Pelle the Conqueror Part 160

The next day they were up late. Ellen did not wake until about ten, and was quite horrified; but when she got up she found the fire on and everything in order, for La.s.se Frederik had seen to it all. She could start on breakfast at once.

Sister was quite bright again, and Ellen moved her into the sitting-room and made up a bed on the sofa, where she sat packed in with pillows, and had her breakfast with the others.

"Are you sorry Sister's getting well, old man?" asked Boy Comfort.

"My name isn't 'old man.' It's 'grandfather' or else 'Mr. Brun,'" said the librarian, laughing and looking at Ellen, who blushed.

"Are you sorry Sister's getting well, grandfather?" repeated the boy with a funny, pedantic literalness.

"And why should I be sorry for that, you little stupid?"

"Because you've got to give money!"

"The doll, yes! That's true! You'll have to wait till tomorrow, Sister, because to-day's Sunday."

Anna had eaten her egg and turned the sh.e.l.l upside down in the egg-cup so that it looked like an egg that had not been touched. She pushed it slowly toward Brun.

"What's the matter now?" he exclaimed, pus.h.i.+ng his spectacles up onto his forehead. "You haven't eaten your egg!"

"I can't," she said, hanging her head.

"Why, there must be something wrong with her!" said the old man, in amazement. "Such a big, fat egg too! Very well, then _I_ must eat it." And he began to crack the egg, Anna and Boy Comfort following his movements with dancing eyes and their hands over their mouths, until his spoon went through the sh.e.l.l and he sprang up to throw it at their heads, when their merriment burst forth. It was a joke that never suffered by repet.i.tion.

While breakfast was in progress, the farmer from the hill farm came in to tell them that they must be prepared to move out, as he meant to sell the house. He was one of those farmers of common-land, whom the city had thrown off their balance. He had lived up there and had seen one farm after another grow larger and make their owners into millionaires, and was always expecting that his turn would come. He neglected the land, and even the most abundant harvest was ridiculously small in comparison with his golden dreams; so the fields were allowed to lie and produce weeds.

Ellen was just as dismayed as Pelle at the thought of having to leave "Daybreak." It was their home, their nest too; all their happiness and welfare were really connected with this spot.

"You can buy the house of course," said the farmer. "I've had an offer of fifteen thousand (L850) for it, and I'll let it go for that."

After he had gone they sat and discussed the matter. "It's very cheap,"

said Brun. "In a year or two you'll have the town spreading in this direction, and then it'll be worth at least twice as much."

"Yes, that may be," said Pelle; "but you've both to get the amount and make it yield interest."

"There's eight thousand (L450) in the first mortgage, and the loan inst.i.tution will lend half that. That'll make twelve thousand (L675).

That leaves three thousand (L175), and I'm not afraid of putting that in as a third mortgage," said Brun.

Pelle did not like that. "There'll be need for your money in the business," he said.

"Yes, yes! But when you put the house into repair and have it re-valued, I'm certain you can get the whole fifteen thousand in the Loan Societies," said Brun. "I think it'll be to your advantage to do it."

Ellen had taken pencil and paper, and was making calculations. "What percentage do you reckon for interest and paying off by instalments?"

she asked.

"Five," said the old man. "You do all the work of keeping it up yourselves."

"Then I would venture," she said, looking dauntlessly at them. "It would be nice to own the house ourselves, don't you think so, Pelle?"

"No, I think it's quite mad," Pelle answered. "We shall be saddled with a house-rent of seven hundred and fifty kroner (over 40)."

Ellen was not afraid of the house-rent; the house and garden would bear that. "And in a few years we can sell the ground for building and make a lot of money." She was red with excitement.

Pelle laughed. "Yes, speculation! Isn't that what the hill farmer has gone to pieces over?" Pelle had quite enough on his hands and had no desire to have property to struggle with.

But Ellen became only more and more bent upon it. "Then buy it yourself!" said Pelle, laughing. "I've no desire to become a millionaire."

Ellen was quite ready to do it. "But then the house'll be _mine_," she declared. "And if I make money on it, I must be allowed to spend it just as I like. It's not to go into your bottomless common cash-box!" The men laughed.

"Brun and I are going for a walk," said Pelle, "so we'll go in and write a contract note for you at once."

They went down the garden and followed the edge of the hill to the south. The weather was clear; it had changed to slight frost, and white rime covered the fields. Where the low sun's rays fell upon them, the rime had melted and the withered green gra.s.s appeared. "It's really pretty here," said Brun. "See how nice the town looks with its towers--only one shouldn't live there. I was thinking of that last night when the child was lying there with her cough. The work-people really get no share of the sun, nor do those who in other respects are decently well off. And then I thought I'd like to build houses for our people on the ridge of the hill on both sides of 'Daybreak.' The people of the new age ought to live in higher and brighter situations than others. I'll tell you how I thought of doing it. I should in the meantime advance money for the plots, and the business should gradually redeem them with its surplus. That is quite as practical as dividing the surplus among the workmen, and we thereby create values for the enterprise. Talking of surplus--you've worked well, Pelle! I made an estimate of it last night and found it's already about ten thousand (555) this year. But to return to what we were talking about--mortgage loans are generally able to, cover the building expenses, and with amortization the whole thing is unenc.u.mbered after some years have pa.s.sed."

"Who's to own it?" asked Pelle. He was chewing a piece of gra.s.s and putting his feet down deliberately like a farmer walking on ploughed land.

"The cooperative company. It's to be so arranged that the houses can't be made over to others, nor enc.u.mbered with fresh loan. Our cooperative enterprises must avoid all form of speculation, thereby limiting the field for capital. The whole thing should be self-supporting and be able to do away with private property within its boundaries. You see it's your own idea of a community within the community that I'm building upon. At present it's not easy to find a juridical form under which the whole thing can work itself, but in the meantime you and I will manage it, and Morten if he will join us. I expect he'll come home with renewed strength."

"And when is this plan to be realized? Will it be in the near future?"

"This very winter, I had thought; and in this way we should also be able to do a little for the great unemployment. Thirty houses! It would be a beginning anyhow. And behind it lies the whole world, Pelle!"

"Shall you make the occupation of the houses obligatory for our workmen?"

"Yes, cooperation makes it an obligation. You can't be half outside and half inside! Well, what do you think of it?"

"It's a strong plan," said Pelle. "We shall build our own town here on the hill."

The old man's face shone with delight. "There's something in me after all, eh? There's old business-blood in my veins too. My forefathers built a world for themselves, and why should I do less than they? I ought to have been younger, Pelle!"

They walked round the hill and came to the farm from the other side.

"The whole piece wouldn't really be too large if we're to have room to extend ourselves," said Pelle, who was not afraid of a large outlay when it was a question of a great plan.

"I was thinking the same thing," answered Bran. "How much is there here?

A couple of hundred acres? There'll be room for a thousand families if each of them is to have a fair-sized piece of land."

They then went in and took the whole for a quarter of a million (14,000).

"But Ellen!" exclaimed Pelle, when they were on their way home again.

"How are we going to come to terms with her?"

"Bless my soul! Why, it was her business we went upon! And now we've done business for ourselves! Well, I suppose she'll give in when she hears what's been done."

"I'm not so sure of that," said Pelle, laughing. "Perhaps when you tackle her."

"Well, did you get the house?" asked Ellen, from the house door, where she was standing to receive them.

"Yes, we got much more," said Brun airily. "We bought the whole concern."

"Is that a fact, Pelle?"