If
Halfdan attempted to set them right, they at
once grew excited and declamatory; their
opinions were based upon conviction and a
charming ignorance of facts, and they were not
to be moved. They knew all about Tweed and
the Tammany Ring, and believed them to be
representative citizens of New York, if not of
the United States; but of Charles Sumner and
Carl Schurz they had never heard. Halfdan,
who, in spite of his misfortunes in the land of
his adoption, cherished a very tender feeling for
it, was often so thoroughly aroused at the foolish
prejudices which everywhere met him, that his
torpidity gradually thawed away, and he began
to look more like his former self.
Toward autumn he received an invitation
to visit a country clergyman in the North, a
distant relative of his father's, and there whiled
away his time, fishing and shooting, until winter
came. But as Christmas drew near, and the day
wrestled feebly with the all-conquering night,
the old sorrow revived. In the darkness which
now brooded over land and sea, the thoughts
needed no longer be on guard against themselves;
they could roam far and wide as they
listed. Where was Edith now, the sweet, the
wonderful Edith? Was there yet the same
dancing light in her beautiful eyes, the same
golden sheen in her hair, the same merry ring
in her voice? And had she not said that when
he was content to be only her friend, he might
return to her, and she would receive him in the
old joyous and confiding way? Surely there
was no life to him apart from her: why should
he not be her friend? Only a glimpse of her
lovely face--ah, it was worth a lifetime; it
would consecrate an age of misery, a glimpse of
Edith's face.
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