good bailiff, would give
you no trouble. In the direction of any improvement, however, new
agricultural implements from England of the simpler kind would be well
received and adopted. The Danish cattle also are suitable to the
country, and the introduction of English high class-breeds might not
answer.

"If you did not reside at Rosendal, the bailiff's accounts could be
checked either by me or any other person you thought proper, and the
place visited twice yearly, to report the condition and the state of
the property.

"I will ascertain the exact sum that will be accepted, if you desire
it; but it will take time--negotiations for large properties are often
much protracted in Denmark.

"I wait, therefore, the honour of your reply, and respectfully greet
you.

"Obediently,
"Axel Steindal,
"_Prokurator._"

CHAPTER IV.

"Many a one
Owes to his country his religion,
And in another, would as strongly grow
Had but his mother or his nurse taught him so."
_The Complete Angler._

The church at Vandstrup lay on rising ground from the river. It was
white-washed, covered with red tiles, and surrounded by a white-washed
wall enclosing God's acre, in which so many slept the last long sleep.
There were a few poplars planted close to the church-yard wall, and a
few weather-beaten ash trees, with a single dwarfed weeping willow
over a grave. On Sunday, John Hardy watched with interest the
church-going people collecting by the church gate. The men in dark
Wadmel jackets with bright buttons, and the women with red ribands
bound on their caps and knitted sleeves. The women left their wooden
shoes in the dry ditch by the roadside, and put on leather shoes, and
waited for the Pastor's arrival. Accuracy of time was not expected,
and only when the Pastor appeared did the men throng into the church
on one side and the women on the other. The interior of the church was
simple to a degree. John Hardy with Karl and Axel sat on the men's
side, and Froken Helga and Kirstin on the other. The service was
similar to that of the English Protestant service, although relics of
what would be now called Romanism remained. There were candles on the
altar, and the Pastor chanted some portion of the service. John Hardy
longed for the sermon. The thorough honest feeling exhibited by the
Pastor's character in his home, with his evident refinement and
education, had excited his curiosity as to what the sermon would be.