"_Marry her_?" An icy wave came over her, and she gasped for breath.

"Olof," she went on in a trembling voice, "look at me. Have you--has anything happened already?" Breathlessly she waited for his answer.

"No," said the boy, and looked her frankly in the eyes. "But I love her."

The mother's hands trembled, and she sighed. But for a long while she said no word, only sat looking as before out into vague distance, as if seeking what to say.

"Ay," she said at last, "'tis right to marry where you love, and no other. But a servant-girl--there's none of our race ever married that way before. And as for love--you're over young to know."

Olof flushed angrily, and he would have spoken, but the n.o.ble dignity of his mother's glance checked the thought ere it was uttered.

"Go now," she said gently. "We will talk of this another time."

FATHER AND SON

The early meal was over, and the farm hands pressed out through the door.

"You, Olof, stay behind," said the master of Koskela from his seat at the head of the table. "I've a word to say to you."

Olof felt his cheeks tingling. He knew what his father had to say--he had been waiting for this.

The three were alone now--his mother stood by the stove. "Sit down,"

said the father coldly, from his place.

Olof obeyed. For a while nothing was heard but the slow beat of the clock on the wall.

"I know where your mother was last night. Are you not ashamed?"

Olof bowed his head.

"'Tis a sound thrashing you should have--and don't be too sure but that you'll have it yet."

Olof did not venture to look up, but the voice told that his father was working himself into a pa.s.sion.

"What's to come of you, hey, d'you think? Getting the wenches with child to begin with--and what next?"

"Father!" It was his mother's voice. Her face was anxious, as if in dread of coming disaster.

A glance of cold anger was all her husband's answer. He turned to the boy once more, and went on:

"What next, hey? Bring home the brats for us to feed, maybe? Is it that's in your mind?"

A flush of indignation spread over the young man's face. Was this his father, speaking to him thus? Or some brutal stranger that had taken his place?

And all at once a rush of feeling took possession of him, something new and fierce and strange, filling him altogether. He raised his head, as if to speak, but said no word, only rose up, as if someone had taken him by the hand, and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going--what?"

"I've my work to do."

"He! You--you...." The words were flung at him like a hand reaching for his throat. "Not a step till you've answered me, d'you hear! Was it _that_ was in your mind?"

The young man hesitated. But a little time since he had felt himself bowed down with shame, ready to make any reparation; now, in a moment, all seemed changed, he felt he must hit back, must strike one blow for all that had been growing and seething within him in secret these last few days. He turned swiftly, and answered proudly and resolutely, with lifted head:

"No! But to marry her--that was in my mind."

The old man's features set in a scornful sneer at the word. But the look on his son's face made him hesitate, uncertain how to proceed.

"Marry her?" He bent forward in his seat, as if doubting whether he had heard aright.

"Yes!" came the answer, more firmly than before.

And having spoken, Olof felt he must avenge the insult to himself and to the girl, must strike once more with the weapon he had seen could bite so keenly and so deep.

"And marry her _I will_!" The words fell like the snap of a lock.

"Boy--you dare!" It was the roar of a wounded beast. Furiously the old man sprang to the door, s.n.a.t.c.hing up a stick as he rose, seized the boy by the collar, and flung him to his knees on the floor, making the beams shake. It was all done in a moment. "You dare!" he cried again, raising his stick.

Then suddenly his arm dropped as if broken, and the old man was hurled across the room as a ball is thrown, to fall with a crash against the opposite wall.

It was as if a hurricane had burst upon him. A sense of horror came upon him; he felt himself deposed, like a lord of the manor declared bankrupt before his underlings. He had no power over the boy now--either as a father or as the stronger man. And there by the door stood the lad, with the lithe strength of youth in his body and a fire of defiance in his eyes.

The clock on the wall beat through the silence, as if questioning earnestly what this might mean. But no one answered.

"So--that's it, is it?" gasped the father at last. "Ay!" answered the son, his voice trembling with emotion, but threatening still.

The old man flung his stick in a corner, stepped back, and sat down heavily in his place.

"If you've a drop of my blood in your veins," he said at last, "you'll need no telling what must be the end of this."

"I know it," was the answer. "I'm going, never fear."

The mother pressed her clasped hands tighter, took a step forward and opened her lips as if to speak, but the look on the two men's faces silenced her, and she fell back in the voiceless blank of unaccomplished purpose.

Again the clock was heard.

"I'd thought to make something of you," said the old man in icy tones.

"But you'd no fancy for book-learning and gentlefolks' ways, though you'd a good head enough. Rather stick to the land, you would, and flung away the books after a year of them. But a man that looks to work his land as it should be--he's books of his own, or what's the same--and that you must fling away now the same gait, it seems--to waste yourself in a common strumpet's bed!"

The young man drew himself up, and his eyes flashed fire.

"Leave it unsaid!" cried his father. "'Tis best so." Then rising from his seat, he stood a moment as if in thought, and pa.s.sed through the open door to the next room, opened a cupboard there and took something out.

"No son of mine goes out from this house a beggar," said he proudly, and held out his hand.