"Oh, no!" she shook her head, "that would never do! They would all be anxious about me if I did not turn up—and think what Fru Bjork would say when she heard I had been lunching with a young man!"
"But why should she hear of it? You can say you have been sight-seeing, too far away for you to get back in time. Make any excuse you like, but do be good! Come!" His voice was like that of a spoilt child begging for a new toy.
"Astrid knows I'm not sight-seeing to-day. I told her before I went out."
He observed that she appeared not to resent the idea of a mild deception—or was it that she wished to ignore the suggestion?
"You are afraid of me!" he said teasingly. "Believe me, I am not an ogre!"
She rose at once to the bait.
"Afraid? Why should I be afraid? I say 'no' because it is impossible." Her tone was final.
Mirko laughed.
"'When a woman won't, she won't, and there's an end on't!'" he quoted. "At least one hears so. What is it, obstinacy or propriety as personified by your compatriots?"
"In this case it would amount to the same."