“Suppose I was a thief, Grandfather?” she said.
“Well then, what would thou take first?”
“I would take a kiss!” and she laid her face against his face, and gave him one.
“Now, thou could take all there is. What dost thou want?”
“I want thee! Dinner is ready.”
“I will come. In ten minutes, I will come–––” and in less than ten minutes he was at the dinner table, and apparently a quite different man from the one Sunna had invited there. He had changed his coat, his face was happy and careless, and he had quite forgotten the papers and the little piles of silver and gold.
Sunna had said some things to Thora she was sorry for saying; she did not intend to repeat this fault with her grandfather. Even the subject of Boris could lie still until a convenient hour. She appeared, indeed, to have thrown off her anger 135 and her disappointment with the unlucky clothing she had worn in her visit to Thora. She had even assured herself of this change, for when it fell to her feet she lifted it reluctantly between her finger and thumb and threw it aside, remarking as she did so, “I will have them all washed over again! Soda and soap may make them more agreeable and more fortunate.”
And perhaps if we take the trouble to notice the fact, clothing does seem to have some sort of sympathy or antagonism with its wearers. Also, it appears to take on the mood or feeling predominant, looking at one time crisp and perfectly proper, at another time limp and careless, as if the wearer informed the garment or the garment explained the wearer. It is well known that “Fashions are the external expression of the mental states of a country, and that if its men and women degenerate in their character, their fashions become absurd.” Surely then, a sympathy which can affect a nation has some influence upon the individual. Sunna had noticed even in her childhood that her dresses were lucky and unlucky, but the why or the wherefore of the circumstance had never troubled her. She had also noticed that her grandfather liked and disliked certain 136 colours and modes, but she laid all their differences to difference in age.
This day, however, they were in perfect accord. He looked at her and nodded his head, and then smilingly asked: “How did thou find thy friend this morning?”
“So much in love that she had not one regret for Boris.”