took out a bundle of little
collars--Leopoldine's, they were. And gave Isak a black neckerchief
for himself, shiny as silk.

"Is that for me?" said he.

"Yes, it's for you."

He took it carefully in his hands, and stroked it.

"Do you think it's nice?"

"Nice--why I could go round the world in such."

But Isak's fingers were rough; they stuck in the curious silky stuff.

Now Inger had no more things to show. But when she had packed them all
up again, she sat there still; and the way she sat, he could see her
legs, could see her red-bordered stockings.

"H'm," said he. "Those'll be town-made things, I doubt?"

"'Tis wool was bought in the town, but I knitted them myself. They're
ever so long--right up above the knee--look...."

A little while after she heard herself whispering: "Oh, you ... you're
just the same--the same as ever!"

* * * * *

And after that halt they drove on again, and Inger sat up, holding the
reins. "I've brought a paper of coffee too," she said. "But you can't
have any this evening, for it's not roasted yet."

"'Tis more than's needed this evening and all," said he.

An hour later the sun goes down, and it grows colder. Inger gets down
to walk. Together they tuck the rug closer about Leopoldine, and smile
to see how soundly she can sleep. Man and wife talk together again on
their way. A pleasure it is to hear Inger's voice; none could speak
clearer than Inger now.

"Wasn't it four cows we had?" she asks.

"'Tis more than that," says he proudly. "We've eight."

"Eight cows!"

"That is to say, counting the bull."

"Have you sold any butter?"

"Ay, and eggs."

"What, have we chickens now?"

"Ay, of course we have. And a pig."

Inger is so astonished at all this that she forgets herself
altogether, and stops for a moment--"_Ptro_!" And Isak is proud and
keeps on, trying to overwhelm her completely.

"That Geissler," he says, "you remember him? He came up a little while
back."

"Oh?"

"I've sold him a copper mine."

"Ho! What's that--a copper mine?"

"Copper, yes. Up in the hills, all along the north side of the water."

"You--you don't mean he paid you money for it?"

"Ay, that he did. Geissler he wouldn't buy things and not pay for
them."

"What did you get, then?"

"H'm. Well, you might not believe it--but it was two hundred _Daler_."

"You got two hundred _Daler_!" shouts Inger, stopping again with a
"_Ptro_!"

"I did--yes