to dance the Halling and the spring-dance. He
listened attentively while she spoke, gazing
earnestly into her face, but never interrupting
her. In his turn he described to her in his
slow deliberate way, how his father constantly
scolded him because he was not bright, and did
not care for politics and newspapers, and how
his mother wounded him with her sharp tongue
by making merry with him, even in the presence
of the servants and strangers. He did not seem
to imagine that there was anything wrong in
what he said, or that he placed himself in a
ludicrous light; nor did he seem to speak from
any unmanly craving for sympathy. His manner
was so simple and straightforward that
what Brita probably would have found strange
in another, she found perfectly natural in him.

It was nearly midnight when they parted{.}
She hardly slept at all that night, and she was
half vexed with herself for the interest she
took in this simple youth. The next morning
her father came up to pay her a visit and to see
how the flocks were thriving. She understood
that it would be dangerous to say anything to
him about Halvard, for she knew his temper
and feared the result, if he should ever discover
her secret. Therefore, she shunned an opportunity
to talk with him, and only busied herself
the more with the cattle and the cooking.