ha--he appreciated me: 'a great hand at swearing in Icelandic,' he said!"

Everybody laughed, and his wife asked:

"And what did you say?"

"What did I say? Why, I couldn't say anything, could I, ha, ha, ha!"

Then another man from Bergen took the floor: we must not forget we had the
family of a real man of the world with us here--his wife, "this peerless
lady, scattering charm and delight about her," and the children, dancing
butterflies! And a few minutes later, "Hip, hip, hurrah!" followed by a
flourish on the piano.

The manufacturer drank a toast with his wife.

"Well, that's that!" was all he said.

Mrs. Molie sat off in a corner talking in a loud voice with the Dane who
had come over the top of the Tore from the wrong end; she seemed purposely
to be talking so audibly. The manufacturer's attention was attracted, and
he asked for further information about the motor cars in the neighboring
valley: how many there were, and how fast they could go. The Dane told
him.

"But just imagine coming across the fjeld from the other side!" said Mrs.
Molie. "It hasn't been done before."

In response to the manufacturer's questions, the Dane told him about this
adventurous journey also.