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738 A STORY FROM THE SAND-DUNES
' Home ! home ! ' he exclaimed.
No one heard him. He went out of the house towards the dunes. Sand and stones blew into his face and whirled around him. He went on towards the church : the sand lay high around the walls, half over the windows, but the heap had been shovelled away from the door, and the entrance was free and easy to open ; and Jurgen went into the church.
The storm went howling over the town of Skagen. Within the memory of man no one could remember such a terrible tempest! but Jurgen was in the temple of God, and while black night reigned without, a light arose in his soul, a light that was never to be extinguished ; he felt the heavy stone which seemed to weigh upon his head burst asunder. He thought he heard the sound of the organ, but it was the storm and the roaring of the sea. He sat down on one of the seats ; and behold, the candles were lighted up one by one ; a richness was displayed such as he had seen only in the church in Spain ; and all the pictures of the old councillors were endued with life, and stepped forth from the walls against which they had stood for centuries, and seated themselves in the choir. The gates and doors flew open, and in came all the dead people, festively clad, and sat down to the sound of beautiful music, and filled the seats in the church. Then the psalm tune rolled forth like a sounding sea ; and his old foster-parents from the Husby dunes were here, and the old merchant Bronne and his wife ; and at their side, close to Jurgen, sat their friendly, lovely daughter Clara, who gave her hand to Jurgen, and they both went to the altar, where they had once knelt together, and the priest joined their hands and knit them together for life. Then the sound of music was heard again, wonderful, like a child's voice full of joy and expectation, and it swelled on to an organ's sound, to a tempest of full, noble sounds, lovely and elevating to hear, and yet strong enough to burst the stone tombs.
And the little ship that hung down from the roof of the choir came down, and became wonderfully large and beautiful, with silken sails and golden yards, the anchors were of red gold, ' and every rope wrought through with |
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