ff by heart
when he got home.

And now he sat down with great solemnity at the head of the table,
spread out the letter, and read it aloud to the boys. He was willing
enough that Oline also should see how easily he could read writing,
but he did not speak so much as a word to her directly. When he had
finished, he said: "There now, Eleseus, and you, Sivert, 'tis your
mother herself has written that letter and learned all these things.
Even that little tiny sister of yours, she knows more than all the
rest of us here. Remember that!" The boys sat still, wondering in
silence.

"Ay, 'tis a grand thing," said Oline.

And what did she mean by that? Was she doubting that Inger told the
truth? Or had she her suspicions as to Isak's reading? It was no easy
matter to get at what Oline really thought, when she sat there with
her simple face, saying dark things. Isak determined to take no
notice.

"And when your mother comes home, boys, you shall learn to write too,"
said he to the lads.

Oline shifted some clothes that were hanging near the stove to
dry; shifted a pot, shifted the clothes again, and busied herself
generally. She was thinking all the time.

"So fine and grand as everything's getting here," she said at last. "I
do think you might have bought a paper of coffee for the house."

"_Coffee_?" said Isak. It slipped out.

Oline answered quietly: "Up to now I've bought a little now and again
out of my own money, but...."

Coffee was a thing of dreams and fairy tales for Isak, a rainbow.
Oline was talking nonsense, of course. He was not angry with her,
no; but, slow of thought as he was, he called to mind at last her
bartering with the Lapps, and he said bitterly:

"Ay, I'll buy you coffee, that I will. A paper of coffee, was it? Why
not a pound? A pound of coffee, while you're about it."

"No need to talk that way, Isak. My brother Nils, he gets coffee; down
at Breidablik, too, they've coffee."

"Ay, for they've no milk. Not a drop of milk on the place, they've
not."

"That's as it may be. But you that know such a lot, and read writing
as pat as a cockroach running, you ought to know that coffee's a thing
should be in everybody's house."

"You creature!" said Isak.

At that Oline sat down and was not to be silenced. "As for that
Inger," said she, "if so be I may dare to say such a word...."

"Say what you will, 'tis all one to me."

"She'll be coming home, and learned everything of sorts. And beads