o say that she would not see
him, or speak to him, or accept his gift; let him give her back her
L600, that was the whole burden of her answer.

Jan put the unfortunate peace-offering in his pocket, and walked away
without a word. "He will trouble thee no more, Margaret," said Thora,
quietly. Margaret fancied there was a tone of reproach or regret in
the voice. It angered her anew, and she answered, "It is well; it were
better if he had never come at all." But in her heart she expected Jan
to come, and come again, until she pardoned him. She had no intention
of finally casting him off. She meant that he should suffer
sufficiently to insure his future good behavior. She had to suffer
with him, and she regarded this as the hardest and most unjust part of
the discipline. She, who had always done her duty in all things.

It is true she had permitted her father to dismantle their home, but
she had had a distinct reason for that, and one which she intended to
have told Jan, had he come back under circumstances to warrant the
confidence. In fact she had begun to dislike the house very much. It
was too small, too far away from her mother, and from the town;
besides which, Peter had the very house she longed for vacant, and she
hoped so to manage her father, as to make the exchange she wished.
Perhaps, too, she was a little bit superstitious. No one had ever been
lucky in the house in which she and Jan had lived. She sometimes felt
angry at her father for thrusting it upon them. Even Elga Skade's love
affairs had all gone wrong there, and the girl was sure some malicious
sprite had power within its walls to meddle and make trouble. Elga had
left her, influenced entirely by this superstition, and Margaret had
brooded upon it, until it had obtained some influence over her;
otherwise, she would not have permitted her father to dismantle the
unhappy home without a protest.

As it was, with all its faults she was beginning to miss the
independence it gave her. No married woman ever goes back to the best
of homes, and takes the place of her maidenhood. Her new servant,
Trolla Bork, had warned her often of this. "When Bork was drowned,"
she said, "I went back to my parents, but I did not go back to my
home. No, indeed! There is a difference, even where there is no
unkindness. Thy own home is a full cup. Weep, if thou must weep, at
thy own fireside."

After Margaret's refusal to see Jan, he went back to his boat, and
employed himse