A few days after, at breakfast, the Pastor said to Hardy, "There is an invitation for you to go to Gods-eier (landowner) Jensen's. They are going to celebrate their silver wedding. They have also invited me and my daughter Helga. Jensen breeds horses, and his reason for asking you is probably because he has heard of your English horse. Niels Jacobsen has talked with him about it. He saw him at a market some days ago. You can, of course, decline; and, at any rate, you can do as you wish. We shall go because they are friends of ours, and it would be a want of respect not to go on such an occasion as a silver wedding. There will be several persons there, and there will be a dinner at about three, and a dance after, in which the younger people will join." "Thank you," said Hardy; "I should like to see more of Danish society, and I should wish to go for that reason." John Hardy did not say that he had a strong wish to see Froken Helga in society. He had seen her only at home, perpetually knitting and occupied in the management of the affairs of the parsonage. He observed, when she expressed a wish, that neither the wayward boys nor the strong-minded Kirstin had the least thought of acting in opposition to it, and he felt an interest in the opportunity of seeing her in society, and observing whether there would be the same unbending nature. The invitation was therefore accepted. The distance was about five English miles, and Garth drove the pair of Danish horses in the neat livery of Hardy Place; and the Pastor and his daughter sat together, while Hardy sat beside Garth. He did this because he thought that Froken Helga would rather dispense with his society. "They will do eight miles," said Garth, "but I do not believe they will do more; they go what you may call pretty, but there is not much stay in them, and if you drive them out of their pace, they are cut down at once." "Yes, Bob," said Hardy; "but they will suit my mother, and they are just what she wants and would like." "Yes," said Bob Garth, "there is that; but they starves them so much when they are young, and that does not make sinew or bone." Notwithstanding Garth's predictions, the Jensen's mansion was reached in half an hour from Vandstrup Praestegaard, and Garth drove up with a flourish that impressed Herr Jensen, who was on the door steps. "Are these the horses the Englishman bought a few days ago, Herr Pastor Lindal?" asked Herr Jensen. "Yes," said Pastor Lindal. "But how are you, and how is Fru Lindal and your family?" "They are all right, thank you, Herr Pastor," replied Herr Jensen. "But I never saw horses so managed! Why, they could be sold in Hamburgh for a lot of money. They are fit for any carriage anywhere."