orm had suddenly torn away a dark,
overshadowing growth, laying bare the heart of a fearsome place--deep
clefts and stagnant pools and treacherous bogs.

"Ay, there's much that's hard to understand," she whispered in his
ear. "But go to your work, now, sons. I'm tired now, leave me to
rest...."

The young men rose and left the room. In the doorway they turned and
cast a last glance at their mother, but she seemed no longer to heed
them. She lay with her hands folded on her breast, gazing calmly at
the old cupboard where it stood by the wall, like a monument above the
grave of many generations.

THE HOUSE BUILDING

The funeral was over.

The two brothers sat by the window, in thoughtful mood, and speaking
little.

"... And you'll take over the place now, of course," said Olof to his
elder brother, "and work the farm as it's always been done since it's
been in the family. 'Twon't be long, I doubt, before you bring home
a wife to be mistress here.... Anyhow, I take it you'll go on as
before?"

"What's in your mind now?" asked Heikki, with a little sharp cough.

"Only what I've said--that you'll take over Koskela now," said Olof
cheerfully.

"H'm. You know well enough 'twas always meant that you were to take
over the place--I'm not the sort to be master myself. Look after the
men at their work--yes. But run the place by myself...."

"You'll soon get into the way of it," said Olof encouragingly. "And as
to the men--I've an idea a farm's the better for a master that works
with his men as you've always done, instead of going about talking big
and doing nothing."

The elder brother cleared his throat again, and sat staring before
him, drumming with his fingers on the edge of the chair.

"And what about you?" he asked, after a while.

"Oh, I'll look after myself all right. Build a bit of a house, and
maybe turn up a patch of ground or so."

"Build a house...?" repeated the other in surprise.

"Yes. You see, brother, each goes his own way," went on Olof heavily.
"And I've a sort of feeling now that I can't live on anything out of
the past. I must try and build up a life for myself, all anew. If I
can do that, perhaps I may be able to go on living."

The elder brother stared with wide eyes, as if listening to words in a
strange tongue. Then he began drumming with his fingers again.

"H'm. I don't know quite what you mean, but it's no business of mine,
anyway." He spoke with a touch of respect in his