He drifted farther and farther away out into the wide world, and finished his career as wild cat in a distant deer park.
THE HOME OF THE FISHERMAN
After leaving the village the main road rose over the brow of the hill and ran down again between rich, fertile fields until it crossed the river which hugged the valley.
At the bottom of the hill a small, idyllic brook had once flowed into the river, but it had dried up, leaving behind only the shallow watercourse, which now served as a drain.
The road crossed the river by means of a flint-paved bridge, and swung round a fisherman’s cottage before continuing farther across country.
The fisherman had been a widower for thirteen years, and he had lived in the house for twenty—so that he knew its ins and outs fairly well. A small garden and a few rods of ploughed land supplied potatoes for him and oats for his horse. Three or four times a week he drove round the countryside selling the fish he caught in the fjord. It was a long way for the horse to pull—sometimes as much as twenty-five or thirty miles a day; but in return the beast was often allowed to slack for several days on end.
The gables of the building faced east-west, and all its doors and its small windows opened towards the south.
The west end, which was nearest the road, formed the stall and pigsty—in which a pig was always grunting. The outhouse, consisting of woodshed and barn, was situated on the east, from which direction the winter storms usually raged. Between the two nestled the inhabited quarter, comprising corridor, tiny kitchen, and living-room.
For seven years it had been vouchsafed the fisherman to live in this room with his wife; then she died, leaving behind her seven children, who had long since deserted the parental roof. From the quiet, peaceful countryside to which their father clung with his whole nature, they had emigrated to the big town, which they could not imagine themselves leaving.
“I’ve had enough of all that fuss with children,” said the fisherman. “Thank goodness it’s over and done with!”