When the clergy learned

[ahad1020]

When the clergy learned of the affair, he and his wife moved to Helsinki, having sold Remmer's entire estate. I remember how inconsolable Remmer was in the rectory when he heard this. The old soldier cried like a child. Although those present urged him to despise his criminal wife, he defended her and showed her forgiveness. He hurried to Helsinki to separate his wife from the crazy seducer. I thought Munter would be delighted to hear that Remmer was alive. But he was tormented by the fact that his friend had left without his knowledge, without even extending a hand to say goodbye, without settling his affairs and without giving any information about himself. What hurt him most was that with his old comrade in arms, the hope of returning to his native land had disappeared.

“I had decided to stay in Uppsala for Midsummer, or June 25th. The summer festival is not only celebrated as the longest day of the year, but also as the saddest. Everyone who has a soul flocks to the country. For hours you don’t see a person on the street. One might think that plague or war has driven the inhabitants out of the houses, overseas data which stand deserted and sad. The eateries are closed, because the maids and servants have left. Anyone who has not prepared in advance will have to go hungry with money in his pocket.

No such fate awaited me. I had made the acquaintance of my compatriot, Dr. Romanson, and I was like one of his own in his home. Access to the most respected homes in the city had provided an opportunity for the ennobling pleasures of social life, which are usually not available to students. Now too I had been invited to the Midsummer celebration. In the afternoon, accompanied by the women, I visited the training ground, where conscripts were performing their final exercises in the presence of a crowd.