Read Online The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine Martin Aitken - Free Book Online Page A

studies?
    This summer, if all goes well.
    If he wishes to have the thesis printed and bound, he must come to me. A well-composed text will surely make an impression on his principals.
    Thank you. I shall remember it.
    There is a lull in the conversation, during which neither speaks. Schultz sits reclined in his high-backed chair considering him. His hands are folded on his stomach. He has dark eyes, Morten notices, and his powdered wig is placed on the desk. His own hair is gathered in a thin, grey pigtail at his nape.
    Approach my bookkeeper, Kierulf. He will equip the student with whatever he might need.
    Morten makes a third note: the printer mentions nothing of payment for these supplies.
    He returns to his room with ink, pens, quality paper, envelopes and sealing wax enough to last him months. The desktop is scarred with deep grooves made by the penknife he has used to absently dig into the wood. He retrieves a blotting pad and spreads it out over the desk. He moves the desk to the window facing the yard so that he might look out over the rooftops as he works.
    Dear Abelone.
    He does not crumple the paper. Now he can stand to look at it. He studies his handwriting, the swirls of the quill. His hand is fully restored like the rest of him, though it has become rather more slanting, a touch more pointed. Through the window he watches the afternoon turn grey. He sees that beyond the frost-covered pane it has begun to snow. He puts on his coat and boots and goes into town.
    The cold has subsided. His feet remain warm inside his well-greased boots. The city is oddly still. Perhaps it is the silence that follows upon serious illness or perhaps it is because of the snow that falls in large flakes. He walks down Vimmelskaftet towards Amager Torv, but then turns left along Klosterstræde, wanting to look around the narrow streets of the Klædebo quarter, perhaps purchase a little something for Miss Schultz, a token of his gratitude for all that she has done for him, for his being alive, and for the feelings she arouses within him. And then he is in Vester Kvarter. He cannot recall having passed the RÃ¥dhus, and yet he must have done. Hanens Bastion. And now he is in the same drinking house. The host seems to recognize him and brings ale. He seats himself and listens to the music and the talk at the tables.
    Later, the boy appears. He sits down at his table.
    Now it’ll soon be spring, Pastor.
    He says nothing.
    Then we can get away from here.
    Where will you go?
    All over. Anywhere. I like to be journeying, to see what’s round the next corner.
    I could go with you, says Morten and laughs.
    The boy laughs, too. A fine gentleman like the pastor can’t go with one like me.
    Morten smiles. He says nothing. The potman brings them their frothy mugs. He looks up at the man and sees himself reflected in him. I must be radiant, he thinks. Am I lost or saved?
    Does he want a turn like before? says the boy.
    No. I just wanted to see you one last time. To see if you were real.
    SkÃ¥l , Pastor, says the boy. I’m sure we’ll meet again.
    I doubt it, he says, and leaves half a rigsdaler on the table.
    He resumes his studies, working his hardest to complete them. Eventually spring arrives. The days grow longer, the weather milder. The gutters thaw and the nightmen shovel the filth ahead of them through the city to the canals. The cobbles are shiny and clean, then comes new waste from the latrine buckets and night pots, mash from the brewing houses and distilleries. The warmth, the stench and the rats come seeping back with an epidemic of the fever that weeds out the city’s most impoverished. Four of the boys he has taught at the Vajsenhus expire with them. His own constitution is strong and sound.
    In June 1785 he graduates non contemnendus , i. e. with the lowest grade required to pass. And yet it is better rather than worse than he had expected. He has been afraid of a rejectus and has already