“Oh! that makes no difference whatever, Mister Sylvius.”
“On the contrary, it does make a great deal of difference. Do you think that I am going to sit in solitary grandeur at the table, and in my own room, all the time I stay at Dal? No, I want to take my meals with you and your mother if Dame Hansen has no objections.”
Of course Dame Hansen could but assent when she was apprised of the professor’s request, especially as it would be a great honor to her and hers to have a member of the Storthing at her table.
“It is settled, then, that we are to eat together in the living room,” remarked Sylvius Hogg.
“Yes, Mister Sylvius,” replied Joel. “I shall only have to wheel you out in your armchair when dinner is ready.”
“Indeed, Mister Joel! Why don’t you propose a karjol? No; with the aid of a friendly arm, I shall be able to reach the table. I haven’t had my leg amputated yet, that I am aware of.”
“As you please, Mister Sylvius,” replied Hulda. “But don’t be guilty of any imprudence, I beg of you, or Joel will have to hurry off in search of a doctor.”
“More threats! Oh, well, I will be as prudent and docile as possible; provided you do not put me on short allowance, you will find me the most tractable of patient. Can it be that you are not hungry, my friends?”
“Give us only a quarter of an hour,” replied Hulda; “and we will set before you a nice trout from the Maan, a grouse that Joel shot in the Hardanger yesterday, and a bottle of French wine.”
“Thank you, my dear child, thank you!”
Hulda left the room to superintend the dinner and set the table, while Joel took the karjol back to Lengling’s stable. Sylvius Hogg was left alone, and his thoughts very naturally reverted to the honest family whose guest and debtor he was. What could he do to repay Hulda and Joel for the inestimable service they had rendered him?
He had not much time for reflection, however, for scarcely ten minutes had elapsed before he was seated in the place of honor at the family table. The dinner was excellent. It corresponded with the reputation of the inn, and the professor ate very heartily.
The rest of the evening was spent in conversation in which Sylvius Hogg took the leading part. As Dame Hansen found it well-nigh impossible to overcome her habitual reserve, Joel and Hulda were obliged to respond to their genial host’s advances, and the sincere liking the professor had taken to them from the very first naturally increased.
When night came, he returned to his room with the assistance of Joel and Hulda, gave and received a friendly good night, and had scarcely stretched himself out upon the big bed before he was sound asleep.
The next morning he woke with the sun, and began to review the situation.
“I really don’t know how I shall get out of the scrape,” he said to himself. “One cannot allow one’s self to be saved from death, nursed and cured without any other return than a mere thank you. I am under deep obligations to Hulda and Joel, that is undeniable; but the services they have rendered me are not of a kind that can be repaid with money. On the other hand, these worthy people appear to be perfectly happy, and I can do nothing to add to their happiness! Still, we shall probably have many talks together, and while we are talking, perhaps—”
During the three or four days the professor was obliged to keep his leg upon a stool he and the young Hansens had many pleasant chats together, but unfortunately it was with some reserve on the brother’s and sister’s part. Neither of them had much to say about their mother, whose cold and preoccupied manner had not escaped Sylvius Hogg’s notice, and from a feeling of prudence they hesitated to reveal to their guest the uneasiness excited by Ole Kamp’s delay, for might they not impair his good humor by telling him their troubles?
“And yet we perhaps make a great mistake in not confiding in Mister Sylvius,” Joel remarked to her sister, one day. “He is a very clever man, and through his influential acquaintances he might perhaps be able to find out whether the Naval Department is making any effort to ascertain what has become of the Viking.”
“You are right, Joel,” replied Hulda. “I think we had better tell him all; but let us wait until he has entirely recovered from his hurt.”
“That will be very soon,” rejoined Joel.
By the end of the week Sylvius Hogg was able to leave his room without assistance, though he still limped a little; and he now began to spend hours on the benches in front of the house, gazing at the snow-clad summit of Gousta, while the Maan dashed merrily along at his feet.
People were continually passing over the road that led from Dal to the Rjukanfos now. Most of them were tourists who stopped an hour or two at Dame Hansen’s inn either to breakfast or dine. There were also students in plenty with knapsacks on their backs, and the little Norwegian cockade in their caps.
Many of them knew the professor, so interminable greetings were exchanged, and cordial salutations, which showed how much Sylvius Hogg was loved by these young people.
“What, you here, Mister Sylvius?” they would exclaim.
“Yes, my friend.”
“You, who are generally supposed to be in the remotest depths of the Hardanger!”
“People are mistaken, then. It was in the remotest depths of the Rjukanfos that I came very near staying.”
“Very well, we shall
