Soren Kierkegaard

admiring the various things, before ‘Anders,’ Uncle Søren’s faithful servant,
the well-known bringer of many a pleasant surprise both at Christmas and
on birthdays, informed us that the carriage was at the door .‘Oh, then we
must be off !,’ cried Uncle Søren .‘Where?’ Ah, no one was told before we
stopped at the various, prearranged points of interest, where we were shown
the lesser-known sights of the city .Strangely enough, the only thing I re-
member from this trip is a seal, whose melancholy, human-like eyes made
a deep impression on me .After our return we played lotto; the prizes con-
sisted of various items, mostly books .Then supper arrived: open-faced sand-
wiches, a marzipan cake covered with the most magnificent flowers, and
champagne .Uncle Søren was the attentive, untiring host, and Anders
equally diligent as the waiter.”
Henriette had not yet been confirmed, so her parents found the event
inappropriate, indeed extravagant, especially the champagne .Henriette
could recall that after she had returned that evening, her parents had spoken
about “spoiling children,” just as there had been a couple of tart remarks
about “that preposterous person.” The dazed Henriette, on the other hand,
was simply so happy that she never forgot it.
Kierkegaard did not treat his cousin Augusta with anything like this gal-
lantry .Augusta was very much taken with her new apartment, and she
repeatedly asked her cousin to come and see it .Finally, Søren Aabye made
the effort, and when he came back he said: “Now I have seen Augusta’s
apartment .It was small, but ugly .”