een
them--but long enough to last out the spell of his work there.

Inger is sad and down-hearted enough; ay, so erringly faithful that
she mourns for him. 'Tis hard for her; she is honestly in love,
without any thought of vanity or conquest. And not ashamed, no; she
is a strong woman full of weakness; she is but following the law of
nature all about her; it is the glow of autumn in her as in all things
else. Her breast heaves with feeling as she packs up food for Gustaf
to take with him. No thought of whether she has the right, of whether
she dare risk this or that; she gives herself up to it entirely,
hungry to taste, to enjoy. Isak might lift her up to the roof and
thrust her to the floor again--ay, what of that! It would not make her
feel the less.

She goes out with the parcel to Gustaf.

Now she had set the bucket by the steps on purpose, in case he should
care to go with her to the river just once more. Maybe she would like
to say something, to give him some little thing--her gold ring; Heaven
knows, she was in a state to do anything. But there must be an end of
it some time; Gustaf thanks her, says good-bye, and goes.

And there she stands.

"Hjalmar!" she calls out aloud--oh, so much louder than she need. As
if she were determined to be gay in spite of all--or crying out in
distress.

Gustaf goes on his way....

* * * * *

All through that autumn there was the usual work in the fields all
round, right away down to the village: potatoes to be taken up, corn
to be got in, the horned cattle let loose over the ground. Eight
farms there are now and all are busy; but at the trading station, at
Storborg, there are no cattle, and no green lands, only a garden. And
there is no trade there now, and nothing for any to be busy about
there.

They have a new root crop at Sellanraa called turnips, sending up a
colossal growth of green waving leaves out of the earth, and nothing
can keep the cows away from them--the beasts break down all hedgework,
and storm in, bellowing. Nothing for it but to set Leopoldine and
little Rebecca to keep guard over the turnip fields, and little
Rebecca walks about with a big stick in her hand and is a wonder at
driving cows away. Her father is at work close by; now and again
he comes up to feel her hands and feet, and ask if she is cold.
Leopoldine is big and grown up now; she can knit stockings and mittens
for the winter while she is watching the herd