floor, chests, and
trunks. They collected these together, discussed them, examined them,
and pronounced them admirable. They well knew that such a gift was
calculated to embarrass a young girl; but then Skarlie was an elderly
man whose privilege it was to take things in a fatherly way. This they
told Magnhild when they finally found her. And she had no longer the
courage to be confidential. This was because the priest's wife,
sustained by the governess, spoke what they deemed sensible words to
her. They told her that she must not be proud; she must remember that
she was a poor girl who had neither relatives nor future of her own. In
the days which followed, Magnhild fought a hard fight in secret. But she
lacked energy for action. Where could she have gained it? Where could
she go since the priest's family had so evidently grown tired of her?

A little later there arrived a chest containing her dresses and many
other articles. Magnhild allowed it to stand untouched, but the
governess, who so well understood this bashfulness, attended to having
it opened. She and the priest's wife drew forth the contents piece by
piece, and not long afterwards Magnhild was trying on dress after dress
before the large mirror in the family sitting-room. The doors were
locked, the priest's wife and the governess full of zeal. Finally they
came to the black silk dress, and Magnhild gradually ceased to be
indifferent. She felt a blushing gratification in beholding in the glass
her own form encompassed in beautiful fine material. She discovered
herself, as it were, point by point. If it chanced to be the face, she
had not before this day so fully observed that those she beheld at her
side were without distinct outline, while hers--Her vision had been
rendered keen by the sense awakened, in the twinkling of an eye, by a
handsome, well-fitting garment.

This picture of herself floated before her for many days. Fearing to
disturb it she avoided the mirror. Once more she became absorbed in the
old dreams, those which bore her across the sea to something strange and
great.

But the marriage? At such moments she thrust it from her as though it
were a steamer's plank, to be drawn ashore after serving its purpose.
How was this possible? Aye, how many times in the years that followed
did she not pause and reflect! But it always remained alike
incomprehensible to her.

She could neither be persuaded to put on one of the new dresses the day
Skarlie