An Active Part In Whatever She Could Find To Occupy Her.
Not Long Previously Rachel Had Had A Sharp Dispute With Her Father. She
Came One Day Into The Office, And Desired Him To Give Her Some
Employment In The Business. Consul Garman Never Lost His Self-Command,
But On This Occasion He Was On The Very Point Of Doing So. The Dispute
Was Short, It Is True, And Soon Ended, Like Every Other Conflict That
Was Carried On Against The Father'S Principles, In a Decided Victory For
His Side; But From That Time The Daughter Became Still More Cold And
Reserved In Her Manner.
It Was A Light Task For Rachel To Read Her Little Country Cousin Through
And Through, And When She Made Up Her Mind That Madeleine Had Nothing In
Her Except Perhaps Some Undefined Longings, But At The Same Time No Real
Desire For Work, She Let Her Go Her Own Way, And The Relation Between
Them Became Almost That Of A Child To A Grown Person--Friendly, But
Without Intimacy.
Mrs. Garman Was Not Particularly Well Disposed Towards Her New Guest,
Because She Had Not Been Originally Consulted As To Her Visit; And Even
The Good-Natured Miss Cordsen Frightened Madeleine At First, With Her
Tall, Spare Figure And Well-Starched Cap-Strings.
The Sewing-Maid Was A Pale, Weakly Creature, With Large Wondering Eyes
Which Wore A Deprecatory Expression. She Was Still Pretty, But The First
Look Told That Her Face Had Once Been Still Prettier, And There Was
Something Stunted And Faded About Her Appearance. Her Cheeks Were
Somewhat Sunken, And It Could Be Seen That She Had Lost Some Of Her
Teeth.
During The First Few Days Madeleine Had To Spend Much Of Her Time With
The Sewing-Maid, For Mrs. Garman Was Anxious That Her Dress Should Be In
Keeping With The Rest Of The Establishment, And The Consul Had Given
Miss Cordsen Strict Orders On The Subject. It Was A Great Relief To
Madeleine, In Her Loneliness, To Show Herself Kindly And Almost
Affectionately Disposed Towards The Timid Girl. One Evening When She Had
Gone, Madeleine Asked Miss Cordsen Who She Was, And The Old Lady, After
Scrutinizing Her Sharply, Answered, "That Marianne Was A Granddaughter
Of Old Anders Begmand, And That Some Years Before She Had Had A Baby.
Her Sweetheart," Said Miss Cordsen, Fixing Her Eyes Again Sharply On
Madeleine, "Had Gone To America, And The Child Was Dead, And As She Had
Been In Service At Sandsgaard, The Garmans Had Had Her Taught
Dressmaking, So That Now She Had Constant Employment In The House."
This Was All Madeleine Found Out, And She Did Not Ask Any More Questions
On The Subject, Which Was A Relief To Miss Cordsen.
The Old Lady'S Story Was, However, Not Strictly Correct In Its Details;
A Secret Of The Garman Family Was Hid In The Sempstress'S History--A
Secret Which Miss Cordsen Concealed With The Greatest Jealousy.
Chapter 6 Pg 36
As Marianne Went Home That Evening This Event Came Into Her Thoughts; It
Was, In Fact, Never Entirely Absent From Them. The Bright And Friendly
Manner Of Madeleine, Who Was So Unlike The Rest Of Her Family, Had Awoke
In Her Many Reminiscences. She Felt Quite Sure That Madeleine Did Not As
Yet Know All Her History; It Was Impossible That She Could Know It, For
She Seemed So Kindly Disposed Towards Her, And Marianne Dreaded That Any
One Should Tell Her. There Were, Indeed, Plenty Of People Who Could Tell
Her Story, But None Knew What She Had Suffered. As She Went On Her Way
All The Sad Events Of Her Life'S Misfortune Seemed To Pass In Review
Before Her. Her First Thought Was, How Handsome He Looked When He Came
Home From Abroad, Before There Was Any Talk About His Marriage With The
Magistrate'S Daughter! How Long He Had Prayed And Tormented Her, And How
Long She Had Striven Against Him; And Then Came The Dreadful Day, When
She Had Been Called Into The Consul'S Private Office. She Never Could
Imagine How Any One Had Found It Out; The Only One Who Could Know
Anything Was Miss Cordsen: But Still Less Could She Now Understand How
She Had Allowed Herself To Be Talked Over, And Compelled To Agree To
What Had Since Been Arranged. There Must Be Truth In What People Said,
That It Was Impossible To Resist The Young Consul, And So She Allowed
Herself To Be Betrothed To Christian Kusk, One Of The Worst Men She
Knew, Who Shortly After Went To America; Then The Child Was Born, And
Was Christened Christian. Then Again She Recalled That Night When The
Child Died; But All Further Impressions Became Indistinct And Hazy As
Mist. She Had Hoped That Her Shame Might Kill Her, But It Had Only
Tortured Her. To Sandsgaard, Where She Had Vowed Never Again To Set Her
Foot, She Now Went Daily. Whenever She Chanced To Meet One Of The
Family, And Especially Fanny, Her Heart Seemed To Cease Beating; But
They Passed Her With As Much Unconcern As If They Knew Nothing, Or As If
She Had Nothing To Do With Them.
Many A Time Also She Had Met Him. At First They Passed Each Other
Hurriedly, But After A Time He Also Seemed To Have Forgotten, And Now He
Greeted Her With A Friendly Nod, And The Well-Known Voice Said, "How Are
You, Marianne?"
It Was As If These People Lived Surrounded By A Thick Wall Of
Indifference, Against Which Her Tiny Existence Was Shattered Like
Fragile Glass.
Marianne Took A Short Cut Through The Ship-Yard, Where The Carpenters
Were Busy Dividing The Shavings And Putting Them Into Sacks. She Found
Her Grandfather, Who Had Finished His Work In The Pitch-House, And They
Set Off Homewards Together.
Anders Begmand Lived In The Last Of The Little Red-Painted Cottages
Which Lay Below The Steep Slope On The Western Side Of The Bay Of
Sandsgaard. The Road Along The Shore Was Only A Footpath Leading To The
Door Of Each Cottage, And Then On To The Next. Seaweed And Half-Decayed
Fish Refuse Lay On The Shore, While At The Back Of The Houses Were Heaps
Of Kitchen Refuse, And Other Abominations. The Path Itself Consisted Of
A Row Of Large Stones, On Which People Had To Walk If They Wished To
Keep Out Of The Accumulation Of Dirt. The Houses Were Mostly Crowded,
But Especially So In The Winter, When The Sailors Were Home From Sea.
Chapter 6
