"Come, live with me and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove.
Of golden sands and crystal brooks.
With silken lines and silver hooks."
_The Complete Angler._
When Pastor Lindal arrived at his parsonage, he was received by his
daughter with much affection. She saw he was benefited by the cruise
in the yacht, and was in good spirits.
"Little father," she said, "you look so well. Thank you, Mrs. Hardy,
for taking him with you; it will give my father so much to talk of, in
the winter, to Axel; and thank you, John, too."
"I am glad there is a word for me," said Hardy, using, as he often did
with her, a Danish phrase. "I was beginning to think I was not to be
spoken to at all."
"I think," said Mrs. Hardy, "that the Pastor and Helga might come to
us to-morrow, John, and that, as you are so impatient for a
tete-a-tete interview with Helga, you can have a ramble in your woods
at Rosendal, while I discuss the matters that have to be arranged with
the Pastor."
John thought this a very excellent arrangement; but Pastor Lindal
declined. He had much to see to in his parish, and he could not, he
said, after the absence of a week, return to his parish and not visit
it. He explained that he felt it to be his duty to feel the pulse of
his parish, to see what changes of thought occurred and what
circumstances had arisen that might influence his Sogneborn (children
of his parish). This, he said, guided him in what he preached.
"I agree with every word you say, Herr Pastor," said Mrs. Hardy.
"There can be no better view of what your duty is. The shepherd should
always watch;" and, as she read disappointment in her son's face, she
added, "You can, however, spare us Helga to lunch with us at Rosendal;
John can drive over for her, and she shall return early."
Pastor Lindal assented, and John Hardy drove over as early as he
thought advisable, and in returning to Rosendal insisted on Helga's
driving and telling him everything that had occurred in his absence at
sea.
It was a pleasure to Mrs. Hardy to see their happy faces as they drove
up at Rosendal.
"Bless you, dear mother!" said John. "It has been so sweet to hear the
thankfulness with which she speaks of every little attention we showed
her father when at sea. It was your considerate goodness that
suggested it all."
"You must let me have your princess, John, for a few minutes," said
his mother. "You have to consider her, and that there are subjects
that we can discuss better without you."
"I agree to five minutes, and no longer," said John, with some warmth.
"For goodness' sake, mother, do not be unreasonable, and keep her an
unconscionable time."
"There is no doubt of his affection for you, Helga," said Mrs. Hardy,
"and it is a joy to me to see it; but come into my sitting-room, and
tell me what you have done about your wedding-dress."
"Here is the money you kindly gave me," replied Helga. "I have thought
it over, and I think that John would rather marry me just as I am than
that I should appear any different; and my father, I feel, would wish
it so." Mrs. Hardy recollected the cloud on the Pastor's open face
when her son had referred to giving Helga a wedding-dress. "I have,
therefore, not used any of the money, Mrs. Hardy," added Helga; "but I
am very grateful for your considering me as if I were your daughter."
"I will always act a mother's part to you, Helga," said Mrs. Hardy;
"your freedom from selfishness, as well as honesty of feeling, make me
love and respect you. It is not money, or money's worth, that is
everything. I have always taught my son that kindliness is the real
gold of life."
"When John came here first," said Helga, "he said that, and my father
has liked him from that moment."
"But you did not, Helga?" said Mrs. Hardy, as if asking the question,
and smiling.
"I did, really," replied Helga; "but I thought it was wrong to think
of him, and I treated him in a manner of which I am ashamed. I would
give anything to recall what I said to him."
John Hardy came bustling in. "Mother!" he exclaimed, "I really cannot
let you take up all Helga's time with discussions."
"What we have discussed, John, is yourself," said his mother, "and I
can wish for nothing better for you than Helga's golden truth and
love. You can take her for a walk in the woods until lunch, but mind,
John, to be back punctually at one."
"Why, that is only an hour, mother," protested John, who was becoming
quite unreasonable and impatient.
"And twelve times as long as you would let your mother speak to her
daughter that is to be," said Mrs. Hardy.
"Now, Helga," said John, "I recollect you called me a cool and
calculating Englishman. I shall take you down to the lake, where it
will be cool, and there I shall find a Smorblomst, or a buttercup, and
by placing it to your chin, I shall be able to calculate the
transparency of your complexion from the reflection of colour."
"Don't tease me, John, about what I said to you last year," said
Helga, imploringly. "If I said anything that pained you, I am sorry
for it; but do not always keep it alive against me."
"There is the rose of Rosendal, mother, and the jewel of Hardy Place,"
said Hardy to his mother, on his unpunctual return to lunch. "She is
so good and single-minded that it is impossible to invent ways of
teasing her."
"Then I should not try, John," said his mother.
A few days before John's marriage, his friend and neighbour, Sir
Charles Lynton, arrived at Rosendal.
"It is a lovely place, John," said his friend; "but, I suppose,
nothing to be compared with the loveliness of your Scandinavian
princess?"
"Don't quiz," said Hardy; "but come out and try a cast for an hour or
so for the Danish trout. We can also visit a landowner near, who
breeds good Jutland horses, and I know that is in your line."
"By all means," said his friend.
The stout proprietor, Jensen, was pleased with their visit, and the
opportunity of hearing another Englishman's opinion as to his stock of
horses.
"They want bone," said Sir Charles, "and to be kept better through the
winter."
"Then it would not pay to breed horses," said the proprietor. "A
big-boned horse would be more expensive to keep up, and would not
stand the cold and wet of our climate. We have no market for very
high-class horses; that is, we might sell one now and then, but not
many."
A short tobacco-parliament on horses was inevitable, and hints were
exchanged and thoughts expressed very valuable in their way, but not
necessary to be recorded here.
The wedding took place in the little Danish church at Vandstrup, and
was witnessed by a large number of Hardy's Danish acquaintances and
the Pastor's friends. The Pastor made a long discourse, for his heart
was full.
Mrs. Hardy would not hear of her son's accompanying her to Esbjerg.
She left with Sir Charles Lynton, for Horsens, to continue the journey
the next day to Esbjerg, where the yacht had been sent to meet them.
It was not until the middle of September that John Hardy and his wife,
with Pastor Lindal, left Denmark by the overland route for Hardy
Place. The time of their arrival at the station for Hardy Place was
therefore known some time before, and confirmed by a telegram from
Hardy on their reaching England.
Mrs. Hardy was on the platform, with a tall young man Pastor Lindal
did not know.
"It is your son Karl, Herr Pastor," said Mrs. Hardy.
A year's residence in England had made a great change in the Danish
lad, and he appeared so English that the Pastor hesitated before he
spoke to him in Danish. Karl's reply assured him that if he was
changed outwardly, there was no change that he could regret.
Mrs. Hardy welcomed the Pastor and her son's wife warmly. Two
carriages had been prepared, and John Hardy and his wife went in the
first, and Mrs. Hardy, the Pastor, and Karl in the second. When they
reached the entrance to Hardy Place, there was a considerable crowd of
well-wishers, who cheered lustily. There was an arch with the words--
"Saxon and Dane are we,
But all of us Danes
in our welcome of thee."
"It is kindly meant," said the Pastor, to Mrs. Hardy; "and I like the
full ring of the English cheer."
At the door at Hardy Place there was another crowd, and amid more
English cheers the fair Dane John Hardy had brought home as his wife
alighted at Hardy Place.
Mrs. Hardy took possession of Helga, and left her son to speak to his
friends and thank them for their reception, and entertain them.
"I have only asked Sir Charles Lynton to dinner, John," said
Mrs. Hardy. "I was afraid Helga might not be at her ease with a party
of perfect strangers the very first day she is here."
The Pastor was delighted with Hardy Place. "I see now," he said, "how
you knew how to deal with Rosendal. Your English landscape gardening
is good. I never saw so beautiful a place! The impression on me is
that of neatness and taste."
"Sir Charles Lynton comes to dinner, Herr Pastor," said Hardy; "and
you shall go and see his place to-morrow--it is only eight English
miles from here--and then you must tell me what you would like to see
or do during your very short stay in England. I dare say Karl can
suggest something. He must go to his work in London to-morrow."
Mrs. Hardy brought Helga down to the drawing-room before dinner,
dressed in her neat Danish dress, and a flower in her hair. She shook
hands with Sir Charles Lynton, and thanked him for his coming to her
wedding in Denmark.
"Now," said Mrs. Hardy, "I shall take her in to dinner and place her
at the head of your table, John, as the new mistress of Hardy Place,
and a better there cannot be."
Helga did not clearly understand, and John explained in Danish. "My
mother," he said, "wishes to instal you in the position she has
herself so long occupied as mistress here."
"No," said Helga, decidedly. "I am her daughter, and will serve her
gladly. You surely would not wish me to usurp your mother's place,
John, and that to-day?" She had said this in Danish, and she added in
English, "No, Mrs. Hardy; you are housemother here, and I am your
daughter and owe you a daughter's duty."
It had been Mrs. Hardy's dream that when her son brought his wife
home, the latter should occupy her seat, and rule as Mrs. Hardy of
Hardy Place. As Helga put it, she had got a daughter, and that was
all. Helga took Mrs. Hardy's hand and kissed it.
"What a trump she is, John!" exclaimed Sir Charles Lynton. "She will
be the greatest joy and comfort to your mother all her life. I shall
advertise in the Danish papers for a wife."
"Let Helga sit at your side, mother," said John, "and the Pastor at
your right."
The Pastor did not appear to think what had passed was unusual in his
daughter's conduct, but this little episode prepared the way for young
Mrs. Hardy of Hardy Place acquiring many friends.
During Pastor Lindal's short stay in England, John Hardy did his best
to interest him in English life and manners. The Pastor's wish was to
visit an English country church, and to see the whole working of an
English parish. His disapproval of the gift, or, worse still, the
sale, of a cure of souls was utter and complete.
"Your system of selling or giving livings is bad," he said. "No actual
sympathy can arise between the clergyman and his parishioners unless
they are interested in his selection."
When he had attended the parish church on the Sunday, Hardy questioned
him.
"The perfect neatness and order in the church," said the Danish
Pastor, "leave nothing to be desired; what is wanting is the warmth of
human sympathy and life. The service is cold and lifeless, the sermon
like dead leaves. The congregation hear, but they do not listen. There
is a want of harmony created by your system; it produces a barrier
between your clergyman and his flock; it prevents their working well
together, as a rule. In a few cases you will have exceptional men that
will get over any difficulty, and will do their duty well if you bind
them with chains; but it is not in that direction you should look, but
to a Christian bond of sympathy and common interest, as a rule."
"You are a keen observer, Herr Pastor. It is so," said Hardy.
"It is not necessary to be a keen observer to see it," replied Pastor
Lindal. "It lies so near the surface that it is not seen, when deeper
causes are looked for and ascribed as producing results they are far
from effecting."
"Your criticism is hard on the English country parishes," said Hardy;
"if you were here longer, you might alter the decisive character of
your opinion."
"It is possible, but the contrast strikes me," said Pastor Lindal. "I
speak as I see."
"That I do not doubt," said Hardy; "and I think the impression of
contrast between your own parish and that of mine is wide."
"There is but one principle, and that is that 'charity suffereth long,
and is kind,'" said the Pastor; "and when you came to Denmark and said
that kindliness is the real gold of life, there was nothing struck me
so much. It was my very thought in a phrase. I cannot therefore
understand why it should not be a more active principle in your
churches."
"It is in the hearts of a great many English people," said Hardy.
"It may be," said Pastor Lindal, "but it is not apparent to a stranger
in your parish church. But there is another matter cognate to us if
not to you, and that is the relief of the poor. Your system is costly,
but it creates the evil. You assist the poor to be paupers; we assist
the poor not to be so, and it costs us less. You train up children in
your work-houses to look to the poor rate or poor box, as we call it,
in after life as something to fall back on, in case of need, or
without need. The system is bad, as it creates more claimants on your
poor rate. This we prevent by teaching the children to earn a living.
The interest your clergy have in this is indirect, and it appears to
me they have little power to be of use, if they had the wish to be so,
which with many men must be a strong wish."
"It is so;" said Hardy, "and it does not appear to me so extraordinary
that you should observe it, as the contrast between what exists with
you and in England is so marked."
The Pastor left for Harwich to meet the Danish steamer, and John Hardy
and Helga accompanied him. Helga was cheerful until her father had
left, but for a long time wore a sad expression on her face. John
Hardy and his mother did their best to comfort and allay, but without
success. At last came a letter from her father, and her sadness
vanished. The good man wrote of Hardy and Mrs. Hardy, and how worthy
they were of her affection, and it was her duty now to give them her
gratitude and love; and she became bright at once. John Hardy's
friends called, and Helga mixed in English society and gradually
became accustomed to her new home, and no one was so popular as young
Mrs. Hardy of Hardy Place.
FINIS.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES
End of Project Gutenberg's A Danish Parsonage, by John Fulford Vicary