Egholm

“ Egholm had said it was time the boy found something to do, now he was confirmed. Find him a place at once. And Sivert, poor weakly lad—how would it go with him?
Fru Egholm shakes her head, and sends a loving glance at the boy, who is plainly busy in his mind with something new and splendid.
Then suddenly his face changes, as if at the touch of death itself. His eyes grow dull, his jaw drops; the childish features with their prematurely aged look are furrowed with dread as he stares down at something below. ”

“ Here again was one of those ridiculous things that could, given the opportunity and a suitable mood, make a man laugh himself crooked.
Egholm turned over on the other side, and set himself to think through the whole affair from the beginning, how it had started when he had first gone as a boy to work in Konsul Steen’s business in Helsingør. ”

“ Hedvig and her mother stood aghast, while Egholm thrust past them and began moving his bottles with the easy familiarity of habit.
All the windows were darkened but one, that glared red as a furnace door. They could see nothing save their own hands, which looked strange and uncanny in the red light.
“Egholm, you surely don’t mean to say we’re to do the cooking here? When you can’t see your hand before your face!” ”

“ Egholm clasped his hands under his cloak, and prayed:
“Lord, spare Thy servant. Take away this cup from me. Let it be so that, when I come to the station, I may wake up out of a painful dream. No wife and children at all. Lord, hear Thy servant; hear him for that he suffered for the sake of Thy word, at the hands of the Brethren in Odense!”
He writhed his bony fingers, and looked up to the blue March sky. How grateful he would be; [109] how he would fall down and bend his forehead to the earth, if his prayer should be heard!
But, alas, they would surely be there—Anna, Sivert, and Hedvig. Yes ”

“ Egholm stops at the Eriksens’ gate, glances round, and kneels.
Kneels down full in the mire, while the gale flings the cape of his ulster over his head. Now he snatches off his hat and crushes it in his fingers; his bald head looks queerly oblong, like a pumpkin, seen from above.
“He’s praying!”
And the two at the window shudder, as if they were witnessing some dreadful deed.
“Where am I to hide?” blubbers Sivert.
The mother pulls herself together—she must find strength for two.
“You need not hide to-day. Take your little [4] saw and be doing some work. ”

“ Outside his own door he stopped. The scent of the clove tea came to greet him, and revolted him for the first time. He turned round and walked away again, out over the sandhills, along the quay, and down between the warehouses.
The group of fishermen sighted his thin, fluttering figure in the gloom, shook themselves, and pressed their backs closer against the wall of the shed.
But Egholm found at last an old green rowing boat among those drawn up on the beach. He struck a match, and made sure it was the one. ”

“ Egholm, too, must have his meal. He had a ravenous appetite. The pile of bread and dripping vanished from his plate as a cloud passes from the face of the moon. Possibly because he was reading, as he ate, of the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.
[13]
The rain spattered unceasingly against the panes.
“What are you hanging about here for?” asked Hedvig. Sivert was standing huddled up by the sink.
“He’ll find out in a minute,” whispered the boy. “He’s waving his arms and legs about, and talking all about money.”
“Puh—let him. We must eat, so there’s an end of it. ”

“ The wrinkles in the young apostle’s face were ceaselessly at play, forming new and intricate labyrinths without end. As soon as the Angel had finished his prayer, young Karlsen slipped in close to Egholm and sat down beside him.
“Straight to the heart,” he said admiringly. “That’s the sort of goods, what? It fetches them.”
Egholm dried his eyes bashfully.
“That’s the way to drive a lot like this. But”—a sudden gleam of contempt shone in his blue-and-watery sheep’s eyes—“it’s about the only thing he can do. Angel, indeed! Once he’s got you here, he’s good for something, I’ll allow. ”

“ Karlsen broke off in distraction every time the door opened.
“As long as the Lord gets your souls. And Father, he’ll see to that.”
Egholm began to feel uncomfortable.
The congregation had broken up into groups, centring more particularly about the neighbourhood of the Angel. Johannes, the postman, glared furiously, with distended greenish eyes, at Fru Laursen wading like a cow among the reeds.
“If I can keep behind her,” thought Egholm to himself as he rose, “I might get through. Just to thank him....” ”

“ She keeps the machine audibly in motion, making pretence of work.
A long, long time he stands there. Sivert has been sawing away conscientiously all the time, but at last he can bear it no longer, and utters a loud sigh. Fru Egholm reaches stealthily for the matches, and lights the lamp. Her fingers tremble as she lifts the glass.
Egholm turns at the sound. And now he is no longer Egholm the upright, nor Egholm the abject; Egholm the Great he is now. His eyes glow like windows in a burning house; he stands there filling the room with Egholm; Egholm the invincible. ”

“ And Egholm, suddenly aware of Anna’s sobbing and Hedvig’s uncontrolled blubbering plainly heard through the door, realises that Vang must have been able to follow the drama through all its painful details.
And now he is going off, convinced that Egholm is a cruel, cruel brute.
It must not be! Egholm feels now, more [124] strongly than ever before, that he can be so good, so good!
“No, no; you mustn’t go!” he cries, as Vang steps cautiously over the bath full of flower-pots. He grips him by the arm, anxious to prove his all-embracing affection on the spot. ”

“ Hedvig flushed, but, ready witted as ever, answered, laughing:
“Oh. Perhaps you don’t do that here. In Odense we always use bones for the fire when we can get them. They burn almost better than wood.”
“What’s your name?”
“Hedvig Egholm. And what’s yours? You’re the carpenter’s son, I suppose?” ”

“ At the same moment Egholm came in again, and now nothing was heard but the rattle of the iron bedsteads and flapping of sheets and bedclothes patted down. They shared for better or worse. Hedvig was given one iron bedstead in the little room to herself, but had to be content with a woollen blanket and her father’s old railway cloak for covering. ”

“ The ardent prayers of men were powerless to affect Him.
She began mumbling an oath every time her father found a new form for his praise.
It was otherwise with Egholm himself. He felt stronger and stronger as he went on; and at sight of Hedvig’s lips moving, he burst into tears, and found courage to speak out without reserve. ”

“ The thought of this is a culmination of delight for Egholm in his sleepless state, but at the same time, he notes, in parenthesis, as it were, that he is now on the brink of the abyss he knows will shortly swallow him up.
The stately man with the dark, full beard talks to him of doing one’s duty to the utmost, not merely as far as may be seen. And during the speech Kasper discovers on the leather-covered wall a picture in a gilded oval frame—a painting of Clara. ”

“ XX Draper Lund and Barber Trane came walking together from the direction of the town. Reaching Egholm’s beach path, Lund broke off in the middle of a sentence, and said:
“Well, I think I’ll go down this way. Enjoy the view, you know. Good-bye!” ”

“ So great is Thy love to us poor children of men, that Thou hearest every prayer we offer up to Thee, and grantest it. It is written: ‘Ask, and thou shalt receive!’ So great is Thy loving-kindness [189] unto us, that Thou wouldst not have us suffer more, and therefore sayest, let there be an end. Behold, Egholm Thy servant groaneth under the weight of poverty; Thou seest, and it is enough; Thou sayest the word, and lo, Thy servant cometh into riches and happiness....”
The words seemed to have a sort of hypnotic power; for a moment, Hedvig quivered with hope that it might really come to pass. ”

“ My friend, my old and faithful friend, you are a man. You can assert yourself, and get your own way. But Henrik Vang, he can’t. And I ask you now: How shall we gain the mastery over woman? There! That, my friend, is the problem—the problem of the future.”
“But is it true that she knocks you about?” asked Egholm, grasping eagerly at anything to turn the current of his own thoughts. ”

“ One handed him a bucket, indicating simply that it was to be emptied in the dustbin in the yard. He was not accustomed to such errands, but went down the dark stairs meekly. [78] He had barely returned, when, shaken as he was, they bade him run at full speed to the chemist’s. He looked round helplessly for Hedvig and Sivert, but the children had already been safely lodged with Eriksens’ down below, out of the way. Egholm went. He took it like a man. ”

“ Here was Egholm’s girl Hedvig coming down, with the youngest child by the hand—what did she want? And wearing the famous button boots, too—the ones with ventilators in. Emanuel had one stocking hanging in rings about his ankle.
“What do you want?” Egholm’s nose was smeared with soot and oil, and his brow was puckered angrily.
“There’s a lady come to be taken.” ”

“ Fru Egholm had to spread her mattress on the floor till they could get the settee screwed together; then she had a real down coverlet over.
Egholm began undressing without a word. His wife turned down the lamp—there were no curtains to the windows. They heard him drop his waistcoat over by the coal-scuttle, and his trousers by the door; then he threw himself on his bed, breathing heavily.
Fru Egholm stole into the little room, where Emanuel’s cradle was set against Hedvig’s bed, lest the master of the house should be disturbed.
Sleeping soundly, the little angel. ”

“ Fru Egholm made a grimace involving numerous wrinkles of the nose. Madam Hermansen nodded as one who understood.
“Yes ... she gave herself out for an artist, like her father had been—and she was the image of him to look at, too.” ”

“ Egholm turned up an old bucket. “Here!” and he offered his hand like a polite cavalier and helped her up.
The summer night was all about them. The lapping of the waves sounded now near, now far; it was like delicate footsteps. For a little while neither spoke.
“But—you’re not crying, Anna, dear?” He had felt her shoulders quivering.
“We’ve been so far away from each other; strangers like,” she sniffed. And then she broke down completely. “Anna, dear,” he had said. “Far away from each other.... I don’t see how.... Seems to me we’ve been seeing each other all day the same as usual.” ”

“ She stood holding her flower-pot and her parcels as if dreading to soil the paint of table and seats.
“Him and me,” said Vang in a solemn bass, letting his chin fall forward on his chest—“him and me we’ve been as one. But I’m going now, all right.”
“Why, what for?” said Egholm, touched. “There’s no need....” He took Vang’s arm.
“Ah, but I must. Henrik Vang can’t stay where there’s women about.” ”

“ I know a place where the grass is richer and more pleasant; make haste and leave that evil shepherd, who shears you of your fleece. I will lead you; I will be your shepherd!’”
When the Angel had finished, Egholm rose, pale and ill at ease, and begged leave to speak. But his seat was so far back, and his voice so weak, that those [64] on the platform might be excused for overlooking him. ”

“ Egholm felt his knees sinking—he was deadly tired. Then, at the sound of a cart crushing through the wood far away, he drew himself up with a sigh and walked off among the trees.
The blood began pulsing in long swells through his veins, following on his excitement, but there was no pain anywhere now. He had a nice strong feeling of having been honest.
He murmured a few words of Sivert’s oracular speech that had stuck in his mind:
“It’s ever so hard to do a thing when it’s impossible.” ”

“ If any had asked him who was the greatest inventor in the world, he would have confessed, with a pious bend of the head, that it was one of the least of God’s servants, an unworthy creature by the name of Egholm. ”

“ You see”—he leaned forward confidentially and plucked at Egholm’s coat collar, almost stupefying him with his tobacco-laden breath—“I got the old man to stand beside it!”
He gave Egholm a friendly shake, and laughed in a spluttering shower.
“But there’s one condition. I may as well tell you that first as last. The condition of your receiving this gift is, that your wife becomes a member of the Brotherhood. Both of you, you understand—or no gift! For it’s her fault we’ve had all this bother about you. Yes, I’ve found that out. She’s from Aalborg. I know those obstinate Jutland folk!” ”

“ The words were plain and to the point; everyone in the hall stared in amazement at the backsliding photographer, who was standing on a bench and waving clenched fists in the air. It was evident that he had been drinking.
Then they turned to look at young Karlsen. His face was drawn awry.
Egholm was so moved at this unexpected reinforcement that the tears flowed down his cheeks. He found voice again and took up the cry.
“They’re a lot of criminals, all of them. Setting themselves up against God’s laws that I’ve discovered. I’ll have you up, that I will. Give me my money, my money!” ”

“ He put on a thoughtful expression as he took his ticket.
“Was it Meilby that put you on to me?”
“Well, yes and no. He comes to the meetings, you know, so I’d like to help him if I can. I can’t take the kid myself, you understand. The mother’s in a dairy all day.”
“But about the money,” said Egholm, moving towards the train. “What’s it worth?”
“Oh, any amount,” said the Evangelist. In his delight at finding Egholm so amenable to his plan, he forgot to restrain his play of feature. “Hundred and fifty kroner at the least. ”