We must have a wedding that will not only create a sensation in Dal, but in all the neighboring villages.

I intend it shall be the grandest one ever known in the district, so I am going to set to work immediately." An affair of this kind is always a momentous occasion in all the country districts of Norway, particularly in the Telemark, so that every day Joel had a conversation with his mother on the subject.

It was only a few moments after Dame Hansen's meeting with the stranger, whose message had so deeply agitated her, and though she had seated herself at her spinning-wheel as usual, it would have been plain to a close observer that her thoughts were far away.
Even Joel noticed that his mother seemed even more despondent than usual, but as she invariably replied that there was nothing the matter with her when she was questioned on the subject, her son decided to speak only of Hulda's marriage.
"Mother," he began, "you, of course, recollect that Ole announced in his last letter that he should probably return to Dal in a few weeks." "It is certainly to be hoped that he will," replied Dame Hansen, "and that nothing will occur to occasion any further delay." "Do you see any objection to our fixing upon the twenty-fifth of May as the day of the marriage ?" "None, whatever, if Hulda is willing." "Her consent is already given.

And now I think I had better ask you, mother, if you do not intend to do the handsome thing on that occasion ?" "What do you mean by the handsome thing ?" retorted Dame Hansen, without raising her eyes from her spinning-wheel.
"Why, I am anxious, if you approve, of course, that the wedding should correspond with the position we hold in the neighborhood.

We ought to invite all our friends to it, and if our own house is not large enough to accommodate them, our neighbors, I am sure, will be glad to lodge our guests." "Who will these guests be, Joel ?" "Why, I think we ought to invite all our friends from Moel, Tiness and Bamble.