Come to light?  Of course it had; how could it be helped?  The place was no longer a desert, with never a soul for miles; and, moreover, Oline was there.  What had Oline to do with it?  Ho! and, to make things worse, Brede Olsen had made an enemy of her himself.  No means of getting round Oline now; here she was on the spot, and could worm things out of Axel a bit at a time.  ’Twas just such underhand work she lived for; ay, lived by, in some degree.  And here was the very thing for her—­trust Oline for scenting it out!  Truth to tell, Oline was grown too old now to keep house and tend cattle at Maaneland; she ought to have given it up.  But how could she?  How could she leave a place where a fine, deep mystery lay simply waiting to be brought to light?  She managed the winter’s work; ay, she got through the summer, too, and it was a marvel of strength she gained from the mere thought of being able one day to show up a daughter of Brede himself.  The snow was not gone from the fields that spring before Oline began poking about.  She found the little green mound by the stream, and saw at once that the turf had been laid down in squares.  She had even had the luck to come upon Axel one day standing by the little grave, and treading it down.  So Axel knew all about it!  And Oline nodded her grey head—­ay, it was her turn now!

Not but Axel was a kindly man enough to live with, but miserly; counted his cheeses, and kept good note of every tuft of wool; Oline could not do as she liked with things, not by a long way.  And then that matter of the accident last year, when she had saved him—­if Axel had been the right sort, he would have given her the credit for it all, and acknowledged his debt to her alone.  But not a bit of it—­Axel still held to the division he had made on the spot.  Ay, he would say, if Oline hadn’t happened to come along, he would have had to lie out there in the cold all night; but Brede, he’d been a good help too, on the way home.  And that was all the thanks she got!  Oline was full of indignation—­surely the Lord Almighty must turn away His face from His creatures!  How easy it would have been for Axel to lead out a cow from its stall, and bring it to her and say:  “Here’s a cow for you, Oline.”  But no.  Not a word of it.

Well, let him wait—­wait and see if it might not come to cost him more than the worth of a cow in the end!

All through that summer, Oline kept a look-out for every passer-by, and whispered to them and nodded and confided things to them in secret.  “But never a word I’ve said,” so she charged them every time.  Oline went down to the village, too, more than once.  And now there were rumours and talk of things about the place, ay, drifting like a fog, settling on faces and getting into ears; even the children going to school at Breidablik began nodding secrets among themselves.  And at last the Lensmand had to take it up; had to bestir himself and report it, and ask for instructions.  Then he came up