She had seen them row slowly back, and she understood
everything. No sooner had the cement stone been found than -
She paced up and down; she wept.
She did not put any dependence on his constancy; in
any case it was too early for Rafael to settle himself here: he had
something very different before him. The cement stone would not run
away from him, or the girl either, if there were anything serious
in it. She regarded his meeting with Helene as merely an obstacle
in the way, which barred his further progress.
Rafael rowed towards home, bending to his oars till
the water foamed under the bow of his boat. Now he has landed; now
he drags the boat up as if she were an eel-pot. Now he strides
quickly up to the house.
Frightened, despairing, his mother shrank into the
farthest corner of the sofa, with her feet drawn up under her, and,
as he burst in through the door and began to speak, she cried out:
"Taisez-vous! des egards, s'il vous plait." She stretched out her
arms before her as if for protection. But now he came, borne on the
wings of love and happiness. His future was there.
He did what he had never done before: went straight
up to her, drew her arms down, embraced and kissed her, first on
the forehead, then on the cheeks, eyes, mouth, ears, neck, wherever
he could; all without a word.
He was quite beside himself.
"Mad boy," she gasped; "des egards, mais Rafael,
donc! - Que - " And she threw herself on his breast with her arms
round his neck.
"Now you will forsake me, Rafael," she said,
crying.
"Forsake you, mother! No one can unite the two wings
like Helene."
And now he began a panegyric on her, without
measure, and unconscious that he said the same thing over and over
again. When he became quieter, and she was permitted to breathe,
she begged to be alone: she was used to being alone. In the evening
she came down to him, and said that, first of all, they ought to go
to Christiania, and find an expert to examine the cement-bed and
learn what further should be done. Her cousin, the Government
Secretary, would be able to advise them, and some of her other
relations as well. Most of them were engineers and men of business.
He was reluctant to leave Hellebergene just now, he said, she must
understand that; besides, they had agreed not to go away until the
autumn. But she maintained that this was the surest way to win
Helene; only she begged that, with regard to her, things should
remain as they were till they had been to Christiania. On this
point she was inflexible, and it was so arranged.
As was their custom, they packed up at once. They
drove over to the parsonage that same evening to say good-bye. They
were all very merry there: on Fru Kaas's side because she was
uneasy, and wished to conceal the fact by an appearance of
liveliness; on the Dean's part because he really was in high
spirits at the discovery which promised prosperity both to
Hellebergene and the district; on his wife's because she suspected
something. The most hearty good wishes were therefore expressed for
their journey.
Rafael had availed himself of the general
preoccupation to exchange a few last words with Helene in a corner.
He obtained a half-promise from her that when he wrote she would
answer; but he was careful not to say that he had spoken to his
mother. He felt that Helene would be startled by a proceeding which
came quite naturally to him.
As they drove away, he waved his hat as long as they
remained in sight. The waving was returned, first by all, but
finally by only one.
The summer evening was light and warm, but not light
enough, not warm enough, not wide enough; there did not seem room
enough in it for him; it was not bright enough to reflect his
happiness. He could not sleep, yet he did not wish to talk;
companionship or solitude were alike distasteful to him. He thought
seriously of walking or rowing over to the parsonage again and
knocking at the window of Helene's room. He actually went down to
the boathouse and got out the boat. But perhaps it would frighten
her, and possibly injure his own cause. So he rowed out and out to
the farthest islands, and there he frightened the birds. At his
approach they rose: first a few, then many, then all protested in a
hideous chorus of wild screams. He was enveloped in an angry crowd,
a pandemonium of birds. But it did not ruffle his good humour.
"Wait a bit," he said to them. "Wait a bit, until the islands at
Hellebergene are 'protected,' and the whole estate as well. Then
you shall come and be happy with us. Good-bye till then!"
CHAPTER 4
He came to
Christiania like a tall ship gay with flags.
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