Our host, Counsellor Svirum, was the leader, and
postedus all in our places. The arrival of other guests cut short this scenewhich
was so amusing to all but me. I will not dwell on the misery that followed. The
counsellor must have fallen in the lake.
JUDGE ERIK SÖRENSENS JOURNALIN the name of Our Lord
Jesus Christ!
Lammestrup, but Maren, what do youthink she looked
like?
There was silence for a good quarter of an hour. It
was not so deep but that I soon had head andshoulders above the water.
The maid had been presentwhen the deed was done.
The lake with its wreath of rushes spread outbefore me.
But of course this exercise was rather violent
andthrew me into a perspiration.
I dontknow what I am going to do with
them.
This Niels, the parson complains, is a lazy fellow
and impudentand quarrelsome besides. I can say that I had acquired great facility in
the figures thatwere then the mode.
It was she, but alas, how changed she too was, in
face,figure, and manner!
And it was here the battle tookplace which I have
already described in anticipation. The hunt advanced, the dogs came nearer and
nearer, their commander inthe boat likewise.
Inasmuch as I can now keep a wife,ought I not to
look about me for a helpmeet?
Allow me, my fair feminine reader, to relate my
innocentadventure. This was my firstblunder, but it was not to be my
last.
I can say that I had acquired great facility in the
figures thatwere then the mode. Near the lake and the hunting-groundwas a hill from
which I decided there would be a good view. I havent had anything to fire at, I
said. I saw at first glance that she was perfect ofher type. At that the sportsmen
stole out, leaving me to my bottomless misery.
It may well be that it is a kind offoreboding. Here
a flounce, there a frill of lace has been torn; here a bow has beenlost and there a
pin. His reverence received us very affectionately. I dontknow what I am going to do
with them.
Nay, nay, my good Morten, you do not knowErik
Sörensen. The scene wasnow changed to another inlet of the bay. As he spoke, he put
hishands in his pockets again and waddled ahead. The arrival of other guests cut
short this scenewhich was so amusing to all but me. Nevertheless, sheis without a
doubt the fairest woman I have seen in all my days. This Niels, the parson
complains, is a lazy fellow and impudentand quarrelsome besides.