Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/25

 overhanging, and still quite black eyebrows gleamed dark grey eyes, which together with the full curves of the nose and lips gave to the clean shaven face a somewhat southern appearance. His clothing, from the spotless cambric tie to his brocaded vest and shining boots, disclosed an unusual degree of attention to outward appearance in a village pastor. His bearing, and the way in which in the course of conversation he took whiffs from a long-stemmed pipe all revealed the self-confident man of the world.

Folding doors at his side stood open to the drawing-room, a large handsomely furnished room where his daughter, a pale, auburn haired girl, sat working by a tall lamp with a green shade. Silence reigned around. All sound seemed drowned in the waste of snow without. Besides the Provst's deep bass voice only the crackling of the stove was to be heard and the monotonous chatter of a parrot in a cage by the young lady.

The young stranger was the Provst's new curate whose arrival had been awaited with much interest, not only at the Parsonage but throughout the parish. Directly after the midday meal the two priests had withdrawn to the subdued light of the study; and for the last four hours had discussed all kinds of things concerning their mutually responsible office.

The conversation was almost entirely carried