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Updated: June 19, 2025
However, he said nothing; but Ol' Bengtsa must have noticed that he was beginning to be bored, for he turned to him with the remark: "What do you say to all this, Nils? I suppose you're sitting there thinking to yourself it's very strange Our Lord hasn't written a commandment for parents on how they shall treat their children?" This was wholly unexpected.
When the old man told his son that Lars Gunnarson was not likely to come to the party this year, the latter was very much disappointed. "But it's no fault of mine," Ol' Bengsta declared. "Lars isn't exactly my kind, but all the same, on your account, I went down to Falla yesterday and invited him." "Maybe he's weary of these parties," said the son. "Oh, no," returned Ol' Bengtsa.
There was a strong, glad ring in his voice, that betrayed an eagerness he would rather not have shown, for he knew of old that one could never be quite sure of Ol' Bengtsa in the very next breath he might say it was just a yarn. "You don't believe me," observed the old man. "Would you like to see the note? Run in and get it, Lisa!" Almost immediately the son had the note before his eyes.
He felt it was hardly fair to Katrina not to let her know what was taking place. But Katrina had gone to the seine-maker's party and was not back yet. If he only had the strength to drag himself thither! He would have liked to say a word of farewell to Ol' Bengtsa, too. He was very glad when he presently saw Katrina coming down the lane, accompanied by the seine-maker.
"For that I have to thank my good friend Ol' Bengtsa!" said Jan, with an air of mystery. "He's the one who has cured me." Jan said good-bye, and left at once. For a long while the seine-maker sat gazing out after him. "I don't know what he can have meant by saying that I have cured him," the old man remarked to his daughter-in-law. "It can't be that he's ? No, no!"
"Now it's altogether different with Lisa," said Ol' Bengtsa, pointing at the daughter-in-law with whom he lived. "She scolds me every day for not holding on to my property." The daughter-in-law, not in the least perturbed, retorted with a good-natured laugh: "And you scold me because I can't find time to patch all the holes in the boys' clothes." "That's true," the old man admitted.
"Perhaps he's not expecting any glad tidings, seeing it's Senator Carl Carlson who is paying him a call." This from the seine-maker. The senator turned his head and stared at the seine-maker. "Ol' Bengtsa of Lusterby has not always been so afraid of meeting Carl Carlson of Storvik," he observed in a mild voice. Turning toward the table again, he took up a letter. Every one was dumbfounded.
Yes, there was certainly something he wished the son to say to Confess but surely he did not expect him to liken himself to one who was suspected of having caused the death of his father-in-law? Ol' Bengtsa did not bait his hook again. He stood upon a stone, with his hands folded his half-dead eyes fixed on the smooth water.
Naturally he found it difficult to excuse the father's careless business methods, but he kept his thoughts to himself. When the crash came for Ol' Bengtsa, a good many persons, Bengtsa among them, expected the son to come to his aid by the sacrifice of his own property. But what good would that have done? It would only have gone to the creditors.
But go where he would, he felt that the dim, lustreless eyes of the old man were following him. And this time he was actually glad when the guests arrived. The dinner was served out of doors. When Ol' Bengtsa had taken his place at the board he tried to cast off all worry and anxiety.
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