“It has not tired you too much?” asked Mrs. Boniface, glancing up at Frithiof. There was a glow of health in his face which she had never before seen, and his expression, which had once been stern, had grown much more gentle. “But I see,” she added, “that is a foolish question, for I don’t think I have ever seen you looking better. It seems to me this is the sort of exercise you need. We let you stay much too long over that translating in the old days.” “Yes,” said Sigrid; “I hardly know whether to laugh or cry when I think of Frithiof, of all people in the world, doing learned translations for such a man as Herr Sivertsen. He never could endure sedentary life.” “And yet,” said Mr. Boniface, pacing along the veranda with her, “I tried in vain to make him take up cricket. He declared that in Norway you did not go in for our English notions of exercise for the sake of exercise.” “Perhaps not,” said Sigrid; “but he was always going in for the wildest adventures, and never had the least taste for books. Poor Frithiof, it only shows how brave and resolute he is; he is so set upon paying off these debts that he will sacrifice everything to that one idea, and will keep to work which must be hateful to him.” “He is a fine fellow,” said Mr. Boniface. “I had hardly realized what his previous life must have been, though of course I knew that the drudgery of shop life was sorely against the grain.” “Ever since he was old enough to hold a gun, he used to go with my father in August to the mountains in North Fjord for the reindeer hunting,” said Sigrid. “And every Sunday through the winter he used to go by himself on the wildest excursions after sea-birds. My father said it was good training for him, and as long as he took with him old Nils, his skydsmand—I think you call that boatman in English—he was never worried about him when he was away. But sometimes I was afraid for him, and old Gro, our nurse, always declared that he would end by being drowned. Come here, Frithiof, and tell Mr. Boniface about your night on the fjord by Bukken.” His eyes lighted up at the recollection.