"Josephine!" exclaimed the brother.
"Yes; oh, but perhaps I ought not to have told."
"Who does Josephine get money from?" asked Edward, with all an elder brother's aroused curiosity.
Ole bethought himself a moment, then answered decidedly and clearly: "From your father."
"From father?"
Edward knew quite well that even though it were Josephine who asked their father for money, he would never give it for any useless purpose; he always liked to know what it was wanted for. Therefore his father must approve of what Ole did, and that took away all doubt from Edward's mind. Ole could feel how entirely he changed his view of the matter; he could see it, too, in his eyes. He longed to tell him more about it all, and he did so. He explained how, often when he went there, there was hard work for him to do; he was obliged to light the fire and cook for them.
"Can you cook?"
"Of course I can, and clean up too, and buy all that is needed, and send a messenger rowing across to the apothecary; for the doctor may have written a prescription, but no one ever thinks of sending it over."
"And have you time to do all this?"
"Directly after dinner I finish work at the Schultzes, and I learn my own lessons at night."