"Yes, but if she cannot follow me upwards, I cannot on the other hand follow her downwards; but the latter seems to be her precise will, so precise, that it appears to me to-day, as though there lay a hidden hate behind it."
"Hate? It is only love, my friend! Come down now and say something friendly, and she will be all right again."
"Never, after the words we exchanged to-day! For either these words mean something and then we are foes, or they mean nothing, and then one of the party is irresponsible."
"Yes, she is irresponsible, but Axel should well know that a woman is a child until she becomes a mother. Come now, my friend, and play with' the child, otherwise she will select other playthings, which may be more dangerous."
"Yes, but, dearest, I cannot play the whole day without being tired, and I do not believe either that Mary is pleased to be treated as a child."
"Yes, she is, only it don't look so! Ah, what a child Axel is in such affairs!"
Again a politeness, which from anyone but a mother-in-law would have been an insult! And when she now took his hand to lead him out, he felt all resistance cease. She had by leaving his argument unanswered led the conversation away from the question; she had blown at the skein instead of untangling it, caressed his doubts to rest and stroked away the disquiet and by her womanly atmosphere, her motherly manner got him to lay aside his will and personal liberty.
And after he had changed his coat, he followed obediently, almost with pleasure the incessantly chatting old lady down the staircase to continue the play and put on handcuffs.
Upon reaching the hall he met the preacher, who delivered a letter to him with the Academy of Agriculture's stamp.
The commissioner broke the seal on the spot, and put the letter in his pocket, as though glad he had got something, a substitute for conversation, a lightning rod; he burned to communicate the news to the mother who was waiting.