"I cannot understand him," Frue Bogstad was saying. "His actions are so
strange."

"It's simply wicked of him," added Froken Selma Bogstad. "He is bringing
the whole family into disrepute."

The mother did not reply, but turned her face thoughtfully away from the
angry daughter.

"The boy is completely carried away with this American religion,"
continued the girl, pacing nervously back and forth in the room. "Pastor
Tonset called to see him the other day, and you ought to have heard
them! The pastor, as our friend, came to advise him; but do you think
Henrik would take any advice? Why, he even argued with the pastor,
saying that he could prove the truth of this religion from the
Scriptures."

"Has he talked to you about it?"

"Yes; and he wanted me to accompany him to Osterhausgaden where these
people hold meetings. I told him definitely and forcibly that I didn't
want him to mention religion to me."

"He seems to be in such deep earnest."

"And that's the pity of it. It does no good to talk to him. He takes it
for granted that he should be persecuted. I believe he is ready to give
up everything for this creed that has him in its grasp."

A violent ringing of the bell brought Selma to the door. It was Henrik,