for the daughter to make some rejoinder; but she made none.

The mother turned half round and pointed up towards the station, that
is, towards the house which stood beside it.

"Can you see that broad roof there, to the right of the hotel? There
are the assembly rooms, the library, and the rest. Your father has the
credit of it; he gave all the timber. Well, it was there I first saw
him, or rather from there I first saw him. I sat among the people who
were going to hear him; the whole of the ground-floor is one single
room with broad sloping galleries, and it is built after the American
fashion; you know that your father went over there when he had finished
his studies. Come, now, let us go on farther; I love this path by the
riverside. I walked along it with your father just six weeks to the
hour and day after I had first seen him, and by that time we were
married."

"I know."

"You also know that I was maid of honour to the Queen when I came here.
She intended going farther out towards the fjord, but first we were to
spend a few days here among the mountains.

"We came here one Saturday afternoon (as you and I have to-day) and
remained over Sunday. There was a great crowd of people on Sunday to
see the Queen; they knew she was to go to church. In the afternoon
they all thronged to the assembly rooms to hear your father speak.
I had seen the announcement of it in the hotel. The Queen read it
too; I stood at her side and said, 'I do so terribly want to go.'
'Yes, go,' she answered, 'but you must be escorted by one of the
gentlemen-in-waiting.' 'Here among the peasants!' I asked, and I
took measures to go alone.

"I found a seat under the gallery, but near a large window, from which
I could see a long way down the road. And as Karl Mander didn't come at
the right time (he very seldom did) all necks were stretched to get a
glimpse of him on the road; so I saw that he was to come from that
direction. I looked, too, with the rest, and a long way off there were
three men visible, walking arm-in-arm, one tall and two smaller, the
tallest in the middle. I have very good sight, and thought at once that
he could not be one of those, for they had been having too festive a
time. They happened to stand still just at the moment, then they came
along wavering, first to the right, then to the left. People began to
whisper and titter. As the three drew nearer I felt instinctively that
the tall one was Karl Mander, and felt asha