sprightly mistress of the house took a motherly interest in me, and the
young daughters showed me kindness for which I was very grateful.

The master of the house sometimes related an anecdote, as, for instance,
about Heiberg's mad pranks as a young man. When he went off into the
woods and got hungry, he used to take provisions from the stores in the
lockers of the phaetons that put up at Klampenborg, while the people
were walking about in the park, and the coachmen inside the public-
house. One day, with Moehl and David, he got hold of a huge layer-cake.
The young fellows had devoured a good half of it and replaced it under
the seat of the carriage, when the family came back, caught sight of
Heiberg, whom they knew, and invited the young men to have a piece of
cake and a glass of wine. When they made the horrifying discovery of the
havoc that had been wrought, they themselves would not touch it, and the
robbers, who were stuffed already, were obliged to consume the remainder
of the cake between them.

There was often music at the Villa; sometimes I was asked to read aloud,
and then I did my best, choosing good pieces not well known, and reading
carefully. The pleasant outdoor life gave me a few glimpses of that rare
and ardently desired thing, still contentment. It was more particularly
alone with Nature that I felt myself at home.

A loose page from my diary of those days will serve to indicate the
untried forces that I felt stirring within me:

On the way down, the sky was dappled with large and many-coloured
clouds. I wandered about in the woods to-day, among the oaks and
beeches, and saw the sun gilding the leaves and the tree-trunks, lay
down under a tree with my Greek Homer and read the first and second