excellent, she said. That is being so natural; otherwise she is a nice
girl."

"It is a pity she is a little awry."

Sophie approached them; both ladies made room for her, and invited
her most lovingly to sit clown beside them. "Thou sweet girl!" they
flatteringly exclaimed.

CHAPTER V

"Hark to trumpets and beaten gongs,
Squeaking fiddles, shouts and songs.
Hurra! hurra!
The Doctor is here;
And here the hills where fun belongs."
J. L. HEIBERG.

We will not follow the principal characters of our story step for step,
but merely present the prominent moments of their lives to our readers,
be these great or small; we seize on them, if they in any way contribute
to make the whole picture more worthy of contemplation.

The winter was over, the birds of passage had long since returned; the
woods and fields shone in the freshest green, and, what to the friends
was equally interesting, they had happily passed through their examen
philologicum. Wilhelm, who, immediately after its termination, had
accompanied his sister home, was again returned, sang with little Jonas,
reflected upon the philosophicum, and also how he would thoroughly
enjoy the summer,--the summer which in the north is so beautiful, but
so short. It was St. John's Day. Families had removed from Copenhagen to
their pretty country-seats on the coast, where people on horseback
and in carriages rushed past, and where the highway was crowded with
foot-passengers. The whole road presented a picture of life upon the
Paris Boulevard. The sun was burning, the dust flew up high into the
air; on which account many persons preferred the pleasanter excursion
with the steamboat along the coast, from whence could be seen the
traffic on the high-road without enduring the annoyance of dust and
heat. Boats skimmed past; brisk sailors, by the help of vigorous strokes
of the oar, strove to compete with the steam-packet, the dark smoke from
which, like some demon, partly rested upon the vessel, partly floated
away in the air.

Various young students, among whom were also Wilhelm and Otto, landed
at Charlottenlund, the most frequented place of resort near Copenhagen.
Otto was here for the first time; for the first time he should see the
park.

A summer's afternoon in Linken's Bad, near Dresden, bears a certain
resemblance to Charlottenlund, only that the Danish wood is larger; that
instead of the Elbe we