He told none of his family or friends of his baptism. They had already
rejected him as far as they could, and they asked him no questions. His
sister would hardly speak to him, and Marie cut him openly. His many
uncles, aunts, and cousins were cold and unfeeling. His mother, though
feeble, and sinking slowly, was the only one of his family that he could
talk to. She seemed to understand and believe him. He felt that in
spirit they were one, and he received great comfort from the thought.
About Midsummer the mother died. Then Henrik spent most of his time at
Nordal. There was peace in the solitude of the pine-clad hills, there
was comfort in the waving fields of grain and the clear-flowing streams.
The lake spread out to his view from his window, and he gazed at its
beauty, sometimes his mind wandering from the Dahl home on the island
westward to unknown America. And America had a new meaning for him now.
Before, it had been simply a new wonder-land, with untold possibilities
in a material way; but added to this there was now the fact that in
America the Latter-day Zion was to be built; there the people of God
were gathering, were building temples, preparatory to the glorious
coming of the Lord.
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