“And people were quite different too,” answered the Consul, severely.  “In those days we were contented to move with caution and foresight, without ruining our credit by mixing with a lot of speculators in all kinds of doubtful undertakings.”

Morten felt the rebuke, and answered, “I did not think Garman and Worse set such store by its credit in those days.”

“The house is no longer what it has been,” said the young Consul dryly, closing the thick ledger.  He then held out his hand to Morten over the table, and said, “Best wishes for the new year.”

“The same to you, father,” said Morten, as their eyes met for a moment.

The young Consul thought upon the time when he himself stood where Morten was now standing, and when the old Consul sat in the armchair.  How utterly different everything was in the old days!  However, the year’s account was over, and Morten was glad of it.

After Christmas there was a succession of balls and parties in the town.  At Sandsgaard only one large ball was given every year, and that was on the old Consul’s birthday, which fell on the 15th of May.

Madeleine did not go out that winter, neither did she pay any more visits to Fanny.  Rachel was, as usual, quite incomprehensible.  Sometimes she would answer her well-known “No, thanks,” and sometimes she would take it into her head to make herself smart, go to a dance, and be either pleasant or the contrary, just as the fit took her.

The disappointment she had experienced at the hands of Mr. Johnsen made her more bitter than ever; but she never gave him another thought.  She had done her best for him, as she said to herself, and now that it was over, she heard with the greatest indifference that his Bible explanations at the prayer-meeting were so wonderfully successful; but in her innermost heart Rachel often felt a void, which sometimes made her uneasy.  It seemed as if she was indifferent to everything.  She felt no pleasure in anything; and it was generally when she was in this mood that she felt most inclined to go to a ball.

In February there was a dance given at the Club, at which both Rachel and Fanny were present.  Fanny was dressed entirely in blue, even to her shoes, fan, and blue flowers in her hair; but her eyes were bluer than all.

     “Ein meer von blauen Gedanken
     Ergiesst sich ueber mein Herz,”

as Delphin said when he came into the room.  The pleasure caused her by this compliment had to suffice her for the whole evening.  She could no longer hide from herself that Delphin was in danger of slipping out of her hands; but she never reproached him, for she felt instinctively that as soon as anything of the kind arose between them, all would be over, and part from him she could not.

Jacob Worse danced a waltz with Rachel, and during the pauses he tried several times to lead the conversation on to the injustice she had done him in calling him a coward.  At first she avoided the subject, which was, indeed, too serious a one for the ballroom; but Worse was persistent—­it was not very often that he had the opportunity of speaking with her—­and at last Rachel promised him half jestingly to give him an answer when the dance was over.