Mrs. Brede remained quietly where she was, experienced, wise, and a little
surprised at all the excitement.

"All you can do with such a goat," she said, "is to slaughter it."

The lady, I understood, must have married early, for her two little girls
were twelve and ten. Her husband seemed to deal in important business, for
he spent a large part of the year in Iceland, and traveled a good deal
elsewhere as well. This, too, the lady bore quietly. And yet she was still
young and handsome, a little plump, perhaps, for her height, but with a
lovely, unwrinkled skin. She was quite unlike Miss Torsen, the only other
good-looking lady at the farm; Miss Torsen was tall and dark.

But perhaps Mrs. Brede was not always so calm as she seemed. One evening
when she went down to the men's hut and asked Solem to do her a service, I
saw that her face was strange and covered with blushes. Would Solem come
to her room and repair a window-blind that had fallen down? It was late in
the evening, and the lady seemed to have been in bed already, and to have
risen again. Solem did not appear very willing. Suddenly their eyes met,
and clung for a moment. Yes, certainly, of course he would come....

What an iron face he had, and what a rogue he was!

Mrs. Brede departed.

But a moment later she returned to say that she had changed her mind.
Never mind, thank you, she would fix the blind in position herself.