at evening, the
conversation dragged on without animation for about another quarter
of an hour.

All this time Sarah sat by the Bible, and, in the course of the
conversation, looked out a text here and there, sometimes on her own
account, and sometimes when one of the company sought to have his
memory refreshed. She readily found all that was required, and in
many cases was able to repeat the passage at once by heart.

Skipper Worse could not understand what they were talking about, and
he became very weary. The only thing that kept him awake was Sarah's
shapely fingers moving deftly among the pages of the sacred book.

But at last, as he was on the point of dropping asleep, Madame
Torvestad proposed that they should conclude with a hymn.

Sarah took a hymn-book, and held it up for the captain, and the
singing began.

As Worse was sitting half asleep, watching Sarah's fingers, she
suddenly turned her great dark eyes upon him, and said:

"Sing with us."

In a moment Skipper Worse was wide awake, and began to hum, as she
moved her fingers along the lines. He had never been very good at
such singing, and when he came to sacred words he felt ashamed to
pronounce them with his sinful lips.

But he was awake, and, more than this, he began to be at his ease.
Now and then he looked up at Sarah's well-turned shoulders, her white
neck, and the throat which swelled so gracefully as she sang.

They sat so close to each other, as she bent towards him with the
hymn-book, that Skipper Worse was conscious of something pleasant in
her company, the first homelike feeling he had experienced that day.

There was another person also who enjoyed himself thoroughly,
although he did not give a very close attention to the meeting, and
this was Lauritz Seehus in his corner.

He was so elated after his first disappointment, that he did not find
the meeting as wearisome as usual--he could see Henrietta.

Moreover, the sacred words and the singing made so great an
impression on one who had long been absent from such things that he
was much affected, and thanked the Almighty, who had sent him a brief
but bitter trial, that he might the better learn how all things
worked together for his good.

As soon as the hymn was finished, the daughters of the house brought
in tea and bread and butter. After a grace from Endre Egeland, they
all ate well, and drank much tea; and at nine o'clock the party broke
up.

When Worse returned to his ow