she ought to have been dead. Where is she to be buried? She
has no family vault of her own; nay, she will be lowered down in a
graveyard to lie among the bones of strangers and unknown; ay, to that
she comes at last--Oline, born and died. She had been young once. A
pittance left to her now, at the eleventh hour? Ay, a single golden
gleam, and this slave-woman's hands would have been folded for a
moment. Justice would have overtaken her with its late reward; for
that she had begged for her children, maybe stolen for them, but
always managed for them some way. A moment--and the darkness would
reign in her as before; her eyes glower, her fingers feel out
graspingly--how much? she would say. What, no more? she would say.
She would be right again. A mother many times, realizing life--it was
worthy of a great reward.

But all went otherwise. Old Sivert's accounts had appeared more or
less in order after Eleseus had been through them; but the farm and
the cow, the fishery and nets were barely enough to cover the deficit.
And it was due in some measure to Oline that things had turned out no
worse; so earnest was she in trying to secure a small remainder for
herself that she dragged to light forgotten items that she, as gossip
and newsmonger for years, remembered still, or matters outstanding
which others would have passed over on purpose, to avoid causing
unpleasantness to respectable fellow-citizens. Oh, that Oline! And she
did not even say a word against old Sivert now; he had made his will
in kindness of heart, and there would have been a plenty after him,
but that the two men sent by the Department to arrange things had
cheated her. But one day all would come to the ears of the Almighty,
said Oline threateningly.

Strange, she found nothing ridiculous in the fact that she was
mentioned in the will; after all, it was an honour of a sort; none of
her likes were named there with her!

The Sellanraa folk took the blow with patience; they were not
altogether unprepared. True, Inger could not understand it--Uncle
Sivert that had always been so rich....

"He might have stood forth an upright man and a wealthy before the
Lamb and before the Throne," said Oline, "if they hadn't robbed him."

Isak was standing ready to go out to his fields, and Oline said: "Pity
you've got to go now, Isak; then I shan't see the new machine, after
all. You've got a new machine, they say?"

"Ay."

"Ay, there's talk of it about, and how it cut