Ticket No. 9672 (10 page)

To make the ascent Joel was obliged to leave Dal at five o'clock in
the morning. He usually returned about six o'clock in the evening,
and Sylvius Hogg and Hulda always went to meet him. As soon as the
primitive ferry-boat landed the tourists and their guide a cordial
greeting ensued, and the three spent yet another pleasant evening
together. The professor still limped a little, but he did not
complain. Indeed, one might almost have fancied that he was in no
haste to be cured, or rather to leave Dame Hansen's hospitable roof.

The time certainly passed swiftly and pleasantly there. He had written
to Christiania that he should probably spend some time at Dal. The
story of his adventure at the Rjukanfos was known throughout the
country. The newspapers had got hold of it, and embellished the
account after their fashion, so a host of letters came to the inn, to
say nothing of pamphlets and newspapers. All these had to be read
and answered, and the names of Joel and Hulda which were necessarily
mentioned in the correspondence, soon became known throughout Norway.

Nevertheless, this sojourn at Dame Hansen's inn could not be prolonged
indefinitely, though Sylvius Hogg was still as much in doubt as ever,
in regard to the manner in which he should pay his debt of gratitude.
Of late, however, he had begun to suspect that this family was not
as happy as he had at first supposed. The impatience with which
the brother and sister awaited the arrival of the daily mail from
Christiania and Bergen, their disappointment and even chagrin on
finding no letters for them, all this was only too significant.

It was already the ninth of June, and still no news from the "Viking!"
The vessel was now more than a fortnight overdue, and not a single
line from Ole! No news to assuage Hulda's anxiety. The poor girl was
beginning to despair, and Sylvius Hogg saw that her eyes were red with
weeping when he met her in the morning.

"What can be the matter?" he said to himself, more than once. "They
seem to be concealing some misfortunes from me. Is it a family secret,
I wonder, with which a stranger can not be allowed to meddle? But do
they still regard me as a stranger? No. Still, they must think so; but
when I announce my departure they will perhaps understand that it is a
true friend who is about to leave them."

So that very day he remarked:

"My friends, the hour is fast approaching when, to my great regret, I
shall be obliged to bid you good-bye."

"So soon, Mister Sylvius, so soon?" exclaimed Joel, with a dismay he
could not conceal.

"The time has passed very quickly in your company, but it is now
seventeen days since I came to Dal."

"What! seventeen days!" repeated Hulda.

"Yes, my dear child, and the end of my vacation is approaching. I have
only a week at my disposal if I should extend my journey to Drammen
and Kongsberg. And though the Storthing is indebted to you for not
being obliged to elect another deputy in my place, the Storthing will
know no better how to compensate you than I do."

"Oh! Mister Sylvius," cried Hulda, placing her little hand upon his
lips to silence him.

"Oh, I understand, Hulda. That is a forbidden subject, at least here."

"Here and everywhere," replied the girl, gayly.

"So be it! I am not my own master, and I must obey. But you and Joel
must come and pay me a visit at Christiania."

"Pay you a visit?"

"Yes, pay me a visit; spend several weeks at my house in company with
your mother, of course."

"And if we should leave the inn who will attend to things in our
absence?" replied Joel.

"But your presence here is not necessary after the excursion season is
over, I imagine; so I have fully made up my mind to come for you late
in the autumn."

"It will be impossible, my dear Mister Sylvius, for us to accept—"

"On the contrary, it will be perfectly possible. Don't say no. I shall
not be content with such an answer. Besides, when I get you there
in the very best room in my house, in the care of my old Kate and
faithful Fink, you will be my own children, and then you can certainly
tell me what I can do for you."

"What you can do for us?" repeated Joel, with a glance at his sister.

"Brother!" exclaimed Hulda, as if divining his intention.

"Speak, my boy, speak!"

"Ah, well, Mister Sylvius, you can do us a great honor."

"How?"

"By consenting to be present at my sister Hulda's marriage, if it
would not inconvenience you too much."

"Hulda's marriage!" exclaimed Sylvius Hogg. "What! my little Hulda is
going to be married, and no one has said a word to me about it!"

"Oh, Mister Sylvius!" exclaimed the girl, her eyes filling with tears.

"And when is the marriage to take place?"

"As soon as it pleases God to bring her betrothed, Ole Kamp, back to
us," replied the girl.

Joel then proceeded to relate Ole Kamp's whole history. Sylvius Hogg,
deeply moved, listened to the recital with profound attention. He knew
all now. He even read Ole's letter announcing his speedy return. But
Ole had not returned, and there had been no tidings from the missing
one. What anxiety and anguish the whole Hansen family must have
suffered!

"And I thought myself an inmate of a happy home!" he said to himself.

Still, after a little reflection, it seemed to him that the brother
and sister were yielding to despair while there was still some room
for hope. By counting these May and June days over and over again
their imaginations had doubled the number, as it were.

The professor, therefore, concluded to give them his reasons for this
belief, not feigned, but really sensible and plausible reasons that
would also account for the delay of the "Viking."

Nevertheless his face had become very grave, for the poor girl's
evident grief touched him deeply.

"Listen to me, my children," said he. "Sit down here by me, and let us
talk the matter over calmly."

"Ah! what can you say to comfort us?" cried Hulda, whose heart was
full to overflowing.

"I shall tell you only what I really and truly think," replied the
professor. "I have been thinking over all that Joel just told me, and
it seems to me that you are more anxious and despondent than you have
any real cause to be. I would not arouse any false hopes, but we must
view matters as they really are."

"Alas! Mister Sylvius," replied Hulda, "my poor Ole has gone down with
the 'Viking,' and I shall never see him again!"

"Sister, sister!" exclaimed Joel, "becalm, I beseech you, and hear
what Mister Sylvius has to say."

"Yes, be calm, my children, and let us talk the matter over quietly.
It was between the fifteenth and twentieth of May that Ole expected to
return to Bergen, was it not?"

"Yes; and it is now the ninth of June."

"So the vessel is only twenty days overdue, if we reckon from the
latest date appointed for the return of the 'Viking.' That is enough
to excite anxiety, I admit; still, we must not expect the same
punctuality from a sailing-vessel as from a steamer."

"I have told Hulda that again and again, and I tell her so yet,"
interrupted Joel.

"And you are quite right, my boy. Besides, it is very possible
that the 'Viking' is an old vessel, and a slow sailer, like most
Newfoundland ships, especially when heavily laden. On the other hand,
we have had a great deal of bad weather during the past few weeks, and
very possibly the vessel did not sail at the date indicated in Ole's
letter. In that case a week's delay in sailing would be sufficient to
account for the non-arrival of the 'Viking' and for your failure to
receive a letter from your lover. What I say is the result of serious
reflection. Besides, how do you know but the instructions given to the
captain of the 'Viking' authorize him to take his cargo to some other
port, according to the state of the market?"

"In that case, Ole would have written," replied Hulda, who could not
even be cheered by this hope.

"What is there to prove that he did not write?" retorted the
professor. "If he did, it is not the 'Viking' that is behind time, but
the American mail. Suppose, for instance, that Ole's ship touched at
some port in the United States, that would explain why none of his
letters have yet reached Europe."

"The United States, Mister Sylvius!"

"That sometimes happens, and it is only necessary to miss one mail
to leave one's friends without news for a long time. There is, at all
events, one very easy thing for us to do; that is to make inquiries of
some of the Bergen shipowners. Are you acquainted with any of them?"

"Yes," replied Joel, "Messrs. Help Bros."

"Help Bros., the sons of old Help?"

"Yes."

"Why, I know them, too; at least, the younger brother, Help, Junior,
they call him, though he is not far from my own age, and one of my
particular friends. He has often dined with me in Christiania. Ah,
well, my children, I can soon learn through him all that can be
ascertained about the 'Viking.' I'll write him this very day, and if
need be I'll go and see him."

"How kind you are, Mister Sylvius!" cried Hulda and Joel in the same
breath.

"No thanks, if you please; I won't allow them. Did I ever thank you
for what you did for me up there? And now I find an opportunity to do
you a good turn, and here you are all in a flutter."

"But you were just talking of returning to Christiania," remarked
Joel.

"Well, I shall go to Bergen instead, if I find it necessary to go to
Bergen."

"But you were about to leave us, Mister Sylvius," said Hulda.

"Well, I have changed my mind, that is all. I am master of my own
actions, I suppose; and I sha'n't go until I see you safely out
of this trouble, that is, unless you are disposed to turn me
out-of-doors—"

"What can you be thinking of, Mister Sylvius?"

"I have decided to remain in Dal until Ole's return. I want to make
the acquaintance of my little Hulda's betrothed. He must be a brave,
honest fellow, of Joel's stamp, I am inclined to think."

"Yes, exactly like him," replied Hulda.

"I was sure of it!" exclaimed the professor, whose cheerfulness had
returned, at least apparently.

"Ole is Ole, Mister Sylvius," said Joel, "and that is equivalent to
saying that he is the best-hearted fellow in the world."

"I believe you, my dear Joel, and what you say only makes me the more
anxious to see him. I sha'n't have to wait long. Something tells me
that the 'Viking' will soon come safely into port."

"God grant it!"

"And why should He not hear your prayer? Yes, I shall certainly attend
Hulda's wedding, as you have been kind enough to invite me to it. The
Storthing will have to do without me a few weeks longer, that is all.
It would have been obliged to grant me a much longer leave of absence
if you had let me fall into the Rjukanfos as I deserved."

"How kind it is in you to say this, Mister Sylvius, and how happy you
make us!"

"Not as happy as I could wish, my friends, as I owe my life to you,
and I don't know—"

"Oh! please, please say no more about that trifle."

"Yes, I shall. Come now, who drew me out of the frightful jaws of the
Maristien? Who risked their own lives to save me? Who brought me to
the inn at Dal, and cared for me, and nursed me without any assistance
from the Faculty? Oh! I am as stubborn as an old cart-horse, I assure
you, and I have made up my mind to attend the marriage of Hulda to Ole
Kamp, and attend it I shall!"

Hopefulness is contagious, and how could any one resist such
confidence as Sylvius Hogg displayed? A faint smile crept over poor
Hulda's face. She longed to believe him; she only asked to hope.

"But we must recollect that the days are passing very rapidly,"
continued Sylvius Hogg, "and that it is high time we began our
preparations for the wedding."

"They are already begun, Mister Sylvius," replied Hulda. "In fact,
they were begun more than three weeks ago."

"So much the better; but in that case, we must take good care not to
allow anything to interrupt them."

"Interrupt them!" repeated Joel. "Why, everything is in readiness."

"What, the wedding-dress, the bodice with its silver clasps, the belt
and its pendants?"

"Even the pendants."

"And the radiant crown that will make you look like a saint, my little
Hulda?"

"Yes"

"And the invitations are written?"

"All written," replied Joel, "even the one to which we attach most
importance, yours."

"And the bride-maid has been chosen from among the sweetest maidens of
the Telemark?"

"And the fairest, Mister Sylvius," added Joel, "for it is Mademoiselle
Siegfrid of Bamble."

"From the tone in which he uttered those words, and the way in which
he blushed as he uttered them, I judge that Mademoiselle Siegfrid
Helmboe is destined to become Madame Joel Hansen of Dal," said the
professor, laughing.

"Yes, Mr. Sylvius," replied Hulda.

"Good! so there is a fair prospect of yet another wedding," exclaimed
Sylvius Hogg. "And as I feel sure that I shall be honored with an
invitation, I can do no less than accept it here and now. It certainly
looks as if I should be obliged to resign my seat in the Storthing,
for I really don't see how I am to find time to attend its sessions.
But never mind, I will be your best man, Joel, after first serving in
that capacity at your sister's wedding. You certainly are making me do
just what you like, or rather what I like. Kiss me, little Hulda! Give
me your hand, my boy, and now let me write to my friend Help, Junior,
of Bergen."

The brother and sister left the apartment of which the professor had
threatened to take permanent possession, and returned to their daily
tasks with rather more hopeful hearts.