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Page 13
III.
A month later, toward the close of September, two ladies, twenty
or twenty-two years of age, were walking in a garden about ten
miles from Copenhagen. Although the walks were quite wide,
impediments in them made it difficult for the ladies to go side by
side. The autumn showed itself uneven and jagged. The currant and
gooseberry boughs, that earlier hung in soft arches, now projected
stiffly forth, catching in the ladies' dresses; branches from plum
and apple trees hung bare and broken, and required attention above
also. One of the ladies apparently was at home there: this was
evident partly from her dress, which, although elegant, was
domestic, and partly by her taking the lead and paying honor, by
drawing boughs and branches aside, holding them until the other
lady, who was more showily dressed, had slipped past. On account
of the hindrances of the walk there were none of those easy,
subdued, familiar conversations, which otherwise so naturally
arise when young ladies, acquaintances, or "friends," visit each
other, and from the house slip out alone into garden or wood. An
attentive observer meanwhile, by scrutinizing the physiognomy of
both, would, perhaps, have come to the conclusion, that even if
these two had been together on the most unobstructed road, no
confidence would have arisen between them, and would have
suspected the hostess of trying to atone for her lack of interest,
by being polite and careful. She was not strikingly handsome, but
possessed of a fine nature, which manifested itself in the whole
figure, and perhaps, especially, in the uncommonly well-formed
nose; yet it was by peering into her eyes that one first obtained
the idea of a womanhood somewhat superior to the generality of her
sex. Their expression was not to be caught at once: they told of
both meditation and resolve, and hinted at irony or badinage,
which works so queerly when it comes from deep ground. The other
lady was "burgherly-genteel," a handsome, cultivated girl, had
certainly also some soul, but yet was far less busy with a world
in her own heart than with the world of fashion. It was about the
world, the world of Copenhagen, that Miss Brandt at this moment
was giving Miss Hjelm an account, interrupted by the boughs and
branches, and although Miss Hjelm was not, nun-like, indifferent
either to fashions or incidents in high life, the manner in which
Miss Brandt unmistakably laid her soul therein, caused her to go
thus politely before.
"But you have heard about Emmy Ibsen's marriage?" asked Miss
Brandt.
"Yes, it was about a month ago, I think."
"Yes, I was bridesmaid."
"Indeed!" said Miss Hjelm, in a voice which atoned for her
brevity.
"The party was at the shooting-ground."
"So!" said Miss Hjelm again, with as correct an intonation as if
she had learned it for "I don't care." "Take care, Miss Brandt,"
she added, stooping to avoid an apple-branch.
"Take care?--oh, for that branch!" said Miss Brandt, and avoided
it as charmingly and coquettishly as if it had been living.
"It was very gay," she added, "even more so than wedding-parties
commonly are; but this was caused a good deal by Counsellor
Bagger."
"So!"
"Yes, he was very gay ... I was his companion at table.
"Ah!"
"Oh, only to think! at the table he stands up declaring that he is
engaged."
"Was his lady present?"
"No, that she was not, I think. Do you know who it was?"
"No, how should I know that, Miss Brandt?"
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