an could just as well have gone inside; but he went on
puttering with his fishing tackle a while longer. He would rather
that Glory Goldie and Katrina should be in bed and asleep before he
crossed the threshold.

By and by, when he had heard no sound from within for ever so long,
he stole up to the house as cautiously as a thief.

The womenfolk had not retired. As Jan passed by the open window he
saw Glory Goldie sitting with her arms stretched out across the
table, her head resting on them. It looked as if she were still
crying. Katrina was standing back in the room wrapping her big
shawl around Glory Goldie's bundle of clothing.

"You needn't bother with that, mother," said Glory Goldie without
raising her head. "Can't you see that father is mad at me because
I'm leaving?"

"Then he'll have to get glad again," returned Katrina, calmly.

"You say that because you don't care for him," said the girl,
through her sobs. "All you think about is the hut. But father
and I, we think of each other, and I'll not leave him!"

"But what about the hut?" asked Katrina.

"It can go as it will with the hut, if only father will care for me
again."

Jan moved quietly away from the door, where he had been standing a
moment, listening, and sat down on the step. He never thought for
an instant that Glory Goldie would remain at home. Indeed he knew
better than did any one else that she must go away. All the same it
was to him as if the soft little bundle had again been laid in his
arms. His heart had been set going once more. Now it was beating
away in his breast as if trying to make up for lost time. With that
he felt that his armour of defence was gone.

Then came grief and longing. He saw them as dark shadows in among
the trees. He opened his arms to them, a smile of happiness
lighting his face.

"Welcome! Welcome!" he cried.

AT THE PIER

When the steamer _Anders Fryxell_ pulled out from the pier at Borg
Point with Glory Goldie of Ruffluck on board, Jan and Katrina stood
gazing after it until they could no longer see the faintest outline
of either the girl or the boat. Every one else had left the pier,
the watchman had hauled down the flag and locked the freight shed,
but they still tarried.

It was only natural that the parents should stand there as long as
they could see anything of the boat, but why they did not go their
ways afterward they hardly knew themselves. Perhaps they dreaded
the thought of going home ag