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Page 10
There lay the old-fashioned house, with white painted walls, and its
blue slate roof, which was adorned by dormers and gables. In front of
the house, on its southern side, lay the garden, with its paths and
clipped hedges, and the little pond half overgrown by sedge and thick
bushes. On the northern side, towards the sea, he could discern the
carriage drive, and the extensive level yard with the ancient lime tree
standing in the middle of it. Beyond that came four warehouses standing
in a row, all painted yellow, with brown doors; and further on still,
close down to the innermost curve of the bay, was the building-yard.
Higher up, on the road which led to the southward along the coast, lay
the farm, as it was called. This consisted of a byre, the bailiff's
house, and other buildings; for the property of Sandsgaard was
extensive, and comprised a mill, a dairy, and such like.
That part of the property had never had much interest for Gabriel, but
all the same, if he had only been allowed to be a farmer, he could have
turned his attention to agriculture, and still have been near the
counting-house, the ships, and the sea; but he was destined for the
university, and there was no possibility of escape.
It was not easy to persuade Consul Garman. His father had brought up his
elder son to the business, and sent the younger to the university, and
he was determined to do the same. The thought sometimes occurred to the
wilful Gabriel, that Uncle Richard had had but a poor return from his
university career, but he did not dare to express his thoughts openly.
Mrs. Garman believed firmly that it was most desirable, as a cure for
self-will, that a young man should battle against his inclinations;
nothing could be more baneful than pampering the flesh. No help, then,
was to be expected from any quarter.
Gabriel was sauntering down the alley, quite crestfallen under his heavy
burden of books, when at some distance his eye caught sight of some one
on horseback, whom he soon recognized, and who was coming along the road
behind the farm. It was Uncle Richard on Don Juan.
Gabriel started off at once, forgetting in a moment his heavy burden of
books and care, and thinking only on the merriment and good cheer which
Uncle Richard always brought with him. He determined to hasten off to
the kitchen to tell Miss Cordsen, and then to go in to his father; for
Gabriel knew well that the bearer of the news of his uncle's arrival was
always welcome.
"Lord save us!" cried Miss Cordsen. "Make up the fire, Martha;" and off
she ran to get a clean cap.
"All right, my boy!" said Consul Garman, giving Gabriel a friendly nod.
Gabriel was well pleased at the effect of his intelligence. He had
actually surprised Miss Cordsen into an impropriety, in which he seldom
succeeded; and his father, who was generally undemonstrative, had
greeted him with more than usual warmth.
The young Consul, as he was generally called from the time when his
father, the old Consul, was alive, was not so tall as his younger
brother, and while the latter had grown stouter in the course of years,
the former seemed to have got thinner and smaller. His hair was smooth,
thin, and slightly grey, carefully brushed so as to make the most of it.
His eyes were keen, and of a light blue colour; and his lower jaw was
somewhat prominent. Smoothly shaved and well brushed, with stiff white
neckcloth, shining boots, and silver-headed cane, there was something
about his whole appearance which told of prosperity. Every word, every
movement, even the peculiarly characteristic one with which he adjusted
his chin in his stiff neckcloth, was the picture of propriety and
precision. Precision was, in fact, a word which seemed made for the
young Consul; both his appearance and his career reflected it to the
uttermost fibre.
With his extensive business and large fortune, Consul Garman had also
inherited a boundless admiration and respect for his father, Morten W.
Garman, the old Consul, who had come into the property of Sandsgaard at
a time when it was of little value, and considerably encumbered by
debts, and when the business itself was in rather a confused condition.
In order to keep the business afloat during the disastrous years of the
war, Morten W. Garman took into partnership a rich old skipper, by name
Jacob Worse, from whence sprang the name of the firm. Thanks to old
Worse's money, life came again into the tottering business, and Garman's
great ability made the firm, in a few years, one of the most important
on the west coast. But when old Worse died, and his son took his place
in the firm, it was soon evident that Morten Garman and young Worse
would not be able to work together. Under a friendly arrangement,
therefore, Worse retired with a considerable fortune, while Garman
retained the business and the old family property of Sandsgaard.
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