Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/290

 darkening shadow over her later life, and at last altogether extinguished the light of her soul. You may now be able to understand, my dear fellow, what a strange impression it made on me when I heard that you, her son, had taken up the threads she had been obliged to drop; and that you had begun to carry out in your life those views which, to her, were the most important feature of our times."

Emanuel did not speak, and kept his eyes on the ground. Lately, whenever his mother had been spoken of, and his thoughts were turned to her, he was so overcome by emotion that he could hardly help bursting into tears.

The bishop continued—

"But now, as an old friend of your mother—for I am not afraid to call myself that—let me give you some good advice, Mr Hansted. Or—tell me first what you are thinking of doing in the future, and about your position in this place. That you have chosen a bride here, I have heard from a private source; and I also know that, by your views and your relations to a certain limited part of the congregation, you have roused the Provst's anger against you. We have before us a conflict of a very serious nature. How have you thought of solving the difficulty."

Emanuel confided his plans openly to the bishop, and told him about the little place by the shore which he thought of buying; and how he thought of living as an independent son of the