A Danish Parsonage Part 6

It is to be feared that if the cross-examination had been much longer, that Hardy would have declined to answer any more questions, and have exhibited some of that insularity that is so common in Englishmen; but dinner was announced, and Hardy offered his arm, and Frken Jaeger was soon occupied in other and more material subjects. She was about thirty-five, according to Hardy's judgment, and had a long sharp nose and an equally sharp chin, tending ultimately to form what some people ungenerously call nutcrackers; but her appet.i.te was good, and it left an opportunity to Hardy to observe his fellow guests.

The Pastor sat near his host, and his daughter was paired with a young Danish landowner, who paid her great attention. Her dress was simple, with an ornament or two inherited from her mother; but her clear complexion, her tall figure and clean-cut features impressed Hardy.

She talked with every one with animation, and Hardy could scarcely realize the comparison between the quiet figure steadily knitting with ear and eye always at her father's service to the perfect Danish lady before him.

There were several toasts proposed during the dinner. The event of the day had to be particularly recognized, which was done with much enthusiasm. Then followed other toasts, and Hardy's health was drunk, to which he had to reply. He rose quickly, and said in Danish that his knowledge of the language was yet so imperfect that he could say little more than thanks, but that he would add that he owed a debt of kindness to the Danes with whom he had been brought in contact, and he thanked them and his host for their kindness and consideration to a foreigner. Hardy read in Frken Helga's face that what he had said was what had her approval, and that he had said enough.

"You appear to look at Frken Helga Lindal, Herr Hardy," said Frken Jaeger; "are you engaged to her?"

"No," said Hardy.

"But what do you think of her?"

"That she is an excellent daughter," replied Hardy.

"And that she would make an excellent wife?" said Frken Jaeger.

"Possibly," said Hardy, with a determination to say nothing more.

The dinner party broke up. The elder people of the male sort adjourned to a very strong tobacco-parliament and cards; the younger went into the a.s.sembly-room, which was now converted into a ball-room. Frken Jaeger said, "Herr Hardy, I have put your name down in my list of dances for the first dance, and you will dance with me."

Hardy went to Frken Helga Lindal, and besought her to deliver him from Frken Jaeger; but she declined, and said, "You have to dance with Frken Jaeger; you have taken her in to dinner, and it is our custom."

"Then," said Hardy, "let me have one dance with you, a waltz?"

Helga gave him her list, and he wrote his name down for the first waltz possible.

"Is it your father's wish to stay here a long time, Frken Helga?"

asked Hardy.

"No; but it depends on you," replied Helga. "He will not leave until you wish, but I know the sooner he is home the better for him. But Herr Jensen will want to talk to you about his horses."

"I will see him at once," said Hardy, "and tell him I will ride over to-morrow to see his horses, and that will, I think, prevent any delay arising from that cause."

So Hardy went into the tobacco-parliament, and arranged with Herr Jensen to see him the following day, and the catechising Frken Jaeger had to wait while the dance and the waltz she loved so well had begun; but Hardy's appearance and his good dancing allayed her rising anger.

"Do you dance much in England?" said Frken Jaeger.

"No," said Hardy; "I do not like it."

At length the time came for his dance with Frken Helga Lindal, and as they stood up the personal beauty of both was remarked. Helga's elastic movement on Hardy's arm, the ease with which she danced in perfect time, and her bright manner had its effect on Hardy. He was not quite sure but that he had just told Frken Jaeger a story, in saying that he did not like dancing.

"You dance well, Frken Helga!" said Hardy.

"I can do nothing so well as you," replied Helga. "But my father would wish to leave, and if you can arrange it, I shall thank you so much.

You can do what you like; we cannot."

A short time after, they were sitting behind the trotting horses, and the Pastor thanked Hardy for his consideration. "They are kind people," said he, "but they do not think that my duty is never to be away from my home, so that I can be called at any moment to do what duty may arise, and which, if I should delay or omit, would be wrong."

"It is a strict view," said Hardy, "but it is the right one. I cannot say it is general in England."

CHAPTER VII.

"If the prayer be good, the commoner the better.

Prayer in the Church's words, As well as sense, of all prayers bears the bell."

_The Complete Angler._

The next day after the late breakfast at the parsonage, John Hardy rode over to the Jensen's on Buffalo, and Garth followed on one of the Danish horses, and was received with much warmth. Herr Jensen walked round and round Buffalo, for he loved a horse, and admired the length of his step as Buffalo walked. He had heard the story of his jumping the wall at Vandstrup Praestegaard, and his desire to see him perform in that capacity was so great, that Hardy put him through a gallop and over a few fences, and Herr Jensen approved loudly. Fru Jensen was present and her two daughters, Mathilde and Maria Jensen.

Hardy's quiet manner when he dismounted and made his respects to the ladies, as if he had just trotted his horse up the avenue, struck them, and they forgave him on the spot for leaving so early the night before. Hardy went into the old Danish Herregaard (country house), and was received with the usual Danish hospitality. The ladies talked incessantly of the proceedings of the night before, and Hardy had to bear the result of Frken Jaeger's severe cross-examination to the fullest particular. She had told all Hardy's answers to her questions, and they were possessed with Hardy's position in England, so far as he had chosen to answer Frken Jaeger, and the ladies were ready to pursue the inquiry further; but, fortunately for Hardy, Herr Jensen was anxious to show him his farm, and particularly his horses. Hardy at once a.s.sented, and Herr Jensen took him to see his brood mares and foals, with a few young horses not yet sold, which Herr Jensen was holding for a higher price than the people he sold to at Hamburgh would pay him. Garth accompanied them.

"I have sold horses often to England," said Jensen; "but they will pay a price upon each particular horse. Some they will pay 40 for, some they will pay 18 for; and when the horses arrive at Hull, they will say there is some fault or defect in the higher paid-for horses, and the consequence is that I prefer selling to the Germans. They pay 25 to 30 a horse, and take, perhaps, twenty or thirty yearly; and many of the best go to England after being trained, and the rest are sold in Germany or elsewhere; but I never hear any complaints of defects or the like."

"That I can well understand," said Hardy. "In England, a really good horse has no price. If he is wanted, any price will be paid; but a horse with a fault is nowhere."

"Our horses," said Jensen, "are good horses for light weights; but in England they are used chiefly for carriages now. I have two horses here that would make good saddle horses, and I wish you could try them."

The two horses Herr Jensen referred to were in a pasture, tethered to an iron spike driven in the ground, with a rope giving them a range of a few yards of gra.s.s.

"What do you think of these two horses, Bob?" said Hardy to Garth.

"Very good park hacks," said Garth, "and just the thing for a lady to ride."

"My man will try one of the horses if you like," said Hardy. "He is accustomed to horses."

Garth fetched the saddle he had rode over in, and a light snaffle bridle, and mounted, and, after the usual difficulties that always occur with colts, he rode the horse, sitting firm and easy in the saddle, to Herr Jensen's great admiration.

"He is a good horse," said Garth. "But, master, ask the governor one question, and that is how he feeds them in the winter."

"What does he say?" asked Herr Jensen.

"He asks how you feed your horses in the winter," replied Hardy.

"That is the difficulty," said Jensen. "We have little to give them in the winter and spring, and it is hard work to keep them alive. We cut our gra.s.s in the meadows twice yearly; the first hay is good, the second is not so good by a long way."

"Our notion is that a horse should always be kept well," said Hardy, "or his bone and sinew want firmness."

"There is no doubt of that," said Herr Jensen. "We understand that very well; but yet what can we do? We breed horses to make money by them. If we fed them as you say, we could not get the cost back."

"I have heard the same story in England," said Hardy; "a farmer has to treat his farm as a business, and, Herr Jensen, you are quite right in doing so."

Hardy went over Herr Jensen's farm, and his knowledge of farming in all its branches so interested Herr Jensen, that it was late when they returned to the Herregaard. Dinner was ready, and Hardy had to bear a running fire of criticism from Fru Jensen and her daughters. He had not, they said, observed the particular merits of many of the Danish ladies who had been present at the dance of the previous evening, but doubtless he was preoccupied.

"No," said Hardy, "I was not preoccupied. My difficulty is that I do not know Danish well, and Herr Jensen has had the greatest difficulty to understand me about horses; how, then, could I understand so difficult a subject as a Danish lady?"