"Don't you think it might attract people to the place? Oh, well, perhaps it wouldn't." And Paul withdrew. Madder than ever. Some people see flies. Paul saw goldfish. XX The lawyer is constantly in Miss Torsen's company; he even swings her in the children's swing, and puts his arm around her to steady her when the swing stops. Solem watches all this from the field where he is working, and begins to sing a ribald song. Certainly these two have so ill-used him that if he is going to sing improper songs in self-defense, this is the time to do it; no one will gainsay that. So he sang his song very loud, and then began to yodel. But Miss Torsen went on swinging, and the lawyer went on putting his arm round her and stopping her.... It was a Saturday evening. I stood talking to the lawyer in the garden; he didn't like the place, and wanted to leave, but Miss Torsen would not go with him, and going alone was such a bore. He did not conceal that the young woman meant something to him. Solem approached, and lifted his cap in greeting. Then he looked round quickly and began to talk to the lawyer--politely, as became his position of a servant: "The Danish gentleman is going to climb the peak tomorrow. I'm to take a rope and go with him." The lawyer was startled. "Is he--?" The blankness of the lawyer's face was a remarkable sight. His small, athletic brain failed him. A moment passed in silence. "Yes, early tomorrow morning," said Solem. "I thought I'd tell you. Because after all it was your idea first." "Yes, so it was," said the lawyer. "You're quite right. But now he'll be ahead of me." Solem knew how to get round that. "No, I didn't promise to go," he said. "I told him I had to go to the village tomorrow." "But we can't deceive him. I don't want to do that." "Pity," said Solem. "Everybody says the first one to climb the Blue Peak will be in all the papers." "He'll take offense," the lawyer murmured, considering the matter. But Solem urged him on: "I don't think so. Anyhow, you were the first one to talk about it." "Everybody here will know, and I'll be prevented," said the lawyer. "We can go at dawn," said Solem. In the end they came to an agreement. "You won't tell anyone?" the lawyer said to me. * * * * * The lawyer was missed in the course of the morning; he was not in his room, and not in the garden. "Perhaps the Danish mountaineer can tell us where he is," I said. But it transpired that the Dane had not even thought of climbing the Blue Peak that day, and knew nothing whatever about the expedition. This surprised me greatly. I looked at the clock; it was eleven. I had been watching the peak through my field glasses from the moment I got up, but there was nothing to be seen. It was five hours since the two men had left. At half-past eleven Solem came running back; he was drenched in sweat and exhausted. "Come and help us!" he called excitedly to the group of guests.