led her a sad life. I always thought he was too hard upon her, but the worthy man would take no advice; he knew what was best, and he, and the father of Mads, went to the clergyman to publish the banns. All went well for two Sundays, but on the third one, when he said, 'If any of you know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not he joined together in holy matrimony, ye are to declare it,' Cecil rose abruptly and cried out, 'I do; the banns for Esben and myself have been published three times in Paradise.'
"I tried to hush her, but it was too late; every soul in church had heard her, and had turned to stare at our seat. We were put to dreadful shame and mortification! I did not then imagine she was out of her mind; but when the clergyman had left the pulpit, she began again, and raved about Eben and Paradise, her wedding and her wedding-dress, till we were obliged to take her out of church. My good Michel scolded her well, and declared that it was all a trick; but, God help us! there was no trick in it. It was all sad reality—she was insane then, and she is insane now."
Here the speaker let the stocking she was knitting drop on her lap; took the woollen clue from her left shoulder, turned it round and round, and looked at it in all directions, but it was evident that her thoughts were not with it. After seeming to forget everything around her for a few minutes she took up her knitting-needles, and, along with her work, resumed her sad tale.
"All her talk was about her being dead, and having got to Paradise, where she was to be married to Esben, as soon as he also was dead; and she remained in this state day and night. My good Michel, of blessed memory, then perceived how it was with her. 'It is God's doing,' said he, 'and none can read His will.' But he took it to heart for all that; and as to me, many were the hours that I lay awake in my bed and wept, while everybody else was sleeping. Sometimes I could not help saying, that it would have been better if the young people had married. 'That may still come about,' said my husband. But that never was to be.
"For the first two months or so she was very ungovernable, and we tried severity with her; afterwards she became quiet, spoke little, but sighed and wept a great deal. She could not be induced to occupy herself in any way, for she always said, 'In Heaven every day is a holiday.'
"Full half-a-year passed in this way, and it was more than double that time since Esben had gone to the south, yet none of us had heard anything of him, either for good or for evil. However, one day, when we were sitting here—my good man, Cecil and myself—who should walk in but Esben! He just arrived, had not yet even been to his own home, and had no idea what had happened, until he cast his eyes upon the girl, and then he could not fail to see that all was not right there.
"'You have tarried long,' said she; 'everything has been ready for the bridal a year and a day. But, tell me, are you living or dead?'
"'Good Heavens, Cecil!' cried he, 'you can surely see that I am living.'
"'That is a pity,' said she, 'for then you cannot enter the gates of Paradise. Strive to die as soon as possible, for Mads Egelund is watching to see if he can't come first.'
