A SECOND VISIT TO VOSBORG
"Are you coming with us, Hans?"
"Where are you going, Greta?"
"Oh, didn't you know? Mr. Christianson has invited Anna and me to visit
Vosborg. He wants to show us the whole castle. I'm sure he would be glad
to have you come, too."
"Thank you, Greta, but I think I'll go fishing today. Old Peter says
they are biting. Come along, Chouse." Hans started toward the river.
Chouse had run ahead and was already waiting in the boat.
"Shall we go on our bicycles, Greta?" asked Anna, who never walked any
place if she could take her bicycle.
"No, let's walk. It's only a mile; besides, it's way too steep a hill
to climb on a bicycle."
The girls walked happily down the road, never once looking back. If they
had looked back, they would have seen something very strange. Hans had
started down the river, but he suddenly stopped the boat when he reached
the first bend. He paddled over near the shore and drew the boat up on
the bank. Then he cautiously hid behind a large tree trunk. The strange
thing was that he didn't take his fishing pole out of the boat. He stood
behind the tree for quite a little while, watching Greta and Anna as
they hurried along to Vosborg.
When the girls were out of sight, Hans called to the dog. "Come, Chouse.
It's time for us to go now." They got into the boat again and Hans
paddled slowly and quietly. But Greta and Anna had reached the turn in
the road, so they could not possibly see which way Hans was going.
In the field outside the castle wall, two storks were walking around on
their long, slender legs. The girls stopped to watch them.
[Illustration: MR. CHRISTIANSON]
"Oh, Greta, I wish we could get up close to them." Anna ran forward. She
thought the storks couldn't possibly see her. But when she was still
twenty feet away they lifted their large wings and rose in the air. Soon
they had gone over the tops of the trees and high into the sky. Anna
watched them until they were out of sight.
"What would you like to see first?" asked Mr. Christianson, when he
greeted his two young visitors at the door.
Both girls spoke at the same time. "The little chapel," said Anna. "The
library," said Greta.
They visited the chapel first, and then came back to the castle by way
of a lovely, shaded path which ran by the side of the moat.
"Hans Christian Andersen used to walk along here, when he visited
Vosborg," said Mr. Christianson. "He thought up many of his fairy tales
as he strolled along under these trees. In the library there is a volume
of his stories that I want to show you. Andersen gave this book to my
grandfather, and in the front he has written a little verse about
Vosborg."
"Do you suppose we might climb up in the tower?" asked Anna, after they
had gone all through the garden and had come back into the inner
courtyard. Anna was very fond of climbing.
"Of course you may." Mr. Christianson took them up narrow stairs that
kept going up and up and up. Finally they reached the top. From here
they could see the ocean in the distance.
"This is almost as high as the tower in our forest," said Greta.
"In olden times this tower was very useful," explained Mr. Christianson.
"From here one could see an enemy when he was still miles away."
"Denmark doesn't have any enemies now, does it?" asked Anna.
"No, Denmark is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. It is
almost eighty years since we have been at war with any other nation."
After a while they went down to the library. Mr. Christianson led the
girls past rows and rows of books, placed on shelves that reached from
the floor to the ceiling. When they came to the farthest corner of the
room he stopped and reached for the book of Andersen's Fairy Tales
without even looking.
"You see, I know just where it is." Then a worried look came on his
face. "Why, I can't understand this," he said. "This book was here last
night, for I showed it to some friends. And now it is gone."
"Maybe someone has borrowed it," suggested Greta.
"That is impossible, for I keep the library locked, and none of the
servants has the key."
"Maybe you put it back in the wrong place," suggested Anna.
"I'm afraid that is impossible, too. You see I keep this book in a very
special place because I prize it more than any other book that I own. I
am always careful to put it back in this same spot."
[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF VOSBORG]
"We'll help you look for it," offered Greta. So the three began
searching one shelf of books after another.
"I suppose Hans would say that one of the Nisser had taken it," said
Anna jokingly, when they had gone about halfway through the shelves of
books.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if one _had_ taken it," answered Greta
quite seriously.
They kept on looking for almost an hour. By this time Mr. Christianson
was really worried. He finally called in all the servants and asked if
any of them had been in the library that day. None of them had. The
disappearance of the book had become a real mystery.
"I should hate to lose this book more than any other book in the
library."
"Let's look once more on the shelf where it's supposed to be," said
Anna.
Mr. Christianson laughed. "But we looked there very carefully when we
first came in."
Anna wanted to look there again, so she ran down the long room to the
special shelf.
"Here it is!" she shouted. "Right here on the shelf where it is always
kept."
The others rushed up at once. "Well, this _is_ strange," said Mr.
Christianson. "It wasn't here an hour ago, and no one has been in this
part of the room since then."
"Except maybe a Nisse," said Greta.
In the front of the book Hans Christian Andersen had written a beautiful
poem about Vosborg. It was no wonder that Mr. Christianson treasured
this book, for Andersen is the most famous writer of all Denmark.
Children all over the world love his fairy tales.
"It's getting late, Greta, and I think we should--" began Anna and then
stopped. A long, low moan cut through the stillness of the room. It
seemed to come from quite near.
"What--what was that?" asked Greta.
"Oh, I suppose that was Lady Margaret," explained Mr. Christianson.
"About a hundred years ago she was kept a prisoner in this room for many
years, and every now and then we hear her moaning."
"Did you ever see her?" asked Anna.
"Well, no, I never did. But whenever we hear that low moan from this
room we know it is Lady Margaret."
"Doesn't it frighten you?" asked Greta.
"Oh, no. We are quite used to it."
"This is really a haunted castle, isn't it?" asked Anna.
"Every castle in Denmark has at least _one_ ghost, Anna."
All the way home the girls talked about the ghost of Lady Margaret. Anna
was beginning to think that maybe there really _were_ such things as
ghosts and Nisser. When they reached the house, Hans was just getting
out of his boat.
"Did you get any fish, Hans?" called Anna.
"No luck today, Anna."
"Are you sure you were trying to catch fish?" asked Greta, in her most
teasing manner.
"What do you mean by that, Greta?"
"I thought maybe you had decided to go after books instead."
Anna looked at Hans. Could he have been playing a joke on them at
Vosborg? Was it Hans who had taken the book and then put it back? But
how could he have gotten into the library? And anyway, she and Greta had
both seen him start down the river in the opposite direction.
Just then Greta's mother called from the door. "Anna, you have a letter
from your mother."
"It's too bad you didn't take Chouse with you today, Greta," said Hans,
when Anna had gone into the house.
"Why? What happened?"
"He was naughtier than he's ever been before. He chased the young
turkeys all over the place and injured three or four of them."
"Did Father see him?"
"Yes. He came along just as Chouse caught one of the turkeys and he was
terribly angry. You know how proud Father is of those turkeys."
"Oh, Hans, what _am_ I going to do?" sobbed Greta. "We can't seem to
break Chouse of his awful habit of chasing things. And yet I can't bear
to part with him."
Just then Anna came running out of the house. "Greta, I have the
grandest news. Mother wants you to come to Copenhagen with me when I go
home."
For a moment Greta forgot her worries about Chouse. "Oh, Anna, that will
be wonderful. Let's ask Mother if I may go."