During Dinner Delphin Gave His Own Rendering Of Some Extracts From The
Sermon, With As Much Spirit As His Fear Of Mrs. Garman Would Allow, And
The Performance Afforded Uncle Richard Great Amusement. Rachel Thought
It Best To Contain Her Feelings, For She Knew That Conversation With Mr.
Delphin On A Serious Subject Was Nothing Else Than An Impossibility.
Madeleine, On The Contrary, Could Not Help Laughing. She Always Found
Delphin Very Amusing, And At The Same Time So Good-Natured. She Had
Latterly Been Almost Annoyed With Fanny Because She Treated Delphin
Coolly And Distantly. But Delphin Seemed Scarcely To Notice Her Conduct;
On The Contrary, He Seemed Even In better Spirits Than Before. He Really
Was A Good Fellow.
Several People Also Thought That Morten Garman Was A Good Fellow, To
Allow Delphin To Carry On With Fanny Without Interference. It Was Not
Easy To Know If Morten Saw Anything Or Not, And Whether His Confidence
In His Wife, Or His Own Bad Conscience, Caused His Indifference.
Rachel Passed The Monday And Tuesday In an Anxious State Of Mind.
Something, She Thought, Must Happen. The Feeling Against Johnsen Was
Strong, But It Must Surely Take Some More Decided Form. She Knew That He
Would Come To See Her, Happen What Might, And She Expected Him.
Chapter 12 Pg 85
Fanny And Madeleine Had Accepted An Invitation For The Wednesday In The
Same Week. Rachel Had Simply Refused Without Giving A Reason, But People
Were Now Used To Her Manner.
"I Have Such A Dreadful Headache!" Sighed Fanny, As She Came Into
Madeleine'S Room, Who Was Getting Ready To Go Out. Madeleine Had Come
Into The Town On The Sunday Evening.
"Poor Fanny!" Said Madeleine, Feelingly; "Have You Got That Headache
Again?"
"Yes, It Came Just As If It Were On Purpose, At The Very Moment I Was
Going To Change My Dress. Oh, How Bad It Is!"
"I Think You Have Had A Great Many Of These Headaches Lately, Fanny; You
Chapter 12 Pg 86
Ought To Speak To The Doctor."
"It Is No Use," Answered Fanny, Endeavouring To Cool Her Forehead By
Pressing A Little Hand-Glass Against It. "The Only Thing That Does Me
Any Good Is Fresh Air And Perfect Quiet. Oh, The Noise Here From The
Street Is Dreadful! To Think That I Have To Spend The Whole Evening In a
Hot Room! I Can'T Bear It; It Will Be Too Much For Me!"
"You Shan'T Go Out At All When You Are So Unwell," Said Madeleine,
Decidedly. "I Will Make Such A Nice Excuse For You."
"Oh, If I Could Only Stop At Home, Or, Even Better Still, If I Could Get
To Sandsgaard; It Is So Quiet There!" Said Fanny, With A Sigh.
"Yes, That Is Just What You Shall Do," Cried Madeleine. "You Take The
Carriage When It Has Left Me, And Drive Out There. I Believe It Is
Clearing Up, And We Shall Have A Lovely Quiet Moonlight Evening."
"Yes; I Don'T Much Mind What The Weather Is," Said Fanny, With A Sickly
Smile. "But Do You Think It Will Do For Me--"
"You Need Not Trouble About That. I Will Make Such Charming And
Plausible Excuses For You, That You Will Really Feel Quite Rewarded For
All The Trouble You Have Had In Teaching Me The Ways Of Society. Look
Now, I Will Begin Like This;" And Madeleine, Who Had Now Got On Her
Dress, Curtsied And Smiled, And Began A Most Pathetic Story About Dear
Fanny'S Dreadful Headache. Fanny Began To Laugh, Until It Gave Her Head
So Much Pain That She Could Not Help Crying Out. She, However, Allowed
Herself To Be Persuaded, And Madeleine Drove Off Alone.
Madeleine Now Began To Find Herself At Home In Her New Life. Fanny Was
So Good And Kind To Her, That The Young Girl At Last Got The Better Of
Her Shyness, And Told Her Friend The Whole Story About Per, And The Rest
Of Her Doings At Home.
Fanny Did Not Laugh At Her In The Least; On The Contrary, She Said That
She Quite Envied Madeleine The Romantic Little Episode, Which Would Be A
Sweet Recollection For The Rest Of Her Life. But When Madeleine Timidly
Said That She Considered It More Than A Recollection, And That She
Regarded Herself As Really Engaged, She Met With Such A Determined
Opposition That She Did Not Know What To Think. "Young Girls, Often Have
These Absurd Adventures," Said Fanny, "When They Are Not Old Enough To
Know Better." She Had Herself Been Madly In Love With A Chimney-Sweep--A
Common Chimney-Sweep, Just Think Of That!
The More Madeleine Became Accustomed To Town Life The Easier She Found
It To Deaden Her Recollections Of The Past. But However Successful She
Was In burying Them Out Of Sight For The Time, They Would Recur Whenever
She Was Alone. But She Refused To Listen To Them; They Could Never
Become Realities. Still, She Never Cared To Go Home To Bratvold With Her
Father, Even For A Few Days. She Seemed To Dread Looking On The Sea
Again.
All That Day Rachel Had Waited In Vain; She Was Beginning To Be Uneasy.
Why Did He Not Come To See Her--She Who Had Been So Much The Cause Of
His Enterprise? He Must Know How Anxious She Was To Talk With Him, And
Chapter 12 Pg 87
To Thank Him. It Was Surely Impossible For Him To Think That She Also
Believed That He Had Gone Too Far. Should He Not Come To-Morrow, She
Would Write To Him.
There Was But Little Conversation That Evening At Dinner. The Consul Was
As Precise And Polite As He Generally Was When He Was Alone With The
Ladies. Fanny, Who Had Come In Hopes Of Curing Her Headache, Was Silent
And Suffering. By Ten O'Clock The Whole House Was Perfectly Quiet, But
Rachel Was Still Sitting In Her Room, Lost In Thought. She Could Not
Read, But Several Times She Took Up A Pen To Write, She Scarcely Knew
What. She Never Accomplished Her Intention, And At Last She Put Out The
Light, And Sat Down And Gazed Over The Fjord, Which Lay Sparkling In The
Moonlight. If, Forsaken By Every One, He Now Came To Her And Prayed For
Even More Than Her Friendship, For This Too She Was Prepared, And Had
Finally Decided On Her Answer. He Was A Man, And A Courageous One, And
She Was Determined To
