Part 12 (1/2)
It was worth doing, for they were quick-witted, both of them, and gave as good as they got. Then there was a young merchant, who paid attention to two of the ladies, unable--so it was averred--to make up his mind which he liked best. The whole party, including the ladies in question, did their best to a.s.sist him in coming to a decision. The very first night on the coasting-steamer, a schoolmaster was christened ”the forsaken one.” All the others, with the exception of the old lady kept up a constant racket; no one slept. He alone could neither dance nor sing, and he was incapable of flirting; he could not even be flirted with, it put him out so terribly. The consequence was that all the ladies, even Mary, made love to ”the forsaken one,” simply to enjoy his misery.
The originator of most of the mischief that went on was Jorgen Thiis; teasing was his pa.s.sion. His inventiveness in this domain was not always free from malice.
At first he himself was unmolested. But in course of time even ”the forsaken one” ventured to attack him. His appet.i.te, his inclination to tyrannise, and especially his role as Mary's humble servant, were made subjects of jest. Mary had the Krogs' keen eye for exaggeration in every shape, so she laughed along with the rest, even when it was at his submissiveness to her they were laughing. Jorgen was not in the least disturbed. He ate as much as ever, was as strict as ever in his capacity of leader, and continued, unmoved, to play the part of Mary's inventive, ever-ready squire.
The s.h.i.+p had its full complement of pa.s.sengers, amongst them a number of foreigners; but Jorgen Thiis's merry party was the centre of attraction.
Nature made such perpetual calls on the pa.s.sengers' admiration that they were not in too close and constant contact with each other. It was as if they were attending some grand performance. One marvel followed the other. The length of the days, too, had its influence. Each night was shorter than the last, until there was none at all. They sailed on into unquenchable, inextinguishable light, and this produced a kind of intoxication. They drank, they danced, they sang; they were all equally highly strung. They proposed things which under other circ.u.mstances would have seemed impossible; here they were in keeping with the wildness of the landscape, the intoxication of the light. One day in a strong wind Mary lost her hat; two cavaliers jumped overboard after it.
One of them was, of course, Jorgen Thiis. The minds of all were working at higher pressure than that of every day. Some of them became exhausted and slept whole days and nights. But most of them held out--at least as long as they were northward bound--Mary amongst the number.
Jorgen Thiis, with his persistent deference, in the end obliged all of them to treat Mary more or less as he did himself. Nor did anything occur the whole time to disturb this position of hers--thanks princ.i.p.ally to her own carefully cultivated reserve of manner.
When they returned to the coasting-steamer, genuine grat.i.tude prompted her to invite Jorgen Thiis to go home with her to Krogskogen. ”I can't stand such a sudden break-up,” she said.
He stayed for some days, delighted with the beauty and comfort of everything. Such art taste as he possessed lay chiefly in the direction of knick-knacks; he was devoted to foreign curios, and of these there was abundance. The rooms and their furniture and decorations were exactly to his taste. To Mrs. Dawes, who encouraged him to speak freely, he confided that the comfort and quiet disposed him amorously. He sat often and long at the piano extemporising; and it was always in an erotic strain.
He treated Mary with the same deference when they were alone as when they were in company with others. All the time she had known him he had not let fall a single word which could be interpreted as a preface to love-making, no, not even as the preface to a preface. And this she appreciated.
They wandered together through the woods and the fields. They rowed together to relations' houses to pay calls. Jorgen had the key to the bathing-house, where he went before any one else was up, and often again after their excursions.
Mary herself had become more sociable. Jorgen told her so.
”Yes,” answered she. ”The Norwegian young people a.s.sociate with each other more like brothers and sisters than those of other countries, and are consequently different--freer, franker. They have infected me.”
One morning Jorgen had to go to town, and Mary accompanied him. She wished to call on Uncle Klaus, his foster-father, whom she had not seen since she came home.
Klaus was sitting behind a cloud of smoke, like a spider behind its grey web. He jumped up when he saw Mary enter, declared he was ashamed of himself, and led her into the big drawing-room. Jorgen had warned her that he was not likely to be in a good humour; he had been losing money again. And they had not sat long in the empty, stiff drawing-room before he began to complain of the times. As was his habit, he rounded his back and sprawled out his legs, supporting his elbows on them and pressing the points of his long fingers together.
”Yes, you two are well off, who do nothing but amuse yourselves!”
He possibly thought that this remark demanded some reparation, for his next was: ”I have never seen a handsomer pair!”
Jorgen laughed, but coloured to the roots of his hair. Mary sat unmoved.
Jorgen accompanied her to the house on the market-place; it was quite near. He did not say a word on the way, and took leave immediately.
Afterwards he sent to let her know that he would be obliged to stay in town till the evening; then he would cycle out. Mary herself left at the previously appointed hour.
On her way home in the steamer she revolved the idea: Jorgen Thiis and herself a pair. No! This she had never contemplated. He was a handsome, well-bred man, a courteous, pleasant companion, a really gifted musician. His ability, his tact, were unanimously acknowledged. Even that which at one time had repelled her so strongly, the sensuality, which would suddenly leap into his eyes and produce that insufferable gloating expression--perhaps it was of this underlying quality that all the rest were cultivated developments? Might it not account for his appreciation of the perfect in art, in discipline, in language? Still there remained something unexplained. But it was a matter of indifference to her what it was. She cast all these reflections aside; it was no concern of hers.
As she came on board she had noticed a peasant-woman who had once been their servant; now she went and sat down beside her. The woman was gratified.
”And how is your father, Miss? I am old now, and I have known many people in my day, but never a kinder man than Mr. Krog. There's no one like him.”
The affectionate warmth of these words touched Mary. The woman mentioned one instance after the other of her father's considerateness and generosity; she was still talking of it when they arrived. At first Mary felt as if nothing so pleasant as this had happened to her for a long time. Then she felt afraid. She had actually forgotten how dearly she herself loved her father, and had left off giving expression to her affection. Why? Why did she give her time and thoughts to so much else and not to him, the best and dearest of all?
She hurried up to the house. Although her father was very much of an invalid now, she had latterly spent hardly any of her time with him.
As she approached she saw Jorgen's bicycle propped against the steps; she heard him playing. But she hurried past the drawing-room, and went straight to her father, who was sitting in the office at his desk, writing. She put her arms round him and kissed him, looked into his kind eyes and kissed him again. His bewilderment was so comic that she could not help laughing.
”Yes, you may well look at me, for it is certainly not often I do this.
But all the same you are dearer to me than I can tell.” And she kissed him again.