"Why not Magnus?" said Thora.
"Magnus? I thought of that, but--" and then came the old difficulty--he had not yet set Magnus right on the subject of the betrothal, and until that could be done the old people would object to him.
"But why shouldn't you do it now, Oscar? Such a splendid moment to heal every sore and let bygones be bygones."
"Yes, certainly, that's so," said Oscar, but he went off with a troubled face, and Thora heard no more from him on the subject until the day before the wedding, when he said:
"Oh, by the way, about the best man, that splendid scheme of yours was impossible, Thora."
"Impossible?"
"Mother tells me Magnus has gone to the Northlands--went away about a week ago, it seems."
"In the winter and on the eve of the wedding?"
"She thinks he'll be back for that, but, of course, we can't take risks, so Neils--you remember Neils Finsen, the Sheriff's son?--Neils came back in the last steamer, and he'll be best man, so that's settled."
"What a pity!" said Thora, and then Oscar, who had opened the door, cried: