"No. In the teeth of the Governor's orders it was plainly impossible----"
"And Thora is still at Government House and her child is still at the Factor's?"
"That is so."
Magnus looked from Oscar to Helga, who now stood beside him, and his face darkened more and more.
"John Vidalin," he cried in a thick voice over his shoulder to a man behind him, "saddle my horse--I am going to Reykjavik."
"But Magnus," said the servant-man, "with all this work to do to-day and all this money coming----"
"Saddle it quick," cried Magnus, like a man who was choking.
"Magnus," said Oscar, "for your own sake I think it only right to tell you----"
But Magnus cut him short by turning on his heel.
"Let him go," said Helga, and before the people in the tents and the Inn-farm had settled down to breakfast Magnus was riding back to town.