the chimney of her home; the fire was being lit for making the dinner.
This was an omen; she turned to Hans and pointed. He had finished his
song now, and they sat still and looked.

Very soon they were on their way down through the birch wood, and Hans
was having trouble with the dog, to make him keep quiet. Mildrid's
heart began to throb. Hans arranged with her that he would stay
behind, but near the house; it was better that she should go in first
alone. He carried her over one or two marshy places, and he felt that
her hands were cold. "Don't think of what you're to say," he
whispered; "just wait and see how things come." She gave no sound in
answer, nor did she look at him.

They came out of the wood--the last part had been big dark fir-trees,
among which they had walked slowly, he quietly telling her about her
great-grandfather's wooing of his father's sister, Aslaug; an old,
strange story, which she only half heard, but which all the same
helped her--came out of the wood into the open fields and meadows; and
he became quiet too. Now she turned to him, and her look expressed
such a great dread of what was before her that it made him feel
wretched. He found no words of encouragement; the matter concerned him
too nearly. They walked on a little farther, side by side, some bushes
between them and the house concealing them from its inhabitants. When
they got so near that he thought she must now go on alone, he
whistled softly to the dog, and she took this as the sign that they
must part. She stopped and looked utterly unhappy and forlorn; he
whispered to her: "I'll be praying for you here, Mildrid--and I'll
come when you need me." She gave him a kind of distracted look of
thanks; she was really unable either to think or to see clearly. Then
she walked on.

As soon as she came out from the bushes she saw right into the big
room of the main building--right through it--for it had windows at
both ends, one looking up towards the wood and one down the valley.
Hans had seated himself behind the nearest bush, with the dog at his
side, and he too could see everything in the room; at this moment
there was no one in it. Mildrid looked back once when she came to the
barn, and he nodded to her. Then she went round the end of the barn,
into the yard.

Everything stood in its old, accustomed order, and it was very quiet.
Some hens were walking on the barn-steps. The wooden framework for
the stacks had been brought out and set