Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/275

 leaves rustled with a metallic sound like dead foliage. Not a bird was singing.

The spirits of the party seemed to be affected by the oppressive heat. Although the bishop was most amiable, and evidently exerted himself to set any suspicions at rest which might have been roused by his sudden appearance, both the Provst and Miss Ragnhild preserved a cold, reserved taciturnity. The bishop and the Provst had only exchanged indifferent remarks. During the drive from church, the former praised the singing and talked of the weather and the harvest. While the lunch was being prepared, he had looked at the garden with a great show of interest, and spoke of a new kind of English lawn seed, which was said to withstand the winter better than others, just as if his only object was to pay them a private visit.

From the moment the Provst met the bishop after the service he had been convinced that this man had come to take the part of his enemies. He looked upon his sudden arrival just at this point, as an attempt to humble him in the eyes of the congregation; and he had firmly decided to repulse this insult.

He did not dream that he had put himself in a very unpleasant position, with regard to his superior to-day, by the violence of his utterances in the pulpit. Only the bishop's presence had prevented the congregation from leaving the church in a body according to the weaver's plan. Moreover, it did not easily occur to him, that he