the end, however, the book found its way
to the hearts of its readers, and, to quote Mr. Gosse's words on the
subject, "achieved a very great success; it was realistic and modern in
a certain sense and to a discreet degree, and it appealed, as scarcely
any Norwegian novel had done before, to all classes of Scandinavian
society."

Lie himself, in speaking of this work, says that a writer should "aim
at presenting his subject in such a way that the reader may see, hear,
feel, and comprehend it with the utmost possible intensity." This
precept he has certainly put into practice in the present instance, for
the subject is treated with such power and so full a grasp, that in
reading the book one feels an actual anxiety, an oppression as of
approaching disaster. This, at any rate, is the case with the original,
and I trust that its power has not been altogether lost in the process
of rendering into another language, but that the stamp of genuineness,
the author's leading characteristic, may to some extent be found also
in this translation.

J. MUIR.

CHRISTIANA,

November 10, 1894.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. NEGLECTED RESPONSIBILITIES

II. A STRICT DISCIPLINARIAN

III. A FIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

IV. A STOLEN INTERVIEW

V. AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED

VI. THE FACTORY GIRLS

VII. "THE WORLD IS RIGHT ENOUGH AFTER ALL"

VIII. AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL

IX. AN IMPORTANT STEP TAKEN

X. A RISE IN LIFE

XI. THE WEDDING POSTPONED AGAIN

XII. THE FAIR AND THE CONVICT

CHAPTER I

NEGLECTED RESPONSIBILITIES

"Like a prince in his cradle," you say, "with invisible fairies and the
innocent peace of childhood over him!"

What fairy stood by the cradle of Barbara's Nikolai it would be
difficult to say. Out at the tinsmith's, in the little house with the
cracked and broken window-panes in the outskirts of the town, there was
often a run of visitors, generally late at night, when wanderers on the
high road were at a loss for a night's lodging. Many a revel had been
held there, and it was not once only that the cradle had been overturned
in a fight, or that a drunken man had fallen full length across it.

Nikolai's mother was called Barbara, and came from Heimdalhoegden,
somewhere far up in the country--a genuine mountain lass, shining with
health, red and white, strong and broad-shouldered, and with teeth like
the foam in the milk pail. She had heard so much about the town from