ith its idyllic nature."

"You are right, little father," said Helga; "it has always its
peculiar beauty. There is no place I love so much."

Hardy, who had bought Rosendal, felt as if he was deceiving the open
and kindly natures of the Pastor and his daughter, and he determined
to keep the secret no longer. He would but wait an opportunity to
clear the matter up.

When they returned to the mansion of Rosendal, Garth and the bailiff's
wife had prepared the refreshments they had taken with them. Garth
waited at table. The bailiff's wife, however, appeared disquieted, and
the Pastor asked what was the matter.

"Only that the owner of Rosendal should sit at the head of the table,
instead of between two boys," replied she.

"The owner of Rosendal!" exclaimed the Pastor.

"Yes. There he sits!" said the bailiff's wife, pointing at Hardy.

"How do you know I am the owner of Rosendal?" asked Hardy.

"Because the Prokurator Steindal has written my man to say so," said
the bailiff's wife, "and we have expected it all along."

"If that be the case, Herr Pastor, you might have allowed me to catch
a pike for lunch," said Hardy; "for the boys did not."

"But have you bought Rosendal, Herr Hardy?" asked Froken Helga.

"I did so when in Copenhagen," said Hardy. "Is there any reason why I
should not?"

"But why have you not said a word to us?" asked Pastor Lindal.

"Because it was so uncertain, and because I wished, as a surprise to
you, to say that any enjoyment of Rosendal stands at your disposition
and your family's," replied Hardy.

They all looked at Hardy, but there was no doubt of the sincerity of
his meaning.

"And may we come here and catch the pike?" asked Karl, with some
anxiety.

"Yes, if you can, every fin of them," replied Hardy; "and we will, if
the Pastor will now allow me, catch some this afternoon. I dare say
Rasmussen's widow would like as many as we can catch. We will set a
lot of lines and leave them, and roam about the place and visit them
later, and the chances are, if there be pike, we shall catch a few."

They wandered through the grounds and over the house and buildings
with renewed interest.

"Do you understand the management of such a property, Hardy?" inquired
Pastor Lindal, who, since the Rasmussen incident, rarely addressed him
otherwise than by his name simply.

"I understand farming and the management of landed property in
England," replied Hardy; "and it does not appear to me so