A Danish Parsonage Part 35

"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 circ.u.mstances had arisen that might influence his Sognebrn (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 a.s.sented, 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 Smrblomst, or a b.u.t.tercup, 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-cla.s.s 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 a.s.sured 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 l.u.s.tily. 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.