p of a drowning man.

Some days after he was allowed to get up, and he followed her about
the house; for he was uneasy when she left the room.

At times he sat in a corner with a good book in his hands not so much
for the purpose of reading as for a protection against the assaults
of Satan.

The fact was, that he now for the first time began to fancy that
Satan was everywhere in pursuit of him.

When Sarah had succeeded in frightening him away from her, she became
a little less severe, and it was only when he became troublesome that
she talked or read in such a manner as almost to drive him out of his
senses.

She herself went about in the deepest gloom all this time. She could
neither pray nor sing, and at the meetings she heard, but gave no
heed.

The one second she had been in Hans Nilsen's arms had suddenly
revealed to her the deceit which had been practiced upon her. Her
youth, her warm, unbounded affection for this man, had been repressed
and crushed by religious exhortations, hymns, texts, and formalities.

But after all, they were only words which she now cast aside with
contempt. Faith and hope had left her; and as to love, she knew that
she loved one man only, and loved him to desperation.

Whilst Fennefos was away, she was in a state of fever. When he
returned, he left her mother's house and moved up to the Haugian
farm.

It was near the town, and Sarah, who rarely went beyond the
neighbouring streets, now began to take long walks into the
outskirts.

She would stand behind a boulder or a hedge, and would watch him
while he laboured in the field. When she could not discover him, she
would seat herself on a rock and gaze in all directions, or she would
pick a flower and examine it, as if it were something new and rare.
She watched him at the meetings; but he never spoke to her, nor did
he ever turn his eyes in the direction where she was sitting.

No one observed anything peculiar about her; but as regarded
Fennefos, the friends thought that a great change had come over him.
The highly wrought austerity of manner with which he had begun had
now left him; indeed, there was something almost humble in his
demeanour.

CHAPTER XIII

The farm, which was owned in common by a number of the leading
Haugians, was of a considerable size. In addition to the farm, they
also carried on various industries.

Those, therefore, who had to superintend the business were fully
occupied, and Fennefos un