-skinned people.”

“Now you’re poking fun at me, Robert. I meant it seriously.”

“I’m not fooling. I have never seen any beasts except people. The wildcat only eats his fill, but people steal everything they see. They are worse than the wild beasts.”

“May God protect us if that is true!”

“It is true, Kristina. I should know.”

He had used a lot of English in his talk when he first returned, but after only a few days he spoke his native tongue as purely as before. His hearing, however, seemed to grow worse; when she spoke to him he always put his hand behind his right, healthy ear and turned it toward her.

Now that they were alone she must try to make Robert confide in her about the ailment he suffered from.

“There was blood on the pillow from your bad ear last night.”

“It’s been out of use for a long time. But it’s a good sign when it bleeds—then the ache stops.”

“They were horrible spots.”

“I’m sorry, Kristina, if I ruined your pillow slip.”

“How silly of you! I wasn’t thinking of the slip. But I do feel sorry for you if it aches in the night.”

And Kristina shuddered to think that when his ear bled it no longer hurt.

She told him that Karl Oskar and she were really worried about him. They were afraid he had picked up some dangerous sickness in the goldfields. Why didn’t he tell her what was the matter with him? He must try to find some remedy.

He replied in a low voice that it was very kind of her, but she mustn’t worry about him. As soon as the buzzing and the noise stopped in his ear he would be entirely well again. Sometimes, when the ear was quiet, he immediately felt better.

“There is nothing the matter with me, in any way.”

Robert sounded full of confidence that he would soon be well again. He was lying on his back in the grass, holding the
History of Nature
above his face. He turned back to the chapter “About Gold and Gold Coins”:

“Are you listening to me, Kristina? Did you hear that gold is nineteen times heavier than water?”

“I heard you.”

Now he lowered his voice as if he wanted to confide a great secret to her and was afraid someone might be listening.