LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 329, 2 July 1875, Page 4

LITERATURE.

THE FLYING POST. From the Danish. ( Continued.') ‘ Was his bride present ?’ inquired Miss Hjelm, ‘Oh no ! she could not very well have been present, you see. Do you know who she is ?’ ‘How should I?’ answered her companion, ._ .. ‘ Why, the whirlwind !’ said Miss Brandt. * The whirlwind ?’ replied the other in amazement. ‘ Yes ; he said that once, as a young man, he had committed his plighted troth to a whirlwind in the shape ofJJ a love letter, and that he was constantly expecting an answer; and that he was, therefore, an engaged man. ‘Oh dear! what is the matter ?’ asked Miss Hjelm, in a tone of sympathy, as her companion uttered a sharp cry of pain. The fact was, that just at that moment Miss Hjelm had omitted to hold back a briar shoot that hung over the path, the consequence of which was that a thorn had stuck into Miss Brandt’s ankle. This circumstance stopped their conversation for a short time, but on their return to the house, Miss Brandt again alluded to the subject of their conversation, * Only fancy, dear, how romantic and interesting it would be if the wind we’-e really to pour down such billets-doux! What would one’s feelings be if one got such a letter from the sky, in which your unknown lover pledged his fealty for time and eternity ?’ ‘ That is rather too difficult a question for me to answer,’ replied Miss Hjelm, laconically. ‘ But, after all, perhaps, it is not so very extraordinary an occurrence. A girl I know very well once had such a billet, and she made me a present of it.’ ‘ You dont’t mean that ? But have you really got the letter ? I should so like to see one of these messages from the sky.’ ‘I think I have it still,’ replied Miss Hjelm. ‘But I will see;’ and, after rummaging in her writing-desk for a few minutes, she at length found the paper in question, and handed it to her companion. Miss Brandt read it through, but was very careful to conceal the fact that it seemed to correspond exactly with the description the Assessor had [given of the note he had once written and committed to the whirlwind.

‘You may keep it, if you like,’ said Miss Hjelm, as Miss Brandt was returning in to her.

‘ Oh ! thanks—but —well ! I will keep it as a curiosity, you know; ’ and, so saying, she folded it up, and slipped it inside her glove, and shortly afterwards took leave. After Miss Brandt and her party had gone, Miss Hjelm’s cousin, a rather pretty young widow, said to her : * What is the matter, Ingeborg ? you seem as if you were laughing with one eye and crying with the other. ’ ‘Oh I nothing much,’ was the reply; * only a bubble has burst, and perhaps ...” ‘ You know, dear, lam a bad hand at guessing riddles, so, if you wish me to understand your meeting, you must descend to the level of ray understanding.’ ‘ Well, then,’ said Ingeborg, ‘I have just lost an illusion of six years’ standing.’ ‘Of six years ! why you were then only sixteen !’ ‘ Exactly; just when I was sixteen I met an ideal with which I fell in love. To day I have heard that he is married. But I’ll tell you the whole story. Six years ago I drove into Copenhagen with my late father. While he was engaged in business matters I went about the town to execute my commissions. ‘Just as I was turning the corner of a street I was nearly knocked down by the wind, for it was blowing very violently. While I was gasping for breath, a scrap of paper hew under my veil, and hung there fluttering just like a butterfly. I tried to remove it, but as often as I put it away it hew back. At last I was determined to get rid of it, for it worried me, and was on the point of throwing it up into the air, when I noticed that there was some writing on it. I read it, and saw that it was a regular loveletter. The writed stated that he had sent it forth after the fashion of the Northmen, who committed the props of their high seats to the waves; and that, wheresover it alighted, he would some day bring his plighted faith. It was signed * Geb.’ ‘ What is Geb ? ’ inquired the widow. ‘Why, Ingeborg, of course,’replied Miss Hjelm, with a simplicity that testife i to the earnestness with which she had believed in the reality of the writer’s vow. ‘ Very strange, indeed! ’ replied her cousin, with just the slightest touch of irony in her words ; ‘ and so you determined to remain single till your unknown came to claim you as his own. ’ * No, not exactly that,’ answered Ingebord ; ‘ but perhaps it made me rather more particular.’ ‘Well and now?’ interrupted her cousin. * I have just given Miss Brandt the note.’ ‘ Given it to Miss Brandt! Why, what made you do that ? ’ * Because I learnt from her that the man who in all probability wrote that letter had spoken of it publicly, and was an Assessor in the Criminal Court. ’ ‘Oh, I see now,’ replied the widow, in a bantering tone. ‘ When your ideal hero turns out to be but a simple Assessor, then —’ ‘ He is my ideal no longer, you were going to say ? ’ broke in Miss Hjelm. ‘ No, not exactly that. But tell me, how could I possibly have gone to him and told him that I had his missive? Besides, it is quite plain that Miss Brandt has a liking for the Assessor. Fancy, if they were only to make a match of it, and she were to give him his note back on their wedding-day—-wouldn’t it be romantic ? ’ ‘ But how can she explain about Geb ? ’ asked the widow. * Oh, such matters do not depend upon a single syllable; besides, Miss Brandt is rather a cautious young lady,’ added Miss Hjelm, in a slightly sarcastic tone. ****** It is said that good fortune seldom comes unattended. One morning, as the Assessor was sitting in his room, he received official notice of his elevation to the distinguished post of a Judge of the Supreme Court. The first feelings of gratification had scarcely subsided, when a letter was brought in to him. It was in a strange hand—evidently a lady’s. Quickly breaking the seal, he read as follows: —‘The props of the high seat have reached land.—Geb,’ be continued.)