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CHAPTER IV.
THE ATTIC-ROOMS.
As we have before stated, Nanna had supreme control over one of the
attic-rooms of the cottage, and for a long time it had been a sanctuary
in which she stored her precious things.
Old Mr. Lonner loved Nanna as the apple of his eye. She was not only the
youngest child, and consequently the favorite, but she also possessed
strong perceptive qualities, and a heart susceptible of the tenderest
emotions. She was, so to speak, a living emblem of those harmonious
dreams that her father in his youth had hoped to see realized.
The pale and delicate countenance of Nanna, who he thought was destined
in all probability to droop and die like a water lily, which she so much
resembled, carried the old man's mind back to the time when his father
had promised to wed his mother, and he sighed as he thought how
different Nanna's station in life would have been had that promise been
fulfilled. Instead of neglect and insult, homage from all would have
been her portion.
Yet Nanna was the pride and joy of her father's heart, for Ragnar, who
at an early age was obliged to labor for his own support, had preferred
to become a sailor, rather than to acquire a refined education, and Carl
could scarcely comprehend more than that which was necessary for the
performance of family worship.
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