Arm in arm they walked up, but were met first of all by a disappointment; the entrance door, which was of glass, was not in the middle, but at the extreme end of the south wall of the room. But they soon saw that if the veranda was to be in the centre, it could not be otherwise; to the right there were two more rooms leading out of the drawing-room. The men who had carried in the piano came out to meet them; they understood at once who it was, and as Ragni looked at them, first the one, then all of them, took off their hat or cap. Kallem returned their greeting, Ragni escaped in to the piano which stood in the middle of the floor, took out the key and opened it, as if it had to be examined very closely and she must absolutely try if it had kept in tune. With her gloves still on, she struck the first chords of Longfellow's "Sweet Home." On hearing the first notes of this hymn to home, Kallem took his hat off. The others saw it, and supposing it to be a psalm, they did the same.
Ragni stood with her back turned, and did not therefore notice two people who came from the right--a man with a round, shining face, and behind him a little woman anxious to see and yet remain unseen. But then the door just in front of her was opened and a peasant girl looked quietly in, attracted by the sweet sounds. Ragni understood that it must be their servant come from the kitchen, and she went up to her.
"Are you Sigrid?"
Yes, it was she.
"Well, I am the doctor's wife."
"I thought so," said she, coming quite into the room. She was a stout, nice-looking girl.
"Is it the first time you are in service?" asked Kallem.
Yes, it was.
"And it is the first time we keep house," said Kallem; "it will be great fun!"
Ragni went out to the kitchen; there she saw their new dinner-service, which had just been unpacked and washed. She was not fit for more, so she went out into the passage and upstairs, to be alone. The door to their bed-room stood open just in front of her, she went in and out on the balcony over the veranda. How had she deserved such great happiness? What was all her longing, and all her work, compared to what now awaited her in a rich man's home? But there was a terror of something, through all this undeserved happiness. And here she again glanced over northward--was the minister's house visible from here? No, it was not possible to see it.