Page:An Epistle to Posterity.djvu/95

73 be at Copenhagen, and it was very stately. As we got talking music during the charming dessert, his Excellency promised to play for us afterwards on the piano some works of a Danish composer. I found out that he was an ardent admirer and pupil of Rubinstein, and that he himself was the composer. How rarely, I thought, shall I find a governor who will play the piano like this for me!

"Much talk of Bulasminda after you left the table," said my husband to me. "It is the old residence of the late governor, Van Scholten. The present governor offered it to us, if we wish to take it, for almost nothing. It stands there furnished, and with a corps of accomplished servants ready at your hand. Moreover, he and his delightful wife will call for us and take us for a drive and lunch at Bulasminda to-morrow."

Bulasminda was on a height far above the city of Ballin, and commanded the view and the sea-breeze so coveted in these islands; here were great breezy salons and broad verandas, and cozy little charming boudoirs furnished with bright chintz. From the telescopes along the veranda one could but fear that Governor Van Scholten had sat looking out to sea, for the best part of his occupancy, to sight the vessel which should bear him away. There was his journal on the table, like Robinson Crusoe's notched sticks:

"Calypso sighted this morning.

"Ariel weighed anchor at seven last evening.

"Christian the Eleventh sailed to-day.

"Schooner Gustavus arrived.

"American man-of-war Lancaster in the harbor.

"English steamer Trent expected," etc.

The perpetual summer of the tropics had evidently not enchanted Governor Van Scholten.