this exacting guest, bade the _piga_ (a sturdy peasant-girl, who
helped in the kitchen, and did the rough work of the inn during the
summer) prepare the best dinner possible.

A strong, hardy man was this new-comer, though he had already passed
his sixtieth year. Thin, slightly round-shouldered, of medium stature,
with an angular head, smoothly shaven face, thin, pointed nose, small
eyes that looked you through and through from behind large spectacles,
a forehead generally contracted by a frown, lips too thin for a
pleasant word ever to escape them, and long, crooked fingers, he was
the very personification of an avaricious usurer or miser, and Hulda
felt a presentiment that this stranger would bring no good fortune to
Dame Hansen's house.

He was a Norwegian unquestionably, but one of the very worst type.
His traveling costume consisted of a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat,
a snuff-colored suit, the breeches fastened at the knee with a leather
strap, and over all a large brown cloak, lined with sheep-skin to
protect its wearer from the chilly night air.

Hulda did not ask him his name, but she would soon learn it, as he
would have to enter it upon the inn register.

Just then Dame Hansen returned, and her daughter announced the arrival
of a guest who demanded the best room and the best food that the inn
afforded, but who vouchsafed no information in regard to the probable
length of his stay.

"And he did not give his name?" asked Dame Hansen.