"I thank you very much for the offer, but I should prefer to stay where I am." Ole looks at the schoolmaster, who explains: "Things seem in a muddle for Ole to-day; you see he was here once before, and the recollection of it makes it rather awkward." Ole, quickly: "Yes, that's it, I went on like a fool, I was striving so long with the girl, that the edge of the axe grew blunt. But byegones shall be byegones. Rain brooks soon dry up. May snow does not last long. It is not thunder that kills people." They all laughed, and the schoolmaster said, "Ole means that you must forget the past, and you also, Thore." Ole looks, and does not know whether he dare begin again. Then Thore says, "A sharp cut mends sooner than a tear, and you will find no scar upon me." Ole: "I did not know the lad that time. Now I see that things prosper under his hand; Autumn answers to Spring; he has money at his finger ends, and I should like to get hold of him." Ovind looks at his father, and he at the mother, she from them to the schoolmaster, and at last all eyes were fixed upon him. "Ole means that he has a large farm--" Ole interrupts: "A large farm but ill cultivated;--I cannot do more, I am old, and my feet refuse to obey my commands, but it would repay anyone to have a pull up there." "The largest farm in the district, and no mistake!" says the schoolmaster. "The largest farm in the district; that is just the misfortune, for great shoes won't keep on; it is all right to have a good gun, but you must be able to lift it." (With a quick glance at Ovind,) "You could perhaps give me a lift could you?" "To manage the farm?" "Just so; you should have the farm." "Should I GET the farm?" "Just so; and so you would have the charge of it." "But?--" "Will you not?" "Yes, of course." "Yes yes, yes yes, then it is settled, said the hen, when she flew on to the water." "But?----" Ole looks inquiringly at the schoolmaster. "Ovind wants to know if he is to have Marit?" Ole quickly, "Marit into the bargain, Marit into the bargain!" Ovind jumped up and laughed for joy, rubbed his hands, and ran about, repeating continuously, "Marit into the bargain! Marit into the bargain!" Thore laughed in deep chuckles; the mother sat up in the corner, with eyes constantly fixed on her son, till the tears came. Ole, very eagerly: "What do you think of the farm?" "It's excellent soil!" "Excellent, isn't it?" "And matchless pastures!" "Matchless pastures! Will it carry through?" "It shall be the best farm in the district!" "The best farm in the district? Do you think so? Do you mean it?" "As true as I stand here." "Just as I said!" They both of them spoke equally quickly, and corresponded to each other like a pair of wheels. "But the money, you see, the money? I have no money." "We shall get on slowly without money, but still we shall get on!" "We shall get on! To be sure we shall get on! But things would improve much quicker if we HAD money you say?"