Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 4

all matter of half a score of workmen, with an electrical workshop in the basement and a shop above. The whole could be had by ta

ng capital shall bear interest and be sunk like a

won't say much about the circumstances when we ha

t security in an undertaking that's built upon labor," said the old man, smiling. "There'll be a big fall in discount when you come into powe

plenty of difficulties to overcome. If they got on, it would

tirely upon itself and communicate directly with the consumers. What was made in the workshop should

les?" asked Brun, wit

ll

great mistake, when we began the Movement, in giving in to the agreement system instead of doing a

ubmit to sharing equally with those that

ly. "How could he otherwise maintai

your own

en a doctor and a sewer-cleaner. It's impossible to say which of them is of the

est of spirits. Pelle had considered him awkward and unpractical, and

stimulated me; I was said to be degenerated. Yes, indeed! All the same, the old bookworm's going to show his ancestors that there's vigorous blood flow

e having his feet upon the ground. This was something different from riding alone through space upon his

ome in it all, learned to understand the machinery, and took lessons in book-keeping. He was always busy, used his day and at

ely upon one another, and Pelle unhesitatingly discharged those of his co

ave difficulties enough without that." But Pelle needed some one beside him who was able to look at things from a new point of view, and quite u

*

om his book-keeping co

omfort, but she had left

to eat it in the kitc

a book on the keeping o

s not so easy, however, for Sister had a loose tooth, and his fingers were itching to get at it. Every other minute he broke off his re

burn through the cotton," he said, lighting a piece of candle, "or else father'll never be able to get the tooth out. It loosens it tremendously!" He talked on about all kinds of things to divert her attention, like

applying a plaster to his exploit; he talked to her and gave her her toys to put her into good humor again. When Pelle went in, they

se,

e a go

of a bon

hing now, father?" asked

several th

said sulkily. "Are you goin

e him. "No, I'm not ver

you for a little.

rge rag doll, and began to

rteen children and his happy disposition. The big farm, the country life, the stone-quarry and the sea-they all made up a fairy-story for the two children of the pavement; the boy Pelle's battle with the great oxen for the supremacy, his wonderful captur

re talking, and was sitting knitting. "I can hardly understand how you

claimed Sister app

like to have found room for a parenthesis about his own exploits. "I say, there's a big l

"it's hay-clover hay. Don't y

confidently, "and it is corn too, fo

s too, and, besides, corn is descended from grass

eek, but it went wrong with mother's work. I've

their life in the city. "I wonder if we shouldn't think about movi

to live in. She did not understand it from the point of view of the children either; there were so many children who got on capitally in to

ve notice; there was not much more

hanging down. They went in a different direction each time, and came to places that even Lasse Frederik did not know. Close in to the back of the town lay nice old orchards, and in the midst of them a low straw-thatched building, which had evidently once been the dwelling-house on a farm. They came upon it quite by chance from a side-r

th no definite aim, and chanced upon an uninhabited, somewhat dilapidated house, which stood in the middle of the rising ground with a view over Copenhagen,

ouse you'd like," said Ell

de," he said. "I expect the key's

the hill, to ask. A little while after he came back accompanied by the farmer himsel

calling it "Daybreak," and the name was painted in large letters on the east gable. The house had stood empty since they died some ye

t like it!"

There were four rooms and a kitchen on the ground floor, and some rooms above, one of these being a large attic facing south. The garden

ade the most wonderful discoveries; but when Pelle heard, the pr

as. "It'll be fifteen krones (17 s.) more a month than we now pay," she suddenly exclaimed. "But supposing we

undertake to get several hundred kro

ay from everything," said Ellen. "You'd have to try to buy a second-hand bicycle." Pelle

e said, "and look for a three-roomed flat i

en the house," she said. "It's not so far from the tram after all, and we get it for three hundred krones

appy there," said Pelle,

which they had peeped, as a rule, only on very festive occasions-to wander about

ing and Sunday morning he and Lasse Frederik took out the things. "Queen Theresa" gave Ellen a helping hand with the packing. The last load was done very quickly, as they had to be out of the town before church-time. They half ran

d! When you moved you always had to clean two flats, the one you left and the one you went into. There had not been much done in the way of repairs either, but that too was what one was

per there, Pelle having laid an old door upon a barrel for a table. Every time "Queen Theresa" leaned forward with her elbows on the table, the whole thing threatened to upset, and then she screamed. She

ng the road to the tram. "She's certainly gone through a

. "Women of that kind always pretend to be someb

ouldn't stand it. She wasn't allowed to laugh, but had to be alw

housand plans in her head. She was going to plant a great many fruit-bushes and make a kitchen- garden; and they

ess within him and around him. He was in a solemn mood, and felt as though, after an absence of many years, he had once more entered the land of his childhood. There was a familiar f

en, taking his arm so as to

become my bride," he said