The yacht was soon brought to, and Pastor Lindal stepped on deck, to be met with much affection from his daughter and Axel. It was clear to Mrs. Hardy that Helga's attachment to her father was one of simple trust in each other, the same as existed between herself and her own boy John.
The Pastor was ceremoniously polite to Mrs. Hardy, but he greeted John Hardy with much warmth and thanks. He was pleased with the yacht and its many clever contrivances for saving space and arriving at comfort, and at dinner was, for him, merry. He was delighted to see his daughter with such a fresh and healthy look, after the cruise to Christiania. Axel, usually a quiet and retiring lad, talked incessantly; he had so much to relate of all that passed since leaving Copenhagen, that at length the Pastor stopped him; but Hardy intervened, "Let him run on, Herr Pastor; he is describing very well. He will come to an end with what he has to say, shortly."
The Pastor had thus, from Axel's point of view, the whole history of the cruise from beginning to end.
"And what do you say, Helga?" asked the Pastor.
"I never thought that life could be made so pleasant and so happy, little father," replied Helga. "Mrs. Hardy is kinder than I can say."
"And Hardy was not?" said the Pastor, smiling.
"He is like his mother, little father; their natures are the same," replied Helga. "But he is a man, and men are never so good as women."
John Hardy laughed, and, as the conversation was in Danish, told his mother what Helga had said.
"It is her simple naturalness that makes her say that, John," said Mrs. Hardy. "She sees in me what she thinks a perfect woman, although I am an ordinary Englishwoman; while she does not understand the rougher nature men possess. Her thorough truth in thought and feeling is her greatest charm."
Axel, however, put his oar in. "Why, father how can Helga say Herr Hardy is not as good as Fru Hardy? He gave her a toilet box with costly things in it."