Part 2 (1/2)
The roof was brown tiles, with a high pitch, so that the snow should slip off easily. The chief entrance was through a little shrubbery surrounded by a white-washed wall leading up to a few steps to the front door. The living rooms were to the left of the inner hall, and the Pastor's study to the right, which was so arranged that access was easy from the front door, or by pa.s.sing through an inner vestibule to the back of the house. The kitchen was to the rear of the left side, and the outbuildings, which consisted of stables for cows, horses, and sheep, were to the back of the main building. The Pastor had two horses, for the farm work of his glebe, and these were used for journeys to the railway station or elsewhere in an old four-wheel conveyance, which could scarcely be termed a carriage or a waggon. In fact, it answered both purposes. The rooms were warmed by iron stoves, in the winter, the fuel used being chiefly wood and turf. The Pastor had a sort of turbary right, which supplied him with the latter. The shrubbery in front of the main building was planted with poplars, lilacs, and laburnum. The gra.s.s on the lawn was coa.r.s.e and rough, and an occasional cow was tethered on it, which did not improve the quality of the herbage.
The income from all sources of Pastor Lindal was small, according to English views, but it was sufficient to enable him to maintain a happy home and to do his duty to his parish with strict economy. The difficulty was the future of his sons and daughter.
After breakfast, in which the trout caught by Hardy the previous evening occupied a conspicuous position, the Pastor said--
”When you return I shall be interested, Herr Hardy, to hear your views of Rosendal. The place is, as I told you, Danish; but I should like to hear how it looks through English spectacles.”
”You have told me, Herr Pastor,” said Hardy, ”that Frken Helga has an enthusiasm for Rosendal. I fear I shall be interested thereby, as she goes with us.”
Hardy looked at Frken Helga, who looked annoyed; and he saw he had said something which displeased her.
The way to Rosendal was over the sandy road for two English miles, when the entrance gate was reached, leading up an avenue of lime trees that had been pollarded. The storms would certainly have pollarded them in a more irregular manner than the hand of man. The house was a much larger house than Pastor Lindal's parsonage, but after the same fas.h.i.+on. The entrance steps were wider, but the whole arrangement of the mansion was after the same plan. There was the same too near proximity of the stables and cow houses, possibly essential in cold weather, for their being attended to. The view from the front of the house was to a lake of about thirty acres. On each side of the lake were very large beech trees, with juniper bushes underneath; and the effect was, as the Pastor had said, idyllic. A narrow valley was planted with roses, and through it a path led to the lake, hence the name Rosendal. The beech trees were of great age, and the rising ground on each side had protected them from the prevailing winds. The effect on the eye, in comparison with the nakedness of the surrounding country, was forcible, and John Hardy was impressed by the natural and distinctive beauty of the place.
Frken Helga had scarcely replied to his attempts at conversation on the way to Rosendal. She had run races with her brothers and entered into all their whims and caprices, but to John Hardy she had only replied in monosyllables; but when she saw the effect the beauty of the place had on Hardy, she said--
”Is it not a pretty place?”
”It has its peculiar beauty, Frken Helga,” replied Hardy.
”I would rather live here than any place I know,” said Helga. ”The peace and calm of the beech woods, and the fret of the wind waves on the sh.o.r.e of the lake, suggest thoughts that are unspeakable to me.”
Hardy started. She had spoken in a simple manner, but he felt that she experienced all she uttered. He now understood Pastor Lindal's words that Rosendal was Helga's enthusiasm. Then there was an appreciation of nature and her mysteries that Hardy had thought impossible out of English refinement and its influence.
”Can we go through the house?” said Hardy, as if with a sudden determination. ”I wish to see it.”
”The Forvalter or bailiff lives in the house, and if he is not at home his wife is, or their servant,” replied Helga.
The house had reception-rooms after the older Danish fas.h.i.+on, and were such as could be made comfortable, even to an English tenant. John Hardy asked the bailiff's wife if she could point out the boundary of the property; and this was done from the rising ground behind the house. A visit to the valley of roses was made, and a stroll through the beech woods. Karl and Axel had ran to the sh.o.r.es of the lake, and had hunted along its banks to find wild ducks' eggs, happily without success.
On the way back to Pastor Lindal's parsonage, John Hardy attempted a conversation with Frken Helga; but it failed utterly. She talked with her brothers and walked with them. Hardy saw he was avoided. He had seen the same conduct in young girls in France, and attributed it to the same reason, and said nothing more.
The Pastor, when his pipe had been, as usual, filled by Helga after dinner, and at the first vigorous puffs, addressed Hardy.
”Let me hear about Rosendal, Herr Hardy. I can listen, but when Helga has filled my pipe, can make any allowance then, for anybody's prejudices, even an Englishman's.”
”Rosendal is a place with an accidental, peculiar beauty,” said Hardy.
”The configuration of the land is adapted to form a shelter to the beech trees, while the little lake is just in the right place to produce a pretty effect. The landscape is, as you say, a Jutland landscape; the gra.s.s in the meadows is coa.r.s.e, and the arable land sandy.”
”You speak like a photograph, Herr Hardy,” said Pastor Lindal. ”But did you not like the house and grounds?”
”The house is Danish, of a past fas.h.i.+on,” replied Hardy, ”and there is no difference in plan from your parsonage. The stables and outhouses are too near the house, and so is the kitchen garden; it may be convenient, but it is not to our English taste. The grounds are not made the best of; but this is a subject in which the climate must be consulted. The specimen trees we use for the purpose would, many of them, grow dwarfed, or not at all.”
”I have heard much of the English taste in this respect,” said the Pastor. ”I should like to see an English residence, in contrast to our dear Rosendal.”
”That you can judge of by some photographs of Hardy Place, my residence in England,” said Hardy. ”I will fetch them.”
He shortly after appeared with a set of four photographs, and a strong reading-gla.s.s.
”There,” said Hardy, ”is the front of Hardy Place. You will observe the arrangement of the lawn, and you will see the fineness of the turf, which you will see nowhere else than in England. The conservatory is to the right of the front entrance, to be sheltered from the east wind; the house faces south. You will see by these other photographs different views of the house and its surroundings. The stables and gardens, for vegetables and fruit, are at some distance; while the home farm, equivalent to your Bondegaard, is an English mile distant. This gives greater privacy; while at Rosendal, the stables and house and farm are practically under one roof.”