"Are there lodgers there, too?"
"Yes, a Fru Bang with her daughter."
"So they are the people you associate with?"
He rose, took off his coat, and also laid aside his vest and cravat. Then he filled his cutty with tobacco, lighted it, and sat down again, this time with an elbow resting on one arm of the chair and smoking. With a roguish smile he contemplated his other half.
"And so you are going to be a lady, Magnhild?"
She did not answer.
"Aye!—Well, I suppose I shall have to begin to make a gentleman of myself."
She turned toward him with an amused countenance. His chest, thickly covered with dark red hair, was bare, for his shirt was open; his face was sunburned, his bald head white.
"The deuce! how you stare at me! I am not nearly as good-looking as your lodger, I can well believe. Hey?"