cean--from which the juice of the grape was
brought on shore both in casks and bottles.

When the mother and daughter afterwards heard who Joergen was, and how
harshly he had been treated, though innocent of all crime, they looked
very kindly at him; and most sympathising was the expression of the
daughter's eyes, the lovely Miss Clara. Joergen found a happy home at
Gammel-Skagen. It did his heart good, and the poor young man had
suffered much, even the bitterness of unrequited love, which either
hardens or softens the heart. Joergen's was soft enough now; there was
a vacant place within it, and he was still so young.

It was, perhaps, fortunate that in about three weeks Miss Clara was
going in one of her father's ships up to Christiansand, in Norway, to
visit an aunt, and remain there the whole winter. The Sunday before
her departure they all went to church together, intending to partake
of the sacrament. It was a large, handsome church, and had several
hundred years before been built by the Scotch and Dutch a little way
from where the town was now situated. It had become somewhat
dilapidated, was difficult of access, the way to it being through
deep, heavy sand; but the disagreeables of the road were willingly
encountered in order to enter the house of God--to pray, sing psalms,
and hear a sermon there. The sand was, as it were, banked up against,
and even higher than, the circular wall of the churchyard; but the
graves therein were kept carefully free of the drifting sand.

This was the largest church to the north of Limfiorden. The Virgin
Mary, with a crown of gold on her head, and the infant Jesus in her
arms, stood as if in life in the altar-piece; the holy apostles were
carved on the chancel; and on the walls above were to be seen the
portraits of the old burgomasters and magistrates of Skagen, with
their insignia of office: the pulpit was richly carved. The sun was
shining brightly into the church, and glancing on the crown of brass
and the little ship that hung from the roof.

Joergen felt overcome by a kind of childish feeling of awe, mingled
with reverence, such as he had experienced when as a boy he had stood
within the magnificent Spanish cathedral; but he knew that here his
feelings were shared by many. After the sermon the sacrament was
administered. Like the others, he tasted the consecrated bread and
wine, and he found that he was kneeling by the side of Miss Clara; but
he was so much absorbed in hi