"H'm, my girl, my granddaughter, Marit seems to have lost her senses in these latter days."
"She won't have any of the fine young men who come to pay their addresses to her."
"And it is his fault, his that stands there."
"He has completely turned her head, that son of yours, Ovind."
"See now, I don't like that any one should take my horses when I let them go to the mountains; and neither do I like that any one should take my daughters when I let them go to the dance, don't like it at all."
"I cannot go after them, I am old, I cannot take care of them."
"You see I wish to keep order, and when I say a thing must be done, it must, and when I say to her, not him, but him, it must be him, and not him!"
"But it is not so; for three years she has said no, and for three years there hasn't been a good understanding between us. That is not good, and if it is he who is the cause of it, I will only say to him, so that you hear it, you who are his father, that it is no use, he must give up."
Ole looked a minute at Thore, then said, "You give such short answers."
"I can't make the sausage longer than it is."
Here Ovind must laugh, though in sooth he was in no laughing mood; but with some people laughter and fear go hand in hand.
"What are you laughing at?" said Ole sharply.
"Heavens preserve me!" but his own reply only made him worse.
Ole saw this, and it infuriated him. They would turn the conversation, and begged him to go in, but it was three years' pent up anger that now sought liberty, and it was not to be stayed.
"Don't think to make a fool of me," he began, "I seek my granddaughter's happiness as I understand it, and your giggling laughter shall not hinder me. One doesn't bring up a girl just to hand her over to the first peasant that turns up, neither does one labor for forty years to leave all to the first that fools her. My daughter went on so, till at last she married a scamp; he ruined them both through drink, and I had to take the child, and pay for the entertainment, but, on my word, it shall not be so with my granddaughter, do you hear that? I tell you that as true as I am Ole Nordistuen of Heidegaard, the priest might as well think of publishing the banns for the trolls up in the forest, as to give out such names from the pulpit as Marit's and your's, you puppy dog! You sly fox, as if I didn't know what you think of, you and she! You think old Ole must soon turn his nose up in the church-yard, and then you'll trip away to the altar. No, no, I've lived seventy years now, and you shall see, boy, that I shall not die till you are both tired out! I tell you, you may watch for her, and not even see her footprints, for I shall send her away somewhere where she will be safe, and you may roam about like a fool, and keep company with the wind and the rain! And now I shan't say any more to you, but you, who are his father, know my will, and if you desire his happiness in this respect, you will get him to turn the river where it can flow, for through my territory it shall not pass." He turned, and hobbled away with short quick steps, lifting the right foot higher than the left, and grumbling to himself.