As soon as the little ones began to toddle, they had to come along to Mårbacka to celebrate Lieutenant Lagerlöf's birthday. And sometimes the neighbours, who always attended these parties, had guests at home, and, naturally, they brought them.
In those days, when the young gentlemen would go many a mile for the sake of a dance, they, too, began to pay their respects to Lieutenant Lagerlöf on the seventeenth of August. Besides, there were the relatives from other parts of the country who visited Mårbacka every summer, and they planned their trips so as to be present on the Lieutenant's birthday.
As it was always fine weather on the seventeenth of August, in the Lieutenant's lifetime, the guests would while away the time strolling about the grounds, viewing his gardens and buildings. If many young people were present, the dancing would begin before supper. Everyone, no doubt, had a pleasant enough time, though no more so than at other parties.
Then happily Lieutenant Adolf Hedberg and his pretty young wife came to live at East Ämtervik. At Lieutenant Lagerlöf's next birthday party an old peasant woman with a basket of eggs to sell stalked into the kitchen in the midst of the festivities.
She was immediately ordered out, of course; no one had time to stop and buy eggs in the bustle and excitement, with so many guests to be served. Not in the least discouraged, the old woman went round to the veranda, where the Lieutenant sat with a circle of
