Hardy rose at once and did so. He looked round to ask if he should sing another song, when he saw Helga looking at him as a woman sometimes looks at the man to whom she has given her heart. Her back was turned to her father and brothers. Hardy sang the popular "Folkevise," beginning—
"Det var en Lørdag aften
Jeg sad og vented dig
Du loved mig at komme vist
Men kom dog ej til mig."
This song of the people possesses a rare plaintiveness, and describes how a peasant girl had expected her lover, but he came not, and her grief at seeing him with a rival. The ballad is touching to a degree, and the verse—
"Hvor kan man plukker Roser
Hvor ingen Roser groer?
Hvor kan man finde Kjærlighed
Hvor Kjærlighed ej boer?"
"Where can one pluck roses
Where no roses grow?
Where can one find affection
Where no affection lives?"
is exquisitely tender. Helga had heard the song often, and sang it herself, but it had never seemed to possess such a depth of feeling.
Hardy got up from the piano, and saw that Helga's eyes were tearful.
"I thank you, Hardy," said the Pastor. "No man can sing like that unless his heart is true."
"I am sure of it, father," said Helga. "I never heard anything so beautiful in my life!"
"But, Hardy, you are going away; and how will you take the piano?" asked Pastor Lindal.
"If you would allow it to remain with you, Herr Pastor, during the autumn and winter, I should be much indebted to you," said Hardy. "But if Frøken Helga would accept it as a recollection of a cool and calculating Englishman, I will give it her with pleasure."