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LETTERS. 171
stoops down to the forsaken one, seizes hold of him, and
does not rest until it has raised him out of the slough. I
know that it is so, and that this picture is true. But it
would have been truer and better, if I had chosen for Bruno
another kind of criminality. A murder would have been
more in accordance with his character; but there is some-
thing so horrible in a murder. On the other hand, a
participation to a certain degree in the slave-trade may be
iniagined without the participator necessarily being a hard-
ened villain, especially when his active share in such a
trade is soon given up, which his confession seems to im-
ply. It would, therefore, have been better if I had more
clearly defined Bruno’s share in the misdeed. Some per-
sons have reproached me for having made Bruno finally
happy. But to these I can only reply, he never can be
happy, whatever he may appear to be in the eyes of others
(as for instance, in the eyes of the Rosenvik people). He
says so himself in his confession, and one feels that he
speaks the truth. The thunderbolt, which grazes his fore-
head, lightens also in his soul, and shall there lighten re-
proachfully till the end of his life. Conscience and mem-
ory are his tormentors. But he has stepped into the courts
of atonement. Celestial melodies will occasionally find an
echo in his soul, and the angel who has gained the ascend-
ency over his heart, will guide him to the goal.
Srocksoitm, 29th September, 1837.1
Dearest sister Cfhtarlotte and , you who have tended
our Hedda, you who have loved her so much, who have
1 While my husband and I were staying at a watering-place in Ger-
many, our mother communicated to us her wish that we should accompany
my sister Hedda to Paris, to consult the physicians there about her ill-
ness. We hastened accordingly to meet her and my youngest sister,
Agatha, in Hamburg. Having found no relief, she returned after a short
time in a hopeless state. My husband and I were obliged to take a pain-
ful leave of her in Ystad, and she died a few days after her arrival in
Stockholm. :
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