to be distracted from all she had to think of. Her simple dress of blue
serge had become too tight for her, so that the collar cut slightly into
her neck, forming a little fold in the skin below the hair.

'These country girls are very white-skinned,' said one of the
fish-buyers to the other. They were young men, and talked about Karen as
connoisseurs.

At the window was a man who looked at the clock and said: 'The post
comes early to-night.'

There was a rumbling of wheels on the paving-stones without, the
stable-door was flung open, and the wind again rattled all the doors and
drove smoke out of the stove.

Karen slipped out into the kitchen the moment the door of the parlour
was opened. The mail-guard entered, and said 'good-evening' to the
company.

He was a tall, handsome man, with dark eyes, black curly hair and beard,
and a small, well-shaped head. The long rich cloak of King of Denmark's
magnificent red cloth was adorned with a broad collar of curled dogskin
that drooped over his shoulders.

All the dim, sickly light from the two paraffin lamps that hung over
the table seemed to fall affectionately upon the red colour, which
contrasted so strikingly with the sober black and gray tints of all else
in the room. And the tall figure with the small curly head, the broad
collar, and the long purple folds, became, as he walked through the
low-roofed, smoky room, a marvel of beauty and magnificence.