"There, sir! Your room is ready and you can go to bed at any time."
Magnus got up to go to the elt-house to mix the mash for the pony, and then mother and son were together again.
IV
In the confusion of that heart-quelling moment he was asking himself how he could carry out his plan of rescuing his family from their misfortunes if he could not tell them who he was, and how he could claim his daughter and take her away with him, if he could not say, "I am her father, she is mine," when chance and a commonplace word--those twin sisters of invention and wisdom--showed him what he was to do.
"I shall want to be awakened early in the morning, landlady, for I suppose the Sheriff will come soon."
"The Sheriff, sir?"
"I've just been telling your son that I intend to bid for your farm at the auction to-morrow morning."
"So that was what you had to do at the end of your journey?"
"Yes, it was what I had to do, landlady."
She looked at him for a moment, and then asked, "What can a gentleman like you want with a farm like this?"