Modern Icelandic Plays Part 44

_Einar._

I will. [_Einar and Frida go in._

(_Sveinungi locks the drying-shed and looks into the storehouse, pretending to be very busy._)

_Enter Ljot from the house._

_Ljot._

Here I am, father.

_Sveinungi._

I did not hear you. (_Smiles._) You step as lightly as a young foal. You are not hurt at what I said a moment ago? It was only for your own good.

I won't have any s.h.i.+ftless straggler around here making eyes at you. The parish can gossip about something else. (_Ljot goes to the fence, resting her hands on it._) But that was not what I wanted to talk to you about. (_Goes to her._) You know Arne, the farmer at Skrida. You have seen his son Halfdan. What do you think of him?

_Ljot._

I have seen him only a few times.

_Sveinungi._

There are two brothers. The older one is married and is going to take the farm, but Halfdan is most like his father. You should see the way their place is kept. Their yard is nearly as big as this, and there are long stretches where the gra.s.s stands so high that it falls over. It's as fine a sight as I have ever seen. We stopped there, Jorunn and I, for a full hour, on our way back from town, and there was no lack of welcome. Can you guess what we talked about?

_Ljot._

No.

_Sveinungi (laughs)._

You can't? Arne asked me whether I would have his son Halfdan for a son-in-law.

_Ljot._

And what did you say?

_Sveinungi._

I said I had nothing against it-- quite the contrary. I should be content if you had a husband like him, and we are getting old, your mother and I. We don't know when death may strike us. It may come at any time, and I should like to see the man who is to take my place when I am gone.

_Ljot._

I don't think you are getting old.

_Sveinungi._

Oh, yes, I feel it. Sometimes when I want to use this or that for my work I find that I have clean forgotten where I put it. That could never have happened when I was young; there was not a thing that slipped my mind. But what do you say, Ljot? Your mother thinks as I do, so it lies solely with you whether you will accept this happiness or not.

_Ljot._

I don't think I care for that happiness.

_Sveinungi._

You should weigh your words well before you speak. Perhaps you fancy there will be a wooer like Halfdan coming every day. But you don't mean that; you only mean that he must come and speak for himself.

_Ljot._

I am so young, father.

_Sveinungi._

You are past nineteen. There are many girls who marry at seventeen, and you have been so well taught that you can readily take your place at the head of a household. I need not be ashamed of you there, that's sure.

And you will have your mother near you, for it is understood, of course, that you and Halfdan stay here with us. You will have your bridal now in the fall, and next spring you can take over the farm.

_Ljot._

But I scarcely know him at all!

_Sveinungi._

Your mother did not know me, and I can't see but that we two have lived happily together all these years. It is not always those who marry for what they call love who are happiest. Arne and I are friends from old times, and I have as good as given him my word.

_Enter Jorunn from the house._

_Ljot (straightening herself)._

You should not have done that without speaking to me.

_Sveinungi._

What has come over you? Do you mean to go right against the will of your parents? I can tell you one thing, if it is this tramp you are thinking of, it shall never come to pa.s.s. Not as long as I live. [_Goes in._

_Jorunn._

Your father was angry. What were you talking about?

_Ljot._

He wants me to marry a man I don't know.

_Jorunn._

Does he? You cannot say of Halfdan that he is a man you don't know.

_Ljot._

We have never spoken a word to each other.