Mother taught him more reading and arithmetic. Then the autumn was there, and school started.

He was both glad and sorry. Mainly glad, so that he told   [p. 47]   himself he would not have missed it for anything. Åsne Bakken had been pushed into the background that summer, but as he was trudging to school with his mother the first day, the image of Åsne reappeared. He would see her again today.

It was a long way to school. Bufast lay on the very edge of the district.

There were lots of children. But Åsne Bakken was not there to begin with. He looked at them all, and many of them looked shyly at him. Some knew each other already and kept each other company noisily. This gave them a kind of advantage at once. Those standing there singly were inferiors, searching the faces of their leaders for a smile. If they were given one, they smiled happily back.

Mother left, having dumped Per into the crowd.

There was Åsne, and another little girl with her. The other was sure to be Signe Moen. Per remembered clearly that Åsne had a cousin called that. They came hand in hand and halted, without a grown-up since there were two of them. They were from the opposite direction; they would never keep Per company along the way.

Per looked away. Åsne also looked away. They never would have believed that seeing each other for the second time would feel like this. Down by the river everything had happened by itself. Signe looked sideways at Per, since Åsne was doing so.

He had no idea what to do. Then he noticed a stick lying at his feet. He was saved. He picked up the stick and threw it in front of Åsne. She bent down quickly and threw it back again, and then they could smile at each other and go up to each other.

Signe Moen stood beside them, half smiling with them. She was about the same height as Åsne. They were very much alike.

"Why didn't you ever come down again?" asked Per.

"Couldn't go by myself."

"Is this Signe Moen?"

"Yes."

Signe was suddenly standing with her back to them. She was shy.

Per said to Åsne, "You know, I've been waiting for you so, and you never came to Bufast."

"Yes, I've been waiting for you too," she said. "You can turn around now, Signe. Walk around her, Per; then you can look at her."

Per went around Signe so that he could look her in the face. She did not mind letting him look at her, so then they could smile at each other and make a threesome.

Now they were three. They looked about them at once.

There turned out to be a crowd of inquisitive people: around them stood four or five young boys, staring.

Per was angry for some reason. Wasn't it right to stand with the girls? Was it something to be ashamed of? He was suddenly angry with these gaping fellows. And he was at least as big as they were. He'd show them.

"They stand staring like new-born calves," he said, to their faces.

Åsne and Signe laughed proudly. The gapers were left flat. Per was so proud of himself that he flushed and felt quite dizzy.

"Chase them away," said Åsne.

There was a fight in the air, but then the teacher arrived and took the whole crowd indoors.

Per managed very well that day. He wanted to sit next to Åsne and Signe but was not allowed; he had to sit with the boys. But he had already made enemies of the boys, and he did not look at the one sitting beside him. During recesses he and Åsne stood together. Signe drifted away to some of the others.

He went home pleased with himself. It had been a good day. He had no company, but he was used to being alone, and for most of the way there was nobody to be with anyway.

The autumn grass was faded, and the leaves had fallen.   [p. 49]   There was a scent of moisture and of earth. The scent jolted him, and he stopped to find out whether he loved earth.

No. But he loved Åsne Bakken; he had found that out easily enough.

One school day followed the next. School was fine. There were wet autumn days. The earth smelled black and wet. Per smelled it in the morning on the way to school and in the afternoon on the way home. He tried to find out again and again whether Father's prophecy had come true. But it had not.

He still preferred to be with Åsne Bakken. Åsne said to him when the first week was over: "My, you're bright at school."

He did not reply but felt happy. She had said it enviously.

"Are you going to be a pastor?" she said again.

He did not understand.

"A pastor?"

"Yes. Signe has a brother who was so bright at school that he has to be a pastor. He goes to school even though he's grown-up! Because he's going to be made into a pastor."

Per was on the point of bursting out that he was going to stay at Bufast to the end of his days, but then it struck him that this was a way out! He would be brighter than all the rest of them at school; then they would have to make him into a pastor.

"Are you?" she asked, demanding a straight answer at once.

Immediately he was terrified that this escape route might be closed if Father and the others got to know about it. He must keep it secret! Simply be so bright that they would have to make him into a pastor.

"No, I'm not!" he said cuttingly. "You do talk nonsense."

The term continued. He noticed how light-hearted many of them were about their lessons. He had to learn his and had to know them better than the others. He did know them better.

He kept Åsne company, but less and less. She was a girl,   [p. 50]   and it was difficult to be with a girl in the middle of a crowd of boys, even though nobody dared tease him to his face. They had felt his fists by now.

Signe drifted away from him entirely. When he saw her, she was always with another girl, and it didn't matter to him what she was called.

Then he found Olav Bringa.

They were about the same height and were a little afraid of each other---afraid of being the loser---so they did not test their strength except in friendship. The others hated them at once because they did not draw in a third. It was sweet to be hated a little when you felt strong.