7A^ THE STATE OF DENMARK 113 



politeness of the most elementary kind, meaning 

 " Thanks for a meal." 



Presently we walked in the garden in the autumn 

 air that was a thought too autumnal, while the sea 

 glowed with its strong strange blue, and rose like a 

 hill to the horizon, and the clumps of beech-wood 

 looked black on the pale, flat coast. Like the drowning 

 man to the straw I clung to the lady of the party 

 who spoke most English, and in my determined 

 monopoly of her society, gave her, I cannot but fear, 

 cause to regret the accomplishment. It must have 

 been six o'clock when we came back to the house 

 and settled down in the drawing-room to serious 

 general conversation about Ibsen and Danish nove- 

 lists, to music, and to the vague business of an 

 evening party. Our hostess sat on a sofa behind a 

 round table, and talked in German and French, with 

 a running undercurrent of Danish, with inimitable 

 ease and cordiality; the men settled down to whist 

 in the next room, and the clock wore on to eight. 

 At that hour we were again summoned to the dining- 

 room for a large informal meal of tea and fruit, and 

 ethereal varieties of the Aarhus sugary cakes and 

 sliced cold meats; and still I clave to my English- 

 speaking victim, though my tongue was stiffening 

 from the root. Wliist followed, into which my 

 cousin and I were imported, thereby for ever degrading 

 the English standard of whist in the eyes of the 

 Dane. Yet it was a relief to find one medium for 

 exchanging thought untrammelled by language; to 

 trump one's partner's best card and see him squirm 

 in instant appreciation ; to revoke, and discover 

 malign intelligence on the face of the adversary; to 

 refuse to lead trumps, and realise that therein is 

 the touch of nature that makes the whole world kin. 



It was past ten o'clock when we walked back 



