Eli, as might be expected, said nothing to all this; and Margit then asked her age. She was above twenty.
"Have you helped in the house-work? Not much, I dare say—you look so spruce."
Yes, she had helped a good deal, especially of late.
"Well, it's best to use one's self to do a little of everything; when one gets a large house of one's own, there's a great deal to be done. But, of course, when one finds good help already in the house before her, why, it doesn't matter so much."
Now Eli thought she must go back; for they had gone a long way beyond the grounds of the parsonage.
"It still wants some hours to sunset; it would be kind it you would chat a little longer with me." And Eli went on.
Then Margit began to talk about Arne. "I don't know if you know much of him. He could teach you something about everything, he could; dear me, what a deal he has read!"
Eli owned she knew he had read a great deal.
"Yes; and that's only the least thing that can be said of him; but the way he has behaved to his mother all his days, that's something more, that is. If the old saying is true, that he who's good to his mother is good to his wife, the one Arne chooses won't have much to complain of."
Eli asked why they had painted the house before them with grey paint.