The next day they drove into Esbjerg, and Garth and Hardy put the horses on board the steamer for England. It would leave in the evening, when the tide would allow it to get out of dock.
The Pastor had arranged to stay the night at Esbjerg, to see the very last of his son Karl on his leaving for England.
As they left, Hardy said, "I shall be at Rosendal in May, and I hope my mother will be with me; but you will hear from me many times before then, and I dare say Karl will write you more frequently than I do."
Helga said simply, "I thank you, Herr Hardy, for your kindness to us."
The steamer left that night, and the next day Pastor Lindal went to the railway station at Esbjerg to take three tickets to the station nearest his parsonage. Three tickets were handed to him, and the Pastor expostulated.
"They are first-class tickets, and——"
"Yes," said the station clerk; "but they are already taken and paid for."
CHAPTER XX.
"Piscator,—But, look you, sir, now you are at the brink of the hill, how do you like my river, the vale it winds through like a snake, and the situation of my little fishing-house?"—The Complete Angler.