Ida Brandt by Herman Bang Read Free Book Online Page A

whispered.
    They all tiptoed silently along the house until they suddenly flew like the wind across the lawn, for the dogs started to bark.
    “That’s Hektor,” whispered Miss Adlerberg, grabbing Feddersen by the arm.
    “Ssshhh”.
    They reached the trees. Miss Rosenfeld went slowly behind all the others.
    Five lamps were lit beneath the beeches. They sat down at the table and started to make festoons. Miss Falkenberg sat on the stile looking out into the night that lay over the meadows like a great dark cover.
    “Emmy,” called someone quite quietly. It was Falkenberg.
    “Yes.”
    And the two of them, standing close to each other, looked out into the darkness.

    When morning came, Falkenstjerne and the gardener hung the festoons on the front of the house; they were both whistling. Old Brandt, who had raised the flag, was busy with the pennants. But he was off colour and went around coughing.
    He stood for a time looking down towards Brædstrup, where the flags were being raised in front of the farms; the morning breeze was fresh as it caught the red banners.
    “It’s so beautiful,” he said. “And then the stacks – aye, this is a lovely place.”
    He made off towards the bailiff’s wing; he wanted to have something warm. But when he arrived there, he said:
    “I think I’ll lie down a bit.” He was shivering and could scarcely stand on his legs.
    “Yes, Brandt,” said his wife, who was bathing Ida in a zinc bath. “But you must get up to present the candlesticks.”
    “Yes, Mariane,” said Brandt, half asleep.
    The carriages were already starting to drive in through the entrance, and Sofie ran back and forth to announce who they were. Mrs Brandt was in her underclothes, doing her hair, and the whole bedroom was awash with her white petticoats. She got her skirt on and her bodice buttoned while Brandt lay half asleep in bed, waking up and then dozing off again.
    They could hear more and more carriages arriving and large numbers of footsteps on the gravel path.
    “Here comes the band from Horsens,” shouted Sofie, running out to the fence in her stocking feet.
    “And Brandt does nothing but lie there,” said Mrs Brandt as she put on her lace sleeves and best bonnet in the garden room.
    The band sounded loud and high spirited, and there was the sound of many voices.
    “Well, Brandt, here come the veterans,” said Mrs Brandt; she had his clothes over her arm and spoke all the time as though to shake him out of his lethargy.
    “Where’s the child?” was all Brandt said.
    Ida, who had been crying because her curlers were too tight, came in wearing a white dress.
    “Now not too close to the bed,” said Mrs Brandt as she smoothed Ida’s skirt. But her father took hold of the tip of her belt and held it in his hands.
    “Aye, I suppose I ought to get up,” he said, smiling at her all the time – but oh such a weak smile.
    They continued to hear steps and instruments and a voice giving orders: that was Madsen. Then came the band again. It seemed to Brandt that they were so strangely far away.
    “Here comes His Lordship,” shouted Sofie; she opened the door wide with her cotton apron in her hand, for it had come undone in her fright.
    “Now we’ve got the County Council, Brandt,” said his wife, who had gone on walking to and fro more and more ponderously. She put the clothes down on a chair.
    “Yes, Mariane,” said Brandt, sitting up in bed. But Mrs Brandt had run out to receive the guests: this was where they were to congregate.
    “Ida, Ida,” she shouted.
    Ida, who was still standing a little way from the bed, said as though to wake him up:
    “Daddy, you must get up now.”
    “Yes, dear. I’m coming.”
    He heard His Lordship’s voice in the garden room, and he got up to sit on the edge of the bed. He had such a pain in his side.
    Then the door opened. It was the forester in full dress.
    “What the devil, Brandt,” he said; but he suddenly came to a halt. “What’s wrong? You look