t happened thus. Joergen came on board with a tall, strongly-built lady,
the sight of whose broad forehead, kindly eyes, small nose, and
projecting chin brought a slight blush to Mary's cheeks, which she
concealed by rising and asking: "Are you not a sister of Captain Frans
Roey?"

"She is," answered Joergen Thiis. "For safety's sake we are taking a
doctor with us."

"I am glad to meet you," said Mary. "Of course I have heard your brother
speak of you; he has a great admiration for you."

"So we all have," Joergen Thiis declared as he left them.

Miss Roey herself had not spoken yet. But her scrutinising eyes expressed
admiration of Mary. Now she seated herself beside her.

"Are you to be at home long?"

"I can't say. Possibly we shall not travel any more; my father is not
strong enough now."

Miss Roey did not speak again for some time; she sat observing. Mary
thought to herself: It is tactful of her not to begin a conversation
about her brother.

The two ladies kept together during the sail. And they also sat beside
each other when dessert was served out of doors at Marielyst and
speeches were made. The success of the entertainment went to Joergen
Thiis's head. One after another came round to him and drank his health;
he became sentimental, and made a speech. His toast was "the ideal, the
eternal ideal." Fortunate the man to whom it was revealed in his youth!
He bore it in his breast as his inextinguishable guiding lamp on the
path of life! Pale and excited, Joergen emptied his glass and flung it
away.

This sudden earnestness came so unexpectedly upon the merry company that
they laughed--one and all.

Miss Roey said to Mary: "You met Lieutenant Thiis abroad?"

"Both this winter and last," answered Mary carelessly; she was eating
ice.

A young girl was standing beside them. "He is a curious man, Joergen
Thiis," said she. "He is so amiable with us; but he is said to be a
perfect tyrant with the soldiers."

Mary turned towards her in surprise. "A tyrant--in what way?"

"They say that he irritates them dreadfully--is exacting and
ill-tempered, and punishes for nothing."

Mary turned her largest eyes upon Margrete Roey.

"Yes, it is true," said the latter indifferently; she, too, was eating
ice.

When, late in the evening, after the dance, they were all trooping down
to the steamer, Mary and Joergen arm in arm, she said to him: "Is it true
that the soldiers under your command complain of you?"

"I