Towards noon, Lavrans and Simon took their ski and went out to see to some snares up on the mountain ridges. The weather was fine outside—sunshine, and the cold not so great. Both men were glad to slip away from all the sadness and weeping at home, and so they went far—right up among the bare hilltops. They lay in the sun under a crag and drank and ate; Lavrans spoke a little of Arne—he had loved the boy well, Simon chimed in, praised the dead lad, and said he thought it not strange that Kristin grieved for her foster brother. Then Lavrans said: maybe they should not press her much, but should give her a little time to get back her peace of mind before they drank the betrothal ale. She had said somewhat of wishing to go into a convent for a time. Simon sat bolt upright, and gave a long whistle. “You like not the thought?” asked Lavrans. “Nay, but I do, I do,” said the other hastily. “Methinks it is the best way, dear father-in-law. Send her to the Sisters in Oslo for a year—there will she learn how folk talk one of the other out in the world. I know a little of some of the maidens who are there,” he said laughing. “_They_ would not throw themselves down and die of grief if two mad younkers tore each other to pieces for their sakes. Not that I would have such an one for wife—but methinks Kristin will be none the worse for meeting new folks.” Lavrans put the rest of the food into the wallet and said, without looking at the youth: “Methinks you love Kristin—?” Simon laughed a little and did not look at Lavrans: “Be sure, I know her worth—and yours too,” he said quickly and shamefacedly, as he got up and took his ski. “None that I have ever met would I sooner wed with—” * * * * * A little before Easter, when there was still snow enough for sleighing down the Dale and the ice still bore on Mjösen, Kristin journeyed southward for the second time. Simon came up to bear her company—so now she journeyed driving in a sleigh, well wrapped in furs and with father and betrothed beside her; and after them followed her father’s men and sledges with her clothes, and gifts of food and furs for the Abbess and the Sisters of Nonneseter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BOOK TWO THE GARLAND ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 AASMUND BJÖRGULFSÖN’S church-boat stood in round the point of Hovedö early one Sunday at the end of April, while the bells were ringing in the cloister-church and were answered from across the bay by the chimes of bells from the town, now louder and now fainter as the breeze rose or fell.