ything was ordered as Froken Mathilde Jensen wished. She
had made her father make many a sacrifice of his money and own wishes,
but she repaid him with her real affection for him.

As the evening drew on, Hardy and the two boys left, and tried the
proprietor's little stream with a fly. The trout rose freely, and
Hardy caught about a dozen. The fish rose best to a gray-winged sedge
fly, when thrown high over the water and falling slowly and softly
near the reeds. Karl and Axel had little success, the perfect
stillness of the water to them was a difficulty.

When they arrived at the parsonage, the Pastor was smoking in his
accustomed chair, and his daughter was singing to him. She stopped as
soon as she heard the carriage wheels. And after speaking a few words
to the Pastor, Hardy went to his room. Karl and Axel remained, and,
like other boys who go about very little, were very full of the day's
experiences. The trying the horses was described, and Froken Mathilde
Jensen's explanation of why Hardy had bought Rosendal was given in
full, with Fru Jensen's statement as to Kapellan Holm; so that when
John Hardy came from his room, he saw that something had passed which
had disturbed both the Pastor and his daughter. He at once judged
correctly what had occurred. The boys were in the habit of saying what
was uppermost.

It was clear, then, that what Proprietor Jensen had said about Froken
Helga was correct.

"We have caught a few trout," said Hardy, "and taken a few to the
Jensens, who were so good as to make us stay to dinner, with the kind
hospitality so conspicuous in Denmark."

"They are hospitable people," said the Pastor.

"But great gossips," added the daughter, who had scarcely noticed
Hardy since his return. She got up and left the room.

Hardy determined to risk a question. "Your daughter is, the Jensens
say, attached to a Kapellan Holm, Herr Pastor?" said he, inquiringly.

"No, decidedly not," said the Pastor. "I am sorry to say she dislikes
him; his manner is not pleasant, and she considers him addicted to
drink, of which I have never observed any sign. He is a good man, a
little boisterous in manner. He is coming here to assist me in the
winter, and will live with us. He is now in Copenhagen."

Hardy thought Helga Lindal difficult to understand. That she would
marry a man that the Pastor had described was not consistent with her
character; but, then, women do inconsistent things. Her manner to him
was n