"Now, Miss Sophie," said he, "do you see how I am clearing out the
court? It costs me above five hundred dollars; and still they are
the peasants of the estate who clear away the mud. But I shall get
a delicate manure-heap, so fit and rich that it's quite a pleasure.
But, Jakoba, where is the coffee?"

"Only let it come in through the door," said Jakoba, somewhat
angrily. "You certainly ate something before you went from home.
Let me attend to the affairs of the ladies, and do thou attend to
the gentlemen, so that they may not stand and get weary."

The Kammerjunker conducted the friends up the winding stone stairs
into the old tower.

"All solid and good!" said he. "We no longer build in this manner.
The loop-holes here, close under the roof, were walled up already
in my father's time. But only notice this timber!"

The whole loft appeared a gigantic skeleton composed of beams, one
crossing the other. On either side of the loft was a small vaulted
chamber, with a brick fire-place. Probably these chambers had been
used as guard-rooms; a kind of warder's walk led from these,
between the beam-palisade and the broad wall.

"Yes, here," said the Kammerjunker, "they could have had a good
lookout toward the enemy. Look through my telescope. You have here
the whole country from Vissenberg to Munkebobanke, the Belt, and
the heights of Svendborg. Only see! The air is clear. We see both
Langeland and Zealand. Here one could, in 1807, have well observed
the English fleet."