es," answered the girl.

"Is the master at home?"

"No; he went off to Muurila this morning."

"H'm. And when's he coming back?"

"Don't know at all. But maybe mistress'll know. If you'd go in by the
front way, I'll tell her."

Olof walked up the front steps.

Hardly had he entered the room when a slender, fair-haired woman
appeared from within.

"Good-day to ..." Olof began; but the greeting died on his lips, and a
shiver passed through his body.

The woman stopped still; her lips moved, but uttered no word.

Stiffly, uneasily, they looked at each other. A glimpse of the past,
a sequence of changes, things new and things familiar--the vision of a
moment, seen in a flash.

A warm flush spread over the woman's cheeks, and she stepped forward
without hesitation to greet the newcomer.

"Welcome, Olof," she said, with frank kindness, though her voice
trembled slightly. "And is it really you? Sit down.'"

But Olof stood still, unable to recover himself.

"I dare say you're surprised to--to find me here," went on the woman,
trying to speak easily and naturally, though her features and the look
in her eyes revealed a certain emotion. "I have been here for four
years now." She stopped, and cast down her eyes in confusion.

"Really--four years, is it as long as that...?" Olof stammered out the
words awkwardly, and could say no more.

"But you've heard no news of me, I suppose, and my being here. I knew
a little about you, though--that you had come back and were living
near...."

"Yes, yes.... No, I had no idea ... I came prepared to find only
strangers, and then ... to meet you here ... so far from...."

"Yes, it is a long way from my home." The woman grasped eagerly at
something to talk of. "And it's all so different here, though it's not
so far, after all, counting the miles. It was very strange and new at
first, of course, but now I like it well enough. And we often go over
to the old place, and father and mother come to see us here...."

"Yes, yes.... And how are they at home? Your mother and father?" Olof
asked, with a ring of pleasant recollection in his voice.

"Finely, thank you. Father was bad for a time last winter, but he's
got over it now, or nearly...."

She broke off and glanced at the door. It was thrust open a little,
and a child's head looked in.

She stepped hastily across the room. "What do you want in here? Can't
you see here are visitors--and you with your dirty overall on?"

"I