She only shook her head and did not look up.

He walked off in a rage, and when he turned and looked at the house again—­the little doll’s house—­he longed to throw it bodily into the sea.

He spent the evening, while waiting for the steamer to Christiania, with Peter Klausson and a few friends, and it was not long before they discovered on what errand he had been, and how he had sped.  They knew, too, how he had fared on former occasions.  The amount which Hjalmar Olsen drank was in proportion to his chagrin; and the next morning he awoke on board the steamer in a deplorable condition.

Not long afterwards Ella received a well-written letter of excuse, in which he explained that his coming at that time had been well meant, and that it was only when he was there that he realised how foolish it had been.  She must not be vexed with him for it.  In the course of a month she again received a letter.  He hoped that she had forgiven him; he for his part could not forget her.  There was nothing more added.  Ella was pleased with both the letters.  They were well expressed and they showed constancy; but it never occurred to her for a moment that this indirect offer could be received in any other way than before.

She had gone to Christiania in order to perfect herself in the piano and in book-keeping.  She added the latter because she had always had a turn for arithmetic.  She felt altogether unsettled.  Her mother was dead; she had inherited the house and a small fortune, and she wanted to try and help herself.  She did not associate with any one in the strange town.  She was used to dreaming and making plans without a confidant.

From Aksel Aaroe came wonderful tidings.  After he had sung before a large party in New York a wealthy old man had invited him to come and see him, and since then they had lived together like father and son.  So the story ran in the town long before there came a letter from Aaroe himself; but when it arrived, it entirely confirmed the rumour.  It was after this that Ella received a third letter from Hjalmar Olsen.  He asked in respectful terms if she would take it amiss if he were to pay her a visit when he came home:  he knew where she was living.  Before she had arrived at a conclusion as to how she should answer, a paragraph appeared in all the Norwegian papers, copied from the American ones, giving an account of how Hjalmar Olsen, in the teeth of a gale, and at the risk of his own ship, had saved the passengers and crew of an ocean steamer, the propeller of which had been injured off the American coast.  Two steamers had passed without daring to render assistance, the weather was so terrific.  Olsen had remained by the vessel for twenty-four hours.  It was a wonderful deed which he had done.  In New York, and subsequently when he arrived in Liverpool, he had been feted at the Sailors’ Clubs, and been presented with medals and addresses.  When he arrived in Christiania, he was received with the highest honours.  Big and burly as he was, he easily obtained the homage of the populace:  they always love large print.