one evening," said
the Pastor.

"What is your opinion of the effect of these traditions on the minds
of the people generally?" asked Hardy.

"It is difficult to say," said the Pastor; "we can but guess at their
effect. As education and civilization progress, they lose their
superstitious influence and interest and amuse. There is a wild
picturesque imagery that must appeal to the most educated mind. They
afford subjects to painters; but I have never seen a picture yet based
on these traditions that grasped the graphic thought of the recital of
the tradition. In a religious sense they do no harm; they excite the
imagination of the people only to prepare their minds for the
simplicity of the Christian faith, at least they assist to do so. When
I visit my Sogneborn (literally, parish children), I tell the children
these traditions, and when they grow older they like to hear anything
I have to say; it assists me in suggesting religious thought when
their minds are ripe for it."

Froken Helga, who had all the evening knitted and listened to her
father, dropped her knitting and went to him and caressed him. "Dear
little father," she said, "you are always good and thoughtful."

"I think so also," said Hardy.

CHAPTER X.

"But I am the most pleased with this little house
of anything I ever saw: it stands in a kind of peninsula too,
with a delicate clear river about it. I dare hardly go in,
lest I should not like it so well within as without, but by
your leave I will try."
--_The Complete Angler._

The next day John Hardy received a letter from Prokurator Steindal of
Copenhagen.

"Your honoured instructions as to Rosendal I have attended to. The
price they will sell for I have approximately arrived at, but I cannot
advise you to buy. The value of Rosendal is not so great as the price
asked, and it appears to me that you should hesitate before making a
purchase that will pay you so little income. I feel it my duty to say
that whatever your instructions may be, that I cannot act on them
without a personal interview. If you wish, therefore, to pursue the
matter further, you should come to Copenhagen and discuss it with me.
I cannot advise a client to make a purchase to his prejudice; if I did
so, I should not only acquire a bad reputation, but it would not be
right for me to do so. I await, therefore, the honour of your reply."

John Hardy went to Copenhagen, and returned in a few days