And Isak, for all that he was eating already, must pull up a
twig of heather and fall to biting that.
"What--are you eating heather?" cried Inger laughingly.
Isak threw down the twig, took a mouthful of food, and going over to
the road, took the horse by its forelegs and heaved up its forepart
till the animal stood on its hindlegs. Inger looked on with
astonishment.
"What are you doing that for?" she asked.
"Oh, he's so playful," said Isak, and set the horse down again.
Now what _had_ he done that for? A sudden impulse to do just that
thing; perhaps he had done it to hide his embarrassment.
They started off again, and all three of them walked a bit of the way.
They came to a new farm.
"What's that there?" asked Inger.
"'Tis Brede's place, that he's bought."
"Brede?"
"Breidablik, he calls it. There's wide moorland, but the timber's
poor."
They talked of the new place as they passed on. Isak noticed that
Brede's cart was still left out in the open.
The child was growing sleepy now, and Isak took her gently in his arms
and carried her.
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