ss beside him. He feebly
stretched out his hand, and pulled him close, closer, until his face
was on the pillow beside his own.

"Oh Jan, how could'st thou? My heart hath been nearly broken for
thee."

"It is all well now, Snorro. I am going to a new life. I have buried
the old one below the Troll Rock."

Until the following night the men remained together. They had much to
talk of, much that related both to the past and the future. Jan was
particularly anxious that no one should know that his life had been
saved: "And mind thou tell not my wife, Snorro," he said. "Let her
think herself a widow; that will please her best of all."

"There might come a time when it would be right to speak."

"I can not think it."

"She might be going to marry again."

Jan's face darkened. "Yes, that is possible--well then, in that case,
thou shalt go to the minister; he will tell thee what to do, or he
himself will do it."

"She might weep sorely for thee, so that she were like to die."

"Mock me not, Snorro. She will not weep for me. Well then, let me pass
out of memory, until I can return with honor."

"Where wilt thou go to?"

"Dost thou remember that yacht that was tied to the minister's jetty
four weeks ago?"

"Yes, I remember it."

"And that her owner stayed at the manse for two days?"

"Yes, I saw him. What then?"

"He will be back again, in a week, in a few days, perhaps to-morrow.
He is an English lord, and a friend of the minister's. I shall go away
with him. There is to be a new life for me--another road to take; it
must be a better one than that in which I have stumbled along for the
last few years. Thou art glad?"

"Yes, Jan, I am glad."

"If things should happen so that I can send for thee, wilt thou come
to me?"

"Yes, to the end of the world I will come. Thee only do I love. My
life is broken in two without thee."

Every day Snorro watched the minister's jetty, hoping, yet fearing, to
see the yacht which was to carry Jan away. Every night when the town
was asleep, he went to the manse to sit with his friend. At length one
morning, three weeks after Jan's disappearance, he saw the minister
and the English lord enter Peter's store together. His heart turned
sick and heavy; he felt that the hour of parting was near.

Peter was to send some eggs and smoked geese on board the yacht, and
the minister said meaningly to Snorro, "Be sure thou puts them on
board this afternoon, for the yacht sails southwa