“It was a crime that deprived me of you, but your own goodness which has restored you to me!”

“And the rascality of Noah Jones has resulted in making our Erik one of the richest men in America,” cried Mr. Bredejord.

Every one looked at him with surprise.

“Doubtless,” answered the eminent lawyer.  “Erik is his father’s heir, and has a share in the income, derived from the Vandalia mine.  Has he not been unjustly deprived of this for the last twenty-two years?

“We have only to give proofs of his identity, and we have plenty of witnesses, Mr. Hersebom, Dame Katrina and Mr. Malarius, besides ourselves.  If Noah Jones has left any children, they are responsible for the enormous arrears which will probably consume all their share of the capital stock.

“If the rascal has left no children, by the terms of the contract which Mr. Durrien has just read, Erik is the sole inheritor of the entire property; and according to all accounts he ought to have in Pennsylvania an income of one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars a year!”

“Ah, ah,” said the doctor, laughing.  “Behold the little fisherman of Noroe become an eligible parti! Laureate of the Geographical Society, author of the first circumpolar periplus, and afflicted with the modest income of two hundred thousand dollars.  There are not many such husbands to be met with in Stockholm.  What do you say Kajsa?”

The young girl blushed painfully at being thus addressed, but her uncle had no suspicion that he had made a cruel speech.

Kajsa had felt that she had not acted wisely in treating Erik as she had done, and she resolved for the future to show him more attention.

But it was a singular fact that Erik no longer cared for her, since he felt himself elevated above her unjust disdain.  Perhaps it was absence, or the lonely hours which he had spent walking the deck at night, which had revealed to him the poverty of Kajsa’s heart; or it might be the satisfaction he felt that she could no longer regard him as “a waif”; he only treated her now with the most perfect courtesy, to which she was entitled as a young lady and Dr. Schwaryencrona’s niece.

All his preference now was for Vanda, who indeed grew every day more and more charming, and was losing all her little village awkwardness under the roof of an amiable and cultivated lady.  Her exquisite goodness, her native grace, and perfect simplicity, made her beloved by all who approached her.  She had not been eight days at Val-Fray, when Mrs. Durrien declared positively that it would be impossible for her ever to part with her.