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Page 29
"I walked with him a little way on the road to Sandsgaard. It appears
that he had an invitation to go there," answered Delphin.
"To-day, again!" said Fanny.
"Good morning, ladies, good morning! No, you really must allow me. I
have already been here longer than I ought. Good morning, Miss Garman."
Madeleine was just coming into the room, and the chaplain took a step
towards her in order to shake her hand; but, as she was carrying the
tray with the cups upon it, he was obliged to content himself with
giving her a warm and respectful look. As he went downstairs, he thought
how unfortunate it was that Delphin should always be coming in his way.
Severin Martens was naturally very good-natured, but Delphin was a man
he could not bear. If the two got into conversation, everything seemed
to go wrong for the chaplain. The other had a particular way of taking
up his words, turning them into ridicule, and exciting laughter among
the hearers, which was most unpleasant. The chaplain did not care very
much, either, for Mr. Johnsen. That apparently helpless young man had
shown that he knew how to look after himself only too well. "Invited
nearly every day to Sandsgaard! Hum!" muttered Martens, as he went down
the street.
No sooner had Delphin taken the clergyman's place, than the conversation
changed its tone.
"Our worthy chaplain did not much like Johnsen's going to Sandsgaard,"
said Fanny.
"That was just the reason I mentioned it," said Delphin.
"Yes, I could see that very well. You are always so dreadfully
mischievous. But can you make out what is the matter with my learned
sister-in-law? Rachel, who is generally as cold and unsympathetic as an
iceberg, becomes all at once quite taken up with what appears to me the
most unlikely person."
"Your sister-in-law always appears attracted towards any one who shows
originality."
"Well," objected the lady, "I don't see much in him; at first I thought
he was rather interesting. He reminded me somewhat of Brand in Ibsen's
play, or something of that sort; but really, how tiresome he is, with
his short, cutting remarks, which come plump into the middle of a
conversation like so many stones!"
"I am a man of the people! my place is among the people!" said Delphin,
imitating Johnsen's voice and manner.
Fanny laughed, and clapped her hands. Madeleine laughed too; she could
not help it when Delphin said anything amusing. It is true she liked him
better when he was serious, as he was when they were alone; he had then
a frank, genuine manner that she found particularly attractive. She
could talk to Mr. Delphin on many subjects which she would never have
had the courage to mention to others. It was plain enough--that is to
Fanny, though not to Madeleine--that he always paid his visits, quite
accidentally, of course, whenever Madeleine was in the town.
As they sat chatting merrily on different subjects, Fanny, who always
kept her eye on passers-by, suddenly cried, "Just look! there is Jacob
Worse. I declare, he is passing the house without looking up; but I saw
him speak to some one at the door. I wonder who it could have been?"
and, with a woman's curiosity, she hurried over to the window.
"Ah!" said she, laughing, "I declare it was my little Frederick he was
talking to. Freddy," she cried, looking out of the window, "come up to
mother, and you shall have some chocolate."
Little Christian Frederick, a white-haired, sturdy little fellow of
between six and seven, came scrambling up the stairs. The maid opened
the door for him, and his mother asked, as she poured him out some
chocolate, "Who was it my Freddy was talking to downstairs there by the
door?"
"It was the big man," answered the child, looking at the cup with eager
eyes.
"The big man is Jacob Worse, and the little man is yourself, Mr.
Delphin," explained Fanny, laughing. "My son's manners are not yet quite
perfect. Did the big man ask who was up here with mother?"
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