"Thank you, father-in-law, I do my best. I don't like to accept presents."
"Perhaps it would be better still if you left the money in my business, and whatever I make by it shall be yours."
"I don't understand your business; I prefer taking my steady percentage."
When her father returned into the sitting-room, Annele brought in refreshments, but the Landlord wished to decline them and to go away immediately. Annele however pressed him to remain, saying:—
"It is your own wine, father. Do sit down for a little; we see you so seldom now."
No chair in the Morgenhalde seemed substantial enough to bear the weight of the Landlord's dignity, so he drank a glass of wine standing, and then went down the hill, holding his hand on the breast pocket of his coat.
"How strange my father is today," said Annele.
"He has important business on hand,—I have just given him my two thousand six hundred gulden that I had placed with the bailiff."
"And what did he give you in return?"
"I don't know what you mean—nothing; I will ask him for a receipt some day, when I have an opportunity, because this is customary."