on its four sides by long, low wooden buildings.

II

At Solberga parsonage the priest, Herr Arne, sat at supper
surrounded by all his household. There was no stranger present but
Torarin.

Herr Arne was an old white-haired man, but he was still powerful
and erect. His wife sat beside him. To her the years had been
unkind; her head and her hands trembled, and she was nearly deaf.
On Herr Arne's other side sat his curate. He was a pale young man
with a look of trouble in his face, as though he was unable to
support all the learning he had gathered in during his years of
study at Wittenberg.

These three sat at the head of the table, a little apart from the
rest. Below them sat Torarin, and then the servants, who were old
like their master. There were three serving-men; their heads were
bald, their backs bent, and their eyes blinked and watered. Of
women there were but two. They were somewhat younger and more
able-bodied than the men, yet they too had a fragile look and were
afflicted with the infirmities of age.

At the farthest end of the table sat two children. One of them was
Herr Arne's niece, a child of no more than fourteen years. She was
fair-haired and of delicate build; her face had not yet reached
its fullness, but had a promise of beauty in it. She had another
little maid sitting beside her, a poor orphan without father or
mother, who had been given a home at the parsonage. The two sat