Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part one - VIII
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having a mission to fill, when they enjoyed life after their
fashion, the champions of the eternal rights of nature, who did
not trouble to brush their teeth or clean their nails — they could
not impose on her.
She would be true to her own old moral code, which aimed
at truth and self-control, and originated from the time she was
sent to school. She was not like the other children; even her
clothes were unlike theirs, and her little soul was very, very
different. She lived with her mother, who had been left a
widow at the age of twenty, and had nothing in the world but
her little daughter. Her father had died before she was old
enough to remember him. He was in his grave and in heaven,
but in reality he lived with them, for his picture hung above
the piano and heard and saw everything they said and did.
Her mother spoke of him constantly, telling her what he thought
of everything and what Jenny might or must not do because of
father. Jenny spoke of him as if she knew him, and at night,
in bed, she spoke to him, and to God as one who was always
with father and agreed with him about everything.
She remembered her first day at school, and smiled at the
recollection. Her mother had taught her herself until she was
eight years old. She used to explain things to Jenny by
comparison; a cape, for instance, was likened to a small point near
the town, which Jenny knew well, so when the teacher asked
her in the geography lesson to name some Norwegian capes, she
answered without hesitation: “Naesodden.” The teacher
smiled and all the pupils laughed. “Signe,” said the teacher,
and another girl stood up briskly to answer: “Nordkap,
Lindesnaes, Stat.” Jenny smiled in a superior way, not heeding
their laughter. She had never had child friends, and she
never made any.
She had smiled indifferently at their sneering and teasing, but
a quiet, implacable hatred grew in her towards the other
children, who to her mind formed one compact mass, a many-headed
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