thing wanting: no one ever
spoke of the schoolmaster and his wife, or of Gertrude, which was
most disquieting to him. He had not seen Gertrude for a whole year.
In the summer he had never been without news of her; for then
hardly a day went by that some one did not speak of the Storms. He
thought that perhaps this silence regarding his old friends was
accidental. When one feels timid about asking questions, and when
no one voluntarily speaks of that which one longs above everything
to hear about, it is mighty provoking, to say the least.

But if young Ingmar seemed to be happy and content, the same could
not be said of Strong Ingmar. The old man had of late become sullen
and taciturn and difficult to get on with.

"I believe you are homesick for the forest," Ingmar said to him one
afternoon as they sat on separate logs eating their sandwiches.

"God knows I am!" the old man burst forth. "I only wish I had never
come back at all!"

"Why, what's gone wrong at home?"

"How can you ask! You must know as well as I that Hellgum has been
raising the deuce around here."

Ingmar answered that, on the contrary, he had heard that Hellgum
had become a big man.

"Yes, he has grown so big and strong that he's been able to upset
the whole parish," Strong Ingmar sneered.

It seemed strange to Ingmar that the old man never evinced a
particle of affection for any of his own kin. He cared for nobody
and for nothing save the Ingmarssons and the Ingmar Farm. Therefore
Ingmar felt that he must stand up for the son-in-law.

"I think his doctrine a good one," he said.

"Oh, you do, do you?" snapped the old man; and he gave him a
withering look. "Do you think Big Ingmar would have thought so?"

Ingmar replied that his father would have upheld any one who worked
for righteousness.

"It's your belief, then, that Big Ingmar would have approved of
calling all persons who do not belong to Hellgum's band devils and
anti-Christs, and that he would have refused to associate with his
old friends because they held to their old faith?"

"I hardly think that such people as Hellgum and Halvor and Karin
would behave in that way," said Ingmar.

"Just you try to oppose them once, and you'll soon hear what they
think of you!"

Ingmar cut off a big corner of his sandwich and stuffed his mouth
full, so he would not have to talk. It irritated him to see Strong
Ingmar in such bad humour.

"Heigho, hum! It's a queer world," sighed the old man.