"Oh! It's subtle, wonderfully subtle! You like Fichte, don't you? I say! What a man!"
"Who were the two individuals in the cottage?" asked Falk, who did not like Fichte.
"Oh. You saw them too? One of them was the practical Lundell, a painter of figures, or rather, sacred subjects; the other one was my friend Rehnhjelm."
He pronounced the last few words with the utmost indifference, so as to heighten their effect as much as possible.
"Rehnhjelm?"
"Yes; a very nice fellow."
"He was acting as Lundell's model."
"Was he? That's like Lundell! He knows how to make use of people; he is extraordinarily practical. But come along, let's worry him; it's the only fun I have out here. Then, perhaps, you'll hear Montanus speaking, and that's really worth while."
Less for the sake of hearing Montanus speaking than for the sake of obtaining a glass of water, Falk followed Sellén, helping him to carry easel and paintbox.
The scene in the cottage was slightly changed; the model was now sitting on the broken chair, and Montanus and Ygberg on the bed-sofa. Lundell was standing at his easel, smoking; his seedy friends watched him and his old, snoring cherry-wood pipe; the very presence of a pipe and tobacco raised their spirits.