Rector Soeren Quist of Veilbye came to see me this morning.  He has a new coachman, Niels Bruus, brother to the owner of Ingvorstrup.  Niels is lazy and impertinent.  The rector wanted him arrested, but he had no witnesses to back up his complaint.  I advised him to get rid of the man somehow, or else to get along with him the best he could until the latter’s time was up.  The rector was somewhat hasty at first, but later on he listened calmly and thanked me for my good advice.  He is inclined to be violent at times, but can always be brought to listen to reason.  We parted good friends.

I spent a charming day in Veilbye yesterday.  The rector was not at home, but Mistress Mette received me with great friendliness.  She sat by the door spinning when I arrived, and it seemed to me that she blushed.  It was hardly polite for me to wait so long before speaking.  When I sit in judgement I never lack for words, but in the presence of this innocent maiden I am as stupid as the veriest simpleton of a chicken thief.  But I finally found my voice and the time passed quickly until the rector’s return.  Then Mistress Mette left us and did not return until she brought in our supper.

Just as she stepped through the doorway the rector was saying to me, “Isn’t it about time that you should think of entering into the holy estate of matrimony?” (We had just been speaking of a recent very fine wedding in the neighborhood.) Mistress Mette heard the words and flushed a deep red.  Her father laughed and said to her, “I can see, my dear daughter, that you have been standing before the fire.”

I shall take the good man’s advice and will very soon try my fate with her.  For I think I may take the rector’s words to be a secret hint that he would not object to me as a son-in-law.  And the daughter?  Was her blush a favorable sign?

Poor Ole Anderson keeps his peat moor and his pasture land, but rich Morten Bruus is angry at me because of it.  When he heard the decision he closed his eyes and set his lips tight, and his face was as pale as a whitewashed wall.  But he controlled himself and as he went out he called back to his adversary, “Wish you joy of the bargain Ole Anderson.  The peat bog won’t beggar me, and the cattle at Ingvorstrup have all the hay they can eat.”  I could hear his loud laughter outside and the cracking of his whip.  It is not easy to have to sit in judgment.  Every decision makes but one enemy the more.

Yesterday was the happiest day of my life.  We celebrated our betrothal in the Rectory of Veilbye.  My future father-in-law spoke to the text, “I gave my handmaid into thy bosom” (Genesis xvi, 5).  His words touched my heart.  I had not believed that this serious and sometimes brusque man could talk so sweetly.  When the solemnity was over, I received the first kiss from my sweet betrothed, and the assurance of her great love for me.

At supper and later on we were very merry.  Many of the dead mother’s kin were present.  The rector’s family were too far away.  After supper we danced until day-break and there was no expense spared in the food and wine.  My future father-in-law was the strongest man present, and could easily drink all the others under the table.  The wedding is to take place in six weeks.  God grant us rich blessings.