Thus John Hardy not only gradually acquired a knowledge of many dialects in Scandinavia, but the ability to read and understand the simpler books in the language. He travelled and fished through Norway and Sweden, and by degrees learnt, from the necessity of speaking it, more and more of the Danish language, the language of Scandinavia, as English relatively is to broad Scotch. This naturally led to his going to Denmark, and his travelling through Jutland and the Danish islands. In Jutland he accidentally fished in a West Jutland river, and to his surprise found the difficult but good fishing that his heart longed for. John Hardy returned home, and was at Hardy Place with his mother the whole winter, and then, as April came round with the fishing season, John became restless, and told his mother of his Danish fishing experiences, and left for Copenhagen. His mother said, "Write me once a week, John, and bring me home a Scandinavian princess for your wife." John Hardy promised to write, but said he thought Scandinavian princesses did not rise to a fly. His mother's face grew grave, and she said, "You should marry soon, John; you are twenty-eight, and I want to see you married to a wife to whom you can trust Hardy Place and the care of your mother in her old age." "I can find no one yet, dear mother," said John Hardy. "I cannot bear you should have any one at Hardy Place you did not only like but love." "Bless you, John," said his mother. "I trust in your love; and I know some men are such gentlemen, and so was your father, and so are you, John." So Hardy left for Copenhagen by the English steamer from Hull to St. Petersburg, and was landed in the pilot-boat at Elsinore, and went thence by rail to Copenhagen. On the journey John Hardy thought that his best course was to get lodgings with a respectable family in Jutland near the Gudenaa, the little river that embouches in the Randers fjord and flows through part of Jutland, and is the principal river in it. John Hardy had taken from his bankers introductions to persons in Copenhagen, to whom he had communicated his wishes. The result was an advertisement in the _Berlinske Tidende_ that an Englishman required lodgings near the Gudenaa, with an opportunity of being taught the Danish language. The replies were many and of a very varied character, as might be anticipated from such an advertisement. But John Hardy received a reply from a Danish clergyman in Jutland, which struck his fancy beyond the rest. It was as follows:--