inhuman to talk to him of such things on the way home from his
first ball.

Beyond the shop there was a little dark room for the shop-boy.
There sat Petter Nord of to-day and came to an understanding with
Petter Nord of yesterday. How pale and cowardly the churl looked.
Now he heard what he really was. A thief and a miser. Did he know
the seventh commandment? By rights he ought to have forty stripes.
That was what he deserved.

God be blessed and praised for having let him go to the ball and
get a new view of it all. Usch! what ugly thoughts he had had; but
now it was quite changed. As if riches were worth sacrificing
conscience and the soul's freedom for their sake! As if they were
worth as much as a white mouse, if the heart could not be glad at
the same time! He clapped his hands and cried out in joy--that he
was free, free, free! There was not even a longing to possess the
fifty crowns in his heart. How good it was to be happy!

When he had gone to bed, he thought that he would show Halfvorson
the fifty crowns early the next morning. Then he became uneasy that
the tradesman might come into the shop before him the next morning,
search for the note and find it. He might easily think that Petter
Nord had hidden it to keep it. The thought gave him no peace. He
tried to shake it off, but he could not succeed. He could not
sleep. So he rose, crept into the shop and felt about till he found
the fifty crowns. Then he fell asleep with the note under his pillow.

An hour later he awoke. A light shone sharply in his eyes; a hand
was fumbling under his pillow and a rumbling voice was scolding and