s a judicious
enlightenment is beneficial to the common people, so, on the other
hand, is it injurious when hypocrites and ignorant persons devote
themselves to the Holy Scriptures, which they can neither understand
nor apply rightly.

"And if it really should happen--though I can scarcely credit
it--that the clergy allow themselves to be dragged down by ignorance
and enthusiasm, I should greatly fear that it will be to the
detriment of our dear fatherland.

"In the meantime, you will understand that, in a certain sense, there
is a great distance between Sandsgaard and the town, and I trust that
you will find the atmosphere here as fresh and pure as ever.

"And now, my dear son, I will conclude with an affectionate
salutation from myself and your two aunts. The good ladies are in
'court mourning,' as Jacob Worse used to term it in the old days;
nevertheless, they are looking forward to the pleasure of seeing you
once more.

"I have a suspicion that they are planning a marriage for you, for
they are devoted to small children.

"I, too, to speak plainly, have a great wish that new life, laughter,
and the sound of tiny footsteps should be heard once more in the old
house.

"Your loving father,

"Morten W. Garman."

CHAPTER XV

A storm can be endured, however severe it be, if one is safe on the
land.

But when it rages week after week, day after day, and night after
night, so that no one can declare when one storm ends and the next
begins, there are few who are exempt from an oppressive nervous
feeling of anxiety, especially if, under such circumstances, they
happen to live in a small town built of wood, close down by the open
fjord, with the sea in front of them.

Then the heavens lower, so that the clouds course along the earth,
and rain and spray drift far inland. Rifts in the leaden sky show
fiery storm-streaks during the day, and the night is dark as death.

But the worst is when one lies helpless in bed, and the tempest rages
in the small crooked streets, shaking the eaves and tearing off the
tiles.

When one has not slept well, too, for many nights, and the day has
been spent looking from the barometer up at the grey sky, or out on
the deserted streets; when here and there a red spot on the mud marks
a broken tile; when one hears tales of misfortune in the town and in
the harbour, or of how narrow an escape from fire there was last
night--fire in such a storm--then it is that one doubts wh