"My wife, of course, was glad, and set to
work at once with pots and pans, and I sat
down to write letters to all my good friends
in the town and neighbourhood, in the
meantime ordering one of my men to saddle a
horse and be ready to ride out with them.
Just as I had begun my writing, I heard a
carriage drive into the court, and when I
looked out, it was my brother-in-law. ' Good,'
thought I to myself, 'here he comes with
the forty thousand rix-dollars! Now, he
will very likely be wanting to borrow some
of them!'

"My brother-in-law came in, and as soon as
he had shut the door he fell down on his
knees, and said, 'Johan, I am a villain!'

I fancied that he wanted to make me
believe that he had lost the money, on purpose
that he might keep it for himself, so I seized
him by the arm, and cried, 'You rascal! out
with my money!'

"'I have not got it, Johan!' said he,
crying; 'as true as Heaven is above us, I
have not! I put down one penny instead
of five rix-dollars. There is the ticket, and
here is a letter from the collector!'

"Now, what was to be done? Another person,
perhaps, in my case, would have hanged
himself from sheer vexation; I, however, sat
down calmly, and was able to do without the
forty thousand rix-dollars. I went out, and
said to my wife: ' Gine, we shall not have
any entertainment tonight. Your brother
has spoiled all. Let the pots and pans, therefore,
stand where they are, and come in and
ask him how he is.' And that was the end
of the matter.

'' In the evening, however, I went out, and
looked into the old warehouse, thinking that
the old gentleman would perhaps let himself
be seen again; and so the thing might be
helped. I did so; and it is now become
a habit with me always to look in there
before I go to bed. But the old man has
never shown himself since—just as obstinate
as when he was alive!"

Any one may easily tell by the tone of this
little incident, that it was related to me by
my uncle at a time when I had advanced
considerably in his confidence.

There exists in Russia an arrangement
by which people take a sort of military rank.
A states-councillor has the rank of a general;
a writer in a university as a sergeant, and so
on. It was in a similar mode that I was
advanced in my uncle's family. On account
of my parentage, and because the Falsen
blood flowed in my veins, I carried myself
rather superciliously as a child, and took my
meals at my uncle's table as the shopmen
did; but I slept in the men-servants' room.
Having been when at school advanced into
the upper class, I was promoted so far as to
sleep in the apprentices' room, but with no
farther advantages. When, however, I had
become a student at the University, I was
suddenly advanced beyond the rank of book-
keeper; was permitted to walk by my uncle's
side in the street, and to have my own
bedroom, that is to say, one of the gateway
chambers; and finally, after I had passed
my second examination, and had begun to
study theology, I found, on my return for
the vacation, that my sleeping apartment
was in the principal building, close to my
uncle's own room, and he introduced me as
a member to the club. At this time, too, it
was that he related to me the foregoing
incident.

The first evening, however, after my
arrival as a theological candidate, a card-
party was invited in my honour. My uncle
played with me in his own person; and,
when the guests were gone, he took up a
three-branched silver candlestick, and walked
before me through the drawing-room into
an adjoining little chamber, in which stood
a bed with damask hangings, and said to me:
"These two rooms are yours;" an honour
which until now no mortal had ever received
in my uncle's house. With these words, he
was about to leave me; but on reaching the
door, he turned to me, and said with an
agitated voice: "Ludvig, thou hast my
thanks; thou hast made me happy;" and so
saying, the good old man hastened from the
apartment.

A number of festivities succeeded this
evening; my uncle's friends gave one party
after another in my honour. I had no
opportunity of conversing with my uncle,
however much I wished for it, and I could
not help thinking but that something was
amiss with him. He often fell into deep
thought; and when, by an effort, he compelled
himself to break the chain of his thoughts,
his cheerfulness was constrained. I feared
that he had experienced some loss, or that he
had involved himself in some doubtful
speculations, the consequences of which might
disturb the repose of his old age. In the meantime,
it seemed to me that he often fixed his
gaze on me, as if he had something particular
to say; and I then thought that it must be a
subject of some other kind which weighed
upon his mind, because in affairs of a
pecuniary character I could neither aid him nor
give him advice.

At length, one morning when we met at
the breakfast-table, he invited me to take
a walk with him. We went up the mill-
stream, where he had built a row of small
houses for poor people, and for which the
king had conferred upon him the knightly
order of Dannebrog. The inhabitants came
out to greet him, and invited him into their
houses; and I could see that he was unusually
touched by their affectionate kindness.

From this place we went down to the
shore. There lay a ship laden with goods
from his warehouse. Sailors and working
people saluted him, and continued their
labour with redoubled ardour in his
presence. The captain spoke of the wind, and