only thing you know about him is that his name is Kari, and you don't even know that.

Halla (rising). What are you driving at with all this?

Bjørn. Sit still. (Halla sits down.) Last fall two strangers who stopped on their journey through here thought they knew Kari. They said it was easier to change one's name than one's face. As bad luck would have it, I did not get a chance to talk with them myself, but my suspicions were roused. Now there is a man staying with me who has just come from the south. He saw Kari at church last Sunday, and if he is right, it is an ugly story.

Halla. What do you mean?

Bjørn (rising). Neither more nor less than that your overseer's name is not Kari but Eyvind, that he was locked up for theft, and got away.

Halla (has risen). You must be mad, both of you.

Bjørn. The man would not swear that he had seen right. (Smiles.) Somehow he seemed sorry that he had told me. He said he had never seen two people more alike, and Eyvind had a scar on his forehead just as Kari has— that much he remembered plainly.

Halla. It was last Sunday at church that he saw Kari? Bjørn. Yes.

Halla (laughing). Kari was not at church last Sunday. Bjørn. That's queer. Two of my men were there. But we can easily solve that riddle, if I bring my guest over here to-morrow.

Halla. I don't believe for a moment that Kari is a thief. Bjørn. You need not believe it. Simply tell him what I have said, and that I mean to have the judge look into the matter. I warrant he will be out of the house before sunrise.

Halla. You are quick to believe evil and quick to run to the judge, but in this case you will not reap much honor.

Bjørn. If you suppose I shall act hastily, you are mistaken. I shall write to the county that Eyvind hails from and give the letter to my guest, who will see that it gets safely and speedily into the proper hands. The answer can be here within two or three months.

Halla. Is it out of kindness to me that you are so eager about this matter?

you

Bjørn. If it is true what people say, it would be best for that Kari should take himself away from here as fast as can be. You might find it harder to part from him two or three months hence.

Halla (icily). Now you show your real self. You did not come here to give me kind counsel, nor do I look for such from you, but you had better leave me and my household in peace. Do you think I have forgotten what you did to me? When that he intended to marry brother told your you me, you thought it would be a disgrace to the family for him to make a poor servant girl his wife. You urged him to satisfy his fleeting passion, as you called it, without any marriage.

Bjørn. I never said that.

Halla (laying her hand on her heart). In here I have a sealed book in which I keep the words my friends have spoken. And I have more to tell you. There was something behind it-your fear of losing a part of your power.

Bjørn. What are you saying?

Halla. Did that prick your soul, you godly man! You knew that your brother would follow your advice like a child, but you had misgivings that you could not work me

like dough in your hands, and what you feared came true. You can never forget that I made my husband stand on his own feet. I know your greed for power! But now I warn you for all time to let me and mine alone. (Sits down.)

Bjørn (flushed with anger, but still controlling his voice). Much have I learned to-night that I did not know before. Now I see why you made Kari overseer. You are not your mother's daughter for nothing.

Halla (her lips trembling). You want to make me angry. You can't do it. Nor shall you succeed in blackening Kari in my eyes. You were hoping that I should hurt him by telling him what you have said. I shall not tell him. Bjørn. You will talk differently when I hold the proof in my hand. (Shakes his hand; goes toward the door.)

Halla (rising, hatred burning in her eyes). Just before you came, the servants were making bets about who was best at glima, you or Kari. Oddny was the only one who stood up for you. Kari thought you had grown so old and stiff in your joints that you would not dare to go in for a wrestlingmatch.

Bjørn. Tell Kari that I am ready to meet him this evening, if he wishes it.

Halla. No, I shall tell Kari that you have given your word to wrestle with him at the big sheep-folds in the fall. I hope to have a good many witnesses, when the bailiff

bites the dust.

Bjørn. I will fight him whenever and wherever he may wish-anywhere but in jail. Good-bye!

[Exit. Halla (stands motionless for a moment; passes her hands down over her face; goes to the door; calls). Gudfinna! Gudfinna! (Goes back into the room; again passes her hands down over her face.)

Enter Gudfinna.

Gudfinna. Has the bailiff gone?

Halla. Yes.

Gudfinna. He came near upsetting me in the hall and didn't even say good evening.

Halla. Do sweep the floor! I won't have in here the dirt he has dragged with him.

(Gudfinna takes a bird's wing and sweeps.)

Enter the Boy.

The Boy (shouting). Come and see what we have caught! Gudfinna. Not so noisy! Did you catch a whale?

The Boy. We got a salmon-so big! (Shows the size with his hands.)

Halla. Tell Kari to come here; I want to speak with him. I will let you take care of the salmon. Open and clean it, sprinkle some salt on it, and lay it in fresh grass overnight.

The Boy. Won't you look at it before it is cut?

Halla (patting his cheek). You big baby! Do you think I have never seen a salmon before? Now run and tell Kari that I want to speak to him. [Exit the Boy.

Gudfinna (calling after him through the door). And tell him to lift the milk pot from the fire.

Halla. If the coals are good, I must ask you to do some baking to-night for Sunday.

Gudfinna. The coals are good enough.

[Exit.

(Halla stands listening. Footsteps are heard in the hall.)

Enter Kari.

Kari. You wanted to speak to me?

Halla. I hear you have made a fine catch. Thank you! I have promised the bailiff that you shall meet him in

a glima at the folds in the autumn. What do you say to that?

Kari. I call that great news, but surely that was not what he came here for to-night?

Halla. No, he had another errand. He spoke ill of you.
Kari. What did he say?

Halla. There is a man just come from the south who saw you at church last Sunday. He told Bjørn that you looked like some one by the name of Eyvind, a thief who had run away. He even thought he recognized the scar on your forehead.

Kari (in a low voice, sitting down). And did the bailiff believe the man was right?

Halla. He said I should tell you that he meant to speak to the judge, and that then you would flee from here this very night.

Kari (rising with a loud laugh). This is to laugh at. Do you know when they will come to catch the thief!

Halla (has been looking at him steadily; holds out her hand to him). Give me your hand, Kari, and say that you have nothing to fear from any man.

Kari (evasively). I understand that this seems strange to you, but the man who saw me must be some one who has a grudge against me from former days, and does this out of spite.

Halla. What do I care about him or about the bailiff! Say that you are innocent!

Kari. So you doubt me, too!

Halla (aloof). I have no right to call you to task.

Kari (warmly). I know of no one in the world whom I would rather trust than you.

Halla. You are innocent?