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Page 11
"I was just about to go my way, when it came to me to ask her where
the wedding was going to be held--here or at her home. 'We're
thinking of having it here, where there is plenty of room.' 'Then
see to it that the wedding day isn't put off too long,' I warned.
'We are to be married in a month,' she answered.
"But before Brita and I parted company, it struck me that the
Ingmarssons had had a poor harvest, so I said it was not likely
that they would have a wedding that year. 'In that case I shall
have to jump into the river,' she declared.
"A month later I was told that the wedding had been put off and,
fearing that this would not end well, I went straight to Bergskog
and had a talk with Brita's mother. 'They are certainly making a
stupid blunder down at the Ingmar Farm,' I told her. 'We are
satisfied with their way of doing things,' she said. 'Every day we
thank God that our daughter has been so well provided for.'"
"Mother needn't have given herself all this bother," Ingmar was
thinking, "for no one from this farm is going to fetch Brita. There
was no reason for her being so upset at the sight of the arch: that
is only one of those things a man does so that he can turn to our
Lord and say: 'I wanted to do it. Surely you must see that I meant
to do it.' But doing it is another matter."
"The last time I saw Brita," Kaisa vent on, "was in the middle of
the winter after a big snowfall. I had come to a narrow path in the
wild forest, where it was heavy walking. Soon I came upon some one
who was sitting in the snow, resting. It was Brita. 'Are you all by
yourself up here?' I asked. 'Yes, I'm out for a walk.' she said. I
stood stockstill and stared at her; I couldn't imagine what she was
doing there. 'I'm looking round to see if there are any steep hills
hereabout,' she then said. 'Dear heart! are you thinking of casting
yourself from a cliff?' I gasped, for she looked as if she was
tired of life.
"'Yes,' she said. 'If I could only find a hill that was high and
steep I'd certainly throw myself down.' 'You ought to be ashamed to
talk like that, and you so well cared for.' 'You see, Kaisa, I'm a
bad lot.' 'I'm afraid you are.' 'I am likely to do something
dreadful, therefore I might better be dead.' 'That's only silly
gabble, child.' 'I turned bad as soon as I went to live with those
people.' Then, coming quite close to me, with the wildest look in
her eyes, she shrieked: 'All they think about is how they can
torture me, and I think only of how I can torture them in return.'
'No, no, Brita; they are good people.' 'All they care about is to
bring shame upon me.' 'Have you said so to them?' 'I never speak to
them. I only think and wonder how I'm going to get even with them.
I'm thinking of setting fire to the farm, for I know he loves it.
How I'd like to poison the cows! they are so old and ugly and white
around the eyes that one would think they were related to him.'
'Barking dogs never bite,' I said. 'I've got to do something to
him, or I'll never have any peace of mind.' 'You don't know what
you are saying, child,' I protested. 'What you are thinking of
doing would forever destroy your peace of mind.'
"All at once she began to cry. Then, after a little, she became
very meek and said that she had suffered so from the bad thoughts
that came to her. I then walked home with her and, as we parted
company, she promised me that she would do nothing rash if I would
only keep a close mouth.
"Still I couldn't help thinking that I ought to talk to some one
about this," said Kaisa. "But to whom? I felt kind of backward
about going to big folk like yourselves--"
Just then the bell above the stable rang. The midday rest was over.
Mother Martha suddenly interrupted the old woman: "I say, Kaisa, do
you think things can ever be right again between Ingmar and Brita?"
"What?" gasped the old woman in astonishment.
"I mean, if by chance she were not going to America, do you suppose
she would have him?"
"Well, I should say not!"
"Then you are quite sure she would give him no for an answer."
"Of course she would."
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