CHAPTER XIKNUTNORBYdrove home through the still night with Marit and Ingeborg, as the other two stayed on for the dancing. A golden moon had risen above the hills in the east, and shone upon the waving corn-fields and the calm fjord. It was such good weather just now for the crops that it promised to be a good harvest; and as Knut sat there he was filled with a gentle peace, and felt a desire to thank God.As they passed the churchyard, he looked in involuntarily. Who could tell how soon he might be lying there? It was better to make good use of the time while one had it. Lars Kleven lay there now—he who so wanted to lie quiet in his grave. Well, God grant he might have peace! And there lay the dairy-maid in her freshly-made grave, and was perhaps dreaming now in the early morning that she had to get up to go to the cows.A warm wind sighed on the leafy slopes, and brought a scent of fermenting hay from the lofts about. Mountain and lake lay in a great calm peace.“Thank God!” said Ingeborg, looking up at thestars; and they all three sat with the same feeling, and words were unnecessary.When at length they drove into the yard, Knut saw that the flag was still up; the servants had forgotten to take it down. But Norby did not get angry now; he could take it down himself.When he called for some one to take the horse, no one came.“Have they all gone to bed?” said Marit, a little out of humour.“Oh well,” said Norby, “it’s not much to be wondered at; they have to be up in the morning.” And he began to unharness the horse himself.When at length he came up to the bedroom, Marit already lay yawning in bed, but Norby began to pace up and down the floor, with his thumbs hooked into the armholes of his waistcoat. He was in far too good humour to go to bed at once.“Ah well,” said Marit quietly, “this can be an example to others, and encourage people to be patient and enduring.”“Yes,” said Norby, stopping at the window, where he could see the fjord in the moonlight, “the main thing is to act honourably and uprightly.” In a little while he said: “I don’t know how it is, but I seem to have been away from Norby for a long time, and only to have properly come home again now.”“Dear me, yes!” yawned Marit. “But it has been a hard time.”Norby still looked out over the lake in the moonlight.“There must have been some purpose in it all,” he said. “I may often have acted with too great severity, but now I think it will be better for every one in the district. I shall do my part, at any rate.”His wife did not answer: presumably she was too tired.When at last Norby got into bed, he folded his hands and said a couple of verses of a hymn. He felt so near to God; and the respect and sympathy of the whole district now shone into his conscience, but he would thank God for it all.“But there is one thing I can’t understand,” he thought after a while, “and that is how people can stand like Wangen with a calm face and lie in court. God help those who have no more conscience than to do it!”Printed by BALLANTYNE& CO. LIMITEDTavistock Street, Covent Garden London
KNUTNORBYdrove home through the still night with Marit and Ingeborg, as the other two stayed on for the dancing. A golden moon had risen above the hills in the east, and shone upon the waving corn-fields and the calm fjord. It was such good weather just now for the crops that it promised to be a good harvest; and as Knut sat there he was filled with a gentle peace, and felt a desire to thank God.
As they passed the churchyard, he looked in involuntarily. Who could tell how soon he might be lying there? It was better to make good use of the time while one had it. Lars Kleven lay there now—he who so wanted to lie quiet in his grave. Well, God grant he might have peace! And there lay the dairy-maid in her freshly-made grave, and was perhaps dreaming now in the early morning that she had to get up to go to the cows.
A warm wind sighed on the leafy slopes, and brought a scent of fermenting hay from the lofts about. Mountain and lake lay in a great calm peace.
“Thank God!” said Ingeborg, looking up at thestars; and they all three sat with the same feeling, and words were unnecessary.
When at length they drove into the yard, Knut saw that the flag was still up; the servants had forgotten to take it down. But Norby did not get angry now; he could take it down himself.
When he called for some one to take the horse, no one came.
“Have they all gone to bed?” said Marit, a little out of humour.
“Oh well,” said Norby, “it’s not much to be wondered at; they have to be up in the morning.” And he began to unharness the horse himself.
When at length he came up to the bedroom, Marit already lay yawning in bed, but Norby began to pace up and down the floor, with his thumbs hooked into the armholes of his waistcoat. He was in far too good humour to go to bed at once.
“Ah well,” said Marit quietly, “this can be an example to others, and encourage people to be patient and enduring.”
“Yes,” said Norby, stopping at the window, where he could see the fjord in the moonlight, “the main thing is to act honourably and uprightly.” In a little while he said: “I don’t know how it is, but I seem to have been away from Norby for a long time, and only to have properly come home again now.”
“Dear me, yes!” yawned Marit. “But it has been a hard time.”
Norby still looked out over the lake in the moonlight.“There must have been some purpose in it all,” he said. “I may often have acted with too great severity, but now I think it will be better for every one in the district. I shall do my part, at any rate.”
His wife did not answer: presumably she was too tired.
When at last Norby got into bed, he folded his hands and said a couple of verses of a hymn. He felt so near to God; and the respect and sympathy of the whole district now shone into his conscience, but he would thank God for it all.
“But there is one thing I can’t understand,” he thought after a while, “and that is how people can stand like Wangen with a calm face and lie in court. God help those who have no more conscience than to do it!”
Printed by BALLANTYNE& CO. LIMITEDTavistock Street, Covent Garden London