"Huzza, Doctor Dournay."
Eric was almost crushed, and his shoulders ached with the congratulatory strokes upon them.
He saw himself surrounded by those who were already acquainted with him, and those who desired to make his acquaintance. The assembly dispersed.
Eric looked around for Roland, but he was nowhere to be seen. He walked about the square in front of the music-hall, and then returned to it; here he found everything in confusion, for they were rushing in every direction; setting the tables for the festival-dinner. He waited a long time, for he felt convinced that Roland had got lost in the crowd, and would come back here.
At last Roland came, with glowing cheeks.
"If was she!" he exclaimed. "I went with her and her schoolmates to the boat, and they have now set off.
"O Eric, how splendid it is, how splendid, that you sang, for the first time, to her! And she said you could not be so godless, for you sang so devoutly. She said that I was not to tell you this, but she is a rogue, she meant that I should tell you. O Eric! and the Justice's Lina, and the Architect; too, are among the singers; they are walking arm in arm, and they recognised you, but they did not betray you. O Eric, how you did sing! it seemed to me that you could fly too; I was every moment afraid that you would spread your wings and fly away."
The youth was in a state of feverish excitement.
An usher came to invite Eric and his brother—such he supposed Roland to be—to be present at the dinner and to sit near the director.
Others came who knew him, and strangers who wished to be introduced.