"There! I've had enough of it," said Hansei, closing the window and turning round. "Mother-in-law, I don't interfere in anything; I let you manage just as you please, and so I don't mean to let anybody interfere with me."
"I don't want to interfere with you. You're father and husband."
"A fine husband, indeed, whose wife leaves him for a year."
"Perhaps she's having a harder time of it than you."
"May be so; but she has pleasure and enjoyment, and what have I? I wander about as if lost, and that's why I'm not ashamed. The best thing left me is the tavern. One can feel at home there, when he can't in his own house. I don't need to cut or haul wood any longer, and I want to have some good of my wife's being--"
Hansei could not finish what he was about to say, for, at that moment, the door opened and Zenza entered.
"What are you doing here? Who sent for you?" inquired the grandmother of Zenza, who replied:
"Good-morning to you--I didn't come to see you; I want to see this man. Who's master here? you or he?"
"Speak out; what's the matter?" said Hansei, winking at his mother-in-law.
"I was to bring you the smith's compliments and tell you that the gun's ready for you, at his workshop."