n the sun's heat, they all
declared; he must wait until the afternoon, then it would be cooler;
it was, also, far pleasanter to travel in the night. Rosalie's prayers
decided him. Thus, after dinner and coffee, the horses should be put
into the carriage.
It was the last day. Maren was somewhat in a grave mood. Otto must
write in her album. "He would never come to Lemvig again," said she. As
children they had played with each other. Since he went to Copenhagen
she had, many an evening, seated herself in the swing near the
summer-house and thought of him. Who knows whether she must not have
done so when she copied out of the secretary's memorandum-book, the
verses,--
"So fliessen nun zwei Wasser
Wohl zwischen mir and Dir?"
The sea certainly flows between Aarhuus and Copenhagen.
"Maren will perhaps go over for the winter," said the mother; "but we
dare not speak too much about it, for it is not yet quite settled. It
will really make her gayer! lately she has been very much inclined to
melancholy, although God knows that we have denied her no pleasure!"
There now arrived a quantity of letters from different acquaintance, and
from their acquaintance: if Mr. Thostrup would have the goodness to
take care of this to Viborg, these to Aarhuus, and the others as far as
Copenhagen. It was a complete freight, such as one gets in little towns,
just as though no post went through the country.
The carriage stopped before the door.
Rosalie melted into tears. "Write to me!" said she. "Thee I shall never
see again! Greet my Switzerland when thou comest there!"
The others were merry. The lady sang,--
"O could I, like a cloud, but fly!"
The young lady from Holstebro bowed herself before him with an
Album-leaf its her hand, upon which she must beg Mr. Thostrup to write
her something. Maren gave him her hand, blushed and drew back: but as
the carriage rolled away she waved her while handkerchief through the
open window: "Farewell! Farewell!"
CHAPTER XX
"Stop! cried Patroclus, with mighty, thundering voice."
--WILSTER'S Iliad.
The parting with Rosalie, the hospitality of the family, and their
sincere sympathy, touched Otto; he thought upon the last days, upon his
whole sojourn in his home. The death of his grandfather made this an
important era in his life. The quiet evening and the solitary road
inclined him still more to meditation.
How cheering and int
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