1 files changed, 11335 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/8anot10.txt b/old/8anot10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b64a547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8anot10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11335 @@
+Project Gutenberg's O. T., A Danish Romance, by Hans Christian Andersen
+#3 in our series by Hans Christian Andersen
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: O. T., A Danish Romance
+
+Author: Hans Christian Andersen
+
+Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7513]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 13, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK O. T., A DANISH ROMANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nicole Apostola
+
+
+
+
+O. T.
+A Danish Romance
+
+by Hans Christian Andersen
+Author of the "Improvisatore" and the "Two Baronesses"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+"Quod felix faustumque sit!"
+
+There is a happiness which no poet has yet properly sung, which no
+lady-reader, let her be ever so amiable, has experienced or ever
+will experience in this world. This is a condition of happiness
+which alone belongs to the male sex, and even then alone to the
+elect. It is a moment of life which seizes upon our feelings,
+our minds, our whole being. Tears have been shed by the innocent,
+sleepless nights been passed, during which the pious mother, the
+loving sister, have put up prayers to God for this critical moment
+in the life of the son or the brother.
+
+Happy moment, which no woman, let her be ever so good, so
+beautiful, or intellectual, can experience--that of becoming a
+student, or, to describe it by a more usual term, the passing of
+the first examination!
+
+The cadet who becomes an officer, the scholar who becomes an
+academical burgher, the apprentice who becomes a journeyman, all
+know, in a greater or less degree, this loosening of the wings,
+this bounding over the limits of maturity into the lists of
+philosophy. We all strive after a wider field, and rush thither
+like the stream which at length loses itself in the ocean.
+
+Then for the first time does the youthful soul rightly feel her
+freedom, and, therefore, feels it doubly; the soul struggles for
+activity, she comprehends her individuality; it has been proved and
+not found too light; she is still in possession of the dreams of
+childhood, which have not yet proved delusive. Not even the joy of
+love, not the enthusiasm for art and science, so thrills through
+all the nerves as the words, "Now am I a student!"
+
+This spring-day of life, on which the ice-covering of the school is
+broken, when the tree of Hope puts forth its buds and the sun of
+Freedom shines, falls with us, as is well known, in the month of
+October, just when Nature loses her foliage, when the evenings
+begin to grow darker, and when heavy winter-clouds draw together,
+as though they would say to youth,--"Your spring, the birth of the
+examination, is only a dream! even now does your life become
+earnest!" But our happy youths think not of these things, neither
+will we be joyous with the gay, and pay a visit to their circle. In
+such a one our story takes its commencement.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+"At last we separate:
+To Jutland one, to Fünen others go;
+And still the quick thought comes,
+--A day so bright, so full of fun,
+Never again on us shall rise."--CARL BAGGER.
+
+It was in October of the year 1829. Examen artium had been passed
+through. Several young students were assembled in the evening at
+the abode of one of their comrades, a young Copenhagener of
+eighteen, whose parents were giving him and his new friends a
+banquet in honor of the examination. The mother and sister had
+arranged everything in the nicest manner, the father had given
+excellent wine out of the cellar, and the student himself, here the
+rex convivii, had provided tobacco, genuine Oronoko-canaster. With
+regard to Latin, the invitation--which was, of course, composed in
+Latin--informed the guests that each should bring his own.
+
+The company, consisting of one and twenty persons--and these were
+only the most intimate friends--was already assembled. About one
+third of the friends were from the provinces, the remainder out of
+Copenhagen.
+
+"Old Father Homer shall stand in the middle of the table!" said one
+of the liveliest guests, whilst he took down from the stove a
+plaster bust and placed it upon the covered table.
+
+"Yes, certainly, he will have drunk as much as the other poets!"
+said an older one. "Give me one of thy exercise-books, Ludwig! I
+will cut him out a wreath of vine-leaves, since we have no roses
+and since I cannot cut out any."
+
+"I have no libation!" cried a third,--"Favete linguis." And he
+sprinkled a small quantity of salt, from the point of a knife, upon
+the bust, at the same time raising his glass to moisten it with a
+few drops of wine.
+
+"Do not use my Homer as you would an ox!" cried the host. "Homer
+shall have the place of honor, between the bowl and the garland-cake!
+He is especially my poet! It was he who in Greek assisted me to
+laudabilis et quidem egregie. Now we will mutually drink healths!
+Jörgen shall be magister bibendi, and then we will sing 'Gaudeamus
+igitur,' and 'Integer vitae.'"
+
+"The Sexton with the cardinal's hat shall be the precentor!" cried
+one of the youths from the provinces, pointing toward a rosy-cheeked
+companion.
+
+"O, now I am no longer sexton!" returned the other laughing. "If
+thou bringest old histories up again, thou wilt receive thy old
+school-name, 'the Smoke-squirter.'"
+
+"But that is a very nice little history!" said the other. "We
+called him 'Sexton," from the office his father held; but that,
+after all, is not particularly witty. It was better with the hat,
+for it did, indeed, resemble a cardinal's hat. I, in the mean time,
+got my name in a more amusing manner."
+
+"He lived near the school," pursued the other; "he could always slip
+home when we had out free quarters of an hour: and then one day he
+had filled his mouth with tobacco smoke, intending to blow it into
+our faces; but when he entered the passage with his filled cheeks
+the quarter of an hour was over, and we were again in class: the
+rector was still standing in the doorway; he could not, therefore,
+blow the smoke out of his mouth, and so wished to slip in as he
+was. 'What have you there in your mouth?' asked the rector; but
+Philip could answer nothing, without at the same time losing the
+smoke. 'Now, cannot you speak?' cried the rector, and gave him a
+box on the ear, so that the smoke burst through nose and mouth.
+This looked quite exquisite; the affair caused the rector such
+pleasure, that he presented the poor sinner with the nota bene."
+
+"Integer vitae!" broke in the Precentor, and harmoniously followed
+the other voices. After this, a young Copenhagener exhibited his
+dramatic talent by mimicking most illusively the professors of the
+Academy, and giving their peculiarities, yet in such a good-natured
+manner that it must have amused even the offended parties
+themselves. Now followed the healths--"Vivant omnes hi et hae!"
+
+"A health to the prettiest girl!" boldly cried one of the merriest
+brothers. "The prettiest girl!" repeated a pair of the younger
+ones, and pushed their glasses toward each other, whilst the blood
+rushed to their cheeks at this their boldness, for they had never
+thought of a beloved being, which, nevertheless, belonged to their
+new life. The roundelay now commenced, in which each one must give
+the Christian name of his lady-love, and assuredly every second
+youth caught a name out of the air; some, however, repeated a name
+with a certain palpitation of the heart. The discourse became more
+animated; the approaching military exercises, the handsome uniform,
+the reception in the students' club, and its pleasures, were all
+matters of the highest interest. But there was the future
+philologicum and philosophicum--yes, that also was discussed;
+there they must exhibit their knowledge of Latin.
+
+"What do you think," said one of the party, "if once a week we
+alternately met at each other's rooms, and held disputations? No
+Danish word must be spoken. This might be an excellent scheme."
+
+"I agree to that!" cried several.
+
+"Regular laws must be drawn up."
+
+"Yes, and we must have our best Latin scholar, the Jutlander, Otto
+Thostrup, with us! He wrote his themes in hexameters."
+
+"He is not invited here this evening," remarked the neighbor, the
+young Baron Wilhelm of Funen, the only nobleman in the company.
+
+"Otto Thostrup!" answered the host. "Yes, truly he's a clever
+fellow, but he seems to me so haughty. There is something about him
+that does not please me at all. We are still no dunces, although
+he did receive nine prae caeteris!"
+
+"Yet it was very provoking," cried another, "that he received the
+only Non in mathematics. Otherwise he would have been called in.
+Now he will only have to vex himself about his many brilliant
+characters."
+
+"Yes, and he is well versed in mathematics!" added Wilhelm "There
+was something incorrect in the writing; the inspector was to blame
+for that, but how I know not. Thostrup is terribly vehement, and
+can set all respect at defiance; he became angry, and went out.
+There was only a piece of unwritten paper presented from him,
+and this brought him a cipher, which the verbal examination could
+not bring higher than non. Thostrup is certainly a glorious fellow.
+We have made a tour together in the steamboat from Helsingöer to
+Copenhagen, and in the written examination we sat beside each other
+until the day when we had mathematics, and then I sat below him. I
+like him very much, his pride excepted; and of that we must break
+him."
+
+"Herr Baron," said his neighbor, "I am of your opinion.
+Shall not we drink the Thou-brotherhood?"
+
+"To-night we will all of us drink the Thou!" said the host; "it is
+nothing if comrades and good friends call each other _you_."
+
+"Evoe Bacchus!" they joyously shouted. The glasses were filled, one
+arm was thrown round that of the neighbor, and the glasses were
+emptied, whilst several commenced singing "dulce cum sodalibus!"
+
+"Tell me what thou art called?" demanded one of the younger guests
+of his new Thou-brother.
+
+"What am I called?" replied he. "With the exception of one letter,
+the same as the Baron."
+
+"The Baron!" cried a third; "yes, where is he?"
+
+"There he stands talking at the door; take your glasses! now have
+all of us drank the Thou-brotherhood?"
+
+The glasses were again raised; the young Baron laughed, clinked his
+glass, and shouted in the circle, "Thou, Thou!" But in his whole
+bearing there lay something constrained, which, however, none of
+the young men remarked, far less allowed themselves to imagine that
+his sudden retreat, during the first drinking, perhaps occurred
+from the sole object of avoiding it. But soon was he again one of
+the most extravagant; promised each youth who would study theology
+a living on his estate when he should once get it into his own
+hands; and proposed that the Latin disputations should commence
+with him, and on the following Friday. Otto Thostrup, however,
+should he of the party--if he chose, of course being understood;
+for he was a capital student, and his friend they had made a
+journey together and had been neighbors at the green table.
+
+Among those who were the earliest to make their valete amici was
+the Baron. Several were not yet inclined to quit this joyous
+circle. The deepest silence reigned in the streets; it was the most
+beautiful moonlight. In most houses all had retired to rest--only
+here and there was a light still seen, most persons slept, even
+those whose sense of duty should leave banished the god of sleep:
+thus sat a poor hackney-coachman, aloft upon his coach-box, before
+the house where he awaited his party, and enjoyed, the reins wound
+about his hand, the much-desired rest. Wilhelm (henceforth we will
+only call the young Baron by his Christian name) walked alone
+through the street. The wine had heated his northern blood--besides
+which it never flowed slowly; his youthful spirits, his jovial
+mood, and the gayety occasioned by the merry company he had just
+quitted did not permit him quietly to pass by this sleeping
+Endymion. Suddenly it occurred to him to open the coach-door and
+leap in; which having done, he let the glass fall and called out
+with a loud voice, "Drive on!" The coachman started up out of his
+blessed sleep and asked, quite confused, "Where to?" Without
+reflecting about the matter, Wilhelm cried, "To the Ship in West
+Street." The coachman drove on; about half-way, Wilhelm again
+opened the coach-door, a bold spring helped him out, and the coach
+rolled on. It stopped at the public-house of the Ship. The coachman
+got down and opened the door; there was no one within; he thrust
+his head in thoroughly to convince himself; but no, the carriage
+was empty! "Extraordinary!" said the fellow; "can I have dreamed
+it? But still I heard, quite distinctly, how I was told to drive to
+the Ship! Lord preserve us! now they are waiting for me!" He leaped
+upon the box and drove rapidly back again.
+
+In the mean time Wilhelm had reached his abode in Vineyard Street;
+he opened a window to enjoy the beautiful night, and gazed out upon
+the desolate church-yard which is shut in by shops. He had no
+inclination for sleep, although everything in the street, even the
+watchmen not excepted, appeared to rejoice the gift of God. Wilhelm
+thought upon the merry evening party, upon his adventure with the
+poor hackney-coachman, then took down his violin from the wall and
+began to play certain variations.
+
+The last remaining guests from the honorable carousal, merrier than
+when Wilhelm left them, now came wandering up the street. One of
+them jodeled sweetly, and no watchman showed himself as a
+disturbing principle. They heard Wilhelm violin and recognized the
+musician.
+
+"Play us a Française, thou up there!" cried they.
+
+"But the watchman?" whispered one of the less courageous.
+
+"Zounds, there he sits!" cried a third, and pointed toward a
+sleeping object which leaned its head upon a large wooden chest
+before a closed booth.
+
+"He is happy!" said the first speaker. "If we had only the strong
+Icelander here, he would soon hang him up by his bandelier upon one
+of the iron hooks. He has done that before now; he has the strength
+of a bear. He seized such a lazy fellow as this right daintily by
+his girdle on one of the hooks at the weighing-booth. There hung
+the watchman and whistled to the others; the first who hastened to
+the spot was immediately hung up beside him, and away ran the
+Icelander whilst the two blew a duet."
+
+"Here, take hold!" cried one of the merry brothers, quickly opening
+the chest, the lid of which was fastened by a peg. "Let us put the
+watchman into the chest; he sleeps indeed like a horse!" In a
+moment, the four had seized the sleeper, who certainly awoke during
+the operation, but he already lay in the chest. The lid flew down,
+and two or three of the friends sprang upon it whilst the peg was
+stuck in again. The watchman immediately seized his whistle and
+drew the most heart-rending tones from it. Quickly the tormenting
+spirits withdrew themselves; yet not so far but that they could
+still hear the whistle and observe what would take place.
+
+The watchmen now came up.
+
+"The deuce! where art thou?" cried they, and then discovered the
+place.
+
+"Ah, God help me!" cried the prisoner. "Let me out, let me out! I
+must call!"
+
+"Thou hast drunk more than thy thirst required, comrade!" said the
+others. "If thou hast fallen into the chest, remain lying there,
+thou swine!" And laughing they left him.
+
+"O, the rascals!" sighed he, and worked in vain at opening the lid.
+Through all his powerful exertions the box fell over. The young men
+now stepped forth, and, as though they were highly astonished at
+the whole history which he related to them, they let themselves be
+prevailed upon to open the box, but only upon condition that he
+should keep street free from the interference of the other
+watchmen whilst they danced a Française to Wilhelm's violin.
+
+The poor man was delivered from his captivity, and must obligingly
+play the sentinel whilst they arranged them for the dance. Wilhelm
+was called upon to play, and the dance commenced; a partner,
+however, was wanting. Just then a quiet citizen passed by. The
+gentleman who had no partner approached the citizen with comic
+respect, and besought him to take part in the amusement.
+
+"I never dance!" said the man, laughing, and wished to pursue his
+way.
+
+"Yes," replied the cavalier, "yet you must still do me this
+pleasure, or else I shall have no dance." Saying this he took hold
+of him by the waist and the dance commenced, whether the good man
+would or no.
+
+"The watchman should receive a present from every one!" said they,
+when the Française was at an end. "He is an excellent man who thus
+keeps order in the street, so that one can enjoy a little dance."
+
+"These are honest people's children!" said the watchman to himself,
+whilst he with much pleasure thrust the money into his leathern
+purse.
+
+All was again quiet in the street; the violin was also silent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"Who looks into the shadowy realm of my heart?"
+                               A. V. CHAMISSO.
+
+In the former chapter we heard mention made of a young student,
+Otto Thostrup, a clever fellow, with nine prae caeteris, as his
+comrades said, but also of a proud spirit, of which he must be
+broken. Not at the disputations, which have been already mentioned,
+will we make his acquaintance, although there we must be filled
+with respect for the good Latin scholar; not in large companies,
+where his handsome exterior and his speaking, melancholy glance
+must make him interesting; as little in the pit of the Opera
+although his few yet striking observations there would show him to
+be a very intellectual young man; but we will seek him out for the
+first time at the house of his friend, the young Baron Wilhelm. It
+is the beginning of November: we find them both with their pipes in
+their mouths; upon the table lie Tibullus and Anacreon, which they
+are reading together for the approaching philologicum.
+
+In the room stands a piano-forte, with a number of music-books;
+upon the walls hang the portraits of Weyse and Beethoven, for our
+young Baron is musical, nay a composer himself.
+
+"See, here we have again this lovely, clinging mist!" said Wilhelm.
+"Out of doors one can fairly taste it; at home it would be a real
+plague to me, here it only Londonizes the city."
+
+"I like it!" said Otto. "To me it is like an old acquaintance from
+Vestervovov. It is as though the mist brought me greetings from the
+sea and sand-hills."
+
+"I should like to see the North Sea, but the devil might live
+there! What town lies nearest to your grandfather's estate?"
+
+"Lernvig," answered Otto. "If any one wish to see the North Sea
+properly, they ought to go up as far as Thisted and Hjörring. I
+have travelled there, have visited the family in Börglum-Kloster;
+and, besides this, have made other small journeys. Never shall I
+forget one evening; yes, it was a storm of which people in the
+interior of the country can form no conception. I rode--I was then
+a mere boy, and a very wild lad--with one of our men. When the
+storm commenced we found ourselves among the sand-hills. Ah!
+that you should have seen! The sand forms along the strand high
+banks, which serve as dikes against the sea; these are overgrown
+with sea-grass, but, if the storm bursts a single hole, the whole
+is carried away. This spectacle we chanced to witness. It is a true
+Arabian sand-storm, and the North Sea bellowed so that it might be
+heard at the distance of many miles. The salt foam flew together
+with the sand into our faces."
+
+"That must have been splendid!" exclaimed Wilhelm, and his eyes
+sparkled. "Jutland is certainly the most romantic part of Denmark.
+Since I read Steen-Blicher's novels I have felt a real interest for
+that country. It seems to me that it must greatly resemble the
+Lowlands of Scotland. And gypsies are also found there, are they
+not?"
+
+"Vagabonds, we call them," said Otto, with an involuntary motion of
+the mouth. "They correspond to the name!"
+
+"The fishermen, also, on the coast are not much better! Do they
+still from the pulpit pray for wrecks? Do they still slay
+shipwrecked mariners?"
+
+"I have heard our preacher, who is an old man, relate how, in the
+first years after he had obtained his office and dignity, he was
+obliged to pray in the church that, if ships stranded, they might
+strand in his district; but this I have never heard myself. But
+with regard to what is related of murdering, why, the fishermen--
+sea-geese, as they are called--are by no means a tender-hearted
+people; but it is not as bad as that in our days. A peasant died in
+the neighborhood, of whom it was certainly related that in bad
+weather he had bound a lantern under his horse's belly and let it
+wander up and down the beach, so that the strange mariner who was
+sailing in those seas might imagine it some cruising ship, and thus
+fancy himself still a considerable way from land. By this means
+many a ship is said to have been destroyed. But observe, these are
+stories out of the district of Thisted, and of an elder age, before
+my power of observation had developed itself; this was that golden
+age when in tumble-down fishers' huts, after one of these good
+shipwrecks, valuable shawls, but little damaged by the sea, might
+be found employed as bed-hangings. Boots and shoes were smeared
+with the finest pomatum. If such things now reach their hands, they
+know better how to turn them into money. The Strand-commissioners
+are now on the watch; now it is said to be a real age of copper."
+
+"Have you seen a vessel stranded?" inquired Wilhelm, with
+increasing interest.
+
+"Our estate lies only half a mile from the sea. Every year about
+this time, when the mist spreads itself out as it does to-day and
+the storms begin to rage, then was it most animated. In my wild
+spirits, when I was a boy, and especially in the midst of our
+monotonous life, I truly yearned after it. Once, upon a journey to
+Börglum-Kloster, I experienced a storm. In the early morning; it
+was quite calm, but gray, and we witnessed a kind of Fata Morgana.
+A ship, which had not yet risen above the horizon, showed itself in
+the distance, but the rigging was turned upside down; the masts
+were below, the hull above. This is called the ship of death, and
+when it is seen people are sure of bad weather and shipwreck.
+Later, about midday, it began to blow, and in an hour's time we had
+a regular tempest. The sea growled quite charmingly; we travelled
+on between sand-hills--they resemble hills and dales in winter
+time, but here it is not snow which melts away; here never grows
+a single green blade; a black stake stands up here and there, and
+these are rudders from wrecks, the histories of which are unknown.
+In the afternoon arose a storm such as I had experienced when
+riding with the man between the sand-hills. We could not proceed
+farther, and were obliged on this account to seek shelter in one of
+the huts which the fishermen hail erected among the white sand-hills.
+There we remained, and I saw the stranding of a vessel: I shall never
+forget it! An American ship lay not a musket-shot from land. They cut
+the mast; six or seven men clung fast to it in the waters. O, how
+they rocked backward and forward in the dashing spray! The mast took
+a direction toward the shore; at length only three men were left
+clinging to the mast; it was dashed upon land, but the returning
+waves again bore it away; it had crushed the arms and legs of the
+clinging wretches--ground them like worms! I dreamed of this for
+many nights. The waves flung the hull of the vessel up high on the
+shore, and drove it into the sand, where it was afterward found.
+Later, as we retraced our steps, were the stem and sternpost gone:
+you saw two strong wooden walls, between which the road took its
+course. You even still travel through the wreck!"
+
+"Up in your country every poetical mind must become a Byron," said
+Wilhelm. "On my parents' estate we have only idyls; the whole of
+Funen is a garden. We mutually visit each other upon our different
+estates, where we lead most merry lives, dance with the peasant-girls
+at the brewing-feast, hunt in the woods, and fish in the lakes. The
+only melancholy object which presents itself with us is a funeral,
+and the only romantic characters we possess are a little hump-backed
+musician, a wise woman, and an honest schoolmaster, who still firmly
+believes, as Jeronimus did, that the earth is flat, and that, were it
+to turn round, we should fall, the devil knows where!"
+
+"I love nature in Jutland!" exclaimed Otto. "The open sea, the
+brown heath, and the bushy moorland. You should see the wild moor
+in Vendsyssel--that is an extent! Almost always wet mists float
+over its unapproachable interior, which is known to no one. It is
+not yet fifty years since it served as an abode for wolves. Often
+it bursts into flames, for it is impregnated with sulphuric gas,--
+one can see the fire for miles."
+
+"My sister Sophie ought to hear all this!" said Wilhelm. "You would
+make your fortune with her! The dear girl! she has the best head at
+home, but she loves effect. Hoffman and Victor Hugo are her
+favorites. Byron rests every night under her pillow. If you related
+such things of the west coast of Jutland, and of heaths and moors,
+you might persuade her to make a journey thither. One really would
+not believe that we possessed in our own country such romantic
+situations!"
+
+"Is she your only sister?" inquired Otto.
+
+"No," returned Wilhelm, "I have two--the other is named Louise; she
+is of quite an opposite character: I do not know of which one ought
+to think most. Have you no brothers or sisters?" he asked of Otto.
+
+"No!" returned the latter, with his former involuntary, half-melancholy
+expression. "I am an only child. In my house it is solitary and silent.
+My grandfather alone is left alive. He is an active, strong man, but
+very grave. He instructed me in mathematics, which he thoroughly
+understands. The preacher taught me Latin, Greek, and history: two
+persons, however, occupied themselves with my religious education--
+the preacher and my old Rosalie. She is a good soul. How often have
+I teased her, been petulant, and almost angry with her! She thought
+so much of me, she was both mother and sister to me, and instructed
+me in religion as well as the preacher, although she is a Catholic.
+Since my father's childhood she has been a sort of governante in the
+house. You should have seen her melancholy smile when she heard my
+geography lesson, and we read of her dear Switzerland, where she was
+born, and of the south of France, where she had travelled as a child.
+The west coast of Jutland may also appear very barren in comparison
+with these countries!"
+
+"She might have made you a Catholic! But surely nothing of this
+still clings to you?"
+
+"Rosalie was a prudent old creature; Luther himself need not have
+been ashamed of her doctrine. Whatever is holy to the heart of man,
+remains also holy in every religion!"
+
+"But then, to erect altars to the Madonna!" exclaimed Wilhelm; "to
+pray to a being; whom the Bible does not make a saint!--that is
+rather too much. And their tricks with burning of incense and
+ringing of bells! Yes, indeed, it would give me no little pleasure
+to cut off the heads of the Pope and of the whole clerical body! To
+purchase indulgence!--Those must, indeed, be curious people who can
+place thorough faith in such things! I will never once take off my
+hat before the Madonna!"
+
+"But that will I do, and in my heart bow myself before her!"
+answered Otto, gravely.
+
+"Did I not think so? she has made you a Catholic!"
+
+"No such thing! I am as good a Protestant as you yourself: but
+wherefore should we not respect the mother of Christ? With regard
+to the ceremonials of Catholicism, indulgence, and all these
+additions of the priesthood, I agree with you in wishing to strike
+off the heads of all who, in such a manner, degrade God and the
+human understanding. But in many respects we are unjust: we so
+easily forget the first and greatest commandment, 'Love thy
+neighbor as thyself!' We are not tolerant. Among our festivals we
+have still one for the Three Kings--it is yet celebrated by the
+common people; but what have these three kings done? They knelt
+before the manger in which Christ lay, and on this account we honor
+them. On the contrary, the mother of God has no festival-day; nay,
+the multitude even smile at her name! If you will only quietly
+listen to my simple argument, we shall soon agree. You will take
+off your hat and bow before the Madonna. Only two things are to be
+considered--either Christ was entirely human, or He was, as the
+Bible teaches us, a divine being. I will now admit the latter. He
+is God Himself, who in some inexplicable manner, is born to us of
+the Virgin Mary. She must therefore be the purest, the most perfect
+feminine being, since God found her worthy to bring into the world
+the Son, the only one; through this she becomes as holy as any
+human being can, and low we must bow ourselves before the pure, the
+exalted one. Take it for granted that Christ was human, like
+ourselves, otherwise He cannot, according to my belief, call upon
+us to imitate Him; neither would it be great, as God, to meet a
+corporeal death, from which He could remove each pain. Were He only
+a man, born of Mary, we must doubly admire Him; we must bow in the
+dust before His mighty spirit, His enlightening and consoling
+doctrine. But can we then forget how much the mother has must have
+influenced the child, how sublime and profound the soul must have
+been which spoke to His heart? We must reverence and honor her!
+Everywhere in the Scriptures where she appears we see an example of
+care and love; with her whole soul she adheres to her Son. Think
+how uneasy she became, and sought for Him in the temple--think of
+her gentle reproaches! The words of the Son always sounded harsh in
+my ears. 'Those are the powerful expressions of the East!' said my
+old preacher. The Saviour was severe, severe as He must be! Already
+there seemed to me severity in His words! She was completely the
+mother; she was it then, even as when she wept at Golgotha.
+Honor and reverence she deserves from us!"
+
+"These she also receives!" returned Wilhelm; and striking him upon
+the shoulder he added, with a smile, "you are, according to the
+Roman Catholic manner, near exalting the mother above the Son! Old
+Rosalie has made a proselyte; after all, you are half a Catholic!"
+
+"That am I not!" answered Otto, "and that will I not be!"
+
+          "See! the thunder-cloud advances!"
+resounded below in the court: the sweet Neapolitan song reached the
+ears of the friends. They stepped into the adjoining room and
+opened the window. Three poor boys stood below in the wind and
+rain, and commenced the song. The tallest was, perhaps, fourteen or
+fifteen years old, his deep, rough voice seemed to have attained
+its strength and depth more through rain and bad weather than
+through age. The dirty wet clothes hung in rags about his body; the
+shoes upon the wet feet, and the hat held together with white
+threads, were articles of luxury. The other two boys had neither
+hat nor shoes, but their clothes were whole and clean. The youngest
+appeared six or seven years old; his silvery white hair formed a
+contrast with his brown face, his dark eyes and long brown
+eyelashes. His voice sounded like the voice of a little girl, as
+fine and soft, beside the voices of the others, as the breeze of an
+autumnal evening beside that of rude November weather.
+
+"That is a handsome boy!" exclaimed the two friends at the same
+time.
+
+"And a lovely melody!" added Otto.
+
+"Yes, but they sing falsely!" answered Wilhelm: "one sings half a
+tone too low, the other half a tone too high!"
+
+"Now, thank God that I cannot hear that!" said Otto. "It sounds
+sweetly, and the little one might become a singer. Poor child!"
+added he gravely: "bare feet, wet to the very skin; and then the
+elder one will certainly lead him to brandy drinking! Within a
+month, perhaps, the voice will be gone! Then is the nightingale
+dead!" He quickly threw down some skillings, wrapped in paper.
+
+"Come up!" cried Wilhelm, and beckoned. The eldest of the boys flew
+up like an arrow; Wilhelm, however, said it was the youngest who
+was meant. The others remained standing before the door; the
+youngest stepped in.
+
+"Whose son art thou?" asked Wilhelm. The boy was silent, and cast
+down his eyes in an embarrassed manner. "Now, don't be bashful!
+Thou art of a good family--that one can see from thy appearance!
+Art not thou thy mother's son? I will give thee stockings and--the
+deuce! here is a pair of boots which are too small for me; if thou
+dost not get drowned in them they shall be thy property: but now
+thou must sing." And he seated himself at the piano-forte and
+struck the keys. "Now, where art thou?" he cried, rather
+displeased. The little one gazed upon the ground.
+
+"How! dost thou weep; or is it the rain which hangs in thy black
+eyelashes?" said Otto, and raised his head: "we only wish to do
+thee a kindness. There--thou hast another skilling from me."
+
+The little one still remained somewhat laconic. All that they
+learned was that he was named Jonas, and that his grandmother
+thought so much of him.
+
+"Here thou hast the stockings!" said Wilhelm; "and see here! a coat
+with a velvet collar, a much-to-be-prized keepsake! The boots! Thou
+canst certainly stick both legs into one boot! See! that is as good
+as having two pairs to change about with! Let us see!"
+
+The boy's eyes sparkled with joy; the boots he drew on, the
+stockings went into his pocket, and the bundle he took under his
+arm.
+
+"But thou must sing us a little song!" said Wilhelm, and the little
+one commenced the old song out of the "Woman-hater," "Cupid never
+can be trusted!"
+
+The lively expression in the dark eyes, the boy himself in his wet,
+wretched clothes and big boots, with the bundle under his arm; nay,
+the whole had something so characteristic in it, that had it been
+painted, and had the painter called the picture "Cupid on his
+Wanderings," every one would have found the little god strikingly
+excellent, although he were not blind.
+
+"Something might be made of the boy and of his voice!" said
+Wilhelm, when little Jonas, in a joyous mood, had left the house
+with the other lads.
+
+"The poor child!" sighed Otto. "I have fairly lost my good spirits
+through all this. It seizes upon me so strangely when I see misery
+and genius mated. Once there came to our estate in Jutland a man
+who played the Pandean-pipes, and at the same time beat the drum
+and cymbals: near him stood a little girl, and struck the triangle.
+I was forced to weep over this spectacle; without understanding how
+it was, I felt the misery of the poor child. I was myself yet a
+mere boy."
+
+"He looked so comic in the big boots that I became quite merry, and
+not grave," said Wilhelm. "Nevertheless what a pity it is that such
+gentle blood, which at the first glance one perceives he is, that
+such a pretty child should become a rude fellow, and his beautiful
+voice change into a howl, like that with which the other tall Laban
+saluted us. Who knows whether little Jonas might not become the
+first singer on the Danish stage? Yes, if he received education of
+mind and voice, who knows? I could really have, pleasure in
+attempting it, and help every one on in the world, before I myself
+am rightly in the way!"
+
+"If he is born to a beggar's estate," said Otto, "let him as beggar
+live and die, and learn nothing higher. That is better, that is
+more to be desired!"
+
+Wilhelm seated himself at the piano-forte, and played some of his
+own compositions. "That is difficult," said he; "every one cannot
+play that."
+
+"The simpler the sweeter!" replied Otto.
+
+"You must not speak about music!" returned the friend "upon that
+you know not how to pass judgment. Light Italian operas are not
+difficult to write."
+
+In the evening the friends separated. Whilst Otto took his hat,
+there was a low knock at the door. Wilhelm opened it. Without stood
+a poor old woman, with pale sharp features; by the hand she led a
+little boy--it was Jonas: thus then it was a visit from him and his
+grandmother.
+
+The other boys had sold the boots and shoes which had been given
+him. They ought to have a share, they maintained. This atrocious
+injustice had induced the old grandmother to go immediately with
+little Jonas to the two good gentlemen, and relate how little the
+poor lad had received of flint which they had assigned to him
+alone.
+
+Wilhelm spoke of the boy's sweet voice, and thought that by might
+make his fortune at the theatre; but then he ought not now to be
+left running about with bare feet in the wind and rain.
+
+"But by this means he brings a skilling home," said the old woman.
+"That's what his father and mother look to, and the skilling they
+can always employ. Nevertheless she had herself already thought of
+bringing him out at the theatre,--but that was to have been in
+dancing, for they got shoes and stockings to dance in, and with
+these they might also run home; and that would be an advantage."
+
+"I will teach the boy music!" said Wilhelm; "he can come to me
+sometimes."
+
+"And then he will, perhaps, get a little cast-off clothing, good
+sir," said the grandmother; "a shirt, or a waistcoat, just as it
+happens?"
+
+"Become a tailor, or shoemaker," said Otto, gravely, and laid his
+hand upon the boy's head.
+
+"He shall be a genius!" said Wilhelm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+                    "Christmas-tide,
+When in the wood the snow shines bright."
+                        OEHLENSCHLÄGER'S Helge
+
+We again let several weeks pass by; it was Christmas Eve, which
+brings us the beautiful Christmas festival. We find the two friends
+taking a walk.
+
+Describe to an inhabitant of the south a country where the earth
+appears covered with the purest Carrara marble, where the tree
+twigs resemble white branches of coral sprinkled with diamonds, and
+above a sky as blue as that belonging to the south, and he will say
+that is a fairy land. Couldst thou suddenly remove him from his
+dark cypresses and olive-trees to the north, where the fresh snow
+lies upon the earth, where the white hoar-frost has powdered the
+trees over, and the sun shines down from the blue heaven, then
+would he recognize the description and call the north a fairy land.
+
+This was the splendor which the friends admired. The large trees
+upon the fortification-walls appeared crystallized when seen
+against the blue sky. The Sound was not yet frozen over; vessels,
+illuminated by the red evening sun, glided past with spread sails.
+The Swedish coast seemed to have approached nearer; one might see
+individual houses in Landskrona. It was lovely, and on this account
+there were many promenaders upon the walls and the Langelinie.
+
+"Sweden seems so near that one might swim over to it!" said
+Wilhelm.
+
+"The distance would be too far," answered Otto; "but I should love
+to plunge among the deep blue waters yonder."
+
+"How refreshing it is," said Wilhelm, "when the water plays about
+one's cheeks! Whilst I was at home, I always swam in the Great
+Belt. Yes, you are certainly half a fish when you come into the
+water."
+
+"I!" repeated Otto, and was silent; but immediately added, with a
+kind of embarrassment which was at other times quite foreign to
+him, and from which one might infer how unpleasant confessing any
+imperfection was to him, "I do not swim."
+
+"That must be learned in summer!" said Wilhelm.
+
+"There is so much to learn," answered Otto; "swimming will
+certainly be the last thing." He now suddenly turned toward the
+fortress, and stood still. "Only see how melancholy and quiet!"
+said he, and led the conversation again to the surrounding scenery.
+"The sentinel before the prison paces so quietly up and down, the
+sun shines upon his bayonet! How this reminds me of a sweet little
+poem of Heine's; it is just as though he described this fortress
+and this soldier, but in the warmth of summer: one sees the picture
+livingly before one, as here; the weapon glances in the sun, and
+the part ends so touchingly,--'Ich wollt', er schösse mich todt!'
+It is here so romantically beautiful! on the right the animated
+promenade, and the view over the Sund; on the left, the desolate
+square, where the military criminals are shot, and close upon it
+the prison with its beam-fence. The sun scarcely shines through
+those windows. Yet, without doubt, the prisoner can see us walking
+here upon the wall."
+
+"And envy our golden freedom!" said Wilhelm.
+
+"Perhaps he derides it," answered Otto. "He is confined to his
+chamber and the small courts behind the beam-lattice; we are
+confined to the coast; we cannot fly forth with the ships into the
+mighty, glorious world. We are also fastened with a chain, only
+ours is somewhat longer than that of the prisoner. But we will not
+think of this; let us go down to where the beautiful ladies are
+walking."
+
+"To see and to be seen," cried Wilhelm. "'Spectatum veniunt;
+veniunt spectentur ut ipsae,' as Ovid says."
+
+The friends quitted the wall.
+
+"There comes my scholar, little Jonas!" cried Wilhelm. "The boy was
+better dressed than at his last appearance; quickly he pulled his
+little cap off and stood still: a young girl in a wretched garb
+held him by the hand.
+
+"Good day, my clever lad!" said Wilhelm, and his glance rested on
+the girl: she was of a singularly elegant form; had she only
+carried herself better she would have been a perfect beauty. It was
+Psyche herself who stood beside Cupid. She smiled in a friendly
+manner; the little lad had certainly told her who the gentlemen
+were; but she became crimson, and cast down her eyes when Wilhelm
+looked back after her: he beckoned to Jonas, who immediately came
+to him. The girl was his sister, he said, and was called Eva.
+Wilhelm nodded to her, and the friends went on.
+
+"That was a beautiful girl!" said Wilhelm, and looked back once
+more. "A rosebud that one could kiss until it became a full blown
+rose!"
+
+"During the experiment the rosebud might easily be broken!"
+answered Otto; "at least such is the case with the real flower. But
+do not look back again, that is a sin!"
+
+"Sin?" repeated Wilhelm; "no, then it is a very innocent sin!
+Believe me, it flatters the little creature that we should admire
+her beauty. I can well imagine how enchanting a loving look from a
+rich young gentleman may be for a weak, feminine mind. The sweet
+words which one can say are as poison which enters the blood. I
+have still a clear conscience. Not ONE innocent soul have I
+poisoned!"
+
+"And yet you are rich and young enough to do so," returned Otto,
+not without bitterness. "Our friends precede us with a good
+example: here come some of our own age; they are acquainted with
+the roses!"
+
+"Good evening, thou good fellow!" was the greeting Wilhelm received
+from three or four of the young men.
+
+"Are you on Thou-terms with all these?" inquired Otto.
+
+"Yes," answered Wilhelm; "we became so at a carouse. There all
+drank the Thou-brotherhood. I could not draw myself back. At other
+times I do not willingly give my 'thou' to any but my nearest
+friends. _Thou_ has something to my mind affectionate and holy.
+Many people fling it to the first person with whom they drink a
+glass. At the carouse I could not say no."
+
+"And wherefore not?" returned Otto; "that would never have troubled
+me."
+
+The friends now wandered on, arm-in-arm. Later in the evening we
+again meet with them together, and that at the house of a noble
+family, whose name and rank are to be found in the "Danish Court
+Calendar;" on which account it would be wanting in delicacy to
+mention the same, even in a story the events of which lie so near
+our hearts.
+
+Large companies are most wearisome. In these there are two kinds of
+rank. Either you are riveted to a card-table, or placed against the
+wall where you must stand with your hat in your hand, or, later in
+the evening, with it at your feet, nay, even must stand during
+supper. But this house was one of the most intellectual. Thou who
+dost recognize the house wilt also recognize that it is not to be
+reckoned with those,--
+               "Where each day's gossiping stale fish
+                Is served up daily for thy dish."
+
+This evening we do not become acquainted with the family, but only
+with their beautiful Christmas festival.
+
+The company was assembled in a large apartment; the shaded lamp
+burned dimly, but this was with the intention of increasing the
+effect when the drawing-room doors should open and the children
+joyfully press in together.
+
+Wilhelm now stepped to the piano-forte; a few chords produced
+stillness and attention. To the sounds of low music there stepped
+forth from the side-doors three maidens arrayed in white; each wore
+a long veil depending from the back of her head,--one blue, the
+other red, and the third white. Each carried in her arms an urn,
+and thus they represented fortune-tellers from the East. They
+brought good or ill luck, which each related in a little verse.
+People were to draw a number, and according to this would he
+receive his gift from the Christmas-tree. One of the maidens
+brought blanks--but which of them? now it was proved whether you
+were a child of fortune. All, even the children, drew their
+uncertain numbers: exception was only made with the family
+physician and a few elderly ladies of the family; these had a
+particular number stuck into their hands--their presents had been
+settled beforehand.
+
+"Who brings me good luck?" inquired Otto, as the three pretty young
+girls approached him. The one with a white veil was Wilhelm's
+eldest sister, Miss Sophie, who was this winter paying a visit to
+the family. She resembled her brother. The white drapery about her
+head increased the expression of her countenance. She rested her
+gaze firmly upon Otto, and, perhaps, because he was the friend of
+her brother, she raised her finger. Did she wish to warn or to
+challenge him? Otto regarded it as a challenge, thrust his hand
+into the urn, and drew out number 33. All were now provided. The
+girls disappeared, and the folding-doors of the drawing-room were
+opened.
+
+A dazzling light streamed toward the guests. A splendid fir-tree,
+covered with burning tapers, and hung over with tinsel-gold, gilt
+eggs and apples, almonds and grapes, dazzled the eye. On either
+side of the tree were grottoes of fir-trees and moss, hung with red
+and blue paper lamps. In each grotto was an altar; upon one stood
+John of Bologna's floating Mercury; upon the other, a reduced cast
+in plaster of Thorwaldsen's Shepherd-boy. The steps were covered
+with presents, to which were attached the different numbers.
+
+"Superbe! lovely!" resounded from all sides; and the happy children
+shouted for joy. People arranged themselves in a half-circle, one
+row behind the other. One of the cousins of the family now stepped
+forth, a young poet, who, if we mistake not, has since then
+appeared among the Anonymouses in "The New Year's Gift of Danish
+Poets." He was appareled this evening as one of the Magi, and
+recited a little poem which declared that, as each one had himself
+drawn out of the urn of Fate, no one could be angry, let him have
+procured for himself honor or derision--Fate, and not Merit, being
+here the ruler. Two little boys, with huge butterfly wings and in
+flowing garments, bore the presents to the guests. A number, which
+had been purposely given to one of the elder ladies, was now called
+out, and the boys brought forward a large, heavy, brown earthen
+jug. To the same hung a direction the length of two sheets of
+paper, upon which was written, "A remedy against frost." The jug
+was opened, and a very nice boa taken out and presented to the
+lady.
+
+"What number have you?" inquired Otto of Wilhelm's sister, who,
+freed from her long veil, now entered the room and took her place
+near him.
+
+"Number 34," she answered. "I was to keep the number which remained
+over when the others had drawn."
+
+"We are, then, neighbors in the chain of Fate," returned Otto; "I
+have number 33."
+
+"Then one of us will receive something very bad!" said Sophie.
+"For, as much as I know, only every other number is good." At this
+moment their numbers were called out. The accompanying poem
+declared that only a poetical, noble mind deserved this gift. It
+consisted of an illuminated French print, the subject a simple but
+touching idea. You saw a frozen lake, nothing but one expanse of
+ice as far as the horizon. The ice was broken, and near to the
+opening lay a hat with a red lining, and beside it sat a dog with
+grave eyes, still and expectant. Around the broken opening in the
+ice were seen traces of the dog having scratched into the hard
+crust of ice. "Il attend toujours" was the simple motto.
+
+"That is glorious!" exclaimed Otto. "An affecting thought! His
+master has sunk in the depth, and the faithful log yet awaits him.
+Had that picture only fallen to my lot!"
+
+"It is lovely!" said Sophie, and a melancholy glance made the young
+girl still more beautiful.
+
+Soon after Wilhelm's turn came.
+
+           "Open the packet, thou shalt see
+            The very fairest gaze on thee!"
+ran the verse. He opened the packet, and found within a small
+mirror. "Yes, that was intended for a lady," said he; "in that case
+it would have spoken the truth! in my hands it makes a fool of me.
+
+"For me nothing certainly remains but my number!" said Otto to his
+neighbor, as all the gifts appeared to be distributed.
+
+"The last is number 33," said the cousin, and drew forth a roll of
+paper, which had been hidden among the moss. It was unrolled. It
+was an old pedigree of an extinct race. Quite at the bottom lay the
+knight with shield and armor, and out of his breast grew the many-branched
+tree with its shields and names. Probably it had been bought, with other
+rubbish, at some auction, and now at Christmas, when every hole and
+corner was rummaged for whatever could be converted into fun or
+earnest, it had been brought out for the Christmas tree. The cousin
+read the following verse:--
+         "Art thou not noble?--then it in far better;
+          This tree unto thy father is not debtor;
+          Thyself alone is thy ancestral crown.
+          From thee shall spring forth branches of renown,
+          And if thou come where blood gives honor's place,
+          This tree shall prove thee first of all thy race!
+          From this hour forth thy soul high rank hath won her,
+          Not will forget thy knighthood and thy honor."
+
+"I congratulate you," said Wilhelm, laughing. "Now you will have to
+pay the nobility-tax!"
+
+Several of the ladies who stood near him, smiling, also offered a
+kind of congratulation. Sophie alone remained silent, and examined
+the present of another lady--a pretty pincushion in the form of a
+gay butterfly.
+
+The first row now rose to examine more nearly how beautifully the
+Christmas tree was adorned. Sophie drew one of the ladies away with
+her.
+
+"Let us look at the beautiful statues," said she; "the Shepherd-boy
+and the Mercury."
+
+"That is not proper," whispered the lady; "but look there at the
+splendid large raisins on the tree!"
+
+Sophie stepped before Thorwaldsen's Shepherd-boy. The lady
+whispered to a friend, "It looks so odd that she should examine the
+figures!"
+
+"Ah!" replied the other, "she is a lover of the fine arts, as you
+well know. Only think! at the last exhibition she went with her
+brother into the great hall where all the plaster-casts stand, and
+looked at them!--the Hercules, as well as the other indecent
+figures! they were excellent, she said. That is being so natural;
+otherwise she is a nice girl."
+
+"It is a pity she is a little awry."
+
+Sophie approached them; both ladies made room for her, and invited
+her most lovingly to sit clown beside them. "Thou sweet girl!" they
+flatteringly exclaimed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+"Hark to trumpets and beaten gongs,
+Squeaking fiddles, shouts and songs.
+     Hurra! hurra!
+     The Doctor is here;
+And here the hills where fun belongs."
+                        J. L. HEIBERG.
+
+We will not follow the principal characters of our story step for
+step, but merely present the prominent moments of their lives to
+our readers, be these great or small; we seize on them, if they in
+any way contribute to make the whole picture more worthy of
+contemplation.
+
+The winter was over, the birds of passage had long since returned;
+the woods and fields shone in the freshest green, and, what to the
+friends was equally interesting, they had happily passed through
+their examen philologicum. Wilhelm, who, immediately after its
+termination, had accompanied his sister home, was again returned,
+sang with little Jonas, reflected upon the philosophicum, and also
+how he would thoroughly enjoy the summer,--the summer which in the
+north is so beautiful, but so short. It was St. John's Day.
+Families had removed from Copenhagen to their pretty country-seats
+on the coast, where people on horseback and in carriages rushed
+past, and where the highway was crowded with foot-passengers. The
+whole road presented a picture of life upon the Paris Boulevard.
+The sun was burning, the dust flew up high into the air; on which
+account many persons preferred the pleasanter excursion with the
+steamboat along the coast, from whence could be seen the traffic on
+the high-road without enduring the annoyance of dust and heat.
+Boats skimmed past; brisk sailors, by the help of vigorous strokes
+of the oar, strove to compete with the steam-packet, the dark smoke
+from which, like some demon, partly rested upon the vessel, partly
+floated away in the air.
+
+Various young students, among whom were also Wilhelm and Otto,
+landed at Charlottenlund, the most frequented place of resort near
+Copenhagen. Otto was here for the first time; for the first time he
+should see the park.
+
+A summer's afternoon in Linken's Bad, near Dresden, bears a certain
+resemblance to Charlottenlund, only that the Danish wood is larger;
+that instead of the Elbe we have the Sound, which is here three
+miles broad, and where often more than a hundred vessels, bearing
+flags of all the European nations, glide past. A band of musicians
+played airs out of "Preciosa;" the white tents glanced like snow or
+swans through the green beech-trees. Here and there was a fire-place
+raised of turf, over which people boiled and cooked, so that the
+smoke rose up among the trees. Outside the wood, waiting in long
+rows, were the peasants' vehicles, called "coffee-mills," completely
+answering ho the couricolo of the Neapolitan and the coucou of the
+Parisian, equally cheap, and overladen in the same manner with
+passengers, therefore forming highly picturesque groups. This scene
+has been humorously treated in a picture by Marstrand. Between fields
+and meadows, the road leads pleasantly toward the park; the friends
+pursued the foot-path.
+
+"Shall I brush the gentlemen?" cried five or six boys, at the same
+time pressing upon the friends as they approached the entrance to
+the park. Without waiting for an answer, the boys commenced at once
+brushing the dust from their clothes and boots.
+
+"These are Kirsten Piil's pages," said Wilhelm, laughing; "they
+take care that people show themselves tolerably smart. But now we
+are brushed enough!" A six-skilling-piece rejoiced these little
+Savoyards.
+
+The Champs Elysées of the Parisians on a great festival day, when
+the theatres are opened, the swings are flying, trumpets and drums
+overpowering the softer music, and when the whole mass of people,
+like one body, moves itself between the booths and tents, present a
+companion piece to the spectacle which the so-called Park-hill
+affords. It is Naples' "Largo dei Castello," with its dancing apes,
+shrieking Bajazzoes, the whole deafening jubilee which has been
+transported to a northern wood. Here also, in the wooden booths,
+large, tawdry pictures show what delicious plays you may enjoy
+within. The beautiful female horse-rider stands upon the wooden
+balcony and cracks with her whip, whilst Harlequin blows the
+trumpet. Fastened to a perch, large, gay parrots nod over the heads
+of the multitude. Here stands a miner in his black costume, and
+exhibits the interior of a mine. He turns his box, and during the
+music dolls ascend and descend. Another shows the splendid fortress
+of Frederiksteen: "The whole cavalry and infantry who have endured
+an unspeakable deal; here a man without a weapon, there a weapon
+without a man; here a fellow without a bayonet, here a bayonet
+without a fellow; and yet they are merry and contented, for they
+have conquered the victory."  [Note: Literal translation of the
+real words of a showman.] Dutch wafer-cake booths, where the
+handsome Dutch women, in their national costume, wait on the
+customers, entice old and young. Here a telescope, there a rare
+Danish ox, and so forth. High up, between the fresh tree boughs,
+the swings fly. Are those two lovers floating up there? A current
+of air seizes the girl's dress and shawl, the young man flings his
+arm round her waist; it is for safety: there is then less danger.
+At the foot of the hill there is cooking and roasting going on; it
+seems a complete gypsy-camp. Under the tree sits the old Jew--this
+is precisely his fiftieth jubilee; through a whole half-century has
+he sung here his comical Doctor's song. Now that we are reading
+this he is dead; that characteristic countenance is dust, those
+speaking eyes are closed, his song forgotten tones. Oehlenschläger,
+in his "St. John's Eve," has preserved his portrait for us, and it
+will continue to live, as Master Jakel (Punch), our Danish Thespis,
+will continue to live. The play and the puppets were transferred from
+father to son, and every quarter of an hour in the day the piece is
+repeated. Free nature is the place for the spectators, and after every
+representation the director himself goes round with the plate.
+
+This was the first spectacle which exhibited itself to the friends.
+Not far off stood a juggler in peasant's clothes, somewhat advanced
+in years, with a common ugly countenance. His short sleeves were
+rolled up, and exhibited a pair of hairy, muscular arms. The crowd,
+withdrawing from Master Jakel when the plate commenced its
+wanderings, pushed Otto and Wilhelm forward toward the low fence
+before the juggler's table.
+
+"Step nearer, my gracious gentlemen, my noble masters!" said the
+juggler, with an accentuation which betrayed his German birth. He
+opened the fence; both friends were fairly pushed in and took their
+places upon the bench, where they, at all events, found themselves
+out of the crowd.
+
+"Will the noble gentleman hold this goblet?" said the juggler, and
+handed Otto one from his apparatus. Otto glanced at the man: he was
+occupied with his art; but Otto's cheek and forehead were colored
+with a sudden crimson, which was immediately afterward supplanted
+by a deathly paleness: his hand trembled, but this lasted only a
+moment; he gathered all his strength of mind together and appeared
+the same as before.
+
+"That was a very good trick!" said Wilhelm.
+
+"Yes, certainly!" answered Otto; but he had seen nothing
+whatsoever. His soul was strangely affected. The man exhibited
+several other tricks, and then approached with the plate. Otto laid
+down a mark, and then rose to depart. The juggler remarked the
+piece of money: a smile played about his mouth; he glanced at Otto,
+and a strange malicious expression lay in the spiteful look which
+accompanied his loudly spoken thanks: "Mr. Otto Thostrup is always
+so gracious and good!"
+
+"Does he know you?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"He has the honor!" grinned the juggler, and proceeded.
+
+"He has exhibited his tricks in the Jutland villages, and upon my
+father's estate," whispered Otto.
+
+"Therefore an acquaintance of your childhood?" said Wilhelm.
+
+"Of my childhood," repeated Otto, and they made themselves a way
+through the tumult.
+
+They met with several young noblemen, relatives of Wilhelm, with
+the cousin who had written the verses for the Christmas tree; also
+several friends from the carouse, and the company increased. They
+intended, like many others, to pass the night in the wood, and at
+midnight drink out of Kirsten Piil's well. "Only with the
+increasing darkness will it become thoroughly merry here," thought
+they: but Otto had appointed to be in the city again toward
+evening. "Nothing will come out of that!" said the poet; "if you
+wish to escape, we shall bind you fast to one of us."
+
+"Then I carry him away with me on my back," replied Otto; "and
+still run toward the city. What shall I do here at night in the
+wood?"
+
+"Be merry!" answered Wilhelm. "Come, give us no follies, or I shall
+grow restive."
+
+Hand-organs, drums, and trumpets, roared against each other;
+Bajazzo growled; a couple of hoarse girls sang and twanged upon the
+guitar: it was comic or affecting, just as one was disposed. The
+evening approached, and now the crowd became greater, the joy more
+noisy.
+
+"But where is Otto?" inquired Wilhelm. Otto had vanished in the
+crowd. Search after him would help nothing, chance must bring them
+together again. Had he designedly withdrawn himself? no one knew
+wherefore, no one could dream what had passed within his soul. It
+became evening. The highway and the foot-path before the park
+resembled two moving gay ribbons.
+
+In the park itself the crowd perceptibly diminished. It was now the
+high-road which was become the Park-hill. The carriages dashed by
+each other as at a race; the people shouted and sung, if not as
+melodiously as the barcarole of the fisher men below Lido, still
+with the thorough carnival joy of the south. The steamboat moved
+along the coasts. From the gardens surrounding the pretty country-houses
+arose rockets into the blue sky, the Moccoli of the north above the
+Carnival of the Park.
+
+Wilhelm remained with his young friends in the wood, and there they
+intended, with the stroke of twelve, to drink out of Kirsten's
+well. Men and women, girls and boys of the lower class, and jovial
+young men, meet, after this manner, to enjoy St. John's Eve. Still
+sounded the music, the swings were in motion, lamps hung out,
+whilst the new moon shone through the thick tree boughs. Toward
+midnight the noise died away; only a blind peasant still scratched
+upon the three strings which were left on his violin; some servant-girls
+wandered, arm-in-arm, with their sweethearts, and sang. At twelve
+o'clock all assembled about the well, and drank the clear, ice-cold
+water. From no great distance resounded, through the still night,
+a chorus of four manly voices. It was as if the wood gods sang in
+praise of the nymph of the well.
+
+Upon the hill all was now deserted and quiet. Bajazzo and il
+Padrone slept behind the thin linen partition, under a coverlid.
+The moon set, but the night was clear; no clear, frosty winter
+night has a snore beautiful starry heaven to exhibit. Wilhelm's
+party was merry, quickly flew the hours away; singing in chorus,
+the party wandered through the wood, and down toward the strand.
+The day already dawned; a red streak along the horizon announced
+its approach.
+
+Nature sang to them the mythos of the creation of the world, even
+as she had sung it to Moses, who wrote down this voice from God,
+interpreted by Nature. Light banished the darkness, heaven and
+earth were parted; at first birds showed themselves in the clear
+air; later rose the beasts of the field; and, last of all, appeared
+man.
+
+"The morning is fairly sultry," said Wilhelm; "the sea resembles a
+mirror: shall we not bathe?"
+
+The proposal was accepted.
+
+"There we have the Naiades already!" said one of the party, as a
+swarm of fishermen's wives and daughters, with naked feet, their
+green petticoats tucked up, and baskets upon their backs, in which
+they carried fish to Copenhagen, came along the road. The gay young
+fellows cast toward the prettiest glances as warm and glowing as
+that cast by the sun himself, who, at this moment, came forth and
+shone over the Sound, where a splendid three-masted vessel had
+spread all her sails to catch each breeze. The company reached the
+strand.
+
+"There is some one already swimming out yonder," said Wilhelm. "He
+stands it bravely. That is an excellent swimmer!"
+
+"Here lie his clothes," remarked another.
+
+"How!" exclaimed Wilhelm: "this is Otto Thostrup's coat! But Otto
+cannot swim; I have never been able to persuade him to bathe. Now,
+we will out and make a nearer acquaintance."
+
+"Yes, certainly it is he," said another; "he is now showing his
+skill."
+
+"Then he must have been all night in the wood," exclaimed Wilhelm.
+"Yes, indeed, he's a fine bird. Does he fly us? He shall pay for
+ this. Good morning, Otto Thostrup," criedhe; "have you lain all
+night in the water, or in any other improper place? To quit friends
+without saying a word does not appertain to the customs of
+civilized people. Since you, therefore, show yourself such a man of
+nature, we will carry away your garments; it cannot annoy you in
+puris naturalibus to seek us out in the wood."
+
+Otto raised his head, but was silent.
+
+"Now, will you not come forth?" cried Wilhelm. "Only kneeling
+before each of us can you receive the separate articles of your
+dress, so that you may again appear as a civilized European." And
+saying this he divided the clothes among the others; each one held
+an article in his hand.
+
+"Leave such jokes!" cried Otto with singular earnestness. "Lay down
+the clothes, and retire!"
+
+"Aye, that we will, presently," returned Wilhelm. "You are a fine
+fellow! You cannot swim, you say. Now, if you should not kneel"--
+
+"Retire!" cried Otto, "or I will swim out into the stream, and not
+return again!"
+
+"That might be original enough," answered Wilhelm. "Swim forth, or
+come and kneel here!"
+
+"Wilhelm!" cried Otto, with an affecting sigh, and in a moment swam
+forth with quick strokes.
+
+"There he shoots away," said one of the party. "How he cuts the
+waves! He is a splendid swimmer!"
+
+Smiling they gazed over the expanse; Otto swam even farther out.
+
+"But where will he swim to?" exclaimed, somewhat gravely, one of
+the spectators. "He will certainly lose his strength before he
+returns the same distance."
+
+They unmoored the boat. Otto swam far out at sea; with quick
+strokes of the oars they rowed after him.
+
+"Where is he now?" cried Wilhelm shortly afterwards; "I see him no
+longer."
+
+"Yes, there he comes up again," said another; "but his strength is
+leaving him."
+
+"On! on!" cried Wilhelm; "he will be drowned if we do not come to
+his help. Only see--he sinks!"
+
+Otto had lost all power; his head disappeared beneath the water.
+The friends had nearly reached him; Wilhelm and several of the best
+swimmers flung from themselves boots and coats, sprang into the
+sea, and dived under the water. A short and noiseless moment
+passed. One of the swimmers appeared above water. "He is dead!"
+were the first words heard. Wilhelm and the three others now
+appeared with Otto; the boat was near oversetting as they brought
+him into it. Deathly pale lay he there, a beautifully formed marble
+statue, the picture of a young gladiator fallen in the arena.
+
+The friends busied themselves about him, rubbing his breast and
+hands, whilst two others rowel toward the land.
+
+"He breathes!" said Wilhelm.
+
+Otto opened his eyes; his lips moved; his gaze became firmer; a
+deep crimson spread itself over his breast and countenance; he
+raised himself and Wilhelm supported him. Suddenly a deep sigh
+burst from his breast; he thrust Wilhelm from him, and, like a
+madman, seized an article of dress to cover himself with; then,
+with a convulsive trembling of the lips, he said to Wilhelm, who
+held his hand, "I HATE YOU!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+--"Art thou Prometheus, pierced with wounds?
+The Vulture thou that tugs at his heart?"
+              J. CHR. V. ZEDLITZ'S Todtenkränze.
+
+Not half an hour after this adventure a carriage rolled toward the
+city--a large carriage, containing three seats, but, beside the
+coachman, there was only one person within. This was Otto; his lips
+were pale; death, it is true, had touched them. Alone he dashed
+forward; his last words to Wilhelm had been his only ones.
+
+"He has lost his wits," said one of the friends.
+
+"It is a fit of madness," answered another, "such as he was seized
+with at the examination, when he only sent in a scrap of white
+paper for the mathematical examination, because he felt himself
+offended by the inspector."
+
+"I could quite vex myself about my stupid joke," said Wilhelm. "I
+ought to have known him better; he is of a strange, unhappy
+character. Give me your hands! We will mention to no one what has
+occurred; it would only give occasion to a deal of gossip, and
+wound him deeply, and he is an excellent, glorious fellow."
+
+They gave their hands upon it, and drove toward the city.
+
+The same day, toward evening, we again seek Otto. We find him in
+his chamber. Silent, with crossed arms, he stands before a print, a
+copy of Horace Vernet's representation of Mazeppa, who, naked and
+bound upon a wild horse, rushes through the forest. Wolves thrust
+forth their heads and exhibit their sharp teeth.
+
+"My own life!" sighed Otto. "I also am bound to this careering wild
+horse. And no friend, not a single one! Wilhelm, I could kill thee!
+I could see you all lying in your blood! O, Almighty God!" He
+pressed his hands before his face and threw himself into a seat;
+his eyes, however, again directed themselves toward the picture; it
+exhibited a moment similar to the condition of his own mind.
+
+The door now opened, and Wilhelm stood before him.
+
+"How do you find yourself, Thostrup?" he inquired. "We are still
+friends as before?" and he wished to give his hand. Otto drew back
+his. "I have done nothing which could so much offend you," said
+Wilhelm; "the whole was merely a joke! Give me your hand, and we
+will speak no more of the affair!"
+
+"To the man whom I hate, I never reach my hand," replied Otto and
+his lips were white like his cheeks.
+
+"A second time to-day you speak these words to me," said Wilhelm,
+and the blood rushed to his face. "We were friends, wherefore
+cannot we be so still? Have people slandered me to you? Have they
+told lies about me? Only tell me faithfully, and I shall be able to
+defend myself."
+
+"You must fight with me!" said Otto; and his glance became more
+gloomy. Wilhelm was silent; there reigned a momentary stillness.
+Otto suppressed a deep sigh. At length Wilhelm broke silence, and
+said, with a grave and agitated voice,--"I am so thoughtless, I
+joke so often, and regard everything from the ridiculous side. But
+for all that I have both heart and feeling. You must have known how
+much dearer you were to me than most other people. You are so
+still, although you offend me. At this moment your blood is in a
+fever; not now, but after a few days, you yourself will best see
+which of us is the offended party. You demand that I fight with
+you; I will if your honor requires this satisfaction: but you must
+lay before me an acceptable reason. I will know wherefore we risk
+our lives. Let some days pass by; weigh all with your understanding
+and your heart! It will still depend upon yourself whether we
+remain friends as before. Farewell!" And Wilhelm went.
+
+Each of his words had penetrated to Otto's heart. A moment he stood
+silent and undecided, then his limbs trembled involuntarily, tears
+streamed from his eyes--it was a convulsive fit of weeping; he
+pressed his head back. "God, how unfortunate I am!" were his only
+words.
+
+So passed some minutes; he had ceased to weep, and was calm;
+suddenly he sprang up, shot the bolt in the door, drew down the
+blinds, lighted his candle, and once more looked searchingly
+around: the key-hole was also stopped up. He then flung his coat
+away from him and uncovered the upper part of his body.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"The towers pass by, even before we perceive them."
+               OEHLENSCHLÄER'S Journey to Fünen.
+
+Early the following morning, whilst Wilhelm still slept and dreamed
+of his beloved sisters, well-known footsteps sounded on the stairs,
+the door opened, and Otto stepped into the sleeping-room. Wilhelm
+opened his eyes. Otto was pale; a sleepless night and sorrow of
+heart had breathed upon his brow and eyes.
+
+"Thostrup!" cried Wilhelm, with joyous surprise, and stretched
+forth his hand toward him, but it again sank; Otto seized it, and
+pressed it firmly in his own, adding at the same time, with
+gravity,--"You have humbled me! Is that sufficient satisfaction for
+you?"
+
+"We are then friends!" said Wilhelm. "Friends must be very
+indulgent toward each other. Yesterday you were a little strange,
+to-morrow I may be so; that is the way in which one retaliates."
+
+Otto pressed his hand. "We will never speak again of the occurrence
+of yesterday!"
+
+"Never!" repeated Wilhelm, affected by the strange gravity of his
+friend.
+
+"You are a noble, a good creature!" said Otto, and bent over him;
+his lips touched Wilhelm's forehead.
+
+Wilhelm seized his hand, and gazed frankly into his eye. "You are
+not happy!" exclaimed he. "If I cannot assist you, I can, at least,
+dear Otto, honestly share the grief of a friend!"
+
+"Even on that very point we may never speak!" replied Otto.
+"Farewell! I have determined on travelling home; we have only
+vacation for a few weeks, and I have not been in Jutland since I
+became a student. Even a month's sojourn there cannot throw me
+back; I am well prepared for the philosophicum."
+
+"And when will you set out?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"To-morrow, with the steamboat. It is hot and sultry here in the
+city: my blood becomes heated: it will, also, soon be a year since
+I saw my family."
+
+"Thostrup!" exclaimed Wilhelm, through whom a thought suddenly
+flashed, "I should also like to see my family; they have written to
+me to come. Listen: make your journey through Funen, and only
+remain three or four days with us. My mother's carriage shall
+convey you then to Middelfart. Say 'Yes,' and we will set out this
+evening."
+
+"That cannot be done!" replied Otto; but half an hour later, as
+both sat together over the tea-table, and Wilhelm repeated his
+wish, Otto consented, but certainly more through a feeling of
+obligation than through any pleasure of his own. Toward evening,
+therefore, they set out in the beautiful summer night to travel
+through Zealand.
+
+Smartly dressed families wandered pleasantly through the city gate
+toward the summer theatre and Fredericksberg. The evening sun shone
+upon the column of Liberty; the beautiful obelisk, around which
+stand Wiedewelt's statues, one of which still weeps,
+             "In white marble clothing,
+                Hand upon the breast,
+                Ever grief-oppressed,
+              Looking down upon the gloomy sea,"
+where were closed the eyes of the artist. Was it the remembrance
+which here clouded Otto's glance, as his eye rested upon the
+statues as they drove past, or did his own soul, perhaps, mirror
+itself in his eyes?
+
+"Here it is gay and animated!" said Wilhelm, wishing to commence a
+conversation. "Vesterbro is certainly your most brilliant suburb.
+It forms a city by itself,--a little state! There upon the hill
+lies the King's Castle, and there on the left, between the willows,
+the poet's dwelling, where old Rahbek lived with his Kamma!"
+
+"Castle and poet's dwelling!" repeated Otto; "the time will be when
+they will inspire equal interest!"
+
+"That old place will soon be pulled down!" said Wilhelm; "in such
+a beautiful situation, so near the city, a splendid villa will be
+raised, and nothing more remind one of Philemon and Baucis!"
+
+"The old trees in the park will be spared!" said Otto; "in the
+garden the flowers will scent the air, and remind one of Kamma's
+flowers. Rahbek was no great poet, but he possessed a true poet's
+soul, labored faithfully in the great vineyard, and loved flowers
+as Kamma loved them."
+
+The friends hail left Fredericksberg behind them. The white walls
+of the castle glanced through the green boughs; behind Söndermark,
+the large, wealthy village stretched itself out. The sun had set
+before they reached the Dam-house, where the wild swans, coming
+from the ocean, build in the fresh water fake. This is the last
+point of beauty; nothing but lonely fields, with here and there a
+cairn, extend to the horizon.
+
+The clear summer's night attracted their gaze upward; the postilion
+blew his horn, and the carriage rolled toward the town of
+Roeskilde, the St. Denis of Denmark, where kings turn to dust;
+where Hroar's spring still flows, and its waters mingle with those
+of Issefjords.
+
+They drove to a public-house to change horses. A young girl
+conducted the friends into the public room; she lighted the way for
+them. Her slender figure and her floating gait drew Wilhelm's
+attention toward her; his hand touched her shoulder, she sprang
+aside and fixed her beautiful grave eyes upon him; but their
+expression became milder, she smiled and colored at the same time.
+
+"You are the sister of little Jonas!" cried Wilhelm, recognizing
+the young girl he had seen with him at Christmas.
+
+"I must also thank you," said she, "for your kindness toward the
+poor boy!" She quickly placed the lights on the table, and left the
+room with a gentle glance.
+
+"She is beautiful, very beautiful!" exclaimed Wilhelm. "That was
+really quite a pleasant meeting."
+
+"Is it then you, Herr Baron, who honor me thus?" cried the host,
+stepping in--an elderly man with a jovial countenance. "Yes, the
+Baron will doubtless visit his dear relations in hunch? It is now
+some little time since you were there."
+
+"This is our host!" said Wilhelm to Otto. "He and his wife were
+born upon my parent's estate."
+
+"Yes," said the host, "in my youth I have shot many a snipe and
+wild duck with the Herr Baron's father. But Eva should spread the
+table; the gentlemen will certainly take supper, and a glass of
+good punch the Herr Baron will certainly not despise, if he is like
+his blessed father."
+
+The young girl spread the cloth in an adjoining room.
+
+"She is pretty!" Wilhelm whispered to the old man.
+
+"And just as pious and innocent as she is pretty!" returned he;
+"and that is saying much, as she is a poor girl, and from
+Copenhagen. She is of good service to us, and my wife says Eva
+shall not leave us until she is well married."
+
+Wilhelm invited the host to join them at a glass. The old man
+became more animated, and now confided to him, half mysteriously,
+what made Eva so honorable in the eyes of his wife, and what was,
+indeed, really very nice of her. "My old woman," said he, "was in
+Copenhagen, in search of a waiting-girl. Yes, there are enough to
+be had, and they are fine girls; but mother has her own thoughts
+and opinions: she has good eyes--that she has! Now, there came
+many, and among others Eva; but, good Lord! she was very poorly
+clad, and she looked feeble and weak, and what service could one
+get out of her! But she had a good countenance, and the poor girl
+wept and besought mother to take her, for she was not comfortable
+at home, and would not remain at Copenhagen. Now, mother knows how
+to make use of her words: it is unfortunate that she is not at home
+to-night; how pleased she would have been to see the Herr Baron!
+Yes, what I would say is, she so twisted her words about, that Eva
+confessed to her why she wished to leave home. You see the girl is
+petty; and the young gallant gentlemen of Copenhagen had remarked
+her smooth face,--and not alone the young, but the old ones also!
+So an old gentleman--I could easily name him, but that has nothing
+to do with the affair--a very distinguished man in the city, who
+has, besides, a wife and children, had said all sorts of things to
+her parents; and, as eight hundred dollars is a deal of money to
+poor people, one can excuse them: but Eva wept, and said she would
+rather spring into the castle-ditch. They represented all sorts of
+things to the poor girl; she heard of the service out here with us.
+She wept, kissed my old woman's hand, and thus came to us; and
+since then we have had a deal of service from Eva, and joy also!"
+
+Some minutes after Eva stepped in, Otto's eye rested with a
+melancholy expression upon the beautiful form: never had he before
+so gazed upon a woman. Her countenance was extraordinarily fine,
+her nose and forehead nobly formed, the eyebrows dark, and in the
+dark-blue eyes lay something pensive, yet happy: one might employ
+the Homeric expression, "smiling through tears," to describe this
+look. She announced that the carriage was ready.
+
+A keen observer would soon have remarked what a change the host's
+relation had worked in the two friends. Wilhelm was no longer so
+free toward poor Eva. Otto, on the contrary, approached her more,--
+and at their leave-taking they offered her a greater present than
+they would otherwise have given.
+
+She stood with Otto at the door, and assisted him on with his
+travelling cloak.
+
+"Preserve your heart pure!" said he, gravely; "that is more than
+beauty!"
+
+The young girl blushed, and gazed at him with astonishment; in such
+a manner had no one of his age ever before spoken to her.
+
+"The poor girl!" said Otto; "but I think she is come to good
+people."
+
+"She has a strange glance!" said Wilhelm. "Do you know that there
+is really a certain affinity between you and her? It was to me
+quite striking."
+
+"That is a compliment which I cannot accept," returned Otto,
+smiling. "Yet, perhaps, I might resemble her."
+
+It was not yet three o'clock when the friends reached Ringsted.
+
+"I have never before been so far in Zealand," said Otto.
+
+"Shall I be your guide?" returned Wilhelm. "Ringsted has a street
+and an inn, and one is very badly served there, as you will soon
+both see and experience yourself. Meanwhile, one can think of
+Hagbarth and Signe; not far from here, at Sigersted, he hung his
+mantle on the oak, and Signelil's abode stood in flames. Now only
+remain fields and meadows, a cairn, and the old popular song. Then
+we rush past the friendly Soroe, that mirrors itself with the wood
+in the lake, which forms itself into so many bays; but we do not
+see much of it. We have here another romantic spot, an old castle
+converted into a church, high up on the hill near the lake, and
+close to it the dismal place of execution. We then reach Slagelse,
+an animated little town; with the Antvorskov convent, the poet
+Frankenau's grave, and a Latin school, celebrated on account of its
+poets. It was there Baggesen and Ingemann learned their Latin. When
+I once questioned the hostess regarding the lions of the town, she
+would only acknowledge two,--Bastholm's library, and the English
+fire-engine. The curtain in the theatre represents an alley with a
+fountain, the jets of which are painted as if spouting out of the
+prompter's box; or is this, perhaps, the English fire-engine? I
+know not. The scene-decoration for towns represents the market-place
+of Slagelse itself, so that the pieces thus acquire a home-feeling.
+This is the modern history of the little town; and, with regard to
+its older and romantic history, learn that the holy Anders was
+preacher here! Yes, indeed, that was a man! He has been also
+sung of by our first poets. We end with Korsöer, where Baggesen
+was born and Birckner lies buried. In the more modern history
+of this town, King Solomon and Jörgen the hatter play a considerable
+rôle. Besides this, I know that the town is said once to have
+possessed a private theatre; but this soon was done for, and the
+decorations were sold; a miller bought them, and patched his
+windmill sails with them. Upon one sail was a piece of a wood,
+upon another a shred of a room, or a street; and so they rushed
+round one after the other. Perhaps this is mere slander, for I have
+my information from Slagelse; and neighboring towns never speak
+well of each other."
+
+In this manner Wilhelm gossiped on, and the friends travelled over
+the way he had described. Slagelse, and the peasant village of
+Landsgrav, they had already behind them, when Wilhelm ordered the
+coachman to diverge from the high-road toward the right.
+
+"Where will you take us to?" asked Otto.
+
+"I will give you a pleasure!" returned Wilhelm. "We shall reach the
+weariful Korsöer early enough: the steamboat leaves at ten, and it
+is not yet seven. You shall be surprised--I know well that you are
+half a Catholic; I will conduct you where you may believe yourself
+carried back several centuries, and may imagine yourself in a
+Catholic country. That is right pleasant, is it not?"
+
+Otto smiled. The friends alighted from the coach and walked over a
+corn-field. They found themselves upon a hill, the whole landscape
+spread itself out before them--they saw the Belt, with Sprogöe and
+Funen. The surrounding country was certainly flat, but the variety
+of greens, the near meadow, the dark stretch of wood in the
+neighborhood of Korsöer, the bay itself, and all this seen in a
+warm morning light, produced effect. The friends diverged to the
+right; and before them, upon a hill, stood a large wooden cross,
+with the figure of the Crucified One. Above the cross was built a
+small roof to carry off the rain,--such as one may yet find in
+Bavaria. The figure of the Redeemer was of wood, painted with
+strong, tawdry colors; a withered garland of corn-flowers still
+hung around his bowed head.
+
+"It is extraordinary," said Otto, "to find in our time, in the year
+1830, such a Catholic symbol in Lutheran Denmark! And yet--yes, you
+will laugh at me, but I find it lovely: it affects me, moves me to
+worship."
+
+"That tawdry, tasteless figure!" cried Wilhelm. "Only see how
+coarse! the hair is covered with tar to keep off the rain! The
+peasants here have their peculiar superstition. If they allow the
+cross to fall they have no luck with their lands. It was upon this
+hill that the holy Anders, the celebrated preacher of Slagelse,
+awoke. He visited the sepulchre of Christ, but through praying
+there too long the ship sailed without him, and he was forced to
+stay behind. Then came a man and took him upon his horse, and they
+would ride to Joppa: the holy Anders fell asleep; but when he awoke
+he lay here, and heard the bells ringing in Slagelse. Upon a foal,
+only one night old, he rode round the extensive city lands, whilst
+King Waldemar lay in his bath. He could hang his glove upon the
+beams of the sun. This hill, where he awoke, was called Rest-hill;
+and the cross, with the figure of the Redeemer erected upon it,
+which still stands here, reminds us of the legend of the holy
+Anders."
+
+A little peasant girl at this moment mounted the hill, but paused
+when she perceived the strangers.
+
+"Don't be afraid, my child!" said Wilhelm. "What hast thou there? a
+garland! shall it hang here upon the cross? Only come, we will help
+thee."
+
+"It should hang over our Lord," said the little one, holding, in an
+embarrassed manner, the garland of pretty blue cornflowers in her
+hand. Otto took the garland, and hung it up in place of the faded
+one.
+
+"That was our morning adventure!" said Wilhelm, and soon they were
+rolling in the deep sand toward Korsöer, toward the hill where the
+poet watched the sun and moon sink into the sea, and wished that he
+had wings that he might catch them.
+
+Melancholy and silent lies the town on the flat coast, the old
+castle turned into a farm-house--high grass grows upon the walls.
+In a storm, when the wind blows against the city, the surf beats
+against the outermost houses. High upon the church stands a
+telegraph; the black wooden plates resemble mourning-flags hung
+above the sinking town. Here is nothing for the stranger to see,
+nothing except a grave--that of the thinker Birckner. The friends
+drove to the public-house on the strand. No human being met them in
+the street except a boy, who rung a hand-bell.
+
+"That calls to church," said Wilhelm. "Because there are no bells
+in the tower, they have here such a wandering bell-ringer as this.
+Holla! there lies the inn!"
+
+"Baron Wilhelm!" cried a strong voice, and a man in a green jacket
+with pockets in the breast, the mighty riding-boots splashed above
+the tops, and with whip in hand, approached them, pulled his horse-hair
+cap, and extended his hand to Wilhelm.
+
+"The Kammerjunker from Funen!" said Wilhelm; "my mother's neighbor,
+one of the most industrious and rich noblemen in all Funen."
+
+"You will come one of the first days to me!" said the Kammerjunker;
+"you shall try my Russian steam-bath: I have erected one upon my
+estate. All who visit me, ladies and gentlemen without any
+exception, must try it!"
+
+"And do the cherry-trees bear well this year?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"No, no," answered the Kammerjunker, "they are good for nothing;
+but the apples are good! All the old trees in the hill-garden stand
+in full splendor: I've brought them into condition! Two years ago
+there was not, on all the trees together, a bushel of fruit. But I
+had all the horses which had to be bled led under the trees, and
+had the warm blood sprinkled upon the roots; this happened several
+times, and it has been a real inoculation for life."
+
+"The wind is certainly favorable," said Otto, whom this
+conversation began to weary.
+
+"No, just the contrary!" said the Kammerjunker. "The vane upon the
+little house yonder lies; it points always to Nyborg, always shows
+a good wind for us when we want to leave. In Nyborg is also a vane,
+which stands even as firmly as this, and prates to the folk there
+of good wind. I regard both vanes as a kind of guide-post, which
+merely says, There goes the way! No, if we had had a wind I should
+have gone with the boat, and not with the little splashing thing,
+as the seamen call the steamboat. The carriage is doubtless
+awaiting the young gentleman in Nyborg?" pursued he. "I will join
+company with you--my brown horse waits for me at Schalburg. You
+should see him! He has sinews like steel springs, and legs like a
+dancing-master! He is my own brown."
+
+"No one knows that we are coming," answered Wilhelm. "We shall,
+therefore, take a carriage from Nyborg."
+
+"We will join company," said the Kammerjunker, "and then you will
+pay me a visit with the young gentleman. You shall sleep in the
+black chamber! Yes, you will give me the pleasure?" said he to
+Otto. "If you are a lover of the antique, my estate will afford you
+pleasure; you find there moats, towers, guard-rooms, ghosts, and
+hobgoblins, such as belong to an old estate. The black chamber!
+after all, it is not quite secure there; is it, Herr Baron?"
+
+"No, the deuce remain a night with you!" said Wilhelm; "one gets to
+bed late, and even then it is not permitted one to close one's
+eyes. You, your sister, and the Mamsell,--yes, you are a pretty
+clover-leaf! Yes, Thostrup, you cannot believe what pranks are
+hatched upon the Kammerjunker's estate! One must be prepared for
+it! It is said to be haunted, but if the dead will not take that
+trouble the living do. The Kammerjunker is in the plot with his
+women-folk. They sewed me lately live cockchafers into my pillow,
+and they crawled and scrambled about till I did not know what the
+deuce it could be! A live cock they had also placed under my bed,
+and just in the morning, when I would go to sleep, the creature
+began to crow!"
+
+"The women-folk had done that," said the Kammerjunker. "Did they
+not the very same night fasten a door-bell to the head of my bed? I
+never thought of it; fat Laender slept in the same room, and had
+fastened along the wall a string to the bell. I awoke with the
+ringing. 'What the devil is that bell?' said I, and glanced about
+the room, for I could not conceive what it was. 'Bell?' asked
+Laender--'there is no bell here!' The ringing also ceased. I
+thought I must have dreamed, or that our merry evening must have
+left some buzzing in my ears. Again it began to ring. Laender
+looked so innocent all the time, I could not comprehend myself;
+I thought it must be my imagination. I became quite fainthearted, I
+denied my own hearing, and said, 'No, I have only dreamed!' and
+commenced reckoning and counting to employ my mind; but that did
+no good, and it nearly drove me mad! I sprang out of bed, and then
+I found out the trick: but how Laender grinned! he was swollen and
+red in the face with his mirth."
+
+"Do you play such jokes on your estate?" inquired Otto, addressing
+himself to Wilhelm.
+
+"No, not such refined ones!" returned the Kammerjunker; "perhaps a
+piece of wood, or a silly mask, is laid in your bed. Miss Sophie
+gives us other clever things for amusement--tableaux and the magic-lantern.
+I was once of the party. Yes, what was it I represented? Ah, I played,
+Heaven help me! King Cyrus: had a paper crown on my head, and Miss
+Sophie's cloak about me, the wrong side turned outward, for it is
+lined with sable. I looked like Satan!"
+
+The steamboat passengers were summoned on board, the company went
+down to the vessel, and soon it was cutting through the waves of
+the Belt.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"See now, Fünen signifieth _fine_,
+  And much in that word lies;
+For Fünen is the garden fine,
+  Where Denmark glads its eyes."
+
+The nakedness which the last aspect of Zealand presents occasions
+one to be doubly struck by the affluent abundance and luxuriance
+with which Funen steps forth. Green woods, rich corn-fields, and,
+wherever the eye rests, noblemen's seats and churches. Nyborg
+itself appears a lively capital in comparison with the still
+melancholy Korsöer. One now perceives people upon the great bridge
+of boats, on the ramparts, and in the broad streets with their high
+houses; one sees soldiers, hears music, and, what is especially
+animating upon a journey, one comes to an excellent inn. The drive
+out through the arched gateway is an astonishment; it is the same
+length and breadth as one of the gates of Copenhagen. Villages and
+peasants' houses here assume a more well-to-do aspect than in
+Zealand, where one often on the way-side imagines one sees a
+manure-heap heaped upon four poles, which upon nearer examination
+one finds is the abode of a family. On the highroads in Funen one
+perceives only clean houses; the window-frames are painted; before
+the doors are little flower-gardens, and wherever flowers are
+grown, as Bulwer strikingly remarks, the peasant is in a higher
+state of civilization; he thinks of the beautiful. In the ditches
+along the highway one sees lilac with their white and lilac
+flowers. Nature herself has here adorned the country with a
+multitude of wild poppies, which for splendor of color might vie
+with the most admired and beautiful in a botanic garden. Especially
+in the neighborhood of Nyborg do they grow in exceeding abundance.
+
+"What a dazzling color!" exclaimed Otto, as the friends rolled past
+these beautiful red flowers.
+
+"That is a proud color!" said the Kammerjunker, who rode near them
+upon his brown steed, "a proud color! but they are manured with the
+blood of Andalusian horses. It was just here where the battle
+between these beasts took place. You know that sit the year 1808
+the Spaniards lay in Funen; the English ships were cruising about
+in the Belt, and Romana fled with his whole army on board, but they
+could net take their horses with them. These were the most splendid
+Andalusian creatures that eyes ever saw. The Spaniards took off
+their bridles, and left them here to scamper about the fields like
+wild horses. The horses of Nyborg chanced also to graze here, and
+as soon as the Andalusian steeds became aware of ours they arranged
+themselves in a row, and fell upon the Danish horses: that was a
+combat! At length they fell upon each other, and fought until they
+fell bleeding to earth. Whilst still a boy I saw little skull of
+one of these beasts. This is the last adventure left us from the
+visit of the Spaniards to Denmark. In the village through which we
+shall now pass are some outer remembrances. Remark the young lads
+and lasses,--they are of a darker complexion than the inhabitants
+of other Funen valleys; that is Spanish blood, it is said. It was
+in this village that the story took its rise of the preacher's
+servant-girl, who wept and was so inconsolable at the departure of
+the Spaniards. But not on account of her bridegroom did she weep,--
+not over her own condition. The preacher consoled her, and then she
+said she only wept to think that if the innocent child resembled
+its father it certainly would speak Spanish, and then not a soul
+would understand it! Yes, such histories as this have we in Funen!"
+said he laughingly to Otto.
+
+With similar relations, and some agricultural observations,
+according as they were called forth by surrounding objects, did our
+excellent landed proprietor amuse our young gentlemen. They were
+already distant several miles from Nyborg, when he suddenly broke
+off in the midst of a very interesting discourse upon a
+characteristic of a true inhabitant of Funen, which is, that
+whenever he passes a field of buckwheat he moves his mouth as if
+chewing, and made Wilhelm observe a Viennese carriage, which
+approached them by a neighboring road. To judge from the coachman
+and the horses, it must be the family from the hall.
+
+This was the case--they returned from paying a visit. Where the
+roads crossed they met each other. Otto immediately recognized Miss
+Sophie, and near to her sat an elderly lady, with a gentle, good-humored
+countenance; this was the mother. Now there was surprise and joy.
+Sophie blushed--this blush could not have reference to the brother;
+was it then the Kammerjunker? No: that appeared impossible! therefore,
+it must concern Otto. The mother extended her hand to him with a
+welcome, whilst at the same time she invited the Kammerjunker to
+spend the afternoon with them. There lay, in the manner with which
+she proposed this, so much attention and consideration, that Otto
+felt the man was here held in greater esteem, and was otherwise
+regarded than he, during their short acquaintance, had imagined possible.
+
+Sophie added, smiling, "You must stay!" To which the Kammerjunker
+replied with an apology for his travelling-dress.
+
+"We are not strangers!" said the mother; "it is only a family meal!
+You see the usual circle. You, Mr. Thostrup," added she, with a
+most obliging manner, "I know so well from Wilhelm's letters, that
+we are no strangers. The gentlemen are acquainted with each other!"
+
+"I accept the invitation," said the Kammerjunker, "and I will now
+show you into what a gallop I can put my steed! It is Carl Rise,
+[Translator's Note: Name of one of the heroes in Waldemar the
+Conqueror, a romance by Ingemann.] as you see, young lady--you
+called him so yourself!"
+
+"Yes, ride forward," said Sophie, smiling. "By that means you will
+oblige my sister. She might otherwise be quite frightened, did she
+see such a mighty caravan approach the house, did she had not
+properly prepared the dinner-table."
+
+"As my gracious young lady commands!" said the rider, and sprang
+forward.
+
+The country became more woody; the road passed various small lakes,
+almost overgrown with water-lilies and shaded by old trees; the
+old-fashioned, indented gable-ends of the hall now peeped forth.
+They drove through an avenue of wild chestnut-trees; the stone
+pavement here threatened to smash the carriage axles. On the right
+lay the forge, through the open door of which flew the sparks. A
+little girl, with bare feet, opened a gate, and they now found
+themselves in a large open space before the red-painted out-buildings.
+The ground was covered with straw, and all the cows of the farm were
+collected here for milking. Here they were obliged to drive, step
+by step, until by the gateway they reached the larger courtyard,
+which was inclosed by the barns and the principal building itself.
+This was surrounded by broad ditches, almost grown over with reeds.
+Over a solid bridge, resting upon pillars of masonry, and through
+a principal wing which bore the armorial bearings and initials of
+the old possessor, they arrived in the innermost court, which was
+shut in by three wings, the antique one already mentioned, and two
+others: the fourth side was inclosed by a low trellis-work which
+adjoined the garden, where the canals lost themselves in a small lake.
+
+"That is an interesting old court!" exclaimed Otto.
+
+"O, that is not to be compared with the Kammerjunker's!" returned
+Wilhelm: "you should first see his!"
+
+"Yes, you must come over some of these days," said the
+Kammerjunker. "Silence, Fingal! Silence, Valdine!" cried he to the
+barking dogs. A couple of turkey-cocks spread their feathers out,
+and gobbled with all their might. Men and women servants stood at
+the door: that was their reception!
+
+"Thostrup will have the red room, will he not?" said Wilhelm, and
+the friends ascended the stairs together.
+
+A pale young girl, not free from freckles, but with eyes full of
+soul, hastened toward them; this was Wilhelm's youngest sister. She
+pressed her brother to her breast, and took Otto's hand with
+kindness. She is not beautiful! was the first impression she made
+upon him. His chamber was vaulted, and the walls painted in the
+style of Gobelin tapestry; they represented the whole of Olympus.
+On the left was an old fire-place, with decorations and a gilt
+inscription; on the right stood an antiquated canopy-bed, with red
+damask hangings. The view was confined to the moat and the interior
+court. But a few minutes and Otto and Wilhelm were summoned to
+table. A long gallery through two wings of the hall, on one side
+windows, on the other entrances to the rooms, led to the dining-room.
+The whole long passage was a picture-gallery. Portraits the size
+of life, representing noble knights and ladies shining forth in
+red powdered periwigs, children adorned like their elders, with
+tulips in their hands, and great hounds by their sides, together
+with some historical pieces, decorated the walls.
+
+"Have we no garland on the table?" asked Sophie, as she entered the
+dining-room with the others.
+
+"Only a weak attempt to imitate my sister!" said Louise, smiling.
+
+"But there is not a single flower in the garland! What economy! And
+yet it is sweet!"
+
+"How tasteful!" exclaimed Otto, examining the garland which Louise
+had laid.
+
+All kinds of green leaves, with their innumerable shades, a few
+yellow linden-leaves, and some from the copper-beech, formed,
+through their varied forms and colors, a tasteful garland upon the
+white table-cloth.
+
+"You receive a thistle and a withered leaf!" whispered Wilhelm, as
+Otto seated himself.
+
+"But yet the most beautiful!" answered he. "The copper beech
+contrasts so sweetly with the whitish-green thistle and the yellow
+leaf."
+
+"My sister Sophie," said Louise, "lays us each day a different
+garland;--it is such a pretty decoration! If she is not here we get
+none; that would have been the case to-day, but when I learned that
+Wilhelm was coming, and that we," she added, with a friendly
+glance, "should have two other guests, I in great haste, made an
+attempt, and"--
+
+"And wished to show how nicely it could be made without robbing
+your flowers!" interrupted Sophie, laughing. "In reality, I am very
+cruel! I cut all the heads of her favorites off. To-morrow, as a
+parody upon her garland of to-day, will I make one of green cabbage
+and pea-shells!"
+
+"Madeira or port wine?" asked the Kammerjunker, and led the
+conversation from flowers to articles of food and drink.
+
+"One feels one's self comfortable here at the hall! Miss Louise
+cares for the body, and Miss Sophie for the soul!"
+
+"And mamma bestows a good cup of coffee," said the mother; "you
+must also praise me a little!"
+
+"I give music after dinner!" cried Wilhelm; "and thus the whole
+family will have shown their activity!"
+
+"But no voluntaries!" said the Kammerjunker; "no voluntaries, dear
+friend! No, a brisk song, so that one can hear what it is! but none
+of your artificial things!" A right proper blow on the shoulders
+was intended to soften his expression.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"She sees if the cloth is clean and white
+--If the bed has pillows and sheets;
+If the candle fits in the candlestick. ...
+
+"Modest she is, although you know
+  She makes the whole of the place;
+And in she slips in the evening glow,
+  To light the room with her merry face "--OEHLENSCHLÄGER
+
+A quiet, busy house-fairy was Louise; the beautiful, fragrant
+flowers were her favorites. Good-humoredly she smiled at the
+raillery of her sister, quietly listened to each thoughtless jest;
+but if any one, in joke, touched upon what was holy to her soul,
+she was aroused from her calmness and attained a certain eloquence.
+
+We will now become more nearly acquainted with the sisters, and on
+this account pass over to one of the following days.
+
+An abode together of a week, at a country-seat, will often bring
+about a greater intimacy than if, throughout a whole winter, people
+had met in large companies in cities. Otto soon felt himself at
+home; he was treated as a near relative. Wilhelm related all he
+knew of the beautiful Eva, and Sophie discovered that she was a
+romantic character. Mamma pitied the poor child, and Louise wished
+she had her on the estate: an inn was, after all, no proper place
+for a respectable girl. They then spoke of the winter enjoyments in
+Copenhagen, of art, and the theatre. Louise could not speak much
+with them upon these subjects, although she had seen one play,
+"Dyveke:" the amiable nature of the actress had spoken deeply to
+her heart.
+
+Several days had passed; the sky was gray; the young people
+assembled round the table; they were at no loss for a subject of
+conversation. All those who have brothers or sons who study well,
+have remarked how much they are especially fascinated by the
+lectures on natural philosophy and astronomy; the world, as it
+were, expands itself before the intellectual eye. We know that the
+friends, during the past summer, had participated in these
+lectures, and, like the greater number, were full of these
+subjects, from the contemplation of a drop of water, with its
+innumerable animalculae, to the distance and magnitude of stars and
+planets.
+
+To most of us these are well-known doctrines; to the ladies, also,
+this was nothing entirely new: nevertheless, it interested them;
+perhaps partly owing to Otto's beautiful eloquence. The gray, rainy
+weather led the conversation to the physical explanation of the
+origin of our globe, as the friends, from Orsted's lectures,
+conceived it to have been.
+
+"The Northern and Grecian myths agree also with it!" sail Otto. "We
+must imagine, that in infinite space there floated an eternal,
+unending mist, in which lay a power of attraction. The mist
+condensed itself now to one drop--our globe was one enormous egg-shaped
+drop; light and warmth operated upon this huge world egg, and hatched,
+not alone ONE creature, but millions. These must die and give way
+to new ones, but their corpses fell as dust to the centre: this
+grew; the water itself condensed, and soon arose a point above
+the expanse of ocean. The warmth of the sun developed moss and
+plants; fresh islands presented themselves; for centuries did a
+more powerful development and improvement show themselves, until
+the perfection was attained which we now perceive!"
+
+"But the Bible does not teach us thus!" said Louise.
+
+"Moses invented his account of the creation," answered Otto; "we
+keep to Nature, who has greater revelations than man."
+
+"But the Bible is to you a holy book?" asked Louise, and colored.
+
+"A venerable book!" returned Otto. "It contains the profoundest
+doctrines, the most interesting histories, but also much which
+belongs not at all to a holy book."
+
+"How can you say such things?" exclaimed Louise.
+
+"Do not touch upon religion in her presence," said Sophie; "she
+is a pious soul, and believes, without desiring to know wherefore."
+
+"Yes," said Wilhelm, "this winter she became quite angry, and, as I
+believe, for the first time angry with me, because I maintained
+that Christ was a man."
+
+"Wilhelm!" interrupted the young girl, "do not speak of that; I
+feel myself unhappy at this thought; I can and will not see the
+Holy brought down to my level, and to that of every-day life. It
+lies in my nature that I commit a sin if I think otherwise than I
+have learned and than my heart allows me. It is profane, and if you
+speak longer of religion in this strain I shall leave the room."
+
+At this moment the mother entered. "The festival has commenced,"
+said she; "I have been forced to give my brightest silver skilling.
+Does Mr. Thostrup know the old custom which is observed here in the
+country, when beer is brewed for the mowing-feast?"
+
+A piercing cry, as from a horde of savages, at this moment reached
+the ears of the party.
+
+The friends descended.
+
+In the middle of the brew-house stood a tub, around which danced
+all the female servants of the estate, from the dairymaids down to
+the girl who tended the swine; their iron-bound wooden shoes dashed
+against the uneven flag-stones. The greater number of the dancers
+were without their jackets, but with their long chemise-sleeves and
+narrow bodices. Some screamed, others laughed, the whole was
+blended together in a howl, whilst they danced hand in hand around
+the tub in which the beer should be brewed. The brewing-maid now
+flung into it the silver skilling, upon which the girls, like wild
+Maenades, tore off each other's caps, and with bacchanalian
+wildness whirled round the tub. By this means should the beer
+become stronger, and work more intoxicatingly at the approaching
+mowing-feast.
+
+Among the girls, one especially distinguished herself by her Strong
+frame of body, and her long black hair, which, now that her cap was
+torn off, hung in disorder over her red face. The dark eyebrows
+were grown together. All seemed to rage most violently within her,
+and in truth she assumed something wild, nay almost brutal. Both
+arms she raised high in the air, and with outstretched fingers she
+whirled around.
+
+"That is disgusting!" whispered Otto: "they all look like crazy
+people."
+
+Wilhelm laughed at it. The wild merriment was lost in a joyous
+burst of laughter. The girl with the grown-together eyebrows let
+fall her arms; but still there lay in her glance that wild
+expression, which the loose hair and uncovered shoulders made still
+more striking. Either one of the others had had the misfortune to
+scratch her lip, or else she herself had bitten it in bacchanalian
+wildness until it bled: she accidentally glanced toward the open
+door where stood the friends. Otto's countenance became clouded, as
+was ever the case when anything unpleasant affected him. She seemed
+to guess his thoughts, and laughed aloud. Otto stepped aside; it
+was as though he in anticipation felt the shadow which this form
+would one day cast across his life.
+
+When he and Wilhelm immediately afterward returned to Sophie and
+Louise, he related the unpleasant impression which the girl had
+made upon him.
+
+"O, that is my Meg Merrilies!" exclaimed Sophie. "Yes, spite of her
+youth, do you not find that she has something of Sir Walter Scott's
+witch about her? When she grows older, she will be excellent. She
+has the appearance of being thirty, whereas she is said not to be
+more than twenty years old: she is a true giantess."
+
+"The poor thing!" said Louise; "every one judges from the exterior.
+All who are around her hate her, I believe, because her eyebrows
+are grown together, and that is said to be a sign that she is a
+nightmare: [Note: This superstition of the people is mentioned in
+Thieles's Danish traditions: "When a girl at midnight stretches
+between four sticks the membrane in which the foal lies when it is
+born, and then creeps naked through it, she will bear her child
+without pains; but all the boys she conceives will become were-wolves,
+and all the girls nightmares. You will know them in the daytime by
+their eyebrows grown together over the nose. In the night she creeps
+in through the key-hole, and places herself upon the sleeper's bosom.
+The same superstition is also found in German Grimm speaks thus
+about it: If you say to the nightmare,--
+         Old hag, come to-morrow,
+         And I from you will borrow,
+it retreats directly, and comes the next morning in the shape of a
+man to borrow something."] they are angry with her, and how could
+one expect, from the class to which she belongs, that she should
+return scorn with kindness? She is become savage, that she may not
+feel their neglect. In a few days, when we have the mowing-feast,
+you yourself will see how every girl gets a partner; but poor
+Sidsel may adorn herself as much as she likes, she still stands
+alone. It is truly hard to be born such a being!"
+
+"The unfortunate girl!" sighed Otto.
+
+"O, she does not feel it!" said Wilhelm: "she cannot feel it; for
+that she is too rude, too much of an animal."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"Were the pease not tender, and the vegetables fresh and sweet as sugar
+What was the matter with the hams, the smoked goose-breasts, and the
+herrings? What with the roasted lamb, and the refreshing red-sprinkled
+head-lettuce? Was not the vinegar sharp, and the nut-oil balmy? Was not
+the butter as sweet as a nut, the red radishes tender? What?" --VOSS'S
+Louise.
+
+"Mr. Thostrup shall see the Kammerjunker's old country-seat;
+to-morrow we must go over."
+
+Louise could not go with them, a hundred small duties chained her
+to the house. The most important of them all was ironing.
+
+"But that the house-maid can do," said Sophie. "Do come with us."
+
+"When thou seest thy linen nice and neat in thy drawers," returned
+Louise, "thou wilt certainly pardon me for remaining at home."
+
+"Yes, thou art a glorious girl!" said Sophie; "thou dost deserve to
+have been known by Jean Paul, and made immortal in one of his
+books. Thou dost deserve the good fortune of being sung of by such
+a poet."
+
+"Dost thou call it good fortune," answered the sister, "when the
+whole world directs its attention to one person?--that must be
+painful! unhappy! No, it is much better not to be remarked at all.
+Take my greetings with you, and ask for my Claudius back; they have
+had it now a whole half year."
+
+"There, they have kept half my sister's library," said Sophie,
+smiling to Otto. "You must know she has only two books: Mynster's
+Sermons, and the 'Wandsbecker Boten.'"
+
+The carriage rolled away through the chestnut avenue. "There upon
+the hill, close by the wood, did I act the elf-maiden," said
+Sophie. "I was not yet confirmed; there were strangers staying with
+us at the hall, and we wandered in the beautiful moonlight through
+the wood. Two of my friends and I hastened toward the hill, took
+hold of each other's hands and danced in a ring. The day after, two
+persons of the congregation told the preacher about three elfin-maidens,
+clad in white, who had danced upon the hill in the moonlight. The
+elfin-maidens were we; but that our backs were hollow as baking-troughs,
+and that the hill glanced like silver, was their own invention."
+
+"And in this oak," exclaimed Wilhelm, "when a boy, I killed the
+first bird which fell from my shot. It was a crow, and was very
+honorably interred."
+
+"Yes, beneath my sister's weeping-willow," said Sophie. "We buried
+it in an old chapeaubras, adorned with white bows; the grave was
+decorated with peony-leaves and yellow lilies. Wilhelm, who was
+then a big boy, made an oration, and Louise strewed flowers."
+
+"You were little fools!" said the mother. "But see, who comes
+here?"
+
+"O, my little Dickie, my dwarf of Kenilworth!" exclaimed Sophie, as
+a little hump-backed man, with thin legs and an old face,
+approached. He was dressed as a peasant, and bore upon his back a
+little knapsack of red calfskin, the hairy side turned outward: in
+this he carried his violin.
+
+"Is he called Dickie?" asked Otto.
+
+"No, that is only a joke of Sophie's," pursued Wilhelm; "she must
+always make suitable people romantic. He is called commonly
+'Musikanti.' The inhabitant of Funen Italianizes most names;
+otherwise he is called Peter Cripple."
+
+"You will hear his tones," said Sophie. "The day after to-morrow,
+when we have the mowing-feast, he will he number one. He
+understands music with which you are scarcely acquainted; he will
+play you the 'Shoemaker's Dance' as well as 'Cherry-soup:' such
+dances as these have people here in the country."
+
+"We are now beyond my lands, and upon our neighbor's," said the old
+lady. "You will see a thorough old mansion."
+
+"Now, I should like to know how the inhabitants will please Mr.
+Thostrup," said Sophie. "The Kammerjunker you know; he is an
+excellent country gentleman. His sister, on the contrary, is a
+little peculiar: she belongs to that class of people who always,
+even wily the best intentions, say unpleasant things. She has for
+this quite a rare talent--you will soon experience this; but she
+does not intend anything so bad. She can also joke! Thank God that
+you will not remain there over night, otherwise you would
+experience what she and the Mamsell can invent!"
+
+"Yes, the Mamsell is my friend!" said Wilhelm. "You will see her
+work-box with all the curiosities. That little box plays a great
+part: it is always taken out with her when she pays a visit--for
+the sake of conversation it is brought out; all is then looked
+through, and every article goes the round of the company. Yes,
+there are beautiful things to be seen: a little wheelbarrow with a
+pincushion, a silver fish, and the little yard-measure of silk
+ribbon."
+
+"Yes, and the amber heart!" said Sophie; "the little Napoleon of
+cast iron, and the officer who is pasted fast to the bottom of the
+box: that is a good friend in Odense, she lately told to me in
+confidence."
+
+"See what beautiful stone fences the Kammerjunker has made!" said
+the mother. "And how beautifully the cherry-trees grow! He is an
+industrious man!"
+
+They approached the garden. It was laid out in the old French
+style, with straight walks, pyramids of box, and white painted
+stone figures: satyrs and goddesses peeped through the green
+foliage. You now caught sight of a high tower with a spire; and
+soon the whole of the old mansion presented itself to view. The
+water was conveyed away from the broad moats, where the weeping
+willows with bowed heads and uncovered roots stood in the warm
+sunshine. A number of work-people were busily employed in clearing
+the moats of mud, which was wheeled in barrows on both sides.
+
+They soon reached the principal court-yard. The barns and the
+out-buildings lay on the opposite side. A crowd of dogs rushed forth
+barking toward the carriage--all possible races, from the large
+Danish hound, which is known to the Parisian, down to the steward's
+little pug-dog, which had mixed with this company. Here stood the
+greyhound, with his long legs, beside the turnspit. You saw all
+varieties, and each had its peculiar and melodious bark. A couple
+of peacocks, with bright outspread tails, raised at the same time a
+cry, which must have made an impression. The whole court-yard had a
+striking air of cleanliness. The grass was weeded from between the
+stones; all was swept and arranged in its appointed order. Before
+the principal flight of steps grew four large lime-trees; their
+tops, from youth bent together and then clipped short, formed in
+spring and summer two large green triumphal arches. On the right
+stood upon an upright beam, which was carved and formed into a
+pillar, a prettily painted dove-cot; and its gay inhabitants
+fluttered and cooed around. The peacock-pigeon emulated the peacock
+in spreading its tail; and the cropper-pigeon elevated itself upon
+its long legs, and drew itself up, as though it would welcome the
+strangers with the air of a grand gentleman. The reddish-brown
+tiles and the bright window-panes were the only things which had a
+modern air. The building itself, from the stone window-seats to the
+old-fashioned tower through which you entered, proclaimed its
+antiquity. In the vaulted entrance-hall stood two immense presses:
+the quantity of wood which formed them, and the artistical carving,
+testified to their great age. Above the door were fastened a couple
+of antlers.
+
+The Kammerjunker's sister, Miss Jakoba, a young lady of about
+thirty, neither stout nor thin, but with a strange mixture of
+joviality and indolence, approached them. She appeared to rejoice
+very much in the visit.
+
+"Well, you are come over, then!" said she to Wilhelm. "I thought
+you had enough to do with your examination."
+
+Wilhelm smiled, and assured her that after so much study people
+required relaxation.
+
+"Yes, you doubtless study in handsome boots!" said the young lady,
+and in a friendly manner turned toward Sophie. "Good heavens,
+miss!" she exclaimed, "how the sun has burnt your nose! That looks
+horrible! Don't you ever wear a veil? you, who otherwise look so
+well!"
+
+Otto was a stranger to her. He escaped such unpleasant remarks.
+"They should spend the whole day there," insisted Miss Jakoba; but
+mamma spoke of being at home by noon.
+
+"Nothing will come of that!" said Jakoba. "I have expected you; and
+we have cooked a dinner, and made preparations, and I will not have
+had all this trouble in vain. There are some especial dishes for
+you, and of these you shall eat." This was all said in such a
+good-humored tone that even a stranger could not have felt himself
+offended. The Kammerjunker was in the fields looking after his
+flax; he would soon be back. Squire Wilhelm could in the mean time
+conduct Mr. Thostrup about the premises: "he would otherwise have
+nothing to do," said she.
+
+No one must remain in the sitting-room; it was so gloomy there!
+The walls were still, as in by-gone days, covered with black
+leather, upon which were impressed gold flowers. No, they should go
+to the hall--that had been modernized since the Baroness was last
+there. The old chimney-piece with carved ornaments was removed, and
+a pretty porcelain stove had taken its place. The walls were
+covered with new paper from Paris. You could there contemplate all
+the public buildings of that city,--Notre Dame, Saint Sulpice, and
+the Tuileries. Long red curtains, thrown over gilt rods, hung above
+the high windows. All this splendor was admired.
+
+"I prefer the antique sitting-room, after all," said Sophie; "the
+old chimney-piece and the leather hangings. One fairly lives again
+in the days of chivalry!"
+
+"Yes, you have always been a little foolish!" said Jakoba, but
+softened her words by a smile and a pressure of the hand. "No, the
+hall is more lively. Ah!" she suddenly exclaimed; "Tine has placed
+her work-box in the window! That is disorder!"
+
+"O, is that the celebrated work-box, with its many fool's tricks?"
+inquired Wilhelm, as he laughingly took it up.
+
+"There are neither fools nor tricks in the box," said Jakoba. "But
+only look in the mirror in the lid, and then you will perhaps see
+one of the two."
+
+"No rude speeches, my young lady!" said Wilhelm; "I am an
+academical burgher!"
+
+The Kammerjunker now entered, attired in the same riding dress in
+which we made his acquaintance. He had visited his hay and oats,
+had seen after the people who were working at the fences, and had
+been also in the plantation. It had been a warm forenoon.
+
+"Now, Miss Sophie," said he, "do you see how I am clearing out the
+court? It costs me above five hundred dollars; and still they are
+the peasants of the estate who clear away the mud. But I shall get
+a delicate manure-heap, so fit and rich that it's quite a pleasure.
+But, Jakoba, where is the coffee?"
+
+"Only let it come in through the door," said Jakoba, somewhat
+angrily. "You certainly ate something before you went from home.
+Let me attend to the affairs of the ladies, and do thou attend to
+the gentlemen, so that they may not stand and get weary."
+
+The Kammerjunker conducted the friends up the winding stone stairs
+into the old tower.
+
+"All solid and good!" said he. "We no longer build in this manner.
+The loop-holes here, close under the roof, were walled up already
+in my father's time. But only notice this timber!"
+
+The whole loft appeared a gigantic skeleton composed of beams, one
+crossing the other. On either side of the loft was a small vaulted
+chamber, with a brick fire-place. Probably these chambers had been
+used as guard-rooms; a kind of warder's walk led from these,
+between the beam-palisade and the broad wall.
+
+"Yes, here," said the Kammerjunker, "they could have had a good
+lookout toward the enemy. Look through my telescope. You have here
+the whole country from Vissenberg to Munkebobanke, the Belt, and
+the heights of Svendborg. Only see! The air is clear. We see both
+Langeland and Zealand. Here one could, in 1807, have well observed
+the English fleet."
+
+The three climbed up the narrow ladder and came past the great
+clock, the leaden weights of which, had they fallen, would have
+dashed through the stone steps, and soon the gentlemen sat on the
+highest point. The Kammerjunker requested the telescope, placed it
+and exclaimed:--
+
+"Did I not think so? If one has not them always under one's eyes
+they begin playing pranks! Yes, I see it very well! There, now, the
+fellows who are working at the fences have begun to romp with the
+girls! they do nothing! Yes, they don't believe that I am sitting
+here in the tower and looking at them!"
+
+"Then a telescope is, after all, a dangerous weapon!" exclaimed
+Wilhelm. "You can look at people when they least expect it.
+Fortunately, our seat lies hidden behind the wood: we are, at all
+events, safe."
+
+"Yes, that it is, my friend," returned the other; "the outer sides
+of the garden are still bare. Did I not, last autumn, see Miss
+Sophie quite distinctly, when she was gathering service-berries in
+her little basket? And then, what tricks did she not play? She
+certainly did not think that I sat here and watched tier pretty
+gambols!"
+
+They quitted the tower, and passed through the so-called Knight's
+Hall, where immense beams, laid one on the other, supported the
+roof. At either end of the hall was a huge fireplace, with armorial
+bearings painted above: the hall was now used as a granary; they
+were obliged to step over a heap of corn before reaching the family
+pew in the little chapel, which was no longer used for divine
+service.
+
+"This might become a pretty little room," said the Kammerjunker,
+"but we have enough, and therefore we let this, for curiosity's
+sake, remain in its old state. The moon is worth its money!" and he
+pointed toward the vaulted ceiling, where the moon was represented
+as a white disk, in which the painter, with much naïveté, had
+introduced a man bearing a load of coals upon his back; in faithful
+representation of the popular belief regarding the black spot in
+the moon, which supposes this to be a man whom the Lord has sent up
+there because he stole his neighbor's coal. "That great picture on
+the right, there," pursued he, "is Mrs. Ellen Marsviin; I purchased
+it at an auction. One of the peasants put up for it; I asked him
+what he would do with this big piece of furniture--he could never
+get it in through his door. But do you know what a speculation he
+had? It was not such a bad one, after all. See! the rain runs so
+beautifully off the painted canvas, he would have a pair of
+breeches made out of it, to wear in rainy weather behind the
+plough; they would keep the rain off! I thought, however, I ought
+to prevent the portrait of the highly honorable Mrs. Ellen Marsviin
+being so profaned. I bought it: now she hangs there, and looks
+tolerably well pleased. The peasant got a knight instead--perhaps
+one of my own ancestors, who was now cut up into breeches. See,
+that is what one gets by being painted!"
+
+"But the cupboard in the pillar there?" inquired Otto.
+
+"There, certainly, were Bibles and Prayer-books kept. Now I have in
+it what I call sweetmeats for the Chancery-counselor Thomsen: old
+knives of sacrifice, coins and rings, which I have found in the
+horse-pond and up yonder in the cairns: not a quarter of a yard
+below the turf we found one pot upon another; round each a little
+inclosure of stones--a flat stone as covering, and underneath stood
+the pot, with burnt giants' bones, and a little button or the blade
+of a knife. The best things are already gone away to Copenhagen,
+and should the Counselor come, he will, God help me! carry away the
+rest. That may be, then, willingly, for I cannot use the stuff,
+after all."
+
+After coffee, the guests wandered through the old garden: the
+clearing away of the mud was more closely observed, the dairy and
+pig-sty visited, the new threshing-machine inspected. But now the
+Russian bath should be also essayed; "it was heated!" But the end
+of the affair was, that only the Kammerjunker himself made use of
+it. The dinner-table was prepared, and then he returned. "But here
+something is wanting!" exclaimed he; left the room, and returned
+immediately with two large bouquets, which he stuck into an ale-glass
+which he placed upon the table. "Where Miss Sophie dines, the table
+must be ornamented with flowers: certainly we cannot lay garlands,
+as you do!" He seated himself at the end of the table, and wished,
+as he himself said, to represent the President Lars: they had had
+the "Wandsbecker Boten" half a year in the house, and it would
+certainly please Miss Sophie if they betrayed some acquaintance
+ with books. This Lars and the flowers, here, meant quite as much
+as in the south a serenade under the windows of the fair one.
+
+When, toward evening, the carriage for their return drew up before
+the door, Otto still stood contemplating some old inscriptions
+which were built into the tower-wall.
+
+"That you can look at another time," said Jakoba; "now you must be
+of use a little!" And she reached him the ladies' cloaks.
+
+Amidst promises of a return visit and the parting yelping of the
+dogs the carriage rolled away.
+
+"I have fairly fallen in love with the old place!" said Sophie.
+
+"The Kaminerjunker gains much upon nearer acquaintance," said Otto.
+
+They bad now reached the furthest extremity of the garden. A flower-rain
+showered itself over them and the carriage. The Kammerjunker, Jakoba,
+and the Mamsell, had taken a shorter way, and now waved an adieu to
+the travellers, whilst at the same time they scattered hyacinths
+and stocks over them. With a practiced hand Jakoba threw, as a
+mark of friendship, a great pink straight into Otto's face. "Farewell,
+farewell!" sounded from both sides, and, accompanied by the sound
+of the evening-bell from the near village, for it was sunset, the
+carriage rolled away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+"Dance and stamp
+Till the shoe-soles drop!"
+                 --Danish Popular Song.
+
+On the following day should the much-talked-of mowing-festival take
+place. It was the hay-harvest which occasioned all this merriment.
+[Author's Note: It is true that serfdom is abolished, but the
+peasant is still not quite free; neither can he be so. For his
+house and land he must pay a tribute, and this consists in labor.
+His own work must give way to that of his lord. His wagon, which he
+has had prepared to bring home his own harvest, must, if such be
+commanded, go to the nobleman's land, and there render service.
+This is, therefore, a kind of tax which he pays, and for the
+faithful payment of which he is rewarded by a harvest and mowing-feast;
+at the latter he receives a certain quantity of brandy, and as much
+ale as he can drink. The dance generally takes place in the middle
+of the court-yard, and the dancers themselves must pay their musicians.]
+
+During three afternoons in succession, in the inner court and under
+free heaven, should a ball be held. Along the walls, rough planks,
+laid upon logs of wood, formed a row of benches. At both ends of
+the court lay two barrels of the newly brewed ale, which had
+received more malt than usual, and which, besides, through the
+silver skilling, and the magic dance of the maidens round the tub,
+had acquired extraordinary strength. A large wooden tankard,
+containing several measures of brandy, stood upon a table; the man
+who watched the bleaching-ground was placed as a kind of butler to
+preside at this sideboard. A bread-woman, with new white bread from
+Nyborg upon her barrow, wheeled into the court, and there
+established her stall for every one; for it was only liquors the
+guests received gratis.
+
+The guests now entered the court by pairs; the men, part in
+jackets, part in long coats which hung down to their ankles. Out of
+the waistcoat-pocket protruded a little nosegay of sweet-williams
+and musk. The girls carried their "posies," as they called them, in
+their neatly folded pocket-handkerchiefs. Two musicians--one quite
+a young blade, in a laced coat with a stiff cravat, mid the other
+the well-known Peter Cripple, "Musikanti" as he was called--led the
+procession. They both played one and the same piece, but each
+according to his own manner. It was both good and old.
+
+They now began to draw lots, who should dance before the door of
+the family and who before that of the steward; after which the two
+parties drew lots for the musicians. The girls seated themselves in
+a row upon the bench, from whence they were chosen. The gallantry
+accorded with the ball-room,--the hard stone pavement. Not even had
+the grass been pulled up, but that would be all right after dancing
+there the first day. "Nay, why art thou sitting there?" spoken with
+a kind of morose friendliness, was the invitation to dance; and
+this served for seven dances. "Only don't be melancholy!" resounded
+from the company, and now the greater portion moved phlegmatically
+along, as if in sleep or in a forced dance: the girl with her eyes
+staring at her own feet, her partner with his head bent toward one
+side, and his eyes in a direct line with the girl's head-dress. A
+few of the most active exhibited, it is true, a kind of animation,
+by stamping so lustily upon the stone pavement that the dust
+whirled up around them. That was a joy! a joy which had occupied
+them many weeks, but as yet the joy had not reached its height;
+"but that will soon come!" said Wilhelm, who, with his sister
+and Otto, had taken his place at an open window.
+
+The old people meanwhile kept to the ale-barrels, and the brandy.
+The latter was offered to the girls, and they were obliged, at
+least, to sip. Wilhelm soon discovered the prettiest, and threw
+them roses. The girls immediately sprang to the spot to collect the
+flowers: but the cavaliers also wished to have them, and they were
+the stronger; they, therefore, boldly pushed the ladies aside, so
+that some seated themselves on the stone pavement and got no roses:
+that was a merry bit of fun! "Thou art a foolish thing! It fell
+upon thy shoulder and thou couldst not catch it!" said the first
+lover to his lady, and stuck the rose into his waistcoat-pocket.
+
+All got partners--all the girls; even the children, they leaped
+about to their own singing out upon the bridge. Only ONE stood
+forlorn,--Sidsel, with the grown-together eyebrows; she smiled,
+laughed aloud; no one would become her partner. Peter Cripple
+handed his violin to one of the young men and asked him to play,
+for he himself wished to stretch his legs a little. The girls drew
+back and talked with each other; but Peter Cripple stepped quietly
+forward toward Sidsel, flung his arms around her, and they danced a
+whirling dance. Sophie laughed aloud at it, but Sidsel directed her
+extraordinary glance maliciously and piercingly toward her. Otto
+saw it, and the girl was doubly revolting and frightful in his
+eyes. With the increasing darkness the assembly became more
+animated; the two parties of dancers were resolved into one. At
+length, when it was grown quite dark, the ale barrels become empty,
+the tankard again filled and once more emptied, the company
+withdrew in pairs, singing. Now commenced the first joy, the
+powerful operation of the ale. They now wandered through the wood,
+accompanying each other home, as they termed it; but this was a
+wandering until the bright morning.
+
+Otto and Wilhelm were gone out into the avenue, and the peasants
+shouted to them a grateful "Good night!" for the merry afternoon.
+
+"Now works the witchcraft!" said Wilhelm; "the magical power of
+the ale! Now begins the bacchand! Give your hand to the prettiest
+girl, and she will immediately give you her heart!"
+
+"Pity," answered Otto, "that the Maenades of the north possess only
+that which is brutal in common with those of the south!"
+
+"See, there goes the smith's pretty daughter, to whom I threw the
+best rose!" cried Wilhelm. "She has got two lovers, one under
+either arm!"
+
+"Yes, there she goes!" simpered a female voice close to them. It
+was Sidsel, who sat upon the steps of a stile almost concealed in
+the darkness, which the trees and the hedge increased still more.
+
+"Has Sidsel no lover?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"Hi, hi, hi," simpered she; "the Herr Baron and the other gentleman
+seek, doubtless, for a little bride. Am I beautiful enough? At
+night all cats are gray!"
+
+"Come!" whispered Otto, and drew Wilhelm away from her. "She sits
+like some bird of ill omen there in the hedge."
+
+"What a difference!" exclaimed Wilhelm, as he followed; "yes, what
+a difference between this monster, nay, between the other girls and
+Eva! She was, doubtless, born in the same poverty, in similar
+circumstances, and yet they are like day and night. What a soul has
+been given to Eva! what inborn nobility! It must be, really, more
+than a mere freak of Nature!"
+
+"Only do not let Nature play her freaks with you!" said Otto,
+smiling, and raised his hand. "You speak often of Eva."
+
+"Here it was association of ideas," answered Wilhelm. "The contrast
+awoke remembrance."
+
+Otto entered his chamber--he opened the window; it was a moonlight
+night. From the near wood resounded laughter and song. They came
+from the young men and girls, who, on their wandering, gave
+themselves up to merriment. Otto stood silent and full of thought
+in the open window. Perhaps it was the moon which lent her paleness
+to his countenance. On what did he reflect? Upon his departure,
+perhaps? Only one more day would he remain here, where he felt
+himself so much at home; but then the journey was toward his own
+house, to his grandfather, to Rosalie, and the old preacher, who
+all thought so much of him. Otto stood listening and silent. The
+wind bore the song more distinctly over from the wood.
+
+"That is their joy, their happiness!" said he. "It might have been
+my joy also, my happiness!" lay in the sigh which he heaved. His
+lips did not move, his thoughts alone spoke their silent language.
+"I might have stood on a level with these; my soul might have been
+chained to the dust, and yet it would have been the same which I
+now possess, with which I long to compass all worlds! the same,
+endowed with this sentiment of pride, which drives me on to active
+exertion. My fate wavered whether I should become one such as these
+or whether I should rise into that circle which the world calls the
+higher. The mist-form did not sink down into the mire, but rose
+above into the high refreshing air. And am I become happy through
+this?" His eye stared upon the bright disk of the moon. Two large
+tears rolled over his pale cheeks. "Infinite Omnipotence! I
+acknowledge Thy existence! Thou dost direct all; upon Thee will I
+depend!"
+
+A melancholy smile passed over his lips; he stepped back into the
+chamber, folded his hands, prayed, and felt rest and peace.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"The travellers roll through the world of men,
+Like rose leaves in a stream.
+The past will ne'er come back again,
+But fade into a dream."--B. S. INGEMANN.
+
+The following day, the last before Otto's departure, whilst he and
+Wilhelm were walking in the garden, Sophie approached them with a
+garland made of oak-leaves: this was intended for Otto; they were
+now really to lose him.
+
+"Sophie will scarcely be up so early to-morrow morning," said
+Louise; "she is, therefore, obliged to present her garland to-day.
+I am never missing at the breakfast-table, as you well know; and I
+shall then bring my bouquet."
+
+"I shall preserve both until we meet again," returned Otto; "they
+are vignettes to my beautiful summer-dream. When I again sit in
+Copenhagen, when the rain patters and the winter approaches with
+cold and a joyless sky, I shall still see before me Funen with its
+green woods, flowers, and sunshine; it will appear to me that it
+must still be so there, and that the garland and bouquet are only
+withered because they are with me in the winter cold."
+
+"In Copenhagen we shall meet again!" said Sophie.
+
+"And I shall see you again with the swallows!" said Louise, "when
+my flowers spring up again, when we have again warm summer days!
+As far as I am concerned, you belong to the summer, and not to the
+cold, calm winter."
+
+Early on the following morning was Sophie, after all, at the
+breakfast table. That was to honor Otto. Mamma showed herself as
+the carriage was at the door. Wilhelm would accompany him as far as
+Odense. It was, therefore, a double leave taking, here and there.
+
+"We will always remain friends, faithful friends!" said Wilhelm,
+when they parted.
+
+"Faithful friends!" repeated Otto, and they rolled away toward
+Middelfart; thus far should mamma's own carriage convey the
+excellent Otto. Wilhelm remained behind in Odense; his coachman
+drove Otto, and they discoursed upon the way. They passed
+Vissenberg: the high, wooded hills there have received the name of
+the Funen Alps. The legend relates of robbers who had here deep
+passages underneath the high-road, where they hung bells which rang
+when any one passed above. The inhabitants are still looked upon
+with suspicion. Vissenberg appears a kind of Itri, between
+Copenhagen and Hamburg. [Author's Note: "Itri," Fra Diavolo's
+birthplace, lies in the Neapolitan States, on the highway between
+Rome and Naples. The inhabitants are not, without reason, suspected
+of carrying on the robber's trade.] Near the church there formerly
+lay a stone, on which Knud, the saint, is said to have rested
+himself when flying from the rebellious Jutlanders. In the stone
+remained the impression of where he had sat; the hard stone had
+been softer than the hearts of the rebellious people.
+
+This, and similar legends, the coachman knew how to relate; he was
+born in this neighborhood, but not in Vissenberg itself, where they
+make the false notes. [Author's Note: A number of years ago a band
+of men were seized in Vissenberg who had forged bank-notes.] Every
+legend gains in interest when one hears it in the place with which
+it is connected. Funen is especially rich in such relations.
+
+"That cairn elevates itself at Christmas upon four red posts, and
+one can then see the dance and merriment of the goblins within.
+Through that peasant's farm there drives every night a glowing
+coach, drawn by four coal-black horses. Where we now see a pond
+overgrown with reeds and roots there once stood a church, but it
+sank as the godless desecrated it; at midnight we still hear their
+sighs, and hymns of repentance."
+
+It is true that the narrator mixed up together certain leg-ends
+which related to other places in the country--that he took little
+springs, and mingled his own thoughts with his relations; but Otto
+listened to him with great interest. The discourse turned also upon
+the family at the hall.
+
+"Yes, they are very much liked!" said the coachman; "the gentleman
+may believe we know how to value them."
+
+"And now, which of the young ladies is the best?" asked Otto.
+
+"Yes, every one is best served by Miss Louise," returned the
+fellow.
+
+"Miss Sophie is the prettiest," said Otto.
+
+"Yes, she is also very good,--she belongs to the learned ones! She
+knows German, that she does! she can act comedy very excellently! I
+once got permission with the rest of the people to be up-stairs in
+the sitting-room--we stood behind the family; she did not manage
+her affairs at all badly."
+
+However much the old legends interested Otto, it seemed as though
+he listened with more pleasure to the simple reasonings of the
+coachman upon the family who were become so dear to him. Words and
+thoughts were busied about the objects there. Wilhelm, however, was
+and still remained the dearest; he recollected with what mildness
+Wilhelm had stretched forth his hand in reconciliation, when he
+himself had thrust him from him. Already the happy summer days
+which he had spent at the country-seat, the whole visit, appeared a
+beautiful but short dream.
+
+Otto felt an inward impulse to express his gratitude; his pride
+even, which was a fundamental feature of his character, commanded
+him to do this. Wilhelm's affection, his desire for a continued
+friendship, Otto thought he must reward; and on this account he
+added the following words to the few lines which he gave the
+coachman before his passage over the Little Belt:--
+
+"Wilhelm, in future we will say thou to each other; that is more
+confidential!" "He is the first to whom I have given my thou," said
+Otto, when the letter was dispatched. "This will rejoice him: now,
+however, I myself have for once made an advance, but he deserves
+it."
+
+A few moments later it troubled him. "I am a fool like the rest!"
+said he, and wished he could annihilate the paper. He was summoned
+on board. The Little Belt is only a river between the two
+countries; he soon found himself upon Jutland ground; the whip
+cracked, the wheels turned round, like the wheels of fortune, up
+and down, yet ever onward.
+
+Late in the evening he arrived at an inn. From his solitary chamber
+his thoughts flew in opposite directions; now toward the solitary
+country-seat of his grandfather, among the sand-hills; now toward
+the animated mansion in Funen, where the new friends resided. He
+had opened his box and taken out what lay quite at the top, the
+garland of oak-leaves and the beautiful bouquet of flowers of this
+morning.
+
+Most people maintain that one dreams at night of that which one has
+thought much about. According to this, Otto must have thought a
+deal about the North Sea, for of it he dreamed the whole night,--
+not of the young ladies.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+"The heat-lark warbles forth his sepulchral melodies."
+                                       S. S. BLICHER.
+
+The peninsula of Jutland possesses nothing of the natural beauty
+which Zealand and Funen present--splendid beeches and odoriferous
+clover-fields in the neighborhood of the salt sea; it possesses at
+once a wild and desolate nature, in the heath-covered expanses and
+the far-stretching moors. East and west are different; like the
+green, sappy leaf, and grayish white sea-weed on the sea shore.
+From the Woods of Marselisborg to the woods south of Coldinger
+Fjord, is the land rich and blooming; it is the Danish Nature in
+her greatness. Here rises the Heaven Mountain, with its wilderness
+of coppice and heather; from here you gaze over the rich landscape,
+with its woods and lakes, as far down as the roaring Cattegat.
+
+The western coast, on the contrary, lies without a tree, without
+bushes, with nothing but white sand-hills stretching along the
+roaring ocean, which scourges the melancholy coast with sand-storms
+and sharp winds. Between these contrasts, which the east and west
+coasts present, the Hesperides and Siberia, lies the vast heath
+which stretches itself from the Lyneborg sand to the Skagen's reef.
+No hedge shows here the limits of possession. Among the crossing
+tracks of carriage wheels must thou seek thy way. Crippled oaks,
+with whitish-green moss overgrown to the outermost branches, twist
+themselves along the ground, as if fearing storms and the sea-mist.
+Here, like a nomadic people, but without flocks, do the so-called
+Tartar bands wander up and down, with their peculiar language and
+peculiar ceremonies. Suddenly there shows itself in the interior of
+the heathy wilderness a colony--another, a strange people, German
+emigrants, who through industry compel the meagre country to
+fruitfulness.
+
+From Veile, Otto wished to take the road through Viborg, as the
+most direct and the shortest to his grandfather's estate, which lay
+between Nisumfjord and Lemvig.
+
+The first heath-bushes accosted him as dear friends of his
+childhood. The beautiful beech-woods lay behind him, the expanse of
+heath began; but the heath was dear to him: it was this landscape
+which formed the basis of many dear recollections.
+
+The country became ever higher with brown heights, beyond which
+nothing was visible; houses and farms became more rare, the cherry
+orchards transformed themselves into cabbage-gardens. Only single
+spots were free from heather, and here grew grass, but short, and
+like moss or duckweed which grows upon ponds: here birds
+congregated by hundreds, and fluttered twittering into the air as
+the carriage drove past.
+
+"You know where to find the green spot in the heath, and how to
+become happy through it," sighed Otto. "Could I only follow your
+example!"
+
+At a greater distance rose bare hills, without ling or ploughed
+land; the prickly heath looked brown and yellow on the sharp
+declivities. A little boy and girl herded sheep by the way-side;
+the boy played the Pandean pipe, the little girl sang a psalm,--it
+was the best song which she knew how to sing to the traveller, in
+order to win a little present from him.
+
+The day was warm and beautiful, but the evening brought the cold
+mist from the sea, which, however, in the interior of the country
+loses something of its power.
+
+"That is a kiss of welcome from my home," said Otto; "the death-kiss
+of the mermaid! In Funen they call it the elf maiden."
+
+Within the last few years a number of children have been sent from
+the Orphan Asylum to the heath, in order that, instead of
+Copenhagen rogues, they may become honest Jutland peasants. Otto
+had a boy of this description for his coachman. The lad was very
+contented, and yet Otto became low-spirited from his relation.
+Recollections from his own life stirred within his breast. "Return
+thanks to God," said he, and gave the lad a considerable present;
+"on the heath thou hast shelter and a home; in Copenhagen, perhaps,
+the sandy beach would have been thy nightly resting-place, hunger
+and cold the gifts which the day would bring thee."
+
+The nearer he approached the west, the more serious became his
+frame of mind; it was as if the desolate scenery and cold sea-mist
+entered his soul. The pictures of the gay country-seat at Funen
+were supplanted by recollections of his home with his grandfather.
+He became more and more low-spirited. It was only when a single
+mile separated him from his home that the thought of surprising his
+dear friends conquered his melancholy.
+
+He caught sight of the red roof of the house, saw the willow
+plantations, and heard the bark of the yard-dog. Upon the hillock
+before the gate stood a group of children. Otto could no longer
+endure the slow driving through the deep ruts. He sprang out of the
+carriage, and ran more than he walked. The children on the hillock
+became aware of him, and all looked toward the side from whence he
+came.
+
+The slow driving, and his being absorbed in melancholy fancies, had
+relaxed his powerful frame; but now in one moment all his
+elasticity returned: his cheeks glowed, and his heart beat loudly.
+
+From the court resounded singing--it was the singing of a psalm. He
+stepped through the gateway. A crowd of peasants stood with bared
+heads: before the door stood a carriage, some peasants were just
+raising a coffin into it. In the doorway stood the old preacher,
+and spoke with a man clad in black.
+
+"Lord Jesus! who is dead?" were Otto's first words, and his
+countenance became pale like that of a corpse.
+
+"Otto!" all exclaimed.
+
+"Otto!" exclaimed also the old preacher, astonished; then seized
+his hand, and said gravely, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
+away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"
+
+"Let me see the face of the dead!" said Otto. Not a tear came to
+his eye; surprise and sorrow were too great.
+
+"Shall I take out the screws?" inquired the man who had just
+screwed up the coffin.
+
+"Let him sleep the eternal rest!" said the preacher.
+
+Otto stared at the black coffin in which his grandfather lay. The
+carriage drove away with it. Otto followed after with the preacher,
+heard him throw earth upon it, heard words which he did not
+comprehend, saw the last corner of the coffin, and it was then
+removed from his sight. All was as a dream to him.
+
+They returned back to the preacher's abode; a pale figure
+approached him: it was Rosalie--old Rosalie.
+
+"We have here no abiding-place, we all hasten toward futurity!"
+said the old preacher. "Strengthen yourself now with meat and
+drink! The body cannot suffer like the soul. We have accompanied
+him to His sleeping chamber; his bed was well prepared! I have
+prayed the evening prayer; he sleeps in God, and will awaken to
+behold His glory. Amen!"
+
+"Otto! thou dear Otto!" said Rosalie. "The bitterest day brings me
+this joy! How have I thought of thee! Amongst strangers shouldst
+thou receive the tidings of his death! with no one who could feel
+for thy sorrow! where thou shouldst see no eye weep for what thou
+hast lost! Now thou art here! now, when I believed thee so far
+distant--it is a miracle! Thou couldst only have received the
+letter to-day which carried the intelligence of thy grandfather's
+death to thee!"
+
+"I wished to surprise you," said Otto. "A melancholy surprise
+awaited me!"
+
+"Sit down, my child!" said the preacher, and drew him toward the
+covered table. "When the tree falls which gave us shade and fruit,
+from which we, in our own little garden, have planted shoots and
+sown seeds, we may well look on with sadness and feel our loss: but
+we must not forget our own garden, must not forget to cherish that
+which we have won from the fallen tree: we must not cease to live
+for the living! I miss, like you, the proud tree, which rejoiced my
+soul and my heart, but I know that it is planted in a better
+garden, where Christ is the gardener."
+
+The preacher's invitation to remain with him, during his stay, in
+his house, Otto declined. Already this first night he wished to
+establish himself in his own little chamber in the house of
+mourning. Rosalie also would return.
+
+"We have a deal to say to each other," said the old preacher, and
+laid his hand upon Otto's shoulder. "Next summer you will hardly
+press my hand, it will be pressed by the turf."
+
+"To-morrow I will come to you," said Otto, and drove back with the
+old Rosalie to the house.
+
+The domestics kissed the hand and coat of the young master--he
+wished to prevent this; the old woman wept. Otto stepped into the
+room; here had stood the corpse, on account of which the furniture
+had been removed, and the void was all the more affecting. The long
+white mourning curtains fluttered in tire wind before the open
+window. Rosalie led him by the hand into the little sleeping-room
+where the grandfather had died. Here everything yet stood as
+formerly--the large book case, with the glass doors, behind which
+the intellectual treasure was preserved: Wieland and Fielding,
+Millot's "History of the World," and Von der Hagen's "Narrenbuch,"
+occupied the principal place: these books had been those most read
+by the old gentleman. Here was also Otto's earliest intellectual
+food, Albertus Julius, the English "Spectator," and Evald's
+writings. Upon the wall hung pikes and pistols, and a large old
+sabre, which the grandfather had once worn. Upon the table beneath
+the mirror stood an hour-glass; the sand had run out. Rosalie
+pointed toward the bed. "There he died," said she, "between six
+and seven o'clock in the evening. He was only ill three days; the
+two last he passed in delirium: he raised himself in bed, and shook
+the bed posts; I was obliged to let two strong men watch beside
+him. 'To horse! to horse!' said he; 'the cannons forward!' His
+brain dreamed of war and battles. He also spoke of your blessed
+father severely and bitterly! Every word was like the stab of a
+knife; he was as severe toward him as ever!"
+
+"And did the people understand his words?" asked Otto with a
+wrinkled brow.
+
+"No, for the uninitiated they were dark words; and even had they
+possessed any meaning, the men would have believed it was the
+sickness which spoke out of him. 'There stands the mother with the
+two children! The one shall fall upon the flank of the enemy and
+bring me honor and joy. The mother and daughter I know not!' That
+was all which I heard him say about you and your mother and sister.
+By noon on the third day the fever had spent itself; the strong,
+gloomy man was become as weak and gentle as a child; I sat beside
+his bed. 'If I had only Otto here!' said he. 'I have been severely
+attacked, Rosalie, but I am now much better: I will go to sleep;
+that strengthens one.' Smilingly he closed his eyes and lay quite
+still: I read my prayers, withdrew gently so as not to wake him; he
+lay there unchanged when I returned. I sat a little while beside
+his bed; his hands lay upon the coverlid; I touched them, they
+were ice-cold. I was frightened, touched his brow, his face--he was
+dead! he had died without a death-struggle!"
+
+For a long time did they converse about the dead man; it was near
+midnight when Otto ascended the narrow stairs which led to the
+little chamber in the roof, where as child and boy he had slept.
+All stood here as it had done the year before, only in nicer order.
+Upon the wall hung the black painted target, near to the centre of
+which he had once shot. His skates lay upon the chest of drawers,
+near to the nodding plaster figure. The long journey, and the
+overpowering surprise which awaited him on his return, had strongly
+affected him: he opened the window; a large white sand-hill rose
+like a wall straight up before it, and deprived him of all view.
+How often, when a child, had the furrows made by rain in the sand,
+and the detached pieces, presented to him pictures,--towns, towers,
+and whole marching armies. Now it was only a white wall, which
+reminded him of a winding-sheet. A small streak of the blue sky was
+visible between the house and the steep slope of the hill. Never
+before had Otto felt, never before reflected, what it was to stand
+alone in the world, to be lovingly bound to no one with the band of
+consanguinity.
+
+"Solitary, as in this silent night do I stand in the world!
+solitary in the mighty crowd of human beings! Only ONE being can I
+call mine! only ONE being press as kindred to my heart! And I
+shudder at the thought of meeting with this being--I should bless
+the thought that she was dead! Father! thou didst ruin one being
+and make three miserable. I have never loved thee; bitterness
+germinated within my breast when I became acquainted with thee!
+Mother! thy features have died out of my recollection; I revere
+thee! Thou wast all love; to love didst thou offer up thy life--
+more than life! Pray for me with thy God! Pray for me, ye dead! if
+there is immortality; if the flesh is not alone born again in grass
+and the worm; if the soul is not lost in floods of air! We shall be
+unconscious of it: eternally shall we sleep! eternally!" Otto
+supported his forehead upon the window-frame, his arm sank
+languidly, "Mother! poor mother! thou didst gain by death, even if
+it be merely an eternal sleep,--asleep without dreams! We have only
+a short time to live, and yet we divide our days of life with
+sleep! My body yearns after this short death! I will sleep--sleep
+like all my beloved ones! They do not awaken!" He threw himself
+upon the bed. The cold air from the sea blew through the open
+window. The wearied body conquered; he sank into the death-like
+sleep, whilst his doubting soul, ever active, presented him with
+living dreams.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"Man seems to me a foolish being; he drives along over the waves of
+time, endlessly thrown up and down, and descrying a little verdant
+spot, formed of mud and stagnant moor and of putrid green
+mouldiness, he cries out, Land! He rows thither, ascends--and sinks
+and sinks--and is no more to be seen."--The Golden Fleece of GRILLPARZER.
+
+Old Rosalie was pouring out coffee when Otto came down the next
+morning. Peace and resignation to the will of God lay in her soft
+countenance. Otto was pale, paler than usual, but handsomer than
+Rosalie had seen him before: a year had rendered him older and more
+manly; a handsome, crisp beard curled over his chin; manly gravity
+lay in his eyes, in which, at his departure, she had only remarked
+their inborn melancholy glance. With a kind of satisfaction she
+looked upon this beautiful, melancholy countenance, and with
+cordial affection she stretched forth her hand toward him.
+
+"Here stands thy chair, Otto; and here thy cup. I will drink to thy
+welcome. It seems to me long since I saw thee, and yet it is, now I
+have thee again, only a short time. Were that place only not
+empty!" and she pointed to the place at the table which the
+grandfather had used to occupy.
+
+"If I had only seen him!" said Otto.
+
+"His countenance was so gentle in death," said Rosalie. "The
+severity and gravity which had settled in his eyes were softened
+away. I was myself present when he was dressed. He had his uniform
+on, which he always wore upon occasions of ceremony, the sabre by
+his side and the great hat upon his head. I knew that this was his
+wish!" Quietly she made the sign of the cross.
+
+"Are all my grandfather's papers sealed?" inquired Otto.
+
+"The most important--those which have the greatest interest for
+thee," said Rosalie, "are in the hands of the preacher. Last year,
+the day after thy departure, he gave them to the preacher; thy
+father's last letter I know is amongst them."
+
+"My father!" said Otto, and glanced toward the ground. "Yes,"
+continued he, "there is truth in the words of Scripture,--the sins
+of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and
+fourth generation!"
+
+"Otto!" said Rosalie, with a beseeching and reproachful look, "thy
+grandfather was a severe man. Thou last known him, hast seen his
+darkest moments, and yet then age and cares had softened him: his
+love to thee calmed every outbreak. Had he only loved thy father as
+he loved thee, things would, perhaps, have ended better: but we may
+not judge!"
+
+"And what have I done?" said Otto. "Thou, Rosalie, knowest the
+history of my life. Is it not as if a curse rested upon me? I was a
+high-spirited boy, I often occasioned thee tears; yet didst thou
+always place thyself between me and punishment. It was my evil
+blood, the blood of my birth in which the curse lay, that drove me
+on!"
+
+"But thou didst become good and full of love, as thou art now!"
+said Rosalie.
+
+"Only when I became acquainted with myself and my destiny. In the
+thoughtlessness of childhood, unacquainted with myself and the
+world, did I myself have that sign of my misery, which now presses
+down my soul, cut into my flesh. Yes, Rosalie! I remember this very
+well, and have clearly preserved this, my earliest recollection
+before my grandfather took me, and I came here a boy. I remember
+the great building from whence I was brought, the number of people
+who there worked, sang, and laughed, and who told me extraordinary
+stories of how badly people were treated in the beautiful world.
+This was my parents' home, thought I, when I began to ponder upon
+parents and their connection with children. It was a large
+manufactory which they possessed, thought I; I remembered the
+number of work-people. All played and romped with me. I was wild
+and full of boisterous spirits a boy of only six years old, but
+with the perseverance and will of one of ten. Rosalie, thou sawest
+many proofs of the evil which lay in my blood; it bordered upon
+insolence. I remembered well the strong, merry Heinrich, who always
+sang at his loom; he showed me and the others his tattooed breast,
+upon which he had his whole mournful history imprinted. Upon his
+arm were his own and his bride's names. That pleased me; I wished
+to have my name also on my arm. 'It is painful!' said he; 'then
+thou wilt pipe, my lad!' That was spur enough to make me desire it.
+I allowed him to puncture my skin, to puncture an O and a T upon my
+shoulder, and did not cry,--no, not once whilst the powder burnt
+into it; but I was praised, and was proud to bear the initials--
+proud of them until three years ago, when I met Heinrich here. I
+recognized him, but he did not recognize me. I showed him my
+shoulder, and besought him to read the name, this O and T: but he
+did not say Otto Thostrup; he named a name which destroyed the
+happiness of my childhood, and has made me miserable forever!"
+
+"It was a fearful day!" said Rosalie. "Thou didst demand from me an
+explanation, thy grandfather gave it thee, and thou wast no longer
+the Otto thou hadst formerly been. Yet wherefore speak of it? Thou
+art good and wise, noble and innocent. Do not fill thy heart with
+sorrow from a time which is past, and which, for thy sake, shall be
+forgotten."
+
+"But Heinrich still lives!" said Otto; "I have met with him, have
+spoken with him: it was as if all presence of mind forsook me."
+
+"When and where?" asked Rosalie.
+
+Otto related of his walk with Wilhelm in the park, and of the
+juggler, in whom he had recognized Heinrich. "I tore myself from my
+friends, I wandered the whole night alone in the wood. O Rosalie, I
+thought of death! I thought of death as no Christian ought to do. A
+beautiful morning followed, I wandered beside the sea which I love,
+and in which I have so often dived. Since that explanation of the
+initials on my shoulder was suggested, that explanation which
+reminded me of my unhappy birth, I have never uncovered them before
+any one. O, I have rubbed thorn with a stone, until they were
+bloody! The letters are gone, but still I imagine I can read them
+in the deep scar--that in it I see a Cain's mark! That morning the
+desire to bathe came upon me. The fresh current infused life once
+more into my soul. Just then Wilhelm and several acquaintance came
+down; they called to me and carried off my clothes; my blood
+boiled; all my unhappiness, which this night had stirred within my
+soul, again overwhelmed me: it was as though the obliterated
+initials on my shoulder would reveal themselves in the scar and
+betray the secret of my grief. Disgust of life seized upon me. I no
+longer knew what I shouted to them, but it seemed to me as if I
+must swim out into the stream and never return. I swam until it
+became night before my eyes. I sank, and Wilhelm rescued me! Never
+since then have we spoken of this hour! O Rosalie! long is it since
+I have been able to open my heart as before thee at this moment.
+What use is it to have a friend if one cannot lay before him one's
+whole thoughts? To no one have I been able to unfold them but to
+thee, who already knowest them. I suffer, as a criminal and yet am
+I innocent,--just as the misshapen, the deformed man, is innocent
+of his ugliness!"
+
+"I do not possess thy knowledge, Otto," said Rosalie, and pressed
+his hand; "have never rejoiced in such a clear head as thine; but I
+have that which thou canst not as yet possess--experience. In
+trouble, as well as in joy, youth transforms the light cobweb into
+the cable. Self-deception has changed the blood in thy veins, the
+thoughts in thy soul; but do not forever cling to this one black
+spot! Neither wilt thou! it will spur thee on to activity, will
+enervate thy soul, not depress thee! The melancholy surprise of thy
+grandfather's death, whom thou didst believe active and well, has
+now made thee dejected, and thy thoughts so desponding. But there
+will come better days! happy days! Thou art young, and youth brings
+health for the soul and body!"
+
+She led Otto into the garden, where the willow plantations
+protected the other trees from the sharp west wind. The gooseberry-bushes
+bore fruit, but it was not yet ripe: one bush Otto had planted when
+a cutting; it was now large. Rosalie had tied the twigs to a palisade,
+so that, as an espalier, it could thoroughly drink in the sun's rays.
+Otto regarded the fetters more than the good intention.
+
+"Let it grow free!" said he; "if that brittle palisade should
+tumble down, the twigs would be broken." And he cut the bands.
+
+"Thou art still the old Otto," said Rosalie.
+
+They went into her little room, where the crucifix, and before it a
+small vase of flowers, adorned the table. Above the cross hung a
+garland of withered heather.
+
+"Two years ago didst thou give me that, Otto!" said Rosalie. "There
+were no more flowers, there was nothing green but the heath, and
+thou twinedst a garland of it for me. Afterward I would not take it
+down from the crucifix."
+
+They were interrupted by a visit. It was from the old preacher.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"His coal was coarse, its fashion old;
+  He asked no dress of greater worth
+Than that which kept from storm and cold
+  The Baptist when he preached on earth."
+                          C. J. BORE.
+
+Not alone of Otto's affairs, but also of "the city yonder," as the
+preacher called Copenhagen, would he speak. Only once a week came
+the "Viborg Collector" to hint, and the Copenhagen papers were a
+whole month going their round. "One would willingly advance with
+the time," said he. Yesterday, at the interment, he had not found
+it seemly to gratify his desire of hearing dear Otto talk about the
+city, but to-day he thought it might well be done, and therefore he
+would not await Otto's visit but come over to pay one himself.
+
+"Thou hast certainly seen our good king?" was his first question.
+"Lord help the anointed one! he is then as vigorous and active as
+ever--my good King Frederik!" And now he must relate a trait which
+had touched his heart, and which, in his opinion, deserved a place
+in the annals of history. This event occurred the last time that
+the king was in Jutland; he had visited the interior of the country
+and the western coast also. When he was leaving a public-house the
+old hostess ran after him, and besought that the Father would, as a
+remembrance, write his name with chalk upon a beam. The grand
+gentlemen wished to deter her, but she pulled at the king's coat;
+and when he had learned her wish he nodded in a friendly manner,
+and said, "Very willingly!" and then turned back and wrote his name
+on the beam. Tears came into the old man's eyes; he wept, and
+prayed for his king. He now inquired whether the old tree was still
+standing in the Regent's Court, and then spoke of Nyerup and
+Abrahamson, whom he had known in his student days.
+
+In fact, after all, he was himself the narrator; each of his
+questions related to this or that event in his own life, and he
+always returned to this source--his student-days. There was then
+another life, another activity, he maintained. His royal idea of
+beauty had been Queen Matilda. [Translator's Note: The unhappy wife
+of Christian VII. and daughter of our George III.] "I saw her often
+on horseback," said he. "It was not then the custom in our country
+for ladies to ride. In her country it was the fashion; here it gave
+rise to scandal. God gave her beauty, a king's crown, and a heart
+full of love; the world gave her--what it can give--a grave near to
+the bare heath!"
+
+Whilst he so perpetually returned to his own recollections, his
+share of news was truly not new, but he was satisfied. Copenhagen
+appeared to him a whole world--a royal city; but Sodom and Gomorrah
+had more than one street there.
+
+Otto smiled at the earnestness with which he said this.
+
+"Yes, that I know better than thou, my young friend!" continued the
+old preacher. "True, the devil does not go about like a roaring
+lion, but there he has his greatest works! He is well-dressed, and
+conceals his claws and his tail! Do not rely upon thy strength! He
+goes about, like the cat in the fable, 'pede suspenso,' sneakingly
+and cautiously! It is, after all, with the devil as it is with a
+Jutland peasant. This fellow comes to the city, has nothing, runs
+about, and cleans shoes and boots for the young gentlemen, and by
+this means he wins a small sum of money. He knows how to spare. He
+can now hire the cellar of the house in which thou livest, and
+there commence some small trade. The trade is successful, very
+successful. It goes on so well that he can hire the lower story;
+then he gains more profit, and before thou canst look about thee
+he buys the whole house. See, that is the way with the Jutland
+peasant, and just the same with the devil. At first he gets the
+cellar, then the lower story, and at last the whole house!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+"Sure 'tis fair in foreign land,
+    But not so fair as home;
+
+Let me but see thy mountains grand
+    Glaciers and snowy dome!
+
+Let me but hear the sound that tells
+Of climbing cattle, dressed with bells."
+                          The Switzer's Homesickness.
+
+Not until after breakfast did the preacher pass over to Otto's
+affairs. His grandfather's will made him the sole heir to the large
+property; a man in Copenhagen, the merchant Berger, should be his
+guardian, since the preacher did not wish to undertake the office.
+Rosalie was not forgotten: her devotion and fidelity had won for
+her a relative's right. Her last days should be free from care: she
+had truly striven to remove all care from the dead whilst yet he
+lived. An old age free from care awaited her; but Otto wished that
+she should also have a happy old age. He imparted his plan to the
+preacher; but the latter shook his head, thought it was not
+practicable, and regarded it as a mere fancy--a whim. But such it
+was not.
+
+Some days passed by. One afternoon Rosalie sat upon a small wooden
+bench under the cherry-trees, and was making mourning for the
+winter.
+
+"This is the last summer that we shall sit here," said she; "the
+last summer that this is our home. Now I am become equally rooted
+to this spot; it grieves me that I must leave it."
+
+"Thou wast forced to leave thy dear Switzerland," said Otto; "that
+was still harder!"
+
+"I was then young," answered she. "The young tree may be easily
+transplanted, but the old one has shot forth deeper roots. Denmark
+is a good land--a beautiful land!"
+
+"But not the west coast of Jutland!" exclaimed Otto. "For thy green
+pasture hast thou here heath; for thy mountains, low sand-hills."
+
+"Upon the Jura Mountains there is also heath," said Rosalie. "The
+heath here often reminds me of my home on the Jura. There also is
+it cold, and snow can fall already in August. The fir-trees then
+stand as if powdered over."
+
+"I love Switzerland, which I have never seen," pursued Otto. "Thy
+relation has given me a conception of the picturesque magnificence
+of this mountain-land. I have a plan, Rosalie. I know that in the
+heart of a mountaineer homesickness never dies. I remember well how
+thy eyes sparkled when thou toldest of the walk toward Le Locle and
+Neufchâtel; even as a boy I felt at thy words the light mountain
+air. I rode with thee upon the dizzy height, where the woods lay
+below us like potato fields. What below arose, like the smoke from
+a charcoal-burner's kiln, was a cloud in the air. I saw the Alpine
+chain, like floating cloud mountains; below mist, above dark shapes
+with glancing glaciers."
+
+"Yes, Otto," said Rosalie, and her eyes sparkled with youthful
+fire; "so looks the Alpine chain when one goes from Le Locle to
+Neulfchâtel: so did I see it when I descended the Jura for the list
+time. It was in August. The trees, with their autumnal foliage,
+stood yellow and red between the dark firs; barberries and hips
+grew among the tall fern. The Alps lay in such a beautiful light,
+their feet blue as heaven, their peaks snow-white in the clear
+sunshine. I was in a sorrowful mood; I was leaving my mountains!
+Then I wrote in my book--O, I remember it so well!--The high Alps
+appear to me the folded wings of the earth: how if she should raise
+them! how if the immense wings should unfold, with their gay images
+of dark woods, glaciers, and clouds! What a picture! At the Last
+Judgment will the earth doubtless unfold these pinions, soar up to
+God, and in the rays of His sunlight disappear! I also have been
+young, Otto," pursued she, with a melancholy smile. "Thou wouldst
+have felt still more deeply at the sight of this splendor of
+nature. The lake at the foot of the mountains was smooth as a
+mirror; a little boat with white sails swam, like a swan, upon its
+expanse. On the road along which we drove were the peasants beating
+down chestnuts; the grapes hung in large black bunches. How an
+impression such as this can root itself in the memory! It is five
+and thirty years since, and yet I still see that boat with the
+white sail, the high Alps, and the black grapes."
+
+"Thou shalt see thy Switzerland again, Rosalie," exclaimed Otto;
+"again hear the bells of the cows upon the green pastures! Thou
+shalt go once more to the chapel in Franche Compté, shalt visit
+thy friends at Le Locle, see the subterranean mill, and the Doub
+fall."
+
+"The mill wheel yet goes round, the water dashes down as in my
+youth; but the friends are gone, my relatives dispersed! I should
+appear a stranger there; and when one has reached my age, nature
+cannot satisfy--one must have people!"
+
+"Thou knowest, Rosalie, my grandfather has settled a sum upon thee
+so long as thou livest. Now I have thought thou couldst spend thy
+latter days with thy beloved ones at home, in the glorious
+Switzerland. In October I take my philosophicum; the following
+summer I would then accompany thee. I must also see that splendid
+mountain-land,--know something more of the world than I have yet
+known. I know how thy thoughts always dwell upon Switzerland.
+Thither will I reconduct thee; thou wilt feel thyself less lonely
+there than here in Denmark."
+
+"Thou art carried away by the thoughts of youth, as thou shouldst
+and must be, thou dear, sweet soul!" said Rosalie, smiling. "At my
+age it is not so easy."
+
+"We will make short days' journeys," said Otto, "go with the
+steamboat up the Rhine--that is not fatiguing; and from Basel one
+is soon in Franche Compté on the Jura."
+
+"No, upon the heath, near Vestervovov, as it is called here, will
+old Rosalie die; here I have felt myself at home, here I have two
+or three friends. The family at Lemvig have invited me, have for me
+a place at table, a little room, and friendly faces. Switzerland
+would be no longer that Switzerland which I quitted. Nature would
+greet me as an old acquaintance; it would be to me music, once more
+to hear the ringing of the cows' bells; it would affect me deeply,
+once again to kneel in the little chapel on the mountain: but I
+should soon feel myself a greater stranger there than here. Had it
+been fifteen years ago, my sister would still have been living, the
+dear, pious Adèle! She dwelt with my uncle close on the confines of
+Neufchâtel, as thou knowest, scarcely a quarter of a mile from Le
+Locle--_the town_, as we called it, because it was the largest
+place in the neighborhood. Now there are only distant relations of
+mine living, who have forgotten me. I am a stranger there. Denmark
+gave me bread, it will also give me a grave!"
+
+"I thought of giving thee a pleasure!" said Otto.
+
+"That thou dost by thy love to me!" returned she.
+
+"I thought thou wouldst have shown me thy mountains, thy home, of
+which thou hast so often spoken!"
+
+"That can I still do. I remember every spot, every tree--all
+remains so clear in my recollection. Then we ascend together the
+Jura higher and higher; here are no more vineyards to be found, no
+maize, no chestnuts only dark pines, huge cliffs, here and there a
+beech, as green and large as in Denmark. Now we have the wood
+behind us, we are many feet above the sea; thou canst perceive this
+by the freshness of the air. Everywhere are green meadows;
+uninterruptedly reaches our ear the ringing of the cow-bells. Thou
+as yet seest no town, and yet we are close upon Le Locle. Suddenly
+the road turns; in the midst of the mountain-level we perceive a
+small valley, and in this lies the town, with its red roofs, its
+churches, and large gardens. Close beneath the windows rises the
+mountain-side, with its grass and flowers; it looks as though the
+cattle must be precipitated upon the houses. We go through the long
+street, past the church; the inhabitants are Protestants--it is a
+complete town of watchmakers. My uncle and Adèle also sat the whole
+day, and worked at wheels and chains. That was for Monsieur
+Houriet, in Le Locle. His daughters I know; one is called Rosalie,
+like myself. Rosalie and Lydia, they will certainly have forgotten
+me! But it is true that we are upon our own journey! Now, thou
+seest, at the end of the town we do not follow the broad road--that
+leads to Besançon; we remain in the lesser one, here in the valley
+where the town lies. The beautiful valley! The green mountain-sides
+we keep to our right; on it are scattered houses, with large stones
+upon their steep wooden roofs, and with little gardens tilled with
+plum-trees. Steep cliff-walls shut in the valley; there stands up a
+crag; if thou climbest it thou canst look straight into France: one
+sees a plain, flat like the Danish plains. In the valley where we
+are, close under the rock, lies a little house; O, I see it
+distinctly! white-washed and with blue painted window-frames: at
+the gate a great chained dog. I hear him bark! We step into that
+quiet, friendly little house! The children are playing about on the
+ground. O, my little Henry-Numa-Robert! Ah, it is true that now he
+is older and taller than thou! We descend the steps toward the
+cellar. Here stand sacks and chests of flour; under the floor one
+hears a strange roaring; still a few steps lower, and we must light
+the lamp, for here it is dark. We find ourselves in a great water-mill,
+a subterranean mill. Deep below in the earth rushes a river--
+above no one dreams of it; the water dashes down several fathoms
+over the rushing wheel, which threatens to seize our clothes and
+whirl us away into the circle. The steps on which we stand are
+slippery: the stone walls drip with water, and only a step beyond
+the depth appears bottomless! O, thou wilt love this mill as I love
+it! Again having reached the light of day, and under free heaven,
+one only perceives the quiet, friendly little house. Dost thou
+know, Otto, often as thou hast sat quiet and dreaming, silent as a
+statue, have I thought of my mill, and the repose which it
+presented? and yet how wildly the stream roared in its bosom, how
+the wheels rushed round, and how gloomy it was in the depth!"
+
+"We will leave the mill!" said Otto, and sought to lead her from
+her reflections back to her own relation. "We find ourselves in the
+wood, where the ringing of the evening-bell reaches our ear from
+the little chapel in Franche Compté."
+
+"There stands my father's house!" said Rosalie. "From the corner-window
+one looks over the wood toward Aubernez, [Author's Note: A village
+in the canton Neufchâtel, lying close upon the river Doub, where
+it forms the boundary between Switzerland and France.] where the
+ridge leads over the Doub. The sun shines upon the river, which,
+far below, winds along, gleaming like the clearest silver."
+
+"And the whole of France spreads itself out before us!" said Otto.
+
+"How beautiful! O, how beautiful!" exclaimed Rosalie, and her eyes
+sparkled as she gazed before her; but soon her glance became sad,
+and she pressed Otto's hand. "No one will welcome me to my home! I
+know neither their joys nor their sorrows--they are not my own
+family! In Denmark--I am at home. When the cold sea-mist spreads
+itself over the heath I often fancy I am living among my mountains,
+where the heather grows. The mist seems to me then to be a snow-cloud
+which rests over the mountains, and thus, when other people are
+complaining of the bad weather, I am up among my mountains!"
+
+"Thou wilt then remove to the family at Lemvig?" asked Otto.
+
+"There I am welcome!" returned she.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+"Look at the calming sea. The waves still tremble in the depths,
+and stem to fear the gale.--Over my head is hovering the shadowy
+mist.--My curls are wet with the filling dew."--OSSIAN.
+
+Otto had not as yet visited the sand-hills on the strand, the
+fishermen, or the peasants, among whom formerly he had spent all
+his spare time.
+
+The beautiful summer's day drove him forth, his heart yearned to
+drink in the summer warmth.
+
+Only the roads between the larger towns are here tolerable, or
+rather as tolerable as the country will allow. The by-ways were
+only to be discerned by the traces of cart-wheels, which ran on
+beside each other; at certain places, to prevent the wheels sinking
+into the deep sand, ling had been spread; where this is not the
+case, and the tracks cross each other, a stranger would scarcely
+find the way. Here the landmark places its unseen boundary between
+neighboring possessions.
+
+Every farm, every cottage, every hill, was an old acquaintance to
+Otto. He directed his steps toward Harbooere, a parish which, one
+may say, consists of sand and water, but which, nevertheless, is
+not to be called unfruitful. A few of the inhabitants pursue
+agriculture, but the majority consists of fishermen, who dwell in
+small houses and have no land.
+
+His first encounter upon his wandering was with one of those large
+covered wagons with which the so-called eelmen, between the days of
+St. John and St. Bartholomew, go with eels toward the small towns
+lying to the south and east, and then, laden with apples and garden
+produce, return home--articles which are rapidly consumed by the
+common people. The eelman stopped when he saw and recognized
+Otto.
+
+"Welcome, Mr. Otto!" said he. "Yes, you are come over abut a sad
+affair! That Major Thostrup should have gone off so! But there was
+nothing else to be expected from him he was old enough."
+
+"Death demands his right!" replied Otto, and pressed the man's
+hand. "Things go, doubtless, well with you, Morten Chraenseu?"
+
+"The whole cart full of eels, and some smoked carp! It is also good
+to meet with you, Mr. Otto. Upon the land a preacher is very good,
+but not upon the sea, as they say at home. Yes, you are certainly
+now a preacher, or will become one?"
+
+"No, I am not studying to become a preacher!" answered Otto.
+
+"No! will you then become a lawyer? It strikes me you are clever
+enough--you have no need to study any more! You will just go and
+say a few words to them at home? The grandmother sits and spins
+yarn for eel-nets. She has now the cataract on the other eye, but
+her mouth is as well as ever; she does not let herself grow dumb,
+although she does sit in the dark. Mother provides the baits; she
+has also enough to do with the hooks."
+
+"But Maria, the lively little Maria?" said Otto.
+
+"The girl? She has gone this year with the other fishergirls to
+Ringkjoebing, to be hired for the hay and corn harvest; we thought
+we could do without her at home. But now, God willing! I must
+travel on." Cordially he shook Otto's hand, and pursued his slow
+journey.
+
+The brothers of the eelman were active fishermen, as their father
+had been before them; and although they were all married they lived
+together. The swarm of children was not insignificant; young and
+old formed one family, in which the old grandmother had the first
+voice.
+
+Otto approached the dwelling; before it lay a little plot of land,
+planted with potatoes and carrots, and also beds of onions and
+thyme. Two large bull-dogs, with sharp teeth and wicked eyes,
+rushed toward Otto. "Tyv! Grumsling!" shrieked a voice, and the
+dogs let fall their tails and drew back, with a low growl, toward
+the house. Here at the threshold sat an old woman in a red woolen
+jacket, with a handkerchief of the same material and same color
+about her neck, and upon her head a man's black felt hat. She spun.
+Otto immediately recognized the old blind grandmother.
+
+"God's peace be in the house!" said he.
+
+"That voice I have not heard for a year and a day!" replied the old
+woman, and raised her head, as if she would see him with her dead
+eyes. "Are not you Major Thostrup's Otto? You resemble him in the
+voice. I thought, truly, that if you came here you would pay us a
+visit. Ide shall leave the baits and put on the kettle, that you
+may have a cup of coffee. Formerly you did not use to despise our
+entertainment. You have not grown proud with your journey, have
+you? The coffee-vetch [Author's Note: Astragalus baeticus is used
+as a substitute for coffee, and is principally grown upon the
+sand-hills west of Holmsland. It is first freed from the husk, and then
+dried and roasted a little.] is good; it is from Holmsland, and
+tastes better than the merchant's beans." The dogs still growled at
+Otto. "Cannot you stupid beasts, who have still eyes in your heads
+to see with, recognize that this is the Major's Otto?" cried she
+wrathfully, and gave them several good blows with her hand.
+
+Otto's arrival created a great stir in the little household that he
+was welcome, you might see by every countenance.
+
+"Yes," said the grandmother, "now you are grown much wiser in the
+town, could, very likely, were it needful, write an almanac! You
+will very likely have found for yourself a little bride there, or
+will you fetch one out of Lemvig? for no doubt she must be from a
+town! Yes, I have known him ever since he was a little fellow;
+yonder, on the wall, he made, out of herrings' heads, the living
+devil, just as he lives and breathes. He thrust our sucking-pig
+into the eel-cart, between the casks. We sought a whole day after
+the sucking-pig without finding him, and he was forced to make the
+journey with them to Holstebro. Yes, he was a wild fellow! Later,
+when he was obliged to learn so much, he became sad. Yes, yes,
+within the last years his books have overdone him!"
+
+"Yes, many a time has he put out to sea with my husband!" pursued
+one of the daughters-in-law. "One night he remained out with him.
+How anxious the French Mamsell at the hall was about him!"
+
+"He was never haughtty," said the grandmother. "He nibbled his
+dried fish with the fresh fish, and drank a little cup of water,
+although he was used to better things at home. But to-day we have
+white bread, fresh and good; it came yesterday from Lemvig."
+
+The brandy-glass, with its wooden, red-painted foot, was placed
+before Otto. Under the bed there was an anker of brandy,--"a little
+stock," as all stranded goods are here called.
+
+Otto inquired after the married sons. They were with their men on
+the shore, ready to embark on their fishing expedition, The
+grandmother would accompany him thither; they were not yet
+departed: she should first take them provisions.
+
+The old woman took her stick, the dog sprang forward, and now
+commenced their wandering among the sand-hills, where their huts or
+booths, built with rafters and smeared with earth, stood. Around
+lay the refuse of fish,--heads and entrails, thrown about. The men
+were just then busied in carrying the trough and fishing-tackle
+[Author's Note: A "Bakke" consists of three lines, each of 200
+Danish ells, or about 135 yards, and of 200 fishing-hooks; the
+stretched "Bakke" is thus about 200 yards, with 600 hooks; these
+are attached to the line with strings half an ell long and as thick
+as fine twine. To each "Bakke" belongs a square trough, on which it
+is carried on board. To a larger fishing-boat are reckoned six lots
+of hooks; each lot has eight to nine "Bakkes."] on board.
+
+The open sea lay before them, almost as bright as a mirror, for the
+wind was easterly. Near to them paused a horseman; he was partly
+dressed like a peasant, with riding-breeches on, which were
+buttoned down at the sides.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" he cried to Otto. "I come from
+Ringkjoebing. At Merchant Cohen's I have read the German paper;
+there is a revolution in France! Charles X. is fled with the whole
+royal family. Yes, in Paris, there is fine work!"
+
+"The French are a wild people!" said the grandmother. "A king and a
+queen they have beheaded in my time; now they will do the same with
+these. Will our dear Lord suffer that such things be done to His
+anointed?"
+
+"There will be war again!" said one of the fishermen.
+
+"Then more horses will go out of the country," said the stranger,
+pressed Otto's hand, and vanished behind the sandhills.
+
+"Was not that the horse-dealer from Varde?" inquired Otto.
+
+"Yes, he understands languages," said the fisherman; "and thus he
+is acquainted with foreign affairs sooner than we. Then they are
+now fighting in France! Blood flows in the streets; it will not be
+so in Denmark before the Turk binds his horse to the bush in the
+Viborg Lake. And then, according to the prophecy of the sibyl, it
+will be near the end of the world."
+
+Meanwhile, everything was prepared for their embarkation. If Mr.
+Otto would take the further oar, and was inclined to pass the night
+on the sea, there was a place for him in the boat. But he had
+promised Rosalie to be back before evening. The grandmother now
+prayed, kneeling with the others, and immediately after quick
+strokes of the oars the flat boat rowed away from the shore. The
+fate of France was forgotten; their calling occupied the fishermen.
+
+The old woman seemed to listen to the strokes of the oars; her dead
+eyes rested immovably on the sea. A sea-mew passed close to her in
+its flight. "That was a bird!" said she. "Is there no one here
+beside ourselves?"
+
+"No; no one at all," answered Otto, carelessly.
+
+"Is no one in the hut, no one behind the sand-hills?" again asked
+the grandmother. "It was not on account of the dried meat that I
+came here--it was not to wet my face on the shore; I speak with you
+alone, which I could not do in the house. Give me your hand! Now
+that the old man rests in the grave, you yourself will guide the
+rudder; the estate will be sold, and you will not come again to the
+west coast. Our Lord has made it dark before my eyes before He has
+closed my ears and given me leave to go. I can no longer see you,
+but I have you in my thought as you looked before you left our
+land. That you are handsomer now I can easily imagine; but gayer
+you are not! Talk you certainly can, and I have heard you laugh;
+but that was little better than the two last years you were here.
+Once it was different with you--no fairy could be wilder than you!"
+
+"With years one becomes more quiet," said Otto, and gazed with
+astonishment at the blind woman, who did not leave go his hand. "As
+a boy I was far too merry--that could not continue; and that I
+should now be grave, I have, as you will see, sufficient reason--I
+have lost my last support."
+
+"Yes, truly, truly!" repeated she slowly, and as if pondering; then
+shook her head. "That is not the reason. Do you not believe in the
+power of the devil? our Lord Christ forgive me! do not you believe
+in the power of wicked men? There is no greater difference between
+the human child and the changeling brat which the underground
+spirits lay in his stead in the cradle, than there is between you
+when you were a boy and you as you became during the last year of
+your stay here. 'That comes from books, from so much learning,'
+said I to other people. Could I only have said so to myself! But
+you shall become gay; the trouble of your heart shall wither like a
+poisonous weed. I know whence it sprung, and will, with God's help,
+heal it. Will you solemnly promise, that no soul in the world shall
+learn what we speak of in this hour?"
+
+"What have you to say to me?" asked Otto, affected by the
+extraordinary earnestness of the old woman.
+
+"The German Heinrich, the player! You remember him well? He is to
+blame for your grief! Yes, his name drives the blood more quickly
+through your pulse. I feel it, even if I cannot see your face."
+
+"The German Heinrich!" repeated Otto, and his hand really trembled.
+Had Heinrich, then, when he was here three years ago, told her and
+the fishermen that which no human being must know,--that which had
+destroyed the gayety of his youth? "What have I to do with the
+German Heinrich?"
+
+"Nothing more than a pious Christian has to do with the devil!"
+replied she, and made the sign of the cross. "But Heinrich has
+whispered an evil word in your ear; he has banished your joyous
+humor, as one banishes a serpent."
+
+"Has he told you this?" exclaimed Otto, and breathed more quickly.
+"Tell me all that he has said!"
+
+"You will not make me suffer for it!" said she. "I am innocent, and
+yet I have cooperated in it: it was only a word but a very unseemly
+word, and for it one must account at the day of judgment!"
+
+"I do not understand you!" said Otto, and his eyes glanced around
+to see whether any one heard. They were quite alone. In the far
+distance the boat with the fishermen showed itself like a dark
+speck.
+
+"Do you remember how wild you were as a boy? How you fastened
+bladders to the cat's legs and tail, and flung her out of the
+loft-window that she might fly? I do not say this in anger, for I
+thought a deal of you; but when you became too insolent one might
+wall say, 'Can no one, then, curb this lad?' See, these words I
+said!--that is my whole fault, but since then have lain heavy on my
+heart. Three years ago came the German Heinrich, and stayed two
+nights in our house; God forgive it us! Tricks he could play, and
+he understood more than the Lord's Prayer--more than is useful to a
+man. With one trick you were to assist him, but when he gave you
+the goblet you played your own tricks, and he could make nothing
+succeed. You would also be clever. Then he cast an evil eye upon
+you, although he was still so friendly and submissive, because you
+were a gentleman's child. Do you remember--no, you will certainly
+have forgotten--how you once took the baits of the hooks off and
+hung my wooden shoes on instead? Then I said in anger, and the
+anger of man is never good, 'Can no one, then, tame this boy for
+me? He was making downright fun of you to your own face,' said I to
+the player. 'Do you not know some art by which you can tame this
+wild-cat?' Then he laughed maliciously, but I thought no more of
+the matter. The following day, however, he said, 'Now I have curbed
+the lad! You should only see how tame he is become; and should he
+ever again turn unruly, only ask him what word the German Heinrich
+whispered in his ear, and you shall. Then see how quiet he will
+become. He shall not mock this trick!' My heart was filled with
+horror, but I thought afterward it really meant nothing. Ei! ei!
+from the hour he was here you are no longer the same as formerly;
+that springs from the magical word he whispered in your ear. You
+cannot pronounce the word, he told me; but by it you have been
+enchanted: this, and not book-learning, has worked the change. But
+you shall be delivered! If you have faith, and that you must have,
+you shall again become gay, and I, spite of the evil words which I
+spoke, be able to sleep peacefully in my grave. If you will only
+lay this upon your heart, now that the moon is in its wane, the
+trouble will vanish out of your heart as the disk of the moon
+decreases!" And saying this she drew out of her pocket a little
+leather purse, opened it and took out a piece of folded paper. "In
+this is a bit of the wood out of which our Saviour's cross was
+made. This will draw forth the sorrow from your heart, and bear it,
+as it bore Him who took upon Himself the sorrow of the whole
+world!" She kissed it with pious devotion, and then handed it to
+Otto.
+
+The whole became clear to him. He recollected how in his boyish
+wantonness he had caused Heinrich's tricks to miscarry, which
+occasioned much pleasure to the spectators, but in Heinrich
+displeasure: they soon again became friends, and Otto recognized in
+him the merry weaver of the manufactory, as he called his former
+abode. They were alone, Otto asked whether he did not remember his
+name: Heinrich shook his head. Then Otto uncovered his shoulder,
+bade him read the branded letters, and heard the unhappy
+interpretation which gave the death-blow to his gayety. Heinrich
+must have seen what an impression his words made upon the boy: he
+gained through them an opportunity of avenging himself, and at the
+same time of bringing himself again into repute: as a sorcerer. He
+had tamed him, whispered he to the old woman,--he had tamed the boy
+with a single word. At any future wantonness of Otto's, gravity and
+terror would immediately return should any one ask him, What word
+did the German Heinrich whisper into thy ear? "Only ask him," had
+Heinrich said.
+
+In a perfectly natural manner there lay, truly, enchantment in
+Heinrich's words, even although it were not that enchantment which
+the superstition of the old woman would have signified. A
+revelation of the connection of affairs would have removed her
+doubts, but here an explanation was impossible to Otto. He pressed
+her hand, besought her to be calm; no sorrow lay heavy on his
+heart, except the loss of his dear grandfather.
+
+"Every evening have I named your name it my prayers said the old
+grandmother." Each time when the harbingers of bad weather showed
+themselves, and my sons were on the sea, so that we hung out flags
+or lighted beacons as signals, did I think of the words which had
+escaped my lips, and which the wicked Heinrich had caught up; I
+feared lest our Lord might cause my children to suffer for my
+injustice."
+
+"Be calm, my dear old woman!" said Otto. "Keep for yourself the
+holy cross, on the virtue of which you rely; may it remove each
+sorrow from your own heart!"
+
+"No, I am guilty of my own sorrow! yours has a stranger laid upon
+your heart! Only the sorrow of the guiltless will the cross bear."
+
+The beautiful sentiment which, unconsciously to her, lay in these
+words, affected Otto. He accepted the present, preserved it, sought
+to calm the old woman, and once more at parting glanced toward the
+splendid sea expanse which formed its own boundary.
+
+It was almost evening before he reached the house where Rosalie
+awaited him. His last scene with the blind fisher-woman had again
+thrown him into his gloomy mood. "After all, she really knows
+nothing!" said he to himself. "This Heinrich is my evil angel!
+might he only die soon!" It was in Otto's soul as if he could shoot
+a ball through Heinrich's heart. "Did he only lie buried under the
+heather, and with him my secret! I will have blood! yes, there is
+something devilish in man! Were Heinrich only dead! But others live
+who know my birth,--my sister! my poor, neglected sister, she who
+had the same right to intellectual development as myself! How I
+fear this meeting! it will be bitter! I must away. I will hence--
+here will my life-germ be stifled! I have indeed fortune--I will
+travel! This animated France will drive away these whims, and--I am
+away, far removed from my home. In the coming spring I shall be a
+stranger among strangers!" And his thoughts melted into a quiet
+melancholy. In this manner he reached the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+"L'Angleterre jalouse et la Grèce homérique,
+Toute l'Europe admire, et la jeune Amérique
+Se lève et bat des mains du bord des océans.
+Trois jours vous ont suffi pour briser vos entraves.
+Vous êtes les aînés d'une race de braves,
+Vous êtes les fits des géans!"
+                            V. HUGO, Chants du Crépuscule.
+
+             "Politiken, mine Herrer!"
+                 MORTONS' Lystspil: den Hjemkomne Nabob
+
+"In France there is revolution!" was the first piece of information
+which Otto related. "Charles X. has flown with his family. This,
+they say, is in the German papers."
+
+"Revolution?" repeated Rosalie, and folded her hands. "Unhappy
+France! Blood has flowed there, and it again flows. There I lost my
+father and my brother. I became a refugee--must seek for myself a
+new father-land." She wiped away a tear from her cheek, and sunk
+into deep meditation. She knew the horrors of a revolution, and
+only saw in this new one a repetition of those scenes of terror
+which she had experienced, and which had driven her out into the
+world, up into the north, where she struggled on, until at length
+she found a home with Otto's grandfather--a resting abode.
+
+Everything great and beautiful powerfully affected Otto's soul;
+only in one direction had he shown no interest--in the political
+direction, and it was precisely politics which had most occupied
+the grandfather in his seclusion. But Otto's soul was too
+vivacious, too easily moved, too easily carried away by what lay
+nearest him. "One must first thoroughly enter into life, before the
+affairs of the world can seize upon us!" said he. "With the greater
+number of those who in their early youth occupy themselves with
+politics, it is merely affectation. It is with them like the boy
+who forces himself to smoke tobacco so as to appear older than he
+really is." Beyond his own country, France was the only land which
+really interested Otto. Here Napoleon had ruled, and Napoleon's
+name had reached his heart--he had grown up whilst this name passed
+from mouth to mouth; the name and the deeds of the hero sounded to
+him, yet a boy, like a great world adventure. How often had he
+heard his grandfather, shaking his head, say, "Yes, now newspaper
+writers have little to tell since Napoleon is quiet." And then he
+had related to him of the hero at Arcole and among the Pyramids, of
+the great campaign against Europe, of the conflagration at Moscow,
+and the return from Elba.
+
+Who has not written a play in his childhood? Otto's sole subject
+was Napoleon; the whole history of the hero, from the snow-batteries
+at Brienne to the rocky island in the ocean. True, this poem was
+a wild shoot; but it had sprung from an enthusiastic heart. At
+that time he preserved it as a treasure. A little incident which
+is connected with it, and is characteristic of Otto's wild outbreaks
+of temper when a boy, we will here introduce.
+
+A child of one of the domestics, a little merry boy with whom Otto
+associated a good deal, was playing with him in his garret. Otto
+was then writing his play. The boy bantered him, pulling the paper
+at the same time. Otto forbade him with the threat,--"If thou dost
+that again I will throw thee out of the window!" The boy again
+immediately pulled at the paper. In a moment Otto seized him by the
+waist, swung him toward the open window, and would certainly have
+thrown him out, had not Rosalie fortunately entered the room, and,
+with an exclamation of horror, seized Otto's arm, who now stood
+pale as death and trembling in every limb.
+
+In this manner had Napoleon awoke Otto's interest for France.
+Rosalie also spoke, next to her Switzerland, with most pleasure of
+this country. The Revolution had livingly affected her, and
+therefore her discourse regarding it was living. It even seemed to
+the old preacher as though the Revolution were an event which he
+had witnessed. The Revolution and Napoleon had often fed his
+thoughts and his discourse toward this land. Otto had thus, without
+troubling himself the least about politics, grown up with a kind of
+interest about France. The mere intelligence of this struggle of
+the July days was therefore not indifferent to him. He still only
+knew what the horse-dealer had related; nothing of the congregation,
+or of Polignac's ministry: but France was to him the mighty world-crater,
+which glowed with its splendid eruptions, and which he admired
+from a distance.
+
+The old preacher shook his head when Otto imparted this political
+intelligence to him. A king, so long as he lived, was in his eyes
+holy, let him be whatever sort of a man he might. The actions of a
+king, according to his opinion, resembled the words of the Bible,
+which man ought not to weigh; they should be taken as they were.
+"All authority is from God!" said he. "The anointed one is holy;
+God gives to him wisdom; he is a light to whom we must all look
+up!"
+
+"He is a man like ourselves!" answered Otto. "He is the first
+magistrate of the land, and as such we owe him the highest
+reverence and obedience. Birth, and not worth, gives him the high
+post which he fills. He ought only to will that which is good; to
+exercise justice. His duties are equally great with those of his
+subjects."
+
+"But more difficult, my son!" said the old man. "It is nothing, as
+a flower, to adorn the garland; more difficult is it to be the hand
+which weaves the garland. The ribbon must be tight as well as
+gently tied; it must not cut into the stems, and yet it must not be
+too loose. Yes, you young men talk according to your wisdom! Yes,
+you are wise! quite as wise as the woman who kept a roasted chicken
+for supper. She placed it upon a pewter plate upon the glowing
+coals, and went out to attend to her affairs. When she returned the
+plate was melted, and the chicken lay among the ashes. 'What a wise
+cat I have!' said she; 'she has eaten I the plate and left the
+chicken!' See, you talk just so, and regard things from the same
+foolish point of view. Do not speak like the rest of them in the
+city! 'Fear God, and honor the king!' We have nothing to argue with
+these two; they transact their business between them! The French
+resemble young students; when these have made their examen artium
+they imagine they are equal to the whole world: they grow restive,
+and give student-feasts! The French must have a Napoleon, who can
+give their something to do! If they be left to themselves they will
+play mad pranks!"
+
+"Let us first see what the papers really say," replied Otto.
+
+The following day a large letter arrived; it was from Wilhelm:--
+
+"My excellent Otto,--We have all drunk to Otto Thostrup's health. I
+raised the glass, and drank the health. The friendship's dissonance
+YOU has dissolved itself into a harmonious THOU, and thou thyself
+hast given the accord. All at home speak of thee; even the
+Kammerjunker's Mamsell chose lately thee, and not her work-box, as
+a subject of conversation. The evening as thou drovest over the
+Jutland heaths I seated myself at the piano, and played thy whole
+journey to my sisters. The journey over the heath I gave them in a
+monotonous piece, composed of three tones, quite dissimilar to that
+composed by Rousseau. My sisters were near despair; but I told them
+it was not more uninteresting than the heath. Sometimes I made a
+little flight, a quaver; that was the heath-larks which flew up
+into the air. The introduction to the gypsy-chorus in 'Preciosa'
+signified the German gypsy-flock. Then came the thema out of
+'Jeannot and Collin'--'O, joyous days of childhood!'--and then thou
+wast at home. I thundered powerfully down in the bass; that was the
+North Sea, the chorus in thy present grand' opéra. Thou canst well
+imagine that it was quite original.
+
+"For the rest, everything at home remains in its old state. I have
+been in Svendborg, and have set to music that sweet poem, 'The
+Wishes,' by Carl Bagger. His verses seem to me a little rough; but
+something will certainly come out of the fellow! Thy own wishes are
+they which he has expressed. Besides this, the astonishing tidings
+out of France have given us, and all good people here, an
+electrical shock. Yes, thou in thy solitude hast certainly heard
+nothing of the brilliant July days. The Parisians have deposed
+Charles X. If the former Revolution was a blood-fruit, this one is
+a true passionflower, suddenly sprung up, exciting astonishment
+through its beauty, and as soon as the work is ended rolling
+together its leaves. My cousin Joachim, who as thou knowest is just
+now at Paris, has lived through these extraordinary days. The day
+before yesterday we received a long, interesting letter from him,
+which gave us--of the particulars as well as of the whole--a more
+complete idea than the papers can give us. People assemble in
+groups round the post-houses to receive the papers as they arrive.
+I have extracted from my cousin's letter what has struck me most,
+and send thee these extracts in a supplement. Thou canst thus in
+thy retirement still live in the world. A thousand greetings from
+all here. Thou hast a place in mamma's heart, but not less so in mine.
+
+          "Thy friend and brother,
+
+                       "WILHELM.
+
+"P. S.--It is true! My sister Sophie begs thee to bring her a stone
+from the North Sea. Perhaps thou wilt bring for me a bucket of
+water; but it must not incommode thee!"
+
+This hearty letter transported Otto into the midst of the friendly
+circle in Funen. The corner of the paper where Wilhelm's name stood
+he pressed to his lips. His heart was full of noble friendship.
+
+The extract which Wilhelm had made from his cousin's letter was
+short and descriptive. It might be compared with a beautiful poem
+translated into good prose.
+
+In the theatre we interest ourselves for struggling innocence; but
+we are still more affected when the destiny of a whole nation is to
+be decided. It is on this account that "Wilhelm Tell" possesses so
+much interest. Not of the single individual is here the question,
+but of all. Here is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone.
+Greater than the play created by the poet was the effect which this
+description of the July days produced upon Otto. This was the
+reality itself in which he lived. His heart was filled with
+admiration for France, who fought for Liberty the holy fight, and
+who, with the language of the sword, had pronounced the anathema of
+the age on the enemies of enlightenment and improvement.
+
+The old preacher folded his hands as he heard it; his eyes
+sparkled: but soon he shook his head. "May men so judge the
+anointed ones of God? 'He who taketh the sword shall perish by the
+sword!'"
+
+"The king is for the people," said Otto; "not the people for the
+king!"
+
+"Louis XVIth's unhappy daughter!" sighed Rosalie; "for the third
+time is she driven from her father-land. Her parents and brothers
+killed! her husband dishonored! She herself has a mind and heart.
+'She is the only man among the Bourbons,'" said Napoleon.
+
+The preacher, with his old-fashioned honesty, and a royalist from
+his whole heart, regarded the affair with wavering opinion, and
+with fear for the future. Rosalie thought most of those who were
+made unhappy of the royal ladies and the poor children. Each
+followed the impulse of their own nature, and the instinctive
+feeling of their age; thus did Otto also, and therefore was his
+soul filled with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm belongs to youth. His
+thoughts were busied with dreams of Paris; thither flew his wishes.
+"Yes, I will travel!" exclaimed he; "that will give my whole
+character a more decided bias: I will and must," added he in
+thought. "My sorrow will be extinguished, the recollections of my
+childhood be forgotten. Abroad, no terrific figures, as here, will
+present themselves to me. My father is dead, foreign earth lies
+upon his coffin!"
+
+"But the office--examination!" said the old preacher, "pass that
+first. It is always good to have this in reserve, even if thou dost
+make no use of it. Only make this year thy philosophicum."
+
+"And in the spring I shall travel," said Otto.
+
+"That depends upon thy guardian, my son!" said the preacher.
+
+Several days passed, and Otto began to feel it solitary in his
+home--all moved here in such a confined circle. His mind was
+accustomed to a wider sphere of action. He began to grow weary, and
+then the hours travel with the snail's pace.
+           "...minutterna ligesom räcka og strärka sig.
+Man känner behof at göre sa med." [Note: Sketches of Every-day Life.]
+
+He thought of his departure.
+
+"Thou must take the road through Lemvig," said Rosalie. "I will
+then visit the family there for a few days; it will make them quite
+happy to see thee, and I shall then be so much longer with thee.
+That thou wilt do, wilt thou not?"
+
+The day was fixed when they should travel.
+
+The evening previous, Otto paid his last visit to the preacher.
+They spoke together a long time about the deceased grandfather. The
+preacher gave up several papers to Otto; among them also his
+father's last letter.
+
+In honor of Otto, a bottle of wine was placed upon the table.
+
+"To thy health, my son!" said the preacher, raising his glass. "We
+shall hardly spend another evening together. Thou wilt have much to
+learn before thou comest as far as I. The world has more thorn-bushes
+than gold-mountains. The times look unsettled. France commences a new
+description of campaign in Europe, and certainly will draw along with
+it all young men: formerly it was the conquerer Napoleon who led to
+the field; now it is the idea of liberty! May the Lord preserve our
+good king, and then it will remain well with us! Thou, Otto, wilt fly
+out into the wide world--hadst thou only first passed thy examination
+for office! But when and where-ever thou mayest fly, remember on all
+occasions the words of Scripture.
+
+"We all desire to rule. Phaeton wished to drive the chariot of the
+sun, but not understanding how to guide the reins, he set fire to
+the countries, precipitated himself from the chariot, and broke his
+neck. I have no one in the city of Copenhagen whom I can ask thee
+to greet for me. All the friends of my youth are scattered to the
+east and to the west. If any of them still be in the city, they
+will certainly have forgotten me. But shouldst thou ever go to the
+Regent's Court, and smoke with the others a pipe under the tree,
+think of me. I have also sat there when I was young like thee; when
+the French Revolution drove also the blood quicker through my
+veins, and thoughts of freedom caused me to carry my head more
+high. The dear old tree! [Author's Note: At the end of the last
+century it was felled, and two younger ones, which are now in full
+growth, planted in its stead.] Yes, but one does not perceive in
+it, as in me, how many years have passed since then!"
+
+He pressed a kiss on Otto's forehead, gave him his blessing, and
+they parted.
+
+Otto was in a melancholy mood; he felt that he had certainly seen
+the old man for the last time. When he arrived at home he found
+Rosalie busy hacking. The following morning, by earliest dawn, they
+were to travel toward Lemvig. Otto had not been there within these
+two last years. In old times the journey thither had always been to
+him a festival, now it was almost indifferent to him.
+
+He entered his little chamber; for the last time in his life he
+should now sleep there. From the next morning commenced, so it
+seemed to him, a new chapter in his life. Byron's "Farewell"
+sounded in his ears like an old melody:--
+               "Fare thee well, and if forever,
+                Still for ever fare thee well."
+
+At break of day the carriage rolled away with him and old Rosalie.
+Both were silent; the carriage moved slowly along the deep ruts.
+Otto looked back once more. A lark rose, singing above him.
+
+"It will be a beautiful day!" said the coachman; his words and the
+song of the lark Rosalie regarded as a good omen for Otto's whole
+journey.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"Geske.--Have you put syrup in the coffee?
+Henrich.--Yes, I have.
+Geske.--Be so good, dear madams, be so kind as to be contented."
+                                  HOLBERG'S Political Pewterer.
+
+Lemvig lies, as is well known, on an arm of the Limfjord. The
+legend relates, that in the Swedish war a troop of the enemy's
+cavalry compelled a peasant here to mount his horse and serve as a
+guide. Darkness came on; they found themselves already upon the
+high sand-banks. The peasant guided his horse toward a steep
+precipice; in a farm-house on the other side of the fjord they
+perceived a light. "That is Lemvig," said the peasant; "let us
+hasten!" He set spurs to his horse, the Swedes followed his
+example, and they were precipitated into the depth: the following
+morning their corpses were found. The monument of this bold Lemvig
+peasant consists of this legend and in the songs of the poets; and
+these are the monuments which endure the longest. Through this
+legend the bare precipice receives an intellectual beauty, which
+may truly compare itself with the naturally beautiful view over the
+city and the bay.
+
+Rosalie and Otto drove into the town. It was two years since he had
+been here; everything seemed to him, during this time, to have
+shrunk together: wherever he looked everything was narrow and
+small. In his recollection, Lemvig was very much larger.
+
+They now drew up before the merchant's house. The entrance was
+through the shop, which was decorated with wooden shoes, woolen
+gloves, and iron ware. Close within the door stood two large casks
+of tea. Over the counter hung an extraordinary stuffed fish, and a
+whole bunch of felt hats, for the use of both sexes. It was a
+business en gros and en détail, which the son of the house managed.
+The father himself was number one in Lemvig; he had ships at sea,
+and kept open house, as they call it, in the neighborhood.
+
+The sitting-room door opened, and the wife herself, a stout, square
+woman, with an honest, contented countenance, stepped out and
+received the guests with kisses and embraces. Alas! her good
+Jutland pronunciation cannot be given in writing.
+
+"O, how glorious that the Mamsell comes and brings Mr. Thostrup
+with her! How handsome he is become! and how grown! Yes, we have
+his mark still on the door." She drew Otto along with her. "He has
+shot up more than a quarter of a yard!"
+
+He looked at the objects which surrounded him.
+
+"Yes," said she, "that instrument we have had since you were last
+here; it is a present to Maren from her brother. She will now sing;
+you something. It is astonishing what a voice she has! Last
+Whitsuntide she sang in the church with the musical people; she
+sang louder than the organ!"
+
+Otto approached the sofa, over which a large piece of needlework
+hung, in a splendid gold frame. "That is Maren's name-sampler,"
+said the mistress of the house. "It is very pretty. See! there
+stand all our names! Can Mr. Thostrup guess who this is? Here are
+all the figures worked in open stitch. That ship, there, is the
+Mariane, which was called after me. There you see the Lemvig Arms--
+a tower which stands on the waves; and here in the corner, in
+regular and irregular stitches, is her name, 'Maren, October the
+24th, 1828.' Yes, that is now two years since. She has now worked a
+cushion for the sofa, with a Turk upon it. It went the round of the
+city--every one wished to see it; it is astonishing how Maren can
+use her hands!"
+
+Rosalie inquired after the excellent girl.
+
+"She is preparing the table," said the lady. "Some good friends are
+coming to us this evening. The secretary will also come; he will
+then play with Maren. You will doubtless, in Copenhagen, have heard
+much more beautiful music; ours is quite simple, but they sing from
+notes: and I think, most likely the secretary will bring his
+musical-box with him. That is splendid! Only lately he sang a
+little song to the box, that was much better than to the larger
+instrument; for I must say he has not the strong chest which Maren
+has."
+
+The whole family assembled themselves for the first time at the
+dinner-table. The two persons who took the lowest places at table
+appeared the most original; these were the shopman and the aunt.
+Both of them had only at dinner the honor of being with the family;
+they were quite shut out from the evening parties.
+
+The shopman, who in the shop was the first person, and who could
+there speak a few words, sat here like a quiet, constrained
+creature; his hair combed toward one side, and exhibiting two red,
+swollen hands: no sound escaped his lips; kissing the hand of the
+lady of the house, at coming and going, was all he did beside eat.
+
+The aunt, who was not alone called so by the family, but by the
+whole of Lemvig, was equally sparing of her words, but her face was
+constantly laughing. A flowered, red cotton cap fitted close to the
+thin face, giving something characteristic to the high cheek-bones
+and hanging lip. "She assisted in the household, but could take no
+part in genteel company," as the lady expressed herself. She could
+never forget how, at the Reformation Festival, when only the
+singers sang in the church, aunt began singing with them out of her
+book, so that the churchwarden was forced to beg her to be silent;
+but this she took very ill, and declared she had as notch right as
+the others to praise God, and then sang in defiance. Had she not
+been "aunt," and not belonged to the family to which she did, she
+would certainly have been turned out.
+
+She was now the last person who entered and took her place at
+table. Half an hour had she been sought after before she was found.
+She had stood at the end of the garden, before the wooden trellis.
+Grass had been mown in the field behind the garden, and made into a
+rick; to see this she had gone to the trellis, the odor had
+agreeably affected her; she had pressed her face against the
+trellis-work, and from contemplation of it had fallen into thought,
+or rather out of thought. There she was found, and the dreamer was
+shaken into motion. She was again right lively, and laughed each
+time that Otto looked at her. He had his seat between Maren and the
+lady of the house, at the upper end of the table. Maren was a very
+pretty girl--little, somewhat round, white and red, and well-dressed.
+A vast number of bows, and a great variety of colors, were her weak
+side. She was reading at this time "Cabal and Love."
+
+"Thou art reading it in German!" said the mother.
+
+"Yes, it must be a beautiful piece. I speak German very well, but
+when I wish to read it I get on too slowly with it: I like to get
+to the end of a book!"
+
+The husband had his place at the head of the table. A little black
+cap sat smoothly on his gray hair, and a pair of clever eyes
+sparkled in his countenance. With folded hands he prayed a silent
+prayer, and then bowed his head, before he allowed the dinner to be
+served. Rosalie sat beside him. Her neighbor on the right seemed
+very talkative. He was an old soldier, who in his fortieth year had
+gone as lieutenant with the land's troops, and had permission to
+wear the uniform, and therefore sat there in a kind of military
+coat, and with a stiff cravat. He was already deep in Polignac's
+ministry and the triumph of the July days; but he had the
+misfortune to confound Lafitte and Lafayette together. The son of
+the house only spoke of bull-calves. The lady at the table was a
+little mamsell from Holstebro, who sat beside him, dressed like a
+girl for Confirmation, in a black silk dress and long red shawl.
+She was in grand array, for she was on a visit. This young lady
+understood dress-making, and could play upon the flute; which,
+however, she never did without a certain bashfulness: besides this,
+she spoke well, especially upon melancholy events. The bottle of
+wine only circulated at the upper end of the table; the shopman and
+aunt only drank ale, but it foamed gloriously: it had been made
+upon raisin-stalks.
+
+"He is an excellent man, the merchant, whom you have received as
+guardian, Mr. Thostrup," said the master of the house. "I am in
+connection with him."
+
+"But it is strange," interrupted the lady, "that only one out of
+his five daughters is engaged. If the young ladies in Copenhagen do
+not go off better than that, what shall we say here?"
+
+"Now Mr. Thostrup can take one of them," said the husband. "There
+is money, and you have fortune also; if you get an office, you can
+live in floribus!"
+
+Maren colored, although there was no occasion for coloring; she
+even cast down her eyes.
+
+"What should Mr. Thostrup do with one of them?" pursued the wife.
+"He shall have a Jutland maiden! There are pretty young ladies
+enough here in the country-seats," added she, and laid the best
+piece of meat upon his plate.
+
+"Do the royal company give pretty operas?" asked Maren, and gave
+another direction to the conversation.
+
+Otto named several, among others Der Freischütz.
+
+"That must be horrible!" said the lieutenant. "They say the wolf-glen
+is so natural, with a waterfall, and an owl which flutters its wings.
+Burgomaster Mimi has had a letter from a young lady in Aarhuus,
+who has been in Copenhagen, and has seen this piece. It was so
+horrible that she held her hand before her face, and almost
+fainted. They have a splendid theatre!"
+
+"Yes, but our little theatre was very pretty!" said the lady of the
+house. "It was quite stupid that the dramatic company should have
+been unlucky. The last piece we gave is still clear in my
+recollection; it was the 'Sandseslöse.' I was then ill; but
+because I wished so much to see it, the whole company was so
+obliging as to act it once more, and that, too, in our sitting-room,
+where I lay on the sofa and could look on. That was an extraordinary
+mark of attention from them! Only think--the burgomaster himself
+acted with them!"
+
+In honor of the strangers, coffee was taken after dinner in the
+garden, where, under the plum-trees, a swing was fixed. Somewhat
+later a sailing party was arranged. A small yacht belonging to the
+merchant lay, just unladen, near the bridge of boats.
+
+Otto found Maren and the young lady from Holstebro sitting in the
+arbor. Somewhat startled, they concealed something at his entrance.
+
+"The ladies have secrets! May one not be initiated?"
+
+"No, not at all!" replied Maren.
+
+"You have manuscript poems in the little book!" said Otto, and
+boldly approached. "Perhaps of your own composition?"
+
+"O, it is only a memorandum-book," said Maren, blushing. "When I
+read anything pretty I copy it, for we cannot keep the books."
+
+"Then I may see it!" said Otto. His eye fell upon the written
+sheet:--
+             "So fliessen nun zwei Wasser
+              Wohl zwischen mir und Dir
+              Das eine sind die Thränen,
+              Das andre ist der See!"
+              [Note: Des Knaben Wunderhorn.]
+he read. "That is very pretty! 'Der verlorne Schwimmer,' the poem
+is called, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, I have copied it out of the secretary's memorandum-book; he
+has so many pretty pieces."
+
+"The secretary has many splendid things!" said Otto, smiling.
+"Memorandum-book, musical snuff-box"--
+
+"And a collection of seals!" added the young lady from Holstebro.
+
+"I must read more!" said Otto; but the ladies fled with glowing
+cheeks.
+
+"Are you already at your tricks, Mr. Thostrup?" said the mother,
+who now entered the garden. "Yes, you do not know how Maren has
+thought of you--how much she has spoken of you. You never wrote to
+us; we never heard anything of you, except when Miss Rosalie
+related us something out of your letters. That was not nice of you!
+You and Maren were always called bride and bridegroom. You were a
+pair of pretty children, and your growth has not been disadvantageous
+to either of you."
+
+At four o'clock the evening party assembled--a whole swarm of young
+ladies, a few old ones, and the secretary, who distinguished
+himself by a collection of seals hanging to a long watch-chain, and
+everlastingly knocking against his body; a white shirt-frill, stiff
+collar, and a cock's comb, in which each hair seemed to take an
+affected position. They all walked down to the bay. Otto had some
+business and came somewhat later. Whilst he was crossing, alone,
+the court-yard, he heard, proceeding from the back of the house, a
+fearful, wild cry, which ended in violent sobbing. Terrified, he
+went nearer, and perceived the aunt sitting in the middle of a
+large heap of turf. The priestess at Delphi could not have looked
+more agitated! Her close cap she had torn from her head; her long,
+gray hair floated over her shoulders; and with her feet she stamped
+upon the turf, like a willful child, until the pieces flew in
+various directions. When she perceived Otto she became calm in a
+moment, but soon she pressed her thin hands before her face and
+sobbed aloud. To learn from her what was the matter was not to be
+thought of.
+
+"O, she is only quarrelsome!" said the girl, to whom Otto had
+turned for an explanation. "Aunt is angry because she was not
+invited to sail with the company. She always does so,--she can be
+quite wicked! Just lately, when she should have helped me to wring
+out the sheets, she always twisted them the same way that I did, so
+that we could never get done, and my hands hurt me very much!"
+
+Otto walked down to the bay. The sail was unfurled, the secretary
+brought out his musical-box, and, accompanied by its tones, they
+glided in the burning sunshine over the water.
+
+On the other side tea was to be drunk, and then Maren was to sing.
+Her mother asked her to sing the song with the strong tones, so
+that Otto might hear what a voice she had.
+
+She sang "Dannevang." Her voice had uncommon power, but no style,
+no grace.
+
+"Such a voice, I fancy, you have not heard in the theatre at
+Copenhagen?" said the secretary, with dogmatical gravity.
+
+"You might wish yourself such a chest!" said the lieutenant.
+
+The secretary should now sing; but he had a little cold, which he
+had always.
+
+"You must sing to the musical-box!" said the lady, and her wish was
+fulfilled. If Maren had only commenced, one might have believed it
+a trial of skill between Boreas and Zephyr.
+
+They now walked about, drank tea, and after this they were to
+return to the house, there to partake of fish and roast meat, a
+piece of boxed ham, and other good things.
+
+Otto could by no means be permitted to think of leaving them the
+following morning; he must remain a few days, and gather strength,
+so that in Copenhagen he might apply himself well to work. But only
+one day would he enjoy all the good things which they heaped upon
+him. He yearned for other people, for a more intellectual circle.
+Two years before he had agreed splendidly with them all, had found
+them interesting and intellectual; now he felt that Lemvig was a
+little town, and that the people were good, excellent people.
+
+The following play again brought capital cookery, good foul, and
+good wine--that was to honor Mr. Thostrup. His health was drunk,
+Maren was more confidential, the aunt had forgotten her trouble,
+and again sat with a laughing face beside the constrained shopman.
+They must, it is true, make a little haste over their dinner, for
+the fire-engine was to be tried; and this splendor, they
+maintained, Otto must see, since he so fortunately chanced to lie
+there.
+
+"How can my mother think that this will give Mr. Thostrup
+pleasure?" said Maren. "There is nothing to see in it."
+
+"That has given him pleasure formerly!" answered the mother. "It
+is, also, laughable when the boys run underneath the engine-rain,
+and the stream comes just in their necks."
+
+She spoke of the former Otto and of the present one--he was become
+so Copenhagenish, so refined and nice, as well in the cut of his
+clothes as in his manners; yet she still found an opportunity of
+giving him a little hint to further refinement. Only think! he took
+the sugar for his coffee with his fingers!
+
+"But where are the sugar-tongs, the massive silver sugar-tongs?"
+asked she. "Maren, dost thou allow him to take the sugar with his
+fingers?"
+
+"That is more convenient!" answered Otto. "I do that always."
+
+"Yes, but if strangers had been here," said the hostess, in a
+friendly but teaching tone, "we must, like that grand lady you know
+of, have thrown the sugar out of the window."
+
+"In the higher circles, where people have clean fingers, they make
+use of them!" said Otto. "There would be no end of it if one were
+to take it with the sugar-tongs."
+
+"They are of massive silver!" said the lady, and weighed them in
+her hand.
+
+Toward evening Rosalie went into the garden under the plum trees.
+
+"These, also, remind me of my mountains," said she; "this is the
+only fruit which will properly flourish there. Lemvig lies, like La
+Locle, in a valley," and she pointed, smiling, to the surrounding
+sand-hills. "How entirely different it is here from what it is at
+home on thy grandfather's estate! There I have been so accustomed
+to solitude, that it is almost too lively for me here. One
+diversion follows another."
+
+It was precisely this which Otto did not like. These amusements of
+the small towns wearied him, and he could not delight himself with
+them, no longer mingle in this life.
+
+He wished to set out early the following morning. It would be too
+exhausting to drive along the dry road in the sun's heat, they all
+declared; he must wait until the afternoon, then it would be
+cooler; it was, also, far pleasanter to travel in the night.
+Rosalie's prayers decided him. Thus, after dinner and coffee, the
+horses should be put into the carriage.
+
+It was the last day. Maren was somewhat in a grave mood. Otto must
+write in her album. "He would never come to Lemvig again," said
+she. As children they had played with each other. Since he went to
+Copenhagen she had, many an evening, seated herself in the swing
+near the summer-house and thought of him. Who knows whether she
+must not have done so when she copied out of the secretary's
+memorandum-book, the verses,--
+             "So fliessen nun zwei Wasser
+              Wohl zwischen mir and Dir?"
+
+The sea certainly flows between Aarhuus and Copenhagen.
+
+"Maren will perhaps go over for the winter," said the mother; "but
+we dare not speak too much about it, for it is not yet quite
+settled. It will really make her gayer! lately she has been very
+much inclined to melancholy, although God knows that we have denied
+her no pleasure!"
+
+There now arrived a quantity of letters from different
+acquaintance, and from their acquaintance: if Mr. Thostrup would
+have the goodness to take care of this to Viborg, these to Aarhuus,
+and the others as far as Copenhagen. It was a complete freight,
+such as one gets in little towns, just as though no post went
+through the country.
+
+The carriage stopped before the door.
+
+Rosalie melted into tears. "Write to me!" said she. "Thee I shall
+never see again! Greet my Switzerland when thou comest there!"
+
+The others were merry. The lady sang,--
+                "O could I, like a cloud, but fly!"
+
+The young lady from Holstebro bowed herself before him with an
+Album-leaf its her hand, upon which she must beg Mr. Thostrup to
+write her something. Maren gave him her hand, blushed and drew
+back: but as the carriage rolled away she waved her while
+handkerchief through the open window: "Farewell! Farewell!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+"Stop! cried Patroclus, with mighty, thundering voice."--WILSTER'S Iliad.
+
+The parting with Rosalie, the hospitality of the family, and their
+sincere sympathy, touched Otto; he thought upon the last days, upon
+his whole sojourn in his home. The death of his grandfather made
+this an important era in his life. The quiet evening and the
+solitary road inclined him still more to meditation.
+
+How cheering and interesting had been a visit to Lemvig in former
+times! Then it furnished matter for conversation with Rosalie for
+many weeks; it now lay before him a subject of indifference. The
+people were certainly the same, therefore the change must have
+taken place in himself. He thought of Copenhagen, which stood so
+high, and of the people there.
+
+"After all, the difference is not so great!" said he. "In
+Copenhagen the social foci are more numerous, the interests more
+varied; each day brings a fresh topic of conversation, and one can
+choose one's society. The multitude, on the contrary, has something
+citizenish; it obtrudes itself even from beneath the ball-dress
+which shows itself at court; it is seen in the rich saloon of the
+wholesale merchant, as well as in the house of the brandy
+distiller, whose possessions give to him and his two brewers the
+right of election. It is the same food which is presented to us; in
+the small towns one has it on earthenware, in Copenhagen on china.
+If one had only the courage, in the so-called higher classes, to
+break through the gloss which life in a greater circle, which
+participation in the customs of the world, has called forth, one
+should soon find in many a lady of rank, in many a nobleman who
+sits not alone in the theatre, on the first bench, merely that
+empty common earthenware; and that, as with the merchant's wife in
+Lemvig, a déjeuner or a soirée, like some public event, will
+occupy the mind before and after its occurrence. A court-ball, at
+which either the son or daughter has figured, resembles the most
+brilliant success in an examination for office. We laugh at the
+authorities of Lemvig, and yet with us the crowd runs after nothing
+but authorities and newspapers. This is a certain state of
+innocence. How many a poor officer or student must play the
+subordinate part of the shopman at the table of the rich, and
+gratefully kiss the hand of the lady of the house because she has
+the right of demanding gratitude? And in the theatre, with the
+multitude, what does not 'an astonishing chest' do? A strength of
+voice which can penetrate right through the leather of the mind
+gains stormy applause, whilst taste and execution can only be
+appreciated by the few. The actor can be certain of applause if he
+only thunder forth his parting reply. The comedian is sure of a
+shout of bravo if he puts forth an insipidity, and rubs his legs
+together as if replying with spirit and humor. The massive plate in
+the house gives many a lady the boldness to teach that in which she
+herself might perhaps have been instructed. Many a lady, like the
+Mamsell from Holstebro, dresses always in silk and a long shawl,
+and if one asks after her profession one finds it consists at most
+in dress-making; perhaps she does not even possess the little
+accompanying talent of playing the flute. How many people do not
+copy, like Maren, out of other people's memorandum-books, and do
+not excel musical-boxes! still one hears a deal of musical snuff-box
+music, and is waited upon by voices which are equally as insignificant
+as the secretary's."
+
+These were pretty much Otto's reflections, and certainly it was a
+good feeling which lay at the bottom of them. Let us remember in
+our judgment that he was so young, and that he had only known
+Copenhagen _one_ year; otherwise he would most certainly have
+thought _quite differently_.
+
+Night spread itself over the heath, the heavens were clear. Slowly
+the carriage wound along through the deep sand. The monotonous
+sound, the unchanging motion, all rendered Otto sleepy. A falling
+star shot like a fire column across the sky--this woke him for a
+moment; he soon again bowed his head and slept, fast and deep. It
+was an hour past midnight, when he was awoke by a loud cry. He
+started up--the fire burnt before them; and between it and the
+horse stood two figures, who had taken hold of the leather reins.
+Close beside them was a cart, under which was placed a sort of bed,
+on which slept a woman and some children.
+
+"Will you drive into the soup-kettle?" asked a rough voice, whilst
+another scolded in a gibberish which was unintelligible to Otto.
+
+It had happened to the coachman as to him, only that the coachman
+had fallen asleep somewhat later; the horses had lost their track,
+and uncertain, as they had long been, they were now traversing the
+impassable heath. A troop of the so-called Scavengers, who wander
+through these districts a nomadic race, had here taken up their
+quarters for the night, had made a fire and hung the kettle over
+it, to cook some pieces of a lamb they had stolen on their journey.
+
+"They were about half a mile from the highway," said an elderly
+woman who was laying some bushes of heath under the kettle.
+
+"Half a mile?" replied a voice from the other side of the cart, and
+Otto remarked a man who, wrapped in a large gray riding-cloak, had
+stretched himself out among the heather. "It is not a quarter of a
+mile to the highway if people know how to direct their course
+properly!"
+
+The pronunciation of the man was somewhat foreign, but pure, and
+free from the gibberish which the others employed in their speech.
+The voice seemed familiar to Otto, his ear weighed each syllable,
+and his blood ran quicker through his veins: "It is the German
+Heinrich, the evil angel of my life!" he felt, and wrapt himself
+closer in his mantle, so that his countenance was concealed.
+
+A half-grown lad came forward and offered himself as a guide.
+
+"But the lad must have two marks!" said the woman.
+
+Otto nodded assent, and glanced once more toward the man in whom he
+believed he recognized the German Heinrich; the man had again
+carelessly stretched himself among the heath, and did not seem
+inclined to enter into farther discourse.
+
+The woman desired the payment in advance, and received it. The boy
+led the horses toward one side; at the moment the fire flare up
+between the turf-sods, a great dog, with a loose cord about his
+neck, sprang forward and ran barking after the carriage, which now
+travelled on over the heath in the gloomy night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+"Poetry does not always express sorrow; the rainbow can also arch
+across a cloudless blue firmament."--JEAN PAUL.
+
+We again find ourselves in Copenhagen, where we meet with Otto, and
+may every day expect Wilhelm, Miss Sophie, and the excellent mamma;
+they would only stay a few weeks. To learn tidings of their
+arrival, Otto determined to pay a visit where they were expected;
+we know the house, we were present at the Christmas festival: it
+was here that Otto received his noble pedigree.
+
+We will now become somewhat better acquainted with the family. The
+husband had a good head, as people sat, had an excellent wine-cellar,
+and was, as one of the friends maintained, a good l'hombre player.
+But the soul of the house, the animating genius, which drew into
+this circle all that possessed life and youth, was the wife.
+Beautiful one could by no means call her, but, enchanted by her
+natural loveliness, her mind, and her unaffectedness, you forgot
+this in a few moments. A rare facility in appreciating the comic of
+every-day life, and a good-humored originality in its representation,
+always afforded her rich material for conversation. It was as if Nature,
+in a moment of thoughtlessness, had formed an insipid countenance, but
+immediately afterward strove to make good her fault by breathing into
+it a soul, which, even through pale blue eyes, pale cheeks, and ordinary
+features, could make her beauty felt.
+
+When Otto entered the room he heard music. He listened: it must be
+either Weyse or Gerson.
+
+"It is the Professor Weyse," said the servant, and Otto opened the
+door softly, without knocking.
+
+The astral-lamp burnt upon the table; upon the sofa sat two young
+ladies. The mistress of the house nodded Otto a friendly welcome,
+but then smiling laid her finger on her lips, as a sign of silence,
+and pointed to a chair, on which he seated himself, and listened to
+the soft tones, which, like spirits, floated from the piano at
+which the musician sat. It was as if the slumbering thoughts and
+feelings of the soul, which in every breast find a response, even
+among the most opposite nations, had found a voice and language.
+The fantasies died away in a soft, spiritual piano. Thus lightly
+has Raphael breathed the Madonna di Foligno upon the clouds; she
+rests there as a soap-bubble rests upon velvet. That dying away of
+the tomes resembled the thoughts of the lover when his eye closes,
+and the living dream of his heart imperceptibly merges and vanishes
+in sleep. Reality is over.
+
+Here also the tones ceased.
+
+            "Der Bettelvogt von Ninive
+             Zog hinab zum Genfersee,
+                  Hm, hm!"
+             [Author's Note: An old popular German song.]
+commenced the musician once more, with an originality and spirit
+which influenced the whole company. Far too soon did he again break
+off, after he had enchanted all ears by his own treasures, as well
+as by the curiosities of the people's life in the world of sound.
+Only when he was gone did admiration find words; the fantasies
+still echoed in every heart.
+
+"His name deserves to be known throughout Europe!" said the
+gracious lady; "how few people in the world know Weyse and Kuhlau!"
+
+"That is the misfortune of a musician being born in a small
+country," said Otto. "His works become only manuscript for friends;
+his auditory extends only from Skagen to Kiel: there the door is
+closed."
+
+"One must console one's self that everything great and good becomes
+at length known," said the cousin of the family, who is known to us
+by his verses for the Christmas-tree. "The nations will become
+acquainted with everything splendid in the kingdom of mind, let it
+bloom in a small or in a large country. Certainly during this time
+the artist may have died, but then he must receive compensation in
+another world."
+
+"I truly believe," returned the gracious lady, "that he would wish
+a little in advance here below, where it is so ordered that the
+immortal must bow himself before the mortal."
+
+"Certainly," replied Otto; "the great men of the age are like
+mountains; they it is which cause the land to be seen from afar,
+and give it importance, but in themselves they are bare and cold;
+their heights are never properly known."
+
+"Very beautiful," said the lady; "you speak like a Jean Paul."
+
+At this moment the door opened, and all were surprised by the
+entrance of Miss Sophie, Wilhelm, and the dear mamma. They were
+not expected before the following evening. They had travelled the
+whole day through Zealand.
+
+"We should have been here to dinner," said Sophie, "but my brother
+could not get his business finished in Roeskelde; then he had
+forgotten to order horses, and other little misadventures occurred:
+six whole hours we remained there. Mamma contracted quite a passion
+there--she fell fairly in love with a young girl, the pretty Eva."
+
+"Yes, she is a nice creature!" said the old lady. "Had I not
+reason, Mr. Thostrup? You and my Wilhelm had already made her
+interesting to me. She has something so noble, so refined, which
+one so rarely meets with in the lower class; she deserves to come
+among educated people."
+
+"Otto, what shall our hearts say," exclaimed Wilhelm, "when my good
+mother is thus affected?"
+
+They assembled round the tea-table. Wilhelm addressed Otto with the
+confidential "thou" which Otto himself had requested.
+
+"We will drink together in tea and renew our brotherhood."
+
+Otto smiled, but with such a strangely melancholy air, and spoke
+not a word.
+
+"He's thinking about the old grandfather," thought Wilhelm, and
+laid his hand upon his friend's shoulder. "The Kammerjunker and his
+ladies greet thee!" said he. "I believe the Mamsell would willingly
+lay thee in her own work-box, were that to be done."
+
+Otto remained quiet, but in his soul there was a strange commotion.
+It would be a difficult thing to explain this motive, which
+belonged to his peculiarity of mind; it entered among the mysteries
+of the soul. The multitude call it in individuals singularity, the
+psychologist finds a deeper meaning in it, which the understanding
+is unable to fathom. We have examples of men, whose strength of
+mind and body were well known, feeling faint at the scent of a
+rose; others have been thrown into a convulsive state by touching
+gray paper. This cannot be explained; it is one of the riddles of
+Nature. A similar relaxing sensation Otto experienced when he, for
+the first time, heard himself addressed as "thou" by Wilhelm. It
+seemed to him as though the spiritual band which encircled them
+loosened itself, and Wilhelm became a stranger. It was impossible
+for Otto to return the "thou," yet, at the same time, he felt the
+injustice of his behavior and the singularity, and wished to
+struggle against it; he mastered himself, attained a kind of
+eloquence, but no "thou" would pass his lips.
+
+"To thy health, Otto," said Wilhelm, and pushed his cup against
+Otto's.
+
+"Health!" said Otto, with a smile.
+
+"It is true," began the cousin, "I promised you the other day to
+bring my advertisements with me; the first volume is closed." And
+he drew from his pocket a book in which a collection of the most
+original Address-Gazette advertisements, such as one sees daily,
+was pasted.
+
+"I have one for you," said the lady; "I found it a little time
+since. 'A woman wishes for a little child to bottle.' Is not that
+capital?"
+
+"Here is also a good one," said Wilhelm, who had turned over the
+leaves of the book: "'A boy of the Mosaic belief may be apprenticed
+to a cabinet-maker, but he need not apply unless he will eat
+everything that happens to be in the house.' That is truly a hard
+condition for the poor lad."
+
+"Almost every day," said the cousin, "one may read, 'For the play
+of to-day or to-morrow is a good place to be had in the third story
+in the Christenbernikov Street.' The place is a considerable
+distance from the theatre."
+
+"Theatre!" exclaimed the master of the house, who now entered to
+take his place at the tea-table, "one can soon hear who has that
+word in his mouth; now is he again at the theatre! The man can
+speak of nothing else. There ought, ready, to be a fine imposed,
+which he should pay each time he pronounces the word theatre. I
+would only make it a fine of two skillings, and yet I dare promise
+that before a month was over he would be found to pay in fines his
+whole pocket-money, and his coat and boots besides. It is a real
+mania with the man! I know no one among my young friends," added
+he, with an ironical smile at Wilhelm,--"no, not one, who has such
+a hobby-horse as our good cousin."
+
+"Here thou art unjust to him!" interrupted his wife; "do not place
+a fine upon him, else I will place thee in a vaudeville! Thy life
+is in politics; our cousin's in theatrical life; Wilhelm's in
+thorough-bass; and Mr. Thostrup's in learned subjects. Each of you
+is thus a little nail in the different world-wheels; whoever
+despises others shows that he considers his wheel the first, or
+imagines that the world is a wheelbarrow, which goes upon one
+wheel! No, it is a more complicated machine."
+
+Later in the evening, when the company broke up, Otto and Wilhelm
+went together.
+
+"I do not think," said Wilhelm, "that thou hast yet said thou to
+me. Is it not agreeable to thee?"
+
+"It was my own wish, my own request," replied Otto. "I have not
+remarked what expressions I have employed." He remained silent.
+Wilhelm himself seemed occupied with unusual thoughts, when he
+suddenly exclaimed: "Life is, after all, a gift of blessings! One
+should never make one's self sorrows which do not really exist!
+'Carpe diem,' said old Horace."
+
+"That will we!" replied Otto; "but now we must first think of our
+examination."
+
+They pressed each other's hands and parted.
+
+"But I have heard no thou!" said Wilhelm to himself "He is an
+oddity, and yet I love him! In this consists, perhaps, my own
+originality."
+
+He entered his room, where the hostess had been cleaning,
+and had arranged the books and papers in the nicest order. Wilhelm
+truly called it disorder; the papers in confusion and the books in
+a row. The lamp even had a new place; and this was called order!
+
+Smiling, he seated himself at the piano; it was so long since they
+had said "Good day" to each other! He ran over the keys several
+times, then lost himself in fantasies. "That is lovely!" he
+exclaimed. "But it is not my property! What does it belong to? It
+melts into my own feelings!" He played it again. It was a thema out
+of "Tancredi," therefore from Rossini, even the very composer whom
+our musical friends most looked down upon; how could he then guess
+who had created those tones which now spoke to his heart? His whole
+being he felt penetrated by a happiness, a love of life, the cause
+of which he knew not. He thought of Otto with a warmth which the
+latter's strange behavior did not deserve. All beloved beings
+floated so sweetly before his mind. This was one of those moments
+which all good people know; one feels one's self a member of the
+great chain of love which binds creation together.
+
+So long as the rose-bud remains folded together it seems to be
+without fragrance; yet only one morning is required, and the fine
+breath streams from the crimson mouth. It is only one moment; it is
+the commencement of a new existence, which already has lain long
+concealed in the bud: but one does not see the magic wand which
+works the change. This spiritual contrast, perhaps, took place in
+the past hour; perhaps the last evening rays which fell upon the
+leaves concealed this power! The roses of the garden must open;
+those of the heart follow the same laws. Was this love? Love is, as
+poets say, a pain; it resembles the disease of the mussel, through
+which pearls are formed. But Wilhelm was not sick; he felt himself
+particularly full of strength and enjoyment of life. The poet's
+simile of the mussel and the pearl sounds well, but it is false.
+Most poets are not very learned in natural history; and, therefore,
+they are guilty of many errors with regard to it. The pearl is
+formed on the mussel not through disease; when an enemy attacks her
+she sends forth drops in her defense, and these change into pearls.
+It is thus strength, and not weakness, which creates the beautiful.
+It would be unjust to call love a pain, a sickness; it is an energy
+of life which God has planted in the human breast; it fills our
+whole being like the fragrance which fills each leaf of the rose,
+and then reveals itself among the struggles of life as a pearl of
+worth.
+
+These were Wilhelm's thoughts; and yet it was not perfectly clear
+to him that he loved with his whole soul, as one can only love
+once.
+
+The following forenoon he paid a visit to Professor Weyse.
+
+"You are going to Roeskelde, are you not?" asked Wilhelm. "I have
+heard you so often play the organ here in Our Lady's church, I
+should very much like to hear you there, in the cathedral. If I
+were to make the journey, would you then play a voluntary for me?"
+
+"You will not come!" said the musician.
+
+"I shall come!" answered Wilhelm, and kept his word. Two days after
+this conversation he rolled through the streets of Roeskelde.
+
+"I am come for a wager! I shall hear Weyse play the organ!" said he
+to the host, although there was no need for an apology.
+
+Bulwer in his romance, "The Pilgrims of the Rhine," has with
+endless grace and tenderness called forth a fairy world. The little
+spirits float there as the breath of air floats around the material
+reality; one is forced to believe in their existence. With a genius
+powerful as that which inspired Bulwer, glorious as that which
+infused into Shakespeare the fragrance we find breathed over the
+"Midsummer-night's Dream," did Weyse's tones fill Wilhelm; the deep
+melodies of the organ in the old cathedral had indeed attracted him
+to the quiet little town! The powerful tones of the heart summoned
+him! Through them even every day things assumed a coloring, an
+expression of beauty, such as Byron shows us in words, Thorwaldsen
+in the hard stone, Correggio in colors.
+
+We have by Goethe a glorious poem, "Love a Landscape-painter." The
+poet sits upon a peak and gazes before him into the mist, which,
+like canvas spread upon the easel, conceals all heights and
+expanses; then comes the God of Love and teaches him how to paint a
+picture on the mist. The little one now sketches with his rosy
+fingers a picture such as only Nature and Goethe give us. Were the
+poet here, we could offer him no rock on which he might seat
+himself, but something, through legends and songs, equally
+beautiful. He would then sing,--I seated myself upon the mossy
+stone above the cairn; the mist resembled outstretched canvas. The
+God of Love commenced on this his sketch. High up he painted a
+glorious still, whose rays were dazzling! The edges of the clouds
+he made as of gold, and let the rays penetrate through them; then
+painted he the fine light boughs of fresh, fragrant trees; brought
+forth one hill after the other. Behind these, half-concealed, lay a
+little town, above which rose a mighty church; two tall towers with
+high spires rose into the air; and below the church, far out, where
+woods formed the horizon, drew he a bay so naturally! it seemed to
+play with the sunbeams as if the waves splashed up against the
+coast. Now appeared flowers; to the fields and meadows he gave the
+coloring of velvet and precious stones; and on the other side of
+the bay the dark woods melted away into a bluish mist. "I can
+paint!" said the little one; "but the most difficult still remains
+to do." And he drew with his delicate finger, just where the rays
+of the sun fell most glowingly, a maiden so gentle, so sweet, with
+dark blue eyes and cheeks as blooming as the rosy fingers which
+formed the picture. And see! a breeze arose; the leaves of the
+trees quivered; the expanse of water ruffled itself; the dress of
+the maiden was gently stirred; the maiden herself approached: the
+picture itself was a reality! And thus did the old royal city
+present itself before Wilhelm's eyes, the towers of the cathedral,
+she tay, the far woods, and--Eva!
+
+The first love of a pure heart is holy! This holiness may be
+indicated, but not described! We return to Otto.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+"A man only gains importance by a poet's fancy, when his genius
+vividly represents to our imagination a clearer, but not an
+ennobled image of men and objects which have an existence; then
+alone he understands how to idealize."--H. HERTZ.
+
+We pass on several weeks. It was toward the end of September, the
+examen philosophicum was near. Preparations for this had been
+Otto's excuse for not yet having visited the family circle of his
+guardian, the merchant Berger. This was, however, brought about by
+Otto's finding one day, when he went to speak with his guardian,
+the mistress of the house in the same room. We know that there are
+five daughters in the house, and that only one is engaged, yet they
+are all well-educated girls--domestic girls, as their mother
+assured her friend upon more than one occasion.
+
+"So, then, I have at length the honor of making your acquaintance,"
+said Mrs. Berger. "this visit, truly, is not intended either for me
+or the children, but still you must now drink a cup of coffee with
+us. Within it certainly looks rather disorderly; the girls are
+making cloaks for the winter. We will not put ourselves out of the
+way for you: you shall be regarded as a member of the family: but
+then you must come to us in a friendly way. Every Thursday our
+son-in-law dines with us, will you then be contented with our dinner?
+Now you shall become acquainted with my daughters."
+
+"And I must to my office," said the husband; "therefore let us
+consider Thursday as an appointment. We dine at three o'clock, and
+after coffee Laide gives us music."
+
+The lady now conducted Otto into the sitting-room, where he found
+the four daughters in full activity with a workwoman. The fifth
+daughter, Julle, was, as they had told him, gone to the shops for
+patterns: yesterday she had run all over the town, but the patterns
+she received were not good.
+
+The lady told him the name of each daughter; their characteristics
+he naturally learnt later.
+
+All the five sisters had the idea that they were so extremely
+different, and yet they resembled each other to a hair. Adelaide,
+or Laide, as she was also called, was certainly the prettiest; that
+she well knew also, therefore she would have a fur cape, and no
+cloak; her figure should be seen. Christiane was what one might
+call a practical girl; she knew how to make use of everything.
+Alvilde had always a little attack of the tooth-ache; Julle went
+shopping, and Miss Grethe was the bride. She was also musical, and
+was considered witty. Thus she said one evening when the house-door
+was closed, and groaned dreadfully on its hinges, "See now, we have
+port wine after dinner." [Translator's Note: A pun which it is
+impossible to translate. The Danish word Portviin according to
+sound, may mean either port wine or the creaking of a door.] The
+brother, the only son of the house, with whom we shall become
+better acquainted, had written down this conceit; "but that was
+only to be rude toward her," said Miss Grethe. "Such good ideas as
+this I have every hour of the day!"
+
+We ought really to accuse these excellent girls of nothing foolish;
+they were very good and wise. The lover, Mr. Svane, was also a
+zealous wit; he was so lively, they said. Every one with whom he
+became a little familiar he called immediately Mr. Petersen, and
+that was so droll!
+
+"Now the father has invited Mr. Thostrup to come on Thursday!" said
+the lady. "I also think, if we were to squeeze ourselves a little
+together, he might find a place with us in the box; the room is,
+truly, very confined."
+
+Otto besought them not to incommode themselves.
+
+"O, it is a large box!" said the lady, but she did not say how many
+of them were already in it. Only eleven ladies went from the family
+itself. They were obliged to go to the theatre in three parties, so
+that people might not think; if they all went together, there was a
+mob. One evening, when the box had been occupied by eighteen
+persons, beside several twelve-year old children, who had sat in
+people's laps, or stood before them, and the whole party had
+returned home in one procession, and were standing before the house
+door to go in, people streamed together, imagining there was some
+alarm, or that some one had fallen into convulsions. "What is the
+matter?" they asked, and Miss Grethe immediately replied, "It is a
+select company!" [Translator's Note: A select or shut-out company.
+We regret that this pun, like the foregoing one, is untransferable
+into English.] Since that evening they returned home in separate
+divisions.
+
+"It is really a good box!" said Alvilde; "if we had only other
+neighbors! The doors are opening and shutting eternally, and make a
+draught which is not bearable for the teeth. And then they speak so
+loud! the other night I did not hear a single word of the pretty
+song about Denmark."
+
+"But did you lose much through that?" asked Otto, smiling, and soon
+they found themselves very much at variance, just as if they had
+been old acquaintances. "I do not think much of these patriotic
+scraps, where the poet, in his weakness, supports himself by this
+beautiful sentiment of patriotism in the people. You will certainly
+grant that here the multitude always applauds when it only hears
+the word 'Father-land,' or the name of 'Christian IV.' The poet
+must give something more; this is a left-handed kind of patriotism.
+One would really believe that Denmark were the only country in the
+world!"
+
+"Fie, Mr. Thostrup!" said the lady: "do you not then love your
+father-land?"
+
+"I believe I love it properly!" returned he: "and because it really
+possesses so much that is excellent do I desire that only what is
+genuine should be esteemed, only what is genuine be prized."
+
+"I agree in the main with Mr. Thostrup," said Miss Grethe, who was
+busied in unpicking and turning her cloak, in order, as she herself
+said, to spoil it on the other side. "I think he is right! If a
+poem is well spoken on the stage, it has always a kind of effect.
+It is just the same as with stuffs--they may be of a middling
+quality and may have an unfavorable pattern, but if they are worn
+by a pretty figure they look well after all!"
+
+"I am often vexed with the public!" said Otto. "It applauds at
+improper places, and sometimes exhibits an extraordinary
+innocence."
+
+"Those are 'the lords of the kingdom of mind,'" said Miss Grethe, smiling.
+[Note:  "We are the lords of the kingdom of mind!
+         We are the stem which can never decay!"
+         --Students' Song, by CHRISTIAN WINTHER.]
+
+"No, the _neighbors_!" replied Otto quickly.
+
+At this moment Miss Julle entered. She had been wandering from shop
+to shop, she said, until she could bear it no longer! She had had
+the stuffs down from all the shelves, and at length had succeeded
+so far as to become possessed of eight small pieces--beautiful
+patterns, she maintained. And now she knew very well where the
+different stuffs were to be had, how wide they were, and how much
+the yard. "And whom did I meet?" said she; "only think! down the
+middle of East Street came the actor--you know well! Our little
+passion! He is really charming off the stage."
+
+"Did you meet him?" said Laide. "That girl is always lucky!"
+
+"Mr. Thostrup," said the mother, presenting him, for the young lady
+seemed to forget him entirely, so much was she occupied with this
+encounter and her patterns.
+
+Julle bowed, and said she had seen him before: he had heard
+Mynster, and had stood near the chair where she sat; he was dressed
+in an olive-green coat.
+
+"Then you are acquainted with each other!" said the lady. "She is
+the most pious of all the children. When the others rave about
+Spindler and Johanne Schoppenhauer, she raves about the clergyman
+who confirmed her. You know my son? He became a student a year
+before you. He sees you in the club sometimes."
+
+"There you will have seen him more amiable than you will find him
+at home," said Adelaide. "Heaven knows he is not gallant toward his
+sisters!"
+
+"Sweet Laide, how can you say so!" cried the mother. "You are
+always so unjust toward Hans Peter! When you become better
+acquainted with him, Mr. Thostrup, you will like him; he is a
+really serious young man, of uncorrupted manners. Do you remember,
+Laide, how he hissed that evening in the theatre when they gave
+that immoral piece? And how angry he is with that 'Red Riding
+Hood?' O, the good youth! Besides, in our family, you will soon
+meet with an old acquaintance--in a fortnight a lady out of Jutland
+will come here. She remains the winter here. Do you not guess who
+it is? A little lady from Lemvig!"
+
+"Maren!" exclaimed Otto.
+
+"Yes, truly!" said the lady. "She is said to have such a beautiful
+voice!"
+
+"Yes, in Lemvig," remarked Adelaide. "And what a horrible name she
+has! We must christen her again, when she comes. She must be called
+Mara, or Massa."
+
+"We could call her Massa Carara!" said Grethe.
+
+"No; she shall be called Maja, as in the 'Every-day Tales,'" said
+Christiane.
+
+"I am of Jane's opinion!" said the mother. "We will christen her
+again, and call her Maja."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+Men are not always what they seem.--LESSING.
+
+Our tale is no creation of fancy; it is the reality in which we
+live; bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Our own time and
+the men of our own age we shall see. But not alone will we occupy
+ourselves with every-day life, with the moss on the surface; the
+whole tree, from the roots to the fragrant leaves, will we observe.
+The heavy earth shall press the roots, the moss and bark of every-day
+life adhere to the stern, the strong boughs with flowers and leaves
+spread themselves out, whilst the sun of poetry shall shine among
+them, and show the colors, odor, and singing-birds. But the tree of
+reality cannot shoot up so soon as that of fancy, like the enchantment
+in Tieck's "Elves." We must seek our type in nature. Often may
+there be an appearance of cessation; but that is not the case. It
+is even so with our story; whilst our characters, by mutual discourse,
+make themselves worthy of contemplation, there arises, as with the
+individual branches of the tree, an unseen connection. The branch
+which shoots high up in the air, as though it would separate itself
+from the mother-stem, only presses forward to form the crown, to lend
+uniformity to the whole tree. The lines which diverge from the general
+centre are precisely those which produce the harmony.
+
+We shall, therefore, soon see, though these scenes out of every-day
+life are no digression from the principal events, nothing
+episodical which one may pass over. In order still sooner to arrive
+at a clear perception of this assertion, we will yet tarry a few
+moments in the house of Mr. Berger, the merchant; but in the mean
+time we have advanced three weeks. Wilhelm and Otto had happily
+passed their examen philosophicum. The latter had paid several
+visits, and was already regarded as an old friend of the family.
+The lover already addressed him with his droll "Good day, Mr.
+Petersen;" and Grethe was witty about his melancholy glance, which
+he was not always able to conquer. She called it "making faces,"
+and besought him to appear so on the day of her funeral.
+
+The object of the five sisters' first Platonic love had been their
+brother. They had overwhelmed him with caresses and tenderness, had
+admired and worshipped him. "The dear little man!" they called him;
+they had no other. But Hans Peter was so impolite and teasing
+toward the dear sisters, that they were found to resign him so soon
+as one of them had a lover. Upon this lover they all clung. Each
+one seemed to have a piece of him. He was Grethe's bridegroom,
+would be their brother-in-law. They might address him with the
+confidential thou, and even give him a little kiss.
+
+Otto's appearance in the family caused these rays to change their
+direction. Otto was handsome, and possessed of fortune; either of
+which often suffices to bow a female heart. Beauty bribes the
+thoughtless; riches, the prudent.
+
+Maren, or as she was here called, Maja, had arrived. The young
+ladies had already pulled off some of her bows, arranged her hair
+differently, and made one of her silk handkerchiefs into an apron;
+but, spite of all this finesse, she still remained the lady from
+Lemvig. They could remove no bows from her pronunciation. She had
+been the first at home; here she could not take that rank. This
+evening she was to see in the theatre, for the first time, the
+ballet of the "Somnambule."
+
+"It is French!" said Hans Peter; "and frivolous, like everything
+that we have from them."
+
+"Yes, the scene in the second act, where she steps out of the
+window," said the merchant; "that is very instructive for youth!"
+
+"But the last act is sweet!" cried the lady. "The second act is
+certainly, as Hans Peter very justly observed, somewhat French.
+Good heavens! he gets quite red, the sweet lad!" She extended her
+hand to him, and nodded, smiling, whereupon Hans Peter spoke very
+prettily about the immorality on the stage. The father also made
+some striking observation.
+
+"Yes," said the lady, "were all husbands like thee, and all young
+men like Hans Peter, they would speak in another tone on the stage,
+and dress in another manner. In dancing it is abominable; the
+dresses are so short and indecent, just as though they had nothing
+on! Yet, after all, we must say that the 'Somnambule' is beautiful.
+And, really, it is quite innocent!"
+
+They now entered still deeper into the moral: the conversation
+lasted till coffee came.
+
+Maren's heart beat even quicker, partly in expectation of the play,
+through hearing of the corruptions of this Copenhagen Sodom. She
+heard Otto defend this French piece; heard him speak of
+affectation. Was he then corrupted? How gladly would she have heard
+him discourse upon propriety, as Hans Peter had done. "Poor Otto!"
+thought she; "this is having no relations, but being forced to
+struggle on in the world alone."
+
+The merchant now rose. He could not go to the theatre. First, he
+had business to attend to; and then he must go to his club, where
+he had yesterday changed his hat.
+
+"Nay, then, it has happened to thee as to Hans Peter!" said the
+lady. "Yesterday, in the lecture-room, he also got a strange hat.
+But, there, thou hast his hat!" she suddenly exclaimed, as her eye
+fell upon the hat which her husband held in his hand. "That is Hans
+Peter's hat! Now, we shall certainly find that he has thine! You
+have exchanged them here at home. You do not know each other's
+hats, and therefore you fancy this occurred from home."
+
+One of the sisters now brought the hat which Hans Peter had got in
+mistake. Yes, it was certainly the father's. Thus an exchange in
+the house, a little intermezzo, which naturally, from its
+insignificance, was momentarily forgotten by all except the parties
+concerned, for to them it was an important moment in their lives;
+and to us also, as we shall see, an event of importance, which has
+occasioned us to linger thus long in this circle. In an adjoining
+room will we, unseen spirits, watch the father and son. They are
+alone; the family is already in the theatre. We may, indeed, watch
+them--they are true moralists. It is only a moral drawn from a hat.
+
+But the father's eyes rolled, his cheeks glowed, his words were
+sword-strokes, and must make an impression on any disposition as
+gentle as his son's; but the son stood quiet, with a firm look and
+with a smile on his lips, such as the moral bestows. "You were in
+the adjoining room!" said he. "Where it is proper for you to be
+there may I also come."
+
+"Boy!" cried the father, and named the place, but we know it not;
+neither know we its inhabitants. Victor Hugo includes them in his
+"Children's Prayer," in his beautiful poem, "La Prière pour Tous."
+The child prays for all, even "for those who sell the sweet name of
+love." [Note: "Prie! ...
+Pour les femmes échevelées
+Qui vendent le doux nom d'amour!"]
+
+"Let us be silent with each other!" said the son. "I am acquainted
+with many histories. I know another of the pretty Eva!"--
+
+"Eva!" repeated the father.
+
+We will hear no more! It is not proper to listen. We see the father
+and son extend their hands. It appeared a scene of reconciliation.
+They parted: the father goes to his business, and Hans Peter to the
+theatre, to anger himself over the immorality in the second act of
+the "Somnambule."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+"L'amour est pour les coeurs,
+Ce que l'aurore est pour les fleurs,
+Et le printemps pour la nature."--VIGUE.
+
+"Love is a childish disease and like the small-pox. Some die, some
+become deformed, others are more or less scarred, while upon others
+the disease does not leave any visible trace."--The Alchemist, by
+C. HAUCH.
+
+"Be candid, Otto!" said Wilhelm, as he one day visited his friend.
+"You cannot make up your mind to say thou to me; therefore let it
+be. We are, after all, good friends. It is only a form; although
+you must grant that in this respect you are really a great fool."
+
+Otto now explained what an extraordinary aversion he had felt, what
+a painful feeling had seized upon him, and made it impossible to
+him.
+
+"There you were playing the martyr!" said Wilhelm, laughing. "Could
+you not immediately tell me how you were constituted? So are most
+men. When they have no trouble, they generally hatch one
+themselves; they will rather stand in the cold shadow than in the
+warm sunshine, and yet the choice stands open to us. Dear friend,
+reflect; now we are both of us on the stream: we shall soon be put
+into the great business-bottles, where we shall, like little
+devils, stretch and strain ourselves without ever getting out,
+until life withdraws from us!" He laid his arm confidentially upon
+Otto's shoulder. "Often have I wished to speak with you upon one
+point! Yes, I do not desire that you should confess every word,
+every thought to me. I already know that I shall be able to prove
+to you that the thing lies in a region where it cannot have the
+power which you ascribe to it. In the cold zones a venomous bite
+does not operate as dangerously as in warmer ones; a sorrow
+in childhood cannot overpower us as it does in riper age. Whatever
+misfortune may have happened to you when a child, if in your
+wildness--you yourself say that you were wild--whatsoever you may
+have then done, it cannot, it ought not to influence your whole
+life: your understanding could tell you this better than I. At our
+age we find ourselves in the land of joy, or we never enter it!"
+
+"You are a happy man!" exclaimed Otto, and gazed sorrowfully
+before him. "Your childhood afforded you only joy and hope! Only
+think of the solitude in which mine was passed. Among the sand-hills
+of the west coast my days glided away: my grandfather was gloomy
+and passionate; our old preacher lived only in a past time which
+I knew not, and Rosalie regarded the world through the spectacles
+of sorrow. Such an environment might well cast a shadow upon my
+life-joy. Even in dress, one is strangely remarkable when one comes
+from afar province to the capital; first this receives another cut,
+and one gradually becomes like those around one. The same thing
+happens in a spiritual relation, but one's being and ideas one does
+not change so quickly as one's clothes. I have only been a short
+time among strangers, and who knows?" added he, with a melancholy
+smile, "perhaps I shall come into equilibrium when some really
+great misfortune happens to me and very much overpowers me, and
+then I may show the same carelessness, the same phlegm as the
+multitude."
+
+"A really great misfortune!" repeated Wilhelm. "You do, indeed, say
+something. That would be a very original means of cure, but you are
+an original being. Perhaps lay this means you might really be
+healed. 'Make no cable out of cobweb!' said a celebrated poet whose
+name does not occur to me at this moment. But the thought is good,
+you should have it embroidered upon your waistcoat, so that you
+might have it before your eyes when you droop your head. Do not
+look so grave; we are friends, are we not? Among all my young
+acquaintance you are the dearest to me, although there are moments
+when I know not how it stands with us. I could confide every secret
+to you, but I am not sure that you would be equally open with me.
+Do not be angry, my dear friend! There are secrets of so delicate a
+nature, that one may not confide them even to the dearest friend.
+So long as we preserve _our_ secret it is our prisoner; it is quite
+the contrary, however, so soon as we have let it escape us. And
+yet, Otto, you are so dear to me, that I believe in you as in my
+own heart. This, even now, bears a secret which penetrates me with
+joy and love of life! I must speak cut. But you must enter into my
+joy, partake in it, or say nothing about it; you have then heard
+nothing--nothing! Otto, I love! therefore am I happy, therefore is
+there sunshine in my heart, life joy in my veins! I love Eva, the
+beautiful lovely Eva!"
+
+Otto pressed his hand, but preserved silence.
+
+"No, not so!" cried Wilhelm. "Only speak a word! Do you I'm in a
+conception of the world which has opened before me?"
+
+"Eva is beautiful! very beautiful!" said Otto, slowly. "She is
+innocent and good. What can one wish for more? I can imagine how
+she fills your whole heart! But will she do so always? She will not
+always remain young, always lovely! Has she, then, mind sufficient
+to be everything to you? Will this momentary happiness which you
+prepare for her and yourself be great enough to outweigh--I will
+not say the sorrow, but the discontent which this union will bring
+forth in your family? For God's sake, think of everything!"
+
+"My dear fellow!" said Wilhelm, "your old preacher now really
+speaks out of you! But enough: I can bear the confession. I answer,
+'Yes, yes!' with all my heart, 'yes!' Wherefore will you now bring
+me out of my sunshine into shade? Wherefore, in my joy over the
+beauty of the rose should I be reminded that the perfume and color
+will vanish, that the leaves will fall? It is the course of life!
+but must one, therefore, think of the grave, of the finale, when
+the act begins?"
+
+"Love is a kind of monomania," said Otto; "it may be combated: it
+depends merely upon our own will."
+
+"Ah, you know this not at all!" said Wilhelm. "But it will come in
+due time, and then you will be far more violent than others! Who
+knows? perhaps this is the sorrow of which you spoke, the
+misfortune which should bring your whole being into equipoise! That
+was also a kind of search after the sorrowful. I will sincerely
+wish that your heart may be filled with love as mine is; then will
+the influence of the sand-hills vanish, and you will speak with me
+as you ought to do, and as my confidence deserves!"
+
+"That will I!" replied Otto. "You make the poor girl miserable! Now
+you love Eva, but then you will no longer be able. The distance
+between you and her is too great, and I cannot conceive how the
+beauty of her countenance can thus fill your whole being. A
+waiting-girl! yes, I repeat the name which offends your ear: a
+waiting-girl! Everywhere will it be repeated. And you? No one can
+respect nobility less than I do--that nobility which is only
+conferred by birth; it is nothing, and a time will come when this
+will not be prized at all, when the nobility of the soul will be
+the only nobility. I openly say this to you, who are a nobleman
+yourself. The more development of mind, the more ancestors! But Eva
+has nothing, can have nothing, except a pretty face, and this is
+what has enchained you; you are become the servant of a servant,
+and that is degrading yourself and your nobility of mind!"
+
+"Mr. Thostrup!" exclaimed Wilhelm, "you wound me! This is truly
+not the first time, but now I am weary of it. I have shown too much
+good nature, and that is the most unfortunate failing a man can be
+cursed with!"
+
+He seated himself at the piano, and hammered away.
+
+Otto was silent a moment, his checks glowed, but he was soon again
+calm, and in a joking tone said: "Do not expend your anger upon
+that poor instrument because we disagree in our views. You are
+playing only dissonances, which offend my ear more than your
+anger!"
+
+"Dissonances!" repeated Wilhelm. "Cannot you hear that they are
+harmonies? There are many things for which you have a bad ear!"
+
+Otto knew how to lead his anger to different points regarding which
+they had formerly been at variance, but he spoke with such mildness
+that Wilhelm's anger rather abated than increased.
+
+They were again friends, but regarding Eva not one word more was
+said.
+
+"I should not be an honest and true friend to him, were I to let
+him be swallowed up by this whirlpool!" said Otto to himself, when
+he was alone. "At present he is innocent and good but at his age,
+with his gay disposition!--I must warn Eva! soon! soon! The snow
+which has once been trodden is no longer pure! Wilhelm will
+scarcely forgive me! But I must!"
+
+On the morrow it was impossible for him to travel to Roeskelde, but
+the following day he really would and must hasten thither.
+
+Still, in the early morning hour, Eva occupied his thoughts; she
+busied Wilhelm's also, but in a different way: but they agreed in
+the purity of their intentions. There was still a third, whose
+blood was put in motion at the mention of her name, who said: "The
+pretty Eva is a servant there! One must speak with her. The family
+can make an excursion there!"
+
+"You sweet children!" said the merchant's wife, "the autumn is
+charming, far pleasanter than the whole summer! The father, should
+the weather remain good, will make an excursion with us to
+Lethraborg the day after to-morrow. We will then walk in the
+beautiful valley of the Hertha, and pass the night at Roeskelde.
+Those will be two delightful days! What an excellent father you
+have! But shall we not invite Mr. Thostrup to go with us? We are so
+many ladies, and it looks well to have a few young gentlemen with
+us. Grethe, thou must write an invitation; thou canst write thy
+father's name underneath."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+"These poetical letters are so similar to those of Baggesen, that
+we could be almost tempted to consider the news of his death as
+false, although so well affirmed that we must acknowledge it."
+--Monthly Journal of Literature.
+
+"She is as slender as the poplar-willow, as fleet as the hastening
+waters. A Mayflower odorous and sweet."--H. P. HOLST.
+
+"Ah, where is the rose?"--Lulu, by GUNTELBURG.
+
+The evening before Otto was to travel with the merchant's family to
+Roeskelde he called upon the family where Miss Sophie was staying.
+Her dear mamma had left three days before. Wilhelm had wished to
+accompany him to Roeskelde, but the mother did not desire it.
+
+"We have had a pleasure to-day," said Sophie, "a pleasure from
+which we shall long have enjoyment. Have you seen the new book, the
+'Letters of a Wandering Ghost?' It is Baggesen himself in his most
+perfect beauty, a music which I never believed could have been
+given in words. This is a poet! He has made July days in the poetry
+of Denmark. Natural thoughts are so strikingly, and yet so simply
+expressed; one has the idea that one could write such verses one's
+self, they fall so lightly."
+
+"They are like prose," said the lady, "and yet the most beautifully
+perfect verse I know. You must read the book, Mr. Thostrup!"
+
+"Perhaps you will read to us this evening?" said Sophie. "I should
+very much like to hear it again."
+
+"In a second reading one shall enter better into the individual
+beauties," said the lady of the house.
+
+"I will remain and listen," said the host.
+
+"This must be a masterpiece!" exclaimed Otto,"--a true masterpiece,
+since all are so delighted with it."
+
+"It is Baggesen himself; and truly as he must sing in that world
+where everything mortal is ennobled."
+
+"'Meadows all fragrance, the strongholds of pleasure,
+        Heaven blue streamlets,
+That speed through the green woods in musical measure,'"
+began Otto, and the spiritual battle-piece with beauty and tone
+developed itself more and more; they found themselves in the
+midst of the winter camp of the Muses, where the poet with
+        ..."lyre on his shoulder and sword at his side,
+Hastened to fight with the foes of the Muses."
+Otto's gloomy look won during the perusal a more animated
+expression. "Excellent!" exclaimed he; "this is what I myself have
+thought and felt, but, alas! have been unable to express."
+
+"I am a strange girl," said Sophie; "whenever I read a new poet of
+distinguished talent, I consider that he is the greatest. It was so
+with Byron and Victor Hugo. 'Cain' overwhelmed me, 'Notre Dame'
+carried me away with it. Once I could imagine no greater poet than
+Walter Scott, and yet I forget him over Oehlenschläger; yes, I
+remember a time when Heiberg's vaudevilles took almost the first
+place among my chosen favorites. Thus I know myself and my
+changeable disposition, and yet I firmly believe that I shall make
+an exception with this work. Other poets showed me the objects of
+the outer world, this one shows me my own mind: my own thoughts, my
+own being he presents before me, and therefore I shall always take
+the same interest in the Ghost's Letters."
+
+"They are true food for the mind," said Otto; "they are as words in
+season; there must be movement in the lake, otherwise it will
+become a bog."
+
+"The author is severe toward those whom he has introduced," said
+the lady; "but he carries, so to say, a sweet knife. A wound from a
+sharp sword-blade is not so painful as that from a rusty, notched
+knife."
+
+"But who may the author be?" said Sophie.
+
+"May we never learn!" replied Otto. "Uncertainty gives the book
+something piquant. In such a small country as ours it is good for
+the author to be unknown. Here we almost tread upon each other, and
+look into each other's garments. Here the personal conditions of
+the author have much to do with success; and then there are the
+newspapers, where either friend or enemy has an assistant, whereas
+the being anonymous gives it the patent of nobility. It is well
+never to know an author. What does his person matter to us, if his
+book is only good?
+
+"'Crush and confound the rabble dissolute
+That desecrate thy poet's grave?'"
+read Otto, and the musical poem was at an end. All were enchanted
+with it. Otto alone made some small objections: "The Muses ought not
+to come with 'trumpets and drums,' and so many expressions similar
+to 'give a blow on the chaps,' etc., ought not to appear."
+
+"But if the poet will attack what is coarse," said Sophie, "he must
+call things by their proper names. He presents us with a specimen
+of the prosaic filth, but in a soap-bubble. We may see it, but not
+seize upon it. I consider that you are wrong!"
+
+"The conception of idea and form," said Otto, "does not seem to be
+sufficiently presented to one; both dissolve into one. Even prose is a
+form."
+
+"But the form itself is the most important," said the lady of the
+house; "with poetry as with sculpture, it is the form which gives
+the meaning."
+
+"No, pardon me!" said Otto; "poetry is like the tree which God
+allows to grow. The inward power expresses itself in the form; both
+are equally important, but I consider the internal as the most
+holy. This is here the poet's thought. The opinion which he
+expresses affects us as much as the beautiful dress in which he has
+presented it."
+
+Now commenced a contest upon form and material, such as was
+afterward maintained throughout the whole of Copenhagen.
+
+"I shall always admire the 'Letters of a Wandering Ghost,'" said
+Sophie,--"always rave about these poems. To-night I shall dream of
+nothing but this work of art."
+
+How little men can do that which they desire, did this very moment
+teach.
+
+When we regard the fixed star through a telescope and lose
+ourselves in contemplation, a little hair can conceal the mighty
+body, a grain of dust lead us from these sublime thoughts. A letter
+came for Miss Sophie; a traveller brought it from her mother: she
+was already in Funen, and announced her safe arrival.
+
+"And the news?" said the hostess.
+
+"Mamma has hired a new maid, or, rather, she has taken to be with
+her an amiable young girl--the pretty Eva in Roeskelde. Mr.
+Thostrup and Wilhelm related to us this summer several things about
+her which make her interesting. We saw her on our journey hither,
+when mamma was prepossessed by her well-bred appearance. Upon her
+return, the young girl has quite won her heart. It really were a
+pity if such a pretty, respectable girl remained in a public-house.
+She is very pretty; is she not, Mr. Thostrup?"
+
+"Very pretty!" answered Otto, becoming crimson, for Sophie said
+this with an emphasis which was not without meaning.
+
+The following day, at an early hour, Otto found himself at the
+merchant's.
+
+Spite of the changeable weather of our climate, all the ladies were
+in their best dresses. Three persons must sit upon each seat. Hans
+Peter and the lover had their place beside the coachman. It was a
+long time before the cold meat, the provision for several days, was
+packed up, and the whole company were seated. At length, when they
+had got out of the city, Christiane recollected that they had
+forgotten the umbrellas, and that, after all, it would be good to
+have them. The coachman must go back for them, and meantime the
+carriage drew up before the Column of Liberty. The poor sentinel
+must now become an object of Miss Grethe's interest. Several times
+the soldier glanced down upon his regimentals. He was a
+Krähwinkler, who had an eye to his own advantage. A man who rode
+past upon a load of straw occupied a high position. That was very
+interesting.
+
+Otto endeavored to give the conversation another direction. "Have
+not you seen the new poem which has just appeared, the 'Letters of
+a Wandering Ghost?'" asked he, and sketched out their beauty and
+tendency.
+
+"Doubtless, very heavy blows are dealt!" said Mr. Berger, "the man
+must be witty--Baggesen to the very letter."
+
+"The 'Copenhagen Post' is called the pump!" said Hans Peter.
+
+"That is superb!" cried Grethe. "Who does it attack besides?"
+
+"Folks in Soroe, and this 'Holy Andersen,' as they call him."
+
+"Does he get something?" said Laide. "That I will grant him for his
+milk and water. He was so impolite toward the ladies!"
+
+"I like them to quarrel in this way!" said the merchant's lady.
+"Heiberg will doubtless get his share also, and then he will reply
+in something merry."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Berger, "he always knows how to twist things in
+such a manner that one must laugh, and then it is all one to us
+whether he is right or not."
+
+"This book is entirely for Heiberg," said Otto. "The author is
+anonymous, and a clever man."
+
+"Good Heavens! you are not the author, Mr. Thostrup?" cried Julle,
+and looked at him with a penetrating gaze. "You can manage such
+things so secretly! You think so highly of Heiberg: I remember well
+all the beautiful things you said of his 'Walter the Potter' and
+his 'Psyche.'"
+
+Otto assured her that he could not confess to this honor.
+
+They reached Roeskelde in the forenoon, but Eva did not receive
+them. The excursion to Lethraborg was arranged; toward evening they
+should again return to the inn, and then Eva would certainly
+appear.
+
+The company walked in the garden at Lethraborg: the prospect from
+the terrace was beautiful; they looked through the windows of the
+castle, and at length came to the conclusion that it would be best
+to go in.
+
+"There are such beautiful paintings, people say!" remarked the
+lover.
+
+"We must see them," cried all the ladies.
+
+"Do you often visit the picture-gallery of the Christiansborg?"
+inquired Otto.
+
+"I cannot say that we do!" returned Mrs. Berger. "You well know
+that what is near one seldom sees, unless one makes a downright
+earnest attempt, and that we have not yet done. Besides, not many
+people go up: that wandering about the great halls is so wearying."
+
+"There are splendid pieces by Ruysdal!" said Otto.
+
+"Salvator Rosa's glorious 'Jonas" is well worth looking at!"
+
+"Yes, we really must go at once, whilst our little Maja is here. It
+does not cost more than the Exhibition, and we were there three
+times last year. The view from the castle windows toward the canal,
+as well as toward the ramparts, is so beautiful, they say."
+
+The company now viewed the interior of Lethraborg, and then
+wandered through the garden and in the wood. The trees had their
+autumnal coloring, but the whole presented a variety of tints far
+richer than one finds in summer. The dark fir-trees, the yellow
+beeches and oaks, whose outermost branches had sent forth light
+green shoots, presented a most picturesque effect, and formed a
+splendid foreground to the view over old Leire, the royal city, now
+a small village, and across the bay to the splendid cathedral.
+
+"That resembles a scene in a theatre!" cried Mrs. Berger, and
+immediately the company were deep in dramatic affairs.
+
+"Such a decoration they should have in the royal theatre!" said
+Hans Peter.
+
+"Yes, they should have many such!" said Grethe. "They should have
+some other pieces than those they have. I know not how it is with
+our poets; they have no inventive power. Relate the droll idea
+which thou hadst the other day for a new piece!" said she to her
+lover, and stroked his cheeks.
+
+"O," said he, and affected a kind of indifference, "that was only
+an idea such as one has very often. But it might become a very nice
+piece. When the curtain is drawn up, one should see close upon the
+lamps the gable-ends of two houses. The steep roofs must go down to
+the stage, so that it is only half a yard wide, and this is to
+represent a watercourse between the two houses. In each garret a
+poor but interesting family should dwell, and these should step
+forth into the watercourse, and there the whole piece should be
+played."
+
+"But what should then happen?" asked Otto.
+
+"Yes," said the lover, "I have not thought about that; but see,
+there is the idea! I am no poet, and have too much to do at the
+counting-house, otherwise one might write a little piece."
+
+"Heavens! Heiberg ought to have the idea!" said Grethe.
+
+"No, then it would be a vaudeville," said the lover, "and I cannot
+bear them."
+
+"O, it might be made charming!" cried Grethe. "I see the whole
+piece! how they clamber about the roofs! The idea is original, thou
+sweet friend!"
+
+By evening the family were again in Roeskelde.
+
+The merchant sought for Eva. Otto inquired after her, so did Hans
+Peter also, and all three received the same answer.
+
+"She is no longer here."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+"I wish I was air, that I could beat my wings, could chase the
+clouds, and try to fly over the mountain summits: that would be
+life."--F. RÜCKERT.
+
+The first evening after Otto's return to Copenhagen he spent with
+Sophie, and the conversation turned upon his little journey. "The
+pretty Eva has vanished!" said he.
+
+"You had rejoiced in the prospect of this meeting, had you not?"
+asked Sophie.
+
+"No, not in the least!" answered Otto.
+
+"And you wish to make me believe that? She is really pretty, and
+has something so unspeakably refined, that a young gentleman might
+well be attracted by her. With my brother it is not all quite right
+in this respect; but, candidly speaking, I am in great fear on your
+account, Mr. Thostrup. Still waters--you know the proverb? I might
+have spared you the trouble. The letter which I received a few
+evenings ago informed me of her departure. Mamma has taken her with
+her. It seemed to her a sin to leave that sweet, innocent girl in a
+public-house. The host and hostess were born upon our estate, and
+look very much up to my mother; and as Eva will certainly gain by
+the change, the whole affair was soon settled. It is well that she
+is come under mamma's oversight."
+
+"The girl is almost indifferent to me!" said Otto.
+
+"Almost!" repeated Sophie. "But this almost, how many degrees of
+warmth does it contain? 'O Vérité! Où sont les autels et tes
+prêtres?'" added she, and smiling raised her finger.
+
+"Time will show how much you are in error!" answered Otto with much
+calmness.
+
+The lady of the house now entered, she had made various calls;
+everywhere the Ghost's Letters were the subject of conversation,
+and now the conversation took the same direction.
+
+It was often renewed. Otto was a very frequent guest at the house.
+The ladies sat at their embroidery frames and embroidered splendid
+pieces of work, and Otto must again read the "Letters of the
+Wandering Ghost;" after this they began "Calderon," in whom Sophie
+found something resembling the anonymous author. The world of
+poetry afforded subjects for discourse, and every-day life
+intermingled its light, gay scenes; if Wilhelm joined them, he must
+give them music, and all remarked that his fantasies were become
+far richer, far softer. He had gained his touch from Weyse, said
+they. No one thought how much one may learn from one's own heart.
+With this exception he was the same joyous youth as ever. No one
+thought of him and Eva together. Since that evening when the
+friends had almost quarreled, he had never mentioned her name; but
+Otto had remarked how when any female figure met them, Wilhelm's
+eyes flashed, and how, in society, he singled out the most
+beautiful. Otto said jokingly to him, that he was getting oriental
+thoughts. Oehlenschläger's "Helge," and Goethe's Italian sonnets
+were now Wilhelm's favorite reading. The voluptuous spirit of these
+poems agreed with the dreams which his warm feelings engendered. It
+was Eva's beauty--her beauty alone which had awoke this feeling in
+him; the modesty and poverty of the poor girl had captivated him
+still more, and caused him to forget rank and condition. At the
+moment when he would approach her, she was gone. The poison was now
+in his blood. If is gay and happy spirit did not meanwhile let him
+sink into melancholy and meditation; his feeling for beauty was
+excited, as he himself expressed it. In thought he pressed beauty
+to his heart, but only in thought--but even this is sin, says the
+Gospel.
+
+Otto, on the contrary, moved in the lists of philosophy and poetry.
+Here his soul conceived beauty--inspired, he expressed it; and
+Sophie's eyes flashed, and rested with pleasure on him. This
+flattered him and increased his inspirations. For many years no
+winter had been to him so pleasant, had passed away so rich in
+change as this; he caught at the fluttering joy and yet there were
+moments when the though pressed upon him--"Life is hastening away,
+and I do not enjoy it." In the midst of his greatest happiness he
+experienced a strange yearning after the changing life of travel.
+Paris glanced before his eyes like a star of fortune.
+
+"Out into the bustling world!" said he so often to Wilhelm, that
+the same thought was excited in him. "In the spring we will
+travel!" Now were plans formed; circumstances were favorable. Thus
+in the coming spring, in April, the still happier days should
+begin.
+
+"We will fly to Paris!" said Wilhelm; "to joy and pleasure!"
+
+Joy and pleasure were to be found at home, and were found: we will
+introduce the evening which brought them; perhaps we shall also
+find something more than joy and pleasure.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+"A midsummer day's entertainment--but how? In February? Yea, some
+here and behold it!"--DR. BALFUNGO.
+
+With us the students form no Burschenschafts, have no colors. The
+professors do not alone in the chair come into connection with
+them; the only difference is that which exists between young and
+old scholars. Thus they come in contact with each other, thus they
+participate in their mutual pleasures. We will spend an evening of
+this kind in the Students' Club, and then see for ourselves whether
+Miss Sophie were right when she wished she were a man, merely that
+she might be a student and member of this club. We choose one
+evening in particular, not only that we may seek a brilliant
+moment, but because this evening can afford us more than a
+description.
+
+An excursion to the park had often been discussed in the club. They
+wished to hire the Caledonia steam-packet. But during the summer
+months the number of members is less; the majority are gone to the
+provinces to visit their relations. Winter, on the contrary,
+assembles them all. This time, also, is the best for great
+undertakings. The long talked of excursion to the park was
+therefore fixed for Carnival Monday, the 14th of February, 1831.
+Thus ran the invitations to the professors and older members. "It
+will be too cold for me," replied one. "Must one take a carriage
+for one's self?" asked mother. No, the park was removed to
+Copenhagen. In the Students' Club itself, in the Boldhuus Street,
+No. 225, was the park-hill with its green trees, its swings,
+and amusements. See, only the scholars of the Black School could
+have such ideas!
+
+The evening of the 114th of February drew near. The guests
+assembled in the rooms on the first floor. Meanwhile all was
+arranged in the second story. Those who represented jugglers were
+in their places. A thundering cracker was the steamboat signal, and
+now people hastened to the park, rushing up-stairs, where two large
+rooms had, with great taste and humor, been converted into the
+park-hill. Large fir-trees concealed the walls--you found yourself
+in a complete wood. The doors which connected the two rooms were
+decorated with sheets, so that it looked as if you were going
+through a tent. Hand-organs played, drums and trumpets roared, and
+from tents and stages the hawkers shouted one against the other.
+It was a noise such as is heard in the real park when the hubbub
+has reached its height. The most brilliant requisites of the real
+park were found here, and they were not imitated; they were the
+things themselves. Master Jakel's own puppets had been hired; a
+student, distinguished by his complete imitation of the first
+actors, represented them by the puppets. The fortress of
+Frederiksteen was the same which we have already seen in the park.
+"The whole cavalry and infantry,--here a fellow without a bayonet,
+there a bayonet without a fellow!" The old Jew sat under his tree
+where he announced his fiftieth park jubilee: here a student ate
+flax, there another exhibited a bear; Polignac stood as a wax
+figure outside a cabinet. The Magdalene convent exhibited its
+little boxes, the drum-major beat most lustily, and from a near
+booth came the real odor of warm wafer-cakes. The spring even,
+which presented itself in the outer room, was full of significance.
+Certainly it was only represented by a tea-urn concealed between
+moss and stones, but the water was real water, brought from the
+well in Christiansborg. Astounding and full of effect was the
+multitude of sweet young girls who showed themselves. Many of the
+youngest students who had feminine features were dressed as ladies;
+some of them might even be called pretty. Who that then saw the
+fair one with the tambourine can have forgotten her? The company
+crowded round the ladies. The professors paid court to them with
+all propriety, and, what was best of all, some ladies who were less
+successful became jealous of the others. Otto was much excited; the
+noise, the bustle, the variety of people, were almost strikingly
+given. Then came the master of the fire-engines, with his wife and
+little granddaughter; then three pretty peasant girls; then the
+whole Botanical Society, with their real professor at their head.
+Otto seated himself in a swing; an itinerant flute-player and a
+drummer deafened him with dissonances. A young lady, one of the
+beauties, in a white dress, and with a thin handkerchief over her
+shoulders, approached and threw herself into his arms. It was
+Wilhelm! but Otto found his likeness to Sophie stronger than he had
+ever before noticed it to be; and therefore the blood rushed to his
+cheeks when the fair one threw her arms around him, and laid her
+cheek upon his: he perceived more of Sophie than of Wilhelm in this
+form. Certainly Wilhelm's features were coarser--his whole figure
+larger than Sophie's; but still Otto fancied he saw Sophie, and
+therefore these marked gestures, this reeling about with the other
+students, offended his eyes. When Wilhelm seated himself on his
+knee, and pressed his cheek to his, Otto felt his heart beat as in
+fever; it sent a stream of fire through his blood: he thrust him
+away, but the fair one continued to overwhelm him with caresses.
+
+There now commenced, in a so-called Krähwinkel theatre, the comedy,
+in which were given the then popular witticisms of Kellerman.
+
+The lady clung fast to Otto, and flew dancing with him through the
+crowd. The heat, the noise, and, above all, the exaggerated lacing,
+affected Wilhelm; he felt unwell. Otto led him to a bench and would
+have unfastened his dress, but all the young ladies, true to their
+part, sprang forward, pushed Otto aside, surrounded their sick
+companion and concealed her, whilst they tore up the dress behind
+so that she might have air: but, God forbid! no gentleman might see
+it.
+
+Toward evening a song was commenced, a shot was heard, and the last
+verse announced:--
+
+"The gun has been fired, the vessel must fly
+  To the town from the green wood shady.
+Come, friends, now we to the table will hie,
+  A gentleman and a fair lady."
+
+And now all rushed with the speed of a steamboat downstairs, and
+soon sat in gay rows around the covered tables.
+
+Wilhelm was Otto's lady--the Baron was called the Baroness; the
+glasses resounded, and the song commenced:--
+
+"These will drink our good king's health,
+  Will drink it here, his loyal students."
+
+And that patriotic song:--
+
+"I know a land up in the North
+  Where it is good to be."
+
+It concluded with--
+
+                        "An hurrah
+For the king and the rescript!"
+
+In joy one must embrace everything joyful, and that they
+did. Here was the joy of youth in youthful hearts.
+
+"No condition's like the student's;
+  He has chosen the better way!"
+
+so ran the concluding verse of the following song, which ended with
+the toast,--
+
+"For her of whom the heart dreams ever,
+  But whom the lips must never name!"
+
+It was then that Wilhelm seemed to glow with inward fire; he struck
+his glass so violently against Otto's that it broke, and the wine
+was spilt.
+
+"A health to the ladies!" cried one of the signors.
+
+"A health to the ladies!" resounded from the different rooms, which
+were all converted into the banquet-hall.
+
+The ladies rose, stood upon their chairs, some even upon the table,
+bowed, and returned thanks for the toast.
+
+"No, no," whispered Otto to Wilhelm, at the same time pulling him
+down. "In this dress you resemble your sister so much, that it is
+quite horrible to me to see you act a part so opposed to her
+character!"
+
+"And your eyes," Said Wilhelm, smiling, "resemble two eyes which
+have touched my heart. A health to first love!" cried he, and
+struck his glass against Otto's so that the half of his wine was
+again lost.
+
+The champagne foamed, and amidst noise and laughter, as during the
+carnival joy, a new song refreshed the image of the nark which they
+had just left:--
+
+"Here if green trees were not growing
+  Fresh as on yon little hill,
+Heard we not the fountains flowing,
+  We in sooth should see them still!
+Tents were filled below, above,
+Filled with everything but love!
+***
+Here went gratis brushing-boys--
+Graduated have they all!
+Here stood, who would think it, sir?
+A student as a trumpeter!"
+
+"A health to the one whose eyes mine resemble!" whispered Otto,
+carried along with the merriment.
+
+"That health we have already drunk!" answered Wilhelm, "but we
+cannot do a good thing too often."
+
+"Then you still think of Eva?"
+
+"She was beautiful! sweet! who knows what might have happened had
+she remained here? Her fate has fallen into mamma's hands, and she
+and the other exalted Nemesis must now conduct the affair: I wash
+my hands of it."
+
+"Are you recovered?" asked Otto. "But when you see Eva again in the
+summer?"
+
+"I hope that I shall not fall sick," replied Wilhelm; "I have a
+strong constitution. But we must now hasten up to the dance."
+
+All rushed from the tables, and up-stairs, where the park was
+arranged. There was now only the green wood to be seen. Theatres
+and booths had been removed. Gay paper-lamps hung among the branches,
+a large orchestra played, and a half-bacchanalian wood-ball commenced.
+Wilhelm was Otto's partner, but after the first dance the lady sought
+out for herself a more lively cavalier.
+
+Otto drew back toward the wall where the windows were concealed by
+the boughs of Fir-tree. His eye followed Wilhelm, whose great
+resemblance to Sophie made him melancholy; his hand accidentally
+glided through the branches and touched the window-seat; there lay
+a little bird--it was dead!
+
+To increase the illusion they had bought a number of birds, which
+should fly about during the park-scene, but the poor little
+creatures had died from fright at the wild uproar. In the windows
+and corners they lay dead. It was one of these birds that Otto
+found.
+
+"It is dead!" said he to Wilhelm, who approached him.
+
+"Now, that is capital!" returned the friend; "here you have
+something over which you may be sentimental!"
+
+Otto would not reply.
+
+"Shall we dance a Scotch waltz?" asked Wilhelm laughing, and the
+wine and his youthful blood glowed in his cheeks.
+
+"I wish you would put on your own dress!" said Otto. "You resemble,
+as I said before, your sister"--
+
+"And I am my sister," interrupted Wilhelm, in his wantonness. "And
+as a reward for your charming readings aloud, for your excellent
+conversation, and the whole of your piquant amiability, you shall
+now be paid with a little kiss!" He pressed his lips to Otto's
+forehead; Otto thrust him back and left the company.
+
+Several hours passed before he could sleep; at length he was forced
+to laugh over his anger: what mattered it if Wilhelm resembled his
+sister?
+
+The following morning Otto paid her a visit. All listened with
+lively interest to his description of the merry St. John's day in
+February. He also related how much Wilhelm had resembled his
+sister, and how unpleasant this had been to him; and they laughed.
+During the relation, however, Otto could not forbear drawing a
+comparison. How great a difference did he now find! Sophie's beauty
+was of quite another kind! Never before had he regarded her in this
+light. Of the kisses which Wilhelm had given him, of course, they
+did not speak; but Otto thought of them, thought of them quite
+differently to what he had done before, and--the ways of Cupid are
+strange! We will now see how affairs stand after advancing fourteen
+days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+"Huzza for Copenhagen and for Paris! may they both flourish!"
+                                 The Danes in Paris by HEIBERG.
+
+Wilhelm's cousin, Joachim, had arrived from Paris. We remember the
+young officer, out of whose letters Wilhelm had sent Otto a
+description of the struggle of the July days. As an inspired hero
+of liberty had he returned; struggling Poland had excited his
+lively interest, and he would willingly have combated in Warsaw's
+ranks. His mind and his eloquence made him doubly interesting. The
+combat of the July days, of which he had been an eye-witness, he
+described to them. Joachim was handsome; he had an elegant
+countenance with sharp features, and was certainly rather pale--one
+might perhaps have called him worn with dissipation, had it not
+been for the brightness of his eyes, which increased in
+conversation. The fine dark eyebrow, and even the little mustache,
+gave the countenance all expression which reminded one of fine
+English steel-engravings. His figure was small, almost slender, but
+the proportions were beautiful. The animation of the Frenchman
+expressed itself in every motion, but at the same time there was in
+him a certain determination which seemed to say: "I am aware of
+my own intellectual superiority!"
+
+He interested every one: Otto also listened with pleasure when
+Cousin Joachim related his experiences, but when all eyes were
+turned toward the narrator, Otto fixed his suddenly upon Sophie,
+and found that she could moderate his attentions. Joachim addressed
+his discourse to all, but at the points of interest his glance
+rested alone on the pretty cousin! "She interests him!" said Otto
+to himself. "And Cousin Joachim?" Yes, he relates well; but had we
+only traveled we should not be inferior to him!"
+
+"Charles X. was a Jesuit!" said Joachim; "he strove after an
+unrestrained despotism, and laid violent hands on the Charter. The
+expedition against Algiers was only a glittering fire-work arranged
+to flatter the national pride--all glitter and falseness! Like
+Peirronnet, through an embrace he would annihilate the Charter."
+
+The conversation now turned from the Jesuits to the Charter and
+Polignac. The minute particulars, which only an eyewitness can
+relate, brought the struggle livingly before their eyes. They saw
+the last night, the extraordinary activity in the squares where the
+balls were showered, and in the streets where the barricades were
+erected. Overturned wagons and carts, barrels and stones, were
+heaped upon each other--even the hundred year-old trees of the
+Boulevards were cut down to form barricades: the struggle began,
+Frenchman fought against Frenchman--for liberty and country they
+sacrificed their life. [Note:
+"Ceux qui pieusement sont morts pour la patrie
+Ont droit qu'à leur cerceuil la foule vienne et prie:
+Entre le plus beaux noms, leur nom est le plus beau.
+Toute gloire, près d'eux, passe et tombe éphèmere
+Et, comme ferait une mère,
+La voix d'un peuple entier les berce en leur tombeau!"
+--VICTOR HUGO.]
+And he described the victory and Louis Philippe, whom he admired
+and loved.
+
+"That was a world event," said the man of business. "It electrified
+both king and people. They still feel the movement. Last year was
+an extraordinary year!"
+
+"For the Copenhageners also," said Otto, "there were three colors.
+These things occupied the multitude with equal interest: the July
+Revolution, the 'Letters of a Wandering Ghost,' and Kellermann's
+'Berlin Wit.'"
+
+"Now you are bitter, Mr. Thostrup," said the lady of the house.
+"The really educated did not occupy themselves with these Berlin
+'Eckensteher' which the multitude have rendered national!"
+
+"But they hit the right mark!" said Otto; "they met with a
+reception from the citizens and people in office."
+
+"That I can easily believe," remarked Joachim; "that is like the
+people here!"
+
+"That is like the people abroad!" said the hostess. "In Paris they
+pass over still more easily from a revolution, in which they
+themselves have taken part, to a review by Jules Janin, or to a new
+step of Taglioni's, and from that to 'une histoire scandaleuse!'"
+
+"No, my gracious lady, of the last no one takes any notice--it
+belongs to the order of the day!"
+
+"That I can easily believe!" said Miss Sophie.
+
+The man of business now inquired after the Chamber. The cousin's
+answer was quite satisfactory. The lady of the house wished to hear
+of the flower-markets, and of the sweet little inclosed gardens in
+the Places. Sophie wished to hear of Victor Hugo. She received a
+description of him, of his abode in the Place Royale, and of the
+whole Europe littéraire beside. Cousin Joachim was extremely
+interesting.
+
+Otto did not pay another visit for two days.
+
+"Where have you been for so long?" asked Sophie, when he came
+again.
+
+"With my books!" replied he: there lay a gloomy expression in his
+eyes.
+
+"O, you should have come half an hour earlier--our cousin was here!
+He was describing to me the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. O, quite
+excellently!"
+
+"He is an interesting young man!" said Otto.
+
+"The glorious garden!" pursued Sophie, without remarking the
+emphasis with which Otto had replied. "Do you not remember, Mr.
+Thostrup, how Barthélemi has spoken of it?
+'Où tout homme, qui rêve à son pays absent,
+Retrouve ses parfums et son air caressant.'
+In it there is a whole avenue with cages, in which are wild
+beasts,--lions and tigers! In small court-yards, elephants and
+buffaloes wander about at liberty! Giraffes nibble the branches of
+high trees! In the middle of the garden are the courts for bears,
+only there is a sort of well in which the bears walk about; it is
+surrounded by no palisades, and you stand upon the precipitous
+edge! There our cousin stood!"
+
+"But he did not precipitate himself down!" said Otto, with
+indifference.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Sophie. "Are you in your elegiac mood?
+You look as I imagine Victor Hugo when he has not made up his mind
+about the management of his tragic catastrophe!"
+
+"That is my innate singularity!" replied Otto. "I should have
+pleasure in springing down among the bears of which you relate!"
+
+"And in dying?" asked Sophie. "No, you must live.
+'C'est le bonheur de vivre
+Qui fait la gloire de mourir.'"
+
+"You speak a deal of French to-day," said Otto, with a friendliness
+of manner intended to soften the bitterness of the tone. "Perhaps
+your conversation with the lieutenant was in that language?"
+
+"French interests me the most!" replied she. "I will ask our cousin
+to speak it often with me. His accent is excellent, and he is
+himself a very interesting man!"
+
+"No doubt of it!" answered Otto.
+
+"You will remain and dine with us?" said the lady of the house, who
+now entered.
+
+Otto did not feel well.
+
+"These are only whims," said Sophie.
+
+The ladies made merry, and Otto remained. Cousin Joachim came and
+was interesting--very interesting, said all. He related of Paris,
+spoke also of Copenhagen, and drew comparisons. The quietness of
+home had made an especial impression on him.
+
+"People here," said he, "go about as if they bore some heavy grief,
+or some joy, which they might not express. If one goes into a
+coffee-house, it is just as if one entered a house of mourning.
+Each one seats himself, a newspaper in his hand, in a corner. That
+strikes one when one comes from Paris! One naturally has the
+thought,--Can these few degrees further north bring so much cold
+into the blood? There is the same quiet in our theatre. Now I love
+this active life. The only boldness the public permits itself is
+hissing a poor author; but a wretched singer, who has neither tone
+nor manner, a miserable actress, will be endured, nay, applauded by
+good friends--an act of compassion. She is so fearful! she is so
+good! In Paris people hiss. The decoration master, the manager,
+every one there receives his share of applause or blame. Even the
+directors are there hissed, if they manage badly."
+
+"You are preaching a complete revolution in our theatrical
+kingdom!" said the lady of the house. "The Copenhageners cannot
+ever become Parisians, and neither should they."
+
+"The theatre is here, as well as there, the most powerful organ of
+the people's life. It has the greatest influence, and ours stands
+high, very high, when one reflects in what different directions it
+must extend its influence. Our only theatre must accommodate
+itself, and represent, at the same time, the Theatre Français, the
+grand Opera, the Vaudeville, and Saint-Martin; it must comprehend
+all kinds of theatrical entertainments. The same actors who to-day
+appear in tragedy, must to-morrow show themselves in a comedy or
+vaudeville. We have actors who might compare themselves with the
+best in Paris--only _one_ is above all ours, but, also, above all
+whom I have seen in Europe, and this one is Mademoiselle Mars. You
+will, doubtless, consider the reason extraordinary which gives this
+one, in my opinion, the first place. This is her age, which she so
+completely compels you to forget. She is still pretty; round,
+without being called fat. It is not through rouge, false hair, or
+false teeth, that she procures herself youth; it lies in her soul,
+and from thence it flows into every limb--every motion becomes
+charming! She fills you with astonishment! her eyes are full of
+expression, and her voice is the most sonorous which I know! It is
+indeed music! How can one think of age when one is affected by an
+immortal soul? I rave about Léontine Fay, but the old Mars has my
+heart. There is also a third who stands high with the Parisians--
+Jenny Vertprè, at the Gymnase Dramatique, but she would be soon
+eclipsed were the Parisians to see our Demoiselle Pätges. She
+possesses talent which will shine in every scene. Vertprè has her
+loveliness, her whims, but not her Proteus-genius, her nobility. I
+saw Vertprè in 'La Reine de Seize Ans,'--a piece which we have not
+yet; but she was only a saucy soubrette in royal splendor--a
+Pernille of Holberg's, as represented by a Parisian. We have Madame
+Wexschall, and we have Frydendal! Were Denmark only a larger
+country, these names would sound throughout Europe!"
+
+He now described the decorations in the "Sylphide," in "Natalia,"
+and in various other ballets, the whole splendor, the whole
+magnificence.
+
+"But our orchestra is excellent!" said Miss Sophie.
+
+"It certainly contains several distinguished men," answered
+Joachim; "but must one speak of the whole? Yes, you know I am not
+musical, and cannot therefore express myself in an artistical
+manner about music, but certain it is that something lay in my ear,
+in my feeling, which, in Paris, whispered to me, 'That is
+excellent!' Here, on the contrary, it cries, 'With moderation! with
+moderation!' The voice is the first; she is the lady; the
+instruments, on the contrary, are the cavaliers who shall conduct
+the former before the public. Gently they should take her by the
+hand; she must stand quite foremost; but here the instruments
+thrust her aside, and it is to me as if each instrument would have
+the first place, and constantly shouted, 'Here am I! here am I!"
+
+"That sounds very well!" said Sophie; "but one may not believe you!
+You have fallen in love with foreign countries, and, therefore, at
+home everything must be slighted."
+
+"By no means! The Danish ladies, for instance, appear the
+prettiest, the most modest whom I have known."
+
+"Appear?" repeated Otto.
+
+"Joachim possesses eloquence," said the lady of the house.
+
+"That has developed itself abroad!" answered he: "here at home
+there are only two ways in which it can publicly develop itself--in
+the pulpit, and at a meeting in the shooting-house. Yet it is true
+that now we are going to have a Diet and a more political life. I
+feel already, in anticipation, the effect; we shall only live for
+this life, the newspapers will become merely political, the poets
+sing politics the painters choose scenes from political life.
+'C'est un Uebergang!' as Madame La Flèche says. [Author's Note:
+Holberg's Jean de France.] Copenhagen is too small to be a great,
+and too great to be a small city. See, there lies the fault!"
+
+Otto felt an irresistible desire to contradict him in most things
+which he said about home. But the cousin parried every bold blow
+with a joke.
+
+"Copenhagen must be the Paris of the North," said he, "and that it
+certainly would become in fifty, or twice that number of years. The
+situation was far more beautiful than that of the city of the
+Seine. The marble church must be elevated, and become a Pantheon,
+adorned with the works of Thorwaldsen and other artists;
+Christiansborg, a Louvre, whose gallery you visit; Öster Street and
+Pedermadsen's passage, arcades such as are in Paris, covered with
+glass roofs and flagged, shops on both sides, and in the evening,
+when thousands of gas-lamps burnt, here should be the promenade;
+the esplanades would be the Champs Elysées, with swings and slides,
+music, and mâts de cocagne. [Author's Note: High smooth poles, to
+the top of which victuals, clothes, or money are attached. People
+of the lower classes then try to climb up and seize the prizes. The
+best things are placed at the very top of the pole.] On the
+Peblinger Lake, as on the Seine, there should be festive water
+excursions made. Voilà!" exclaimed he, "that would be splendid!"
+
+"That might be divine!" said Sophie.
+
+Animation and thought lay in the cousin's countenance; his fine
+features became striking from their expression. Thus did his image
+stamp itself in Otto's soul, thus did it place itself beside
+Sophie's image as she stood there, with her large brown eyes, round
+which played thought and smiles, whilst they rested on the cousin.
+The beautifully formed white hand, with its taper fingers, played
+with the curls which fell over her cheeks. Otto would not think of
+it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+"And if I have wept alone, it is my own sorrow."--GOETHE
+
+Latterly Otto had been but seldom at Mr. Berger's. He had no
+interest about the merchant's home. The family showed him every
+politeness and mark of confidence; but his visits became every week
+more rare. Business matters, however, led him one day there.
+
+Chance or fate, as we call it, if the shadow of a consequence shows
+itself, caused Maren to pass through the anteroom when Otto was
+about taking his departure. She was the only one of the ladies at
+home. In three weeks she would return to Lemvig. She said that she
+could not boast of having enjoyed Mr. Thostrup's society too often.
+
+"Your old friends interest you no longer!" added she, somewhat
+gravely. With this exception she had amused herself very well in
+the city, had seen everything but the stuffed birds, and these she
+should see to-morrow. She had been seven times in the theatre, and
+had seen the "Somnambule" twice. However, she had not seen "Der
+Frieschütz," and she had an especial desire to see this on account
+of the wolf-glen. At Aarhuus there was a place in the wood, said
+she, called the wolf-glen; this she knew, and now wished to see
+whether it resembled the one on the stage.
+
+"May I then greet Rosalie from you?" she asked at length.
+
+"You will still remain three weeks here," said Otto: "it is too
+soon to speak of leave-taking."
+
+"But you scarcely ever come here," returned she. "You have better
+places to go to! The Baron's sister certainly sees you oftener; she
+is said to be a pretty and very clever girl: perhaps one may soon
+offer one's congratulations?"
+
+Otto became crimson.
+
+"In spring you will travel abroad," pursued she; "we shall not then
+see you in Jutland: yes, perhaps yon will never go there again!
+That will make old Rosalie sad: she thinks so incredibly much of
+you. In all the letters which I have received here there were
+greetings to Mr. Thostrup. Yes, I have quite a multitude of them
+for you; but you do not come to receive them, and I dare not pay a
+visit to such a young gentleman. For the sake of old friendship let
+me, at least, be the first who can relate at home of the
+betrothal!"
+
+"How can you have got such a thought?" replied Otto. "I go to so
+many houses where there are young ladies; if my heart had anything
+to do with it, I should have a bad prospect. I have great esteem
+for Miss Sophie; I speak with her as with you, that is all. I
+perceive that the air of Copenhagen has affected you; here in the
+city they are always betrothing people. This comes from the ladies
+in the house here. How could you believe such stories?"
+
+Maren also joked about it, but after they had parted she seated
+herself in a corner, drew her little apron over her head and wept;
+perhaps because she should soon leave the lively city, where she had
+been seven times to the theatre, and yet had not seen the wolf-glen.
+
+"Betrothed!" repeated Otto to himself, and thought of Sophie, of
+the cousin, and of his own childhood, which hung like a storm-cloud
+in his heaven. Many thoughts passed through his mind: he
+recollected the Christmas Eve on which he had seen Sophie for the
+first time, when she, as one of the Fates, gave him the number. He
+had 33, she 34; they were united by the numbers following each
+other. He received the pedigree, and was raised to her nobility.
+The whole joke had for him a signification. He read the verse again
+which had accompanied it. The conclusion sounded again and again in
+his ears:--
+"From this hour forth thy soul high rank hath won her,
+Nor will forget thy knighthood and thy honor!"
+
+"O Sophie!" he exclaimed aloud, and the fire which had long
+smouldered in his blood now burst forth in flames. "Sophie! thee
+must I press to my heart!" He lost himself in dreams. Dark shapes
+disturbed them. "Can she then be happy? Can I? The picture which
+she received where the covering of ice was broken and the faithful
+dog watched in vain, is also significant. That is the fulfillment
+of hopes. I sink, and shall never return!"
+
+The image of the cousin mingled in his dreams. That refined
+countenance with the little mustache looked forth saucily and
+loquaciously; and Sophie's eyes he saw rest upon the cousin, whilst
+her white hand played with the brown curls which fell over her
+cheek.
+
+"O Sophie!" sighed Otto, and fell asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+         ... "We live through others,
+We think we are others; we seem
+Others to be ... And so think others of us."
+                                 SCHEFER.
+
+When the buds burst forth we will burst forth also! had Otto and
+Wilhelm often said. Their plan was, in the spring to travel
+immediately to Paris, but on their way to visit the Rhine, and to
+sail from Cologne to Strasburg.
+
+"Yes, one must see the Rhine first!" said Cousin Joachim; "when one
+has seen Switzerland and Italy, it does not strike one nearly as
+much. That must be your first sight; but you should not see it in
+spring, but toward autumn. When the vines have their full variety
+of tint, and the heavy grapes hang from the stems, see, it is then
+the old ruins stand forth. These are the gardens of the Rhine!
+Another advantage which you have in going there in autumn is that
+you then enter Paris in winter, and that one must do; then one does
+not come post festum; then is the heyday of gayety--the theatre,
+the soirées, and everything which can interest the beau monde."
+
+Although Otto did not generally consider the cousin's words of much
+weight, he this time entered wonderfully into his views. "It would
+certainly be the most prudent to commence their journey toward
+autumn," he thought: "there could be no harm in preparing
+themselves a little more for it!"
+
+"That is always good!" said Joachim; "but, what is far more
+advantageous abroad than all the preparations you can make at home,
+is said in a few words--give up all intercourse with your own
+country-people! Nowadays every one travels! Paris is not now
+further from us than Hamburg was some thirty years ago. When I was
+in Paris I found there sixteen or seventeen of my countrymen. O,
+how they kept together! Eleven of them dwelt in the same hôtel:
+they drank coffee together, walked out together, went to the
+restaurateur's together, and took together half a bench in the
+theatre. That is the most foolish thing a person can do! I consider
+travelling useful for every one, from the prince to the travelling
+journeyman. But we allow too many people to travel! We are not
+rich, therefore restrictions should be made. The creative artist,
+the poet, the engineer, and the physician must travel; but God
+knows why theologians should go forth. They can become mad enough
+at home! They come into Catholic countries, and then there is an
+end of them! Wherefore should book-worms go forth? They shut
+themselves up in the diligence and in their chambers, rummage a
+little in the libraries, but not so much as a pinch of snuff do
+they do us any good when they return! Those who cost the most
+generally are of the least use, and bring the country the least
+honor! I, thank God! paid for my journey myself, and am therefore
+free to speak my opinion!"
+
+We will now hear what Miss Sophie said, and therefore advance a few
+days.
+
+"We keep you then with us till August!" said she, once when she was
+alone with Otto. "That is wise! You can spend some time with us in
+Funen, and gather strength for your journey. Yes, the journey will
+do you good!"
+
+"I hope so!" answered Otto. "I am perhaps able to become as
+interesting as your cousin, as amiable!"
+
+"That would be requiring too much from you!" said Sophie, bantering
+him. "You will never have his humor, his facility in catching up
+character. You will only preach against the depravity of the
+Parisians; you will only be able to appreciate the melancholy
+grandeur of Switzerland and the solitude of the Hungarian forests."
+
+"You would make a misanthrope of me, which I by no means am."
+
+"But you have an innate talent for this character!" answered
+Sophie. "Something will certainly be polished away by this journey,
+and it is on account of this change that I rejoice."
+
+"Must one, then, have a light, fickle mood to please you?" asked
+Otto.
+
+"Yes, certainly!" answered Sophie, ironically.
+
+"Then it is true what your cousin told me!" said Otto. "If one will
+be fortunate with the ladies, one must at least be somewhat
+frivolous, fond of pleasure, and fickle,--that makes one
+interesting. Yes, he has made himself acquainted with the world, he
+has experience in everything!"
+
+"Yes, perfectly!" said Sophie, and laughed aloud.
+
+Otto was silent, with contracted brow.
+
+"I wish you sunshine!" said Sophie, and smiling raised her finger.
+Otto remained unchanged--he wrinkled his brow.
+
+"You must change very much!" said she, half gravely; and danced out
+of the room.
+
+Three weeks passed by, rich in great events in the kingdom of the
+heart; it was still a diplomatic secret: the eyes betrayed it by
+their pantomimic language, the mouth alone was silent, and it is
+after all the deciding power.
+
+Otto visited the merchant's family. Maren had departed just the day
+before. In vain had she awaited his visit throughout the three
+weeks.
+
+"You quite forget your true friends!" said the ladies. "Believe us,
+Maja was a little angry with you, and yet we have messages. Now she
+is sailing over the salt sea."
+
+This was not precisely the case; she was already on land, and just
+at this moment was driving over the brown heath, thinking of
+Copenhagen and the pleasures there, and of the sorrow also--it is
+so sad to be forgotten by a friend of childhood! Otto was so
+handsome, so clever--she did not dream at all how handsome and
+clever she herself would appear at home. Beauty and cleverness they
+had discovered in her before she left; now she had been in the
+capital, and that gives relief.
+
+The little birds fluttered round the carriage; perhaps they sang to
+her what should happen in two years: "Thou wilt be a bride, the
+secretary's lovely little bride; thou shalt have both him and the
+musical-box! Thou wilt be the grandest lady in the town, and yet
+the most excellent mother. Thy first daughter shall be called Maja
+--that is a pretty name, and reminds thee of past days!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+"The monastery is still called 'Andersskov' (the wood of Anders) in
+memory of its being the habitation of the pious Anders.
+
+"The hill on which he awoke, comforted by sleep, is still called
+'Hvile höi' (the hill of rest). A cross having a Latin inscription,
+half-effaced, marks the spot."--J. L. HEIBERG.
+
+It was spring, fresh, life-bearing spring! Only one day and one
+night, and the birds of passage were back again; the woods made
+themselves once more young with green, odorous leaves; the Sound
+had its swimming Venice of richly laden vessels; only one day and
+one night, and Sophie was removed from Otto--they were divided by
+the salt sea; but it was spring in his heart; from it flew his
+thoughts, like birds of passage, to the island of Funen, and there
+sang of summer. Hope gave him more "gold and green woods" than the
+ships bear through the Sound, more than Zealand's bays can show.
+Sophie at parting pressed his hand. In her eyes lay what his heart
+might hope and dream.
+
+He forgot that hope and dreams were the opposites of reality.
+
+Cousin Joachim had gone to Stockholm, and would not return either
+in the spring or summer to Funen. On the contrary, Otto intended to
+spend a few weeks at the country-seat; not before August would he
+and Wilhelm travel. There would at least be one happy moment, and
+many perhaps almost as happy. In his room stood a rose-bush, the
+first buds formed themselves, and opened their red lips--as pure
+and tender as these leaves was Sophie's cheek: he bent over the
+flower, smiled and read there sweet thoughts which were related to
+his love. A rose-bud is a sweet mystery.
+
+                   "The myriad leaves enmaze
+                    Small labyrinthine ways
+                    Where spicy odor flows,
+                    Thou lovelv bud o' the rose!"
+
+The day came on which Otto, after he had comfortably terminated his
+visits of leave-taking, at midday, in the company of three young
+students travelled away through Zealand. They had taken a carriage
+together as far as Slagelse, where, like Abraham's and Lot's
+shepherds, they should separate to the right and left. Otto
+remained alone, in order to travel post that night to Nyborg. It
+was only four o'clock in the afternoon, Otto had no acquaintance
+here, therefore it was but to take a walk.
+
+"There still exist remains of the old Antvorskov convent, [Author's
+Note: The convent was founded by Waldemar I., 1177.] do there not?"
+asked he.
+
+"Yes, but very little!" answered the host. "The convent became a
+castle, the castle a private house, and now within the last few
+years, on account of the stones, it has been still more pulled
+down. You will find nothing old remaining, except here and there in
+the garden a piece of a red wall standing out. But the situation is
+beautiful! If you will only take the road toward the large village
+called Landsgrav, you are on the way to Korsöer, and close to the
+cross of the holy Anders. It is a right pleasant excursion!"
+
+"Convent ruins and the holy cross!" said Otto; "that sounds quite
+romantic!" And he commenced his wanderings.
+
+A few scholars from the Latin school, with their books held
+together by a strait, and then a square built lancer, who greeted
+in military style an elderly-young lady, who was seated behind a
+barricade of geraniums and wall flowers, were the only individuals
+he met with on his way. Yet Otto remarked that the windows were
+opened as he passed; people wanted to see who the stranger might be
+who was going up the street.
+
+A long avenue led from the town to the castle. On either side the
+way lay detached houses, with little gardens. Otto soon reached the
+remains of old Antvorskov. The way was red from the stones which
+were flung about, and were now ground to dust. Huge pieces of wall,
+where the mortar and stone were united in one piece, lay almost
+concealed among the high nettles. Rather more distant stood a
+solitary house of two stories. It was narrow, and whitewashed. A
+thick pilaster, such as one sees in churches, supported the strong
+wall. This was half of the last wing of the castle,--a mingling of
+the ancient and incident, of ruin and dwelling-house.
+
+Otto went into the garden, which was laid out upon the hill itself,
+and its terraces. Here were only young trees; but the walks were
+everywhere overgrown. The view stretched itself far over the plain,
+toward the Belt and Funen. He descended from the terrace down to
+the lowest wall. In this there yet remained a piece of an old
+tombstone, of the age of the convent, on which you perceived the
+trace of a female form; and near to this the figure of a skeleton,
+round which was twined a snake. Otto stood sunk in contemplation,
+when an old man, with two water-buckets suspended from a yoke on
+his shoulders, approached a near well.
+
+The old man was very ready to commence a conversation. He told of
+excavations, and of an underground passage which had not been
+discovered, but which, according to his opinion, was certainly in
+existence. So far they had only found a few walled-round spaces,
+which had most probably been prisons. In one of these was an iron
+chain fastened into the wall. But with regard to the underground
+passage, they had only not yet discovered the right place, for it
+must exist. It led from here, deep under the lake and forest,
+toward Soröe. There were large iron gates below. At Christmas one
+could hear how they were swung to and fro. "Whoever should have
+that which is concealed there," said the old man, "would be a made
+man, and need not neither slip nor slide."
+
+Otto looked at the solitary wing which rose up over the terrace.
+How splendid it had been here in former times!
+
+Close to the large wood, several miles in extent, which stretches
+itself on the other side of Soröe, down to the shore of the King's
+Brook, lay the rich convent where Hans Tausen spoke what the Spirit
+inspired him with. Times changed; the convent vanished;
+                 "Halls of state
+      Tower upon that spot elate;
+      Where the narrow cell once stood;"
+[Author's Note: Anders-skov, by Oehlenschläger.]
+where the monks sang psalms, knights and ladies danced to the sound
+of beating drums: but these tone's ceased; the blooming cheeks
+became dust. It was again quiet. Many a pleasant time did Holberg
+ride over from Soröe, through the green wood, to visit the steward
+of Antvorskov. Otto recollected what one of his daughters, when an
+old woman, had related to a friend of his. She was a child, and lay
+in the cradle, when old Holberg came riding there, with a little
+wheaten loaf and a small pot of preserve in his pocket--his usual
+provision on such little excursions. The steward's young wife sat
+at her spinning-wheel. Holberg paced up and down the room with the
+husband; they were discussing politics. This interested the wife,
+and she joined in the conversation. Holberg turned round to her,--
+"I fancy the distaff speaks!" said he. This the wife could never
+forget. [Translator's Note: Rokkehoved, distaff, means also dunce
+in Danish.]
+
+Otto smiled at this recollection of the witty but ungallant poet,
+quitted the garden, and went through a winding hollow way, where
+the luxuriant briers hung in rich masses over the stone fence.
+Slagelse, with its high hills in the background, looked
+picturesque. He soon reached Landsgrav. The sun went down as he
+walked over the field where the wooden cross stands, with its
+figure of the Redeemer, in memory of the holy Anders. Near it he
+perceived a man, who appeared to kneel. One hand held fast by the
+cross; in the other was a sharp knife, with which he was probably
+cutting out his name. He did not observe Otto. Near the man lay a
+box covered with green oil-cloth; and in the grass lay a knapsack,
+a pair of boots, and a knotty stick. It must be a wandering
+journeyman, or else a pedlar.
+
+Otto was about to return, when the stranger rose and perceived him.
+Otto stood as if nailed to the earth. It was the German Heinrich
+whom he saw before him.
+
+"Is not that Mr. Thostrup?" said the man and that horrible grinning
+smile played around his mouth. "No, that I did not expect!"
+
+"Does it go well with you, Heinrich?" asked Otto.
+
+"There's room for things to mend!" replied Heinrich "It goes better
+with you! Good Lord, that you should become such a grand gentleman!
+Who would have thought it, when you rode on my knee, and I pricked
+you in the arm? Things go on strangely in this world! Have you
+heard of your sister? She was not so much spoiled as you! But she
+was a beautiful child!"
+
+"I have neither seen her nor my parents!" replied he, with a
+trembling which he strove to conquer. "Do you know where she is?"
+
+"I am always travelling!" said Heinrich; "but thus much I know,
+that she is still in Funen. Yes, she must take one of us, an
+unpretending husband! You can choose a genteel young lady for
+yourself. That's the way when people are lucky. You will become a
+landed proprietor. Old Heinrich will then no doubt obtain
+permission to exhibit his tricks on your estate? But none of its
+will speak of former times!--of the red house on the Odense water!"
+This last he whispered quite low. "I shall receive a few shillings
+from you?" he asked.
+
+"You shall have more!" said Otto, and gave to him. "But I wish us
+to remain strangers to each other, as we are!"
+
+"Yes, certainly, certainly!" said Heinrich, and nodded
+affirmatively with his head, whilst his eyes rested on the gift
+Otto had presented him with. "Then you are no longer angry with my
+joke in Jutland?" asked he with a simpering smile, and kissed
+Otto's hand. "I should not have known you then. Had you not shown
+me your shoulder, on which I saw the letters O and T which I myself
+had etched, it would never have occurred to me that we knew each
+other! But a light suddenly flashed across me. I should have said
+Otto Thostrup; but I said 'Odense Tugt-huus.' [Note: Odense house
+of correction.] That was not handsome of me, seeing you are such a
+good gentleman!"
+
+"Yes, now adieu!" said Otto, and extended to him unwillingly his
+hand.
+
+"There, our Saviour looks down upon us!" said the German Heinrich,
+and fixed his eyes upon the figure on the cross. "As certainly as
+He lives may you rely upon the silence of my mouth. He is my
+Redeemer, who hangs there on the cross, just as he is etched upon
+my skin, and as he stands along the high-roads in my father-land.
+Here is the only place in the whole country where the sign of the
+cross stands under the free heaven; here I worship: for you must
+know, Mr. Thostrup, I am not of your faith, but of the faith of the
+Virgin Mary. Here I have cut into the wood the holy sign, such as
+is placed over every door in my father-land,--an I, an H, and this
+S. In this is contained my own name; for H stands for Heinrich; I,
+for I myself; and S means Sinner; that is, I, Heinrich, Sinner. Now
+I have completed my worship, and you have given me a handsome
+skilling, I shall now go to my bed at the public-house; and if the
+girl is pretty, and lets one flatter her, I am still young enough,
+and shall fancy that I am Mr. Thostrup, and have won that most
+glorious, elegant young lady! Hurrah! it is a player's life which
+we lead!"
+
+Otto left him, but heard how Heinrich sang:
+           "Tri, ri, ro,
+   The summer comes once mo!
+     To beer, boys! to beer
+   The winter lies in bands, O!
+     And he who won't come here,
+   We'll trounce him with our wands, O!
+            Yo, yo, yo,
+   The summer comes once mo!"
+
+As, suddenly on a clear sunny day, a cloud can appear, extinguish
+the warm sunshine, conceal the green coast, and change everything
+into gray mist forms, so was it now with Otto, who had but just
+before felt himself so happy and full of youthful joy.
+
+"You can sleep quietly!" said the host, when Otto returned to
+Slagelse; "you shall be wakened early enough to leave with the
+mail."
+
+But his rest was like a delirium.
+
+The post-horn sounded in the empty street; they rolled away--it was
+at daybreak.
+
+"Is that a gallows?" inquired one of the travellers, and pointed toward
+the hill, where at this distance the cross looked like a stake.
+
+"That is the cross of the holy Anders!" replied Otto; and livingly
+stood before him the recollections of the evening before.
+
+"Does that really exist?" said the stranger. "I have read of it in
+the 'Letters of a Wandering Ghost.'"
+
+This was a beautiful morning, the sun shone warmly, the sea was
+smooth as a mirror, and so much the faster did the steamboat glide
+away. The vessel with the mail, which had set sail two hours
+earlier, still lay not far from land. The sails hung down loosely;
+not a breeze stirred them.
+
+The steamboat glided close past her; the passengers in the mail-vessel,
+the greater portion coachmen, travelling journeymen, and peasants,
+stood on the deck to see it. They waved greetings. One of the
+foremost leaned on his knotty stick, pulled off his hat, and
+shouted, "Good morning, my noble gentlefolk!" It was the German
+Heinrich; he then was going to Funen. Otto's heart beat faster, he
+gazed down among the rushing waves which foamed round the paddle,
+where the sunbeams painted a glorious rainbow.
+
+"That is lovely!" said one of the strangers, close to him.
+
+"Very lovely!" returned Otto, and stilled the sigh which would
+burst forth from his breast.
+
+Scarcely two hours were fled--the cables were flung upon the Nyborg
+bridge of boats, and the steamboat made fast to the island of Funen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+"It is so sweet when friendly hands bid you a hearty welcome, so
+dear to behold well-known features, wherever you turn your eyes.
+Everything seems so home-like and quiet about you and in your own
+breast."   HENRIETTE HAUCK.
+
+Otto immediately hired a carriage, and reached the hall just about
+dinner-time. In the interior court-yard stood two calashes and an
+Holstein carriage; two strange coachmen, with lace round their
+hats, stood in animated discourse when Otto drove in through the
+gate. The postilion blew his horn.
+
+"Be quiet there!" cried Otto.
+
+"There are strangers at the hall!" said the postilion; "I will only
+let them know that another is coming."
+
+Otto gazed at the garden, glanced up toward the windows, where mine
+of the ladies showed themselves only out of a side building a
+female head was stretched out, whose hair was put back underneath a
+cap. Otto recognized the grown-together eyebrows. "Is she the first
+person I am to see here?" sighed he; and the carriage rolled into
+the inner court. The dogs barked, the turkey-cocks gobbled, but not
+Wilhelm showed himself. The Kammerjunker came--the excellent
+neighbor! and immediately afterward Sophie; both exclaimed with
+smiles, "Welcome!"
+
+"See, here we have our man!" said the Kammerjunker; "we can make
+use of him in the play!"
+
+"It is glorious you are come!" cried Sophie. "We shall immediately
+put you under arrest." She extended her hand to him--he pressed it
+to his lips. "We will have tableaux vivants this evening!" said
+she: "the pastor has never seen any. We have no service from
+Wilhelm; he is in Svendborg, and will not return for two days. You
+must be the officer; the Kammerjunker will represent the
+Somnambulist, who comes with her light through the window. Will
+you?"
+
+"Everything you desire!" said Otto.
+
+"Do not speak of it!" returned Sophie, and laid her finger on her
+lips. The mother descended the steps.
+
+"Dear Thostrup!" said she, and pressed, with warm cordiality, both
+his hands. "I have really quite yearned after you. Now Wilhelm is
+away, you must for two whole days put up with us alone."
+
+Otto went through the long passage where hung the old portraits; it
+was as if these also wished welcome. It only seemed a night full of
+many dreams which had passed since he was here; a year in the lapse
+of time is also not so long as a winter's night in the life of man.
+
+Here it was so agreeable, so home-like; no one could have seen by
+the trees that since then they had stood stripped of leaves and
+covered with snow; luxuriantly green they waved themselves in the
+sun's warmth, just as when Otto last gazed out of this window.
+
+He had the red room as before. The dinner-bell rang.
+
+Louise met him in the passage.
+
+"Thostrup!" exclaimed she, with delight, and seized his hand. "Now,
+it is almost a year and a day since I saw you!"
+
+"Yes much has happened in this year!" said the Kammerjunker. "Come
+soon to me, and you shall see what I have had made for pastime--a
+bowling-green! Miss Sophie has tried her skill upon it."
+
+The Kammerjunker took the mother to dinner. Otto approached Sophie.
+
+"Will you not take the Kammerjunker's sister?" whispered she.
+
+Mechanically, Otto made his bow before Miss Jakoba.
+
+"Take one of the young ladies!" said she; "you would rather do
+that?"
+
+Otto bowed, cast a glance toward Sophie; she had the old pastor.
+Otto smiled, and conducted Jakoba to table.
+
+The Mamsell, renowned through her work-box, sat on his left hand.
+He observed the company who, beside those we have already
+mentioned, consisted of several ladies and gentlemen whom he did
+not know. One chair was empty, but it was soon occupied; a young
+girl, quiet in her attire, and dressed like Louise, entered.
+
+"Why do you come so late?" asked Sophie, smiling.
+
+"That is only known to Eva and me!" said Louise, and smiled at the
+young girl.
+
+Eva seated herself. It was, perhaps, the complete resemblance of
+their dress which induced Otto to observe both her and Louise so
+closely, and even against his own will to draw comparisons. Both
+wore a simple dark brown dress, a small sea-green handkerchief
+round the neck. Louise seemed to him enchanting--pretty one could
+not call her: Eva, on the contrary, was ideal; there lay something
+in her appearance which made him think of the pale pink hyacinth.
+Every human being has his invisible angel, says the mythos; both
+are different and yet resemble each other. Eva was the angel;
+Louise, on the contrary, the human being in all its purity. Otto's
+eyes encountered those of Sophie--they were both directed to the
+same point. "What power! what beauty!" thought he. Her mind is far
+above that of Louise, and in beauty she is a gorgeous flower, and
+not, like Eva, a fine, delicate hyacinth. He drew eloquence from
+these eyes, and became interesting like the cousin, although he had
+not been in Paris.
+
+The Kammerjunker spoke of sucking-pigs, but that also was
+interesting; perhaps be drew his inspiration out of the same source
+as Otto. He spoke of the power of green buckwheat, and how the
+swine which eat it become mad. From this doubtless originated the
+legend of the devil entering into the swine. It is only coal-black
+pigs which can digest green buckwheat; if they have a single white
+speck upon them, they become ill at eating. "This is extraordinary,"
+exclaimed he.
+
+In his enthusiasm his discourse became almost a cry, which caused
+Miss Jakoba to say that one might almost think that he himself had
+eaten green buckwheat.
+
+Otto meantime cut out of the green melon-peel a man, and made him
+ride on the edge of his glass; that withdrew Sophie's attention
+from the Kammerjunker. The whole company found that this little
+cut-out figure was very pretty; and the Mamsell begged that she
+might have it--it should lie in her work-box.
+
+Toward evening all were in preparation for the approaching tableaux.
+
+Eva must represent Hero. With a torch in her hand she must kneel on
+a table, which was to be draped so as to represent a balcony. The
+poor girl felt quite unhappy at having to appear in this manner.
+Sophie laughed at her fear, and assured her that she would be
+admired, and that therefore she must and should.
+
+"Give way to my sister," said Louise, in a beseeching voice; and
+Eva was ready, let down her long brown hair, and allowed Sophie to
+arrange the drapery.
+
+Otto must put on an officer's uniform. He presented himself to the
+sisters.
+
+"That gold is not sewn fast on the collar," said Sophie, and
+undertook to rectify it. He could easily keep the uniform on whilst
+she did this, said she. Her soft hand touched Otto's cheek, it was
+like an electric shock to him; his blood burned; how much he longed
+to press the hand to his lips!
+
+They all burst out laughing when the Kammerjunker appeared in a
+white petticoat which only reached a little below the knee, and in
+a large white lady's dressing-jacket. Miss Sophie must arrange his
+hair. She did it charmingly; her hand stroked the hair away from
+his brow, and glided over his cheeks: he kissed it; she struck him
+in the face, and begged him not to forget himself! "We are ladies,"
+said he, and rose in his full splendor. They all laughed except
+Otto; he could not--he felt a desire to beat him. The spectators
+arranged themselves in a dark room, the folding doors were opened.
+
+Eva as Hero, in a white linen robe, her hair hanging down on her
+shoulders, and a torch in her hand, gazed out over the sea. No
+painter could have imagined anything more beautiful; the large
+dark-blue eyes expressed tenderness and melancholy; it was Eva's
+natural glance, but here you saw her quiet. The fine black eyebrows
+increased the expression, the whole figure was as if breathed into
+the picture.
+
+Now followed a new picture--Faust and Margaret in the arbor; behind
+stood Mephistophiles, with his devilish smile. The Kammerjunker's
+Mamsell was Margaret. When the doors were opened she sent forth
+aloud cry, and ran away; she would not stay, she was so afraid. The
+group was disarranged, people laughed and found it amusing, but the
+Kammerjunker scolded aloud, and swore that she should come in
+again; at that the laughter of the spectators increased, and was
+not lessened when the Kammerjunker, forgetting his costume as the
+Somnambule, half stepped into the frame in which the pictures were
+represented, and seated the Mamsell on the bench. This group was
+only seen for one moment: the dorors were again closed; the
+spectators applauded, but a whistle was heard. Laughter, and the
+hum of conversation, resounded through the room; and it was
+impossible to obtain perfect quiet, although a new picture already
+shone in the frame. It was Sophie as Correggio's "Magdalene": her
+rich hair fell in waves over her shoulders and round arms; before
+her lay the skull and the holy book.
+
+Otto's blood flowed faster; never had he seen Sophie more
+beautiful. The audience, however, could not entirely forget the
+comic scene which they had just witnessed; there was heard a faint
+suppressed laughter.
+
+This at length was able to take its free course when the following
+picture presented itself, where the Kammerjunker, as the Somnambule,
+his hand half-concealing the extinguished light, showed himself at
+the open window.
+
+A most stormy burst of applause was awarded to the actors.
+
+"Miss Sophie has arranged the whole!" cried the Kammerjunker, and
+now her name sounded from the lips of all the audience.
+
+Not before two days did Wilhelm return. He and Otto slept in the
+same apartment. Otto told of the tableaux, and said how lovely Eva
+had been as Hero.
+
+"That I can well believe," replied Wilhelm, but did not enter
+further into the subject; he laughed about the Kammerjunker and the
+disarranged group.
+
+Otto again named Eva, but Wilhelm lightly passed over this subject
+in his replies. Otto could not fathom their connection.
+
+"Shall we not go to sleep?" said Wilhelm; they wished each other
+good-night, and it was quiet.
+
+The old man Sleep, as Tieck has described him, with the box out of
+which he brings his dream-puppets, now commenced his nightly
+dramatic adventures, which lasted until the sun shone in through
+the window.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+"He draws nearer and nearer to her.
+'O, give my hope an answer by this pink-flower.'
+She sighs: 'O, I will--no--I will not.'"
+                        The Dancer, by PALUDAN-MÜLLER
+
+"I shall get to know!" thought Otto. "This violent love cannot be
+evaporated." He paid attention to every little occurrence. Eva was
+the same quiet, modest creature as formerly--a house-fairy who
+exercised a friendly influence over all. Wilhelm spoke with her,
+but not with passion, neither with affected indifference. However,
+we cannot entirely rely upon Otto's power of observation: his
+glance was directed too often toward a dearer object--his attention
+was really directed to Sophie.
+
+They walked in the garden.
+
+"Once as you certainly know," said Otto, "your brother had a fancy
+for the pretty Eva. Is it not, therefore, somewhat dangerous her
+living here? Has your mother been prudent?"
+
+"For Wilhelm I am quite unconcerned!" answered Sophie. "Only take
+care of yourself! Eva is very amiable, and has very much changed
+for the better since she came here. My sister Louise quite raves
+about her, and my mother regards her almost as an adopted daughter.
+You have certainly remarked that she is not kept in the background.
+Yet she is weak; she resembles the tender mountain-flowers which
+grow in ice and snow, but which bow their heads in the soft
+mountain air, when it is warmed by the sun. It really seems to me
+that she is become weaker since she has enjoyed our care and happy
+days. When I saw her at Roeskelde she was far more blooming."
+
+"Perhaps she thinks of your brother--thinks of him with quiet sorrow?"
+
+"That I do not think is the case," replied Sophie; "otherwise
+Louise would have heard something of it. She possesses Eva's entire
+confidence. You may make yourself easy, if you are jealous!"
+
+"What make you conjecture this? My thoughts are directed above, and
+not beneath me!" said he, with a kind of pride, "I feel that I
+could never fall in love with Eva. Feel love toward her? no! Even
+when I think of it, I feel almost as though I had some prejudice
+against her. But you joke; you will rally me, as you have so often
+done. We shall soon part! Only two months longer shall I remain in
+Denmark! Two long years abroad! How much may occur in that time!
+Will you think of me--really think of me, Miss Sophie?" He bent,
+and kissed her hand.
+
+Sophie became crimson. Both were silent.
+
+"Are you here!" said the mother, who came out of a side walk.
+
+Otto stooped lower, and broke one of the beautiful stocks which
+hung over the border.
+
+"Are you taking Louise's favorite flowers?" said she, smiling.
+"This bed is declared to be inviolable."
+
+"I was so unfortunate as to break it!" said Otto, confused.
+
+"He wished to gather the dark-red pink for my table-garland!" said
+Sophie. "If he took it, my conscience would be clear!"
+
+And they all three walked along speaking of cherries, gooseberries,
+of the linen on the bleaching-ground, and of the warm summer's day.
+
+In the evening Eva and the two sisters sat at their work, Otto and
+Wilhelm had taken their seats beside them. They spoke of Copenhagen.
+
+Sophie knew how to introduce a number of little anecdotes, which
+she had gathered among the young ladies there. Otto entered into
+her ideas, and knew cleverly how to support what she said. What in
+reality interested young ladies was discussed.
+
+"When a girl is confirmed, all manner of fancies awake!" said Otto.
+"She experiences a kind of inclination for the heart of man; but
+this may not be acknowledged, except for two friends to the
+clergyman and the physician. For these she has quite a passion,
+especially for the former; she stands in a kind of spiritual
+rapport with him. His physical amiability melts into the spiritual.
+Thus her first love one may designate clergyman-love."
+
+"That is well said!" exclaimed Sophie.
+
+"He preaches himself so deeply into her heart!" pursued Otto. "She
+melts into tears, kisses his hand, and goes to church; but not for
+the sake of God, but on account of the sweet clergyman!"
+
+"O, I know that so well!" said Sophie, and laughed.
+
+"Fie! you do not mean so!" said Louise; "and I do not know how you
+can say such a thing Mr. Thostrup! That is frightful! You do not in
+the least know a young girl's soul! do not know the pure feeling
+with which she inclines herself to the man who has laid open before
+her the holy things of religion! Do not make sport of the innocent,
+the pure, which is so far removed from every earthly impression!"
+
+"I assure you," said Otto, smiling, "were I a poet, I would make
+the clergyman-love ridiculous in a hundred witty epigrams; and were
+I a teacher, I would protest against it from the chair."
+
+"That would be scattering poison into a well!" said Louise. "You,
+as a man, do not know the pure, the holy sentiment which exists in
+a young girl's bosom. Eva, thou art certainly of my opinion?"
+
+"Neither is this Mr. Thostrup's opinion?" answered she, and looked
+at him with a mild gravity.
+
+Wilhelm laughed aloud.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+"Alas, I am no sturdy oak!
+Alas, I'm but the flower
+  That wakes the kiss of May!
+And when has fled its little hour,
+  Will voice of Death obey."--RUCKERT.
+
+The following afternoon came visitors--two young ladies from
+Nyborg, friends of Sophie and Louise. Before dinner they would take
+a walk through the wood to an inclosure where the flax was in bloom.
+Otto was to accompany them.
+
+"I am also of the party!" said the Kammerjunker, who just galloped
+into the court-yard as the ladies, with Otto, were about setting
+out on their excursion. Thus the whole company consisted of five
+ladies and two gentlemen.
+
+"The cows are not in the field over which we must go, are they?"
+asked Eva.
+
+"No, my good girl!" returned Sophie; "you may be quite easy!
+Besides, we have two gentlemen with us."
+
+"Yes; but they would not be able to protect us from the unruly
+bullocks!" said Louise. "But we have nothing to fear. Where we are
+going the cows do not go until after they are milked. I am no
+heroine! Besides, it is not long since one bullock nearly gored the
+cowherd to death. He also gored Sidsel a great hole in her arm just
+lately: you remember the girl with her eyebrows grown together?"
+
+"There is also in the wood a wild sow, with eleven sucking pigs!"
+said Sophie, in ironical gravity; "it would not be agree able to
+meet with her!"
+
+"She is almost as dangerous as the bullocks!" said the Kammerjunker,
+ and laughed at Eva.
+
+The conversation took another turn.
+
+"Shall we not visit Peter Cripple?" asked Sophie. "The gentlemen
+can then see the smith's pretty daughter; she is really too
+beautiful to be his wife!"
+
+"Is Peter Cripple married?" inquired Otto.
+
+"No, the wedding will be held on Sunday!" replied the Kammerjunker;
+"but the bride is already in the house. The bans were published
+last Sunday, and they immediately commenced housekeeping together.
+This often takes place even earlier, when a man cannot do without a
+wife. She has taken him on account of his full money-bags!"
+
+"Yes, with the peasant it is seldom love which brings about the
+affair!" said Louise. "Last year there was quite a young girl who
+married a man who might have been her grandfather. She took him
+only, she said, because he had such a good set of earthenware."
+
+"These were very brittle things to marry upon!" remarked Otto.
+
+Meantime they were nearly come to the edge of the wood. Here stood
+a little house; hops hung luxuriantly over the hedge, the cat stood
+with bent back upon the crumbling edge of the well.
+
+Sophie, at the head of the whole company, stepped into the room,
+where Peter Cripple sat on the table sewing; but, light and active
+as an elf, he sprang down from the table to kiss her hand. The
+smith's pretty daughter was stirring something in an iron pot in
+the hearth. St. John's wort, stuck between the beams and the
+ceiling, shot forth in luxuriant growth, prophesying long life to
+the inhabitants of the house. On the sooty ceiling glittered
+herrings' souls, as a certain portion of the herring's entrails is
+called, and which Peter Cripple, following the popular belief, had
+flung up to the ceiling, convinced that so long as they hung there
+he should be freed from the ague.
+
+Otto took no part in the conversation, but turned over a quantity
+of songs which he found; they were stitched together in a piece of
+blue tobacco-paper. The principal contents were, "New, Melancholy
+Songs," "Of the Horrible Murder," "The Audacious Criminal," "The
+Devil in Salmon Lane," "Boat's Fall," and such things; which have
+now supplanted, among the peasants, the better old popular songs.
+
+With Louise, Eva, and one of the ladies from Nyborg, Otto slowly
+preceded the others, who had still some pleasantries to say before
+leaving Peter Cripple and his bride.
+
+"Shall we not go over the inclosure to the cairn?" said Louise. "It
+is clear to-day; we shall see Zealand. The others will follow us;
+here, from the foot-path, they will immediately discover us."
+
+Otto opened the gate and they went through the inclosure. They had
+already advanced a considerable way, when the Kammerjunker and his
+ladies reached the foot-path from which they could see the others.
+
+"They are going to the cairn," said he.
+
+"Then they will have a little fright!" said Sophie. "Down in the
+corner of the inclosure lie the young cattle. They may easily
+mistake them for cows, and the wild bullocks!"
+
+"Had we not better call them back?" asked the other lady.
+
+"But we must frighten them a little," said Sophie. "Shout to them
+that there are the cows!"
+
+"Yes, that I can do with a clear conscience!" said the Kammerjunker;
+and he shouted as loud as he could, "There are the cows! Turn back!
+turn back!"
+
+Eva heard it the first. "O God!" said she, "hear what they are
+calling to us!"
+
+Otto glanced around, but saw no cows.
+
+"They are standing still!" said Sophie; "call once again!"
+
+The Kammerjunker shouted as before, and Sophie imitated the lowing
+of the cows. At this noise the young cattle arose.
+
+Louise now became aware of them. "O heavens!" exclaimed she;
+"there, down in the corner of the inclosure, are all the cows!"
+
+"Let us run!" cried Eva, and took to flight.
+
+"For God's sake, do not run!" cried Otto; "walk slowly and quietly,
+otherwise they may come!"
+
+"Come away, away!" resounded from the wood.
+
+"O Lord!" shrieked Eva, when she saw the creatures raise their
+tails in the air as soon as they perceived the fugitives.
+
+"Now they are coming!" cried the lady who accompanied them, and
+sent forth a loud scream.
+
+Eva fled first, as if borne by the wind; the lady followed her, and
+Louise ran on after them.
+
+Otto now really saw all the cattle, which, upon the ladies flight,
+had instinctively followed, chasing over the field after them in
+the same direction.
+
+Nothing now remained for him but, like the others, to reach the
+gate. This he opened, and had just closed again, when the cattle
+were close upon them, but no one had eyes to see whether the cattle
+were little or big.
+
+"Now there is no more danger!" cried Otto, as soon as he had well
+closed the gate; but the ladies still fled on, passing among the
+trees until they reached the spot where the Kammerjunker and his
+two ladies awaited them with ringing laughter.
+
+Sophie was obliged to support herself against a tree through all
+the amusement. It had been a most remarkable spectacle, this
+flight; Eva at the head, and Mr. Thostrup rushing past them to open
+the gate. Louise was pale as death, and her whole body trembled; the
+friend supported her arm and forehead on a tree, and drew a long
+breath.
+
+"Bah!" again cried Sophie, and laughed.
+
+"But where is Eva?" asked Otto, and shouted her name.
+
+"She ran here before me!" said Louise; "she is doubtless leaning
+against a tree, and recovering her strength."
+
+"Eva!" cried Sophie. "Where is my hero: 'I want a hero!'"
+[Author's Note: Byron's Don Juan.]
+
+Otto returned to seek her. At this moment Wilhelm arrived.
+
+The Kammerjunker regretted that he had not seen the race with them,
+and related the whole history to him.
+
+"O come! come!" they heard Otto shout. They found him kneeling in
+the high grass. Eva lay stretched out on the ground; she was as
+pale as death; her head rested in Otto's lap.
+
+"God in heaven!" cried Wilhelm, and flung himself down before her.
+"Eva! Eva! O, she is dead! and thou art to blame for it, Sophie!
+Thou hast killed her!" Reproachfully he fixed his eyes on his
+sister. She burst into tears, and concealed her face in her hands.
+
+Otto ran to the peasant's cottage and brought water. Peter Cripple
+himself hopped like a mountain-elf behind him through the high
+nettles and burdocks, which closed above and behind him again.
+
+The Kammerjunker took Eva in his strong arms and carried her to the
+cottage. Wilhelm did not leave hold of her hand. The others
+followed in silence.
+
+"Try and get her home," said Wilhelm; "I myself will fetch the
+physician!" He rushed forth, and hastened through the wood to the
+ball, where he ordered the men to bring out a sedan-chair for the
+invalid; then had horses put into one of the lightest carriages,
+seated himself in it as coachman, and drove away to Nyborg, the
+nearest town, which, however, was distant almost twenty miles.
+
+Sophie was inconsolable. "It is my fault!" she said, and wept.
+
+Otto found her sitting before the house, under an elder-tree. She
+could not endure to see Eva's paleness.
+
+"You are innocent," said Otto. "Believe me, to-morrow Eva will be
+completely restored! She herself," added he, in an assuaging tone,
+"behaved in an imprudent manner. I warned her not to run. Her own
+terror is to blame for all."
+
+"No, no," returned Sophie; "my folly, my extravagance, has caused
+the whole misfortune!"
+
+"Now it is much better," said the Kammerjunker, coming out of the
+house. "She must be devilish tender to fly before a few calves! I
+really must laugh when I think of it, although it did come to such
+an end!"
+
+The men now arrived whom Wilhelm had sent with the sedan-chair.
+
+Eva thought she could walk, if she might lean upon some one; but it
+would be better, her friends thought, if she were carried.
+
+"Dost thou feel any pain?" asked Louise, and gave her a sisterly
+kiss on the brow.
+
+"No, none at all," replied Eva. "Do not scold me for having
+frightened you so. I am so fearful, and the bullock were close
+behind us."
+
+"They were, God help me, only calves!" answered the Kammerjunker;
+"they wished to play, and only ran because you ran!"
+
+"It was a foolish joke of mine!" said Sophie, and seized Eva's
+hand. "I am very unhappy about it!"
+
+"O no!" said Eva, and smiled so pensively, yet happily. "To-morrow
+I shall be quite well again!" Her eye seemed to seek some one.
+
+Otto understood the glance. "The physician is sent for. Wilhelm has
+himself driven over for him."
+
+Toward the middle of the wood the mother herself approached them;
+she was almost as pale as Eva.
+
+All sought to calm her; Eva bowed her head to kiss the good lady's
+hand. The Kammerjunker told the story to her, and she shook her
+head. "What an imprudent, foolish joke!" said she; "here you see
+the consequences!"
+
+Not before late in the afternoon did Wilhelm return with the
+physician; he found his patient out of all danger, but prescribed
+what should still be done. Quiet and the warm summer air would do
+the most for her.
+
+"See," said Otto, when, toward evening he met Sophie in the garden,
+"to-day Wilhelm did not conceal his feelings!"
+
+"I fear that you are right!" returned Sophie. "He loves Eva, and
+that is very unfortunate. Tell me what you know about it."
+
+"I know almost nothing!" said Otto, and told about little Jonas and
+the first meeting with Eva.
+
+"Yes, that he has told us already himself! But do you know nothing
+more?" Her voice became soft, and her eyes gazed full of confidence
+into Otto's.
+
+He related to her the short conversation which he had had last
+autumn with Wilhelm, how angry he had been with his candid warning,
+and how since then they had never spoken about Eva.
+
+"I must confide my fear to our mother!" said Sophie. "I almost now
+am glad that he will travel in two months, although we shall then
+lose you also!"
+
+And Otto's heart beat; the secret of his heart pressed to his lips;
+every moment he would speak it. But Sophie had always still another
+question about her brother; they were already out of the garden,
+already in the court-yard, and yet Otto had said nothing.
+
+Therefore was he so quiet when, late in the evening, he and Wilhelm
+entered their chamber. Wilhelm also spoke no word, but his eye
+repeatedly rested expectantly on Otto, as if waiting for him to
+break the silence. Wilhelm stepped to the open window and drank in
+the fresh air, suddenly he turned round, flung his arms round Otto,
+and exclaimed, "I can no longer endure it! I must say it to some
+one! I love her, and will never give her up, let every one be
+opposed! I have now silently concealed my feelings for some months;
+I can do so no longer, or I shall become ill, and for that I am not
+made!"
+
+"Does she know this?" asked Otto.
+
+"No, and yes! I do not know what I should answer! Here at home I
+have never spoken alone with her. The last time when Weyse played
+on the organ at Roeskelde I had bought a pretty silk handkerchief,
+and this I took with me for her; I know not, but I wished to give
+her pleasure. There came a woman past with lovely stocks; I stood
+at the open window; she offered me a bouquet, and I bought it.
+'Those are lovely flowers!' said Eva, when she entered. 'They will
+fade with me!' said I; 'put them in water and keep there for
+yourself!' She wished only to have a few, but I obliged her to take
+them all: she blushed, and her eyes gazed strangely down into my
+soul. I know not what sort of a creature I became, but it was
+impossible for me to give her the handkerchief; it seemed to me
+that this would almost be an offense. Eva went away with the
+flowers, but the next morning it seemed to me that she was uneasy;
+I fancied I saw her color come and go when I bade her adieu! She
+must have read the thoughts in my soul!"
+
+"And the handkerchief?" interrupted Otto.
+
+"I gave it to my sister Sophie," said Wilhelm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+        "Tell me
+What would my heart?
+  My heart's with thee,
+With thee would have a part."
+          GOETHE'S West-östlicher Divan.
+
+"There stands the man again--
+The man with gloomy mien."
+        Memories of Travel, by B. C. INGEMANN.
+
+Several days passed; the fine crimson again returned to Eva's
+cheeks. The first occasion of her going out with the others was to
+see the rape-stalks burned. These were piled together in two
+immense stacks. In the morning, at the appointed hour, which had
+been announced through the neighborhood that no one might mistake
+it for a conflagration, the stalks were set fire to. This took
+place in the nearest field, close beside the hall, where the
+rape-seed was threshed upon an out-spread sail.
+
+The landscape-painter, Dahl, has given us a picture of the burning
+Vesuvius, where the red lava pours down the side of the mountain;
+in the background one sees across the bay as far as Naples and
+Ischia: it is a piece full of great effect. Such a splendid
+landscape is not to be found in flat Denmark, where there are no
+great natural scenes, and yet this morning presented even there a
+picture with the same brilliant coloring. We will study it. In the
+foreground there is a hedge of hazels, the nuts hang in great
+clusters, and contrast strongly with their bright green against the
+dark leaves; the blue chicory-flower and the blood-red poppy grew
+on the side of the ditch, upon which are some tall rails, over
+which the ladies have to climb: the delicate sylph-like figure is
+Eva. In the field, where nothing remains but the yellow stubble,
+stand Otto and Wilhelm; two magnificent hounds wag their tails
+beside them. To the left is a little lake, thickly overgrown with
+reeds and water-lilies, with the yellow trollius for its border. In
+the front, where the wood retreats, lie, like a great stack, the
+piled-together rape-stalks: the man has struck fire, has kindled
+the outer side of them, and with a rapidity like that of the
+descending lava the red fire flashes up the gigantic pile. It
+crackles and roars within it. In a moment it is all a burning
+mound; the red flames flash aloft into the blue air, high above
+the wood which is now no longer visible. A thick black smoke
+ascends up into the clear air, where it rests like a cloud. Out of
+the flames, and even out of the smoke, the wind carries away large
+masses of fire, which, crackling and cracking, are borne on to the
+wood, and which fill the spectator with apprehension of their
+falling upon the nearest trees and burning up leaf and branch.
+
+"Let us go further off," said Sophie; "the heat is too great here."
+
+They withdrew to the ditch.
+
+"O, how many nuts!" exclaimed Wilhelm; "and I do not get one of
+them! I shall go after them if they be ripe."
+
+"But you have grapes and other beautiful fruit!" said Eva smiling.
+"We have our beautiful things at home!"
+
+"Yes, it is beautiful, very beautiful at home!" exclaimed Wilhelm;
+"glorious flowers, wild nuts; and there we have Vesuvius before
+us!" He pointed to the burning pile.
+
+"No," said Sophie; "it seems to me much more like the pile upon
+which the Hindoo widow lays herself alive to be burned! That must
+be horrible!"
+
+"One should certainly be very quickly dead!" said Eva.
+
+"Would you actually allow yourself to be burned to death, if you
+were a Hindoo widow--after, for instance, Mr. Thostrup, or after
+Wilhelm," said she, with a slight embarrassment, "if he lay dead in
+the fire?"
+
+"If it were the custom of the country, and I really had lost the
+only support which I had in the world--yes, so I would!"
+
+"O, no, no!" said Louise.
+
+"In fact it is brilliant!" exclaimed Sophie.
+
+"Burning is not, perhaps, the most painful of deaths!" said Otto,
+and plucked in an absent manner the nuts from the hedge. "I know a
+story about a true conflagration."
+
+"What is it like?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"Yet it is not a story to tell in a large company; it can only be
+heard when two and two are together. When I have an opportunity, I
+shall tell it!"
+
+"O, I know it!" said Wilhelm. "You can relate it to one of my
+sisters there, whichever you like best! Then I shall--yes, I must
+relate it to Eva!"
+
+"It is too early in the day to hear stories told!" said Louise;
+"let us rather sing a song!"
+
+"No, then we shall have to weep in the evening," replied Wilhelm.
+And they had neither the song nor the story.
+
+Mamma came wandering with Vasserine, the old, faithful hound: they
+two also wished to see how beautiful the burning looked. It
+succeeded excellently with the rape-stalks; but the other burning,
+of which the story was to be told, it did not yet arrive at an
+outbreak! It might be expected, however, any hour in the day.
+
+In the evening Otto walked alone through the great chestnut avenue.
+The moon shone brightly between the tree-branches. When he entered
+the interior court Wilhelm and Sophie skipped toward him, but
+softly, very softly. They lifted their hands as if to impress
+silence.
+
+"Come and see!" said Sophie; "it is a scene which might be painted!
+it goes on merrily in the servants' hall; one can see charmingly
+through the window!"
+
+"Yes, come!" said Wilhelm.
+
+Otto stole softly forward. The lights shone forth.
+
+Within there was laughter and loud talking; one struck upon the
+table, another sung,--
+        "And I will away to Prussia land,
+             Hurrah!
+         And when I am come to Prussia land,
+             Hurrah!"  [Note: People's song.]
+
+Otto looked in through the window.
+
+Several men and maids sat within at the long wooden table at the
+end of this stood Sidsel in a bent attitude, her countenance was of
+a deep crimson; she spoke a loud oath and laughed--no one imagined
+that they were observed. All eyes were riveted upon a great fellow
+who, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up, and a pewter tankard in his
+hand, was standing there. It was the German Heinrich, who was
+exhibiting to them his conjuring tricks. Otto turned pale; had the
+dead arisen from the bier before him it could not have shocked him
+more.
+
+"Hocus-pocus Larifari!" cried Heinrich within, and gave the tankard
+to a half-grown fellow, of the age between boy and man.
+
+"If thou hast already a sweetheart," said he; "then the corn which
+is within it will be turned to flour; but if thou art still only a
+young cuckoo, then it will remain only groats."
+
+"Nay, Anders Peersen!" said all the girls laughing, "now we shall
+see whether thou art a regular fellow!"
+
+Sophie stole away.
+
+The echoing laughter and clapping of hands announced the result.
+
+"Is it not the same person who was playing conjuring tricks in the
+park?" inquired Wilhelm.
+
+"Yes, certainly," replied Otto; "he is to me quite repulsive!" And
+so saying, he followed Sophie.
+
+Late in the evening, when all had betaken themselves to rest,
+Wilhelm proposed to Otto that they should make a little tour, as he
+called it.
+
+"I fancy Meg Merrilies, as my sister calls Sidsel," said he, "has
+made a conquest of the conjuror, although he might be her father.
+They have been walking together down the avenue; they have been
+whispering a deal together; probably he will to-night sleep in one
+of the barns. I must go and look after him; he will be lying there
+and smoking his pipe, and may set our whole place on fire. Shall we
+go down together? We can take Vasserine and Fingel with us."
+
+"Let him sleep!" said Otto; "he will not be so mad as to smoke
+tobacco in the straw! To speak candidly, I do not wish to be seen
+by him. He was several times at my grandfather's house. I have
+spoken with him, and now that I dislike him I do not wish to see
+him!"
+
+"Then I will go alone!" said Wilhelm.
+
+Otto's heart beat violently; he stood at the open window and looked
+out over the dark wood, which was lit up by the moon. Below in the
+court he heard Wilhelm enticing the dogs out. He heard yet another
+voice, it was that of the steward, and then all was again silent.
+Otto thought upon the German Heinrich and upon Sophie, his life's
+good and bad angels; and he pictured to himself how it would be if
+she extended to him her hand--was his bride! and Heinrich called
+forth before her the recollections which made his blood curdle.
+
+It seemed to him as if something evil impended over him this night.
+"I feel a forewarning of it!" said he aloud.
+
+Wilhelm came not yet back.
+
+Almost an hour passed thus. Wilhelm entered, both dogs were with
+him; they were miry to their very sides.
+
+"Did you meet any one?" inquired Otto.
+
+
+"Yes, there was some one," said Wilhelm, "but not in the barn. The
+stupid dogs seemed to lose their nature; it was as if there was a
+somebody stealing along the wall, and through the reeds in the
+moat. The hounds followed in there; you can see how they look!--but
+they came the next moment back again, whined, and hung down their
+ears and tails. I could not make them go in again. Then the steward
+was superstitious! But, however, it could only be either the
+juggler, or one of the servant-men who had stilts. How otherwise
+any one could go in among the reeds without getting up to their
+necks, I cannot conceive!"
+
+All was again perfectly still without. The two friends went to the
+open window, threw their arms over each other's shoulders, and
+looked out into the silent night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+"Bring' häusliche Hülfe
+Incubus! incubus.
+Tritt herhor und mache den Schluss."
+                       GOETHE's Faust.
+
+"Es giebt so bange Zeiten,
+Es giebt so trüben Muth!"--NOVALIS.
+
+The next morning Wilhelm related his evening adventure at the
+breakfast-table; the sisters laughed at it. The mother, on the
+contrary, was silent, left the room, and after some time returned.
+
+"There have been thieves here!" said she, "and one might almost
+imagine that they were persons in the household itself. They have
+been at the press where the table-linen is kept, and have not been
+sparing in their levies. The beautiful old silver tankard, which I
+inherited from my grandmother, is also missing. I would much sooner
+have given the value of the silver than have lost that piece!"
+
+"Will not the lady let it be tried by the sieve?" asked the old
+servant: "that is a pretty sure way!"
+
+"That is nothing but superstition," answered she; "in that way the
+innocent may so easily be suspected."
+
+"As the lady pleases!" said the servant, and shook his head.
+
+In the mean time a search through the house was instituted. The
+boxes of the domestics were examined, but nothing was discovered.
+
+"If you would only let the sieve be tried!" said the old servant.
+
+In the afternoon Otto went into the garden; he fell into discourse
+with the gardener, and they spoke of the theft which had occurred.
+
+"It vexes every one of us," said he, "because we think much of the lady,
+and of the whole family. And some one must, nevertheless, be suspected.
+We believe that it was Sidsel, for she was a good-for-nothing person!
+We folks tried among ourselves with the sieve, but however, at the
+mention of her name, if it did not move out of its place. We had set
+it upon the point of a knife, and mentioned the name of every person
+about the place, but it stood as if it were nailed quite fast. But
+there was really something to see, which not one of us would have
+believed. I'll say no more about it, although we had every one of
+us our own thoughts. I would have taken my oath of it."
+
+Otto pressed him to mention the person who was suspected.
+
+"Yes, to you perhaps, I may mention it," replied he; "but you will
+not say anything about it? As we were standing today, at noon,
+around the sieve, and it did not move at Sidsel's name, she became
+angry, because a word bad been let fall which could not be
+agreeable to her if she were innocent. She drew herself up as if in
+a passion, and said to us, 'But there are also in the hall a many
+people besides us, who may slip and slide! There are strangers
+here, and the fine Mamsell, and the farmers. Yes, I suspect no one,
+but every one ought to be named!'
+
+"And so we did it. Yes, we mentioned even your name, Mr. Thostrup,
+although we knew very well that you were guiltless of the charge;
+but we would not excuse any one. The sieve stood quite entirely
+still until we mentioned Eva's name, and then it moved. Not one of
+us actually could believe it, and the servant Peter said also that
+it was because of the draught from the chimney. We mentioned yet
+once more all the names, and the sieve stood still until we came to
+Eva's, and then we perceived very plainly a movement. The servant
+Peter at the same moment gave a great blow to the sieve, so that it
+fell to the ground, and be swore that it was a lie, and that he
+would answer for Eva. I would have done so too; but yet it was very
+extraordinary with the sieve! Most of the folks, however, have
+their own thoughts, but no one venture to express them to the
+gentry who think so much of her. I cannot, however, rightly
+reconcile it to myself!"
+
+"She is innocent!" said Otto; and it amazed him that any one should
+cast the slightest suspicion on Eva. He thought of German Heinrich
+and Sidsel, who alone appeared to him suspicious. There then
+occurred to him an experiment of which he had heard from Rosalie.
+It now seemed to him available, and, physiologically considered,
+much more certain than that with the sieve.
+
+"Probably it may lead to a discovery," said he, after he had
+communicated his whole plan to Sophie and the steward.
+
+"Yes, we mast try it!" said she; "it is excellent! I also will be
+put to the proof, although I am initiated into the mystery."
+
+"Yes, you, your sister, Wilhelm, Eva, we all of us must," said
+Otto. "Only I will not do the speaking: that the steward must do."
+
+"That is proper, very proper!" replied she: "it shall be tried this
+evening when it is dark."
+
+The time came; the steward assembled the people.
+
+"Now I know," said he, "how we shall find the thief!"
+
+All were to remain in the first room: within a side-room, which was
+quite dark, there stood in a corner on the right hand a copper
+kettle; to this every person as they came in, one by one, were to
+go and lay their hand down on the flat bottom of the kettle. The
+hand of every one who was innocent would be brought out again white
+and pure, but the hand of the criminal would be severely burned,
+and would become black as a coal.
+
+"He who now," said the steward, addressing them, "has a good
+conscience, may go with this and our Lord into the innermost room,
+lay his hand upon the bottom of the kettle, and show it to me. Now
+I go to receive you all!"
+
+The daughters went, the friends, Eva, and all the household. The
+steward questioned them as they came in: "Answer me, upon thy
+conscience, did thy hand touch the flat bottom of the kettle?"
+
+All replied, "Yes!"
+
+"Then show me your hand!" said he; and they showed them, and all
+were black: Sidsel's alone was white.
+
+"Thou art the thief!" said the steward. "Thy evil conscience has
+condemned thee. Thou hast not touched the kettle; hast not laid thy
+hand upon it, or it would have become as black as that of the
+others. The kettle was blackened inside with turpentine smoke; they
+who came with a good conscience, knowing that their hands would
+remain pure like their consciences, touched the kettle fearlessly
+and their hands became black! Thou hast condemned thyself! Confess,
+or it will go worse with thee!"
+
+Sidsel, uttered a horrible cry and fell down upon her knees.
+
+"O God, help me!" said she, and confessed that she was the thief.
+
+A chamber high up in the roof was prepared as a prison; here the
+delinquent was secured until the affair, on the following day,
+should be announced to the magistrate.
+
+"Thou shalt be sent to Odense, and work upon the treadmill!" said
+Wilhelm: "to that thou belongest!"
+
+The family assembled at the tea-table. Sophie joked about the day's
+adventure.
+
+"Poor Sidsel!" said Eva.
+
+"In England she would be hanged," said Wilhelm; "that would be a
+fine thing to see!"
+
+"Horrible!" replied Louise; "they must die of terror in going to
+the gallows."
+
+"Nay, it is very merry," said Wilhelm. "Now you shall hear what
+glorious music has been set to it by Rossini!" And he played the
+march from "Gazza Ladra," where a young girl is led to the gallows.
+
+"Is it not merry?" asked he. "Yes, he is a composer!"
+
+"To me it seems precisely characteristic," answered Otto. "They are
+not the feelings of the girl which the composer wished to express;
+it is the joy of the rude rabble in witnessing an execution--to
+them a charming spectacle, which is expressed in these joyous
+tones: it is a tragic opera, and therefore he chose exactly this
+character of expression!"
+
+"It is difficult to say anything against that," replied Wilhelm;
+"yet what you assert I have not heard from any other person."
+
+"When a soldier is executed they play some lively air," said Otto;
+"the contrast in this case brings forth the strongest effect!"
+
+The servant now entered, and said with a smile that Peter Cripple,
+the "new-married man," as he called him, was without and wished to
+speak to the Baron Wilhelm.
+
+"It is about a waltz," said he, "which the Baron had promised to
+him!"
+
+"It is late for him to come into the court!" said Sophie "the
+peasants generally go to bed with the sun."
+
+In the lobby stood the announced Peter in his stocking-feet, with
+his hat in one hand and a great stick in the other. He knew, he
+said, that it was still daytime with the gentlefolks; he was just
+coming past the hall and thought that he could, perhaps, have that
+Copenhagen Waltz which the Baron had promised him: he should want
+it to-morrow night to play at a wedding, and, therefore, he wished
+to have it now that he might practice it first of all.
+
+Sophie inquired after his young wife, and said something merry.
+Louise gave him a cup of tea, which he drank in the lobby. Otto
+looked at him through the open door; he made comical grimaces, and
+looked almost as if he wished to speak with him. Otto approached
+him, and Peter thrust a piece of paper into his hand, making at the
+same time a significant gesture indicative of silence.
+
+Otto stepped aside and examined the dirty piece of paper, which was
+folded together like a powder and sealed with a lump of wax. On the
+outside stood, in scarcely legible characters,
+           "TotH' WeL-borne,
+               Mr. Odto Tustraab."
+
+He endeavored, in the first place, to read it in the moonlight; but
+that was scarcely possible.
+
+After considerable labor he made out the meaning of this letter,
+written, as it was in a half-German, half-Danish gibberish, of the
+orthography of which we have given a specimen in the direction. The
+letter was from the German Heinrich. He besought Otto to meet him
+this evening in the wood near Peter Cripple's house, and he would
+give to him an explanation which should be worth the trouble of the
+walk. It would occasion, he said, much trouble and much misery to
+Mr Thostrup if he did not go.
+
+A strange anxiety penetrated Otto. How could he steal away without
+being missed? and yet go he both must and should. An extraordinary
+anxiety drove him forth.
+
+"Yes, the sooner the better!" said he, hastening down the steps and
+leaping in haste over the low garden-fence lest the gate should,
+perhaps, make a noise. He was very soon in the wood: he heard the
+beating of his own heart.
+
+"Eternal Father!" said he, "strengthen my soul! Release me from
+this anxiety which overpowers me! Let all be for the best!"
+
+He had now reached Peter Cripple's house. A figure leaned against
+the wall; Otto paused, measured it with his eye to ascertain who it
+was, and recognized German Heinrich.
+
+"What do you want with me?" inquired Otto.
+
+Heinrich raised his hand in token of silence, beckoned him forward,
+and opened a little gate which led to the back of the house. Otto
+mechanically followed him.
+
+"It goes on badly at the hall," said Heinrich. "Sidsel is really
+put in prison, and will be taken to-morrow to Odense, to the red
+house by the river."
+
+"It is what she has deserved!" said Otto. "I did not bring it
+about."
+
+"O no!" answered Heinrich; "in a certain way we bring nothing
+about; but you can put in a good word for her. You must see that
+this punishment does not befall her."
+
+"But the punishment is merited!" replied Otto; "and how can I mix
+myself up in the affair? What is it that you have to say to me?"
+
+"Yet, the good gentleman must not get angry!" began Heinrich again;
+"but I am grieved about the girl. I can very well believe that he
+does not know her, and therefore it gives him no trouble; but if I
+were now to whisper a little word in his ear? She is your own
+sister, Mr. Thostrup!"
+
+All grew dark before Otto's eyes; a chill as of death went through
+his blood; his hands held firmly by the cold wall, or he must have
+sunk to the earth; not a sound escaped his lips.
+
+German Heinrich laid his hand in a confidential manner upon his
+shoulder, and continued in a jeering, agitated tone, "Yes, it is
+hard for you to hear! I also struggled a long time with myself
+before I could make up my mind to tell you. But a little trouble is
+preferable to a great one. I had some talk with her yesterday, but
+I did not mention you, although it seemed queer to me at my heart
+that the brother should sit at the first table with the young
+ladies, and the sister be farm swine-maiden. Now they have put her
+in prison! I am very sorry for her and you too, Mr. Thostrup, for
+it is disagreeable! If the magistrate come to-morrow morning, and
+she fall into the claws of the red angel, it will not be so easy to
+set her at liberty again! But yet you could, perhaps, help her; as,
+for instance, to-night! I could make an opportunity--I would be in
+the great avenue beyond the hall. If she could get thus far she
+would be safe; I would then conduct her out of this part of the
+country. I may as well tell you that we were yesterday half-betrothed!
+She goes with me; and you can persuade the gracious lady at the hall
+to let the bird fly!"
+
+"But how can I? how can I?" exclaimed Otto.
+
+"She is, however, always your sister!" said Heinrich, and they both
+remained silent for a moment. "Then I will," said Heinrich, "if all
+be still at the hall, wait in the avenue as the bell goes twelve."
+
+"I must!" exclaimed Otto; "I must! God help me!"
+
+"Jesu, Maria, help!" said Heinrich, and Otto left him.
+
+"She is my sister! she, the most horrible of all!" sighed he; his
+knees trembled, and he leaned against a tree for support: his
+countenance was like that of the dead; cold sweat-drops stood upon
+his brow. All around him lay the dark night-like wood; only to the
+left glimmered, between the bushes, the moonlight reflected from
+the lake.
+
+"Within its depths," sighed he, "all would be forgotten--my grief
+would be over! Yet, what is my sin? Had I an existence before I was
+born upon this globe? Must I here be punished for sins which I then
+committed?"
+
+His dark eye stared lifelessly out of his pale countenance. Thus
+sit the dead upon their graves in the silent night; thus gazes the
+somnambulist upon the living world around him.
+
+"I have felt this moment before--this moment which now is here; it
+was the well-spring whence poison was poured over my youthful days!
+She is my sister! She? unhappy one that I am!"
+
+Tears streamed from his eyes, it was a convulsive weeping; he cried
+aloud, it was impossible to him to suppress his voice; he sank half
+down by the tree and wept, for it was night in his soul: silent,
+bitter tears flowed, as the blood flows when the heart is
+transpierced. Who could breathe to him consolation? There lay no
+balsam in the gentle airs of the clear summer night, in the
+fragrance of the wood, in the holy, silent spirit of nature. Poor
+Otto!
+
+             "Weep, only weep! it gives repose,
+              A world is every tear that flows,--
+              A world of anguish and unrest,
+              That rolleth from the troubled breast.
+
+             "And hast thou wept whilst tears can flow,
+              A tranquil peace thy heart will know;
+              For sorrow, trivial or severe,
+              Hath had its seat in every tear.
+
+             "Think'st thou that He, whose love beholds
+              The worm the smallest leaf enfolds,--
+              That He, whose power sustains the whole
+              Forgets a world--thy human soul?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+"Mourir! c'est un instant de supplice: mais vivre?"--FRÉDÉRIC SOULIE.
+
+The physician from Nyborg, who had been on a visit to a sick person
+in the neighborhood, took this opportunity of calling on the family
+and inquiring after Eva's health. They had prayed him to stay over
+the night there, and rather to drive hone in the early morning than
+so late in the evening. He allowed himself to be persuaded. Otto,
+on his return, found him and the family in deep conversation. They
+were talking of the "Letters of a Wandering Ghost."
+
+"Where have you been?" asked Sophie, as Otto entered.
+
+"You look so pale!" said Louise; "are you ill?"
+
+"I do not feel well!" replied Otto; "I went therefore down into the
+garden a little. Now I am perfectly recovered." And he took part in
+the conversation.
+
+The overwhelming sorrow had dissolved itself in tears. His mind had
+raised itself up again from its stupefaction, and sought for a
+point of light on which to attach itself. They were talking of the
+immense caves of Maastricht, how they stretch themselves out into
+deep passages and vast squares, in which sound is lost, and where
+the light, which cannot reach the nearest object, only glimmers
+like a point of fire. In order to comprehend this vacuity and this
+darkness, the travellers let the guide extinguish his torch, and
+all is night; they are penetrated, as it were, with darkness; the
+hand feels after a wall, in order to have some restraint, some
+thought on which to repose itself: the eye sees nothing; the ear
+hears nothing. Horror seizes on the strongest mind: the same
+darkness, the same desolate emotion, had Heinrich's words breathed
+into Otto's soul; therefore he sank like the traveller to the
+earth: but as the traveller's whole soul rivets itself by the eye
+upon the first spark which glimmers, to kindle again the torch
+which is to lead him forth from this grave, so did Otto attach
+himself to the first awakening thought of help. "Wilhelm? his soul
+is noble and good, him will I initiate into my painful secret,
+which chance had once almost revealed to him."
+
+But this was again extinguished, as the first spark is extinguished
+which the steel gives birth to. He could not confide himself to
+Wilhelm; the understanding which this very confidence would give
+birth to between them, must separate them from each other. It was
+humiliating, it was annihilating. But for Sophie? No, how could he,
+after that, declare the love of his heart? how far below her should
+he be placed, as the child of poverty and shame! But the mother of
+the family? Yes, she was gentle and kind; with a maternal sentiment
+she extended to him her hand, and looked upon him as on a near
+relation. His thoughts raised themselves on high, his hands folded
+themselves to prayer; "The will of the Lord alone be done!"
+trembled involuntarily from his lips. Courage returned refreshingly
+to his heart. The help of man was like the spark which was soon
+extinguished; God was an eternal torch, which illumined the
+darkness and could guide him through it.
+
+"Almighty God! thou alone canst and willest!" said he; "to thou who
+knowest the heart, do thou alone help and lead me!"
+
+This determination was firmly taken; to no human being would he
+confide himself; alone would he release the prisoner, and give her
+up to Heinrich. He thought upon the future, and yet darker and
+heavier than hitherto it stood before him. But he who confides in
+God can never despair the only thing that was now to be done was to
+obtain the key of the chamber where Sidsel was confined, and then
+when all in the house were asleep he would dare that which must be
+done.
+
+Courage and tranquillity return into every powerful soul when it
+once sees the possibility of accomplishing its work. With a
+constrained vivacity Otto mingled in the conversation, no one
+imagining what a struggle his soul had passed through.
+
+The disputation continued. Wilhelm was in one of his eloquent
+moods. The doctor regarded the "Letters of the Wandering Ghost" as
+one of the most perfect books in the Danish literature. Once Sophie
+had been of the same opinion, now she preferred Cooper's novels to
+this and all other books.
+
+"People so easily forget the good for the new," said Wilhelm; "if
+the new is only somewhat astonishing, the many regard the author as
+the first of writers. The nation is, aesthetically considered, now
+in its period of development. Every really cultivated person, who
+stands among the best spirits of his age, obtains, whilst he
+observes his own advance in the intellectual kingdom, clearness
+with regard to the development of his nation. This has, like
+himself, its distinct periods; in him some important event in life,
+in it some agitating world convulsion, may advance them suddenly a
+great leap forward. The public favor is unsteady; to-day it strews
+palm-branches, to-morrow it cries, 'Crucify him!' But I regard that
+as a moment of development. You will permit me to make use of an
+image to elucidate my idea. The botanist goes wandering through
+field and wood, he collects flowers and plants; every one of these
+had, while he gathered it, his entire interest, his whole thought--
+but the impression which it made faded before that of its
+successor: nor is it till after a longer time that he is able to
+enjoy the whole of his treasures, and arrange them according to
+their worth and their rareness. The public seizes alike upon
+flowers and herbs; we hear its assiduous occupation with the object
+of the moment, but it is not yet come into possession of the whole.
+At one time, that which was sentimental was the foremost in favor,
+and that poet was called the greatest who best knew how to touch
+this string; then it passed over to the peppered style of writing,
+and nothing pleased but histories of knights and robbers. Now
+people find pleasure in prosaic life, and Schröder and Iffland are
+the acknowledged idols. For us the strength of the North opened
+heroes and gods, a new and significant scene. Then tragedy stood
+uppermost with us. Latterly we have begun to feel that this is not
+the flesh and blood of the present times. Then the fluttering
+little bird, the vaudeville, came out to us from the dark wood, and
+enticed us into our own chambers, where all is warm and
+comfortable, where one has leave to laugh, and to laugh is now a
+necessity for the Danes. One must not, like the crowd, inconsiderately
+place that as foremost which swims upon the waters, but treasure
+the good of every time, and arrange them side by side, as the
+botanist arranges his plants. Every people must, under the poetical
+sunshine, have their sentimental period, their berserker rage, their
+enjoyment of domestic life, and their giddy flights beyond it; it
+must merge itself in individuality before it can embrace the beauty
+of the whole. It is unfortunate for the poet who believes himself to
+be the wheel of his age; and yet he, with his whole crowd of admirers,
+is, as Menzel says, only a single wheel in the great machine--a little
+link in the infinite chain of beauty."
+
+"You speak like a Plato!" said Sophie.
+
+"If we could accord as well in music as we do in poetry," said
+Otto, "then we should be entirely united in our estimation of the
+arts. I love that music best which goes through the ear to the
+heart, and carries me away with it; on the contrary, if it is to be
+admired by the understanding, it is foreign to me."
+
+"Yes, that is your false estimation of the subject, dear friend!"
+said Wilhelm: "in aesthetics you come at once to the pure and true;
+but in music you are far away in the outer court, where the crowd
+is dancing, with cymbals and trumpets, around the musical golden
+calf!"
+
+And now the aesthetic unity brought them into a musical disunity.
+On such occasions, Otto was not one to be driven back from his
+position; he very well knew how to bear down his assailant by
+striking and original observations: but Otto, this evening,
+although he was animated enough--excited, one might almost say--did
+not exhibit the calmness, the decision in his thoughts and words,
+which otherwise would have given him the victory.
+
+It was a long hour, and one yet longer and more full of anxiety,
+which commenced with supper. The conversation turned to the events
+of the day. Otto mingled in it, and endeavored therefrom to derive
+advantage; it was a martyrdom of the soul. Sophie praised highly
+his discovery.
+
+"If Mr. Thostrup had not been here," said she, "then we should
+hardly have discovered the thief. We must thank Mr. Thostrup for
+it, and really for a merry, amusing spectacle."
+
+They joked about it alai laughed, and Otto was obliged to laugh
+also.
+
+"And now she sits up there, like a captive, in the roof!" said he;
+"it must be an uncomfortable night to her!"
+
+"Oh, she sleeps, perhaps, better than some of us others!" said
+Wilhelm: "that will not annoy her!"
+
+"She is confined in the gable chamber, out in the court, is she
+not?" inquired Otto: "there she has not any moonlight."
+
+"Yes, surely she has!" answered Sophie; "it is in the gable to the
+right, hooking toward the wood, that she is confined. We have
+placed her as near to the moon as we could. The gable on the
+uppermost floor is our keep."
+
+"But is it securely locked?" inquired Otto.
+
+"There is a padlock and a great bar outside the door; those she
+cannot force, and no one about the place will do such a piece of
+service for her. They dislike her, every one of them."
+
+They rose up from the table; the bell was just on the stroke of
+eleven.
+
+"But the Baron must play us a little piece!" said the physician.
+
+"Then Mr. Thostrup will sing us the pretty Jutlandish song by
+Steen-Blicher!" exclaimed Louise.
+
+"O yes!" said the mother, and clapped Otto on the shoulder.
+
+Wilhelm played.
+
+"Do sing!" said Wilhelm; all besought him to do so, and Otto sang
+the Jutlandish song for them.
+
+"See, you sang that with the proper humor," said Sophie, and
+clapped her hands in applause. With that all arose, offered to him
+their hands, and Wilhelm whispered to him, yet so that the sisters
+heard it, "This evening you have been right amiable!"
+
+Otto and Wilhelm went to their sleeping-room.
+
+"But, my good friend," said Wilhelm, "what did you really go into
+the garden for? Be so good as to confess to me: you were not
+unwell! You did not go only into the garden! you went into the
+wood, and you remained a long time there! I saw it! You made a
+little visit to the handsome woman while the fiddler was here, did
+you not? I do not trust you so entirely!"
+
+"You are joking!" answered Otto.
+
+"Yes, yes," continued Wilhelm, "she is a pretty little woman. Do
+you not remember how, last year at the mowing-feast, I threw roses
+at her? Now she is Peter Cripple's wife. When she comes with her
+husband then we have, bodily, 'Beauty and the Beast.'"
+
+That which Otto desired was, that Wilhelm should now soon go to
+sleep, and, therefore, he would not contradict him; he confessed
+even that the young wife was handsome, but added that she, as Peter
+Cripple's wife, was to him like a beautiful flower upon which a
+toad had set itself,--it would be disgusting to him to press the
+flower to his lips.
+
+The friends were soon in bed. They bade each other good night, and
+seemed both of them to sleep; and with Wilhelm this was the case.
+
+Otto lay awake; his pulse throbbed violently.
+
+Now the great hall clock struck twelve. All was still, quite still;
+but Otto did not yet dare to raise himself. It struck a quarter
+past the hour. He raised himself slowly, and glanced toward the bed
+where Wilhelm lay. Otto arose and dressed himself, suppressing the
+while his very breathing. A hunting-knife which hung upon the wall,
+and which belonged to Wilhelm, he put in his pocket; and lifted up,
+to take with him, the fire-tongs, with which he intended to break
+the iron staple that held the padlock. Yet once more he looked
+toward Wilhelm, who slept soundly. He opened the door, and went out
+without his shoes.
+
+He looked out from the passage-windows to see if lights were
+visible from any part of the building. All was still; all was in
+repose. That which he now feared most was, that one of the dogs
+might be lying in the lobby, and should begin to bark. But there
+was not one. He mounted up the steps, and went into the upper
+story.
+
+Only once before had he been there; now all was in darkness. He
+felt with his hands before him as he went.
+
+At length he found a narrow flight of stairs which led into a yet
+higher story. The opening at the top was closed, and he was obliged
+to use his whole strength to open it. At length it gave way with a
+loud noise. This was not the proper entrance; that lay on the
+opposite side of the story, and had he gone there he would have
+found it open, whereas this one had not been opened for a long
+time.
+
+The violent efforts which he had made caused him great pain, both
+in his neck and shoulders; but he was now at the very top of the
+building, close before the door he sought, and the moonlight shone
+in through the opening in the roof.
+
+By the help of the hunting-knife and the fire-tongs he succeeded in
+forcing the door, and that without any very considerable noise. He
+looked into a small, low room, upon the floor of which some dirty
+coverlets were thrown.
+
+Sidsel slept deeply and soundly with open mouth. A thick mass of
+hair escaped from beneath her cap, upon her brow; the moonlight
+fell, through the window-pane in the roof, upon her face. Otto
+bowed himself over her and examined the coarse, unpleasing
+features. The thick, black eyebrows appeared only like one
+irregular streak.
+
+"She is my sister!" was the thought which penetrated him. "She lay
+upon the same bosom that I did! The blood in these limbs has
+kinship with that in mine! She was the repelled one, the rejected
+one!"
+
+He trembled with pain and anguish; but it was only for a short
+time.
+
+"Stand up!" cried he, and touched the sleeper.
+
+"Ih, jane dou! [Author's Note: An exclamation among the common
+people of Funen, expressive of terror.] what is it?" cried she,
+half terrified, and fixed her unpleasant eyes wildly upon him.
+
+"Come with me!" said Otto, and his voice trembled as he spoke.
+"German Heinrich waits in the avenue! I will help you out! Hence;
+to-morrow it will be too late!"
+
+"What do you say?" asked she, and still looked at him with a
+bewildered mien.
+
+Otto repeated his words.
+
+"Do you think that I can get away?" asked she, and seized him by
+the arm, as she hastily sprang up.
+
+"Only silently and circumspectly!" said Otto.
+
+"I should not have expected theft from you!" said she. "But tell me
+why you do it?"
+
+Otto trembled; it was impossible for him to tell her his reasons,
+or to express the word,--"Thou art my sister!"
+
+His lips were silent.
+
+"To many a fellow," said she, "have I been kinder than I ought to
+have been, but see whether any of them think about Sidsel! And you
+do it! You who are so fine and so genteel!"
+
+Otto pressed together his eyelids; he heard her speak; an animal
+coarseness mingled itself with a sort of confidential manner which
+was annihilating to him.
+
+"She is my sister!" resounded in his soul.
+
+"Come now! come now!" and, descending the steps, she followed after
+him.
+
+"I know a better way!" said she, as they came to the lowest story.
+She seized his arm and they again descended a flight of steps.
+
+Suddenly a door opened itself, and Louise, still dressed, stepped
+forth with a light. She uttered a faint cry, and her eye riveted
+itself upon the two forms before her.
+
+But still more terribly and more powerfully did this encounter
+operate upon Otto. His feet seemed to fail him, and, for a moment,
+every object moved before his eyes in bright colors. It was the
+moment of his severest suffering. He sprang forth toward Louise,
+seized her hand, and, pale as death, with lifeless, staring eyes,
+half kneeling, besought of her, with an agitated voice:--
+
+"For God's sake, tell no one of that which you have seen! I am
+compelled to serve her--she is my sister! If you betray my secret I
+am lost to this world--I must die! It was not until this evening
+that I knew this to be the case! I will tell you all, but do not
+betray me! And do you prevent tomorrow any pursuit after her! O
+Louise! by the happiness of your own soul feel for the misery of
+mine! I shall destroy myself if you betray me!"
+
+"O God!" stammered Louise. "I will do all--all! I will be silent!
+Conduct her hence, quick, that you may meet with no one!"
+
+She seized Otto's hand; he sank upon his knee before her, and
+looked like a marble image which expressed manly beauty and sorrow.
+
+Louise bent herself with sisterly affection over him; tears flowed
+down her cheeks; her voice trembled, but it was tranquillizing,
+like the consolation of a good angel. With a glance full of
+confidence in her, Otto tore himself away. Sidsel followed him and
+said not a word.
+
+He led her to the lowest story and opened for her, silently, a
+window, through which she could descend to the garden, and thence
+easily reach the avenue where German Heinrich waited for her. To
+have accompanied her any further was unnecessary; it would have
+been venturing too much without any adequate cause. She stood now
+upon the window-sill--Otto put a little money into her hand.
+
+"The Lord is above us!" said he, in a solemn voice. "Never forget
+Him and endeavor to amend your life! All may yet be well!" He
+involuntarily pressed her hand in his. "Have God always in your
+thoughts!" said he.
+
+"I shall get safely away, however," said she, and descended into
+the garden; she nodded, and vanished behind the hedge.
+
+Otto stood for a while and listened whether any noise was heard, or
+whether any dog barked. He feared for her safety. All was still.
+
+Just as sometimes an old melody will suddenly awake in our
+remembrance and sound in our ear, so awoke now a holy text to his
+thoughts. "Lord, if I should take the wings of the morning, and
+should fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, thither thou wouldst
+lead me, and thy right hand would hold me fast! Thou art near to
+us! Thou canst accomplish and thou willest our well-being! Thou
+alone canst help us!"
+
+In silence he breathed his prayer.
+
+He returned to his chamber more composed in mind. Wilhelm seemed to
+sleep; but as Otto approached his bed he suddenly raised himself,
+and looked, inquiringly, around him.
+
+"Who is there?" exclaimed he; "you are dressed! where have you
+been?" He was urgent in his inquiry.
+
+Otto gave a joking reason.
+
+"Let me have your hand!" said he. Otto gave it to him be felt his
+pulse.
+
+"Yes, quite correct!" said he; "the blood is yet in commotion. One
+sees plain enough that there is no concealing things! Here was I
+sleeping in all innocence, and you were running after adventures.
+You wicked bird!"
+
+The thoughts worked rapidly in Otto's soul. If Louise would only be
+silent, no one would dream of the possibility of his having part in
+Sidsel's flight. He must allow Wilhelm quietly to have his joke.
+
+"Was not I right?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"And if now you were so," replied Otto, "will you tell it to any
+one?"
+
+"Do you think that I could do such a thing?" replied Wilhelm; "we
+are all of us only mortal creatures!"
+
+Otto gave him his hand. "Be silent!" he said.
+
+"Yes, certainly," said Wilhelm; and, according to his custom,
+strengthened it with an oath. "Now I have sworn it," said he; "but
+when there is an opportunity you must tell me more about it!"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said Otto, with a deep sigh. Before his friend he
+no longer stood pure and guiltless.
+
+They slept. Otto's sleep was only a hateful dream.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+"...Wie entzückend
+Und süss es ist, in einer schönen Seele,
+Verherrlicht uns zu fühlen, es zu wissen,
+Das uns're Fruede fremde Wangen röthet,
+Und uns're Angst in fremdem Busen zittert,
+Das uns're Leiden fremde Augen nässen."
+                                SCHILLER.
+
+"How pale!" said Wilhelm the next morning to Otto. "Do you see,
+that is what people get by night-wandering?"
+
+"How so?" inquired Otto.
+
+Wilhelm made a jest of it.
+
+"You have been dreaming that!" said Otto.
+
+"How do you mean?" replied Wilhelm; "will you make me fancy that I
+have imagined it? I was really quite awake! we really talked about
+it; I was initiated in it. Actually I have a good mind to give you
+a moral lecture. If it had been me, how you would have preached!"
+
+They were summoned to breakfast. Otto's heart was ready to burst.
+What might he not have to hear? What must he say?
+
+Sophie was much excited.
+
+"Did you, gentlemen, hear anything last night?" she inquired. "Have
+you both slept?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," replied Wilhelm, and looked involuntarily at Otto.
+
+"The bird is flown, however!" said she; "it has made its escape out
+of the dove-cote."
+
+"What bird?" asked Wilhelm.
+
+"Sidsel!" replied she; "and, what is oddest in the whole affair is,
+that Louise has loosed her wings. Louise is quite up to the romantic.
+Think only! she went up in the night to the topmost story, unlocked
+the prison-tower, gave a moral lecture to Sidsel, and after that let
+her go! Then in the morning comes Louise to mamma, relates the whole
+affair, and says a many affecting things!"
+
+"Yes, I do not understand it," said the mother, addressing Louise.
+"How you could have had the courage to go up so late at night, and
+go up to _her_! But it was very beautiful of you! Let her escape!
+it is, as you say, best that she should. We should all of us have
+thought of that last evening!"
+
+"I was so sorry for her!" said Louise; "and by chance it happened
+that I had a great many things to arrange after you were all in
+bed. Everything was so still in the house, it seemed to me as if I
+could hear Sidsel sigh; certainly it was only my own imagination,
+but I could do no other than pity her! she was so unfortunate! Thus
+I let her escape!"
+
+"Are you gone mad?" inquired Wilhelm; "what a history is this? Did
+you go in the night up to the top of the house? That is an
+unseasonable compassion!"
+
+"It was beautiful!" said Otto, bending himself involuntarily, and
+kissing Louise's hand.
+
+"Yes, that is water to his mill!" exclaimed Wilhelm. "I think
+nothing of such things!"
+
+"We will not talk about it to anyone," said the mother. "The
+steward shall not proceed any further in it. We have recovered the
+old silver tankard, and the losing that was my greatest trouble. We
+will thank God that we are well rid of her! Poor thing! she will
+come to an unfortunate end!"
+
+"Are you still unwell, Mr. Thostrup?" said Sophie, and looked at
+him.
+
+"I am a little feverish," replied he. "I will take a very long
+walk, and then I shall be better."
+
+"You should take a few drops," said the lady.
+
+"O, he will come to himself yet!" said Wilhelm; "he must take
+exercise! His is not a dangerous illness."
+
+Otto went into the wood. It was to him a temple of God; his heart
+poured forth a hymn of thanksgiving. Louise had been his good
+angel. He felt of a truth that she would never betray his secret.
+His thoughts clung to her with confidence. "Are you still unwell?"
+Sophie had said. The tones of her voice alone had been like the
+fragrance of healing herbs; in her eye he had felt sympathy and--
+love. "O Sophie!" sighed he. Both sisters were so dear to him.
+
+He entered the garden and went along the great avenue; here he met
+Louise. One might almost have imagined that she had sought for him:
+there was no one but her to be seen in the whole avenue.
+
+Otto pressed her hand to his lips. "You have saved my life!" said
+he.
+
+"Dear Thostrup!" answered she, "do not betray yourself. Yon have
+come happily out of the affair! Thank God! my little part in it has
+concealed the whole. For the rest I have a suspicion. Yes, I cannot
+avoid it. May not the whole be an error? It is possible that she is
+that which you said! Tell me all that you can let me know. From
+this seat we can see everybody who comes into the avenue. No one
+can hear us!"
+
+"Yes, to you alone I can confide it!" said Otto; "to you will I
+tell it."
+
+He now related that which we know about the manufactory, which he
+called the house, in which German Heinrich had first seen him, and
+had tattooed his initials upon his shoulder; their later meeting in
+the park, and afterwards by St. Ander's Cross.
+
+Louise trembled; her glance rested sympathizingly upon Otto's pale
+and handsome countenance. He showed her the letter which had been
+brought to him the last evening, and related to her what Heinrich
+had told him.
+
+"It may be so," said Louise; "but yet I have not been able to lose
+the idea all the morning that you have been deceived. Not one of
+her features resembles yours. Can brother and sister be so
+different as you and she? Yet, be the truth as it may, promise me
+not to think too much about it. There is a good Ruler above who can
+turn all things for the best."
+
+"These horrible circumstances," said Otto, "have robbed me of the
+cheerfulness of my youth. They thrust themselves disturbingly into
+my whole future. Not to Wilhelm--no, not to any one have I been
+able to confide them. You know all! God knows that you were
+compelled to learn them. I leave myself entirely in your hands!"
+
+He pressed her hand silently, and with the earnest glance of
+confidence and truth they looked at each other.
+
+"I shall speedily leave my native country," said Otto. "It may be
+forever. I should return with sorrow to a home where no happiness
+awaited me. I stand so entirely alone in the world!"
+
+"But you have friends," said Louise; "sincere friends. You must
+think with pleasure of returning home to Denmark. My mother loves
+you as if she were your own mother. Wilhelm and Sophie--yes, we
+will consider you as a brother."
+
+"And Sophie?" exclaimed Otto.
+
+"Yes, can you doubt it?" inquired Louise.
+
+"She knows me not as you know me; and if she did?"--He pressed his
+hands before his eyes and burst into tears. "You know all: you know
+more than I could tell her," sighed he. "I am more unfortunate than
+you can believe. Never can I forget her--never!"
+
+"For Heaven's sake compose yourself!" said Louise rising. "Some one
+might come, and you would not be able to conceal your emotion. All
+may yet be well! Confide only in God in heaven!"
+
+"Do not tell your sister that which I have told you. Do not tell
+any one. I have revealed to you every secret which my soul
+contains."
+
+"I will be to you a good sister," said Louise, and pressed his hand.
+
+They silently walked down the avenue.
+
+The sisters slept in the same room.
+
+At night, after Sophie had been an hour in bed, Louise entered the
+chamber.
+
+"Thou art become a spirit of the night," said Sophie. "Where hast
+thou been? Thou art not going up into the loft again to-night, thou
+strange girl? Had it been Wilhelm, Thostrup, or myself who had
+undertaken such a thing, it would have been quite natural; but
+thou"--
+
+"Am I, then, so very different to you all?" inquired Louise. "I
+should resemble my sister less than even Mr. Thostrup resembles
+her. You two are so very different!"
+
+"In our views, in our impulses, we very much resemble each other!"
+said Sophie.
+
+"He is certainly not happy," exclaimed Louise. "We can read it in
+his eyes."
+
+"Yes, but it is precisely that which makes him interesting!" said
+Sophie; "he is thus a handsome shadow-piece in everyday life."
+
+"Thou speakest about it so calmly," said Louise, and bent over her
+sister, "I would almost believe that it was love."
+
+"Love!" exclaimed Sophie, raising herself up in bed, for now
+Louise's words had become interesting to her; "whom dost thou think
+that he loves?"
+
+"Thyself," replied Louise, and seized her sister's hand.
+
+"Perhaps?" returned Sophie. "I also made fun of him! It certainly
+went on better when our cousin was here. Poor Thostrup!"
+
+"And thou, Sophie," inquired Louise, "dost thou return his love?"
+
+"It is a regular confession that thou desirest," replied she. "He
+is in love--that all young men are. Our cousin, I can tell thee,
+said many pretty things to me. Even the Kammerjunker flatters as
+well as he can, the good soul! I have now resolved with myself to
+be a reasonable girl. Believe me, however, Thostrup is in an ill
+humor!"
+
+"If the Kammerjunker were to pay his addresses to you, would you
+accept him?" asked Louise, and seated herself upon her sister's
+bed.
+
+"What can make you think of such a thing?" inquired she. "Hast thou
+heard anything?--Thou makest me anxious! O Louise! I joke, I talk a
+deal; but for all that, believe me, I am not happy!"
+
+They talked about the Kammerjunker, about Otto, and about the
+French cousin. It was late in the night. Large tears stood in
+Sophie's eyes, but she laughed for all that, and ended with a
+quotation from Jean Paul.
+
+Half an hour afterward she slept and dreamed; her round white arm
+lay upon the coverlet, and her lips moved with these words:
+           "With a smile as if an angel
+            Had just then kissed her mouth." [Note: Christian Winther.]
+
+Louise pressed her countenance on the soft pillow, and wept.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+"A swarm of colors, noise and screaming,
+   Music and sights, past any dreaming,
+ The rattle of wheels going late and early,--
+   All draw the looker-on into the hurly-burly."
+                                  TH. OVERSKOU.
+
+A few days passed on. Otto heard nothing of German Heinrich or of
+his sister. Peter Cripple seemed not to be in their confidence. All
+that he knew was, that the letter which he had conveyed to Otto was
+to be unknown to any one beside. As regarded German Heinrich, he
+believed that he was now in another part of tire country; but that
+at St. Knud's fair, in Odense, he would certainly find him.
+
+In Otto's soul there was an extraordinary combating. Louise's
+words, that he had been deceived, gave birth to hopes, which,
+insignificant as the grain of mustard-seed, shot forth green
+leaves.
+
+"May not," thought he, "German Heinrich, to further his own plans,
+have made use of my fear? I must speak with him; he shall swear to
+me the truth."
+
+He compared in thought the unpleasing, coarse features of Sidsel,
+with the image which his memory faintly retained of his little
+sister. She seemed to him as a delicate creature with large eyes.
+He had not forgotten that the people about them had spoken of her
+as of "a kitten that they could hardly keep alive." How then could
+she now be this square-built, singularly plain being, with the
+eyebrows growing together? "I must speak with Heinrich," resolved
+he; "she cannot be my sister! so heavily as that God will not try
+me."
+
+By such thoughts as these his mind became much calmer. There were
+moments when the star of love mirrored itself in his life's sea.
+
+His love for Sophie was no longer a caged bird within his breast;
+its wings were at liberty; Louise saw its release; it was about to
+fly to its goal.
+
+St. Knud's fair was at hand, and on that account the family was
+about to set out for Odense. Eva was the only one who was to remain
+at home. It was her wish to do so.
+
+"Odense is not worth the trouble of thy going to see," said Sophie;
+"but in this way thou wilt never increase thy geographical
+knowledge. In the mean time, however, I shall bring thee a fairing
+--a husband of honey cake, ornamented with almonds."
+
+Wilhelm thought that she should enjoy the passing pleasure, and go
+with them; but Eva prayed to stay, and she had her will.
+
+"There is a deal of pleasure in the world," said Wilhelm, "if
+people will only enjoy it. If one day in Paris is a brilliant
+flower, a day at Odense fair is also a flower. It is a merry,
+charming world that we live in! I am almost ready to say with King
+Valdemar, that if I might keep--yes, I will say, the earth, then
+our Lord might willingly for me keep heaven: there it is much
+better than we deserve; and God knows whether we may not, in the
+other world, have longings after the old world down here!"
+
+"After Odense fair?" asked Sophie ironically.
+
+Otto stood wrapped in his own thoughts. This day, he felt, would be
+one of the most remarkable in his life. German Heinrich must give
+him an explanation. Sophie must do so likewise Could he indeed meet
+with success from them both? Would not sorrow and pain be his
+fairings?
+
+The carriage rolled away.
+
+From the various cross-roads came driving up the carriages of the
+gentry and the peasants; the one drove past the other; and as the
+French and English Channel collects ships from the Atlantic Ocean,
+so did the King's Road those who drove in carriages, those who rode
+on horseback, and those who went on foot.
+
+Behind most of the peasant-vehicles were tied a few horses, that
+went trotting on with them. Mamsells from the farms sat with large
+gloves on their red arms and hands. They held their umbrellas
+before their faces on account of the dust and the sun.
+
+"The Kammerjunker's people must have set off earlier than we," said
+Sophie, "otherwise they would have called for us."
+
+Otto looked inquiringly at her. She thought on the Kammerjunker!
+
+"We shall draw up by Faugde church," said Sophie. "Mr. Thostrup can
+see Kingo's [Author's Note: The Bishop of Funen, who died in 1703.]
+grave--can see where the sacred poet lies. Some true trumpeting
+angels, in whom one can rightly see how heavy the marble is, fly
+with the Bishop's staff and hat within the chapel."
+
+Otto smiled, and she thought also about giving him pleasure.
+
+The church was seen, the grave visited, and they rapidly rolled
+along the King's Road toward Odense, the lofty tower of whose
+cathedral had hailed them at some miles' distance.
+
+We do not require alone from the portrait-painter that he should
+represent the person, but that he should represent him in his
+happiest moment. To the plain as well as to the inexpressive
+countenance must the painter give every beauty which it possesses.
+Every human being has moments in which something intellectual or
+characteristic presents itself. Nature, too, when we are presented
+only with the most barren landscape, has the same moments; light
+and shadow produce these effects. The poet must be like the
+painter; he must seize upon these moments in human life as the
+other in nature.
+
+If the reader were a child who lived in Odense, it would require
+nothing more from him than that he should say the words, "St.
+Knud's fair;" and this, illumined by the beams of the imagination
+of childhood, would stand before him in the most brilliant colors.
+Our description will be only a shadow; it will be that, perhaps,
+which the many will find it to be.
+
+Already in the suburbs the crowd of people, and the outspread
+earthenware of the potters, which entirely covered the trottoir,
+announced that the fair was in full operation.
+
+The carriage drove down from the bridge across the Odense River.
+
+"See, how beautiful it is here!" exclaimed Wilhelm.
+
+Between the gardens of the city and a space occupied as a bleaching
+ground lay the river. The magnificent church of St. Knud, with its
+lofty tower, terminated the view.
+
+"What red house was that?" inquired Otto, when they had lost sight
+of it.
+
+"That is the nunnery!" replied Louise, knowing what thought it was
+which had arisen in his mind.
+
+"There stood in the ancient times the old bishop's palace, where
+Beldenak lived!" said Sophie. "Just opposite to the river is the
+bell-well, where a bell flew out of St. Albani's tower. The well is
+unfathomable. Whenever rich people in Odense die, it rings down
+below the water!"
+
+"It is not a pleasant thought," said Otto, "that it rings in the
+well when they must die."
+
+"One must not take it in that way now!" said Sophie, laughing, and
+turned the subject. "Odense has many lions," continued she, "from a
+king's garden with swans in it to a great theatre, which has this
+in common with La Scala and many Italian ones, that it is built
+upon the ruins of a convent. [Note: That of the Black Brothers.]
+
+"In Odense, aristocracy and democracy held out the longest," said
+Wilhelm, smiling; "yet I remember, in my childhood, that when the
+nobles and the citizens met on the king's birthday at the town-house
+ball, that we danced by ourselves."
+
+"Were not, then, the citizens strong enough to throw the giddy
+nobles out of the window?" inquired Otto.
+
+"You forget, Mr. Thostrup, that you yourself are noble!" said
+Sophie. "I was really the goddess of fate who gave to you your
+genealogical tree."
+
+"You still remember that evening?" said Otto, with a gentle voice,
+and the thoughts floated as gayly in his mind as the crowd of
+people floated up and down in the streets through which they drove.
+
+Somewhere about the middle of the city five streets met; and this
+point, which widens itself out into a little square, is called the Cross
+Street: here lay the hotel to which the family drove.
+
+"Two hours and a quarter too late!" said the Kammerjunker, who came
+out to meet them on the steps. "Good weather for the fair, and good
+horses! I have already been out at the West-gate, and have bought
+two magnificent mares. One of them kicked out behind, and had
+nearly given me a blow on the breast, so that I might have said I
+had had my fairing! Jakoba is paying visits, drinking chocolate,
+and eating biscuits. Mamsell is out taking a view of things. Now
+you know our story."
+
+The ladies went to their chamber, the gentlemen remained in the
+saloon.
+
+"Yes, here you shall see a city and a fair, Mr. Thostrup!" said the
+Kammerjunker, and slapped Otto on the shoulder.
+
+"Odense was at one time my principal chief-city," said Wilhelm;
+"and still St. Knud's Church is the most magnificent I know. God
+knows whether St. Peter's in Rome would make upon me, now that I am
+older, the impression which this made upon me as a child!"
+
+"In St. Knud's Church lies the Mamsell with the cats," said the
+Kammerjunker.
+
+"The bishop's lady, you should say," returned Wilhelm. "The legend
+relates, that there was a lady of a Bishop Mus who loved her cats
+to that degree that she left orders that they should be laid with
+her in the grave. [Author's Note: The remains of the body, as well
+as the skeletons of the cats, are still to be seen in a chapel on
+the western aisle of the church.] We will afterward go and see
+them."
+
+"Yes, both the bishop's lady and the cats," said the Kammerjunker,
+"look like dried fish! Then you must also see the nunnery and the
+military library."
+
+"The Hospital and the House of Correction!" added Wilhelm.
+
+The beating of a drum in the street drew them to the window. The
+city crier, in striped linsey-woolsey jacket and breeches, and with
+a yellow band across his shoulders, stood there, beat upon his
+drum, and proclaimed aloud from a written paper many wonderful
+things which were to be seen in the city.
+
+"He beats a good drum," said the Kammerjunker.
+
+"It would certainly delight Rossini and Spontini to hear the
+fellow!" said Wilhelm. "In fact Odense would be, at New Year's
+time, a city for these two composers. You must know that at that
+season drums and fifes are in their glory. They drum the New Year
+in. Seven or eight little drummers and fifers go from door to door,
+attended by children and old women; at that time they beat both the
+tattoo and the reveille. For this they get a few pence. When the
+New Year is drummed-in in the city they wander out into the
+country, and drum there for bacon and groats. The New Year's
+drumming in lasts until about Easter."
+
+"And then we have new pastimes," said the Kammerjunker.
+
+"Then come the fishers from Stige, [Author's Note: A fishing
+village in Odense Fjord.] with a complete band, and carrying a boat
+upon their shoulders ornamented with a variety of flags. After that
+they lay a board between two boats, and upon this two of the
+youngest and the strongest have a wrestling-match, until one of
+them falls into the water. The last years they both have allowed
+themselves to tumble in. And this has been done in consequence of
+one young man who fell in being so stung by the jeers which his
+fall had occasioned that he left, that same day, the fishing
+village, after which no one saw him. But all the fun is gone now!
+In my boyhood the merriment was quite another thing. It was a fine
+sight when the corporation paraded with their ensign and harlequin
+on the top! And at Easter, when the butchers led about a bullock
+ornamented with ribbons and Easter-twigs, on the back of which was
+seated a little winged boy in a shirt. They had Turkish music, and
+carried flagons with them! See! all that have I outlived, and yet I
+am not so old. Baron Wilhelm must have seen the ornamented ox. Now
+all that is past and gone; people are got so refined! Neither is
+St. Knud's fair that which it used to be."
+
+"For all that, I rejoice that it is not so!" said Wilhelm. "But we
+will go into the market and visit the Jutlanders, who are sitting
+there among the heath with their earthenware. You will stand a
+chance there, Mr. Thostrup, of meeting with an old acquaintance;
+only you must not have home-sickness when you smell the heather and
+hear the ringing of the clattering pots!"
+
+The ladies now entered. Before paying any visits they determined
+upon making the round of the market. The Kammerjunker offered his
+arm to the mother. Otto saw this with secret gladness, and
+approached Sophie. She accepted him willingly as an attendant; they
+must indeed get into the throng.
+
+As in the Middle Ages the various professions had their distinct
+streets and quarters, so had they also here. The street which led
+to the: market place, and which in every-day life was called the
+"Shoemaker Street," answered perfectly to its name. The shoemakers
+had ranged their tables side by side. These, and the rails which
+had been erected for the purpose, were hung over with all kinds of
+articles for the feet; the tables themselves were laden with heavy
+shoes and thick-soled boots. Behind these stood the skillful
+workman in his long Sunday coat, and with his well-brushed felt-hat
+upon his head.
+
+Where the shoemakers' quarter ended that of the hatters' began, and
+with this one was in the middle of the great market-place, where
+tents and booths formed many parallel streets. The booth of
+galanterie wares, the goldsmith's, and the confectioner's, most of
+them constructed of canvas, some few of them of wood, were points
+of great attraction. Round about fluttered ribbons and handkerchiefs;
+round about were noise and bustle. Peasant-girls out of the same
+village went always in a row, seven or eight inseparables, with their
+hands fast locked in each other; it was impossible to break the chain;
+and if people tried to press through them, the whole flock rolled
+together in a heap.
+
+Behind the booths there lay a great space filled with wooden shoes,
+coarse earthenware, turners' and saddlers' work. Upon tables were
+spread out toys, generally rudely made and coarsely painted. All
+around the children assayed their little trumpets, and turned about
+their playthings. The peasant-girls twirled and twisted both the
+work-boxes and themselves many a time before the bargain was
+completed. The air was heavy with all kinds of odors, and was
+spiced with the fragrance of honey-cake.
+
+Here acquaintances met each other-some peasant-maidens, perhaps,
+who had been born in the same village, but since then had been
+separated.
+
+"Good day!" exclaimed they, took each other by the hand, gave their
+arms a swing, and laughed.
+
+"Farewell!"
+
+That was the whole conversation: such a one went on in many places.
+
+"That is the heather!" exclaimed Otto, as he approached the quarter
+where the Jutland potters had their station; "how refreshing is the
+odor!" said he, and stooping down seized a twig fresh and green, as
+if it had been plucked only yesterday.
+
+"Aye, my Jesus though! is not that Mr. Otto!" exclaimed a female
+voice just beside him, and a young Jutland peasantwoman skipped
+across the pottery toward him. Otto knew her. It was the little
+Maria, the eelman's daughter, who, as we may remember at Otto's
+visit to the fisher's, had removed to Ringkjoebing, and had hired
+herself for the hay and cornharvest--the brisk Maria, "the girl,"
+as her father called her. She had been betrothed in Ringkjoebing,
+and married to the rich earthenware dealer, and now had come across
+the salt-water to Odense fair, where she should meet with Mr. Otto.
+
+"Her parents lived on my grandfather's estate," said Otto to
+Sophie, who observed with a smile the young wife's delight in
+meeting with an acquaintance of her childhood. The husband was
+busily employed in selling his wares; he heard nothing of it.
+
+"Nay, but how elegant and handsome you are become!" said the
+young wife: "but see, I knew you again for all that! Grandmother,
+you may believe me, thinks a deal about you! The old body, she is
+so brisk and lively; it does not trouble her a bit that she cannot
+see! You are the second acquaintance that I have met with in the
+fair. It's wonderful how people come here from all parts of the
+world! The players are here too! You still remember the German
+Heinrich? Over there in the gray house, at the corner of the
+market, he is acting his comedy in the gateway."
+
+"I am glad that I have seen you!" said Otto, and nodded kindly.
+"Greet them at home, and the grandmother, for me!"
+
+"Greet them also from me!" said Sophie smiling. "You, Mr. Thostrup,
+must for old acquaintance sake buy something. You ought also to
+give me a fairing: I wish for that great jug there!"
+
+"Where are you staying!" cried Wilhelm, and came back, whilst the
+rest went forward.
+
+"We would buy some earthenware," said Sophie. "Souvenir de Jutland.
+The one there has a splendid picture on it!"
+
+"You shall have it!" said Otto. "But if I requested a fairing from
+you, I beseech of you, might I say"--
+
+"That it possibly might obtain its worth from my hand," said
+Sophie, smiling. "I understand you very well--a sprig of heather? I
+shall steal!" said she to the young wife, as she took a little
+sprig of heath and stuck it into his buttonhole. "Greet the
+grandmother for me!"
+
+Otto and Sophie went.
+
+"That's a very laughing body!" said the woman half aloud, as she
+looked after them; her glance followed Otto, she folded her hands--
+she was thinking, perhaps, on the days of her childhood.
+
+At St. Knud's church-yard Otto and Sophie overtook the others. They
+were going into the church. On the fair days this and all the tombs
+within it were open to the public.
+
+From whichever side this church is contemplated from without, the
+magnificent old building has, especially from its lofty tower and
+spire, something imposing about it; the interior produces the same,
+nay, perhaps a greater effect. But as the principal entrance is
+through the armory, and the lesser one is from the side of the
+church, its full impression is not felt on entering it; nor is it
+until you arrive at the end of the great aisle that you are aware
+rightly of its grandeur. All there is great, beautiful, and light.
+The whole interior is white with gilding. Aloft on the high-vaulted
+roof there shine, and that from the old time, many golden stars. On
+both sides, high up, higher than the side-aisles of the church, are
+large Gothic windows, from which the light streams down. The
+side-aisles are adorned with old paintings, which represent whole
+families, women and children, all clad in canonicals, in long robes
+and large ruffs. In an ordinary way, the figures are all ranged
+according to age, the oldest first, and then down to the very least
+child, and stand with folded hands, and look piously with downcast
+eyes and faces all in one direction, until by length of time the
+colors have all faded away.
+
+Just opposite to the entrance of the church may be seen, built into
+the wall, a stone, on which is a bas-relief, and before it a grave.
+This attracted Otto's attention.
+
+"It is the grave of King John and of Queen Christina, of Prince
+Francesco and of Christian the Second," said Wilhelm; "they lie
+together in a small vault!" [Author's Note: On the removal of the
+church of the Grey Brothers, the remains of these royal parents and
+two of their children were collected in a coffin and placed here in
+St. Knud's Church. The memorial stone, of which we have spoken, was
+erected afterwards.]
+
+"Christian the Second!" exclaimed Otto. "Denmark's wisest and
+dearest king!"
+
+"Christian the Bad!" said the Kammerjunker, amazed at the tone of
+enthusiasm in which Otto had spoken.
+
+"Christian the Bad!" repeated Otto; "yes, it is now the mode to
+speak of him thus, but we should not do so. We ought to remember
+how the Swedish and Danish nobles behaved themselves, what
+cruelties they perpetrated, and that we have the history of
+Christian the Second from one of the offended party. Writers
+flatter the reigning powers. A prince must have committed crimes,
+or have lost his power, if his errors are to be rightly presented
+to future generations. People forget that which was good in
+Christian, and have painted the dark side of his character, to the
+formation of which the age lent its part."
+
+The Kammerjunker could not forget the Swedish bloodbath, the
+execution of Torben Oxe, and all that can be said against the
+unfortunate king.
+
+Otto drove him completely out of the field, in part from his
+enthusiasm for Christian the Second, but still more because it was
+the Kammerjunker with whom he was contending. Sophie took Otto's
+side, her eye sparkled applause, and the victory could not be other
+than his.
+
+"What is it that the poet said of the fate of a king?" said Sophie.
+                              "Woe's me for him
+   Who to the world shows more of ill than good!
+   The good each man ascribes unto himself,
+   Whilst on him only rest the crimes o' th' age."
+
+"Had Christian been so fortunate as to have subdued the rebellious
+nobles," continued Otto, "could he have carried out his bold plans,
+then they would have called him Christian the Great: it is not the
+active mind, but the failure in any design, which the world
+condemns."
+
+Louise nevertheless took the side of the Kammerjunker, and
+therefore these two went together up the aisle toward the tomb of
+the Glorup family. Wilhelm and his mother were already gone out of
+the church.
+
+"I envy you your eloquence!" said Sophie, and looked with an
+expression of love into Otto's face; she bent herself over the
+railing around the tomb, and looked thoughtfully upon the stone.
+Thoughts of love were animated in Otto's soul.
+
+"Intellect and heart!" exclaimed he, "must admire that which is
+great: you possess both these!" He seized her hand.
+
+A faint crimson passed over Sophie's cheeks. "The others are gone
+out!" she said; "come, let us go up to the chancel."
+
+"Up to the altar!" said Otto; "that is a bold course for one's
+whole life!"
+
+Sophie looked jestingly at him. "Do you see the monument there
+within the pillars?" asked she after a short pause; "the lady with
+the crossed arms and the colored countenance? In one night she
+danced twelve knights to death, the thirteenth, whom she had
+invited for her partner, cut her girdle in two in the dance and she
+fell dead to the earth!" [Author's Note: In Thiele's Danish Popular
+Tradition it is related that she was one Margrethe Skofgaard of
+Sanderumgaard, and that she died at a ball, where she had danced to
+death twelve knights. The people relate it with a variation as
+above; it is probable that it is mingled with a second tradition,
+for example, that of the blood-spots at Koldinghuus, which relates
+that an old king was so angry with his daughter that he resolved to
+kill her, and ordered that his knights should dance with her one
+after another until the breath was out of her. Nine had danced with
+her, and then came up the king himself as the tenth, and when he
+became weary he cut her girdle in two, on which the blood streamed
+from her mouth and she died.]
+
+"She was a northern Turandot!" said Otto; "the stony heart itself
+was forced to break and bleed. There is really a jest in having the
+marble painted. She stands before future ages as if she lived--a
+stone image, white and red, only a mask of beauty. She is a warning
+to young ladies!"
+
+"Yes, against dancing!" said Sophie, smiling at Otto's
+extraordinary gravity.
+
+"And yet it must be a blessed thing," exclaimed he, "a very blessed
+thing, amid pealing music, arm-in-arm with one's beloved, to be
+able to dance life away, and to sink bleeding before her feet!"
+
+"And yet only to see that she would dance with a new one!" said
+Sophie.
+
+"No, no!" exclaimed Otto, "that you could not do! that you will not
+do! O Sophie, if you knew!"--He approached her still nearer, bent
+his head toward her, and his eye had twofold fire and expression in
+it.
+
+"You must come with us and see the cats!" said the Kammerjunker,
+and sprang in between them.
+
+"Yes, it is charming!" said Sophie. "You will have an opportunity,
+Mr. Thostrup, of moralizing over the perishableness of female
+beauty!"
+
+"In the evening, when we drive home together," thought Otto to
+himself consolingly, "in the mild summer-evening no Kammerjunker
+will disturb me. It must, it shall be decided! Misfortune might
+subject the wildness of childhood, but it gave me confidence, it
+never destroyed my independence; Love has made me timid,--has made
+me weak. May I thereby win a bride?"
+
+Gravely and with a dark glance he followed after Sophie and her
+guide.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+"In vain his beet endeavors were;
+Dull was the evening, and duller grew."--LUDOLF SCHLEF.
+
+"Seest thou how its little life
+  The bird hides in the wood?
+Wilt thou be my little wife--
+  Then do it soon. Good!
+--A bridegroom am I."--Arion.
+
+Close beside St. Knud's Church, where once the convent stood, is
+now the dwelling of a private man. [Author's Note: See Oehlenschläger's
+Jorney to Funen.] The excellent hostess here, who once charmed the
+public on the Danish stage as Ida Munster, awaited the family to dinner.
+
+After dinner they wandered up and down the garden, which extended
+to the Odense River.
+
+In the dusk of evening Otto went to visit the German Heinrich; he
+had mentioned it to Louise, and she promised to divert attention from
+him whilst he was away.
+
+The company took coffee in the garden-house; Otto walked in deep
+thought in the avenue by the side of the river. The beautiful scene
+before him riveted his eye. Close beside lay a water-mill, over the
+two great wheels of which poured the river white as milk. Behind
+this was thrown a bridge, over which people walked and drove. The
+journeyman-miller stood upon the balcony, and whistled an air. It
+was such a picture as Christian Winther and Uhland give in their
+picturesque poems. On the other side of the mill arose tall poplars
+half-buried in the green meadow, in which stood the nunnery; a nun
+had once drowned herself where now the red daisies grow.
+
+A strong sunlight lit up the whole scene. All was repose and summer
+warmth. Suddenly Otto's ear caught the deep and powerful tones of
+an organ; he turned himself round. The tones, which went to his
+heart, came from St. Knud's Church, which lay close beside the
+garden. The sunshine of the landscape, and the strength of the
+music, gave, as it were, to him light and strength for the darkness
+toward which he was so soon to go.
+
+The sun set; and Otto went alone across the market-place toward the
+old corner house, where German Heinrich practiced his arts. Upon
+this place stood St. Albani's Church, where St. Knud, betrayed by
+his servant Blake, [Author's Note: Whence has arisen the popular
+expression of "being a false Blake."] was killed by the tumultuous
+rebels. The common people believe that from one of the deep cellars
+under this house proceeds a subterranean passage to the so-called
+"Nun's Hill." At midnight the neighboring inhabitants still hear a
+roaring under the marketplace, as if of the sudden falling of a
+cascade. The better informed explain it as being a concealed
+natural water-course, which has a connection with the neighboring
+river. In our time the old house is become a manufactory; the
+broken windows, the gaps of which are repaired either with slips of
+wood or with paper, the quantity of human bones which are found in
+the garden, and which remain from the time when this was a church-yard,
+give to the whole place a peculiar interest to the common people of
+Odense.
+
+Entering the house at the front, it is on the same level as the
+market-place; the back of the house, on the contrary, descends
+precipitously into the garden, where there are thick old walls and
+foundations. The situation is thus quite romantic; just beside it
+is the old nunnery, with its dentated gables, and not far off the
+ruins, in whose depths the common people believe that there resides
+an evil being, "the river-man," who annually demands his human
+sacrifice, which he announces the night before. Behind this lie
+meadows, villas, and green woods.
+
+On the other side of the court, in a back gate-way, German Heinrich
+had set up his theatre. The entrance cost eight skillings; people
+of condition paid according to their own will.
+
+Otto entered during the representation. A cloth constituted the
+whole scenic arrangement. In the middle of the floor sat a horrible
+goblin, with a coal-black Moorish countenance and crispy hair upon
+its head. An old bed-cover concealed the figure, yet one saw that
+it was that of a woman.
+
+The audience consisted of peasants and street boys. Otto kept
+himself in the background, and remained unobserved by Heinrich.
+
+The representation was soon at an end, and the crowd dispersed. It
+was then that Otto first came forward.
+
+"We must speak a few words together!" said he. "Heinrich, you have
+not acted honestly by me! The girl is not that which you
+represented her to be; you have deceived me: I demand an
+explanation!"
+
+German Heinrich stood silent, but every feature eloquently
+expressed first amazement, and then slyness and cunning; his
+knavish, malicious eye, measured Otto from top to toe.
+
+"Nay; so then, Mr. Thostrup, you are convinced, are you, that I
+have been cheating you?" said he. "If so, why do you come to me? In
+that case there needs no explanation. Ask herself there!" And so
+saying he pointed to the black-painted figure.
+
+"Do not be too proud, Otto!" said she, smiling; "thou couldst yet
+recognize thy sister, although she has a little black paint on her
+face!"
+
+Otto riveted a dark, indignant glance upon her, pressed his lips
+together, and tried to collect himself. "It is my firm determination
+to have the whole affair searched into," said he, with constrained
+calmness.
+
+"Yes, but it will bring you some disagreeables!" said Heinrich, and
+laughed scornfully.
+
+"Do not laugh in that manner when I speak to you!" said Otto, with
+flushing cheeks.
+
+Heinrich leaned himself calmly against the door which led into the
+garden.
+
+"I am acquainted with the head of the police," said Otto, "and I
+might leave the whole business in his hands. But I have chosen a
+milder way; I am come myself. I shall very soon leave Denmark; I
+shall go many hundred miles hence shall, probably, never return;
+and thus you see the principal ground for my coming to you is a
+whim: I will know wherefore you have deceived me; I will know what
+is the connection between you and her."
+
+"Nay; so, then, it is _that_ that you want to know?" said Heinrich,
+with a malicious glance. "Yes, see you, she is my best beloved; she
+shall be my wife: but your sister she is for all that, and that
+remains so!"
+
+"Thou couldst easily give me a little before thou settest off on
+thy journey!" said Sidsel, who seemed excited by Heinrich's words,
+and put forth her painted face.
+
+Otto glanced at her with contracted eyebrows.
+
+"Yes," said she, "I say 'thou' to thee: thou must accustom thyself
+to that! A sister may have, however, that little bit of pleasure!"
+
+"Yes, you should give her your hand!" said Heinrich, and laughed.
+
+"Wretch!" exclaimed Otto, "she is not that which you say! I will
+find out my real sister! I will have proof in hand of the truth! I
+will show myself as a brother; I will care for her future! Bring to
+me her baptismal register; bring to me one only attestation of its
+reality--and that before eight days are past! Here is my address,
+it is the envelope of a letter; inclose in it the testimonial which
+I require, and send it to me without delay. But prove it, or you
+are a greater villain than I took you for."
+
+"Let us say a few rational words!" said Heinrich, with a constrained,
+fawning voice. "If you will give to me fifty rix-dollars, then you
+shall never have any more annoyance with us! See, that would be a
+great deal more convenient."
+
+"I abide by that which I have said!" answered Otto; "we will not
+have any more conversation together!" And so saying, he turned him
+round to go out.
+
+Heinrich seized him by the coat.
+
+"What do you want?" inquired Otto.
+
+"I mean," said Heinrich, "whether you are not going to think about
+the fifty rix-dollars?"
+
+"Villain!" cried Otto, and, with the veins swelling in his
+forehead, he thrust Heinrich from him with such force, that he fell
+against the worm eaten door which led into the garden; the panel of
+the door fell out, and had not Heinrich seized fast hold on some
+firm object with both his hands, he must have gone the same way.
+Otto stood for a moment silent, with flashing eyes, and threw the
+envelope, on which his address was, at Heinrich's feet, and went
+out.
+
+When Otto returned to the hotel, he found the horses ready to be
+put to the carriage.
+
+"Have you had good intelligence?" whispered Louise.
+
+"I have in reality obtained no more than I had before!" replied he;
+"only my own feelings more strongly convince me than ever that I
+have been deceived by him."
+
+He related to her the short conversation which had taken place.
+
+The Kammerjunker's carriage was now also brought out; in this was
+more than sufficient room for two, whereas in the other carriage
+they had been crowded. The Kammerjunker, therefore, besought that
+they would avail themselves of the more convenient seat which he
+could offer; and Otto saw Sophie and her mother enter the
+Kammerjunker's carriage. This arrangement would shortly before have
+confounded Otto, now it had much less effect upon him. His mind was
+so much occupied by his visit to German Heinrich, his soul was
+filled with a bitterness, which for the moment repelled the impulse
+which he had felt to express his great love for Sophie.
+
+"I have been made Heinrich's plaything--his tool!" thought he. "Now
+he ridicules me, and I am compelled to bear it! That horrible being
+is not my sister!--she cannot be so!"
+
+The street was now quiet. They mounted into the carriage. In the
+corner house just opposite there was a great company; light
+streamed through the long curtains, a low tenor voice and a high
+ringing soprano mingled together in Mozart's "Audiam, audiam, mio
+bene."
+
+"The bird may not flutter from my heart!" sighed Otto, and seated
+himself by the side of Louise. The carriage rolled away.
+
+The full moon shone; the wild spiraea sent forth its odor from the
+road side; steam ascended from the moor-lands; and the white mist
+floated over the meadows like the daughters of the elfin king.
+
+Louise sat silent and embarrassed; trouble weighed down her heart.
+Otto was also silent.
+
+The Kammerjunker drove in first, cracked his whip, and struck up a
+wild halloo.
+
+Wilhelm began to sing, "Charming the summer night," and the
+Kammerjunker joined in with him.
+
+"Sing with us man," cried Wilhelm to the silent Otto, and quickly
+the two companies were one singing caravan.
+
+It was late when they reached the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+"Destiny often pulls off leaves, as we treat the vine, that its
+fruits may be earlier brought to maturity."--JEAN PAUL.
+
+It was not until toward morning that Otto fell into sleep. Wilhelm
+and he were allowed to take their own time in rising, and thus it
+was late in the day before these two gentlemen made their
+appearance at the breakfast-table; the Kammerjunker was already
+come over to the hall, and now was more adorned than common.
+
+"Mr. Thostrup shall be one of the initiated!" said the mother. "It
+will be time enough this evening for strangers to know of it. The
+Kammerjunker and my Sophie are betrothed."
+
+"See, it was in the bright moonlight, Mr. Thostrup, that I became
+such a happy man!" said the Kammerjunker, and kissed the tips of
+Sophie's fingers. He offered his other hand to Otto.
+
+Otto's countenance remained unchanged, a smile played upon his
+lips. "I congratulate you!" said he; "it is indeed a joyful day! If
+I were a poet, I would give you an ode!"
+
+Louise looked at him with an extraordinary expression of pain in
+her countenance.
+
+Wilhelm called the Kammerjunker brother-in-law, and smiling shook
+both his hands.
+
+Otto was unusually gay, jested, and laughed. The ladies went to
+their toilet, Otto into the garden.
+
+He had been so convinced in his own mind that Sophie returned his
+passion. With what pleasure had she listened to him! with what an
+expression had her eye rested upon him! Her little jests had been
+to him such convincing proofs that the hope which he nourished was
+no self-delusion. She was the light around which his thoughts had
+circled. Love to her was to him a good angel, which sung to him
+consolation and life's gladness in his dark moments.
+
+Now, all was suddenly over. It was as if the angel had left him;
+the flame of love which had so entirely filled his soul, was in a
+moment extinguished to its last spark. Sophie was become a stranger
+to him; her intellectual eye, which smiled in love on the
+Kammerjunker, seemed to him the soulless eye of the automaton. A
+stupefying indifference went through him, deadly as poison that is
+infused into the human blood.
+
+"The vain girl! she thought to make herself more important by
+repelling from her a faithful heart! She should only see how
+changed her image is in my soul. All the weaknesses which my love
+for her made me pass over, now step forth with repulsive features!
+Not a word which she spoke fell to the ground. The diamond has lost
+its lustre; I feel only its sharp corners!"
+
+Sophie had given the preference to a man who, in respect of
+intellect, stood far below Otto! Sophie, who seemed to be
+enthusiastic for art and beauty, for everything glorious in the
+kingdom of mind, could thus have deceived him!
+
+We will now see the sisters in their chamber.
+
+Louise seemed pensive, she sat silently looking before her.
+
+Sophie stood thoughtfully with a smile upon her lips.
+
+"The Kammerjunker is very handsome, however!" exclaimed she: "he
+looks so manly!"
+
+"You ought to find him love-worthy!" said Louise.
+
+"Yes," replied her sister, "I have always admired these strong
+countenances! He is an Axel--a northern blackbearded savage. Faces
+such as Wilhelm's look like ladies'! And he is so good! He has
+said, that immediately after our marriage we shall make a tour to
+Hamburg. What dress do you think I should wear?"
+
+"When you make the journey to Hamburg?" inquired Louise.
+
+"O no, child! to-day I mean. Thostrup was indeed very polite! he
+congratulated me! I felt, however, rather curious when it was told
+to him. I had quite expected a scene! I was almost ready to beg of
+you to tell him first of all. He ought to have been prepared. But
+he was, however, very rational! I should not have expected it from
+him. I really wish him all good, but he is an extraordinary
+character! so melancholy! Do you think that he will take my
+betrothal to heart? I noticed that when I was kissed he turned
+himself suddenly round to the window and played with the flowers. I
+wish that he would soon go! The journey into foreign countries will
+do him good--there he will soon forget his heart's troubles.
+To-morrow I will write to Cousin Joachim; he will also be
+surprised!"
+
+Late in the afternoon came Jakoba, the Mamsell, the preacher, and
+yet a few other guests.
+
+In the evening the table was arranged festively. The betrothed sat
+together, and Otto had the place of honor--he sat on the other side
+of Sophie. The preacher had written a song to the tune of "Be thou
+our social guardian-goddess;" this was sung. Otto's voice sounded
+beautifully and strong; he rang his glass with the betrothed pair,
+and the Kammerjunker said that now Mr. Thostrup must speedily seek
+out a bride for himself.
+
+"She is found," answered Otto; "but now that is yet a secret."
+
+"Health to the bride!" said Sophie, and rung her glass; but soon
+again her intellectual eye rested upon the Kammerjunker, who was
+talking about asparagus and stall-feeding with clover, yet her
+glance brought him back again to the happiness of his love.
+
+It was a very lively evening. Late in the night the party broke up.
+The friends went to their chamber.
+
+"My dear, faithful Otto!" said Wilhelm, and laid his hand on his
+shoulder; "you were very lively and good-humored this evening.
+Continue always thus!"
+
+"I hope to do so," answered Otto: "may we only always have as happy
+an evening as this!"
+
+"Extraordinary man!" said Wilhelm, and shook his head. "Now we will
+soon set out on our journey, and catch for ourselves the happiness
+of the glorious gold bird!"
+
+"And not let it escape again!" exclaimed Otto. "Formerly I used to
+say, To-morrow! to-morrow! now I say, To-day, and all day long!
+Away with fancies and complainings. I now comprehend that which you
+once said to me, that is. Man _can_ be happy if he only _will_ be
+so."
+
+Wilhelm took his hand, and looked into his face with a half-melancholy
+expression.
+
+"Are you sentimental?" inquired Otto.
+
+"I only affect that which I am not!" answered Wilhelm; and with
+that, suddenly throwing off the natural gravity of the moment,
+returned to his customary gayety.
+
+The following days were spent in visiting and in receiving
+visitors. On every post-day Otto sought through the leathern bag of
+the postman, but he found no letter from German Heinrich, and heard
+nothing from him. "I have been deceived," said he, "and I feel
+myself glad about it! She, the horrible one, is not my sister!"
+
+There was a necessity for him to go away, far from home, and yet he
+felt no longing after the mountains of Switzerland or the luxuriant
+beauty of the south.
+
+"Nature will only weaken me! I will not seek after it. Man it is
+that I require: these egotistical, false beings--these lords of
+everything! How we flatter our weaknesses and admire our virtues!
+Whatever serves to advance our own wishes we find to be excellent.
+To those who love us, we give our love in return. At the bottom,
+whom do I love except myself? Wilhelm? My friendship for him is
+built upon the foundation,--I cannot do without thee! Friendship is
+to me a necessity. Was I not once convinced that I adored Sophie,
+and that I never could bear it if she were lost to me? and yet
+there needed the conviction 'She loves thee not,' and my strong
+feeling was dead. Sophie even seems to me less beautiful; I see
+faults where I formerly could only discover amiabilities! Now, she
+is to me almost wholly a stranger. As I am, so are all. Who is
+there that feels right lovingly, right faithfully for me, without
+his own interest leading him to do so? Rosalie? My old, honest
+Rosalie? I grew up before her eyes like a plant which she loved. I
+am dear to her as it! When her canary-bird one morning lay dead in
+its cage, she wept bitterly and long; she should never more hear it
+sing, she should never more look after its cage and its food. It
+was the loss of it which made her weep. She missed that which had
+been interesting to her. I also interested her. Interest is the
+name for that which the world calls love. Louise?" He almost spoke
+the name aloud, and his thoughts dwelt, from a strong combination
+of circumstances, upon it. "She appears to me true, and capable of
+making sacrifices! but is not she also very different from all the
+others? How often have I not heard Sophie laugh at her for it--look
+down upon her!" And Otto's better feeling sought in vain for a
+shadow of self-love in Louise, a single selfish motive for her
+noble conduct.
+
+"Away from Denmark! to new people! Happy he who can always be on
+the wing, making new friendships, and speedily breaking them off!
+At the first meeting people wear their intellectual Sunday apparel;
+every point of light is brought forth; but soon and the festival-day
+is over, and the bright points have vanished."
+
+"We will set off next week!" said Wilhelm, "and then it shall be--
+    'Over the rushing blue waters away!
+     We will speed along shores that are verdant and gay!'
+Away over the moors, up the Rhine, through the land of champagne to
+the city of cities, the life-animating Paris!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+"A maiden stood musing, gentle and mild. I grasped the hand of the
+friendly child, but the lovely fawn shyly disappeared. ... From
+the Rhine to the Danish Belt, beautiful and lovely maidens are
+found in palaces and tents; yet nobody pleases me."--SCHMIDT VON LÜBECK.
+
+The last day at home was Sophie's birthday. In the afternoon the
+whole family was invited to the Kammerjunker's, where Jakoba and
+the Mamsell were to be quite brilliant in their cookery.
+
+A table filled with presents, all from the Kammerjunker, awaited
+Miss Sophie; it was the first time that he had ever presented to
+her a birthday gift, and he had now, either out of his own head or
+somebody's else, fallen on the very good idea of making her a
+present for every year which she had lived. Every present was
+suited to the age for which it was intended, and thus he began with
+a paper of sugar-plums and ended with silk and magnificent fur;
+but between beginning and end there were things, of which more than
+the half could be called solid: gold ear-rings, a boa, French
+gloves, and a riding-horse. This last, of course, could not stand
+upon the table. It was a joy and a happiness; people walked about,
+and separated themselves by degrees into groups.
+
+The only one who was not there was Eva. She always preferred
+remaining at home; and yet, perhaps, to-day she might have allowed
+herself to have been overpersuaded, had she not found herself so
+extremely weak.
+
+Silently and alone she now sat at home in the great empty parlor.
+It was in the twilight; she had laid down her work, and her
+beautiful, thoughtful eyes looked straight before her: thoughts
+which we may not unveil were agitating her breast.
+
+Suddenly the door opened, and Wilhelm stood before her. Whilst the
+others were walking he had stolen away. He knew that Eva was alone
+at home; nobody would know that he visited her, nobody would dream
+of their conversation.
+
+"You here!" exclaimed Eva, when she saw him.
+
+"I was compelled to come," answered he. "I have slipped away from
+the others; no one knows that I am here. I must speak with you,
+Eva. To-morrow I set off; but I cannot leave home calmly and
+happily without knowing--what this moment must decide."
+
+Eva rose, her checks crimsoned, she cast down her eyes.
+
+"Baron Wilhelm!" stammered she, "it is not proper that I should
+remain here!" She was about to leave the room.
+
+"Eva!" said Wilhelm, and seized her hand, "you know that I love
+you! My feelings are honorable! Say Yes, and it shall be holy to me
+as an oath. Then I shall begin my journey glad at heart, as one
+should do. Your assent shall stand in my breast, shall sound in my
+ear, whenever sin and temptation assail me! It will preserve me in
+an upright course, it will bring me back good and unspoiled. My
+wife must you be! You have soul, and with it nobility! Eva! in
+God's name, do not make a feeble, life-weary, disheartened being of
+me!"
+
+"O Heavens!" exclaimed she, and burst into tears, "I cannot, and--
+will not! You forget that I am only a poor girl, who am indebted
+for everything to your mother! My assent would displease her, and
+some time or other you would repent of it! I cannot!--I do not love
+you!" added she, in a tremulous voice.
+
+Wilhelm stood speechless.
+
+Eva suddenly rang the bell.
+
+"What are you doing?" exclaimed he.
+
+The servant entered.
+
+"Bring in lights!" said she; "but first of all you must assist me
+with these flowers down into the garden. It will do them good to
+stand in the dew."
+
+The servant did as she bade; she herself carried down one of the
+pots, and left the room.
+
+"I do not love you!" repeated Wilhelm to himself, and returned to
+the company which he had left, and where he found all gayety and
+happiness.
+
+The supper-table was spread in the garden; lights burned in the
+open air with a steady flame; it was a summer-evening beautiful as
+the October of the South; the reseda sent forth its fragrance; and
+when Sophie's health was drunk cannon were fired among the lofty
+fir-trees, the pines of the North.
+
+The next morning those countenances were dejected which the evening
+before had been so gay. The carriage drew up to the door. The dear
+mother and sisters wept; they kissed Wilhelm, and extended their
+hands to Otto.
+
+"Farewell!" said Louise; "do not forget us!" and her tearful glance
+rested upon Otto. Eva stood silent and pale.
+
+"You will not forget me!" whispered Otto, as he seized Louise's
+hand. "I will forget your sister!"
+
+The carriage rolled away; Wilhelm threw himself back into a corner.
+Otto looked back once more; they all stood at the door, and waved
+their white handkerchiefs.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII
+
+"In one short speaking silence all conveys--
+And looks a sigh, and weeps without a tear."
+                             MRS. BROWNING.
+
+"Forgive us our debts as we
+  The debts of others forgive;
+And lead us not in tempting ways;
+  Apart from evil let us live."
+              A. VON CHAMISSO.
+
+We will not accompany the friends, but will remain behind in Funen,
+where we will make a bolder journey than they, namely, we will go
+back one-and-twenty years. We will allow the circumstances of
+Otto's birth again to come before us. It is a leap backward that we
+take from 1830 to 1810. We are in Odense, that old city, which
+takes its name from Odin.
+
+The common people there have still a legend about the origin of the
+name of the city. Upon Naesbyhoved's Hill [Author's Note: Not far
+from the city, by the Odense Channel; it is described in Wedel
+Simonsen's City Ruins.] there once stood a castle; here lived King
+Odin and his wife: Odense city was not then in existence, but the
+first building of it was then begun. [Author's Note: The place is
+given as being that of the now so-called Cross Street.] The court
+was undecided as to the name which should be given to the city.
+After long indecision it was at last agreed that the first word
+which either King or Queen should speak the next morning should be
+the name given to it. In the early morning the Queen awoke and
+looked out from her window over the wood. The first house in the
+city was erected to the roof, and the builders had hung up a great
+garland, glittering with tinsel, upon the rooftree. "Odin, see!"
+exclaimed the Queen; and thenceforward the city was called Odensee,
+which name, since then, has been changed by daily speech to Odense.
+
+When people ask the children in Copenhagen whence they have come,
+they reply, out of the Peblingsöe. The little children of Odense,
+who know nothing about the Peblingsöe, say that they are fetched
+out of Rosenbaek, a little brook which has only been ennobled
+within the few last years, just as in Copenhagen is the case with
+Krystal Street, which formerly had an unpleasant name. This brook
+runs through Odense, and must, in former times, when united with
+the Odense River, have formed an island where the city at that time
+stood; hence some people derive the name of Odense from Odins Ei,
+or Odins Ö, that is, Odin's Island. Be it then as it might, the
+brook flows now, and in 1810, when the so-called Willow-dam, by the
+West Gate, was not filled up, it stood, especially in spring, low
+and watery. It often overflowed its banks, and in so doing
+overflowed the little gardens which lay on either side. It thus ran
+concealed through the city until near the North Gate, where it made
+its appearance for a moment and then dived again in the same
+street, and, like a little river, flowed through the cellars of the
+old justice-room, which was built by the renowned Oluf Bagger.
+[Author's Note: He was so rich that once, when Frederick the Second
+visited him, he had the room heated with cinnamon chips. Much may
+be found about this remarkable man in the second collection of
+Thiele's Popular Danish Legends. His descendants still live in
+Odense, namely, the family of the printer Ch. Iversen, who has
+preserved many curiosities which belonged to him.]
+
+It was an afternoon in the summer of 1810; the water was high in
+the brook, yet two washerwomen were busily employed in it; reed-matting
+was fast bound round their bodies, and they beat with wooden staves
+the clothes upon their washing-stools. They were in deep conversation,
+and yet their labor went on uninterruptedly.
+
+"Yes," said one of them, "better a little with honor, than much
+with dishonor. She is sentenced; to-morrow she is to go about in
+the pillory. That is sure and certain! I know it from the
+trumpeter's Karen, and from the beggar-king's [Author's Note:
+Overseer of the poor.] wife: neither of them go about with lies."
+
+"Ih, my Jesus!" exclaimed the other, and let her wooden beater
+fall, "is Johanne Marie to go in the pillory, the handsome girl?
+she that looked so clever and dressed herself so well?"
+
+"Yes, it is a misfortune!" said the first; "a great misfortune it
+must be! No, let every one keep his own! say I every day to my
+children. After the sweet claw comes the bitter smart. One had much
+better work till the blood starts from the finger-ends."
+
+"Ih, see though!" said the other; "there goes the old fellow,
+Johanne Marie's father. He is an honest man; he was so pleased with
+his daughter, and to-morrow he must himself bind her to the
+pillory! But can she really have stolen?"
+
+"She has herself confessed," returned she; "and the Colonel is
+severe. I fancy the Gevaldiger is going there."
+
+"The Colonel should put the bridle on his own son. He is a bad
+fellow! Not long ago, when I was washing yarn there, and was merry,
+as I always am, he called me 'wench.' If he had said 'woman,' I
+should not have troubled myself about it, for it has another
+meaning; but 'wench,' that is rude! Ei, there sails the whole
+affair!" screamed she suddenly, as the sheet which she had wound
+round the washing-stool got loose and floated down the stream: she
+ran after it, and the conversation was broken off.
+
+The old man whom they had seen and compassionated, went into a
+great house close by, where the Colonel lived. His eyes were cast
+upon the ground; a deep, silent suffering lay in his wrinkled face;
+he gently pulled at the bell, and bowed himself deeply before the
+black-appareled lady who opened to him the door.
+
+We know her--it was the old Rosalie, then twenty years younger than
+when we saw her upon the western coast of Jutland.
+
+"Good old man!" said she, and laid her hand kindly on his shoulder.
+"Colonel Thostrup is severe, but he is not, however, inhuman; and
+that he would be if he let you tomorrow do your office. The Colonel
+has said that the Gevaldiger should stay at home."
+
+"No!" said the old man, "our Lord will give me strength. God be
+thanked that Johanne Marie's mother has closed her eyes: she will
+not see the misery! We are not guilty of it!"
+
+"Honest man!" said Rosalie. "Johanne was always so good and clever;
+and now"--she shook her head--"I would have sworn for her, but she
+has confessed it herself!"
+
+"The law must have its course!" said the old man, and tears
+streamed down his cheeks.
+
+At that moment the door opened, and Colonel Thostrup, a tall, thin
+man, with a keen eye, stood before them. Rosalie left the room.
+
+"Gevaldiger," said the Colonel, "to-morrow you will not be required
+to act in your office."
+
+"Colonel," returned the old man, "it is my duty to be there, and,
+if I may say a few words, people would speak ill of me if I kept
+away."
+
+On the following forenoon, from the early morning, the square where
+lay the council-house and head-watch, was filled with people; they
+were come to see the handsome girl led forth in the pillory. The
+time began to appear long to them, and yet no sign was seen of that
+which they expected. The sentinel, who went with measured step
+backward and forward before the sentry-box, could give no
+intelligence. The door of the council-house was closed, and
+everything gave occasion to the report which suddenly was put into
+circulation, that the handsome Johanne Marie had been for a whole
+hour in the pillory within the council-house, and thus they should
+have nothing at all to see. Although it is entirely opposed to
+sound reason that punishment should be inflicted publicly, it met
+with much support, and great dissatisfaction was excited.
+
+"That is shabby!" said a simple woman, in whom we may recognize one
+of the washerwomen; "it is shabby thus to treat the folks as if
+they were fools! Yesterday I slaved like a horse, and here one has
+stood two whole hours by the clock, till I am stiff in the legs,
+without seeing anything at all!"
+
+"That is what I expected," said another woman; "a fair face has
+many friends! She has known how to win the great people to her
+side!"
+
+"Do not you believe," inquired a third, "that she has been good
+friends with the Colonels son?"
+
+"Yes; formerly I would have said No, because she always looked so
+steady, and against her parents there is not a word to be said; but
+as she has stolen, as we know she has, she may also have been
+unsteady. The Colonel's son is a wild bird; riots and drinks does
+he in secret! We others know more than his father does: he had held
+too tight a hand over him. Too great severity causes bad blood!"
+
+"God help me, now it begins!" interrupted another woman, as a
+detachment of soldiers marched out of the guard-house, and at some
+little distance one from the other inclosed an open space. The door
+of the council-house now opened, and two officers of police,
+together with some of the guard, conducted out the condemned, who
+was placed in the pillory. This was a sort of wooden yoke laid
+across the shoulders of the delinquent; a piece of wood came
+forward from this into which her hands were secured: above all
+stood two iron bars, to the first of which was fastened a little
+bell; to the other a long fox's tail, which hung down the lack of
+the condemned.
+
+The girl seemed hardly more than nineteen, and was of an unusually
+beautiful figure; her countenance was nobly and delicately formed,
+but pale as death: yet there was no expression either of suffering
+or shame,--she seemed like the image of a penitent, who meekly
+accomplishes the imposed penance.
+
+Her aged father, the Gevaldiger, followed her slowly; his eye was
+determined; no feature expressed that which went forward in his
+soul: he silently took his place beside one of the pillars before
+the guard house.
+
+A loud murmur arose among the crowd when they saw the beautiful
+girl and the poor old father, who must himself see his daughter's
+disgrace.
+
+A spotted dog sprang into the open space; the girl's monotonous
+tread, as she advanced into the middle of the square, the ringing
+of the little bell, and the fox-tail which moved in the wind,
+excited the dog, which began to bark, and wanted to bite the fox's
+tail. The guards drove the dog away, but it soon came back again,
+although it did not venture again into the circle, but thrust
+itself forward, and never ceased barking.
+
+Many of those who already had been moved to compassion by the
+beauty of the girl and the sight of the old father, were thrown
+again by this incident into a merry humor; they laughed and found
+the whole thing very amusing.
+
+The hour was past, and the girl was now to be released. The
+Gevaldiger approached her, but whilst he raised his hand to the
+yoke the old man tottered, and sank, in the same moment, back upon
+the hard stone pavement.
+
+A shriek arose from those who stood around; the young girl alone
+stood silent and immovable; her thoughts seemed to be far away. Yet
+some people fancied they saw how she closed her eyes, but that was
+only for a moment. A policeman released her from the pillory, her
+old father was carried into the guard-house, and two policemen led
+her into the council-house.
+
+"See, now it is over!" said an old glover, who was among the
+spectators; "the next time she'll get into the House of Correction."
+
+"O, it is not so bad there," answered another; "they sing and are
+merry there the whole day long, and have no need to trouble
+themselves about victuals."
+
+"Yes, but that is prison fare."
+
+"It is not so bad--many a poor body would thank God for it; and
+Johanne Marie would get the best of it. Her aunt is the head-cook,
+and the cook and the inspector they hang together. It's my opinion,
+however, that this affair will take the life out of the old man. He
+got a right good bump as he fell on the stone-pavement; one could
+hear how it rung again."
+
+The crowd separated.
+
+The last malicious voice had prophesied truth.
+
+Three weeks afterward six soldiers bore a woven, yellow straw
+coffin from a poor house in East Street. The old Gevaldiger lay,
+with closed eyes and folded hands, in the coffin. Within the
+chamber, upon the bedstead, sat Johanne Marie, with a countenance
+pale as that of the dead which had been carried away. A
+compassionate neighbor took her hand, and mentioned her name
+several times before she heard her.
+
+"Johanne, come in with me; eat a mouthful of pease and keep life in
+you; if not for your own sake, at least for that of the child which
+lies under your heart."
+
+The girl heaved a wonderfully deep sigh. "No, no!" said she, and
+closed her eyes.
+
+Full of pity, the good neighbor took her home with her.
+
+A few days passed on, and then one morning two policemen entered
+the poor room in which the Gevaldiger had died. Johanne Marie was
+again summoned before the judge.
+
+A fresh robbery had taken place at the Colonel's. Rosalie said that
+it was a long time since she had first missed that which was gone,
+but that she thought it best to try to forget it. The Colonel's
+violent temper and his exasperation against Johanne Marie, who, as
+he asserted, by her bad conduct, had brought her old, excellent
+father to the grave, insisted on summoning her before the tribunal,
+that the affair might be more narrowly inquired into.
+
+Rosalie, who had been captivated by the beauty of the girl and by
+her modest demeanor, and who was very fond of her, was this time
+quite calm, feeling quite sure that she would deny everything,
+because, in fact, the theft had only occurred within the last few
+days. The public became aware of this before long, and the opinion
+was that Johanne Marie could not possibly have been an actor in it;
+but, to the astonishment of the greater number, she confessed that
+she was the guilty person, and that with such calmness as amazed
+every one. Her noble, beautifully formed countenance seemed
+bloodless; her dark-blue eyes beamed with a brilliancy which seemed
+like that of delirium; her beauty, her calmness, and yet this
+obduracy in crime, produced an extraordinary impression upon the
+spectators.
+
+She was sentenced to the House of Correction in Odense. Despised
+and repulsed by the better class of her fellow-beings, she went to
+her punishment. No one had dreamed that under so fair a form so corrupt
+a soul could have been found. She was set to the spinning-wheel;
+silent and introverted, she accomplished the tasks that were
+assigned her. In the coarse merriment of the other prisoners she
+took no part.
+
+"Don't let your heart sink within you, Johanne Marie," said German
+Heinrich, who sat at the loom; "sing with us till the iron bars
+rattle!"
+
+"Johanne, you brought your old father to the grave," said her
+relation, the head-cook; "how could you have taken such bad
+courses?"
+
+Johanne Marie was silent; the large, dark eyes looked straight
+before her, whilst she kept turning the wheel.
+
+Five months went on, and then she became ill--ill to death, and
+gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl--two beautiful and well-formed
+children, excepting that the girl was as small and delicate as if its
+life hung on a thread.
+
+The dying mother kissed the little ones and wept; it was the first
+time that the people within the prison had seen her weep. Her
+relation the cook sat alone with her upon the bed.
+
+"Withdraw not your hand from the innocent children," said Johanne
+Marie; "if they live to grow up, tell them some time that their
+mother was innocent. My eternal Saviour knows that I have never
+stolen! Innocent am I, and innocent was I when I went out a
+spectacle of public derision, and now when I sit here!"
+
+"Ih, Jesus though! What do you say?" exclaimed the woman.
+
+"The truth!" answered the dying one. "God be gracious to me!--my
+children!"
+
+She sank back upon the couch, and was dead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV
+
+"Ah! wonderfully beautiful is God's earth, and worthy it is to live
+contented."--HÖLTY.
+
+We now return to the hall in Funen, to the family which we left
+there; but autumn and winter are gone whilst we have been lingering
+on the past. Otto and Wilhelm have been two months away. It is the
+autumn of 1832.
+
+The marriage of the Kammerjunker and Sophie was deferred, according
+to her wish, until the second of April, because this day is
+immortal in the annals of Denmark. In the house, where there now
+were only the mother, Louise, and Eva, all was quiet. Through the
+whole winter Eva had become weaker; yet she did not resemble the
+flowers which wither; there was no expression of illness about her--
+it was much more as if the spiritual nature overpowered the
+bodily; she resembled an astral lamp which, filled with light,
+seems almost resembled be an ethereal existence. The dark-blue eyes
+had an expression of soul and feeling which attracted even the
+simple domestics at the hall. The physician assured them that her
+ chest was sound, and that her malady was to him a riddle. A
+beautiful summer, he thought, would work beneficially upon her.
+
+Wilhelm and Otto wrote alternately. It was a festival-day whenever
+a letter came; then were maps and plans of the great cities fetched
+out, and Louise and Eva made the journey with them.
+
+"To-day they are here, to-morrow they will be there," cried they.
+
+"How I envy them both, to see all these glorious things!" said
+Louise.
+
+"The charming Switzerland!" sighed Eva. "How refreshing the air
+must be to breathe! How well one must feel one's self there!"
+
+"If you could only go there, Eva," said Louise, "then you would
+certainly get better."
+
+"Here all are so kind to me; here I am so happy!" answered she. "I
+am right thankful to God for it. How could I have hoped for such a
+home as this? God reward you and your good mother for your kindness
+to me. Once I was so unhappy; but now I have had a double repayment
+for all my sorrow, and all the neglect I have suffered. I am so
+happy, and therefore I would so willingly live!"
+
+"Yes, and you shall live!" said Louise. "How came you now to think
+about dying? In the summer you will perfectly recover, the
+physician says. Can you hide from me any sorrow? Eva, I know that
+my brother loves you!"
+
+"He will forget that abroad!" said Eva. "He must forget it! Could I
+be ungrateful? But we are not suited for each other!" She spoke of
+her childhood, of long-passed, sorrowful days. Louise laid her arm
+upon her shoulder: they talked till late in the evening, and tears
+stood in Louise's eyes.
+
+"Only to you could I tell it!" said Eva. "It is to me like a sin,
+and yet I am innocent. My mother was so too--my poor mother! Her
+sin was love. She sacrificed all; more than a woman should
+sacrifice. The old Colonel was stern and violent. His wrath often
+became a sort of frenzy, in which he knew not what he did. The son
+was young and dissipated; my mother a poor girl, but very handsome,
+I have heard. He seduced her. She had become an unfortunate being,
+and that she herself felt. The Colonel's son robbed his father and
+an old woman who lived in the family: that which had been taken was
+missed. The father would have murdered the son, had he discovered
+the truth; the son, therefore, sought in his need help from my poor
+mother. He persuaded her to save him by taking the guilt on
+herself. The whole affair as regarded her was, he intended, only to
+come from the domestics. She thought that with her honor all was
+lost. She, indeed, had already given him the best of which she was
+possessed. In anguish of heart, and overpowered by his prayers, she
+said, 'Yes; my father has been angry and undone already '"
+
+Eva burst into tears.
+
+"Thou dear, good girl!" said Louise, and kissed her forehead.
+
+"My poor mother," continued Eva, "was condemned to an undeserved
+punishment. I cannot mention it. For that reason I have never had a
+desire to go to Odense. The old lady in the Colonel's family
+concealed, out of kindness, her loss; but by accident it was
+discovered. The Colonel was greatly embittered. My mother was
+overwhelmed by shame and misfortune: the first error had plunged
+her into all this. She was taken to the House of Correction in
+Odense. The Colonel's son shortly afterward went away in a vessel.
+My unhappy mother was dispirited: nobody knew that she had endured,
+out of despair and love, a disgrace which she had not deserved. It
+was not until she lay upon her death-bed, when I and my brother
+were born, that she told a relation that she was innocent. Like a
+criminal, in the early morning she was carried to the grave in a
+coffin of plaited straw. A great and a noble heart was carried
+unacknowledged to the dead!"
+
+"You had a brother?" inquired Louise, and her heart beat violently.
+"Did he die? and where did you, poor children, remain?"
+
+"The cook in the house kept us with her. I was small and weak; my
+brother, on the contrary, was strong, and full of life. He lived
+mostly among the prisoners. I sat in a little room with my doll.
+When we were in our seventh year, we were sent for to the old
+Colonel. His son died abroad; but before his death he had written
+to the old man, confessing to him his crime, my mother's innocence,
+and that we were his children! I resembled my father greatly. The
+old gentleman, as soon as he saw me, was very angry, and said, 'I
+will not have her!' I remained with my foster-mother. I never saw
+my brother after that time. The Colonel left the city, and took him
+with him."
+
+"O God!" cried Louise; "you have still some papers on this subject?
+Do you not know your brother? It is impossible that it should be
+otherwise! You are Otto's sister!"
+
+"O Heavens!" exclaimed Eva; her hands trembled, and she became as
+pale as a corpse.
+
+"You are fainting!" cried Louise, throwing her arm around her
+waist and kissing her eyes and her cheeks. "Eva! he is your
+brother! the dear, good Otto! O, he will be so happy with you!
+Yes, your eyes are like his! Eva, you beloved girl!"
+
+Louise related to her all that Otto had confided to her. She told
+her about German Heinrich, and how Otto had assisted Sidsel away,
+and how they had met.
+
+Eva burst into tears. "My brother! O Father in heaven, that I may
+but live! live and see him! Life is so beautiful! I must not die!"
+
+"Happiness will make you strong! There is no doubt but that he is
+your brother! We must tell it to mamma. O Heavens! how delighted
+she will be! and Otto will no longer suffer and be unhappy! He may
+be proud of you, and happy in you! O, come, come!"
+
+She led Eva out with her to her mother, who was already in bed; but
+how could Louise wait till next morning?
+
+"May the Lord bless thee, my good child!" said the lady, and
+pressed a kiss upon her forehead.
+
+Eva related now how the Colonel had, given a considerable sum to
+her foster-mother; but that was all she was to receive, he had
+said. Afterward, when the foster-mother died, Eva had still two
+hundred rix-dollars; and on consideration of this the sister of the
+deceased had taken Eva to live with her. With her she came to
+Copenhagen and to Nyboder, and at that time she was ten years old.
+There she had to nurse a little child--her brother she called it--
+and that was the little Jonas. As she grew older, people told her
+that she was handsome. It was now four years since she was followed
+one evening by two young men, one of whom we know--our moral Hans
+Peter. One morning her foster-mother came to her with a proposal
+which drove her to despair. The merchant had seen her, and wished
+to purchase the beautiful flower. Upon this Eva left her home, and
+came to the excellent people at Roeskelde; and from that day God
+had been very good to her.
+
+She sank down upon her knees before the elderly lady's bed. She was
+not among strangers: a mother and a sister wept with the happy one.
+
+"O that I might live!" besought Eva, in the depths of her heart. As
+a glorified one she stood before them. Her joy beamed through
+tears.
+
+The next morning she felt herself singularly unwell. Her feet
+trembled; her cheeks were like marble. She seated herself in the
+warm sunshine which came in through the window. Outside stood the
+trees with large, half-bursting buds. A few mild nights would make
+the wood green. But summer was already in Eva's heart; there was
+life's joy and gladness. Her large, thoughtful eyes raised
+themselves thankfully to heaven.
+
+"Let me not die yet, good God!" prayed she; and her lips moved to a
+low melody, soft as if breezes passed over the outstretched chords:--
+
+           "The sunshine warm, the odorous flowers,
+            Of these do not bereave me!
+            I breathe with joy the morning hours,
+            Let not the grave receive me!
+            There can no pleasant sunbeams fall,
+            No human voice come near me;
+            There should I miss the flow'rets small,
+            There have no friends to cheer me.
+
+            Now, how to value life I know--
+            I hold it as a treasure;
+            There is no love i' th' grave below,
+            No music, warmth, or pleasure.
+            On it the heavy earth is flung,
+            The coffin-lid shuts tightly!
+            My blood is warm, my soul is young!
+            Life smiles--life shines so brightly!"
+
+She folded her hands: all became like flowers and gold before her
+eyes. Afar off was the sound of music: she reeled and sank down
+upon the sofa which was near her. Life flowed forth from her heart,
+but the sensation was one of bliss; a repose, as when the weary
+bow down their heads for sleep.
+
+"Here is a letter!" cried Louise, full of joy, and found her white
+and cold. Terrified, she called for help, and bent over her.
+
+Eva was dead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV
+
+"Knowest thou the mountain and its cloudy paths? where the mule is
+seeking its misty way."--GOETHE.
+
+The letter was from Wilhelm; every line breathed life's joy and
+gladness.
+
+"MIA CARA SORELLA!
+
+"Does it not sound beautifully? It is Italian! Now then, I am in
+that so-often-sung-of Paradise, but of the so much-talked-about
+blue air, I have as yet seen nothing of consequence. Here it is
+gray, gray as in Denmark. To be sure Otto says that it is
+beautiful, that we have the heaven of home above us, but I am not
+so poetical. The eating is good, and the filth of the people
+strikes one horribly after being in Switzerland, the enchanting
+Switzerland! Yes, there is nature! We have made a crusade through
+it, you may think. But now you shall hear about the journey, and
+the entrance into 'la bella Italia,' which is yet below all my
+expectations. I cannot at all bear these feeble people; I cannot
+endure this monk-odor and untruthfulness. We are come direct from
+the scenery of Switzerland, from clouds and glaciers, from
+greatness and power. We travelled somewhat hastily through the
+valley of the Rhone; the weather was gray, but the whole obtained
+therefrom a peculiar character. The woods in the lofty ridges
+looked like heather; the valley itself seemed like a garden filled
+with vegetables, vineyards, and green meadows. The clouds over and
+under one another, but the snow-covered mountains peeped forth
+gloriously from among them, It was a riven cloud-world which drove
+past,--the wild chase with which the daylight had disguised itself.
+It kissed in its flight Pissevache, a waterfall by no means to be
+despised. In Brieg we rested some time, but at two o'clock in the
+morning began again our journey over the Simplon. This is the
+journey which I will describe to you. Otto and I sat in the
+coupée. Fancy us in white blouses, shawl-caps, and with green
+morocco slippers, for the devil may travel in slippers--they are
+painful to the feet.
+
+"We both of us have mustaches! I have seduced Otto. They become us
+uncommonly well, and give us a very imposing air; and that is very
+good now that we are come into the land of banditti, where we must
+endeavor to awe the robbers. Thus travelled we. It was a dark
+night, and still as death, as in the moment when the overture
+begins to an opera. Soon, indeed, was the great Simplon curtain to
+be rolled up, and we to behold the land of music. Immediately on
+leaving the city, the road began to ascend; we could not see a
+hand before us; around us tumbled and roared the water-courses,--it
+was as if we heard the pulse of Nature beat. Close above the
+carriage passed the white clouds; they seemed like transparent
+marble slabs which were slid over us. We had the gray dawn with us,
+whilst deep in the valley lay yet the darkness of night; in an
+hour's time it began to show itself there among the little wooden houses.
+
+"It is a road hewn out of the rocks. The giant Napoleon carried it
+through the backbone of the earth. The eagle, Napoleon's bird, flew
+like a living armorial crest over the gigantic work of the master.
+There it was cold and gray; the clouds above us, the clouds below
+us, and in the middle space steep rocky walls.
+
+"At regular distances houses (relais) are erected for the
+travellers; in one of these we drank our coffee. The passengers sat
+on benches and tables around the great fire-place, where the pine
+logs crackled. More than a thousand names were written on the
+walls. I amused myself by writing mamma's, yours, Sophie's, and
+Eva's; now they stand there, and people will fancy that you have
+been on the Simplon. In the lobby I scratched in that of Mamsell,
+and added 'Without her workbox.' Otto was thinking about you. We
+talked in our, what the rest would call 'outlandish speech,' when I
+all at once exclaimed, 'It is really Eva's birthday!' I remembered
+it first. In Simplon town we determined to drink her health.
+
+"We set off again. Wherever the glaciers might fall and destroy the
+road the rocks have been sprung, and formed into great galleries,
+through which one drives without any danger. One waterfall succeeds
+another. There is no balustrade along the road, only the dark,
+deep abyss where the pine-trees raise themselves to an immense
+height, and yet only look like rafters on the mighty wall of rock.
+Before we had advanced much further, we came to where trees no
+longer grew. The great hospice lay in snow and cloud. We came into
+a valley. What solitude! what desolation! only naked crags! They
+seemed metallic, and all had a green hue. The utmost variety of
+mosses grew there; before us towered up an immense glacier, which
+looked like green bottle-glass ornamented with snow. It was
+bitterly cold here, and in Simplon the stoves were lighted; the
+champagne foamed, Eva's health was drunk, and, only think! at that
+very moment an avalanche was so gallant as to fall. That was a
+cannonade; a pealing among the mountains! It must have rung in
+Eva's ears. Ask her about it. I can see how she smiles.
+
+"We now advanced toward Italy, but cold was it, and cold it
+remained. The landscape became savage; we drove between steep
+crags. Only fancy, on both sides a block of granite several miles
+long, and almost as high, and the road not wider than for two
+carriages to pass, and there you have a picture of it. If one
+wanted to see the sky, one was obliged to put one's head out of the
+carriage and look up, and then it was as if one looked up from the
+bottom of the deepest well, dark and narrow. Every moment I kept
+thinking, 'Nay, if these two walls should come together!' We with
+carriage and horses were only like ants on a pebble. We drove
+through the ribs of the earth! The water roared; the clouds hung
+like fleeces on the gray, craggy walls. In a valley we saw boys and
+girls dressed in sheep-skins, who looked as wild as if they had
+been brought up among beasts.
+
+"Suddenly the air became wondrously mild. We saw the first fig-tree
+by the road-side. Chestnuts hung over our heads; we were in Isella,
+the boundary town of Italy. Otto sang, and was wild with delight; I
+studied the first public-house sign, 'Tabacca e vino.'
+
+"How luxuriant became the landscape! Fields of maize and vineyards!
+The vine was not trained on frames as in Germany!--no, it hung in
+luxuriant garlands, in great huts of leaves! Beautiful children
+bounded along the road, but the heavens were gray, and that I had
+not expected in Italy. From Domo d'Ossola, I looked back to my
+beloved Switzerland! Yes, she turns truly the most beautiful side
+toward Italy. But there was not any time for me to gaze; on we
+must. In the carriage there sat an old Signorina; she recited
+poetry, and made: with her eyes 'che bella cosa!'
+
+"About ten o'clock at night we were in Baveno, drank tea, and
+slept, whilst Lago Maggiore splashed under our window. The lake and
+the Borromaen island we were to see by daylight.
+
+"'Lord God!' thought I, 'is this all?' A scene as quiet and riant
+as this we--have at home! Funen after this should be called Isola
+bella, and the East Sea is quite large enough to be called Lago
+Maggiore. We went by the steamboat past the holy Borromeus
+[Author's Note: A colossal statue on the shore of Lago Maggiore.]
+to Sesto de Calende; we had a priest on board, who was very much
+astonished at our having come from so far. I showed him a large
+travelling map which we had with us, where the Lago Maggiore was
+the most southern, and Hamburg the most northern point. 'Yet still
+further off,' said I; 'more to the north!' and he struck his hands
+together when he perceived that we were from beyond the great map.
+He inquired whether we were Calvinists.
+
+"We sped through glorious scenes. The Alps looked like glass
+mountains in a fairy tale. They lay behind us. The air was warm as
+summer, but light as on the high mountains. The women wafted kisses
+to us; but they were not handsome, the good ladies!
+
+"Tell the Kammerjunker that the Italian pigs have no bristles, but
+have a coal-black shining skin like a Moor.
+
+"Toward night we arrived at Milan, where we located ourselves with
+Reichmann, made a good supper, and had excellent beds; but I
+foresee that this bliss will not last very long. On the other side
+of the Apennines we shall be up to the ears in dirt, and must eat
+olives preserved in oil; but let it pass. Otto adapts himself
+charmingly to all things; he begins to be merry--that is, at times!
+I, too, have had a sort of vertigo--I am taken with Italian music;
+but then there is a difference in hearing it on the spot. It has
+more than melody; it has character. The luxuriance in nature and in
+the female form; the light, fluttering movement of the people,
+where even pain is melody, has won my heart and my understanding.
+Travelling changes people!
+
+"Kiss mamma for me! Tell Eva about the health-drinking on the
+Simplon, and about the falling avalanche: do not forget that; that
+is precisely the point in my letter! Tell me too how Eva blushed,
+and smiled, and said, 'He thought of me!' Yes, in fact it is very
+noble of me. My sweet Sophie and her Kammerjunker, Jakoba and
+Mamsell, must have a bouquet of greetings, which you must arrange
+properly. If you could but see Otto and me with our mustaches! We
+make an impression, and that is very pleasant. If the days only did
+not go on so quickly--if life did not pass so rapidly!
+
+           "'Questa vita mortale
+             Che par si bella, a quasi piuma al vento
+             Che la porta a la perde in un momento,' [Note: Guarini]
+as we Italians say. Cannot you understand that?
+
+"Thy affectionate brother,
+
+"WILHELM."
+
+Otto wrote in the margin of the letter, "Italy is a paradise! Here
+the heavens are three times as lofty as at home. I love the proud
+pine-trees and the dark-blue mountains. Would hat everybody could
+see the glorious objects!"
+
+Wilhelm added to this, "What he writes about the Italian heavens is
+stupid stuff. Ours at home is just as good. He is an odd person, as
+you very well know!
+
+"'Addic! A rivederci!'"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI
+
+"Thou art master in thy world.
+Hast thou thyself, then thou hast all!"
+--WAHLMANN.
+
+In the summer of 1834 the friends had been absent for two years. In
+the last year, violet-colored gillyflowers had adorned a grave in
+the little country church-yard.
+
+"A heart which overflowed with love,
+Was gone from earth to love and God,"
+were the words which might be read upon the grave-stone.
+
+A withered bouquet of stocks had been found by Louise, with the
+certificate of Eva's birth and her hymn-book. These were the
+flowers which Wilhelm had given her that evening at Roeskelde.
+Among the dry leaves there lay a piece of paper, on which she had
+written,--"Even like these flowers let the feelings die away in my
+soul which these flowers inspire it with!"
+
+And now above her grave the flowers which she had loved sent forth
+their fragrance.
+
+It was Sunday; the sun shone warm; the church-goers, old and young,
+assembled under the great lime-tree near Eva's grave. They expected
+their young preacher, who to-day was to preach for the third time.
+
+The gentlefolks would also certainly be there, they thought,
+because the young Baron was come back out of foreign parts, and
+with him the other gentleman, who certainly was to have Miss
+Louise.
+
+"Our new preacher is worth hearing," said one of the peasant women;
+"such a young man, who actually preaches the old faith! as gentle
+and as meek in conversation as if he were one of ourselves! And in
+the pulpit, God help us! it went quite down into my legs the last
+time about the Day of Judgment!"
+
+"There is Father!" [Note: The general term applied to the preacher
+by the Danish peasants.] exclaimed the crowd, and the heads of old
+and young were uncovered. The women courtesied deeply as a young
+man in priest-robes went into the church-door. His eyes and lips
+moved to a pious smile, the hair was smooth upon his pale forehead.
+
+"Good day, children!" said he.
+
+It was Hans Peter. He had, indeed, had "the best characters," and
+thus had received a good living, and now preached effectively about
+the devil and all his works.
+
+The singing of the community sounded above the grave where the sun
+shone, where the stocks sent forth their fragrance, and where Eva
+slept: she whose last wish was to live.
+
+"There is no love i' th' grave below,
+No music, warmth, or pleasure."
+
+The earth lay firm and heavy upon her coffin-lid.
+
+During the singing of the second hymn a handsome carriage drove up
+before the church-yard. The two friends, who were only just
+returned to their home in Denmark, entered the church, together
+with the mother and Louise.
+
+Travelling and two years had made Wilhelm appear somewhat older;
+there was a shadow of sadness in his otherwise open and life-rejoicing
+countenance. Otto looked handsomer than formerly; the gloomy
+expression in his face was softened, he looked around cheerfully,
+yet thoughtfully, and a smile was on his lips when he spoke with
+Louise.
+
+There was in the sermon some allusion made to those who had
+returned home; for the rest, it was a flowery discourse interlarded
+with many texts from the Bible. The community shed tears; the good,
+wise people, they understood it to mean that their young lord was
+returned home uninjured from all the perils which abound in foreign
+lands.
+
+The preacher was invited to dinner at the hall. The Kammerjunker
+and Sophie came also, but it lasted "seven long and seven wide," as
+Miss Jakoba expressed herself, before they could get through all
+the unwrapping and were ready to enter the parlor, for they had
+with them the little son Fergus, as he was called, after the
+handsome Scotchman in Sir Walter Scott's "Waverley." That was
+Sophie's wish. The Kammerjunker turned the name of Fergus to
+Gusseman, and Jacoba asserted that it was a dog's name.
+
+"Now you shall see my little bumpkin!" said he, and brought in a
+square-built child, who with fat, red cheeks, and round arms,
+stared around him. "That is a strong fellow! Here is something to
+take hold of! Tralla-ralla-ralla!" And he danced him round the
+room.
+
+Sophie laughed and offered her hand to Otto.
+
+Wilhelm turned to Mamsell. "I have brought something for you," said
+he, "something which I hope may find a place in the work-box--a man
+made of very small mussel-shells; it is from Venice."
+
+"Heavens! from all that way off!" said she and courtesied.
+
+After dinner they walked in the garden.
+
+Wilhelm spoke already of going the following year again to Paris.
+
+"Satan!" said the Kammerjunker. "Nay, I can do better with Mr.
+Thostrup. He is patriotic. He lays out his money in an estate. It
+is a good bargain which you have made, and in a while will be
+beautiful; there is hill and dale."
+
+"There my old Rosalie shall live with me," said Otto; "there she
+will find her Switzerland. The cows shall have bells on their
+necks."
+
+"Lord God! shall they also be made fools of?" exclaimed Jakoba:
+"that is just exactly as if it were Sophie."
+
+They went through the avenue where Otto two years before had wept,
+and had related all his troubles to Louise. He recollected it, and
+a gentle sigh passed his lips whilst his eyes rested on Louise.
+
+"Now, do you feel yourself happy at home?" asked she; "a lovelier
+summer's day than this you certainly have not abroad."
+
+"Every country has its own beauties," replied Otto. "Our Denmark is
+not a step child of Nature. The people here are dearest to me, for
+I am best acquainted with them. They, and not Nature, it is that
+makes a land charming. Denmark is a good land; and here also will I
+look for my happiness." He seized Louise's hand; she blushed, and
+was silent. Happy hours succeeded.
+
+This circle assembled every Sunday; on the third, their delight was
+greater, was more festal than on any former occasion.
+
+Nature herself had the same expression. The evening was most
+beautiful; the full moon shone, magnificent dark-blue clouds raised
+themselves like mountains on the other side the Belt. Afar off
+sailed the ships, with every sail set to catch the breeze.
+
+Below the moon floated a coal-black cloud, which foretold a squall.
+
+A little yacht went calmly over the water. At the helm sat a boy--
+half a child he seemed: it was Jonas, the little singing-bird, as
+Wilhelm had once called him. Last Whitsuntide he had been
+confirmed, and with his Confirmation all his singer-dreams were at
+an end: but that did not trouble him; on the contrary, it had lain
+very heavy upon his heart that he was not to be a fifer. His
+highest wish had been to see himself as a regimental fifer, and
+then he should have gone to his Confirmation in his red uniform,
+with a sabre at his side, and a feather in his hat half as tall
+as himself. Thus adorned, he might have gone with the girls into
+the King's Garden and upon the Round Tower, the usual walk for poor
+children in Copenhagen. On Confirmation-day they ascend the high
+tower, just as if it were to gain from it a free view over the
+world. Little Jonas, however, was confirmed as a sailor, and he now
+sat at the helm on this quiet night.
+
+Upon the deck lay two persons and slept; a third went tranquilly up
+and down. Suddenly he shook one of the sleepers, and caught hold on
+the sail. A squall had arisen with such rapidity and strength, that
+the vessel in a moment was thrown on her side. Mast and sail were
+below the water. Little Jonas uttered a shriek. Not a vessel was
+within sight. The two sleepers had woke in time to cling to the
+mast. With great force they seized the ropes, but in vain; the
+sail hung like lead in the water. The ship did not right herself.
+
+"Joseph, Maria!" exclaimed one of them, a man with gray hairs and
+unpleasing features. "We sink! the water is in the hold!"
+
+All three clambered now toward the hinder part of the vessel, where
+a little boat floated after. One of them sprang into it.
+
+"My daughter!" cried the elder, and bent himself toward the narrow
+entrance into the cabin. "Sidsel, save thy life!" and so saying, he
+sprang into the boat.
+
+"We must have my daughter out," cried he. One of the ship's cabin
+windows was under water; he burst in the other window.
+
+"We are sinking!" cried he, and a horrible scream was heard within.
+
+The old man was German Heinrich, who was about to come with this
+vessel from Copenhagen to Jutland: Sidsel was his daughter, and
+therefore he wished now to save her life a second time.
+
+The water rushed more and more into the ship. Heinrich thrust his
+arm through the cabin-window, he grasped about in the water within;
+suddenly he caught hold on a garment, he drew it toward him; but it
+was only the captain's coat, and not his daughter, as he had hoped.
+
+"The ship sinks!" shrieked the other, and grasped wildly on the
+rope which held the boat fast: in vain he attempted to divide it
+with his pocket-knife. The ship whirled round with the boat and
+all. Air and water boiled within it, and, as if in a whirlpool, the
+whole sunk into the deep. The sea agitated itself into strong
+surges over the place, and then was again still. The moon shone
+tranquilly over the surface of the water as before. No wreck
+remained to tell any one of the struggle which there had been with
+death.
+
+The bell tolled a quarter past twelve; and at that moment the last
+light at the hall was extinguished.
+
+"I will go to Paris," said Wilhelm, "to my glorious Switzerland;
+here at home one is heavy-hearted; the gillyflowers on the grave
+have an odor full of melancholy recollections. I must breathe the
+mountain air; I must mingle in the tumult of men, and it is quite
+the best in the world."
+
+Otto closed his eyes; he folded his hands.
+
+"Louise loves me," said he. "I am so happy that I fear some great
+misfortune may soon meet me; thus it used always to be. Whilst
+German Heinrich lives I cannot assure myself of good! If he were
+away, I should be perfectly tranquil, perfectly happy!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's O. T., A Danish Romance, by Hans Christian Andersen
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK O. T., A DANISH ROMANCE ***
+
+This file should be named 8anot10.txt or 8anot10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8anot11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8anot10a.txt
+
+Produced by Nicole Apostola
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+