Her greatest concern, however, was the little brother—­he who was now Ingmar Ingmarsson.  The boy exasperated Karin’s husband even more than the sisters had done.  He did it by actions rather than words.  One time he poured out all the corn brandy Elof had brought home; another time the brother-in-law caught him in the act of diluting his liquor with water.

When autumn came Karin demanded that the boy be sent back to high school that year, as in former years, but her husband, who was also his guardian, would not hear of it.

“Ingmar shall be a farmer, like his father and me and my father,” said Elof.  “What business has he at high school?  When the winter comes, he and I will go into the forest to put up charcoal kilns.  That will be the best kind of schooling for him.  When I was his age, I spent a whole winter working at the kiln.”

As Karin could not induce him to alter his mind, she had to make the best of it and keep Ingmar at home for the time being.

Elof then tried to win the confidence of little Ingmar.  Whenever he went anywhere he always wanted the boy to accompany him.  The lad went, of course, but unwillingly.  He did not like to go with him on his sprees.  Then Elof would coax the boy, and vow that he was not going any farther than the church or the shop.  But when once he got Ingmar in the cart, he would drive off with him, down to the smithies at Bergsana, or the tavern in Karmsund.

Karin was glad that her husband took the boy along; it was at least a safeguard against Elof being left in a ditch by the roadside, or driving the horse to death.

Once, when Elof came home at eight in the morning, Ingmar was sitting beside him in the cart, fast asleep.

“Come out here and look after the boy!” Elof shouted to Karin, “and carry him in.  The poor brat’s as full as a tick, and can’t walk a step.”

Karin was so shocked that she almost collapsed.  She was obliged to sit down on the steps for a moment, to recover herself, before she could lift the boy.  The minute she took hold of him she discovered that he was not really asleep, but stiff from the cold, and unconscious.  Taking the boy in her arms, she carried him into the bedroom, locked the door after her, and tried to bring him to.  After a while she stepped into the living-room, where Elof sat eating his breakfast.  She walked straight up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“You’d better lay in a good meal while you’re about it,” she said, “for if you have made my brother drink himself to death, you’ll soon have to put up with poorer fare than you’re getting on the Ingmar Farm.”

“How you talk!  As if a little brandy could hurt him!”

“Mark what I say!  If the boy dies, you’ll get twenty years in prison, Elof.”

When Karin returned to the bedroom, the boy had come out of his stupor, but was delirious and unable to move hand or foot.  He suffered agonies.