"Ay, Thora, but that's somewhat sudden!" said the dominie. "Why did
he not wait till the end o' the week?"

Thora raised her blue eyes in my direction as though she would
appeal to me for an explanation. I did not then know, however, that
the true and immediate cause of Tom's absence was that he was not
in a fit condition to appear among his companions that morning on
account of the blow I had given him during our fight on the
previous evening.

After school time Thora came to me and told me of her brother's
return from the sealing expedition; of how he rushed into the house
with his nose bleeding. And she explained that, as they sat at
their porridge in the morning, she had noticed the purple patches
under his eyes and the swelling of the bridge of his nose.

I own that I felt extremely sorry for having inflicted these
injuries upon Tom, nor could I wholly hide from Thora the actual
cause of them. But when Mr. Drever asked about him Thora knew as
little of that cause as I did of the effect of my blow upon Tom's
nose.

Notwithstanding the many little quarrels between her brother and
herself, Thora was too generous to be glad at his misfortune; but I
fancied there was a glance of satisfaction in her eyes when I said
to her:

"It was a fight that we had, Thora. Tom and I quarrelled over some
old siller things we found across at Skaill when we were at the