UNDER THE WILLOW-TREE [2]
but did she think of him? Yes. About Christmas
came a letter from her father to Knud's parents, which stated that
they were going on very well in Copenhagen, and mentioning
particularly that Joanna's beautiful voice was likely to bring her a
brilliant fortune in the future. She was engaged to sing at a concert,
and she had already earned money by singing, out of which she sent her
dear neighbors at Kjoge a whole dollar, for them to make merry on
Christmas eve, and they were to drink her health. She had herself
added this in a postscript, and in the same postscript she wrote,
"Kind regards to Knud."
The good neighbors wept, although the news was so pleasant; but
they wept tears of joy. Knud's thoughts had been daily with Joanna,
and now he knew that she also had thought of him; and the nearer the
time came for his apprenticeship to end, the clearer did it appear
to him that he loved Joanna, and that she must be his wife; and a
smile came on his lips at the thought, and at one time he drew the
thread so fast as he worked, and pressed his foot so hard against
the knee strap, that he ran the awl into his finger; but what did he
care for that? He was determined not to play the dumb lover as both
the gingerbread cakes had done; the story was a good lesson to him.
At length he become a journeyman; and then, for the first time, he
prepared for a journey to Copenhagen, with his knapsack packed and
ready. A master was expecting him there, and he thought of Joanna, and
how glad she would be to see him. She was now seventeen, and he
nineteen years old. He wanted to buy a gold ring for her in Kjoge, but
then he recollected how far more beautiful such things would be in
Copenhagen. So he took leave of his parents, and on a rainy day,
late in the autumn, wandered forth on foot from the town of his birth.
The leaves were falling from the trees; and, by the time he arrived at
his new master's in the great metropolis, he was wet through. On the
following Sunday he intended to pay his first visit to Joanna's
father. When the day came, the new journeyman's clothes were brought
out, and a new hat, which he had brought in Kjoge. The hat became
him very well, for hitherto he had only worn a cap. He found the house
that he sought easily, but had to mount so many stairs that he
became quite giddy; it surprised him to find how people lived over one
another in this dreadful town.
On entering a room in which everything denoted prosperity,
Joanna's father received him very kindly. The new wife was a
stranger to him, but she shook hands with him, and offered him coffee.
"Joanna will be very glad to see you," said her father. "You
have grown quite a nice young man, you shall see her presently; she is
a good child, and is the joy of my heart, and, please God, she will
continue to be so; she has her own room now, and pays us rent for it."
And the father knocked quite politely at a door, as if he were a
stranger, and then they both went in. How pretty everything was in
that room! a more beautiful apartment could not be found in the
whole town of Kjoge; the queen herself could scarcely be better
accommodated. There were carpets, and rugs, and window curtains
hanging to the ground. Pictures and flowers were scattered about.
There was a velvet chair, and a looking-glass against the wall, into
which a person might be in danger of stepping, for it was as large
as a door. All this Knud saw at a glance, and yet, in truth, he saw
nothing but Joanna. She was quite grown up, and very different from
what Knud had fancied her, and a great deal more beautiful. In all
Kjoge there was not a girl like her; and how graceful she looked,
although her glance at first was odd, and not familiar; but for a
moment only, then she rushed towards him as if she would have kissed
him; she did not, however, although she was very near it. Yes, she
really was joyful at seeing the friend of her childhood once more, and
the tears even stood in her eyes.
came a letter from her father to Knud's parents, which stated that
they were going on very well in Copenhagen, and mentioning
particularly that Joanna's beautiful voice was likely to bring her a
brilliant fortune in the future. She was engaged to sing at a concert,
and she had already earned money by singing, out of which she sent her
dear neighbors at Kjoge a whole dollar, for them to make merry on
Christmas eve, and they were to drink her health. She had herself
added this in a postscript, and in the same postscript she wrote,
"Kind regards to Knud."
The good neighbors wept, although the news was so pleasant; but
they wept tears of joy. Knud's thoughts had been daily with Joanna,
and now he knew that she also had thought of him; and the nearer the
time came for his apprenticeship to end, the clearer did it appear
to him that he loved Joanna, and that she must be his wife; and a
smile came on his lips at the thought, and at one time he drew the
thread so fast as he worked, and pressed his foot so hard against
the knee strap, that he ran the awl into his finger; but what did he
care for that? He was determined not to play the dumb lover as both
the gingerbread cakes had done; the story was a good lesson to him.
At length he become a journeyman; and then, for the first time, he
prepared for a journey to Copenhagen, with his knapsack packed and
ready. A master was expecting him there, and he thought of Joanna, and
how glad she would be to see him. She was now seventeen, and he
nineteen years old. He wanted to buy a gold ring for her in Kjoge, but
then he recollected how far more beautiful such things would be in
Copenhagen. So he took leave of his parents, and on a rainy day,
late in the autumn, wandered forth on foot from the town of his birth.
The leaves were falling from the trees; and, by the time he arrived at
his new master's in the great metropolis, he was wet through. On the
following Sunday he intended to pay his first visit to Joanna's
father. When the day came, the new journeyman's clothes were brought
out, and a new hat, which he had brought in Kjoge. The hat became
him very well, for hitherto he had only worn a cap. He found the house
that he sought easily, but had to mount so many stairs that he
became quite giddy; it surprised him to find how people lived over one
another in this dreadful town.
On entering a room in which everything denoted prosperity,
Joanna's father received him very kindly. The new wife was a
stranger to him, but she shook hands with him, and offered him coffee.
"Joanna will be very glad to see you," said her father. "You
have grown quite a nice young man, you shall see her presently; she is
a good child, and is the joy of my heart, and, please God, she will
continue to be so; she has her own room now, and pays us rent for it."
And the father knocked quite politely at a door, as if he were a
stranger, and then they both went in. How pretty everything was in
that room! a more beautiful apartment could not be found in the
whole town of Kjoge; the queen herself could scarcely be better
accommodated. There were carpets, and rugs, and window curtains
hanging to the ground. Pictures and flowers were scattered about.
There was a velvet chair, and a looking-glass against the wall, into
which a person might be in danger of stepping, for it was as large
as a door. All this Knud saw at a glance, and yet, in truth, he saw
nothing but Joanna. She was quite grown up, and very different from
what Knud had fancied her, and a great deal more beautiful. In all
Kjoge there was not a girl like her; and how graceful she looked,
although her glance at first was odd, and not familiar; but for a
moment only, then she rushed towards him as if she would have kissed
him; she did not, however, although she was very near it. Yes, she
really was joyful at seeing the friend of her childhood once more, and
the tears even stood in her eyes.