liked. But now he had more important things to do; life was waiting. He
hastily put on his clothes.

In the street the lamplighter was lighting every other lamp. An endless
procession of carts was pouring in from the country to supply the town.
Pelle threw open the window and looked out over the wakening city while
he dressed himself. He was accustomed to sleep in a silence that was
only broken by the soft squeaking of the mice under the heat-grating;
and the night-noises of the city--the rumble of the electric trams, the
shouts of night-wanderers--all these unwonted sounds that pierced the
darkness so startlingly, had filled, his sleep with feverish dreams and
caused a series of ugly, deformed visions to pass through his brain.

He now felt quite rested, however, and greeted the city with awakened
pleasure. Yes, he had slept more than sufficiently; the noise called him
and he must go down and give a helping hand to keep it going. For years
he had done nothing but hoard; now he would set to work again with
strength and courage. As soon as he was dressed he went out. It was too
early to visit Ellen, but he could not bear to stay in any longer. It
was early morning. The first tram-car came in, filled with workmen, some
even hanging on to the steps both of the motor-wagon and the two cars
following it. And there was the first peasant with milk: they were not
even up yet in the ice-dairy! Every quarter of an hour trams came in
with workmen, and the market-carts continued to drive in from the
country laden with vegetables, corn or pigs' carcasses. The street was
like a feeding-tube through which nourishment was continually being
drawn into the city.

On the top of swaying loads of straw sat Zealand peasants nodding. They
had come all the way from the Frederikssund quarter, and had been