“Go inside a bit and rest your feet,” said he.

They went into the hut and took a bit of the food she had brought, and some of his goats’ milk to drink; then they made coffee, that she had brought with her in a bladder.  Settled down comfortably over their coffee until bedtime.  And in the night, he lay wanting her, and she was willing.

She did not go away next morning; all that day she did not go, but helped about the place; milked the goats, and scoured pots and things with fine sand, and got them clean.  She did not go away at all.  Inger was her name.  And Isak was his name.

And now it was another life for the solitary man.  True, this wife of his had a curious slovenly way of speech, and always turning her face aside, by reason of a hare-lip that she had, but that was no matter.  Save that her mouth was disfigured, she would hardly have come to him at all; he might well be grateful for that she was marked with a hare-lip.  And as to that, he himself was no beauty.  Isak with the iron beard and rugged body, a grim and surly figure of a man; ay, as a man seen through a flaw in the window-pane.  His look was not a gentle one; as if Barabbas might break loose at any minute.  It was a wonder Inger herself did not run away.

She did not run away.  When he had been out, and came home again, there was Inger at the hut; the two were one, the woman and the hut.

It was another mouth for him to feed, but no loss in that; he had more freedom now, and could go and stay as he needed.  And there were matters to be looked to away from home.  There was the river; pleasant to look at, and deep and swift besides; a river not to be despised; it must come from some big water up in the hills.  He got himself some fishing gear and went exploring; in the evening he came back with a basket of trout and char.  This was a great thing to Inger, and a marvel; she was overwhelmed, being no way used to fine dishes.  She clapped her hands and cried out:  “Why!  Wherever....”  And she was not slow to see how he was pleased at her surprise, and proud of it, for she said more in the same strain—­oh, she had never seen the like, and how had he ever managed to find such things!

Inger was a blessing, too, in other ways.  No clever head nor great in wit, maybe—­but she had two lambing ewes with some of her kinsfolk, and brought them down.  It was the best they could have wished for at the hut; sheep with wool and lambs four new head to their stock about the place; it was growing, getting bigger; a wonder and a marvel how their stock was grown.  And Inger brought more; clothes, and little trifles of her own, a looking-glass and a string of pretty glass beads, a spinning-wheel, and carding-combs.  Why, if she went on that gait the hut would soon be filled from floor to roof and no room for more!  Isak was astonished in his turn at all this wealth of goods, but being a silent man and slow to speak, he said nothing, only shambled out to the door-slab and looked at the weather, and shambled in again.  Ay, he had been lucky indeed; he felt himself more and more in love, or drawn towards her, or whatever it might be.