"Because it was so uncertain, and because I wished, as a surprise to you, to say that any enjoyment of Rosendal stands at your disposition and your family's," replied Hardy.
They all looked at Hardy, but there was no doubt of the sincerity of his meaning.
"And may we come here and catch the pike?" asked Karl, with some anxiety.
"Yes, if you can, every fin of them," replied Hardy; "and we will, if the Pastor will now allow me, catch some this afternoon. I dare say Rasmussen's widow would like as many as we can catch. We will set a lot of lines and leave them, and roam about the place and visit them later, and the chances are, if there be pike, we shall catch a few."
They wandered through the grounds and over the house and buildings with renewed interest.
"Do you understand the management of such a property, Hardy?" inquired Pastor Lindal, who, since the Rasmussen incident, rarely addressed him otherwise than by his name simply.
"I understand farming and the management of landed property in England," replied Hardy; "and it does not appear to me so very difficult to manage so small a place as Rosendal, with common sense and the assistance of so good a class of people as are already on the estate. I shall not, for instance, begin to cut down the beech trees, or drain the lake, although in an economical sense both would pay to do. The lake could be drained to a good meadow; draining at the same time the meadows adjoining, while the beech trees could be sold, and the land they occupy turned into tillage. The house is a poor residence and out of repair, so are the farm-buildings; but the place has its peculiar charm, which I should not interrupt."
Pastor Lindal regarded the practical self-possessed Englishman with surprise.
Hardy observed a look of displeasure in Helga's face at the thought of so pretty a situation being turned into a practical farm, so he said—
"I have not possession yet, and shall not have until after I leave Denmark this summer, and I could do nothing now; but my intention is to consult a professional English landscape gardener, with the view of increasing the attraction of Rosendal. He would do nothing that would appear inconsistent with the natural beauty of the place."