o is
right. Where is Thora?"

"She is going to a lecture this afternoon to be given by the
Archdeacon Spens to the young girls, and she is preparing for it." And
as these words were uttered, Thora entered the room. She was dressed
for the storm outside, and wore the hood of her cloak drawn well over
her hair; in her hands were a pair of her father's slippers.

"For thee I brought them," she said, as she held them out to Vedder.
"I heard thy voice, and I was sure thy feet would be wet. See, then, I
have brought thee my father's slippers. He would like thee to wear
them--so would I."

"I will not wear them, Thora. I will not stand in any man's shoes but
my own. It is an unchancy, unlucky thing to do. Thanks be to thee, but
I will keep my own standing, wet or dry. Look to that rule for
thyself, and remember what I say. Let me see if thou art well shod."

Thora laughed, stood straight up, and drew her dress taut, and put
forward two small feet, trigly protected by high-laced boots. Then,
looking at her mother, she asked: "Are the boots sufficient, or shall
I wear over them my French clogs?"

Vedder answered her question. "The clogs are not necessary," he said.
"The rain runs off as fast as it falls. Thy boots are all such
trifling feet can carry. What can women do on this hard world-road
with such impediments as French clogs over English boots?"

"Mr. Vedder, they will do whatever they want to do; and they will go
wherever they want to go; and they will walk in their own shoes, and
work in their own shoes, and be well satisfied with them."

"Thora, I am sorry I was born in the last century. If I had waited for
about fifty years I would have been in proper time to marry thee."

"Perhaps."

"Yes; for I would not have let a woman so fair and good as thou art go
out of my family. We should have been man and wife. That would
certainly have happened."

"If two had been willing, it might have been. Now our talk must end;
the Archdeacon likes not a late comer;" and with this remark, and a
beaming smile, she went away.

Then there was a silence, full of words longing to be spoken; but
Rahal Ragnor was a prudent woman, and she sighed and sewed and left
Vedder to open the conversation. He looked at her a little impatiently
for a few moments, then he asked:

"To what port has thy son Boris sailed?"

"Boris intends to go to Leith, if wind and water let him do so."

"Boris is not asking wind and water about his affairs.