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99 BIOGRAPHY.
the water, and others under the linie-trees upon the grassy
stone terraces. Waiting for the arrival of the clergyman
and the ringing of the bells, the smartly dressed peasant
women sat holding in their hands large bouquets of “ south-
ernwood.” After the service, the clergyman came to see
my parents. It was a custom from old times that he
should dine at the Manor-house.
My father had purchased Nyniis of Count Mauritz Arm-
felt. I saw this favorite of Gustavus III., famous for his
personal beauty, his wit, and his political intrigues, when
he came one day to Nynis. He was then already an
elderly man, powerfully built, rather stout, but with an
exceedingly beautiful head. My parents endeavored to
persuade him to remain, at any rate, to dinner; but he de-
clined their invitation, demanding only some luncheon, of
which he would not partake in the dining-room, but alone,
in his own former private apartment. This was a large
room, and on the long wall hung a full-size portrait of the
late King Gustavus Adolphus IV.
Immediately after luncheon, Count Armfelt returned to
Stockholm. There was something so strange in his visit to
Nyniis, that it gave rise to much surprise and many sur-
mises. I heard subsequently that being a zealous adherent
of the deposed king and his family, he did not consider
himself quite safe in his native country, and that imme-
diately after his return to the capital he had taken up his
abode in the hotel of the Russian ambassador, Count
Tuchtelen, where he remained until he went over to Fin-
land.
Count Armfelt had left an homme d’affaires at Nyniis,
who was to stay there over the summer, in order to settle
all the accounts relating to the sale of the estate.
He was a Frenchman, an old Abbé, by name Gredaine.
The good, hoary-headed Abbé soon became charmed with
the little, witty, lively Fredrika, and said to her one day,
“ Mademoiselle Frédérique, je vous fais mon héritiére uni-
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