y trained to
read aloud to him, and to write a bit, too, for him now and then. It
was stipulated that Oke's duties were not to be all of the literary
sort. The pastor was convinced that Oke had a good head for study, and
really ought to have a chance to improve himself. The boy was not,
however, to be kept constantly bending over books, but was to have as
much work in the open air as possible. The pastor himself had a weak
constitution, and had suffered all his life from delicate health, and
had found it no pleasant experience. Oke should be a robust Christian,
for a Christian he was of course to be.

The elder boys being disposed of, the twins had come into power. The
oldest among the children had always been allowed to be a kind of
perpetual monitor for the rest, with restricted powers of discipline.
Oke's rule had been mild but firm. He had taken no notice of small
matters; but if anything really wrong had gone on, Jan was sure to hear
of it, and a thorough settlement with the offender inevitably followed.

The twins were rather against the outside world in general, strong in
their two pair of hands, and two loud voices to shout on their side.
Nono really feared this duumvirate, for the twins had more than once
given him to understand that he would "catch it" when they got to be
the oldest at home. They had no particular offences to complain of or
anticipate on Nono's side, but they enjoyed giving out awful threats of
what they would do if ever they had the opportunity. Oke had kept them
in order without difficulty, for he had a vehement power of reproof,
when fairly roused, that could make even the twins hide their faces in
shame, as he pictured to them their unworthiness.

Nono had gotten on very well with the "lions and the bears" of the
past, but how was he to deal with this two-headed "Philistine" under
whose dominion he had now come? He was resolved on one thing--Karin
should hear no complaints from him. She should not be worried by the
little boy she had taken in among her own to be so wonderfully happy.

CHAPTER VII.

A YOUNG TEACHER.

Nono and Uncle Pelle had been working a whole morning in the garden at
Ekero under Alma's direction. She was going to have a parterre of her
own, according to a plan she had been secretly maturing. Now it was
the time of mid-day rest, and she was prepared to give Nono his first
lesson; a kind of Sunday school on a week day she meant it to be, and
of th