A discussion in Dalecarlian followed, between the officer and the peasant; Christian did not understand it, but the lieutenant explained it to him as they opened the baskets.
“We very wisely brought our own provisions,” he said, “so as to have a decent breakfast in this hut; but the worthy peasant, though excusing himself for having nothing good to offer us, has really gone to some expense for our entertainment, and it is easy to see, from his long face, that he feels wounded by our precaution, which seems to him to cast a doubt upon his hospitality.”
“In that case,” said Christian, “do not let us mortify this honest man; let us keep our provisions, and eat what he has prepared for us. His house seems clean, and here are his daughters, ugly enough, it is true, but very elegant, and all ready to wait upon the table.”
“Suppose we make a compromise,” replied the lieutenant. “We will have everything served in common, and invite the family to accept our food, at the same time that we take theirs. I will go and propose that to the danneman—always if the major approves.”
The lieutenant never formed any resolution whatever without this restriction.
The major approved of the proposition, and made it himself to the danneman, who accepted it, although he still seemed a little dissatisfied.
“So,” he said, with an uneasy smile, “it will be like a wedding-feast, where each one brings his own dish.”
At any rate, he accepted; but, in spite of Christian’s hints, they did not even suggest inviting the women to sit down. This was too much opposed to established customs; the young officers would have been afraid of appearing ridiculous in proposing to the danneman such a great infraction of his dignity as head of the family.
While they were unpacking on the one hand, and talking on the other, Christian examined the house within and without. It was the same sort of building that he had already noticed in the gaard at Stollborg: the body of the house was made of pine logs, well caulked with moss, and painted, on the outside, of an iron-rust red; the roof was of birch-bark, overlaid with earth and turf. As there was danger that the snow, which was very plentiful in this mountainous region, would break down the roof, it had been carefully swept off, and the danneman’s goat, a third larger than the same animal in southern countries, was uttering a plaintive bleating at the sight of the fresh grass thus disclosed to view.
It was so warm within doors, that the young men threw off their pelisses and hats, and went about in their shirt-sleeves. Although substantial and spacious in comparison with a great many habitations in the locality, this house was, nevertheless, quite small; but its form was elegant, and the outside porch, over which the edge of the roof projected, gave it the comfortable and picturesque appearance of a Swiss chalet. One single room, protected from the cold by a narrow vestibule, proved sufficient for the whole family, which consisted of the danneman, who was a widower, his sister, a son fifteen years old, and two daughters somewhat older. The stove was in the form of a cylinder, and was built of Dutch bricks, four feet high; the chimney was attached to it, and the whole stood in the centre of the house. The bare ground, instead of a carpet, was covered with pine-boughs, that exhaled an agreeable and healthful odor.