edside and grinned with glee, thinking it could creep inside and
lie down in the angel's place.

But when it saw that the angel of God still guarded the child, it
began to writhe as if suffering the torments of hell, and shrank
back toward the floor.

The next day the little girl was on the road to recovery. Katrina
was so glad the fever was broken that she had not the heart to say
anything about the spoiled wedding shirt, though she probably
thought to herself that she had a fool of a husband.

CALLING ON RELATIVES

0ne Sunday afternoon Jan and Glory Goldie set out together in the
direction of the big forest; the little girl was then in her fifth
year.

Silent and serious, father and little daughter walked hand in hand,
as if bent upon a very solemn mission. They went past the shaded
birch grove, their favourite haunt, past the wild strawberry hill
and the winding brook, without stopping; then, disappearing in an
easterly direction, they went into the densest part of the forest;
nor did they stop there. Wherever could they be going? By and by
they came out on a wooded hill above Loby. From there they went
down to the scale-pan, where country-road and town-road cross. They
did not go to Naesta or to Nysta, and never even glanced toward Daer
Fram and Pa Valln, but went farther and farther into the village.
No one could have told just where they were bound for. Surely they
could not be thinking of calling upon the Hindricksons, here in
Loby?

To be sure Bjoern Hindrickson's wife was a half-sister of Jan's
mother, so that Jan was actually related to the richest people in
the parish, and he had a right to call Hindrickson and his wife
uncle and aunt. But heretofore he had never claimed kinship with
these people. Even to Katrina he had barely mentioned the fact that
he had such high connections. Jan would always step out of the way
when he saw Bjoern Hindrickson coming, and not even at church did he
go up and shake hands with him.

But now that Jan had such a remarkable little daughter he was
something more than just a poor labourer. He had a jewel to show
and a flower with which to adorn himself. Therefore he was as rich
as the richest, as great as the greatest, and now he was going
straight to the big house of Bjoern Hindrickson to pay his respects
to his fine relatives, for the first time in his life.

The visit at the big house was not a long one. In less than an hour
after their arrival, Jan and the litt