py Christmas!" And he was
gone.

They unpacked the parcel in the living room. It contained everything
they had asked for, and many other things beside, which they had
often wished for but had never dreamt of ordering: a calendar with
stories, a pound of cooking chocolate, and a bottle of old French
wine. "It's just like the Lord," said Ditte in whose mind there were
still the remains of the parson's teaching--"when it looks blackest
He always helps."

"Ah, the inn-keeper's a funny fellow, there we've been begging for
things and got nothing but kicks in return; and then he brings
everything himself! He's up to something, I'm afraid. Well, whatever
it may be--the things'll taste none the worse for it!" Lars Peter
was not in the least touched by the gift.

Whatever it might be--at all events it did not end with Christmas.
They continued to get goods from the store. The inn-keeper often
crossed off things from the list, which he considered superfluous,
but the children never returned with an empty basket. Ditte still
thought she saw the hand of Providence in this, but Lars Peter
viewed it more soberly.

"The devil, he can't let us starve to death, when we're working for
him," said he. "You'll see the rascal's found out that there's
nothing more to be got out of us, he's a sharp nose, he has."

The explanation was not entirely satisfactory--even to Lars Peter
himself. There was something about the inn-keeper which could not be
reckoned as money. He was anxious to rule, and did not spare himself
in any way. He was always up and doing; he had every family's
affairs in his head, knew them better than they did themselves, and
interfered. There was both good and bad in his knowledge; no-one
knew when to expect him.

Lars Peter was to feel his fatherly care in a new direction. One day
the inn-keeper said casually: "that's a big girl, you've got there,
Lars Peter; she ought to be able to pay for her keep soon."

"She's earned her bread for many a year, and more too!" answered
Lars Peter. "I don't know what I'd have done without her."

The inn-keeper went on his way, but another time when Lars Peter was
outside chopping wood he came again and began where he left off. "I
don't like to see children hanging about after they've been
confirmed," said he. "The sooner they get out the quicker they learn
to look after themselves."

"Poor people learn that soon enough whether they are at home or out
at service," answered Lars Pe