to make one laugh in that
book."

"Have you read it?" asked the priest.

"Yes; when I was in America. I read most of the English writers; indeed,
I have them all in my house now," he answered, and proceeded to give an
account of the cheap popular editions that could be obtained in America.

The laughter of young girls is not easily subdued; it was still ready to
bubble over when, after the saddler was furnished with a pipe, the
reading was resumed. Now to be sure there was a pretext. After a while
the priest grew tired and wanted to close the book, but the saddler
offered to continue the reading for him, and was allowed to do so. He
read in a dry, quiet manner, and with such an unfamiliar pronunciation
of the names of the personages and localities introduced that the humor
of the text became irresistible; even the priest joined in the laughter
which no one now attempted to restrain. It never occurred to the girls
to ask themselves why they were all obliged to laugh; they were still
laughing when they went up-stairs to go to bed, and while undressing
they imitated the saddler's walk, bowed and talked as he did, pronounced
the foreign words with his English accent. Magnhild was the most adroit
in mimicking; she had observed him the most closely.

At that time she was fifteen, in her sixteenth year.

The next day the girls passed every free moment in the dining-room,
which had now been transformed into a work-shop. The saddler told them
of a sojourn of several years in America, and of travels in England and
Germany; he talked without interrupting his work and with a frequent
intermingling of jests. His narratives were accompanied by the incessant
tittering of his listeners. They were scarcely aware themselves how they
gradually ceased laughing at him and laughed instead at the witty things
he said; neither did they observe until later how much they learned from
him. He was so greatly missed by the girls when he left that more than
half of their time together was occupied in conversation about him; this
lasted for many days after he was gone, and never wholly ceased.

There were two things which had made the strongest impression on
Magnhild. The first was the English and German songs the saddler had
sung for them. She had paid little attention to the text, unless perhaps
occasionally; but how the melodies had captivated her!

While singing hymns one Sunday they had first noticed that Skarlie had a
fine voice. Thence