* * * * *

As a beginning of the story of my friend's life, I found, laid aside, a
section, part of which seems to have been added at a riper age. It shows
with what strong ties nature had bound him to his home, and with what
affection he clung to it.


* * * * *


PART II

NORDLAND AND NORDLANDERS


* * * * *



NORDLAND AND NORDLANDERS


In so far as a man like myself, who lives in such a sad reality, dare
talk of illusions--how great, and what a number of illusions I have had
shattered, during the two or three years since I left my home in
Nordland, and became a student; how grey and colourless is the world
down here, how small and mean, compared with what I had imagined it as
regards both men and conditions of life!