He arose to follow her.  “You need not come with me,” she added.  “I shall see Selma, and she will accompany me home—­not you.”

“Very well, Marie.”

She turned at the door.  “Will you not promise?”

“Promise what?”

“Not to do as you said—­not to disgrace—­”

“Marie, where the light shines, I must follow; where the truth beckons,
I must go.  I—­”

With a low cry the girl turned and fled from the room.

XIII.

  “The Lord alone did lead him.”—­Deut. 32:12.

One beautiful summer evening, Henrik Bogstad was baptized in the waters of the Christiania fjord.  After that, the truths of the gospel appeared clearer than ever, and still whisperings of the Spirit, to which he now had legal right, testified to his spirit that he was in the way of salvation, narrow and straight perhaps, but glowing with a light that comforted and cheered.

He told none of his family or friends of his baptism.  They had already rejected him as far as they could, and they asked him no questions.  His sister would hardly speak to him, and Marie cut him openly.  His many uncles, aunts, and cousins were cold and unfeeling.  His mother, though feeble, and sinking slowly, was the only one of his family that he could talk to.  She seemed to understand and believe him.  He felt that in spirit they were one, and he received great comfort from the thought.

About Midsummer the mother died.  Then Henrik spent most of his time at Nordal.  There was peace in the solitude of the pine-clad hills, there was comfort in the waving fields of grain and the clear-flowing streams.  The lake spread out to his view from his window, and he gazed at its beauty, sometimes his mind wandering from the Dahl home on the island westward to unknown America.  And America had a new meaning for him now.  Before, it had been simply a new wonder-land, with untold possibilities in a material way; but added to this there was now the fact that in America the Latter-day Zion was to be built; there the people of God were gathering, were building temples, preparatory to the glorious coming of the Lord.

Henrik soon caught the spirit of gathering, but he quenched it as much as possible.  His brethren in the gospel advised him to remain where he was and do his full duty to his sister and their interests.  This he tried to do.  He would not quarrel with Selma, but was exceedingly patient and considerate.  He would “talk religion” with any of his friends who expressed a desire to do so, but he would not contend.

Henrik mingled more freely with his tenants at Nordal, and they soon became aware of a change in him.  He gave them good treatment.  Sometimes, there were Sunday services in the large parlor of the Bogstad residence, and the people were invited to attend.  They turned out, it must be admitted, more because of Hr.  Bogstad’s invitation than because of any enthusiasm on their part.