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!”
He came to Christiania like a tall ship gay with flags.
His love was the music on board.
His numerous relations were ready to receive him.
Of these many were engineers, who were a jour with
all his writings, which they had taken care should
be well known. Some of the largest mechanical
undertakings in the country were in their hands, so
that they had connections in every direction.
Once more the family had a genius in its midst; that
is to say, one to make a show with. Rafael went
from entertainment to entertainment, from presentation
to presentation, and wherever he or his mother went
court was paid to them.
In all this the ladies of the family were even more
active than their lords; and they had not been in
the town many days before every one knew that they
were to be the rage.
There are some people who always will hold aloof.
They are as irresponsive as a sooty kettle when you
strike it. They are like peevish children who
say “I won’t,” or surly old dogs
who growl at every one. But he was so exceedingly
genial, a capital fellow with the highest spirits.
He had looks as well; he was six feet high; and all
those six feet were clothed in perfect taste.
He had large flashing eyes and a broad forehead.
He was practised in making clear to others all in
which he was interested, and at such times how handsome
he looked! He was a thorough man of the world,
able to converse in several languages at the cosmopolitan
dinners which were a speciality of the Ravns.
He was the owner of one of the few extensive estates
in Norway, and had the control, it was said, of a
considerable fortune besides.
The half of this would have been enough to set all
tongues wagging; therefore, first the family, then
their friends, then the whole town feted him.
He was a nine days’ wonder! One must know
the critical, unimaginative natives of Christiania,
who daily pick each other to pieces to fill the void
in their existences; one must have admired their endless
worrying of threadbare topics to understand what it
must be when they got hold of a fresh theme.
Nothing which flies before the storm is more dangerous
than desert sand, nothing can surpass a Christiania
furor.
