"Well, well, goodman, what dos't matter what verse you left off
at," said his wife. "A good tale's none the worse of being told
twice."

"Nay, but," said Thora, "just look for fun and see what the
fourteenth verse ends with."

"Fun, lassie! fun!" exclaimed Carver, as though he was seriously
shocked. "Would you speak o' fun and the Holy Scripture lying open
before you?"

"O, but, father, I had no mind. A body canna aye be minding. Look
and see not for fun, then."

"Tut, tut!" said the mother, becoming impatient, "can you not begin
at the fifteenth verse? What dos't matter if ye read it before?"

"Aweel, then, the fifteenth verse, 'Now, when he'"--

"Listen, father!" cried Thora, again interrupting, "did you not
hear something?"

"Well did I hear something, and I hear it yet--the rain pelting on
the window. I'm sure you've heard it this two hours and more."

"Nay, but it was like something twirling at the handle of the
door."

"You hear things nobody else hears, Thora. Who could be at the door
on a day like this? You just think you hear things. I was sure
'people' was not the last word."

Carver listened, however, for a time. The rain beat harder than
ever on the windows, and from the neighbouring cliffs came the
sound of the waves like a rumbling of distant thunder. But as he
looked up from his book I knocked gently on the door.

"Who's there?" he asked in a gruff tone that had in it no echo of
charity.

Thora rose from her seat and came towards the door, where I stood
in a stream of water that ran from my wet clothes.

"Oh, Halcro!" she exclaimed as she looked down at my cold, bare
feet and saw the blood issuing from the wound in my ankle. "Oh,
Halcro, what has happened?" and she opened wide the door to admit
me.

"What does the lad want here?" asked Carver.

I had never been asked such a question before. I had been
accustomed to go about the island all my boyhood, and to walk in at
any door I came to with the assurance that no person would question
me as to what I wanted. At length, without going further than the
threshold, I said:

"I was thinking you would give me shelter for a short time on a day
like this."

"On a day like this," replied he, "none but a fool would think of
travelling; and if it's shelter you're seeking here, young Ericson,
I say no!" and the unfeeling "No" was echoed by all the others in
the room, with one exception. That exception was Thora.

I saw the girl's hands quick