"Nor is he asleep," said the seine-maker.

"He has walked so far to-day he's all tired out," said Katrina,
thinking it best to explain the matter in that way. At the same
time she bent down over her husband and tried to persuade him to
rise.

But Jan lay still.

"Does he understand what I'm saying?" asked the senator.

"Yes indeed," they all assured him.

"Perhaps he's not expecting any glad tidings, seeing it's Senator
Carl Carlson who is paying him a call." This from the seine-maker.

The senator turned his head and stared at the seine-maker. "Ol'
Bengtsa of Lusterby has not always been so afraid of meeting Carl
Carlson of Storvik," he observed in a mild voice. Turning toward
the table again, he took up a letter.

Every one was dumbfounded. The senator had actually spoken in a
friendly tone. He could almost be said to have smiled.

"The fact is," he began, "a couple of days ago I received a
communication from a person who calls herself Glory Goldie
Sunnycastle, daughter of Jan of Ruffluck, in which she says she
left home some months ago to try to earn two-hundred rix-dollars,
which sum her parents have to pay to Lars Gunnarson of Falla on the