over her head.

When Nils greeted his mother and climbed into the front seat
of the motor beside her, Mrs. Ericson looked grim, but she
made no comment upon his truancy until she had turned her car and
was retracing her revolutions along the road that ran by Olaf's big
pasture. Then she remarked dryly:

"If I were you I wouldn't see too much of Olaf's wife while
you are here. She's the kind of woman who can't see much of men
without getting herself talked about. She was a good deal talked
about before he married her."

"Hasn't Olaf tamed her?" Nils asked indifferently.

Mrs. Ericson shrugged her massive shoulders. "Olaf don't seem
to have much luck, when it comes to wives. The first one was meek
enough, but she was always ailing. And this one has her own way.
He says if he quarreled with her she'd go back to her father, and
then he'd lose the Bohemian vote. There are a great many Bohunks
in this district. But when you find a man under his wife's thumb
you can always be sure there's a soft spot in him somewhere."

Nils thought of his own father, and smiled. "She brought him
a good deal of money, didn't she, besides the Bohemian vote?"

Mrs. Ericson sniffed. "Well, she has a fair half section in
her own name, but I can't see as that does Olaf much good. She
will have a good deal of property some day, if old Vavrika don't
marry again. But I don't consider a saloonkeeper's money as good