Bagger became, through the influence of the wine, the company, and the sight of the happy bridal pair, six years younger. His soul was carried away from criminal and police courts, and found itself on high, as in the attic chamber, with a vision of the small tinted clouds and the angel-heads. The sudden gust of wind carried him quite back to the moment when he sent out his note as the Norwegian heroes their high-seat pillars: the spirit of his twenty-fourth year came wholly over him, queerly mixed with the half-regretful reflection of the thirtieth year, with fun, inclination to talk and to breathe; and he exclaimed, as he rose to acknowledge the toast: "I am engaged." "Ay! ay! Congratulate! congratulate!" sounded from all sides. "This gust of wind, which nearly extinguished the lights, brought me a message from my betrothed!" "What?" "What is it?" asked the company, their heads at that moment not in the least condition for guessing charades. "Counsellor Bagger, have you, like the Doge of Venice, betrothed yourself to the sea or storm?" asked the bridegroom. "Hear him, the fortunate! sitting upon the golden doorstep to the kingdom of love! Let him surmise and guess all that concerns Cupid, for he has obtained the inspiration, the genial sympathy," exclaimed Bagger. "Yes," he continued, "just like the Doge of Venice, but not as aristocratic! From my attic chamber, where I sat on my examination-day, guided by Cupid, in a manner which it would take too long to narrate, I gave to the whirlwind a love-letter, and at any moment SHE can step forward with my letter, my promise, and demand me soul and body." "Who is it, then?" asked bridegroom and bride, with the most earnest interest. "Yes, how can I tell that? Do I know the whirlwind's roads?" "Was the letter signed with your name?" "No; but don't you think I will acknowledge my handwriting?" replied Bagger, quite earnestly. This earnestness with reference to an obligation which no one understood became comical; and Bagger felt at the moment that he was on the brink of the ridiculous. Trying to collect himself, he said: "Is it not an obligation we all have? Do not both bride and bridegroom acknowledge that long before they knew each other the obligation was present?" "Yes, yes!" exclaimed the bridegroom. "And the whirlwind, accident, the unknown power, brought them together so that the obligation was redeemed?" "Yes, yes!" "Let us, then," continued Bagger, "drink a toast to the wind, the accident, the moving power, unknown and yet controlling. To those of us who, as yet, are unprovided for and under forty, it will at some time undoubtedly bring a bride; to those who are already provided for will come the expected in another form. So a toast to the wind that came in here and flickered the lights; to the unknown, that brings us the wished for; and to ourselves, that we may be prepared to receive it when announced." "Bravo!" exclaimed the bridegroom, looking upon his bride.