sight of it made Snorro's eyes fill, and he hastily
knotted the whole of the trinkets together and went down to Margaret's
home.

It was near nine o'clock and Margaret was tired and not very glad to
see him coming, for she feared his voice would awake little Jan who
was sleeping in his father's chair. Rather wearily she said, "What is
the matter, Snorro? Is any one sick? Speak low, for little Jan is
asleep, and he has been very tiresome to-night."

"Nothing much is the matter, to thee. As for me, I am going away in
the morning to the mainland. I may not be back very soon, and I want
to kiss Jan, and to give thee some things which belong to thee, if
thou cares for them."

"What hast thou of mine?"

"Wilt thou look then? They are in the handkerchief."

He watched her keenly, perhaps a little hardly, as she untied the
knot. He watched the faint rose-color deepen to scarlet on her face;
he saw how her hands trembled, as she laid one by one the jewels on
the table, and thoughtfully fingered the lace yellow with neglect. But
there were no tears in her dropped eyes, and she could scarcely have
been more deliberate in her examination, if she had been appraising
their value. And yet, her heart was burning and beating until she
found it impossible to speak.

Snorro's anger gathered fast. His own feelings were in such a state of
excitement, that they made him unjust to a type of emotion unfamiliar
to him.

"Well then," he asked, sharply, "dost thou want them or not?"

"Jan bought them for me?"

"Yes, he bought them, and thou sent them back to him. If thou had sent
me one back, I had never bought thee another. But Jan Vedder was not
like other men."

"We will not talk of Jan, thee and me. What did thou bring these
to-night for?"

"I told thee I was going to Wick, and it would not be safe to leave
them, nor yet to take them with me. I was so foolish, also, as to
think that thou would now prize them for Jan's sake, but I see thou
art the same woman yet. Give them to me, I will take them to the
minister."

"Leave them here. I will keep them safely."

"The rattle was bought for little Jan. It was in his father's pocket
when he was shipwrecked."

She stood with it in her hand, gazing down upon the tarnished bells,
and answered not a word. Snorro looked at her angrily, and then
stooped down, and softly kissed the sleeping child.

"Good-by, Margaret Vedder!"

She had lifted the locket in the interval, and was mechan