ew watch. Crossing over to Ingmar, who was again seated at
the table, he said: "Since I have taken your father's watch from
you, you must accept this one from me."

He laid the watch on the table and went out, without even saying
good-bye. The rest of the day he tramped the roads and bypaths. A
couple of peasants who had come from a distance to trade with him
hung around outside the shop from noon till evening. But no Tims
Halvor appeared.

***

Elof Ersson, the husband of Karin Ingmarsson, was the son of a
cruel and avaricious peasant, who had always treated him harshly.
As a child he had been half starved, and even after he was grown up
his father kept him under his thumb. He had to toil and slave from
morning till night, and was never allowed any pleasures. He was not
even allowed to attend the country dances like other young folk,
and he got no rest from his work even on Sundays. Nor did Elof
become his own master when he married. He had to live at the Ingmar
Farm and be under the domination of his father-in-law; and also at
the Ingmar Farm hard work and frugality were the rule of the day.
As long as Ingmar Ingmarsson lived Elof seemed quite content with
his lot, toiling and slaving with never so much as a complaint.
Folks used to say that now the Ingmarssons had got a son-in-law
after their own hearts, for Elof Ersson did not know that there was
anything else in life than just toil and drudgery.

But as soon as Big Ingmar was dead and buried, Elof began to drink
and carouse. He made the acquaintance of all the rounders in the
parish, and invited them down to the Farm, and went with them to
dance halls and taverns. He quit work altogether, and drank himself
full every day. In the space of two short months he became a poor
drunken wretch.

The first time Karin saw him in a state of intoxication she was
horrified. "This is God's judgment upon me for my treatment of
Halvor," was the thought that came to her. To the husband she said
very little in the way of rebuke or warning. She soon perceived
that he was like a blasted tree, doomed to wither and decay, and
she could not hope for either help or protection from him.

But Karin's sisters were not so wise as she was. They resented his
escapades, blushed at his ribald songs and coarse jokes, by turns
threatening and admonishing him. And although their brother-in-law
was on the whole rather good-natured, he sometimes got into a rage
and had words with them. Then K