The evening of that day saw Nils at a great wedding party.  He would not play, but drank all he could, and was dancing the whole time.  But when he asked Birgit Boeen for a dance, she refused him.  He turned and took hold of the first good-looking girl near.  She, too, held back, and answered a request he whispered in her ear with the words:  “The dance might go further than I should like.”

At that Nils drew back, and danced the “Halling” alone.  Then he went into the barn, laid himself down, and wept.

Margit sat at home with her little boy.  She heard about Nils going from dance to dance, and it was not very long before Arne learnt that Nils Skraedder was his father, and the kind of man he was.

It was when Arne was about six years old that two Americans, visiting the place when a bridal party was going on, were so much struck by the way Nils danced the “Halling” that they proposed to take him as their servant, at whatever wages he wanted.  They would call for him on their way back in about a week’s time.  Nils was the hero of the evening.

The dance was resumed.  Nils looked round at the girls, and went over to Birgit Boeen.  He held out his hand, and she put out hers.  Then, turning away with a laugh, he put his arm around the girl next to her, and danced off with boisterous glee.

Birgit coloured, and a tall, quiet-looking man took her hand, and danced away.  Nils noticed it, and presently danced so hard against them that both Birgit and her partner fell to the ground.

The quiet-looking man got up, went straight to Nils, took him by the arm, and knocked him down with a blow over the eyes.  Nils fell heavily, tried to rise, and found that he couldn’t—­his back was badly hurt.

Meantime, at Kampen, no sooner had the grandmother succeeded in paying off the last instalment of debt on the farm than she was stricken with mortal sickness and died.

A fortnight after the funeral six men brought in a litter, and on the litter lay Nils with his black hair and pale face.

In the springtime, a year after he had been brought to Kampen, Nils and Margit were married.  The fiddler’s health was ruined, but he was able to help in the fields, and look after things.  Then, one Sunday afternoon, when Nils and Arne were out together they saw a wedding procession, fourteen carriages in all.  Nils stood for a long time motionless after the bride and bridegroom had passed, and for the rest of the day he was sullen and angry.  He went out before supper, and returned at midnight, drunk.

From that day Nils was constantly going into town and coming home drunk.  He reproached Margit for his wretched life; he cursed her, he struck her, and beat her.  Then would come fits of wild remorse.

As Arne grew up, Nils took him to dances, and the boy learnt to sing all sorts of songs.  His mother taught him to read, and when he was fifteen he longed to travel and to write songs.