The Road Leads On | Page 2

sufficiently developed for all that.
How silly the mill-owner's daughter had been! Her father's affairs had
been running steadily downhill of late and there she might have struck
a bargain, accepted Theodore paa Bua and stepped into a new life of
splendour and security. Snobbishness and a devil-may-care pride alone
had caused her to stand thus in her own light, and little enough did she
gain for that pride of hers, for in the end she found her level as an
ordinary housekeeper in Tromsø.
Thus badly had things gone for the once mighty mill-folk, Herr
Holmengraa and his daughter Mariane.
But what then of Segelfoss Manor and all its vast estate? The old
Lieutenant had been a true nobleman; in his day he had put up a church
for the people of Segelfoss, had donated portraits of the Apostles for
the altar and a basin of sterling silver for the baptismal fount and
everything else he could think of. He had had no less than
seven-and-twenty house servants and his enormous lands under
cultivation had extended to the very boundary of the neighbouring
parish--a glorious and a princely domain. His wife had been a titled
lady from Hanover, Germany and together they had lived in the great
white house with its tall pillars, a palace which could be seen from
steamers out at sea. Proud and upright he had been, a man of truth and
courage. To indicate the worth of a signature, it had been said: "As
good as that Willatz Holmsen's!" His word had held like an oath, the
nod of his head had been like a benediction upon his people about him.
But to what avail had all that been? The time came when that sort of
thing didn't go any longer. The Holmsens of Segelfoss were doomed.
The fate of the third generation. They persisted in living along like
grand folk with not a single penny coming in. And it took no end of
money to pay off that house full of servants and to scatter charity

throughout the parish, for travel and for the grand receptions such as
were held when Carl XV came touring the north or when the prefect
and his council stopped with them over the Sessions. And, added to all
that, were finally the funds despatched to their son, living the life of a
gentleman as a student of music in costly schools abroad. Things were
bound to come to a bad end with them. As for the old Lieutenant and
his lady, they both died and got out of the way in time, but their son,
young Willatz Holmsen--why, he had nothing left to do but to sell out....
That had been before Segelfoss had grown into a regular town, before
land and houses had been worth an established price, the very
development which had given Theodore paa Bua his chance. For no
sooner had young Willatz turned everything movable into cash than
Theodore began casting his eyes in the direction of the house with its
tall white pillars, that palace, that country seat of kings, and in this his
vanity was hugely triumphant. He became sole owner of the glories of
Segelfoss Manor.
Yes, those had been hard times, wretchedly hard times up in Nordland.
Cheap fish, deep sleep and depression--not a farthing over sixty skilling
a barrel for prime round-fish. But, for one who had means left over
from a former day, it was no trick at all to acquire a palace and land for
city lots all up and down the sea. Of course it must not be assumed that
Theodore paa Bua was so bloated with wealth that his purchase left no
hole in his pocket--as a matter of fact, he found himself sweating no
end to meet his payments--but an extension of time was his for less
than the asking, so far into the depths had this Holmsen descended. A
pity it was how much young Willatz owed both at home and abroad!
Yes, and he was obliged to charter a steamer to transport all the
handsome furnishings and costly works of art of all kinds from the halls
of Segelfoss Manor south to a possible market. A tragic evidence
indeed of the power of life and of fate.
And what then were Theodore paa Bua and his wife to do with that
palace of theirs? They had a table and chairs for one of the parlours and
beds for a bedroom or two. But in this palace there were two grand
reception halls downstairs to say nothing of twenty or more guest
rooms upstairs, and the plush carpets in some of these rooms were red,

and those in others were blue; and the walls of one of the grand salons
downstairs were done with a