eabout.

It would take an hour at least to drive to town, if for nothing else
than to spare the horse; at least an hour there; and then an hour and a
half back, for no one would drive such a long distance equally fast back
and forth with the same horse. I sat calculating this while I finished
eating, and became aware at the same time that my coming was most
inopportune. Therefore I resolved that after coffee I too would take my
leave.

We had both finished and now rose from the table. My hostess excused
herself and went out into the kitchen, and I who was thus left alone
thought I would look round the gard.

When I got out on the steps in front of the porch, I was met by a burst
of loud laughter from the boys, immediately followed by a word which I
should not have thought they would take in their mouths, to say nothing
of shouting it out with all their might, and this in the open yard. The
elder boy called it out first, the younger repeated it after him.

They were standing up on the barn bridge, and the word was addressed to
a girl who stood in the frame shed opposite them, bending over a
sledge. The boys shouted out yet another word, and still another and
another, without cessation. Between each word came peals of merriment.
It was clear that they were being prompted by some one inside of the
barn door. The girl made no reply; but once in a while she looked up
from her work and glanced over her shoulder--not at the boys but at some
one behind the barn where the carriage-shed was situated.

Then I heard the sound of bells from that direction. Atlung came forth,
dressed for his trip and leading his horse. Great was the alarm of the
boys when they saw their father! For they suddenly realized, though
perhaps not distinctly, what they had been shouting,--at least they felt
they had been making mischief for some one.

"Wait until I get home, boys," the father shrieked, "and you shall
surely both have a whipping."

He took his seat in his sledge and applied the lash to his horse. As he
drove past me, he looked at me and shook his head.

The boys stood for a moment as though turned into stone. Then the elder
one took to his heels with all his strength. The younger followed,
crying, "Wait for me! Say, Anton, do not run away from me!" He burst
into tears. They disappeared behind the carriage-shed; but for a long
time I heard the sobbing of the younger one.

CHAPTER V.

I felt quite out of spirits, and determ