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Page 58
Pastor Martens went off to the green-room, and returned after a quarter
of an hour had elapsed; but Mrs. Garman's astonishment defies
description, when she learnt that he had met with a refusal.
"Tell me," she groaned--"tell me every word. Oh, the poor misguided
child!"
"I am afraid I cannot tell you every word that passed, Mrs. Garman,"
answered Martens, pale with emotion; "I am too much shocked and--"
"And surprised too, I am sure," said Mrs. Garman, concluding his
sentence; "yes, that I can readily believe. What is the matter with the
child? What reason did she give?"
"She did not say much," answered the pastor; "she seemed to be almost
afraid of me. She went off to the door and began to cry, and said--"
"What--what did she say?"
"She simply kept repeating 'no,'" answered the chaplain, quite
crestfallen.
Mrs. Garman could not disguise her astonishment.
The bright sunshine had not the same enlivening effect upon the pastor
as he returned to his lodgings. He, however, managed to control both his
feelings and his countenance. This was a trial that he would have to
receive with humility. The only thing that annoyed him was, that he had
said anything about it to Mrs. Garman.
Mr. Martens's proposal was the only thing that was wanted to complete
the life of wretchedness, which Madeleine had passed ever since that
moonlight autumn evening; and yet the chaplain was to a certain extent
right, when he thought that Madeleine had met him with some degree of
warmth. There was, in fact, something in the almost fatherly manner with
which he treated her, something which seemed to soothe her affrighted
heart. She had a longing to be able to feel confidence in somebody, and
the calm, earnest clergyman seemed to her so different from all those
for whom she had such an abhorrence, since she had made her fatal
discovery. And now he, too, was to come to her with the same story;
told, certainly, in a different way--that she was quite willing to
allow; but still the gist of it was the same--the very same whichever
way she turned.
Mrs. Garman took her most severely to task for having so unreasonably
and foolishly rejected such a man as Pastor Martens; and at length, what
with one thing and another, the poor girl quite lost her health, and the
doctor had as much as he could do to pull her through an obstinate
attack of low fever.
George Delphin had soon got to know from Fanny that it was old Miss
Cordsen who had seen them in the garden, and given them the timely
warning. This was for him a greater relief than Fanny expected; for,
after the first feeling of pride and delight at having gained his lovely
prize, Delphin had felt more and more compunction in his inmost heart
every time he thought of Madeleine. He was not willing to break off with
Fanny--this was more than he dared to do; but, careless and clever as he
was, he thought that he would be able for the present to keep up the
double game with both.
He could make up his mind when the time came, and he would make up his
mind, too, if he could win Madeleine, and if he thought she was worth
the price of breaking off with the lovely Fanny. But within a few days
after that evening on which they had been so careless, his eyes began to
be opened. Fanny was not at Sandsgaard that day, for little Christian
Frederick had got the measles, and Delphin, therefore, attempted to talk
with Madeleine in the good-natured and patronizing way which he had
hitherto done. But a single look from her frightened eyes was enough for
him; he could not endure her glance, and became silent, and immediately
after dinner made an excuse for taking his leave. He had promised to
look in at Fanny's during the afternoon, and he found her expecting him,
as she came from the child's sick-room in a charming demi-toilette. When
he came in, she ran forwards with her hands stretched out to meet him.
Delphin did not take them, but said with a serious air--
"I know now who it was that saw us that evening; it was not Miss
Cordsen."
"That is what I have long suspected," answered Fanny, with a smile; "but
I did not wish to alarm you. Besides, Madeleine is far too stupid to
allow of her doing us any harm."
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