At last came the hot August day when the flags were hoisted in honour of
the expected guests. Once more the hum of mowing machines and hay-rakes
came from the hill-slopes, and the air was so still that the columns of
smoke from the chimneys of the town rose straight into the air. Peer
had risen early, to have a last look round, inspecting everything
critically, from the summer dress Merle was to wear down to the horses
in the stable, groomed till their coats shone again. Merle understood.
He had been a fisher-boy beside the well-dressed son of the doctor, and
something meaner yet in relation to the distinguished Holm family. And
there was still so much of the boy in him that he wanted to show now at
his very best.
A crowd of inquisitive idlers had gathered down on the steamboat landing
when the boat swung in and lay by the pier. The pair of bays in the
Loreng carriage stood tossing their heads and twitching and stamping as
the flies tormented them; but at last they got their passengers and were
given their heads, setting off with a wild bound or two that scattered
those who had pressed too near. But in the carriage they could see the
two strangers and the engineer, all three laughing and gesticulating,
and talking all at once. And in a few moments they vanished in a cloud
of dust, whirling away beside the calm waters of the fjord.
Some way behind them a cart followed, driven by one of the stable-boys
from Loreng, and loaded with big brass-bound leather trunks and a
huge chest, apparently of wood, but evidently containing something
frightfully heavy.
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