344 'GOD'S PEACE'
sledge turned a somersault in the snow. The snow-town stretched further and further ; we chil- dren never reached the end of it, for we heard rumours of brawling and drunken quarrels going on in its furthest suburbs, where the working men of the old town met their enemies and rivals from the other side of the fjord.
We children stayed where lights and innocence reigned, where our sisters and their school friends flew past us with their cavaliers, and where they danced the Lancers on skates, all the more amusing for not being very perfect. About supper-time the entire town would be on the fjord. Then came the parents to fetch their young daughters and children, or they brought the supper out in baskets. One joined forces with friends and acquaintances and made up a big table with all the delicacies of the various picnic baskets. When afterwards we walked home we saw rockets shoot up across the fjord, where the noisy carnival gaiety continued far into the night.
To-day Greta and I went for a drive in a sledge. Down by the fjord we stopped and went out on the ice amongst the skaters. There was laughter and life, but none of the fairy-tale scenes from the old days. I felt disappointed in watching the smooth, well-swept surface, where everything was arranged in true sportsmanlike fashion. More eagerly therefore I turned to the memories of old days. It was some time before I discovered that Greta, who is usually so bright, walked silent at my
