Hulda’s heart was so deeply oppressed with anguish that she was unable to reply, but her brother answered for her.
“Ole Kamp’s ticket cannot be sold by Hulda Hansen. My sister refuses your offer, in spite of your threats. Now leave the house!”
“Leave the house,” repeated Sandgoist. “I shall do nothing of the kind. If the offer I have made does not satisfy you I will go even further. In exchange for the ticket I offer you—I offer you—”
Sandgoist must certainly have felt an irresistible desire to possess this ticket—or at least he must have been convinced that the purchase would prove a most advantageous one to him, for he seated himself at a table upon which lay pen, ink, and paper, and a moment afterward he added:
“Here is what I offer.”
It was a receipt for the amount of Dame Hansen’s indebtedness—a receipt for the amount of the mortgage on the Dal property.
Dame Hansen cowered in her corner, with hands outstretched, and eyes fixed imploringly on her daughter.
“And now give me the ticket,” cried Sandgoist, “I want it today—this very instant. I will not leave Dal without it.”
As he spoke he stepped hastily toward the poor girl as if with the intention of searching her pockets, and wresting the ticket from her.
This was more than Joel could endure, especially when he heard Hulda’s startled cry of “Brother! brother!”
“Get out of here!” he shouted, roughly. And seeing that Sandgoist showed no intention of obeying, the young man was about to spring upon him, when Hulda hastily interposed.
“Here is the ticket, mother,” she cried.
Dame Hansen seized it, and as she exchanged it for Sandgoist’s receipt her daughter sunk, almost fainting, into an armchair.
“Hulda! Hulda! Oh, what have you done?” cried Joel.
“What has she done,” replied Dame Hansen. “Yes, I am guilty—for my children’s sake I wished to increase the property left by their father, but instead I have reduced them to poverty. But Hulda has saved us all. That is what she has done. Thank you, Hulda, thank you.”
Sandgoist still lingered. Joel perceived the fact.
“You are here still,” he continued, roughly. And springing upon Sandgoist he seized him by the shoulders and hustled him out-of-doors in spite of his protests and resistance.
XV
Sylvius Hogg reached Dal on the evening of the following day. He did not say a word about his journey, and no one knew that he had been to Bergen. As long as the search was productive of no results he wished the Hansen family to remain in ignorance of it. Every letter or telegram, whether from Bergen or Christiania, was to be addressed to him, at the inn, where he intended to await further developments. Did he still hope? Yes, though it must be admitted that he had some misgivings.
As soon as he returned the professor became satisfied that some important event had occurred in his absence. The altered manner of Joel and Hulda showed conclusively that an explanation must have taken place between their mother and themselves. Had some new misfortunes befallen the Hansen household?
All this of course troubled Sylvius Hogg greatly. He felt such a paternal affection for the brother and sister that he could not have been more fond of them if they had been his own children. How much he had missed them during his short absence.
“They will tell me all by and by,” he said to himself. “They will have to tell me all. Am I not a member of the family?”
Yes; Sylvius Hogg felt now that he had an undoubted right to be consulted in regard to everything connected with the private life of his young friends, and to know why Joel and Hulda seemed even more unhappy than at the time of his departure. The mystery was soon solved.
In fact both the young people were anxious to confide in the excellent man whom they loved with a truly filial devotion, but they were waiting for him to question them. During his absence they had felt lonely and forsaken—the more so from the fact that Sylvius Hogg had not seen fit to tell them where he was going. Never had the hours seemed so long. It never once occurred to them that the journey was in any way connected with a search for the Viking, and that Sylvius Hogg had concealed the fact from them in order to spare them additional disappointment in case of failure.
And now how much more necessary his presence seemed to have become to them! How glad they were to see him, to listen to his words of counsel and hear his kind and encouraging voice. But would they ever dare to tell him what had passed between them and the Drammen usurer, and how Dame Hansen had marred the prospects of her children? What would Sylvius Hogg say when he learned that the ticket was no longer in Hulda’s possession, and when he heard that Dame Hansen had used it to free herself from her inexorable creditor?
He was sure to learn these facts, however. Whether it was Sylvius Hogg or Hulda that first broached the subject, it would be hard to say, nor does it matter much. This much is certain, however, the professor soon became thoroughly acquainted with the situation of affairs. He was told of the danger that had threatened Dame Hansen and her children, and how the usurer would have driven them from their old home in a fortnight if the debt had not been paid by the surrender of the ticket.
Sylvius Hogg listened attentively to this sad story.
“You should not have given up the ticket,” he cried, vehemently; “no, you should not have done it.”
“How could I help it, Monsieur Sylvius?” replied the poor girl, greatly troubled.
“You could not, of course, and yet—Ah, if I had only been here!”
And what would Professor Sylvius Hogg have done had he been there? He did not say, however, but continued:
“Yes, my dear
