d only grow more bitter. You can't
tame a wild thing; you can only chain it. People aren't all alike. I
mustn't lose my nerve." He gave Hilda's pigtail a parting tweak and
set out after Clara. "Where to?" he asked, as he came upon her in the
kitchen.

"I'm going to the cellar for preserves."

"Let me go with you. I never get a moment alone with you. Why do you
keep out of my way?"

Clara laughed. "I don't usually get in anybody's way."

Nils followed her down the stairs and to the far corner of the cellar,
where a basement window let in a stream of light. From a swinging shelf
Clara selected several glass jars, each labeled in Johanna's careful
hand. Nils took up a brown flask. "What's this? It looks good."

"It is. It's some French brandy father gave me when I was married. Would
you like some? Have you a corkscrew? I'll get glasses."

When she brought them, Nils took them from her and put them down on
the window-sill. "Clara Vavrika, do you remember how crazy I used to be
about you?"

Clara shrugged her shoulders. "Boys are always crazy about somebody or
another. I dare say some silly has been crazy about Evelina Oleson. You
got over it in a hurry."

"Because I didn't come back, you mean? I had to get on, you know, and it
was hard sledding at first. Then I heard you'd married Olaf."

"And then you stayed away from a broken heart," Clara laughed.

"And then I began to think about you more than I had since I first went
away. I began to wonder if you were really as you had seemed to me when
I was a boy. I thought I'd like to see. I've had lots of girls, but no
one ever pulled me the same way. The more I thought about you, the
more I remembered how it used to be--like hearing a wild tune you
can't resist, calling you out at night. It had been a long while since
anything had pulled me out of my boots, and I wondered whether anything
ever could again." Nils thrust his hands into his coat pockets and
squared his shoulders, as his mother sometimes squared hers, as Olaf, in
a clumsier manner, squared his. "So I thought I'd come back and see. Of
course the family have tried to do me, and I rather thought I'd bring
out father's will and make a fuss. But they can have their old land;
they've put enough sweat into it." He took the flask and filled the
two glasses carefully to the brim. "I've found out what I want from the
Ericsons. Drink _skoal_, Clara." He lifted his glass, and Clara took
hers with downcast eyes. "Look