ould
find it far from easy to get the best of her!

When the two men came in they seemed as unconcerned as before. Yet
Lars said that after sitting so long on the fence looking at the
pretty little house they had finally taken a notion to step inside.

They lavished praises upon everything in the house and Lars
remarked that Jan and Katrina had reason to feel very thankful to
Eric of Falla; for of course it was he who had made it possible for
them to build a home and to marry.

"That reminds me," he said quickly, looking away from Jan and
Katrina. "I suppose Eric of Falla had the foresight to give you a
deed to the land on which the hut stands?"

Neither Jan nor Katrina said a word. Instantly they knew that Lars
had now come to the matter he wanted to discuss with them.

"I understand there are no papers in existence," continued Lars,
"but I can't believe it is so bad as all that. For in that event
the house would fall to the owner of the land."

Still Jan said nothing, but Katrina was too indignant to keep
silent any longer.

"Eric of Falla gave us the lot on which this house stands," she
said, "and no one has the right to take it away from us!"

"And no one has any intention of doing so," said the new owner in a
pacifying tone. He only wanted to have everything regular, that was
all. If Jan could let him have a hundred rix-dollars by October
fairtime--

"A hundred rix-dollars!" Katrina broke in, her voice rising almost
to a shriek.

Lars drew his head back and tightened his lips.

"And you, Jan, you don't say a word!" said Katrina reproachfully.
"Don't you hear that Lars wants to squeeze from us one hundred
rix-dollars?"

"It won't be so easy, perhaps, for Jan to come up with one hundred
rix-dollars," returned Lars Gunnarson, "but just the same I've got
to know what's mine."

"And so you're going to steal our hut?"

"Nothing of the kind!" said Lars. "The hut is yours. It's the land
I'm after."

"Then we can move the hut off of your land," said Katrina.

"It would hardly be worth your while to go to the bother of moving
something you'll not be able to keep."

"Well, I never!" gasped Katrina. "Then you really do mean to lay
hands on our property?"

Lars Gunnarson made a gesture of protest.

No, of course he did not want to put a lien on the house, not he!
Had he not already told them as much? But it so happened that the
storekeeper at Broby had sent his clerk with some accounts that had
not b