'You bad boy!' cried the father with strong emotion, pressing him to his bosom. 'And if I pardon you every thing else, I will not pardon you for depriving yourself of the power of serving your father-land, whose golden age is just commencing.' 'May heaven grant,' answered Arwed, 'that Sweden may not soon wish back the departed _iron_ age! I shall always think that the strong will of one only ruler can direct the government more consistently and happily, than the constantly divided opinions of the four and twenty little kings who are now to rule the country, even though you yourself are one of these kings, my father.' 'Silence! you are incorrigible!' cried the old counsellor, drawing his son with him out of the palace. ARWED GYLLENSTIERNA. A TALE OF THE EARLY PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BY C. F. VAN DER VELDE. PART SECOND. CHAPTER XXIX. Directly northward, by the west coast of the gulf of Bothnia, through Gestrikland, Helsingland, Medelpat, and Angermannland, Arwed rapidly pursued his expiatory journey, until he reached the southern boundary of the province of West Bothnia, in which Nicodemus, count Gyllenstierna, the counsellor's elder brother, presided as governor. On arriving at the broad river Umea, which here empties its floods into the gulf of Bothnia, Arwed reined in his horse, and, while his groom made a signal for the ferry-boat stationed on the opposite side, reviewed the scenery which had always remained impressed upon his memory, and which now called up a thousand reminiscences of his early childhood. To the right, on the sea-shore, and at the mouth of the broad stream, lay the capital of the poor, depopulated province, the little town of Umea, to which only its harbor with its clustering masts, gave any importance. To the left arose the lofty Gyllensten, the old ancestral castle of the house of Gyllenstierna throned proudly upon its massive rocks, and bordered by a forest of dark pines. The broad plain which intervened between the higher elevations and the river, exhibited evidence of unusual fruitfulness for these northern regions. The magnificent, clear, blue arch, which, in the west rested upon Lapland's distant snow-clad mountains, and in the east upon the dark mirror of the sea, completed the picture which nature, rich even in her poverty and gorgeous in her simplicity, offered to the eye of the observer. 'My fatherland is every where beautiful!' exclaimed he with emotion; 'and this solitary nook, how well suited to my feelings! Yes, I feel that here I can again be happy!'