you?"

And the engineer went on his way.

That same evening, a man came up from the village with a basket--he
handed out some bottles to the workmen, and went off again. But after
he had gone, it was no longer so quiet about the place; some one
played an accordion, the men talked loudly, and there was singing, and
even dancing, at Sellanraa. One of the men asked Inger out to dance,
and Inger--who would have thought it of her?--she laughed a little
laugh and actually danced a few turns round. After that, some of the
others asked her, and she danced not a little in the end.

Inger--who could say what was in her mind? Here she was dancing gaily,
maybe for the first time in her life; sought after, riotously pursued
by thirty men, and she alone, the only one to choose from, no one to
cut her out. And those burly telegraph men--how they lifted her! Why
not dance? Eleseus and Sivert were fast asleep in the little chamber,
undisturbed by all the noise outside; little Leopoldine was up,
looking on wonderingly at her mother as she danced.

Isak was out in the fields all the time; he had gone off directly
after supper, and when he came home to go to bed, some one offered
him a bottle. He drank a little, and sat watching the dancing, with
Leopoldine on his lap.

"'Tis a gay time you're having," said he kindly to Inger--"footing it
properly tonight!"

After a while, the music stopped, and the dance was over. The workmen
got ready to leave--they were going down to the village for the rest
of the evening, and would be there all next day, coming back on Monday
morning. Soon all was quiet again at Sellanraa; a couple of the older
men stayed behind, and turned in to sleep in the barn.

Isak woke up in the night--Inger was not there. Could she be gone to
see to the cows? He got up and went across to the cowshed. "Inger!" he
called. No answer. The cows turned their heads and looked at him; all
was still. Unthinkingly, from ancient habit, he counted heads, counted
the sheep also; there was one of the ewes had a bad habit of staying
out at night--and out it was now, "Inger!" he called again. Still no
answer. Surely she couldn't have gone with them down to the village?

The summer night was light and warm. Isak stayed a while sitting on
the door-slab, then he went out into the woods to look for the ewe.
And he found Inger. Inger and one other. They sat in the heather, she
twirling his peaked cap on one finger, both talking together--