asked, with a slight foreign accent, if he could help me. I told
him my trouble, and we went up together.

We walked slowly and carried on quite an animated conversation; that
is to say, I did. His part of it was confined mostly to questions,
which I was no way loth to answer. I told him about myself and my
plans; about the old school, and about my father, whom I took it for
granted he knew; for was he not the oldest teacher in the school,
and the wisest, as all Ribe could testify? He listened to it all
with a curious little smile, and nodded in a very pleasant and
sympathetic way which I liked to see. I told him so, and that
I liked the people of Copenhagen well; they seemed so kind to a
stranger, and he put his hand on my arm and patted it in a friendly
manner that was altogether nice. So we arrived together at the door
where the red lackey stood.

He bowed very deep as we entered, and I bowed back, and told my
friend that there was an example of it; for I had never seen the
man before. At which he laughed outright, and, pointing to a door,
said I would find my brother in there, and bade me good-by. He was
gone before I could shake hands with him; but just then my brother
came up, and I forgot about him in my admiration of the pictures.

We were resting in one of the rooms an hour later, and I was going
over the events of the day, telling all about the kind stranger,
when in he came, and nodded, smiling at me.

"There he is," I cried, and nodded too. To my surprise, Sophus got
up with a start and salaamed in haste.