e found the boat! I wonder what
that table cost?"

"You may well ask, Jacob. I have never been in the house since."

"Nor have I."

They now fell to talking of the wild doings of their mad youth,
telling their stories only half way, or by allusions; for did they
not both know them all by heart?

"What do you say to just another drop, Jacob?"

"Well, it must be a little one."

The host was of opinion that they might take just enough for a
nightcap, and so went after the hot water.

It was now past ten o'clock, and as Worse had permission to stay till
eleven, his conscience was perfectly clear. As he warmed up under the
influence of Randulf's old Jamaica rum, he forgot both his internal
malady and his anxieties for his soul.

At the third tumbler, Randulf proposed that they should talk English,
which they proceeded to do with much gravity, but after their own
fashion.

The last rays of the sun from behind the cloud banks, caused by the
north wind, made the faces of the two friends look redder than ever,
as they sat at the open window and talked their English.

The fjord below lay as smooth as a mirror, the outermost headlands
and islands seeming to stand out of the water. Nearer the town, on
the larger islands, and here and there to the eastward up in the
mountains, the young people had lit St. John's Day bonfires, whose
smoke went straight up, while the flames were paled by the twilight
of the summer evening.

Boats full of boys and girls moved about. A sailor, who had brought
an accordion with him, was playing "While the North Sea roars," and
other popular airs. A procession of boats followed him, and at times
some of the people joined in with their voices.

Most, however, were silent, listening to the music, and gazing over
the fjord out towards that "roaring North Sea," which woke up
memories of hope and sorrow, of longings, uncertainty, love, and
bereavement.

The Haugians had long since left their meeting-house. Some of Sivert
Jespersen's guests had returned to sup at his house, others went
straight home. Sarah and Fennefos met in the passage; both were
conscious that there was some slight mistrust of them among the
others. It was natural, therefore, that they should meet and keep
together; indeed, when they reached the market-place, they turned off
to the left, instead of going home, and strolled along the road
leading to Sandsgaard.

Neither of them had an eye for the beauties of nature; they h