He was placed in the house of a highly respected family in Copenhagen,
that of a prominent scientist, a good-natured, unpractical savant, very
unsuited to be the mentor of such an unconventional young man. He was
conspicuous among the native Danish freshmen for his elegant dress and
cosmopolitan education, and was so quick at learning that before very
many weeks he spoke Danish almost without a mistake, though with a
marked foreign accent, which, however, lent a certain charm to what he
said. His extraordinary intelligence was not remarkable either for its
comprehensiveness or its depth, but it was a quicker intelligence than
any his Copenhagen fellow-student had ever known, and so keen that he
seemed born to be a lawyer.
Kappers spent almost all his day idling about the streets, talking to
his companions; he was always ready for a walk; you never saw him work
or heard him talk about his work. Nevertheless, he, a foreigner, who had
barely mastered the language, presented himself after six months--before
he had attended all the lectures, that is,--for the examination in
philosophy and passed it with _Distinction_ in all three subjects;
indeed, Rasmus Nielsen, who examined him in Propaedeutics, was so
delighted at the foreigner's shrewd and ready answers that he gave him
_Specially excellent_, a mark which did not exist.
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