"What"s your hurry?" asked Mother Stina.
"I hope Halvor isn"t going on my account," said Karin meekly.
As soon as Halvor was gone the tension was broken, and the schoolmaster knew at once what to say. He looked at the lad Karin had brought with her, and of whom no one had taken any notice before. He was a little chap who could not have been much older than Gertrude. He had a fair, soft baby face, yet there was something about him that made him appear old for his years. It was easy to tell to what family he belonged.
"I think Karin has brought us a new pupil," said Storm.
"This is my brother," Karin replied. "He is the present Ingmar Ingmarsson."
"He"s rather little for that name," Storm remarked.
"Yes, father died too soon!"
"He did indeed," said the schoolmaster and his wife, both in the same breath.
"He has been attending the school in Falun," Karin explained.
"That"s why he hasn"t been here before."
"Aren"t you going to let him go back this year, too?"
Karin dropped her eyes and a sigh escaped her. "He has the name of being a good student," she said, evading his question.
"I"m only afraid that I can"t teach him anything. He must know as much as I do."
"Well, I guess the schoolmaster knows a good deal more than a little chap like him." Then came another pause, after which Karin continued: "This is not only the question of his attending school, but I would also like to ask whether you and Mother Stina would let the boy come here to live."
The schoolmaster and his wife looked at each other in astonishment, but neither of them was prepared to answer.
"I fear our quarters are rather close," said Storm, presently.
"I thought that perhaps you might be willing to accept milk and b.u.t.ter and eggs as part payment."
"As to that--"
"You would be doing me a great service," said the rich peasant woman.
Mother Stina felt that Karin would never have made this singular request had there not been some good reason for it; so she promptly settled the matter.
"Karin need say no more. We will do all that we can for the Ingmarssons."
"Thank you," said Karin.
The two women talked over what had best be done for Ingmar"s welfare. Meantime, Storm took the boy with him to the cla.s.sroom, and gave him a seat next to Gertrude. During the whole of the first day Ingmar never said a word.
Tims Halvor did not go near the schoolhouse again for a week or more; it was as if he were afraid of again meeting Karin there. But one morning when it rained in torrents, and there was no likelihood of any customers coming, he decided to run over and have a chat with Mother Stina. He was hungry for a heart-to-heart talk with some kindly and sympathetic person. He had been seized by a terrible fit of the blues. "I"m no good, and no one has any respect for me," he murmured, tormenting himself, as he had been in the habit of doing ever since Karin had thrown him over.
He closed his shop, b.u.t.toned his storm coat, and went on his way to the school, through wind and rain and slush. Halvor was happy to be back once more in the friendly atmosphere of the schoolhouse, and was still there when the recess bell rang, and Storm and the two children came in for their coffee. All three went over to greet him. He arose to shake hands with the schoolmaster, but when little Ingmar put out his hand, Halvor was talking so earnestly to Mother Stina that he seemed not to have noticed the boy. Ingmar remained standing a moment, then he went up to the table and sat down. He sighed several times, just as Karin had done the day she was there.
"Halvor has come to show us his new watch," said Mother Stina.
Whereupon Halvor took from his pocket a new silver watch, which he showed to them. It was a pretty little timepiece, with a flower design engraved on the case. The schoolmaster opened it, went into the schoolroom for a magnifying gla.s.s, adjusted it to his eye, and began examining the works. He seemed quite carried away as he studied the delicate adjustment of the tiny wheels, and said he had never seen finer workmanship. Finally he gave the watch back to Halvor, who put it in his pocket, looking neither pleased nor proud, as folks generally do when you praise their purchases.
Ingmar was silent during the meal, but when he had finished his coffee, he asked Storm whether he really knew anything about watches.
"Why, of course," returned the schoolmaster. "Don"t you know that I understand a little of everything?"
Ingmar then brought out a watch which he carried in his vest pocket. It was a big, round, silver _turnip_ that looked ugly and clumsy as compared with Halvor"s watch. The chain to which it was attached was also a clumsy contrivance. The case was quite plain and dented. It was not much of a watch: it had no crystal, and the enamel on its face was cracked.
"It has stopped," said Storm, putting the watch to his ear.
"Yes, I kn-n-ow," stammered the boy. "I was just wondering if you didn"t think it could be mended."
Storm opened it and found that all the wheels were loose. "You must have been hammering nails with this watch," he said. "I can"t do anything with it."
"Don"t you think that Eric, the clockmaker, could fix it?"
"No, no more than I. You"d better send it to Falun and have new works put in."
"I thought so," said Ingmar, and took the watch.
"For heaven"s sake, what have you been doing with it?" the schoolmaster exclaimed.
The boy swallowed hard. "It was father"s watch," he explained, "and it got damaged like that when father was struck by the whirling log."
Now they all grew interested.
With an effort to control his feelings, Ingmar continued: "As you know, it happened during Holy Week, when I was at home. I was the first person to reach father when he lay on the bank. I found him with the watch in his hand. "Now it"s all over with me, Ingmar," he said. "I"m sorry the watch is broken, for I want you to give it, with my greetings, to some one that I have wronged." Then he told me who was to have the watch, and bade me take it along to Falun and have it repaired before presenting it. But I never went back to Falun, and now I don"t know what to do about it."
The schoolmaster was wondering whether he knew of any one who was soon going to the city, when Mother Stina turned to the boy:
"Who was to have the watch, Ingmar?" she asked.
"I don"t know as I ought to tell," the boy demurred.
"Wasn"t it Tims Halvor, who is sitting here?"
"Yes," he whispered.
"Then give Halvor the watch just as it is," said Mother Stina.
"That will please him best."
Ingmar obediently rose, took out the watch and rubbed it in the sleeve of his coat, to shine it up a bit. Then he went over to Halvor.
"Father asked me to give you this with his compliments," he said, holding out the watch.
All this while Halvor had sat there, silent and glum. And when the boy went over to him, he put his hand up to his eyes, as if he did not want to look at him. Ingmar stood a long time holding out the watch; finally, he glanced appealingly at Mother Stina.