"Yes," said Hardy, "and very good advice, about the management of the people and dairy." But, he added, the Frøken Jensens had decidedly advised him to marry, so as to have some one to manage these details for him; but he had replied that he must consult his mother on such a subject.
"And which you intend to do, Herr Hardy?" asked Helga.
"Certainly," said Hardy.
CHAPTER XIV.
"Good God, how sweet are all things here!
How beautiful the fields appear!
How cleanly do we feed and lie!
Lord, what good hours do we keep;
How quietly we sleep!
What peace! what unanimity!
How different from the lewd fashion
Is all our business, all our recreation!"
The Complete Angler.
Frøken Helga had filled the porcelain pipe with Kanaster one evening, when she said to her father that he should relate to Herr Hardy what he knew of Folketro.
"What is Folketro?" asked Hardy.
"It is the belief in supernatural subjects; for instance, the belief in the merman is a Folketro."
"I know the beautiful old ballad that is sung in Norway of the merman king rising from the sea in a jewelled dress, where the king's daughter had come to fish with a line of silk. He sings to her, and, charmed with his song, she gives him both her hands, and he draws her under the sea."