"_Viator._--That will not be above a day longer; but
if I live till May come twelvemonth, you are sure of me again,
either with my Master Walton or without him."
--_The Complete Angler._
The next morning, John Hardy was up early, studying the excellent map
of Jutland by Oberst Mansa. It gives the roads and by-ways with much
care and correctness. The idea had occurred to him to drive the
hundred and odd English miles from the parsonage to Esbjerg. The
horses must be sent there to meet the steamer; the weather was
settled, and as it was early in August, the early mornings and
evenings were pleasant He accordingly sketched out the route, with the
distances from one little Jutland town to another, and it was clear a
good deal could be seen and the drive would be enjoyable.
Hardy came down to the little reception-room, where breakfast was
usually served, and opened out Mansa's map on the table. Froken Helga
was there, and her two brothers, Karl and Axel.
"I want to speak to your sister, boys," said Hardy; "you will hear all
about it by-and-by, if you will go out for a while."
The boys left. Helga looked a little startled. Hardy said, "I have an
extraordinary proposition to make; but you must not look so
frightened." Helga had turned pale, her knitting dropped. "I only want
your attention to this map of Jutland," added Hardy. He saw her face
was now full of colour; but what about the map of Jutland? Hardy, an
inconsistent man for the moment, was thinking of who else in the world
but Kapellan Holm, and his being at Vandstrup Praestegaard all the
winter, and that was not the map of Jutland. Suddenly it flashed
across his mind that Pastor Lindal had told him about Kapellan Holm,
and that Karl had repeated what Mathilde Jensen had said about his
buying Rosandal. As he sat thinking, he looked all the time at Helga.
At length he said, "I am going home to my mother, Froken, but I hope
to be here in May; earlier I cannot come, because it would be cold for
my mother to travel."
"We shall be glad to see you, Herr Hardy; and I long to see your
mother," said Helga.
Then Hardy knew that Kapellan Holm was nowhere, and his face grew
bright, and he was ready for the map of Jutland.
Hardy explained his idea of driving to Esbjerg, and the extraordinary
proposition was that he proposed to take not only Karl, but Helga
Lindal herself and Axel.
"I should so like it," said Helga, "but----"
"I know," said Hardy, "that there are likely to be several 'buts.' The
serious one is that the Pastor would not like to leave his parish for
five days. Can this be arranged? Can he get any one to come here?"
"He will write the Provost" (the dean), replied Helga. "But he has
already arranged to go to Esbjerg to see Karl off to England, and as
we thought you might go to England earlier, a Hjaelpe-praest is ready to
come here at any time; a day more or less will make no difference."
"The next 'but' is, whether the Herr Pastor would like it," said
Hardy.
"That I am sure he will; but he must consider the expense," replied
Helga, "and there would be the extra railway expense of my returning
here."
"Then we leave at midday for Silkeborg," said Hardy. "Will you,
Froken, tell your father about it? he is in his study; and now we can
tell the boys;" and he called them, sent Axel for Garth, and told Karl
to be ready at midday.
The Pastor immediately bustled in. "What a scheme you have hatched!"
he said.
"Yes; but you cannot have had time to have heard it," said Hardy,
"much more to condemn it."
"Helga came into my study and said, 'Little father, Herr Hardy wants
to drive us all by stages to see Karl off; can we go?' Now, is that
the scheme?"
"Certainly," replied Hardy. "We want you to send our heavy luggage to
the station for Esbjerg, and a telegram to Silkeborg to order dinner
at five and beds, and leave here at midday. The next day we can get to
Horsens, and then to Veile, or farther. I have taken out the different
places and distances by Mansa's map, which you can check. Here is also
the English guide-book for Jutland. We can have a row on the lake at
Silkeborg this evening, and as I have been your guest so long, I
invite you to be mine to Esbjerg. I must leave now, or we should miss
the steamer."
Hardy's quiet self-possession overcame the scruples the Pastor was
about to make. He had been bound to his parish for years, and not even
his youngest son would enjoy the drive to Esbjerg more.
"Honestly said," the Pastor spoke, addressing Hardy, and using a
familiar Danish phrase, "I should enjoy it more than I can say."
Helga liked Hardy's way of treating the money difficulty. It was done
with such tact that it seemed as if Hardy was receiving a favour.
Axel came in with Robert Garth.
"Bob," said Hardy, in English, "we shall drive to Esbjerg by stages;
clear everything, and get ready to start at twelve."
"Thank you, sir," said Garth, and was gone.
"What did you say." said Helga, whose knowledge of English was slight.
Hardy explained.
The man's ready obedience struck her, and lingered in her mind long
after. She was not accustomed to the prompt execution of such an order
by a servant, and attributed it to Hardy's personal character and
influence.
After breakfast, during which much conversation arose on the proposed
drive, Hardy came down with his fly-rods, books, and reels, and the
precious little spring balance.
"There," he said, "Froken Helga, is all the fly-fishing gear; the
flies in the small book are best for the Gudenaa. I hope you will
break all the rods and smash all the tackle, to give me the pleasure
of bringing you fresh ones from England."
She thanked him in the Danish manner that Hardy liked so much in her.
At twelve they left for Silkeborg. Hardy drove, and Garth rode
Buffalo. The Pastor sat by Hardy's side, and told many an interesting
anecdote of the places they passed. The circumstances of the Danish
families, the tradition of a Kaempehoi or tumulus, and the social
condition of the people were all known to him. Hardy drove slowly, as
the day was warm, and he wished to spare his horses, and it was not
until a little after five that they reached the hotel at Silkeborg.
Hardy had been there before, with Karl and Axel, and they knew him,
and obeyed his telegram to the letter.
"I have a proposition to make," said Hardy, "but I will leave it to my
guests to do as they please, I propose we have a row on the lake this
evening, but not for long; but to-morrow that we rise at six and
charter one of the wheel boats, that is the paddle-wheel boats that
are worked by hand, and visit Himmelbjerg, and have breakfast there,
and the carriage can meet us at the foot of the hill, at a point to
the south of it, and we can drive on to Horsens."
"Excellent!" said Helga, using a Danish expression. "But it will be a
long day for my father."
"We should get to Horsens at six, and we can telegraph to the hotel to
be ready to receive us at that time," said Hardy. "But the next day is
only nineteen English miles to Veile, and would be less fatiguing."
"I like to be tired, Hardy, by outdoor exercise," said Pastor Lindal.
"Your plan is excellent, and is just what I should not only like, but
enjoy."
The row on the lake was very pleasant. The Pastor told the story of
Bishop Peter applying to the pope to decree a separation of all the
married priests from their wives, and how the three sisters of the
priest there drew lots who should go to Rome to get a dispensation for
their brother to keep his wife. The lot fell on the youngest, and she
went to Rome and got the pope's permission; but on the condition that
she should have cast three bells, which she shipped at Lubeck, one
bell was lost in the sea, and the two others were placed in two
churches near Aarhus.
The view from Himmelbjerg has the strong charm of great variety. The
lakes are spread out below, amongst woods, heaths, meadows, and
cultivated land. The early morning gives the view at its best. There
are views and views, but the variety of prospect from Himmelbjerg
impresses. Juul So, the lake at the foot of the Himmelbjerg, is at
times lovely.
Axel was, however, very hungry. The view might be good, but a growing
boy's appetite is good also. He asked his father if he might go to the
restaurant in Himmelbjerg and get a bit of Smor-brod (bread and
butter). Karl said he wanted to go, too. There had been the long row
up the lakes, the walks about Himmelbjerg, and even Froken Helga
looked hungry. As soon as they came to the restaurant, the waiter told
them that breakfast was waiting for them.
"Waiting for us!" said the Pastor; "it is more likely we shall have to
wait for our breakfast."
"I thought that you might prefer that the breakfast should be ready,
and I ordered it yesterday. I sent a note up last night," said Hardy.
The breakfast was the more enjoyed from Hardy's thoughtfulness, so
much so that when the inevitable porcelain pipe was filled, it was a
difficulty to get the Pastor down the Himmelbjerg. When they at last
reached the carriage, which a man from the hotel at Silkeborg had
driven, as Garth had charge of Buffalo, the Pastor decided to go in
the carriage, and not by Hardy's side. Helga, after seeing her father
comfortable, got up by Hardy, and talked to him unreservedly.
The bright ripple of Helga's talk was pleasant to hear in its clear
transparency. She told Hardy of her father so long as she could
recollect, and the great sorrow that fell upon him when her mother
died, and how difficult it was to keep him from the bitter memory of
his loss; that she was with him at every spare moment, and how at
times it was beyond her power to cheer him; but that since Hardy had
been with them, her father had scarcely shown a sign of the sorrow
they knew was always at his heart.
"It is the way you listen," said Helga, "that my father likes. You
cannot, he says, speak Danish as well as we Danes, but your manner of
listening is perfect, and that there is a respectful attention
impossible to describe."
"I can describe it," said Hardy, laughing. "The fact is, I know Danish
not very perfectly, and my whole attention is necessary to grasp what
is said."
"I told him so," said Helga; "but he said there is more than that--it
was true politeness."
"Well," said Hardy, "you have now explained that you have not so good
an opinion of me as your father."
"No," said Helga; "that's not my meaning. I only related what passed,
and I am not able to judge any one like my father."
"I have heard, however, that you have differed from your father in
judging a particular person," said Hardy, "and a man whom your father
speaks well of."
"That is Kapellan Holm," said Helga, quickly, "My father has told you
about him?"
"Yes," replied Hardy; "but I do not wish you to tell me any more about
him, and to prevent your thoughts being occupied by the Kapellan,
would you like to drive a few miles?"
"Gladly," replied Helga, using the pretty Danish phrase that so well
expressed her meaning.
She insisted on taking off her gloves to drive, and said she could not
feel the reins so well, and disliked wearing gloves in hot weather.
Hardy showed her how to hold the reins so as to feel the horses' mouth
slightly. She appeared to like to hear the quick sound of the horses
trotting.
"How easily they go! There is no difficulty in slackening or
quickening their speed, and they obey the least touch on the rein,"
said Helga.
"We have been training them for my mother to drive, and Garth drives
well," said Hardy.
"I should so like to learn to ride!" said Helga, carried away by her
admiration of the horses.
"That is what I once offered to teach you," said Hardy, "and you
replied in the negative so decidedly that I did not like to refer to
the subject afterwards."
"Yes; Kirstin said it was not womanly to ride, and that I was not a
Bondetos" (a peasant girl), replied Helga. "But I do not see that it
is different in that respect to driving a horse in a carriage, and if
horses are kept, I think that it is useful to be able to ride them.
There was also another reason why I did not wish you to teach me to
ride, that I cannot tell you."
"Then do not tell me," said Hardy. "But supposing I am at Rosendal, in
May, next year, will there be any objection then, if your father has
none?"
"No," said Helga, involuntarily.
"Then I will recollect to bring over an English lady's saddle," said
Hardy.
The Pastor, overcome with his walk, his breakfast, and the warmth of
the day, had fallen asleep, and woke up to the situation that his
daughter was driving the carriage.
"Stop!" he cried; "you will upset the carriage, Helga. You must not
drive; you will throw down the horses."
"She has driven for the last ten miles, Herr Pastor," said Hardy.
The worthy Pastor, however, was so decided, that Hardy had to take the
reins and drive into Horsens. He had telegraphed and ordered dinner at
six, and drove into the hotel yard, but was scarcely prepared to find
so many people collected there. They had simply come to see Buffalo,
whose reputation had risen after the horse-race. They smoked, spat,
criticized, and praised. "Sikken en Hest."
As they came in, Hardy gave a very necessary order to his servant,
Robert Garth, namely, to get the horses' feet well washed, as the
roads are so sandy.
The dinner was well served, and much praised by Pastor Lindal, who of
course had a legend to relate, of Holger Danske, whose sword was
buried with him near Horsens. The sword was so heavy that, when it was
taken from the Kaempehoi, or tumulus, twelve horses could not draw it.
The walls of the house in which it was placed shook, and so much
unhappiness occurred that the sword was restored to its resting place
in the tumulus, and on its return journey two horses could draw it
easily. Holger Danske was so big a man, that when he had a suit of
clothes made, the tailors were obliged to use ladders to take his
measure; but one day an unfortunate tailor tickled him in the ear with
his scissors, and Holger Danske thought it was a flea, and squeezed
him to death between his fingers."
"There were giants in those days," said Hardy.
"There is in the Kloster (cloister) Church at Horsens a hole in the
wall, across which is an iron cross. Behind this a nun was walled up
alive. She had, it was said, been confined of a dog. There is a stone
in which a dog is figured, to preserve the recollection of so very
extraordinary a circumstance, and a place is shown where her fingers
marked the stone of the wall in her last agony."
"The practice of walling people up," said Hardy, "was very general in
Denmark, was it not?"
"Yes, if tradition be true," said the Pastor, "which, as you know, we
must receive _cum grano salis_. There is a story of a man walling up
his woman-servant, because she cooked a cat for his dinner. He had
caught a hare, but a dog had stolen it, so she cooked a cat instead.
This enraged her master, and he walled her up alive."
"Thank you, Herr Pastor, for your legends," said Hardy; "but I should
like to walk through the little town, and I dare say Karl and Axel
would too, if we may leave you and Froken Helga."
"By all means," said the Pastor, "and Helga will go too."
"No, little father, I will stay with you," said Helga. "You will have
no one to fill your pipe, and will feel lonely."
As John Hardy went out, he gave Karl and Axel some money. The boys
asked what it was for.
"To buy anything you like, as far it will go," said Hardy.
The boys, however, would not take it; they were sure their father
would not wish it, after the expense Hardy had already been put to on
their account.
"Your father would be quite right," said Hardy; but he recollected it,
and this small circumstance, told him that Karl could be trusted, and
assisted him more to get Karl a situation of trust than Hardy's
influence and that of his friends.