another gave me cream, a third the butter.
Even one woman has brought me an egg or two, saying that they should be
boiled only for myself. Before long the house will be filled with a
crowd, and many strange stories will be told around the firesides. Whole
pitchers of beer will be emptied to the health of the old pastor and his
friends."

"They will dance?" asked Alete.

"No, mademoiselle, you will not have that profane amusement. But Nils the
schoolmaster has a very fine voice. Olaf the fisherman, and his brother
Christian, will be there also, and your cousin will be able to hear some
of the popular songs. He never heard anything like them in Paris."

"So be it," said Alete; "one or two rounds with those merry figures would
however have been amusing enough. Hark! it seems to me I hear hurras at
Nils's arrival. If the two others are come, may I bring him?"

"Do so, my child," said the pastor.

"Yes, go, Alete," said Ebba, gaily.

Alete went out, and came in shortly with three young men, who modestly
looked down, and twirled their hats between their fingers.

"Good morning, friends," said the pastor. "Alete has told you I had a
favor to ask. I have a friend here who does not know our old Swedish
songs, and I rely on you to give him a good idea."

The three young men looked toward Ireneus and then toward each other.
Then, being encouraged by signs from Ebba, and having drunken a glass of
wine which was offered them, they sang a song which was designated.

They sang, one after the other, the romance of Agnete, who was surprised
on the shore and borne beneath the water by the amorous _Neck_. That of
fair Carine, the victim of her virtue, the soul of whom flew to heaven in
the shape of a white dove, where it was again transformed into a joyous
harp, the sweet sounds of which won the crown of queen. Much to his
regret, Ireneus could not understand the sense of these songs, which are,
so to say, idyls and charming dramas. He however listened with
undefinable emotion to those simple and artless melodies, which, in their
expression of grief and joy, were so pure that they seemed to spring from
the very heart of the people. He begged Ebba to say to the singers how
delighted he was, and they then went to the kitchen to tell how pleased
the Parisian had been.

After dinner Alete and Ebba went into the drawing-room, and having
carefully shut the door, might have been heard going and coming, and
giving orders, while the pa