"I perceive now, that when once his tongue is set a-going, he has plenty to say," remarked my worthy uncle. "How long were you in Berlin?"
"Nay; stop, uncle! we are at Hamburg just now. I have still a great deal to tell about that city. Everything should be arranged in due order. Today I will confine myself to Hamburg; to-morrow we shall travel to Berlin." "Catch me here tomorrow," thought I to myself; "if I only can get through to-day, I will take French leave before we come to Berlin."
"Come! since you give such a good reason, we will let you off Berlin just now. I am a lover of order myself, and here everything goes by clockwork. During the first part of the morning every one must look out for himself; at twelve we meet for luncheon--at three o"clock we dine.
Amuse yourself in the mean time as well as you can; you will find plenty of books in the library--yonder hang fire-arms--and in the stables there are horses at your service; do exactly as if you were at home, and take care of yourself."
"I will take a turn in the garden," said I, with a glance at Jette--one of those looks _d"intelligence_ from which I expected great things; but she took no notice of it, and I was under the necessity of remarking, that being a stranger I did not know the way. But even this opening for a _tete-a-tete_ she allowed to pa.s.s, and I could not imagine how she intended to bring about our secret conference.
"A stranger!" cried my uncle. "But true, in eleven years one forgets a great deal. Let me see--how old were you then? you are three-and-twenty now ... twelve years of age you were; who could have guessed then that you would have become such a free-and-easy, off-hand sort of a fellow?
Well, let him be shown the grounds, children. Thomas must go to his studies; my wife has her household matters to attend to; Jette, you must ..."
"I really am not able, my dear father--I have a dreadful headache,"
said the poor timid girl. And she looked as if she spoke nothing but the truth,--she was so pale, and her eyes were so red.
"A woman"s malady," said her father, looking vexed; "it is, of course, inc.u.mbent on you to ... Well; all that will vanish when you are better acquainted. _We_ know what these qualms mean," he added, turning towards me. I nodded, as if I would have said--_Sat sapienti_. "Have you also got a headache, Hanne? Are you also suffering from nervousness? or can you stand the fresh morning air, my girl?" he asked. I looked eagerly at the little gipsy.
"Oh! I can endure the fresh morning air very well," she replied.
"Then take charge of your cousin Carl, and show him round the garden and the shrubberies; and don"t forget the pretty view from the rising ground where the swing is."
The Just.i.tsraad held out his hand to me, and I pressed it with all the warmth of sincere grat.i.tude.
"Come, cousin," said Hanne. "Shall we call each other by our first names, or not? But we can settle that as we go along."
"For Heaven"s sake, let us call each other by our baptismal names, else we should not seem like cousins. Don"t you think so, uncle?"
"You are of my own people, my boy. Always be merry and frank--that is my motto. I am right glad that you have not adopted the stiff German manners. Your father was always very grave; but you have rubbed off all that solemnity abroad, I am happy to see."
In my delight at the promised stroll with Hanne, I forgot that it was my duty to kiss Jette"s hand on leaving her. Just as I had reached the door I suddenly remembered it; and rushing back, I went through the salutation in the speediest manner possible, expressing at the same time my hope to find her better on my return. They all laughed, and even Jette could not help smiling,--there was something so comical in my hurried return, and equally hurried performance of the ceremony etiquette demanded.
Was I not right in calling myself a madcap? Here was I actually walking with the charming little Hanne all over the grounds! I--her pretended cousin; I--who ought to have been sent to the House of Correction, for having, under another man"s name, presumed to thrust myself into the midst of a respectable family; I--who had committed, a positive depredation, and broken the sacred privacy of a seal;--here was I wandering about arm-in-arm with the Just.i.traad"s daughter at ---- Court, the captivating, innocent, beautiful little Hanne; I--who deserved to be driven away with all the dogs on the estate at my heels!
Well! goodness and justice do not always carry the day in this world!
PART II.
When I looked at my companion I was almost appalled at my audacity.
Think of the face you love the best in this world--the face that you never can behold without a beating heart--which you dwell on with rapture, which is the object of your waking and your sleeping dreams!
Ah! quite as charming as such looked Hanne in her pink gingham morning-dress, with a little blue handkerchief tied carelessly round her throat, and a becoming white bonnet. She was irresistible!
We strayed here and there like two children; plucked flowers to teach each other their botanical names; gathered a whole handful to commence a herbarium, and threw them away again to chase some gaudy b.u.t.terfly.
Then we sauntered on slowly, and Hanne communicated many little things to me of which she thought her cousin ought to be informed; and at length I began to fancy that I actually was the real cousin Carl. Of all the young girls that ever I beheld, Hanne was the most delightful; such grace, such vivacity, such navete, were not to be met with either in Copenhagen or in Hamburg.
"It is a pity Jette could not accompany you," said she; "but to-morrow, probably, her headache will be gone."
I a.s.sured her that I did not regret Jette"s absence, since I had _her_ company.
"That is a pretty declaration from a bridegroom who has allowed himself to be waited for eleven years," said Hanne.
"Jette did not look as if she were glad at my arrival."
"You must not think anything of that; she has looked out of spirits for a month past, at least: she is apt to be melancholy at times, but it pa.s.ses off. Her character is sedate. She is much better, therefore, than I am, or than anyone I know. You can hardly fancy how good she is."
"But I want a lively wife, for I am myself of a very gay disposition,"
said I.
"That is not what we thought you were," replied my fair companion. "We always looked upon you as a quiet, grave, somewhat heavy young man, and you have been described to us as a most tedious, wearisome person. I used often to pity Jette in my own mind; for a stupid, humdrum man is the greatest bore on earth. But I do not pity her anymore, now."
I could have kissed her, I was so pleased.
"So you thought of me with fear and disgust, you two poor girls? Pray, who painted my portrait so nicely?"
"Why, your own father did; and the letter which you wrote Jette when she was confirmed, and when you sent her the betrothal-ring, did not at all improve our opinion of you. I"ll tell you what, Carl; that was a miserable epistle. It was with the utmost difficulty that my father prevailed on Jette to answer it, when she was obliged to send you a ring in return. However, you were little more than a boy then--it is long ago, and it was all forgotten when we never heard again from you.
I can venture to affirm that Jette has not thought six times about you in the six years that have elapsed since that time--and perhaps this is lucky for you. It was not until your father wrote us that you had come home, and until he began to bombard Jette with presents and messages from you, that you were mentioned again among us; but my father never could bear our laughing at your renowned epistle."
I listened with the utmost avidity to every little circ.u.mstance that could elucidate the part I had taken upon myself to play. In this conversation I learned more than I could have gathered the whole morning.
"It is very absurd to betroth children to each other. What should they know of love?" said Hanne.
"It is more than absurd, Hanne; it is positive barbarity. It is trampling the most sacred feelings and rights under foot."
"Nevertheless you may thank G.o.d for that barbarity," said she; "without it you would never have got Jette. She has plenty of admirers."
"Indeed! And who are they, if I may take the liberty of asking? You make me quite jealous."
"Oh, I have observed that both the young clergyman at ---- Town and Gustav Holm are much attached to her. And Jette has no dislike to Gustav."
"Who is Gustav Holm? He appears to be the most dangerous."
"He is learning farming, or rather, I ought to say, agricultural affairs, with a country gentleman not far from this. He has been coming to our house now about three years; I think, and I could wager a large sum, that it is for Jette"s sake."
"Or for your own, little Hanne?"
"Pshaw! nonsense! If anyone were dangling here after me, I should make no secret of it. Jette is a greater favourite than I am, and she deserves to be so."
"But perhaps Jette cares more for Gustav Holm than for me, whom she really does not know?"
One often asks a question in this hypocritical world about what one knows best oneself.
"No, oh no! That would be a sad affair. Has she not been engaged to you for eleven years, and is she not going to be married to you?"
"But if you had been in Jette"s place, how would you have felt?"
"I would perhaps have preferred ... No, I don"t think I would though.
But I am not so mild and amiable as Jette; and the day that I was confirmed no one should have imposed a betrothal-ring upon me, I can a.s.sure you, sir; and, least of all, accompanied by such an elegant billet as yours."
Hanne picked up a blade of gra.s.s, formed it into a string, and twisting it round her finger in an artistic manner, made it into a knot.
"Can you make such?" said she.