"Come here, you shall have stromling," cried the girl with the conqueror's munificence.
"If I am only permitted to measure them first, the people shall have them," interposed the commissioner, who from his window had observed the return of the boat and had therefore come down to see the result of his labors.
"What good will that do?" said Miss Mary over-bearingly.
"It is for the statistics, my gracious lady," answered the commissioner with no sign of discomposure, for he knew that the result of the fishing had depended upon the information he had given, founded on current, depth, temperature of the water and the condition of the bottom.
"You with your statistics," joked Miss Mary with an expression of deepest disgust.
"Take it, then, but only let me know afterwards how much there was," the commissioner finished the discussion with and went home.
"He is envious of us," remarked Miss Mary to the assistant.
"Perhaps jealous?" said he.
"That he surely cannot be," replied the girl half aloud as to herself, thereby betraying that which she had hidden for several days, namely her being provoked at her betrothed's incredible indifference towards his rival which she had taken as an offending over-confidence in his power to charm.
The prayer meeting had been broken up, and all the islanders gathered around the returned fishing boat.