Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/79

 the last moment at which church he himself would officiate; and in consequence, for some time, both churches were crowded, everybody hoping to hear the new priest.

Refreshed by the sight of his faithful Veilby adherents, the Provst came back in a cheerful mood, and sat down to the luncheon table with a capital appetite. An entertainment which was to take place in the evening, and for which preparations had been going on for some days, also contributed to his good humour. In general the Provst and his daughter lived very quietly, as they never took part in the festivities of the peasants, and but seldom in those of the few, and far from well-to-do Squires of the neighbourhood. But twice a year the Provst gave,—as it were, an official dinner—to which representatives of the different classes in the congregation were "commanded," almost in the same sense as to the table of royalty.

The Provst always conducted the preparations for these entertainments himself. He had a perfect passion for managing, ordering, and giving directions. He had already, some days before, given orders for the purchase of wine, meat, and various delicacies; and no sooner had he seated himself at the table and arranged his napkin under his chin, than he began to give his daughter the most minute directions about the temperature of the wines and the preparation of the salads.