business.  In the winter, when the fields were covered with snow and the Belt was full of ice-floes which I drove up on to the coast,’ said the wind, ’the ravens and crows came in flocks, the one blacker than the other, and perched upon the desolate, dead ship by the shore.  They screamed themselves hoarse about the forest which had disappeared, and the many precious birds’ nests which had been devastated, leaving old and young homeless; and all for the sake of this old piece of lumber, the proud ship which was never to touch the water!  I whirled the snow about till it lay in great heaps round the ship.  I let it hear my voice, and all that a storm has to say, I know that I did my best to give it an idea of the sea.  Whew! whew!’

’The winter passed by; winter and summer passed away!  They come and go just as I do.  The snow-flakes, the apple blossom, and the leaves fall, each in their turn.  Whew! whew! they pass away, as men pass too!

’The daughters were still young.  Little Ida, the rose, as lovely to look at as when the shipbuilder turned his gaze upon her.  I often took hold of her long brown hair when she stood lost in thought by the apple-tree in the garden.  She never noticed that I showered apple-blossom over her loosened hair; she only gazed at the red sunset against the golden background of the sky, and the dark trees and bushes of the garden.  Her sister Johanna was like a tall, stately lily; she held herself as stiffly erect as her mother, and seemed to have the same dread of bending her stem.  She liked to walk in the long gallery where the family portraits hung.  The ladies were painted in velvet and silk, with tiny pearl embroidered caps on their braided tresses.  Their husbands were all clad in steel, or in costly cloaks lined with squirrel skins and stiff blue ruffs; their swords hung loosely by their sides.  Where would Johanna’s portrait one day hang on these walls?  What would her noble husband look like?  These were her thoughts, and she even spoke them aloud; I heard her as I swept through the long corridor into the gallery, where I veered round again.

’Anna Dorothea, the pale hyacinth, was only a child of fourteen, quiet and thoughtful.  Her large blue eyes, as clear as water, were very solemn, but childhood’s smile still played upon her lips; I could not blow it away, nor did I wish to do so.  I used to meet her in the garden, the ravine, and in the manor fields.  She was always picking flowers and herbs, those she knew her father could use for healing drinks and potions.  Waldemar Daa was proud and conceited, but he was also learned, and he knew a great deal about many things.  One could see that, and many whispers went about as to his learning.  The fire blazed in his stove even in summer, and his chamber door was locked.  This went on for days and nights, but he did not talk much about it.  One must deal silently with the forces of nature.  He would soon discover the best of everything, the red, red gold!