at
which possessed him when, as a boy, he had stood in the splendid
Spanish cathedral; but here the feeling was different, for he felt
conscious of being one of the congregation.

After the sermon followed the holy Communion. He partook of the bread
and wine, and it happened that he knelt beside Mistress Clara; but his
thoughts were so fixed upon Heaven and the holy service, that he did
not notice his neighbour until he rose from his knees, and then he saw
tears rolling down her cheeks.

Two days later she left Skjagen and went to Norway. He stayed behind,
and made himself useful in the house and in the business. He went out
fishing, and at that time fish were more plentiful and larger than
now. Every Sunday when he sat in the church, and his eye rested on the
statue of the Virgin on the altar, his glance rested for a time on the
spot where Mistress Clara had knelt beside him, and he thought of her,
how hearty and kind she had been to him.

And so the autumn and the winter time passed away. There was wealth
here, and a real family life; even down to the domestic animals, who
were all well kept. The kitchen glittered with copper and tin and
white plates, and from the roof hung hams and beef, and winter stores
in plenty. All this is still to be seen in many rich farms of the west
coast of Jutland: plenty to eat and drink, clean decorated rooms,
clever heads, happy tempers, and hospitality prevail there as in an
Arab tent.

Never since the famous burial feast had Juergen spent such a happy
time; and yet Mistress Clara was absent, except in the thoughts and
memory of all.

In April a ship was to start for Norway, and Juergen was to sail in it.
He was full of life and spirits, and looked so stout and jovial that
Dame Broenne declared it did her good to see him.

"And it's a pleasure to see you too, old wife," said the old merchant.
"Juergen has brought life into our winter evenings, and into you too,
mother. You look younger this year, and you seem well and bonny. But
then you were once the prettiest girl in Wiborg, and that's saying a
great deal, for I have always found the Wiborg girls the prettiest of
any."

Juergen said nothing to this, but he thought of a certain maiden of
Skjagen; and he sailed to visit that maiden, for the ship steered to
Christiansand, in Norway, and a favouring wind bore it rapidly to that
town.

One morning merchant Broenne went out to the lighthouse that stands far
away from Old Skjage