Night."
"Good Night," Said The _Attache_, Lying Down With A Smile On His Face. A
Few Minutes After The Two Old Gentlemen Were Snoring Peacefully In
Unison.
Chapter 9 Pg 61
Gustaf Torpander Was Still Consumed By His Silent Passion. Every Penny
He Could Save He Devoted Either To Heightening His Personal Attractions
Or To Treating Marianne'S Brother; For Hitherto He Had Never Had The
Courage To Offer Her Any Presents Personally. The Circuitous Course He
Was Thus Driven To Follow In His Courtship, Was Not Altogether Agreeable
Chapter 9 Pg 62
To The Swede, And The Drinking Bouts At Begmand'S Cottage, In Which He
Was Obliged To Take Part In Order To Get A Glimpse Of His Sweetheart, He
Found Particularly Distasteful.
At First Marianne Was Greatly Annoyed By The Attentions Of The
Journeyman Printer. From Her Earliest Childhood, The Knowledge Of Her
Exceptional Beauty Had Made Her Careful To Be On Her Guard Against Any
Advances From The Other Sex; But Since Her Misfortune, She Had Come To
Regard Every Attention As A Kind Of Persecution. But Her Shyness Was
Generally Received With An Incredulous Smile Or A Coarse Joke. What
Shocked Her Most Was, That Men Seemed No Longer To Believe That She
Really Meant To Shun Them In earnest, And She Was Therefore Quite
Nervous If Any Of Them Approached Her. When, However, She Saw That
Torpander Did Not Presume On His Acquaintance, And Preserved His Polite
And Even Respectful Manner, She Became At Last Used To His Society, And
Had Even A Kind Of Sympathetic Feeling For Him. For Tom Robson She Had
Always An Unconquerable Aversion. It Is True That She Saw Tom Only From
His Worst Side, When He Was Drinking. In The Morning, When Robson Was
Sober, There Was Something Of The Gentleman About Him. He Was Always
Neatly Dressed In a Blue Serge Suit, Coloured Shirt, And In dry Weather
Wore Canvas Shoes. It Was A Great Pleasure For The Young Consul To Go
His Morning Round In The Ship-Yard With Mr. Robson. The Work Went On
Bravely, And The Ship Bid Fair To Be Both Handsome And Well Built. Mr.
Garman Knew Tom'S Weakness As Well As Any One, But As Long As He
Attended To His Work He Was Free To Use His Leisure As He Liked. The
Firm Had Always Worked On The Principle That The Less The Workpeople
Were Interfered With The Better. They Worked All The Better For It, And
Gave Far Less Trouble Generally.
"I Think She Ought To Be Ready Next Spring," Said The Consul One Day In
The Beginning Of July.
"In About Eight Or Nine Months, If The Winter Is Not Too Wet," Answered
Tom.
"I Should Be Very Pleased If We Could Manage To Launch Her On The 15Th
Of May," Said The Consul, In a Low Tone; "But You Must Not Mention The
Day To Any One; You Understand, Mr. Robson?"
"All Right, Sir," Answered Tom.
Tom Did Not Betray The Day, Even To His Friend Master Gabriel; He Only
Said It Was To Be Some Time In The Spring, And With That Gabriel Had To
Be Content: But He Still Showed Great Curiosity As To What The Name Of
The Ship Was To Be. Tom Swore That He Knew Nothing About It, And Morten
Answered That It Was "A Thing Which Did Not Concern Schoolboys." From
Which Gabriel Inferred That Neither Of Them Knew Much About It, And, At
All Events, Not Morten.
During The Summer Gabriel Got On But Poorly At School; It Seemed Really
Too Hard That He Should Have To Pore Over His Books, While The Work Was
Going On With All Its Noise And Bustle In The Ship-Yard. His
Character-Book Showed A Sad Spectacle, And Each Month When He Had To
Take It In To His Father, He Made Up His Mind To Make A Little Speech,
Of Which The Burden Was To Be, That He Did Not Wish To Continue His
Studies, But To Be Employed In The Office, Or Be Allowed To Go To Sea,
Or Anywhere His Father Chose To Send Him. But Each Time When He Stood
Before Those Cold Blue Eyes, Every Word Seemed To Vanish From His
Chapter 9 Pg 63
Memory, And He Looked So Helpless And Confused That His Father Shook His
Head As He Left The Room, And Said--
"I Can'T Make The Boy Out. I Don'T Think He Will Ever Grow Into A Man."
When First Madeleine Came To Sandsgaard, Gabriel Had Found It A Great
Relief To Confide His Woes To Her. But Now She Had Got Too Clever For
Him, And Refused To Be Frightened By His Threats Of Running Away To Sea,
Or Giving His Master, Mr. Aalbom, Some Rat-Poison In His Toddy, And He
Ended By Feeling Jealous Of Delphin.
Fanny Had For Some Time Remarked That Delphin Was Openly Paying His
Attentions To Madeleine, And The More Plainly Her Sharp Eyes Took In The
Situation, The More Clearly Did She Perceive That She Had Been Relegated
To The Unenviable Position Of Third Person. She Knew That Delphin Had
Been Used To The Society Of Christiania; He Was Neither So Young Nor So
Green As Most Of Her Father'S Assistants, And She Therefore Found His
Society Agreeable. But When She Found That, As Usual, He Began At Once
To Show His Admiration For Her, She Thought To Herself He Was No
Different To The Rest. But Now She Began To Take A Little More Notice Of
Him; Perhaps It Was Hardly Worth While To Let Him Slip Entirely Out Of
Her Hands; And When She Looked At Herself In The Glass, She Could Not
Help Laughing And Thinking How Absurd It Was For Any One, With Her
Pretensions To Beauty, To Be Contented To Accept Her Present Humiliating
Position.
Fanny Had Arranged That Madeleine Should Take Music Lessons In The Town,
And Delphin Had Got To Know Exactly When These Music Lessons Took Place.
Madeleine Met Him Very Frequently, And They Generally Managed To Go A
Little Out Of The Way On Her Return, Either In The Streets, Or In The
Park. Madeleine Found These Meetings Rather Amusing, And Talked Gaily
And Openly With Her Admirer.
"Now, Mr. Delphin," She Said To Him One Day, "How Is It You Are So
Sarcastic And Critical When You Are In Society? When We Are Alone You
Are Much More Agreeable."
"The Reason Is, Miss Madeleine, That When
