The Counsellor wasn’t sure that it was She, but he was convinced that it ought to be.  Not to speak of Ingeborg Hjelm’s being really amiable and distinguee, his heart was now prepared, as a photographer’s glass which has received collodium, and took the first girl picture that met it.  He was quite afraid that there would come more to choose among.  Yet the fairy brightness of the unknown had at this moment lost itself for him; for, however brilliant it may appear to the fancy, it cannot be compared with the warm, beautiful reality, particularly so long as this itself is new and unknown.

He approached and spoke to Miss Hjelm with painful hidden emotion of soul.  She was friendly and open, for the name Counsellor Bagger did not occur to her; and the idea she had formed of him did not at all compare with the young, elegant, handsome man she was now speaking with.  True enough, his manner was somewhat peculiarly gallant, which a lady cannot easily mistake; but this gallantry was united with such an unmistakable respect, or more properly awe, that he gave her the impression of a poetical, knightly nature.

By and by there came more ladies, both married and unmarried, but Bagger had almost forgotten what errand they could have with him.  At last Miss Brandt came also, accompanied by her sister.  As she opened the door, and saw Bagger by the side of Miss Hjelm, she gave a little, a very little, cry, or, more properly, gasped aloud for breath, and made a movement, as if something kept her back.

“Oh! my dress caught,” she said, arranged it a little, and then approached Mrs. Canuteson, with smiling face, to offer her congratulation.

Bagger looked at the watch:  he had been there two hours!  After yet lingering to exchange a few polite words with Miss Brandt, he took leave.  His visit had in all respects been so unusual, and had given occasion for so much comment, that it required more time than could be given there; and his name was not at all mentioned after he left.

V.

Now it is certainly true, that whenever Counsellor Bagger was seen for quite a time, he was mostly dreaming and suffering; and people who have not themselves experienced something similar, or have not a fancy for putting themselves in his place, will say, perhaps, that they could have managed themselves better.  But, at all events, it cannot be said, that from this time forward he was unpractical; for within eight days from Mrs. Canuteson’s birthday he had not only learned where Miss Hjelm lived, but had established himself in a tavern close by the farm, and obtained admittance to the house, which last was not so difficult, since Mrs. Hjelm was a friendly, hospitable lady, and since neither her daughter nor niece thought they ought to prejudice her against him.

In this manner four or five days passed away, which, to judge from Bagger’s appearance, were to him very pleasant.  He wrote to his colleagues in the Superior Court, that one could only value an autumn in Nature’s lap after so laborious and health-destroying work as his life for many years had been.  Then one day he received a letter from the unknown, reading thus: