ke of
the spring house-cleaning, and the growth of her pansies and tulip
bulbs, and did not know that all the time Jan was thinking of his
boat, heaving on the tide-top, or coming into harbor so heavy with
fish that she would be--in Shetland phrase--_lippering_ with the
water.

But, after all, the week of preparation was a very happy week to Jan
and Snorro; and on the sixteenth of May they were the foremost of the
sixty boats that sailed out of Lerwick for the ling ground. There was
a great crowd on the pier to see them off--mothers, and wives, and
sweethearts; boys, sick and sad with longing and envy; and old men,
with the glamor of their own past in their faces. Among them was
Suneva, in a bright blue dress, with blue ribbons fluttering in her
yellow hair. She stood at the pier-head and as they passed poured a
cup of ale into the sea, to forespeak good luck for the fleet. Jan
would have dearly liked to see his wife's handsome face watching him,
as he stood by the main-mast and lifted his cap to Peter. Margaret was
not there.

She really felt very much humiliated in Jan's position. She had always
held herself a little apart from the Lerwick women. She had been to
Edinburgh, she had been educated far above them, and she was quite
aware that she would have a very large fortune. Her hope had been to
see Jan take his place among the merchants and bailies of Lerwick. She
had dreams of the fine mansion that they would build, and of the fine
furniture which would come from Edinburgh for it. Margaret was one of
those women to whom a house can become a kingdom, and its careful
ordering an affair of more importance than the administration of a
great nation. When she chose Jan, and raised him from his humble
position, she had no idea that he would drift back again to the
fishing nets.

For the first time she carried her complaint home. But Thora in this
matter had not much sympathy with her. "The sea is his mother," she
said; "he loved her before he loved thee; when she calls him, he will
always go back to her."

"No man in Shetland hath a better business to his hand; and how can he
like to live in a boat, he, that hath a home so quiet, and clean, and
comfortable?"

Thora sighed. "Thou wilt not understand then, that what the cradle
rocks the spade buries. The sea spoke to Jan before he lay on his
mother's breast. His father hath a grave in it. Neither gold nor the
love of woman will ever keep them far apart; make up thy m