hould marry soon, John; you are twenty-eight, and I
want to see you married to a wife to whom you can trust Hardy Place
and the care of your mother in her old age."

"I can find no one yet, dear mother," said John Hardy. "I cannot bear
you should have any one at Hardy Place you did not only like but
love."

"Bless you, John," said his mother. "I trust in your love; and I know
some men are such gentlemen, and so was your father, and so are you,
John."

So Hardy left for Copenhagen by the English steamer from Hull to St.
Petersburg, and was landed in the pilot-boat at Elsinore, and went
thence by rail to Copenhagen. On the journey John Hardy thought that
his best course was to get lodgings with a respectable family in
Jutland near the Gudenaa, the little river that embouches in the
Randers fjord and flows through part of Jutland, and is the principal
river in it.

John Hardy had taken from his bankers introductions to persons in
Copenhagen, to whom he had communicated his wishes. The result was an
advertisement in the _Berlinske Tidende_ that an Englishman required
lodgings near the Gudenaa, with an opportunity of being taught the
Danish language. The replies were many and of a very varied character,
as might be anticipated from such an advertisement.

But John Hardy received a reply from a Danish clergyman in Jutland,
which struck his fancy beyond the rest. It was as follows:--

"In reply to the advertisement in the _Berlinske Tidende_ of
yesterday's date, I beg to offer lodgings in my house. It is a small
parsonage in Jutland, and the Gudenaa is near. There is a towing-path
on the banks, and where such exists the fishing is free, consequently
no difficulty will arise as to permission to fish. The fishing is not
particularly good, and if great anticipations exist on this score, I
must say that they will not, in my opinion, be realized. Small fish on
which the trout feed are abundant, as also the cadis worm and fly, and
the trout do not take readily an artificial bait, either fly or
minnow. I cannot, therefore, say that I think many trout can be
caught. There is also much fishing with small nets. I can, however,
teach Danish to an Englishman, although my knowledge of English is
imperfect; but on the other hand, if the advertiser will teach my two
sons, of sixteen and fourteen years of age, English, I should require
no payment from him. I am a widower, with a daughter and the two sons
already named. I can only add