It was a beautiful day, with a clear sky above the brown moors and distant blue mountain ridges, and the snow-fields lay shining like silver in the sun.
In the evening Einar went down to the lake and pushed off the boat. He had thought for a time that the whole world was extinguished, and that he ought to jump into the water because he was too full of shame to live. But from force of habit he once more recalled the young girl to his mind; and just because he himself now stood so immeasurably low, it seemed to him that she stood high--high, and stretched out her hands to rescue him. He rowed slowly over the smooth water, in the middle of which the red sky was reflected. Twilight enveloped the silent shores in a light haze. The houses and the green fold of Norby Sæter were reflected in the water, and in the wake of the boat lay two rows of rings in the water, left by the dip of his oars.
Gradually he seemed to enter a peaceful land, and at last he shipped the oars, and let the boat drift. Gradually the world grew large and radiant. The moors looked at him and smiled. Everybody was happy in the main.
"Good heavens!" he thought. "Now I'm beginning to understand what love is."
ONE Saturday afternoon, Thora of Lidarende went out towards the Sound. It was in hay-making time, and the mowers were on the hills, making the hay into cocks for the evening. The fresh scent of hay was wafted through the air. Lake Mjösen lay still and clear, so that Fru Thora could see the stony bottom a long way out.
She turned up the avenue to the big parish school building, entered the yard, and hastened up the steps, for there were others she must manage to call on to-day.
Although the principal was occupied for the time being with some pupils in dialect, his wife went and fetched him when she heard that Fru Thora had come on an important errand; and soon they were all three sitting round a table in the large, comfortable drawing-room, with port wine in front of them.
Principal Heggen was a man of about fifty years of age, with a bald head, a long brown beard, and spectacles. He had a fine, high forehead, and nice eyes. He was well known for his kind disposition, and as he was most unsuspecting, he loved many things. As regarded religion, he was a warm advocate of a national Christianity.