"I am so little at home."

The school-master looks at Ole. The latter feels that he must now rush
into the fire; he clears his throat a couple of times, and begins
hastily and shortly,--

"It was--it is--yes. What I meant was that you should be in a certain
way established--that you should--yes--be the same as at home up yonder
with us,--be there, when you were not away."

"Many thanks for the offer, but I should rather remain where I now
live."

Ole looks at the school-master, who says,--

"Ole's brain seems to be in a whirl to-day. The fact is he has been
here once before, and the recollection of that makes his words get all
confused."

Ole, quickly: "That is it, yes; I ran a madman's race. I strove
against the girl until the tree split. But let by-gones be by-gones;
the wind, not the snow, beats down the grain; the rain-brook does not
tear up large stones; snow does not lie long on the ground in May; it
is not the thunder that kills people."

They all four laugh; the school-master says:

"Ole means that he does not want you to remember that time any longer;
nor you, either, Thore."

Ole looks at them, uncertain whether he dare begin again.

Then Thore says,--

"The briar takes hold with many teeth, but causes no wound. In me
there are certainly no thorns left."

Ole: "I did not know the boy then. Now I see that what he sows
thrives; the harvest answers to the promise of the spring; there is
money in his finger-tips, and I should like to get hold of him."

Oyvind looks at the father, he at the mother, she from them to the
school-master, and then all three at the latter.

"Ole thinks that he has a large gard"--

Ole breaks in: "A large gard, but badly managed. I can do no more. I
am old, and my legs refuse to run the errands of my head. But it will
pay to take hold up yonder."

"The largest gard in the parish, and that by a great deal," interrupts
the school-master.

"The largest gard in the parish; that is just the misfortune; shoes
that are too large fall off; it is a fine thing to have a good gun, but
one should be able to lift it." Then turning quickly towards Oyvind,
"Would you be willing to lend a hand to it?"

"Do you mean for me to be gard overseer?"

"Precisely--yes; you should have the gard."

"I should _have_ the gard?"

"Just so--yes: then you could manage it."

"But"--

"You will not?"

"Why, of course, I will."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes; then it is decided, as the