about to go. There was something strange about this encounter, so indis-
creet. As she passed by me and turned to go through the door, I moved
bodily in a motion that could have been merely a stepping aside to make
room, but it also could have been a half greeting. She turned about quickly
andmadeamotion.Butnow,ifshehadwantedtospeak,shehadnofurther
opportunity, because I was already inside the church. So I went to my
usual place. But it did not escape me that even though she sat far away, she
incessantly looked at me. Perhaps she had been waiting in the corridor for
someone else, perhaps for me, perhaps that little gift was from her, perhaps
she had wanted me to speak to her, perhaps, perhaps.”
And perhaps, perhaps it was Regine herself who had been Kierkegaard’s
little gift that evening, enchanting in all her ambiguous silence.
The Final Apartment
The Strube family had accompanied Kierkegaard in his move beyond the
city’sramparts, buttheydid notlongremaina partofhis household.When
theStrubedaughterwasconfirmed,Kierkegaardgaveherabeautifuloutfit,
a shawl, and apparently some “gold ornaments” as well. On the afternoon
of her confirmation day she strutted around the garden in all her finery,
suddenly putting herself on display with visible delight, almost provoca-
tively. Kierkegaard, who must have seen all this from a window up in his
apartment, became alarmed at this, and perhaps, too, he was afraid of what
gossips might say. In any event, he decided that Strube and his family were
to move out and rent rooms elsewhere, which astounded the “somewhat
crazy carpenter,” who could not understand what had happened.
This story is from A. F. Schiødte, a pastor in Aarhus, but he did not
reveal his sources, so this will never amount to much more than an anec-
dote.SchiødtemayhaveheardthestoryfromKierkegaard’sservant,Anders
Westergaard, whom he had once met in Viborg, where Westergaard was
thenservingasapoliceofficer.NotonlydidSchiødte,whowasanenthusi-
astic admirer of Kierkegaard, obtain various biographical information from
Westergaard, he also secured himself a relic: Westergaard sold him a hat
thathadformerlybelongedtoKierkegaard,andSchiødtesubsequentlywore
it around town on special occasions!
InOctober1852,aftersomethinglessthanayearandahalfoutinØster-
bro, Kierkegaard moved back into town and settled in a building that then
bore numbers 5–6 on Klædeboderne (it is now number 38 Skindergade).
The back half of the building had the address 5 Dyrkøb and was directly
opposite the Church of Our Lady. It was in this part of the building that