The men were more reluctant in their admiration,
yet even they were always ready to admit "that he was an excellent
fellow, with his heart in the right place."
He had a convenient way of getting ill at the proper seasons, and of
requiring immediate change of air, whereupon his grateful flock were
ready and willing to subscribe the money necessary for their beloved
preacher to take repose and relaxation in any part of the world he
chose. This year, however, they had not been asked to furnish the usual
funds for travelling expenses, for the resident minister of Bosekop, a
frail, gentle old man, had been seriously prostrated during the past
winter with an affection of the lungs, which necessitated his going to a
different climate for change and rest. Knowing Dyceworthy as a zealous
member of the Lutheran persuasion, and, moreover, as one who had in his
youth lived for some years in Christiania,--thereby gaining a knowledge
of the Norwegian tongue,--he invited him to take his place for his
enforced time of absence, offering him his house, his servants, his
pony-carriage and an agreeable pecuniary _douceur_ in exchange for his
services,--proposals which the Reverend Charles eagerly accepted.
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