This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 edition. Excerpt: ...little while at a time, had given to the two-story granite building, with its side wings for prisoners, a dreary and deserted appearance. It more resembled a jail than a mighty governor's castle. The gloominess was increased by its present inmates, the stern Fru Martha, with her old maid-servants, some ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 edition. Excerpt: ...little while at a time, had given to the two-story granite building, with its side wings for prisoners, a dreary and deserted appearance. It more resembled a jail than a mighty governor's castle. The gloominess was increased by its present inmates, the stern Fru Martha, with her old maid-servants, some invalid soldiers, and bearded jailors. Had Gustave Adolf recollected the condition of the place he would probably not have sent his young prisoner to such a dispiriting abode. Fru Martha was prepared for her guest, whom they had described to her as a dangerous and depraved young person, for whose cunning no bar was strong enough, no wall thick enough. She had therefore had a little dark chamber within her own bedroom prepared for Fraulein Regina and her duenna, and made up her mind to watch the wild girl's smallest motions like an Argus. Fru Martha was at bottom a good, honest soul, but a sharp and stiff-necked old lady of the old school, who had brought up all her children with the rod, and never considered them grown above a due chastisement. It never entered her mind that a lonely, defenceless and forsaken young girl, far away in a strange land, needed a comforting hand, a motherly kindness; Fru Martha held that discipline ought to tame a spoiled child, and then, so she believed, it would be time enough to think of a milder mode of treatment. When Fraulein Regina, accustomed to the freedom of the sea, entered this gloomy dwelling, an involuntary shiver passed through her slender frame. This feeling was not mitigated when she was received on the steps by the old lady herself, in a close linen cap, and a long, dark woollen cloak. It is possible that Fraulein Regina's inclination of the head was somewhat stiff, and her whole bearing...
Read Less