The Brussels Post, 1912-5-2, Page 2ONLY A
ONT
OR, A CURIOUS MYSTERY EXPLAINED.
C lI -ti" CEii
"There is 1VVss Morgan," es
claimed Cecil, "that lady in a blue
ulster; and thele is her uncle just
joining /Mrs".
"Many thanks fur your kind
help," said Frithjof, and with a
.second bow and a smile from his
frank eyes he passed on and ap-
proached Mr. Morgan,
"Welcome to Norway, sir," he
exclaimed, greeting the traveler
with t he easy courteous manner pe-
enliar to Norwegians. "I hope you
have rade a good voyage
"Oh, hew do you clo, Mr. Feick?"
said the Englishman, scanning him
from head to feet as lie-shuok hands
.and speaking very loud, as if the
foreigner were deaf. "Very good
of 'yen_ to meet us, I'm sure, My
niece, Miss Blanche Morgan." •
Frithiof bowed, and his heart be-
gan to beat fast as a pair of most
lovely dark -gray eyes gave him such
a glance as he had never before re-
ceived.
"My sister is much looking for-
ward to the pleasure of making your
acquaintance," he said.
"Ah 11" exclaimed Blanche, "how
'beautifully you spessk English 1 And
how you will laugh at me when I
tell you that I have been learning
Norwegian fee fear there should
be dead silence between ns."
"Indeed, those is nothing which
pleases us so niitch as that you
should learn our tongue," he said,
smiling, ''My English is just now
in its zenith, for I passed the win-
ter with an English clergyman at
Hanover for the sake of improving
it,"
"But why not have come to Eng-
]alid?" said Blanche.
"Well, I had before that been
with a German family at Hanover
to perfect myself in German. and I
liked the place well, and this Eng-
lishman was very pleasant, so I
thought if I starved there it would
be `to kill two Hies with one dash,'
as we say in Norway. When I come
'to Enedand that will be for a holi-
'day., for nothing at all but plea-
sure,''
'Let me introduce my nephew,"
said Mr. Morgan, as Cyril strolled
up. "And this is my daughter.
How nuw, Florence, have you found
your boxes?"
"Allow me," said Frithiof; "if
you will tell me what to look for I
will see that the hotel porter takes
it ell."
There was a general adjournment
to the region of pushing and con-
fusion and luggage, and before long
.Frithiof had taken the travelers to
his father's carriage, and they were
driving through the long, pictur-
esque Strandgaden. Very few ve-
hicles passed through this main
street, but throngs of pedestrians
walked leisurely along, or stood in
groups talking land laughing, the
women chiefly wearingfull skirts of
dark -blue serge, short jackets to
match, and little round blue serge
hoods surmounting their clean
white caps; the sten also in dark
blue with broad felt hats:
To English visitors there is an in-
describable charm in the primitive
simplicity, the easy informality of
the place; and Frithiof was well
Why doesn't she take
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content with the delighted smelt),
mations of the new -comers,
"What charming ponies!" cried
Blanche. "Look how oddly their
manes are cult—short manes and
long tails! I•Iow funny! we de just
the opposite. And they all seem
cream -colored."
"This side, Blanche, quick! A
lot of peasants in sabots! and oh 1
just look at those lovely red
gables!"
"How nice the people look, too,
so different to people in an English
street. What makes you all so hap-
py over here?"
"Why, what should make us un-
happy' i" said Frithiof, "We love
our country and oily town, we are
the freest peuple in the world, and
life is a great pleasure in itself,
don't you think 1 But away in the
mountains our people ate rueh
more grave. Life is too lonely
there. Here in Bergen it is per.
feetion."
Cyril Morgan regarded the speak-
er with a pitying eye, and perhaps
would have enlightened his absurd
ignorance and discoursed • of Pall
Mall and Picadilly, had not they
just then arrived at Holdt's Hotel.
Frithiof merely Waited to see that
they approved of their rooms, gave
then the necessary information as
to bankers and lionizing, received
Mr. Morgan's assurance that the
whole party would dine at Meer
F nick's the next day, and then,
having previously dismissed the e,ar-
r•iage, set out at a brisker pace than
usual on his walk home.
Blanche -Morgan's surprise at the
happy -looking people somehuw
amused him. Was it then an out-
of-the-way thing for people to enjoy
life ? Fur his own part mere exist-
ence satisfied him. But then he
was as yet quite unacquainted with
trouble. The death of his mother
when he was only- eleven years old
had been at the time a great grief,
but it had in no way clouded his
after -life, he bad been scarcely old
enough to realize the greatness of
his loss. Its effect had been to make
him cling more closely to those who
were left to him—to his father, to
his twin -sister, Sigrid, and to the
little baby, Swanhild (Svarnheel),
whose birth hadcost so much. The
home life was an extremely happy
one to look back on, and now that
his year of absence was over and
his education finished it seemed to
him that all was exactly as he
would have it. Faintly in the dis-
tance he looked forward to further
success and happiness; being a fer-
vent patriot', he hoped some day
to be
akin 's minister—the ter—the sum-
mit`of a Norwegian's ambition; and
being human he had visions of an
ideal wife and en ideal home of his
own. But the political _career could
very well wait, and the wife too, for
the matter of that,
CHAPTER II.
Herr Feick lived in one of the
pretty, unpretentious houses in
Klavedalen, which are chiefly owned
by the rich merchants of Bergen.
The house stood on the right-hand
side of the road surrounded by a
pretty little garden, it was painted
a light -brown coior, and like most
:oethhig
Newma
eller
1
fhls
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Se !..led -
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by your ordinary meals.
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common settee, and her judgment
was seldom at fault, while, like
most Norwegian girls, She had a
most charmingly Silllple Manner,
,and an unaffected light-heartedness
which it did one good to see,
"Well, what news?" she excla]m-
e,d. "Have they come all right?
Aro they nivel"
'Nice is not the word! Charlil-
ing 1 beautiful 1 To -morrow yon will
see if I have spoken sou strongly.,,
"He says site is even prettier than
you, Sigrid," said Swanhild, mis-
chieveusly, "Prettier than any one
we. veer saw,"
"She? ? Which of them?"
"Alis Blanch! Morgan, the
daughter of the head of 'the firm,
you know,"
and the other one'?"
"I tiardly know, I didn't look at
her much ; the others all seemed to
me much like ordinary English tour-
ists. But sire ---well, you will see
,'How I wish they were coming
to -night! you make me quite curi-
ous. And father seems so excited
Bergen houses it was built of wood.
In the windows one could see flow-
ers, and beyond them white muslin
curtains, for aestheticism have not
yet penetrated to Norway. The
dark -tiled roof was outlined against
a wooded hill rising immediately
behind, with here and there gray
rock, peeping through the summer
green of the trees, while in front
the chief windows looked on to a
pretty terrace with carefully kept
flower -beds, then down the wooden
hillside heights on the furtiier shore
and on one side a break in the •Ibai;n
of mountains and a lovely stretch
of open country. To the extreme
left was the giant IItr'iken, some-
times shining and glistening, some-
times frowning 'and dark, but al-
ways beautiful; while to the right
you caught a glimpse of Bergen
with its quaint cathedral tower,
and away in the dlsla:,tce the fjord
like a shining silver band in the
sun,
As Frithiof walked along the
grassy terrace he could hear sounds
of music floating from the house;
some ane was playing a most in-
spiriting waltz; and as soon as he
had reached the open French win-
dow of his father's study, a quaint
pair of dancers became visible,
slim little girl ,1f tell years old, with
very short petticoats, and very long
golden hair braided into a pig -tail,
hold by the -front paws a fine Esqui-
mau dog, who seemed quite to enter
into the fun and danced and cap-
ered must cleverly, obediently keep-
ing his long pointed nose over his
partner's shoulder. The effect was
so comical that F rithoif stood
laughingly by to watch the perform-
ance for fully half ra minute, then,
unable to resist Itis own desire to
dance, he unceremoniously called
Lille, the dog, away and whirled off
little Swanhild in the rapid waltz
which Norwegians delight in ; the
languid grace of a London ball-
room would have had no charms for
him, his dancing was full rrf fire and
impetuosity, and Swanhild, too,
danced very well ; it he'd come to
them both as naturally as breath-
ing.
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