How could such a man love her, anyway? Was she really so very good looking? Signe looked down into the still, deep water and saw her own reflection asking the question over again. There! her face, at least, was but a little, ordinary pink and white one. Her eyes were of the common blue color. Her hair--well, it was a trifle wavy and more glossy than that of other girls, but--gluck! a stone broke her mirror into a hundred circling waves. Signe looked up with a start. There was Hagbert standing half concealed behind a bush. "Oh, I see you," she shouted. He came down to the water, grinning good-naturedly. "Well," said he, "I didn't think you were so vain as all that." "Can't a person look at the pebbles and fish at at the bottom of the lake without being vain?" and she laughed her confusion away. "Say, Hagbert, is your boat close by?" "Yes, just down by the north landing." "Oh, that's good. I thought I would have to wait until father came this evening to get home. You'll row me across, won't you?" "Why, certainly; but I thought you had gone to the _saeter_ to stay, at least a week." "Yes, but--but, I've come home again, you see." "Yes, I see," and he looked oddly at her. He had also seen Hr. Bogstad set out for the mountains two days before, and now he wondered. Hagbert fetched the boat, took in his passenger, and his strong arms soon sent the light craft to the other bank. "A thousand thanks, Hagbert," she said, as she sprang out, and then climbed up the steep path, and watched him pull back. He was a strong, handsome fellow, too, a poor fisherman, yet somehow, she felt easier in his company than in Hr. Bogstad's. Signe found no one at home. Her mother and the children had, no doubt, gone to the mainland to pick blueberries; so she went out into the garden to finish her book. She became so absorbed in her reading that she did not see her mother's start of surprise when they came home with their baskets full of berries. "Well, well, Signe, is that you? What's the matter?" exclaimed her mother. "Nothing, mother; only I couldn't stay up there any longer." And that was all the explanation her mother could get until the father came home that evening. He was tired and a little cross. From Hans he had heard a bit of gossip that irritated him, and Signe saw that her secret was not wholly her own. She feared her father. "Signe," said he, after supper, "I can guess pretty well why you came home so soon. I had a talk with Hr. Bogstad before he went to the _saeter_." The girl's heart beat rapidly, but she said nothing. "Did he speak to you about--why did you run away from him, girl?" "Father, you know I don't like Hr. Bogstad. I don't know why; he is nice and all that, but I don't like him anyway."