But it was worse when she learned that Erik was even less than a peasant, only a child that had been picked up.  That appeared to her monstrous and dishonorable.  She thought that such a child had a lower place in society than a cat or a dog; she manifested these sentiments by the most disdainful looks, the most mortifying silence, and the most cruel insults.  If Erik was invited with her to any little social gathering at the house of a friend, she would positively refuse to dance with him.  At the table she would not answer anything he said, nor pay any attention to him.  She tried on all occasions, and in every possible way, to humiliate him.

Poor Erik had divined the cause of this uncharitable conduct, but he could not understand how ignorance of his family, and of the land of his birth, could be regarded by her as such a heinous crime.  He tried one day to reason with Kajsa, and to make her understand the injustice and cruelty of such a prejudice, but she would not even deign to listen to him.  Then as they both grew older, the abyss which separated them seemed to widen.  At eighteen Kajsa made her debut in society.  She was flattered and noticed as the rich heiress, and this homage only confirmed her in the opinion that she was superior to common mortals.

Erik, who was at first greatly afflicted by her disdain, ended by becoming indignant, and vowing to triumph over it.  This feeling of humiliation had a great share in producing the passionate ardor with which he pursued his studies.  He dreamed of raising himself so high in public esteem, by the force of his own industry, that every one would bow before him.  But he also vowed that he would go away on the first opportunity, and that he would not remain under a roof where every day he was exposed to some secret humiliation.

Only the good doctor must be kept in ignorance of the cause of his departure.  He must attribute it solely to a passion for traveling.  And Erik therefore frequently spoke of his desire, when his studies were completed, of engaging in some scientific expedition.  While pursuing his studies at Upsal, he prepared himself by work, and the most severe exercise, for the life of fatigue and danger which is the lot of great travelers.

CHAPTER XI.

The “Vega.”

In the month of December, 1878, Erik had attained the age of twenty, and passed his first examination for his doctor’s degree.  The learned men of Sweden were greatly excited about the proposed arctic expedition of the navigator Nordenskiold, and their enthusiasm was shared by a large proportion of the population.  After preparing himself for the undertaking by several voyages to the polar regions, and after studying the problem in all its aspects, Nordenskiold intended to attempt once more to discover the north-east passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which for three centuries had defied the efforts of all the maritime nations.