; then suddenly Hansine would come running out throwing
herself into his arms. She had become so strange under her
pregnancy, she could find no rest, and would sit for hours with her
thoughts far away--as if listening to distant voices--and could not
be roused up again. Lars Peter put it down to her condition, and
took it all good-humoredly. His even temperament had a soothing
effect upon her, and she was soon happy again. But at times she was
full of anxiety, and would run out to him in the fields, almost
beside herself. It was almost impossible to persuade her to return
to the house, he only succeeded after promising to keep within
sight. She was afraid of one thing or another at home, but when he
urged her to tell him the reason, she would look dumbly at him.

After the child's birth, she was her old self again. Their delight
was great in the little one, and they were happier even than before.

But this strange phase returned when she again became pregnant, only
in a stronger degree. There were times, when her fear forced her
out of the house, and she would run into the fields, wring her hands
in anguish. The distracted husband would fetch the screaming child
to her, thus tempting her home again. This time she gave in and
confided in him, that she had been engaged to a sailor, who had made
her promise that she would remain faithful, if anything happened to
him at sea.

"Did he never come back then?" asked Lars Peter slowly.

Hansine shook her head. And he had threatened to return and claim
her, if she broke her word. He had said, he would tap on the
trap-door in the ceiling.

"Did you promise of your own free will?" Lars Peter said
ponderously.

No, Hansine thought he had pressed her.

"Then you're not bound by it," said he. "My family, maybe, are not
much to go by, scum of the earth as we are. But my father and my
grandfather always used to say, there's no need to fear the dead;
they were easier to get away from than the living." She sat bending
over the babe, which had cried itself to sleep on her knees, and
Lars Peter stood with his arms round her shoulder, softly rocking
her backwards and forwards, as he tried to talk her to reason. "You
must think of the little one here--and the other little one to come!
The only thing which can't be forgiven, is unkindness to those given
to us."

Hansine took his hand and pressed it against her tearful eyes. Then
rising herself she put the child to bed; she was calm