Ticket No. 9672 - Jules Verne (i can read book club .txt) 📗

deeply. Not that she was ambitious, this modest and honest young girl; nor did she in looking forward to the future ever aspire to what we call wealth. Ole’s affection satisfied, and would always satisfy her. If wealth came, she would welcome it with joy. If it did not come, she would still be content.

This is precisely what Hulda and Joel said to each other the day after Ole’s last letter reached Dal. They agreed perfectly upon this subject, as upon all others, by the way. And then Joel added:

“No; it is impossible, little sister. You certainly must be keeping something from me.”

“Keeping something from you!”

“Yes; for I cannot believe that Ole went away without giving you some clue to his secret.”

“Did he say anything to you about it?”

“No; but you and I are not one and the same person.”

“Yes, we are, brother.”

“I am not Ole’s betrothed, at all events.”

“Almost,” said the young girl; “and if any misfortune should befall him, and he should not return from this voyage, you would be as inconsolable as I would be, and your tears would flow quite as freely as mine.”

“Really, little sister. I forbid you to even speak of such a thing,” replied Joel. “Ole not return from his last voyage to the great fishing banks! What can have put such an idea into your head? You surely cannot mean what you say, Hulda!”

“No, certainly not. And yet, I do not know. I cannot drive away certain presentiments⁠—the result, perhaps, of bad dreams.”

“Dreams are only dreams.”

“True, brother, but where do they come from?”

“From ourselves, not from heaven. You are anxious, and so your fears haunt you in your slumber. Besides, it is almost always so when one has earnestly desired a thing and the time when one’s desires are to be realized is approaching.”

“I know it, Joel.”

“Really, I thought you were much more sensible, little sister. Yes, and more energetic. Here you have just received a letter from Ole saying that the Viking will return before the end of the month, and it is now the 19th of April, and consequently none too soon for you to begin your preparations for the wedding.”

“Do you really think so, Joel?”

“Certainly I think so, Hulda. I even think that we have delayed too long already. Think of it. We must have a wedding that will not only create a sensation in Dal, but in all the neighboring villages. I intend it shall be the grandest one ever known in the district, so I am going to set to work immediately.”

An affair of this kind is always a momentous occasion in all the country districts of Norway, particularly in the Telemark, so that every day Joel had a conversation with his mother on the subject. It was only a few moments after Dame Hansen’s meeting with the stranger, whose message had so deeply agitated her, and though she had seated herself at her spinning wheel as usual, it would have been plain to a close observer that her thoughts were far away.

Even Joel noticed that his mother seemed even more despondent than usual, but as she invariably replied that there was nothing the matter with her when she was questioned on the subject, her son decided to speak only of Hulda’s marriage.

“Mother,” he began, “you, of course, recollect that Ole announced in his last letter that he should probably return to Dal in a few weeks.”

“It is certainly to be hoped that he will,” replied Dame Hansen, “and that nothing will occur to occasion any further delay.”

“Do you see any objection to our fixing upon the twenty-fifth of May as the day of the marriage?”

“None, whatever, if Hulda is willing.”

“Her consent is already given. And now I think I had better ask you, mother, if you do not intend to do the handsome thing on that occasion?”

“What do you mean by the handsome thing?” retorted Dame Hansen, without raising her eyes from her spinning-wheel.

“Why, I am anxious, if you approve, of course, that the wedding should correspond with the position we hold in the neighborhood. We ought to invite all our friends to it, and if our own house is not large enough to accommodate them, our neighbors, I am sure, will be glad to lodge our guests.”

“Who will these guests be, Joel?”

“Why, I think we ought to invite all our friends from Moel, Tiness and Bamble. I will attend to that. I think, too, that the presence of Help Bros., the shipowners, would be an honor to the family, and with your consent, I repeat, I will invite them to spend a day with us at Dal. They are very fine men, and they think a great deal of Ole, so I am almost sure that they will accept the invitation.”

“Is it really necessary to make this marriage such an important event?” inquired Dame Hansen, coldly.

“I think so, mother, if only for the sake of our inn, which I am sure has maintained its old reputation since my father’s death.”

“Yes, Joel, yes.”

“And it seems to me that it is our duty to at least keep it up to the standard at which he left it; consequently, I think it would be advisable to give considerable publicity to my sister’s marriage.”

“So be it, Joel.”

“And do you not agree with me in thinking that it is quite time for Hulda to begin her preparations, and what do you say to my suggestion?”

“I think that you and Hulda must do whatever you think necessary,” replied Dame Hansen.

Perhaps the reader will think that Joel was in too much of a hurry, and that it would have been much more sensible in him to have waited until Ole’s return before appointing the wedding day, and beginning to prepare for it, but as he said, what was once done would not have to be done over again; besides, the countless details connected with a ceremonial of this kind would serve to divert Hulda’s mind from these forebodings for which there