The song that Rupert heard that first evening continually rang in his
ears. He remembered some of the words, and, as he thought of them,
strange ideas came to him. One evening they were all sitting around the
fire in the living room. Rupert had been telling them some of his
history, and when the conversation lagged, he asked the two cousins to
sing that song about "O my Father." They readily consented.

"A most beautiful song," said Rupert at its close; "and so strange. It
seems to bring me back for an instant to some former existence, if that
were possible. What does it mean:

'In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside;
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side.'

"What does it mean?"

"Signe, you explain it," said Mr. Janson. "You know, you're a better
preacher than I am."

Signe made no excuses, but went to the little bookshelf and took from it
two books, her English and her Norwegian Bibles. She read for the most
part from the English now, but she always had the more familiar one at
hand to explain any doubtful passage.

"I vill do wat I can, Mr. Ames. I cannot read English good, so you must
do de reading." She opened the book and pointed to the fourth verse of
the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Job. Rupert read: