of his examination-day, and his notes by the flying mail, was
invited to a wedding-party on the shooting-ground. The company was
not very large,--only thirty couples,--but very elegant. Bagger
was a friend in the families of both bride and bridegroom, and
consequently being well known to nearly all present he felt
himself as among friends gathered by a mutual joy, and was more
than usually animated. A superb wine, which the bride's father had
himself brought, crowned their spirits with the last perfect
wreath. Although the toast to the bridal pair had been officially
proposed, Bagger took occasion to offer his congratulations in a
second encomium of love and matrimony; which gave a solid, prosaic
man opportunity for the witty remark and hearty wish that so
distinguished a practical office-holder as Counsellor Bagger would
carry his fine theories upon matrimony into practice. The toast
was drunk with enthusiasm, and just at that moment a strong wind
shook the windows, and burst open one of the doors, blowing so far
into the hall as to cause the lights to flicker much.

Bagger became, through the influence of the wine, the company, and
the sight of the happy bridal pair, six years younger. His soul
was carried away from criminal and police courts, and found itself
on high, as in the attic chamber, with a vision of the small
tinted clouds and the angel-heads. The sudden gust of wind carried
him quite back to the moment when he sent out his note as the
Norwegian heroes their high-seat pillars: the spirit of his
twenty-fourth year came wholly over him, queerly mixed with the
half-regretful reflection of the thirtieth year, with fun,
inclination to talk and to breathe; and he exclaimed, as he rose
to acknowledge the toast: