And the further I went down the steps, the more wrathful
I got, until I stood over her. And then I was so angry that I had
to bluster at her as if she had done me a grievous wrong. But
she could not understand a word of what I said, and looked at me
with such amazement, that I could not keep from bursting into laughter."
From his early years, Bjornson kept in touch with the modern
intellectual movement by mingling with the people of other lands
than his own. Besides his visits to Denmark, Sweden, and Finland,
he made many lengthy sojourns in the chief continental centres
of civilization, in Munich, Rome, and Paris. The longest of
his foreign journeys was that which brought him to the United
States in the winter of 1880-81, for the purpose of addressing
his fellow countrymen in the Northwest. His home for the last
thirty years and more has been his estate of Aulestad in the
Gausdal, a region of Southern Norway. Here he has been a
model farmer, and here, surrounded by his family,--wife,
children, and grandchildren,--his patriarchal presence has
given dignity to the household, and united its members in a
common bond of love. Hither have come streams of guests,
friends old and new, to enjoy his generous hospitality.
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