k and cunningly peered into
her soul's holy of holies? True, he loved Aasa; at least he thought he
did, and the conviction was growing stronger with every day that passed.
And now he had no doubt that he had gained her heart. It was not so much
the words of the ballad which had betrayed the secret; he hardly knew
what it was, but somehow the truth had flashed upon him, and he could no
longer doubt.

Vigfusson sat down on the moss-grown rock and pondered. How long he
sat there he did not know, but when he rose and looked around, Aasa
was gone. Then remembering her father's request to bring her home, he
hastened up the hill-side toward the mansion, and searched for her in
all directions. It was near midnight when he returned to Kvaerk, where
Aasa sat in her high gable window, still humming the weird melody of the
old ballad.

By what reasoning Vigfusson arrived at his final conclusion is difficult
to tell. If he had acted according to his first and perhaps most
generous impulse, the matter would soon have been decided; but he was
all the time possessed of a vague fear of acting dishonorably, and it
was probably this very fear which made him do what, to the minds of
those whose friendship and hospitality he had accepted, had something
of the appearance he wished so carefully to avoid. Aasa was rich; he had
nothing; it was a reason for delay, but hardly a conclusive one. They
did not know him; he must go out in the world and prove himself worthy
of her. He would come back when he should have compelled the world to
respect him; for as yet he had done nothing. In fact, his arguments were
good and honorable enough, and there would have been no fault to find
with him, had the object of his love been as capable of reasoning as he
was himself. But Aasa, poor thing, could do nothing by halves; a nature
like hers brooks no delay; to her love was life or it was death.

The next morning he appeared at breakfast with his knapsack on his back,
and otherwise equipped for his journey. It was of no use that Elsie
cried and begged him to stay, that Lage joined his prayers to hers, and
that Aasa stood staring at him with a bewildered gaze. Vigfusson
shook hands with them all, thanked them for their kindness to him,
and promised to return; he held Aasa's hand long in his, but when he
released it, it dropped helplessly at her side.

V.

Far up in the glen, about a mile from Kvaerk, ran a little brook; that
is, it was little in s