ith himself;
with Katrina; with Glory Goldie. It could never be lost to them.

He saw Glory Goldie clench her fist, and felt that she would come
to their aid very soon.

Presently Lars Gunnarson and the shopkeeper's clerk got up and
moved toward the door. When they left they said "good-bye," but not
one of the three who remained in the hut rose or returned the
salutation.

The moment the men were gone the young girl, with a proud toss of
her head, sprang to her feet.

"If you would only let me go out in the world!" she said.

Katrina suddenly ceased mumbling and wringing her hands. Glory
Goldie's words had awakened in her a faint hope.

"It shouldn't be so very difficult to earn a couple of hundred
rix-dollars between now and the first of October," said the girl.
"This is only midsummer, so it's three whole months till then. If
you will let me go to Stockholm and take service there, I promise
you the house shall remain in your keeping."

When Jan of Ruffluck heard these words he grew ashen. His head sank
back as if he were about to swoon. How dear of the little girl! he
thought. It was for this he had waited the whole time--yet how, how
could he ever bear to let her go away from him?

ON THE MOUNTAIN-TOP

Jan of Ruffluck walked along the forest road where he and his
womenfolk, happy and content, had passed on the way home from
church a few hours earlier.

He and Katrina, after long deliberation, had decided that before
sending their daughter away or doing anything else in this matter
that Jan had better see Senator Carl Carlson of Storvik and ask him
whether Lars Gunnarson had the right to take the hut from them.

There was no one in the whole of Svartsjoe Parish who was so well
versed in the law and the statutes as was the senator from Storvik,
and those who had the good sense to seek his advice in matters of
purchase and sale, in making appraisals, or setting up an auction,
or drawing up a will, could rest assured that everything would be
done in a correct and legal manner and that afterward there was no
fear of their becoming involved in lawsuits or other entanglements.

The senator was a stern and masterful man, brusque of manner and
harsh of voice, and Jan was none too pleased at the thought of
having to talk with him.

"The first thing he'll do when I come to him will be to read me a
lecture because I've got no papers," thought Jan. "He has scared
some folks so badly at the very start that they