"Oh, yes. I do not know how it is, but this evening I could not bear to have you dance with him, Marit."
He turned away,—it had cost him something to say this.
"I do not understand you, Oyvind."
"Nor do I understand myself; it is very stupid of me. Good-by, Marit;
I will go now."
He made a step forward without looking round. Then she called after him.
"You make a mistake about what you saw."
He stopped.
"That you have already become a maiden is no mistake."
He did not say what she had expected, therefore she was silent; but at that moment she saw the light from a pipe right in front of her. It was her grandfather, who had just turned the corner and was coming that way. He stood still.
"Is it here you are, Marit?"