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Twelve
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125 Twelve on the second night following the parson’s great anger, Kirsten did not sleep very well. She thought that the parson did not rest well either. lying awake beside vibeke, she thought she heard him moving about. the weather seemed to be changing. the down quilt felt too warm, and the girl was thirsty. She got up for a drink of water and heard the wind rising, noticed how relaxed and soft was the night air. as she returned to bed she caught a glimpse in the passageway of the green dressing gown and white nightcap of the parson, and her conscience pricked her in that she had sometimes flirted with niels. it was not that she was fond of niels, but that she was fond of flirting, and neither lars Sondergaard nor hans would give her a playful look. they were good sober servants, but both of them, she thought, must be nearly as old as vibeke. Still, before she slept again, she wished that she had always looked the other way from niels. She had not meant ever to abet him in his impudence to the master. vibeke slept and dreamed, and cried out once in her sleep in terror. when they had told her that niels had run away, she had answered merely that God should be thanked, and she hoped that he would never come back. they had all indeed been glad that niels was gone. nevertheless, the sorrow that he had caused yet hung over the parsonage. 126 Janet Lewis Some few days later—when she was asked about it weeks afterward vibeke could not be sure on just which day—she had gone to vejlby market, and there had met Morten Bruus. he had come up to her smiling and asked: “what news of my brother niels?” “i thought all the world knew by now that he has run away again,” she answered tartly. thereupon Morten had manifested surprise, but had said nothing further. But the next week, on market day, her friends had come to her and said that Morten was telling it all around that Parson Sören had harmed niels and was keeping him hidden. vibeke had protested indignantly, and her friends had of course agreed with her that Morten Bruus was an evil-tongue, no less. But all week long people came to her with fresh reports of what Morten was saying, and by the end of the week the story was that Morten would have the law on the parson unless he produced his brother alive and well. the next word from ingvorstrup was that Morten declared he would make the parson produce his brother “even if he had to dig him out of the ground.” vibeke repeated these things to anna, and both agreed to keep them from the parson, who was sunk in melancholy and seemed so strange to his daughter that she was more than ever concerned for him. the weather too was melancholy. instead of the clear cold spell which the parson had anticipated, which would have locked the ground but left the noontide sunny, the days were wet or foggy, and the brick floors of the house seemed like stones from the well. the first weeks of october passed, the parson remote and sad, his household hushed and apprehensive. then the tide of rumors about the disappearance of niels reached the parson’s ears. [54.163.200.109] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:37 GMT) 127 T H E T R I A L O F S Ö R E N Q V I S T he did not reproach his family for their silence. But when he returned from ida Möller’s house, where he had learned what was being said of him, he went straight to his room and took from the inmost corner of his desk the leather bag in which he kept what ready coin the farm afforded. the bag was well known to his parishioners. in times of their distress he had drawn it forth and taken from it such small coins as might ease their difficulties. he put this bag now in his pocket, mounted his horse, and rode at once to tryg’s house in rosmos. “i have come to buy myself some peace of mind,” he said, putting the leather bag on the table before tryg. “you have heard, doubtless, what Morten Bruus is saying of me?” tryg acknowledged unhappily that he had...