"Don't look so downhearted, landlady. When things are at their worst they can't move without they mend. You've had your troubles, but you shall drink my health under my mother's roof-tree to-morrow morning. Good night!"
And then he reeled into the guest-room.
VI
The stranger being gone, mother and son looked into each other's faces. Then they spoken in whispers.
"Did you hear him?" said Anna.
"About his mother's roof-tree?" asked Magnus.
"About the auction--about everything. The man can have no feeling--no pity."
"None."
"'Business is business,' he said, when he talked of buying the place over our heads. And when he spoke of his mother ending her days here he never once thought of me."
"He never thought of Elin either. He would have taken the girl away from us without a moment's hesitation."