Page:Karl Gjellerup - Minna, A novel - 1913.djvu/84

"I had a great-aunt who was my godmother, and who for that reason felt a sort of call to look after me. She even cared for me in her way, but I am sorry to say it was a very disagreeable way, which repelled me. She always grumbled and complained of everything, even to the dressing of my hair. In those days I wore heaps of curls, so she was right in that as in most other things. It was with her the same as with father, except that she really did take trouble with me. It was only much later that I understood the value of their intentions, which in her was hidden under severity, and in him under indifference. She was an oddity, as well as he, and was very fond of him; but she looked down upon my mother, and therefore regarded with suspicion everything in me which might possibly be inherited from her. When she gave me a present it was as a rule with a threat; for instance, she allowed me to subscribe to a classical periodical, and gave me, in advance, the money for binding she never did anything by halves. It is quite a small library, containing about a hundred volumes, and when she gave me the money she said: 'If you ever, even in the greatest need, part with your classics, though I am dead, my spirit will return and torment you,' and I am perfectly certain that she would keep her word. I have, however, no cause for fear, and I have not allowed the books to stand idle on the shelf; if only for this gift I have great reason to be thankful to her. I had always good literature to my hand, and as I didn't have so much recreation as other young girls, or rather none at all, to take up my time, I was enabled to read a good deal, an opportunity which most young girls do not get. Indeed, I read some things which would have been better deferred. Funnily enough, it never struck my otherwise pedagogic aunt that the good classics contain some things that are