valley which was stretched out below, and she
could see the red roofs of the Blakstad mansion
peeping forth between the fir-trees. And she
wondered what they were doing down there,
whether Grimhild had done milking, and
whether her father had returned from the ford,
where it was his habit at this hour to ride with
the footmen to water the horses. As she sat
thus wondering, she was startled by a creaking
in the dry branches hard by, and lifting her eye,
she saw a tall, rather clumsily built, young man
emerging from the thicket. He had a broad
but low forehead, flaxen hair which hung down
over a pair of dull ox-like eyes; his mouth was
rather large and, as it was half open, displayed
two massive rows of shining white teeth. His
red peaked cap hung on the back of his head
and, although it was summer, his thick wadmal
vest was buttoned close up to his throat; over
his right arm he had flung his jacket, and in his
hand he held a bridle.

"Good evening," said Brita, "and thanks for
last meeting;" although she was not sure that
she had ever seen him before.

"It was that bay mare, you know," stammered
the man in a half apologetic tone, and
shook the bridle, as if in further explanation.