"I love nature in Jutland!" exclaimed Otto. "The open sea, the
brown heath, and the bushy moorland. You should see the wild moor in
Vendsyssel--that is an extent! Almost always wet mists float over its
unapproachable interior, which is known to no one. It is not yet fifty
years since it served as an abode for wolves. Often it bursts into
flames, for it is impregnated with sulphuric gas,--one can see the fire
for miles."

"My sister Sophie ought to hear all this!" said Wilhelm. "You would make
your fortune with her! The dear girl! she has the best head at home, but
she loves effect. Hoffman and Victor Hugo are her favorites. Byron rests
every night under her pillow. If you related such things of the west
coast of Jutland, and of heaths and moors, you might persuade her to
make a journey thither. One really would not believe that we possessed
in our own country such romantic situations!"

"Is she your only sister?" inquired Otto.

"No," returned Wilhelm, "I have two--the other is named Louise; she
is of quite an opposite character: I do not know of which one ought to
think most. Have you no brothers or sisters?" he asked of Otto.

"No!" returned the latter, with his former involuntary, half-melancholy
expression. "I am an only child. In my house it is solitary and silent.
My grandfather alone is left alive. He is an active, strong man,
but very grave. He instructed me in mathematics, which he thoroughly
understands. The preacher taught me Latin, Greek, and history: two
persons, however, occupied themselves with my religious education--the
preacher and my old Rosalie. She is a good soul. How often have I teased
her, been petulant, and almost angry with her! She thought so much of
me, she was both mother and sister to me, and instructed me in religion
as well as the preacher, although she is a Catholic. Since my father's
childhood she has been a sort of governante in the house. You should
have seen her melancholy smile when she heard my geography lesson, and
we read of her dear Switzerland, where she was born, and of the south
of France, where she had travelled as a child. The west coast of Jutland
may also appear very barren in comparison with these countries!"

"She might have made you a Catholic! But surely nothing of this still
clings to you?"

"Rosalie was a prudent old creature; Luther himself need not have been
ashamed of her doctrine. Whatever is holy to the heart of man, remains
also holy in every religion!"