“Are you going to leave Heath Farm, father?” asked Pelle quietly.
“They have taken it away from me,” replied Lasse wretchedly. “With all these troubles, I couldn’t pay the last instalment, and now their patience is at an end. Out of sheer compassion they let me stay till Karna had fought out her fight and was happily buried in the earth—every one could see it wasn’t a matter of many days more.”
“If it is only the interest,” said Sort, “I have a few hundred kroner which I’ve saved up for my old days.”
“Now it’s too late; the farm is already taken over by another man. And even if that were not the case—what should I do there without Karna? I’m no longer any use!”
“We’ll go away together, father!” said Pelle, raising his head.
“No; I go nowhere now except to the churchyard. They have taken my farm away from me, and Karna has worked herself to death, and I myself have left what strength I had behind me. And then they took it away from me!”
“I will work for us both—you shall be comfortable and enjoy your old days!” Pelle saw light in the distance.
Lasse shook his head. “I can no longer put things away from me—I can no longer leave them behind and go on again!”
“I propose that we go into the town,” said Sort. “Up by the church we are sure to find some one who will drive us in.”
They collected their things and set off. Lasse walked behind the others, talking to himself; from time to time he broke out into lamentation. Then Pelle turned back to him in silence and took his hand.