Ragni stood with her back turned, and did not therefore notice two people who came from the right--a man with a round, shining face, and behind him a little woman anxious to see and yet remain unseen. But then the door just in front of her was opened and a peasant girl looked quietly in, attracted by the sweet sounds. Ragni understood that it must be their servant come from the kitchen, and she went up to her. "Are you Sigrid?" Yes, it was she. "Well, I am the doctor's wife." "I thought so," said she, coming quite into the room. She was a stout, nice-looking girl. "Is it the first time you are in service?" asked Kallem. Yes, it was. "And it is the first time we keep house," said Kallem; "it will be great fun!" Ragni went out to the kitchen; there she saw their new dinner-service, which had just been unpacked and washed. She was not fit for more, so she went out into the passage and upstairs, to be alone. The door to their bed-room stood open just in front of her, she went in and out on the balcony over the veranda. How had she deserved such great happiness? What was all her longing, and all her work, compared to what now awaited her in a rich man's home? But there was a terror of something, through all this undeserved happiness. And here she again glanced over northward--was the minister's house visible from here? No, it was not possible to see it. Josephine disliked her; she could feel it at once. And even if her brother thought it a shame--still he was very fond of his sister; there was something about her that he particularly admired; she was never mistaken in such matters. Down below, Kallem went round the rooms. The two who had stood in the right-hand door had retired again, and the men were hard at work. It was a large room, there were windows in it that looked both to the church and the garden; but he thought he would propose to shut up the former. The walls were self-coloured, light gray, the ceiling pale blue with gold stars; the paint was old and faded, only the floor had been freshly painted, light gray too. The room to the left was still being papered. Goodness! were they not yet ready? Nor in the next room either? There were two people at work, the man and woman who had appeared in the doorway. "Good-day!" said Kallem. "Good-day!" came the answer from the round shiny face, with a Danish accent. Kallem went up to the table where the man stood cutting; the woman was standing beside, but now she sidled behind him. "Is this your wife?" "Yes, it is; and she is my assistant too; both wife and assistant; but for all that a proper kind of wife too." The little woman behind him giggled, though almost inaudibly. The man had prominent rolling eyes with a roguish twinkle in them. "I fancied everything was ready." "There are always hindrances to one's work, doctor." She laughed heartily, but in a muffled sort of way. "Is she Danish too?" "No, she is Norwegian, but we get on very well together for all that."