He had becomereticent again as he had perforce been
during his first year in thenew country.
Thanks, said Ellen without turning, though she had
stopped in herwork.
How much more intimate, he sometimes thought, was
his stillslenderer acquaintance with Mrs. Theirs was a side-play, acted in a niche
and off the stage .
And before long itsomehow was clear to him that
this was his future home.
Tell your mother Ill beback in the morning to
finish the hay. The pastor,in courtesy to the young people, merely changed into
English forthe ceremony. And he put the buildings up, a stable and a granary which,
so far,was to serve as a house .
There he met Nelson who was coming back from the
gate where theteams were tied.
I have the horses to look after, Niels
said.
There was no pumpyet; so she reached for pail and
rope. Somehow Niels felt that a barrier had arisen between him and hisfriend. No
doubt herhusband, then her lover, had seemed the fairy prince to her.
So he stopped in his tracks and greeted her. I saw
him well and alive onlyyesterday morning.
With a sinking heart he turned and strode off
across theclearing. In the confusion which followed Niels reached for his cap
andcaught Bobby by the shoulder.
And he put the buildings up, a stable and a granary
which, so far,was to serve as a house .
The two friends were harnessing their horses in
thestable. He took care to speak so the girl would hear it. Niels was reclining on
the bags that were piled on the grain whilethe horses slowly plodded along. All the
while her clear, inscrutable eyes were fixed on his face asthey passed each other.
Had he obeyed a hardly articulateimpulse, he would at once have got up again and
gone out. He slipped out again before the singing wasfinished.
Her eyes looked intohimself, knowingly,
reproachfully.
He lifted pail after pail and emptied them into her
tanks. But the fight drew sharp linesinto his face and made him seem older than he
was. Therell be lots of people about, Nelson went on. His only intercourse was with
Sigurdsen now.