Property. It Was A Good Half-Hour'S Walk, And While He Sauntered Along,
Swinging His Heavy Burden Of The Books He So Cordially Hated, He Was
Lost In Gloomy Thought. Every Day, On His Way From School, He Met The
Younger Clerks Going To Their Dinner In The Town. They Looked Tired And
Weary, It Is True; Still, He Envied Them Their Permission To Sit Working
The Whole Day In The Office--A Paradise With Which He, Although His
Father'S Son, Had No Connection Whatever. He Was Obliged To Confine His
Energy To The Building-Yard, Where There Were Plenty Of Hiding-Places,
Chapter 3 Pg 17
And Where The Consul Was Seldom Seen Of An Afternoon. The Ship On The
Stocks Was At Once His Joy And His Pride; He Crept All Over Her, Inside
And Out, Above And Below, Scrutinizing Every Plank And Every Nail. At
Length He Had Begun To Have Quite A Knowledge Of The Art Of
Ship-Building, And Had Gained The Friendship Of Tom Robson, Anders
Begmand, And The Other Shipwrights. The Ship Was To Be The Finest The
Town Had Yet Produced, And When This Fact Came Into His Thoughts It
Almost Enabled Him To Forget His Burden Of Greek And Latin.
From Conversations He Had Partly Overheard At Home, Gabriel Knew That
There Had Been A Difference Of Opinion Between His Father And Morten,
The Eldest Son, Who Was A Partner In The Firm, Ever Since The Building
Of This Ship Was First Mentioned.
Morten Maintained That They Ought To Buy An Iron Steamer In england,
Either On Their Own Account Or In Partnership With Some Of The Other
Houses Of The Town. He Insisted, Particularly, That The Time Could Not
Be Far Distant When Sailing Ships Would Be Entirely Superseded By
Steamers. But The Father Held By Sailing Ships On Principle; And,
Moreover, The Idea That Garman And Worse Should Have Anything In common
With The Mushroom Houses Of The Town Was To Him Quite Unbearable. In The
End, The Will Of The Elder Prevailed; The Ship Was Built Of Their Own
Materials, In Their Own Ship-Yard, And By The Workmen Who From
Generation To Generation Had Worked For Garman And Worse.
When Gabriel Reached The Point From Which He Could See Down Into The Bay
On Which Lay The Property Of Sandsgaard, The Ship Was The First Thing
Which Caught His Eye. She Stood On The Slip Below The House, And He
Could Not Help Remarking The Beauty Of Her Bow, And The Elegant Rake Of
Her Stern. It Was The Dinner-Hour, And All The Workmen Were Either At
Home, In The Cottages Which Stretched Along The West Side Of The Bay, Or
Lay Asleep Among The Shavings. As He Stood On The Crest Of The Rising
Ground, Which Sloped Gradually Down Towards The Buildings, And Gazed At
All These Dominions, Which From Time Out Of Mind Had Belonged To Garman
And Worse, Gabriel Became More And More Out Of Spirits.
There Lay The Old-Fashioned House, With White Painted Walls, And Its
Blue Slate Roof, Which Was Adorned By Dormers And Gables. In Front Of
The House, On Its Southern Side, Lay The Garden, With Its Paths And
Clipped Hedges, And The Little Pond Half Overgrown By Sedge And Thick
Bushes. On The Northern Side, Towards The Sea, He Could Discern The
Carriage Drive, And The Extensive Level Yard With The Ancient Lime Tree
Standing In The Middle Of It. Beyond That Came Four Warehouses Standing
In A Row, All Painted Yellow, With Brown Doors; And Further On Still,
Close Down To The Innermost Curve Of The Bay, Was The Building-Yard.
Higher Up, On The Road Which Led To The Southward Along The Coast, Lay
The Farm, As It Was Called. This Consisted Of A Byre, The Bailiff'S
House, And Other Buildings; For The Property Of Sandsgaard Was
Extensive, And Comprised A Mill, A Dairy, And Such Like.
That Part Of The Property Had Never Had Much Interest For Gabriel, But
All The Same, If He Had Only Been Allowed To Be A Farmer, He Could Have
Turned His Attention To Agriculture, And Still Have Been Near The
Counting-House, The Ships, And The Sea; But He Was Destined For The
University, And There Was No Possibility Of Escape.
It Was Not Easy To Persuade Consul Garman. His Father Had Brought Up His
Chapter 3 Pg 18
Elder Son To The Business, And Sent The Younger To The University, And
He Was Determined To Do The Same. The Thought Sometimes Occurred To The
Wilful Gabriel, That Uncle Richard Had Had But A Poor Return From His
University Career, But He Did Not Dare To Express His Thoughts Openly.
Mrs. Garman Believed Firmly That It Was Most Desirable, As A Cure For
Self-Will, That A Young Man Should Battle Against His Inclinations;
Nothing Could Be More Baneful Than Pampering The Flesh. No Help, Then,
Was To Be Expected From Any Quarter.
Gabriel Was Sauntering Down The Alley, Quite Crestfallen Under His Heavy
Burden Of Books, When At Some Distance His Eye Caught Sight Of Some One
On Horseback, Whom He Soon Recognized, And Who Was Coming Along The Road
Behind The Farm. It Was Uncle Richard On Don Juan.
Gabriel Started Off At Once, Forgetting In a Moment His Heavy Burden Of
Books And Care, And Thinking Only On The Merriment And Good Cheer Which
Uncle Richard Always Brought With Him. He Determined To Hasten Off To
The Kitchen To Tell Miss Cordsen, And Then To Go In To His Father; For
Gabriel Knew Well That The Bearer Of The News Of His Uncle'S Arrival Was
Always Welcome.
"Lord Save Us!" Cried Miss Cordsen. "Make Up The Fire, Martha;" And Off
She Ran To Get A Clean Cap.
"All Right, My Boy!" Said Consul Garman, Giving Gabriel A Friendly Nod.
Gabriel Was Well Pleased At The Effect Of His Intelligence. He Had
Actually Surprised Miss Cordsen Into An Impropriety, In Which He Seldom
Succeeded; And His Father, Who Was Generally Undemonstrative, Had
Greeted Him With More Than Usual Warmth.
The Young Consul, As He Was Generally Called From The Time When His
Father, The Old Consul, Was Alive, Was Not So Tall As His Younger
Brother, And While The Latter Had Grown Stouter In The Course Of Years,
The Former Seemed To Have Got Thinner And Smaller. His Hair Was Smooth,
Thin, And Slightly Grey, Carefully Brushed So As To Make The Most Of It.
His Eyes Were Keen, And Of A Light Blue Colour;
