, they made no
attempt to break down a reserve which was eminently distasteful to
them. Besides, Dame Hansen never asked aid or counsel, being firmly
convinced of the infallibility of her own judgment, for she was a true
Norwegian in that respect.

Dame Hansen was now about fifty years old. Advancing age had not bowed
her tall form, though it had whitened her hair; nor had it dimmed the
brightness of her dark-blue eyes, whose azure was reflected in the
clear orbs of her daughter; but her complexion had taken on the yellow
hue of old parchment, and a few wrinkles were beginning to furrow her
forehead.

The madame, as they say in Scandinavia, was invariably attired in a
full black skirt, for she had never laid aside her mourning since her
husband's death. Below the shoulder-straps of a brown bodice appeared
the long full sleeves of an unbleached cotton chemise. On her
shoulders she wore a small dark-colored fichu that crossed upon her
breast, which was also covered by the large bib of her apron. She
always wore as a head-dress a close-fitting black-silk cap that
covered almost her entire head, and tied behind, a kind of head-dress
that is rarely seen nowadays.

Seated stiffly erect in her wooden arm-chair, the grave hostess
neglected her spinning-wheel only to enjoy a small birchwood pipe,
whose smoke enveloped her in a faint cloud.

Really, the house would have seemed very gloomy had it not been for
the presence of the two children.

A worthy lad was Joel Hansen. Twenty-five years of age, well built,
tall, like all Norwegian mountaineers, proud in bearing, though not
in the least boastful or conceited. He had fine hair, verging upon
chestnut, with blue eyes so dark as to seem almost black. His garb
displayed to admirable advantage his powerful shoulders, his broad
chest, in which his lungs had full play, and stalwart limbs which
never failed him even in the most difficult mountain ascents. His
dark-blue jacket, fitting tightly at the waist, was adorned on the
shoulders with epaulets, and in the back with designs in colored
embroidery similar to those that embellish the vests of the Breton
peasantry. His yellow breeches were fastened at the knee by large
buckles. Upon his head he wore a broad-brimmed brown hat with a
red-and-black band, and his legs were usually incased either in coarse
cloth gaiters or in long stout boots without heels.

His vocation was that of a mountain guide in the district of the
Telemark,