Sidonia, the Sorceress Volume I Part 41

And truly, in a little time, the abbess, Magdalena von Petersdorf, came as she was bid; for she had resolved to try and conquer Sidonia's pride and insolence by softness and humility.

But what a storm of words fell upon the worthy matron!

"Was this treatment, forsooth, for a n.o.ble lady? To be told to knit gloves for a set of lazy canons. Marry, she had better send the men at once to her room, to have them tried on. No wonder that levity and wantonness should reign throughout the convent!"

Here the good mother interposed--

"But could not sister Sidonia moderate her language a little? Such violence ill became a spiritual maiden. If she would not hold by the old usage, let her say so quietly, and then she herself, the abbess, would undertake to knit the gloves, since the work so displeased her."

Then she turned to leave the room, but, on opening the door, tumbled right against sister Anna Apenborg, who was stuck up close to it, with her ear against the crevice, listening to what was pa.s.sing inside. Anna screamed at first, for the good mother's head had given her a stout blow, but recovering quickly, as the two prioresses pa.s.sed out, curtsied to Sidonia--

"Her name was Anna Apenborg. Her father, Elias, dwelt in Nadrensee, near Old Stettin, and her great-great-grandfather, Caspar, had been with Bogislaff X. in the Holy Land. She had come to pay her respects to the new sister, for she was cooking in the kitchen yesterday when the lady arrived, and never got a sight of her, but she heard that this dear new sister was a great lady, with castles and lands. Her father's cabin was only a poor thing thatched with straw," &c.

All this pleased the proud Sidonia mightily, so she beckoned her into the room, where the aforesaid Anna immediately began to stare about her, and devour everything with her eyes; but seeing such scanty furniture, remarked inquiringly--

"The dear sister's goods are, of course, on the road?"

This spoiled all Sidonia's good-humour in a moment, and she snappishly asked--

"What brought her there?"

Hereupon the other excused herself--

"The maid had told her that the dear sister was going to eat her salmon for her lunch, with bread and b.u.t.ter, but it was much better with kale, and if she had none, her maid might come down now and cut some in the garden. This was what she had to say. She heard, indeed, that the sub-prioress and Agnes Kleist ate their salmon stewed in b.u.t.ter, but that was too rich; for one should be very particular about salmon, it was so apt to disagree. However, if sister Sidonia would just mind her, she would teach her all the different ways of dressing it, and no one was ever the worse for eating salmon, if they followed her plan."

But before Sidonia had time to answer, the chatterbox had run to the door and lifted the latch--

"There was a strange woman in the courtyard, with something under her ap.r.o.n. She must go and see what it was, but would be back again instantly with the news."

In a short time she returned, bringing along with her Sheriff Sparling's dairy-woman, who carried a large bundle of flax under her ap.r.o.n. This she set down before Sidonia--

"And his wors.h.i.+p bid her say that she must spin all this for him without delay, for he wanted a new set of s.h.i.+rts, and the thread must be with the weaver by Christmas."

When Sidonia heard this, she fell into a right rage in earnest--

"May the devil wring his ears, the peasant carl! To send such a message to a lady of her degree!"

Then she pitched the flax out of the door, and wanted to shove the dairy-woman out after it, but she stopped, and said--

"His wors.h.i.+p gave all the nuns a bushel of seed for their trouble, and sowed it for them; so she had better do as the others did."

Sidonia, however, was not to be appeased--

"May the devil take her and her flax, if she did not trot out of that instantly."

So she pushed the poor woman out, and then panting and blowing with rage, asked Anna Apenborg to tell her what this boor of a sheriff was like?

_Illa_.--"He was a strange man. Ate fish every day, and always cooked the one way, namely, in beer. How this was possible she could not understand. To-day she heard he was to have pike for his dinner."

_Haec_.--"Was she asking the fool what he ate? What did she care about his dinners? But what sort of man was he, and did all the nuns, in truth, spin for him?"

_Illa_.--"Ay, truly, except Barbara Schetzkow; she was dead now. But once when he went storming to her cell, she just turned him out, and so she had peace ever after. For he roared like a bear, but, in truth, was a cowardly rabbit, this same sheriff. And she heard, that one time, when he was challenged by a n.o.ble, he shrank away, and never stood up to his quarrel."

But just then in walked the sheriff himself, with a horse-whip in his hand. He was a thick-set, grey-headed fellow, and roared at Sidonia--

"What! thou old, lean hag--so thou wilt spin no flax? May the devil take thee, but thou shalt obey my commands!"

While he thus scolded, Sidonia quietly caught hold of the broom, and grasping it with both hands, gave such a blow with the handle on the grey pate of the sheriff, that he tumbled against the door, while she screamed out--

"Ha! thou peasant boor, take that for calling me a hag--the lady of castle and lands!"

Then she struck him again and again, till the sheriff at last got the door open and bolted out, running down the stairs as hard as he could, and into the courtyard, where, when he was safely landed, he shook the horsewhip up at Sidonia's windows, crying out--

"I will make you pay dear for this. Anna Apenborg was witness of the a.s.sault. I will swear information this very day before his Highness, how the hag a.s.saulted me, the sheriff, and superintendent of the convent, in the performance of my duty, and pray him to deliver an honourable cloister from the presence of such a vagabond."

Then he went to the abbess, and begged her and the nuns to sustain him in his accusation--

"Such wickedness and arrogance had never yet been seen under the sun. Let the good abbess only feel his head; there was a lump as big as an egg on it. Truly, he had had a mind to horsewhip her black and blue; but that would have been illegal; so he thanked G.o.d that he had restrained himself."

Then he made the abbess feel his head again; also Anna Apenborg, who happened to come in that moment. But the worthy mother knew not what to do. She told the sheriff of Sidonia's behaviour as she drove into the convent; also how she had possessed herself of the refectory by force, refused to knit or spin, and had sent for her, the abbess, bidding her come to her, as if she were no better than a serving-wench.

At last the sheriff desired all the nuns to be sent for, and in their presence drew up a pet.i.tion to his Highness, praying that the honourable convent might be delivered from the presence of this dragon, for that no peace could be expected within the walls until this vagabond and evil-minded old hag were turned out on the road again, or wherever else his Highness pleased. Every one present signed this, with the exception of Anna Apenborg and the sub-prioress, Dorothea Stettin. And many think that in consideration of this gentleness, Sidonia afterwards spared their lives, and did not bring them to a premature grave, like as she did the worthy abbess and others.

For the next time that she caught Anna at her old habit of listening, Sidonia said, while boxing her--

"You should get something worse than a box on the ear, only for your refusal to sign that lying pet.i.tion to his Highness."

_Summa_.--After a few days, an answer arrived from his Grace the Duke of Stettin, and the abbess, with the sheriff, proceeded with it to Sidonia's apartment.

They found her brewing beer, an art in which she excelled; and the letter which they handed to her ran thus, according to the copy received likewise by the convent:--

"WE, BOGISLAFF, BY THE GRACE OF G.o.d, DUKE OF STETTIN, &c.

"Having heard from our sheriff and the pious sisterhood of Marienfliess, of thy unseemly behaviour, in causing uproars and tumults in the convent; further, of thy having struck our worthy sheriff on the head with a broom-stick--We hereby declare, desire, and command, that, unless thou givest due obedience to the authorities, lay and spiritual, doing this well, with humility and meekness, even as the other sisters, the said authorities shall have full power to turn thee out of the convent, by means of their bailiffs or otherwise, as they please, giving thee back again to that perdition from which thou wast rescued. Further, thou art herewith to deliver up the refectory to the abbess, of which We hear thou hast shamefully possessed thyself.

"Old Stettin, 10th November, 1603.

"BOGISLAFF."

Sidonia scarcely looked at the letter, but thrust it under the pot on the fire, where it soon blazed away to help the brewing, and exclaimed--

"They had forged it between them; the Prince never wrote a line of it. Nor would he have sent it to her by the hands of her enemies.

Let it burn there. Little trouble would she take to read their villainy. But never fear, they should have something in return for their pains."

Hereupon she blew on them both, and they had scarcely reached the court, after leaving her apartment, when both were seized with excruciating pains in their limbs; both the sheriff and the abbess were affected in precisely the same way--a violent pain first in the little finger, then on through the hand, up the arm, finally, throughout the whole frame, as if the members were tearing asunder, till they both screamed aloud for very agony. Doctor Schwalenberg is sent for from Stargard, but his salve does no good; they grow worse rather, and their cries are dreadful to listen to, for the pain has become intolerable.

So my brave sheriff turns from a roaring ox into a poor cowardly hare, and sends off the dairy-woman with a fine haunch of venison and a sweetbread to Sidonia: "His wors.h.i.+p's compliments to the ill.u.s.trious lady with these, and begged to know if she could send him anything good for the rheumatism, which had attacked him quite suddenly. The Stargard doctor was not worth the air he breathed, and his salve had only made him worse in place of better. He would send the ill.u.s.trious lady also some pounds of wax-lights; she might like them through the winter, but they were not made yet."