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I freely pardon your trespass; take your leave, and go in peace."
The two friends exchanged disconsolate looks. There really seemed
nothing for it, but to obey this unpleasing command. Errington made one
more venture.
"May I hope, Mr. Gueldmar," he said with persuasive courtesy, "that you
will break through your apparent rule of seclusion for once and visit me
on board my yacht? You have no doubt seen her--the _Eulalie_--she lies
at anchor in the Fjord."
The _bonde_ looked him straight in the eyes. "I have seen her. A fair
toy vessel to amuse an idle young man's leisure! You are he that in that
fool's hole of a Bosekop, is known as the 'rich Englishman,'--an idle
trifler with time,--an aimless wanderer from those dull shores where
they eat gold till they die of surfeit! I have heard of you,--a mushroom
knight, a fungus of nobility,--an ephemeral growth on a grand decaying
old tree, whose roots lie buried in the annals of a far forgotten past."
The rich, deep voice of the old man quivered as he spoke, and a shadow
of melancholy flitted across his brow.


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