Well, if by chance you don't hear
from me again, you'll know something has happened!
Outside, the water was streaming down the channels into the fall. Peer
lay still for a while, only one knee moving up and down beneath the
clothes. He thought of his two friends. And he thought that he was now a
poor man--and that the greater part of the burden of the security would
fall now on old Lorentz D. Uthoug.
Clearly, Fate has other business on hand than making things easy for
you, Peer. You must fight your fight out single-handed.
Chapter XI
One evening in the late autumn Merle was sitting at home waiting for her
husband. He had been away for several weeks, so it was only natural that
she should make a little festivity of his return. The lamps were lit in
all the rooms, wood fires were crackling in all the stoves, the cook was
busy with his favourite dishes, and little Louise, now five years old,
had on her blue velvet frock. She was sitting on the floor, nursing two
dolls, and chattering to them. "Mind you're a good girl now, Josephine.
Your grandpa will be here directly." Merle looked in through the kitchen
door: "Have you brought up the claret, Bertha? That's right. You'd
better put it near the stove to warm." Then she went round all the rooms
again. The two youngest children were in bed--was there anything more to
be done?
It would be an hour at least before he could be here, yet she could not
help listening all the time for the sound of wheels.
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