unt. The icy crust held until
the animal had reached the top, then it gave way and the horse
suddenly disappeared from sight, as if into a grave, while the two
men sat gazing down helplessly. One of the traces had snapped; so
they could not have gone farther even if they had been able to get
the horse out of the drift.

A few minutes later the pastor stepped into the living-room at the
Ingmar Farm. A blazing log fire was burning on the hearth. The
housewife sat at one side of the fireplace spinning fine carded
wool; behind her were the maids, seated in a long row, spinning
flax. The men had taken possession of the other side of the
fireplace. They had just come in from their work; some were
resting, others, to pass the time, had taken up some light work,
such as whittling sticks, sharpening rakes, and making axe handles.

When the pastor told of his mishap, they all bestirred themselves,
and the menservants went out to dig the horse out of the drift.
Halvor led the pastor up to the table, and asked him to sit down.
Karin sent the maids into the kitchen to make fresh coffee and to
prepare a special supper. Then she took the pastor's big fur coat
and hung it in front of the fire to dry, lighted the hanging lamp,
and moved her spinning wheel up to the table, so that she could
talk with the menfolk.

"I couldn't have had a better welcome had Big Ingmar himself
been alive," thought the pastor.

Halvor talked at length about the weather and the state of the
roads, then he asked the clergyman if he had got a good price for
his grain, and if he had succeeded in getting certain repairs made
that he had been wanting for such a long time. Karin then asked
after the pastor's wife, and hoped that there had been some
improvement in her health of late.

At that point the pastor's man came in and reported that the horse
had been dug out, the trace mended, and that all was in readiness
to start. But Karin and Halvor pressed the pastor to stay to
supper, and would not take no for an answer.

The coffee tray was brought in. On it were the large silver coffee
urn and the precious old silver sugar bowl, which was never used
save at such high functions as weddings and funerals, and there
were three big silver cake baskets full of fresh rusks and cookies.

The pastor's small, round eyes grew big with astonishment; he sat
as if in a trance, afraid of being awakened.

Halvor showed the pastor the skin of an elk, which had been shot i