."

"Yes, we are, brother."

"I am not Ole's betrothed, at all events."

"Almost," said the young girl; "and if any misfortune should befall
him, and he should not return from this voyage, you would be as
inconsolable as I would be, and your tears would flow quite as freely
as mine."

"Really, little sister. I forbid you to even speak of such a thing,"
replied Joel. "Ole not return from his last voyage to the great
fishing banks! What can have put such an idea into your head? You
surely can not mean what you say, Hulda!"

"No, certainly not. And yet, I do not know. I can not drive away
certain presentiments--the result, perhaps, of bad dreams."

"Dreams are only dreams."

"True, brother, but where do they come from?"

"From ourselves, not from heaven. You are anxious, and so your fears
haunt you in your slumber. Besides, it is almost always so when one
has earnestly desired a thing and the time when one's desires are to
be realized is approaching."

"I know it, Joel."

"Really, I thought you were much more sensible, little sister. Yes,
and more energetic. Here you have just received a letter from Joel
saying that the 'Viking' will return before the end of the month, and
it is now the 19th of April, and consequently none too soon for you to
begin your preparations for the wedding."

"Do you really think so, Joel?"

"Certainly I think so, Hulda. I even think that we have delayed too
long already. Think of it. We must have a wedding that will not only
create a sensation in Dal, but in all the neighboring villages. I
intend it shall be the grandest one ever known in the district, so I
am going to set to work immediately."

An affair of this kind is always a momentous occasion in all the
country districts of Norway, particularly in the Telemark, so that
every day Joel had a conversation with his mother on the subject. It
was only a few moments after Dame Hansen's meeting with the stranger,
whose message had so deeply agitated her, and though she had seated
herself at her spinning-wheel as usual, it would have been plain to a
close observer that her thoughts were far away.

Even Joel noticed that his mother seemed even more despondent than
usual, but as she invariably replied that there was nothing the matter
with her when she was questioned on the subject, her son decided to
speak only of Hulda's marriage.

"Mother," he began, "you, of course, recollect that Ole announced in
his last letter that he shoul