Börje rose at once, opened the door, and glanced up and down the
entry.

"There's nobody out there," he replied. "Jan must have heard
wrongly."

After this interruption the pastor proceeded to explain to his
listeners that this commandment was not so much of a command as it
was good counsel, which should be strictly followed if one wished
to succeed in life. He was himself only a youth, but this much he
had already observed: lack of respect toward parents and
disobedience were at the bottom of many of life's misfortunes.

While the pastor was speaking Jan time and again turned his head
toward the door and he motioned to Katrina, who was sitting on the
last bench and could more easily get to the door than he could, to
go open it.

Katrina kept her seat as long as she dared; but being a bit fearful
of crossing Jan these days, she finally obeyed him. When she had
got the door open, she, like Börje, saw no one in the entry. She
shook her head at Jan and went back to her seat.

The pastor had not allowed himself to be disconcerted by Katrina's
movements. To the great joy of all the young people, he had almost
ceased putting questions and was voicing some of the beautiful
thoughts that kept coming into his mind.

"Think how wisely and well things are ordered for the dear old