Was this the end of his youth?
Louise--the room above the stables--the hospital, the lazarette, the
College. . . . And there lay the fjord, and far out somewhere on the
coast there stood no doubt a little grey fisher-hut, where a pock-marked
goodwife and her bow-legged goodman had perhaps even now received the
parcel of coffee and tobacco sent them as a parting gift.
And so Peer journeyed to the capital, and from there out into the wide
world.
BOOK II
Chapter I
Some years had passed--a good many years--and once more summer had come,
and June. A passenger steamer, bound from Antwerp to Christiania, was
ploughing her way one evening over a sea so motionlessly calm that it
seemed a single vast mirror filled with a sky of grey and pink-tinged
clouds. There were plenty of passengers on board, and no one felt
inclined for bed; it was so warm, so beautiful on deck. Some artists, on
their way home from Paris or Munich, cast about for amusements to pass
the time; some ordered wine, others had unearthed a concertina, and very
soon, no one knew how, a dance was in full swing. "No, my dear," said
one or two cautious mothers to their girls, "certainly not." But before
long the mothers were dancing themselves. Then there was a doctor in
spectacles, who stood up on a barrel and made a speech; and presently
two of the artists caught hold of the grey-bearded captain and chaired
him round the deck. The night was so clear, the skies so ruddily
beautiful, the air so soft, and out here on the open sea all hearts were
light and happy.
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