"_Piscator,_--But, look you, sir, now you are at the
brink of the hill, how do you like my river, the vale it winds
through like a snake, and the situation of my little
fishing-house?"--_The Complete Angler._
As John Hardy drove up to the front of Hardy Place, the young Danish
lad was struck with the beauty of the lawns and shrubberies.
"This is by far prettier than Rosendal, Herr Hardy," he said.
Mrs. Hardy had evidently been waiting some time for the sound of
wheels on the carriage drive, and as her son alighted, she received
him with warm natural affection.
"John, my own boy, I am so glad to see you again," she said; "you have
been too long away from your mother."
"You will have me all to yourself until next May, mother, and then you
will have me with you at Rosendal," said her son. "But here is Karl
Lindal, son of Pastor Lindal, of Vandstrup Praestegaard, Denmark."
The tall, fair-haired lad, with his honest blue eyes, favourably
impressed Mrs. Hardy, who could see beyond outward appearance and
awkwardness of manner.
"Welcome to Hardy Place, Mr. Karl Lindal," she said, taking the lad's
hand kindly. "You can have no better introduction here than as my own
boy's friend."
Karl bowed. He saw a tall elderly lady, dressed in good taste and
perfect neatness, strikingly like her son. They entered the inner
hall, where Mrs. Hardy had been sitting, and tea was served, and she
and her son talked to each other with that kindly confidence not so
frequent nowadays. Karl looked at the old portraits on the wall, and
observed the quiet taste of the decorations and furniture, with its
appearance of comfort, so conspicuous in an English home.
Mother and son had much to say to each other; but at length John Hardy
observed a tired look on the young Dane's face, and he took him up to
the bedroom Mrs. Hardy had directed to be prepared for him, near her
son's rooms.
"Karl," he said, "here is your room, and everything you are likely to
want ready. If you want anything, press that nob, which rings a bell,
and a man-servant will answer it; but as he may not understand you,
come for a moment into my dressing-room, and I will show you where my
things are, and if you want anything, take it."
There was a strong contrast between Hardy's rooms in his own home and
the single little room he had occupied in Denmark, and Karl said so.
"Yes," said Hardy; "you will find a good deal of difference between
England and Denmark, but you will find me the same John Hardy."
"I have not dressed, mother," said Hardy, as he came down just before
the gong was struck for dinner; "my young Danish friend is not
supplied with evening dress, and I thought he might feel a trifle less
strange, where everything must strike with the force of novelty a lad
of seventeen, if I appeared as he has usually seen me."
"You are the same thoughtful, considerate old John," said his mother,
proud of her son's kind heart; "but I do think, John, you look better
than when you left."
"I am better," said John. "The fare at the little Danish parsonage was
simple and good. At first I missed a few things that I was accustomed
to here, but the excellence of the quality of everything at the
Pastor's soon made me forget them. I think, too, my mother, I have
learnt much. The simplicity with which the Danish Pastor did his work
with exact conscientiousness interested me. There was never a thought
of postponing a duty under any circumstances. There was never a
thought that a duty done was a sacrifice of self, but his duty was
done with a serious singleness of purpose and thorough trust in God,
that had a strong influence on his parishioners. They saw he was
sincere and true."
"You are drawing a good picture of the Pastor, John," said his mother;
"but," she added in a whisper, as John took her into dinner, "what
about the Scandinavian princess?"
"I will tell you all about her after you have seen her photograph,"
said John. "I will give it you when you go into the library after
dinner. I will give Karl Lindal some English to read, as he must lose
no time in acquiring the language."
Karl Lindal felt awkward and uneasy at dinner. The novelty of
everything so occupied him that he was the more gauche in manner. This
Mrs. Hardy observed, and said little to him. It was best the lad
should be left to get over the change that had impressed him.
When John Hardy joined his mother in the library, he found her with a
large reading-glass, looking at Helga Lindal's photograph. "It is a
good face, John, like her brother somewhat, and fine features," said
his mother. "Is she tall?"
"About five feet eight, mother," replied John. "She is like her father
in character--simple and true, and with common sense."
"But you wrote me, John, that if you did propose to her that she would
not accept you, on account of her father wanting her assistance and
relying so much on her," said Mrs. Hardy.
"I did, mother; but her father wished her to become engaged to a
curate of his called Holm," said John. "She refused Holm, as she did
not like him, and I think her father would wish her to marry any one
she did like. His view appears to be that she owes a duty to herself,
and he would think it his duty to prevent her sacrificing all her
young life even to him."
"Why, the man is right, John, and his photograph says as much!" said
Mrs. Hardy. "But, John, answer me plainly--have you said anything to
her?"
"No," replied Hardy. "I do not feel certain of myself without you,
mother. I want you to see her."
"Have you led her to expect that you might speak to her John?" asked
his mother.
"When I went there first, she behaved towards me as if she disliked
me," replied John; "but her manner changed. I had offered to teach her
to ride: she declined in a very decided way; but in driving to
Esbjerg, she said she should like to learn, and that her objection,
whatever it was, did not exist longer. I said I would teach her when I
came again to Denmark. One evening, I sang the German song you have
heard me sing so often, and I turned round suddenly and saw her face;
she looked at me as if she loved me with all her heart, but possibly
so simple a nature as hers was carried away by the song's influence. I
turned away my face, that it might reflect nothing to her."
"Did anything else occur, John?" asked his mother.
"Yes," replied John. "A few evenings before I left, I showed her
father and herself your photographs; she exhibited a warm interest in
them, particularly that one of the picture. I gave her the
photographs, and she thanked me as if I had given her something she
had a great wish for."
"It is a long way for an old woman, John," said Mrs. Hardy; "but I
would go to the end of the earth to see you happily married. I like
her face," added she, looking at Helga Lindal's photograph; "it is
good and firm of purpose for so young a woman. Is she ladylike, John?"
"Her manner is simple and sincere," he replied; "and I never saw
anything that you, mother, would not approve of; but, living as she
does, and has, she has not seen much society, or acquired any
artificial manner. Her management of her father's house is practical,
and the obedience to her wishes and orders as complete as they ever
are in Denmark. Their servants are not as ours are."
"Why you do like her, John," said his mother.
"I do, but I do not feel certain of myself," said John. "The time I
have known her is short, and it may be only a passing fancy; and what
I want, mother, is your help in knowing my own mind, but, above all,
hers. You will understand her instantly."
"But why did you buy Rosendal, John?" asked his mother; "in all your
letters you never gave a reason."
"I bought it on an impulse," replied John, "but I did think I might
want it at the time. It is a place you can live in, mother, until you
are tired of it, but from which you can help me."
"I do not think you need fear, John, her being carried off by any
one," said Mrs. Hardy, to whom the idea of any woman not being in love
with her son was impossible.
"I must risk it," said John, "but I could not do other than I have
done. If I had spoken a word to her when a guest in her father's
house, it would have been wrong. But I wanted to talk with you, my
mother. I have no secrets from you; and John kissed her, and wished
her 'Good night.'"
A few weeks at Hardy Place made a great change in Karl Lindal. He
talked English better, and his manners were not so boyish. He felt
also the influence of the good people about him, and had lost his
home-sickness.
The experimental trip in the new steam yacht that Hardy had had built
(and which he had christened the _Rosendal_) was a great delight to
the young Dane, who was naturally fond of the sea. The yacht made a
few short trips in the English Channel, and was then laid up for the
winter. Karl made himself useful on board the yacht, and his greatest
pleasure was to do anything for John Hardy or his mother. The lad's
thankfulness for the kindness he received was thorough, and Mrs. Hardy
liked the lad.
"Is your sister Helga like you, Mr. Karl Lindal?" asked Mrs. Hardy,
one day, when her son was not present.
"She is more clever in everything than I am," replied Karl, "and she
is so good to me and Axel, and gives up everything for us. She is four
years older."
At last a letter came to John Hardy, from Vandstrup Praestegaard.
"Herr Hardy,
"My father desires me to say that they are proceeding with the work at
Rosendal, and that there is nothing specially to report at present, as
there is nothing being done contrary to your wishes, and there is no
room for complaint on what is being done.
"My father also desires me to express his thanks for your kindness
about the tickets from Esbjerg. It was a matter that surprised us all,
except me, and it was my fault in saying that my coming back from
Esbjerg would be an additional cost to him; I understood the
completeness of your kindness at once. I felt you would not let it be
a burden to my father on my account and Axel, and that when you were
taking the tickets that you might as well include my father's also;
but to take first-class tickets was not necessary, and what we did not
wish.
"I promised to write if I caught a trout that weighed one pound,
English, by your measure. I have fished many times, and caught one by
the bend in the river just below the tile works. Axel got it into the
landing-net, and my father has seen it weighed, and it is just a
little heavier than the line that marks the one pound English. I thank
you also for your consideration in this. My father is pleased to see
me looking fresh and well after going out fishing, and he says no fish
are so good as those Helga catches. I thank you, Herr Hardy, for your
thinking that this would also please my father.
"We all send you friendly greeting from here, and our best affection
to Karl.
"Helga Lindal."
John Hardy translated the letter for his mother, and gave it to her
with the original.
"Her handwriting is ladylike, John," said his mother, "there is no
doubt of that; and she writes such a beautiful, simple letter! I like
her, John! If you love her, do not lose her for the world."
John Hardy was touched.
"Bless you, my mother," he said; "your heart is as mine; you love
again with your son's love. But I know it is best to wait until May,
when we can go there."
Karl Lindal wrote to his father in Denmark.
"My all-dearest Father,
"The kindness I receive from Herr Hardy and his mother is great. They
are most kind. I feel it not possible to express my thanks; but I am
always trying to be useful, to show how thankful I am. They are so
different from Danish people. I cannot say how beautiful Herr Hardy's
house is. It is far prettier than Rosendal. I learn English every day
with an English Kapellan; he is very kind, and he teaches me the
English games of cricket and lawn tennis. Mrs. Hardy, that is Herr
Hardy's mother, is beautiful. She touches my cheek with her hand, and
she asks if Helga is like me. I answer that Helga is better, and she
seems to be pleased to hear me say so. Herr Hardy has taken me out in
his yacht, that is a pleasure vessel with steam power; he has called
it the _Rosendal_.
"I have been out with Herr Hardy shooting partridges. He has had many
gentlemen down to shoot, but they none of them shoot so well as Herr
Hardy. A flock of the birds get up, and Herr Hardy, who shoots with a
double-barrelled gun, always gets two. His gamekeeper, or Jaeger, told
me that they always could depend on the governor, as they call Herr
Hardy.
"Herr Hardy took me to London, and I went to the Zoological Gardens,
where there were a great many rare animals, and to the Haymarket
Theatre, which is like the Royal Theatre at Copenhagen. I was measured
for clothes by a tailor in London, and Herr Hardy has given me many
more things than necessary; but he is so kind I do not know what to
say or do. I send my best love to you and Helga and Axel.
"Your son,
"Karl Lindal."
Another letter came from Vandstrup Praestegaard.
"Herr Hardy,
"My father desires me to say that the work at Rosendal is nearly
finished, and that the land where the trees are to be planted is
prepared for them. There is nothing that he sees neglected, or that he
should bring to your notice.
"We have received many letters from Karl, and we are interested in
them. He writes and describes your house, and repeats again and again
your goodness to him. He describes your mother as very kind. We have
no doubt but this is you. My father says if you do anything, you do it
always in the kindest way. I do not doubt but that this is so, and we
all thank you gratefully, and greet you kindly.
"Helga Lindal."
John Hardy translated this letter for his mother. She read it, and
said--
"John, the letter is a letter to keep for all time! I feel so proud of
you, my own boy, that such a letter should be addressed to you. I
never read so beautiful a letter; so short, and yet so exquisite in
its simplicity! You can trust your future to her, John."
"Thank you, my mother," replied her son. "I know I can trust her, if
she will trust me."
"Why, John, you can offer her wealth, position, and influence," said
Mrs. Hardy.
"All which would be nothing with her," said John "She would be as
content to marry me on a bare subsistence as if I had a larger income
than we have. Position is nothing to her, because she scarcely
understands it; and as for influence, she has more influence for good
in her father's parish than any person in it."
"A faint heart, John," suggested his mother.
"Yes, I know that; but my heart is not faint," said John. "I only wait
to be sure of it, and your approval, mother."
Karl Lindal made progress in learning English and Hardy made inquiries
for a berth for him with a foreign broker. In reply to the question as
to Karl's character, Hardy told the story of the young Dane's refusing
taking any money from Hardy in their driving tour to Esbjerg. This
slight matter made a favourable impression, and the young Dane entered
on his duties. Hardy procured lodgings for him in London, with a young
medical man who had recently married, and had began to keep house, and
whose relatives resided near Hardy Place.