even longer for Yngve Vold than she had waited the evening before for Gunnar; she wanted to return the chain. But just as the vessel Gunnar had gone with had unexpectedly set sail the day before, owing to a splendid cargo it had had assigned to it in the adjoining town, Yngve Vold, who owned the ship, had gone off that day on the same errand. He took with him several commissions, and so he remained absent three weeks.
During these three weeks the chain had gradually found its way from her pocket to the bureau drawer, and from there again into an envelope, the envelope being put away in a secret compartment. Meanwhile, Petra herself had passed from one humiliating discovery to another. For the first time she became fully aware of the great distance between her and the aristocratic ladies of the town; any of them could have worn the chain without fear of being questioned about where it came from. To none of them, however, would Yngve Vold have dared offer it without at the same time offering his hand: this was only possible with the fisher maiden. If he had wanted to give her anything, he might have chosen something she could make use of; but he had wanted to insult her all the more deeply by giving her
