could see that my parents thought the same. Even they wouldn't hear
of nothing having happened, so what could the other rabble think?
And then they paid him to come over here, and sent me away to
relations."

"Yes, and then you added to their sorrow by running away."

"I went after him. I thought he'd get to be fond of me, if only
I was near him. He'd taken service here at Stone Farm, and I took
a place here as housemaid; but there was only one thing he wanted
me for, and that I wouldn't have if he wasn't fond of me. So he went
about boasting that I'd run away from home for his sake, and the
other thing that was a lie; so they all thought they could do what
they liked with me. Kongstrup was just married then, but he was no
better than the others. I'd got the place quite by chance, because
the other housemaid had had to go away somewhere to lie in; so I
was awfully careful. He got her married afterwards to a quarryman
at the quarries."

"So that's the sort of man he is!" exclaimed Lasse. "I had my doubts
about him. But what became of the other fellow?"

"He went to work in the quarry when we'd been at the farm a couple
of years and he'd done me all the harm he could. While he was there,
he drank and quarreled most of the time. I often went to see him,
for I couldn't get him out of my head; but he was always drunk. At
last he couldn't stay there any longer, and disappeared, and then
we heard that he was in Nordland, playing Hell among the rocks at
Blaaholt. He helped himself to whatever he wanted at the nearest
place he could find it, and knocked people down for nothing at all.