The old man’s face shone with delight. “There’s something in me after all, eh? There’s old business-blood in my veins too. My forefathers built a world for themselves, and why should I do less than they? I ought to have been younger, Pelle!”
They walked round the hill and came to the farm from the other side. “The whole piece wouldn’t really be too large if we’re to have room to extend ourselves,” said Pelle, who was not afraid of a large outlay when it was a question of a great plan.
“I was thinking the same thing,” answered Bran. “How much is there here? A couple of hundred acres? There’ll be room for a thousand families if each of them is to have a fair-sized piece of land.”
They then went in and took the whole for a quarter of a million (£14,000).
“But Ellen!” exclaimed Pelle, when they were on their way home again. “How are we going to come to terms with her?”
“Bless my soul! Why, it was her business we went upon! And now we’ve done business for ourselves! Well, I suppose she’ll give in when she hears what’s been done.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” said Pelle, laughing. “Perhaps when you tackle her.”
“Well, did you get the house?” asked Ellen, from the house door, where she was standing to receive them.
“Yes, we got much more,” said Brun airily. “We bought the whole concern.”
“Is that a fact, Pelle?”