answered she sharply, "and Mother's not in want, I'm sure.
She was always clever at helping herself. If they come here, I'll
have the money paid for Ditte. 'Tis mine by right."

"They'll have eaten that up long ago," said Lars Peter.

But Soerine did not think so; it would not be like her father or her
mother. She was convinced that her mother had hidden it somewhere or
other. "If she would only sell the hut, and give the money to us,"
said she. "Then we could build a new house."

"Much wants more!" answered Lars Peter smilingly. In his opinion the
house they lived in was quite good enough. But he was a man who
thought anything good enough for him, and nothing too good for
others. If he were allowed to rule they would soon end in the
workhouse!

So Lars Peter avoided the question, and after Granny's visit, and
having seen her and Soerine together, he understood they would be
best apart. They did not come to his home again, but when he was
buying up in their part of the country, he would call in at the hut
on the Naze and take a cup of coffee with them. He would then bring
a paper of coffee and some cakes with him, so as not to take them
unawares, and had other small gifts too. These were days of
rejoicing in the little hut. They longed for him, from one visit to
another, and could talk of very little else. Whenever there were
sounds of wheels, Ditte would fly to the window, and Granny would
open wide her sightless eyes. Ditte gathered old iron from the shore
as a surprise for her father; and when he drove home, she would go
with him as far as the big hill, behind which the sun went down.

Lars Peter said nothing of these visits when he got home.

CHAPTER XIII

DITTE HAS A VISION

Before losing her sight Maren had taught Ditte to read, which came
in very useful now. They never went to church; their clothes were
too shabby, and the way too long. Maren was not particularly zealous
in her attendance, a life-long experience had taught her to take
what the parson said with a grain of salt. But on Sundays, when
people streamed past on their way to church, they were both neatly
dressed, Ditte with a clean pinafore and polished wooden shoes, and
Granny with a stringed cap. Then Granny would be sitting in the
armchair at the table, spectacles on her nose and the Bible in front
of her, and Ditte standing beside her reading the scriptures for the
day. In spite of her blindness, Maren insisted upon wearing her
spe