horse furiously, he was now meek as a lamb.

"Well, Olof groom, here am I!" he said, and sprang down from the
sledge. "It is true that I wish to have no more remorse over this
business. Take me in to Herr Arne!"

But it was with the heaviest steps he had ever known that Torarin
went across the yard to the house.

When the door was opened Torarin closed his eyes to avoid looking
into the room, but he tried to take heart by thinking of Herr
Arne. "He has given you many a good meal. He has bought your fish,
even when his own larder was full. He has always shown you
kindness in his lifetime, and assuredly he will not harm you after
death. Mayhap he has a service to ask of you. You must not forget,
Torarin, that we are to show gratitude to the dead as to the
living."

Torarin opened his eyes and looked down the room. He saw the great
hall just as he had seen it before. He recognized the high brick
stove and the woven tapestries that hung upon the walls. But he
glanced many times from wall to wall before daring to raise his
eyes to the table and the bench where Herr Arne had been wont to
sit.

At last he looked there, and then he saw Herr Arne himself sitting
in the flesh at the head of the table with his wife on one side
and his curate on the other, as he had seen him a week before. He
seemed to have just finished his meal, the dish was thrust away,
and his spoon lay on the table before him. All the old men and