Stay at Lodging House

The protagonist's stay at a lodging house in Vaterland marks a period of precarious shelter, deepening poverty, and failed creative efforts, culminating in his eviction and final departure from Christiania.

Arrival and Initial Shelter

After a night spent in the police guard-house, where he gave the false name Andreas Tangen and claimed to be a journalist for the Morgenbladet, the protagonist found himself without a home. He eventually secured a room at a lodging house for travellers in Vaterland, a poor district of Christiania. The room was on the second floor, the best guest-room, and he was initially able to pay for it with the half-sovereign he had received from the Commandor. He stayed there for three weeks, buoyed by the hope of finishing an article to pay for his board and lodging. The winter was raw and wet, with a foggy, dark, and everlasting night, and the gas was lit almost all day in the streets.

Decline and Eviction

The protagonist's situation deteriorated as his money ran out and he failed to complete his writing. He had been working on an allegory about a fire in a bookshop, but could not make progress. His landlady, a pregnant woman who dominated the whole street with her size, eventually presented him with a reckoning. When he could not add up the figures, particularly a line for "3. 5/16ths of a pound of cheese at 9d.," she lost faith in him. She told him she could not give lodging on credit, and he was forced to leave his room when a sailor paid a month in advance. He was moved to the common family room, where he slept on the floor. The family, including the landlady, her husband, her father, and four children, treated him with hostility. The servant girl mocked him, asking if he had been to a dinner party at the palace, and the children teased the paralyzed old man. After a violent argument, the landlady ordered him to leave, shouting, "you'll quit this house. Now you know it." The landlord intervened, saying it was illegal to turn people out at night, but the landlady gave him one last night, stating, "this is the last night you sleep here, so now you know it."

Final Days and Departure

The protagonist left the lodging house early the next morning, before facing his landlady again. He wandered the streets, hungry and exhausted, and sat on a seat near the fortress. He attempted to work on his drama, "The Sign of the Cross," but could not concentrate. He returned to the lodging house to say goodbye, but was again thrown out by the landlady. A commissionaire then handed him an envelope containing half-a-sovereign, which he threw in the landlady's face. He later realized the money must have come from Ylajali, and was filled with shame. He tore up his manuscript and trampled on his hat. Finally, he walked to the wharf and signed on to the barque Copégoro, which was sailing in ballast for Leith. As the ship sailed out of the fjord, he dragged himself up, wet with fever and exhaustion, and gazed landwards, bidding farewell to Christiania, where the windows gleamed so brightly in all the homes.