ed! I should appear
a stranger there; and when one has reached my age, nature cannot
satisfy--one must have people!"

"Thou knowest, Rosalie, my grandfather has settled a sum upon thee so
long as thou livest. Now I have thought thou couldst spend thy latter
days with thy beloved ones at home, in the glorious Switzerland. In
October I take my philosophicum; the following summer I would then
accompany thee. I must also see that splendid mountain-land,--know
something more of the world than I have yet known. I know how thy
thoughts always dwell upon Switzerland. Thither will I reconduct thee;
thou wilt feel thyself less lonely there than here in Denmark."

"Thou art carried away by the thoughts of youth, as thou shouldst and
must be, thou dear, sweet soul!" said Rosalie, smiling. "At my age it is
not so easy."

"We will make short days' journeys," said Otto, "go with the steamboat
up the Rhine--that is not fatiguing; and from Basel one is soon in
Franche Compte on the Jura."

"No, upon the heath, near Vestervovov, as it is called here, will old
Rosalie die; here I have felt myself at home, here I have two or three
friends. The family at Lemvig have invited me, have for me a place at
table, a little room, and friendly faces. Switzerland would be no
longer that Switzerland which I quitted. Nature would greet me as an old
acquaintance; it would be to me music, once more to hear the ringing of
the cows' bells; it would affect me deeply, once again to kneel in the
little chapel on the mountain: but I should soon feel myself a greater
stranger there than here. Had it been fifteen years ago, my sister would
still have been living, the dear, pious Adele! She dwelt with my uncle
close on the confines of Neufchatel, as thou knowest, scarcely a quarter
of a mile from Le Locle--_the town_, as we called it, because it was the
largest place in the neighborhood. Now there are only distant relations
of mine living, who have forgotten me. I am a stranger there. Denmark
gave me bread, it will also give me a grave!"

"I thought of giving thee a pleasure!" said Otto.

"That thou dost by thy love to me!" returned she.

"I thought thou wouldst have shown me thy mountains, thy home, of which
thou hast so often spoken!"

"That can I still do. I remember every spot, every tree--all remains so
clear in my recollection. Then we ascend together the Jura higher and
higher; here are no more vineyards to be found, no maize, no chestnuts
only d