Mrs. Hardy said, "She is a jewel, John, and without price;" and rose from her seat and kissed her on the parting of her hair.
"Don't do that, mother," said John; "you make me wish to kiss her head off."
CHAPTER XXII.
"Oh, ye valleys! oh, ye mountains!
Oh, ye groves, and crystal fountains!
How I love, as liberty,
By turns to come and visit ye!"
The Complete Angler.
Axel's joy at the unexpected pleasure of seeing his sister and Hardy was unbounded, but when he heard he was going on board the yacht for a cruise, and then to return home, he was wild with delight.
They went to the theatre that evening, and to Rosenborg the next day, and the yacht left in the afternoon for Elsinore, and anchored for the night.
Mrs. Hardy preferred being at sea to staying longer at Copenhagen. The theatre with its excellent acting interested her, but the knowledge of the language was wanting, and detracted from her enjoyment of Holberg's dramatic genius, which for so many years has interested the Danish public. Rosenborg, with its rich and varied treasures for four hundred years, was a greater enjoyment to her, and is alone worth a visit to Copenhagen.
"We have supplies and coal on board, mother," said Hardy, "and we can run up the Swedish coast to Gothenborg and see the falls at Trollhättan, by starting early, and can then cruise down the Danish coast."
"I think, John," said Mrs. Hardy, "I would rather go up to Christiania; we can write Pastor Lindal from Elsinore that we shall do so. We can lay to during the darker hours at many places, or, as we take a pilot from here to Christiania, can run on. The weather is calm."