A Danish Parsonage

by John Fulford Vicary

"Excellent!" said Helga, using a Danish expression. "But it will be a long day for my father."

"We should get to Horsens at six, and we can telegraph to the hotel to be ready to receive us at that time," said Hardy. "But the next day is only nineteen English miles to Veile, and would be less fatiguing."

"I like to be tired, Hardy, by outdoor exercise," said Pastor Lindal. "Your plan is excellent, and is just what I should not only like, but enjoy."

The row on the lake was very pleasant. The Pastor told the story of Bishop Peter applying to the pope to decree a separation of all the married priests from their wives, and how the three sisters of the priest there drew lots who should go to Rome to get a dispensation for their brother to keep his wife. The lot fell on the youngest, and she went to Rome and got the pope's permission; but on the condition that she should have cast three bells, which she shipped at Lubeck, one bell was lost in the sea, and the two others were placed in two churches near Aarhus.

The view from Himmelbjerg has the strong charm of great variety. The lakes are spread out below, amongst woods, heaths, meadows, and cultivated land. The early morning gives the view at its best. There are views and views, but the variety of prospect from Himmelbjerg impresses. Juul Sø, the lake at the foot of the Himmelbjerg, is at times lovely.

Axel was, however, very hungry. The view might be good, but a growing boy's appetite is good also. He asked his father if he might go to the restaurant in Himmelbjerg and get a bit of Smør-brød (bread and butter). Karl said he wanted to go, too. There had been the long row up the lakes, the walks about Himmelbjerg, and even Frøken Helga looked hungry. As soon as they came to the restaurant, the waiter told them that breakfast was waiting for them.

"Waiting for us!" said the Pastor; "it is more likely we shall have to wait for our breakfast."

"I thought that you might prefer that the breakfast should be ready, and I ordered it yesterday. I sent a note up last night," said Hardy.

The breakfast was the more enjoyed from Hardy's thoughtfulness, so much so that when the inevitable porcelain pipe was filled, it was a difficulty to get the Pastor down the Himmelbjerg. When they at last reached the carriage, which a man from the hotel at Silkeborg had driven, as Garth had charge of Buffalo, the Pastor decided to go in the carriage, and not by Hardy's side. Helga, after seeing her father comfortable, got up by Hardy, and talked to him unreservedly.

The bright ripple of Helga's talk was pleasant to hear in its clear transparency. She told Hardy of her father so long as she could recollect, and the great sorrow that fell upon him when her mother died, and how difficult it was to keep him from the bitter memory of his loss; that she was with him at every spare moment, and how at times it was beyond her power to cheer him; but that since Hardy had been with them, her father had scarcely shown a sign of the sorrow they knew was always at his heart.