shall salvation come unto
this house," the man proclaimed.

Karin did not answer.

"Think of me when you receive the help!" he said. The next instant
he was gone.

Karin sat bolt upright in her chair, the red spots still burning in
her cheeks. "Am I to have no peace even in my own house?" she
muttered. "It's singular how many there are nowadays who think
themselves sent of God."

Suddenly Karin's little girl got up and toddled toward the
fireplace. The bright blaze had attracted the child, who, shrieking
with delight, was making for it as fast as her tiny feet could
carry her.

Karin called to her to come back, but the child paid no heed to
her; at that moment she was trying to clamber up into the
fireplace. After tumbling down a couple of times, she finally
managed to get upon the hearth, where the fire blazed.

"God help me! God help me!" cried Karin. Then she began to shout
for help, although she knew there was no one near.

The little girl bent laughingly over the fire. Suddenly a burning
ember rolled out and fell on her little yellow frock. Instantly
Karin sprang to her feet, rushed over to the fireplace, and
snatched the child in her arms. Not until she had brushed away all
the sparks from the child's dress, and had made sure that her baby
was unharmed, did she realize what had happened to herself. She was
actually on her feet; she had been walking again, and would always
be able to walk!

Karin experienced the greatest mental shake-up she had ever felt in
her life, and at the same time the greatest sense of happiness. She
had the feeling that she was under God's special care and
protection, and that God Himself had sent a holy man to her house
to strengthen her and to heal her.

***

That autumn Hellgum often stood on the little porch of Strong
Ingmar's cottage, looking out across the landscape. The country
round about was growing more beautiful every day: the ground was
now a golden brown, and all the leafy trees had turned either a
bright red or a bright yellow. Here and there loomed stretches of
woodland that shimmered in the breeze like a billowy sea of gold.
Against the shadowy background of the fir-clad hills could be seen
splashes of yellow; they were the leaf trees that had strayed in
among the pines and spruces and taken root there.

As an humble gray hut, when ablaze, gives out light and brilliancy,
thus did this humble Swedish landscape flame into a marvel of
splendour. Everything wa