see nothing but old
Carthaginians walking about Upper Wood and the whole neighborhood."

But the mother did not laugh. "Could it not be someone who might bring
news of Erick?" she asked. She ran to the window. At the entrance of the
house was an open traveling coach, to which were harnessed two bay
horses which pawed the ground impatiently, and shook their heads so that
the bright harness rattled loudly. Ritz and Edi disappeared again. These
sounds were irresistible to them.

Now 'Lizebeth rushed in. "There is a strange gentleman below with the
master," she reported. "I have directed him to the pastor's study, so
that the table can be set here, for I must go out again to the little
boy. The gentleman has snow-white hair but he has a fresh, ruddy face
and walks straight like an army man or a commander."

"And he came alone?" asked the mistress. "Then he does not bring Erick?
Who may he be?"

Meanwhile the tall, strange gentleman had entered the pastor's study
below, with the words: "Colonel von Vestentrop, of Denmark. The
gentleman will excuse me if I interrupt him."

The pastor was so surprised that for a moment he could not collect his
wits. Erick's grandfather! There stood the man bodily before him, whose
existence had been to him a mere fairy tale, and the man looked so
stately and so commanding, that everyone who beheld him must be inspired
with respect. But at the same time there was something winning in his
expression, which was familiar to the reverend gentleman from Erick's
dear face. And this gentleman had traveled so far to fetch his grandson,
and Erick had disappeared.

All this passed through the pastor's head with lightning speed; he stood
for a moment like one paralyzed. But the colonel did not give much time
to the surprised man to recover himself. He quickly took the offered
easy chair, drew the pastor down on another, looked straight into his
eyes and said: "Dear Sir, you sent through the French pastor in
Copenhagen a letter addressed to me, in which you inform me of things of
which I do not believe one single word."

The surprise of the pastor increased and was reflected in his face.

"Please understand me rightly, dear Sir," the speaker continued, "not
that I mean that you would make an incorrect statement; but you yourself
have been duped, your kindness has been shamefully misused. Because I
knew that, I did not wish to answer your letter in writing, for we would
have exchanged many letters