rent direction across the cemetery. As soon as he was out
of sight of the crowd, he took a short cut over the graves, which in
that part of the cemetery were low and overgrown with grass, and every
now and then he held up his cassock, and stepped over one which lay in
his path.

Abraham the sexton had got an extra lurch on, in honour of the grand
funeral, and came stumbling along after the pastor, carrying the black
box, which was the same that was used for all burials, without
distinction.

When the pastor arrived at Marianne's grave, he found Anders Begmand and
some others from the West End, who had already been in the Consul's
procession. The chaplain took off his hat and wiped his brow, as he
stood looking round for Abraham. The others also uncovered their heads.
At length Abraham came up, and the three handfuls of earth fell,
hurriedly and mechanically, on the simple coffin. "Of earth thou art, to
earth thou shalt return, and from the earth thou shalt rise again.
Amen."

The pastor went scrambling along farther over the graves. There were
still some other poor people to be buried, and it was getting late.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The young Consul's death did not bring with it any great changes, either
in the household or in the business. Everything was in such a solid and
well-regulated condition, that it kept on going like a good machine. The
new driver had as much as he could manage, and there were some who
thought that the more delicate parts of the complicated mechanism would
be likely to suffer under his hands.

At the same time, no one could say of Morten that he did not bring great
energy to bear on his new duties. Now, indeed, it was almost impossible
to find him; he was continually on the go between the town and
Sandsgaard. His carriage might be seen waiting at the most unlikely
corners, or all of a sudden he would pop up out of a boat at the quay,
tear off to the office, call out something to the bookkeeper, and flash
out of the door again. But when the bookkeeper hurried after him, to ask
what the instructions were, all he saw was a glimpse of the dogcart as
it turned the corner.

The business men in the town used to say, quietly among themselves, that
it was easier to work against Morten than with him. Garman and Worse's
predominance began to grow weaker, and what had been the central power
was now distributed in several hands. The year which followed was not a
prosperous one for shippers; most