"Father,--dear father!
I knew he would not leave me without a word!"
Sir Philip reverently opened the folded paper which Svensen had
committed to his care that morning, and together they read the _bonde's_
farewell. It ran as follows:--
"THELMA, MY BELOVED,"
"The summons I have waited for has come at last, and the doors of
Valhalla are set open to receive my soul. Wonder not that I
depart with joy! Old as I am, I long for youth--the everlasting
youth of which the strength and savor fails not. I have lived
long enough to know the sameness of this world--though there is
much therein to please the heart and eye of a man--but with that
roving restlessness that was born within me, I desire to sail new
seas and gaze on new lands, where a perpetual light shines that
knows no fading. Grieve not for me--thou wilt remember that,
unlike a Christian, I see in death the chiefest glory of
life--and thou must not regret that I am eager to drain this cup
of world-oblivion offered by the gods.
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