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hings might be very different. As the ship drew alongside the quay at Christiania, the other passengers lined the rail, friends and relations came aboard, there were tears and laughter and kisses and embraces. Peer lifted his hat as he passed down the gangway, but no one had time to notice him just now. And when he had found a hotel porter to look after his luggage, he walked up alone through the town, as if he were a stranger. The light nights made it difficult to sleep--he had actually forgotten that it was light all night long. And this was a capital city--yet so touchingly small, it seemed but a few steps wherever he went. These were his countrymen, but he knew no one among them; there was no one to greet him. Still, he thought again, some day all this might be very different. At last, one day as he stood looking at the window of a bookseller's shop, he heard a voice behind him: "Why, bless me! surely it's Peer Holm!" It was one of his fellow-students at the Technical College, Reidar Langberg, pale and thin now as ever. He had been a shining light at the College, but now--now he looked shabby, worn and aged. "I hardly knew you again," said Peer, grasping the other's hand. "And you're a millionaire, so they say--and famous, out in the big world?" "Not quite so bad as that, old fellow. But what about you?" "I? Oh, don't talk about me." And as they walked down the street together, Langberg poured out his tale, of how times were desperately bad, and conditions at home here simply strangled a man. He had started ten or twelve years ago as a draughtsman in the offices of the State Railways, and was still there, with a growing family--and "such pay--such pay, my dear fellow!" He threw up his eyes and clasped his hands despairingly. "Look here," said Peer, interrupting him. "Where is the best place in Christiania to go and have a good time in the evening?" "Well, St. Hans Hill, for instance. There's music there." "Right--will you come and dine with me there, to-night--shall we say eight o'clock?" "Thanks. I should think I would!" Peer arrived in good time, and engaged a table on a verandah. Langberg made his appearance shortly after, dressed in his well-saved Sunday best--faded frock-coat, light trousers bagged at the knees, and a straw hat yellow with age. "It's a pleasure to have someone to talk to again," said Peer. "For the last year or so I've been knocking about pretty much by myself." "
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