'What you say is right,' he said, 'and you shall follow the dictates of your own conscience.' And involuntarily he added, perhaps most to himself: 'The Ingmars are a grand family.'
The old woman straightened herself a little at these words. At that moment the Dean saw in her the symbol of her whole race. He understood what it was that had made these heavy, silent people, century after century, the leaders of the whole parish.
'It behooves the Ingmars to set the people a good example,' she said. 'It behooves us to show that we humble ourselves before God.'
VIII [A Story from Halstanäs]
From a Swedish
Homestead
VIII
A Story from Halstanäs