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Page 31
"Now Halvor must feel like a new man," said the schoolmaster's
wife.
Then Halvor put his hand inside his overcoat and drew out his
brand-new watch. Crossing over to Ingmar, who was again seated at
the table, he said: "Since I have taken your father's watch from
you, you must accept this one from me."
He laid the watch on the table and went out, without even saying
good-bye. The rest of the day he tramped the roads and bypaths. A
couple of peasants who had come from a distance to trade with him
hung around outside the shop from noon till evening. But no Tims
Halvor appeared.
***
Elof Ersson, the husband of Karin Ingmarsson, was the son of a
cruel and avaricious peasant, who had always treated him harshly.
As a child he had been half starved, and even after he was grown up
his father kept him under his thumb. He had to toil and slave from
morning till night, and was never allowed any pleasures. He was not
even allowed to attend the country dances like other young folk,
and he got no rest from his work even on Sundays. Nor did Elof
become his own master when he married. He had to live at the Ingmar
Farm and be under the domination of his father-in-law; and also at
the Ingmar Farm hard work and frugality were the rule of the day.
As long as Ingmar Ingmarsson lived Elof seemed quite content with
his lot, toiling and slaving with never so much as a complaint.
Folks used to say that now the Ingmarssons had got a son-in-law
after their own hearts, for Elof Ersson did not know that there was
anything else in life than just toil and drudgery.
But as soon as Big Ingmar was dead and buried, Elof began to drink
and carouse. He made the acquaintance of all the rounders in the
parish, and invited them down to the Farm, and went with them to
dance halls and taverns. He quit work altogether, and drank himself
full every day. In the space of two short months he became a poor
drunken wretch.
The first time Karin saw him in a state of intoxication she was
horrified. "This is God's judgment upon me for my treatment of
Halvor," was the thought that came to her. To the husband she said
very little in the way of rebuke or warning. She soon perceived
that he was like a blasted tree, doomed to wither and decay, and
she could not hope for either help or protection from him.
But Karin's sisters were not so wise as she was. They resented his
escapades, blushed at his ribald songs and coarse jokes, by turns
threatening and admonishing him. And although their brother-in-law
was on the whole rather good-natured, he sometimes got into a rage
and had words with them. Then Karin's only thought was how she
should get her sisters away from the house, that they might escape
the misery in which she herself had to live. In the course of the
summer she managed to marry off the two older girls, and the two
younger ones she sent to America, where they had relatives who were
well-to-do.
All the sisters received their proportion of the inheritance, which
amounted to twenty thousand kroner each. The farm had been left to
Karin, with the understanding that young Ingmar was to take it over
when he became of age.
It seemed remarkable that Karin, who was so awkward and diffident,
should have been able to send so many birds from the nest, find
mates for them, and homes. She arranged it all herself, for she
could get no help whatever from her husband, who had now become
utterly worthless.
Her greatest concern, however, was the little brother--he who was
now Ingmar Ingmarsson. The boy exasperated Karin's husband even
more than the sisters had done. He did it by actions rather than
words. One time he poured out all the corn brandy Elof had brought
home; another time the brother-in-law caught him in the act of
diluting his liquor with water.
When autumn came Karin demanded that the boy be sent back to high
school that year, as in former years, but her husband, who was also
his guardian, would not hear of it.
"Ingmar shall be a farmer, like his father and me and my father,"
said Elof. "What business has he at high school? When the winter
comes, he and I will go into the forest to put up charcoal kilns.
That will be the best kind of schooling for him. When I was his
age, I spent a whole winter working at the kiln."
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