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Blissfully ignorant on these points, he resumed his refractory oars, and after nearly an hour of laborious effort, succeeded at last in reaching his destination. Arrived at the little pier, he fastened up his boat, and with the lofty air of a thoroughly moral man, he walked deliberately up to the door of the bonde's house.
He could not help comparing the bonde's departure from this life with that of Sir Francis Lennox, the man of false fashion, who had let slip his withered soul with an oath into the land of Nowhere. Presently Thelma grew calmer, and began to speak in hushed, soft tones "Poor Valdemar!" she said meditatively. "His heart must ache very much, Philip!" Philip looked up inquiringly.
The Lapp, after the manner of his race, was easily frightened, and cowered back, terrified at the bonde's menacing gesture and fierce tone, but quickly bethinking himself of the liberal fee he clutched in his palm, he volunteered a warning to this kingly old man with the streaming white hair and beard, and his keen eyes that were already fixed on the dark sweep of the rough, uneven road winding towards the Altenfjord.
Weel what wi' her face an' the auld bonde's talk, I reflectit that I couldna be a meen-ister as meen-isters go, an' that I must e'en follow oot the Testament's teachings according to ma own way of thinkin'. First, I fancied I'd rough it abroad as a meesionary then I remembered the savages at hame, an' decided to attend to them before onything else.
Valdemar Svensen had hastily blurted out the news of the bonde's death even while she and Sir Philip were alighting from their sledge and in the same breath had told them of Thelma's dangerous illness. What wonder, then, that Britta sobbed hysterically, and refused to be comforted, what wonder that she turned upon Ulrika as that personage approached, in a burst of unreasonable anger.
Sir Philip reverently opened the folded paper which Svensen had committed to his care that morning, and together they read the bonde's farewell. It ran as follows: "The summons I have waited for has come at last, and the doors of Valhalla are set open to receive my soul. Wonder not that I depart with joy!
There was indeed but a short distance to go, the narrow wooded defile opened out on two roads, one leading direct to Bosekop the other, steep and tortuous, winding down to the shore of the Fjord this latter passed the bonde's gate.
Ulrika pulled a thick shawl from the nail where it hung and wrapped it round her. "I am ready," she said, and without more delay, stepped into the waiting sledge, while Valdemar, with an exclamation of gratitude and relief, took his place beside her. "But how is it?" she asked, as the reindeer started off at full speed, "how is it that the bonde's daughter is again at the Altenfjord?"
"And something in the ither way has happened vera suddenly to Mr. Gueldmar," returned Macfarlane. "Th' auld man is in the dumps." The bonde's face in truth looked sad and somewhat stern. He scarcely spoke at all as he took his place in the boat beside his daughter, once he raised her little hand, looked at it, and kissed it fondly.
"At the side of the knoll is the bonde's house, a good eight-mile walk from the outskirts of Bosekop. Should you ever seek to rest there, gentlemen," and Svensen spoke with quiet resolution, "I doubt whether you will receive a pleasant welcome." And he looked at them both with an inquisitive air, as though seeking to discover their intentions.
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