Helga looked at John. She saw at once that his mother not only knew all about it, but had probably suggested it. "I thought it too costly to accept," said Helga.

John put his hands on her two shoulders and shook her gently. "You must not," he said in Danish, "be stiff-necked on your birthday. My mother bought what I have given you in London, and the jewellery was sent to Copenhagen for us to select from. It is all my mother's choice."

"In the winter?" said Helga.

"Yes, my child, in the winter. I understood John, although he had so many doubts and fears. He told me so much about you that I ordered the dressing-case, which John has paid for," said Mrs. Hardy, "and if I were you I would thank him."

She thanked him in the pretty Danish manner that so well became her, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Hardy; you are so good to me."

If the black-bearded steward had not come in at this moment, it is to be feared that John would have run the risk of being summarily adjudicated upon as before described.

"Where is Axel?" asked John.

"He is out fishing, sir; been out since six o'clock, with one of the men forard," replied the steward. This was explained to Helga, and breakfast proceeded.

"I think," said Mrs. Hardy, "that Helga should write her father, and say that we have arrived here and shall leave to-morrow evening; and, John, you could ask him to meet us at Aarhus when we arrived. I fear the worthy Pastor may think you have carried off his daughter, John."

"The very course I intend to take, mother, and in which you have aided and abetted, and I bless and thank you for it," said John.

CHAPTER XXIII.

"Come, live with me and be my love.

And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, Or woods and sleepy mountains yield."

_The Complete Angler._

Helga wrote her father as follows:--

"My All-dearest Father,

"You were written to that we were going to Christiania from Elsinore.

I did not know that it was so far, but the steamship Herr Hardy has sails as fast as the steamer from Aarhus to Copenhagen, and everything is so clean and nice, and seeing fresh places, has been a great pleasure. Mrs. Hardy has been, as Karl said, as kind as any one could be, and I cannot say how grateful I am to her. We are to go to Oscarshall to-day and many other places in Christiania; and Mr. Hardy has asked me to write and say that we shall leave here to-morrow, and shall call at Fredrikshavn and telegraph to you from there the time we may expect to be at Aarhus, and they think you might like to come and see the steamer, and stay the night on board, and return home the next day with us. Herr Hardy has written a letter, which I enclose, as he said you might wish to hear from him to say how glad his mother would be to see you on English ground, as an English ship is as English land. If you can come, dear little father, I should be so glad! I hope Kirstin has managed everything for you in my absence. She said I was wrong to go away from you, and perhaps I am, and it is a sad thought to me; but it is not for long, and if I have been led away to do what is not fitting, you will tell me, and I will do what you say. Axel is very happy on board. Herr Hardy is very good to him, and his men are so friendly and teach him how to tie knots and go fishing with him, that he is very happy all day long.

"Mrs. Hardy greets you kindly, and Herr Hardy says I must say that he thanks you for teaching him to love what is good and true. Live well, little father.

"Your daughter,

"Helga Lindal."

John Hardy gave directions that the yacht should fill up with coal and supplies; and in the two days they were at Christiania, a good deal was seen. There is much to see, and much of natural beauty in Christiania, and Helga was interested. When they got under way and steamed down the Christiania Fjord and saw the effect of the sun setting, which then had its special beauty, Helga thought she had never seen anything so lovely.

"No! not even Rosendal?" asked John.

"Rosendal has its own charm," replied Helga; "there can be other places that have their singular beauty."

"I am so glad that you say that," said Hardy. "You may even come to think that the place where my fathers have lived in England has its charm;" and he held her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes.

"I have promised to marry you, John," said Helga, "and it is not whether your house is beautiful or not; wherever you live I will give my life to you."

"Bless you, dearest," said John, "I will never forget what you say;"

and he never did.

When the yacht had cleared the Christiania Fjord, the night was fine and clear, but a breeze sprang up from the westward, and grew fresher towards morning. This had the effect of sending the yacht along under sail and steam, and at eight o'clock the next day the pilot was sent ash.o.r.e at Frederikshavn with a telegram for Pastor Lindal, that they hoped to arrive at Aarhus at six in the evening.

"When are you going to marry your Scandinavian princess, John?" asked Mrs. Hardy, when she was settled in her usual place on deck.

"I am afraid to say anything, mother, to Helga," replied her son. "I see there does exist a doubt in her mind as to whether she is not doing what is wrong in leaving her father for this cruise, much more a cruise for life. I fear to approach the subject with her, as it may lead to her entertaining a fixed determination not to marry until her father's death."

"There is no selfishness about Pastor Lindal," said Mrs. Hardy, "and, moreover, he is a sensible man. He is certain to desire that his daughter should be well and happily provided for; besides, he has seen enough of you, John, to value you, and I see he likes you. I think you are right not to speak to Helga on the subject; leave it to me and Pastor Lindal."

"Thank you, mother, a thousand times," said John. "I understand you perfectly well, and I will do anything you think best or shall arrange."

"What I have thought of, John, is this," said his mother: "you can be married, say, the first of August, and remain at Rosendal for your honeymoon, and then come home to Hardy Place."

"And what will you do, mother?" asked John.

"I see you do not want your own mother in the way during the honeymoon," said Mrs. Hardy, smiling. "You can send the yacht round to Esbjerg, and I will meet it by rail as soon as you are married, and return home in the yacht to Harwich."

"What! go home alone, mother?" said John. "I cannot let you do that!"

"Well, you can see me safely off at Esbjerg, John," said Mrs. Hardy, "But this is the way that will please me best, and I wish to give you a welcome home with your wife, and I long to see her at the head of the table at Hardy Place."

"You are the same good mother, ever;" and John took his mother's hand and kissed it.

As soon as the entrance of the outer harbour at Aarhus could be made out, John Hardy went on the bridge with his binocular, and distinguished Pastor Lindal's head appearing over the parapet wall at the pierhead.

"Your father is on the pier, Helga, and you can see him with this gla.s.s," said Hardy, handing her his binocular. This she found difficult to do, as there were so many other heads appearing; but all doubt was at an end as the yacht glided past the pierhead of the outer harbour, for there was the worthy Pastor himself.

The yacht was soon brought to, and Pastor Lindal stepped on deck, to be met with much affection from his daughter and Axel. It was clear to Mrs. Hardy that Helga's attachment to her father was one of simple trust in each other, the same as existed between herself and her own boy John.

The Pastor was ceremoniously polite to Mrs. Hardy, but he greeted John Hardy with much warmth and thanks. He was pleased with the yacht and its many clever contrivances for saving s.p.a.ce and arriving at comfort, and at dinner was, for him, merry. He was delighted to see his daughter with such a fresh and healthy look, after the cruise to Christiania. Axel, usually a quiet and retiring lad, talked incessantly; he had so much to relate of all that pa.s.sed since leaving Copenhagen, that at length the Pastor stopped him; but Hardy intervened, "Let him run on, Herr Pastor; he is describing very well.

He will come to an end with what he has to say, shortly."

The Pastor had thus, from Axel's point of view, the whole history of the cruise from beginning to end.

"And what do you say, Helga?" asked the Pastor.

"I never thought that life could be made so pleasant and so happy, little father," replied Helga. "Mrs. Hardy is kinder than I can say."

"And Hardy was not?" said the Pastor, smiling.

"He is like his mother, little father; their natures are the same,"

replied Helga. "But he is a man, and men are never so good as women."

John Hardy laughed, and, as the conversation was in Danish, told his mother what Helga had said.