Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/262

 divulged his plans; and as she liked it too, and quite approved of his proposals, he almost made up his mind that this was to be their future home.

He had been every day since, to look at the place, and was more in love with it every time he saw it. When the setting sun threw a crimson light on to the small window panes and gilded the bushes in the garden, and the white wings of the pigeons as they fluttered backwards and forwards over the thatched roof, it seemed to him a little earthly paradise guarded by gentle angels of peace.

He already knew exactly how the house was to be arranged and furnished, how their housekeeping was to be carried on, and the labour of the day shared. First of all, luxury of every kind, and idleness, were to be banished from their home. The furniture was to be plain deal, painted red; and they were to live so simply, that not even the poorest person could feel too humble to take a place at their board. They would rise with the sun and the lark, and when the work was over in the evening, they would gather their friends around them to cheer each other with songs, reading, conversation and prayer. He already saw himself in a peasant's smock, following the plough up and down the ridges; saw himself rowing out into the fiord on fine evenings, setting lines and traps, while Hansine busied herself at home in the cottage, now and then coming to