lay smiling in my sleep, and "looked so happy, poor boy"!

It was very seldom that any sympathetic words came from my father, so
these are imprinted on my memory.

My father himself at that time was anything but cheerful. The steamboat
dispute lay heavy on his heart, and he now wanted to try, as a last
resort, to have the matter thoroughly aired in the newspapers, and it
was about this that he now wanted to apply personally to a solicitor at
Tromsö.

These circumstances, however, did not come to my knowledge at that time.




CHAPTER V

_CONFIRMATION_


While matters were in this state between our parents, the time came for
Susanna and me to be confirmed. As I was not entered until some time
after the confirmation course had begun, it was arranged that, besides
the class in the church every Monday, I was to read alone with the
minister on Fridays.

In his abrupt way my father made me a little private speech, in which he
expressed a hope that I would not disgrace him before the minister.