"Yes, you told me that; but have you nothing about _him_,--you know who?" "Oh, yes!" "Oh, oh! Eli, is that so? Make haste; tell me!" "He has been there again!" "Oh, nonsense!" "Yes, indeed; both father and mother pretended they did not see it, but I went up in the garret and hid." "More, more! Did he follow you there?" "I think father told him where I was; he is always so provoking." "And so he came? Sit down, sit down here beside me. Well, so he came?" "Yes; but he did not say much, for he was so bashful." "Every word! Do you hear? every word!" "'Are you afraid of me?' said he. 'Why should I be afraid?' said I. 'You know what it is I want of you,' said he, and sat down on the chest beside me." "Beside you!" "And then he put his arm round my waist." "His arm round your waist? Are you wild?" "I wanted to get away from him, but he would not let me go. 'Dear Eli,' said he,"--she laughed, and the other girl laughed too. "Well? well?" "'Will you be my wife?'" "Ha, ha, ha!" "Ha, ha, ha!" And then both--"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Finally, the laughter, too, had to come to an end, and then a long silence ensued. After a while, the first one asked, but softly, "Say,--was it not too bad that he put his arm round your waist?" Either the other one made no reply to this, or else she spoke in such a low tone that it could not be heard; perhaps, too, she answered only with a smile. Presently the first one asked:-- "Have neither your father nor your mother said anything since?" "Father came up and looked at me, but I kept hiding; for he laughed every time he saw me." "But your mother?" "Why, she said nothing; but she was less harsh than usual." "Well, you certainly refused him?" "Of course." Then there was a long silence again. "Eli!" "Well?" "Do you think any one will ever come that way to me?" "Yes, to be sure." "How you talk! O--h! say, Eli? What if he should put his arm round my waist?" She covered her face. There was much laughter, afterwards whispering and tittering. The girls soon went away. They had neither seen Arne, nor the axe and the jacket, and he was glad. Some days later he put Upland Knut in the houseman's place under Kampen. "You shall no longer be lonely," said Arne. Arne himself took to steady work. He had early learned to cut with the hand-saw, for he had himself added much to the house at home. Now he wanted to work at his trade, for he knew it was well to have some definite occupation; it was also good for him to get out among people; and so changed had he gradually become, that he longed for this whenever he had kept to himself for a while. Thus it came to pass that he was at the parsonage for a time that winter doing carpentering, and the two girls were often together there. Arne wondered, when he saw them, who it could be that was now courting Eli Boeen.