"I was just about to go my way, when it came to me to ask her where
the wedding was going to be held--here or at her home. 'We're
thinking of having it here, where there is plenty of room.' 'Then
see to it that the wedding day isn't put off too long,' I warned.
'We are to be married in a month,' she answered.

"But before Brita and I parted company, it struck me that the
Ingmarssons had had a poor harvest, so I said it was not likely
that they would have a wedding that year. 'In that case I shall
have to jump into the river,' she declared.

"A month later I was told that the wedding had been put off and,
fearing that this would not end well, I went straight to Bergskog
and had a talk with Brita's mother. 'They are certainly making a
stupid blunder down at the Ingmar Farm,' I told her. 'We are
satisfied with their way of doing things,' she said. 'Every day we
thank God that our daughter has been so well provided for.'"

"Mother needn't have given herself all this bother," Ingmar was
thinking, "for no one from this farm is going to fetch Brita. There
was no reason for her being so upset at the sight of the arch: that
is only one of those things a man does so that he can turn to our
Lord and say: 'I wanted to do it. Surely you must see that I meant
to do it.' But doing it is another matter."

"The last time I saw Brita," Kaisa vent on, "was in the middle of
the winter after a big snowfall. I had come to a narrow path in the
wild forest, where it was heavy walking. Soon I came upon some one
who was sitting in the snow, resting. It was Brita. 'Are you all by
yourself up here?' I asked. 'Yes, I'm out for a walk.' she said. I