Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/108

108THE HALLIG.

proposals, frequently quite impracticable, to clothe
every thing in a still more idyllic form. She bordered
the margin of the sodded cistern in which the rain-
water was collected with a broad wreath of sea-shells,
that she had been obliged to seek with much pains
along the beach, as the ocean is here miserly even of
these. True, the drinking water for the unaccustomed
palates of the strangers, must be brought from the
main land. To supply the place of a snug, shady
arbor, she had, with Godber's help, erected a tent of
sailcloth on the wharf, and when the weather permitted
they drank their coffee under its shelter. She had
many a dispute with her brother, in which she main-
tained the superiority of a life on this island to all the
magnificence of a great town, and whenever she play-
fully praised very highly some little peculiarity of their
hallig life, Godber felt himself more and more closely
drawn toward her, and resigned himself to the brightest
dreams of a golden future. The love of his home was
so woven into his innermost being, that whatever Idalia
said on the subject seemed to him only a natural ac-
knowledgment of the truth, and a proof of the union
of their souls, and with every word of approbation
from her lips, his love for her increased, a love which
was equaled only by his affection for his birth-place,
and which outweighed every other thought and feeling.
The remembrance of Maria fell more and more into the
back-ground, and even if there came moments which
exhorted to faith and truth, Godber practiced the art
of holding dialogues with his own conscience, until at
length she gave him her approbation. How 'could he
help it, if he had now first found the star which was