"Poor mother!"
"He was worst of all, though, to himself."
Thoughts now arose that neither liked to express to the other. Eli was the first to break the silence.
"They say you are like your father."
"So I have heard," he answered, evasively.
She paid no heed to the tone of his voice; and so, after a while, she continued, "Could he, too, make songs?"
"No."
"Sing a song for me,—one you have made yourself."
But Arne was not in the habit of confessing that the songs he sang were his own. "I have none," said he.
"Indeed you have, and I am sure you will sing them for me if I ask it."