"About Uncle Klaus?"
"Yes. It will only distress them. Can't we say that Uncle Klaus asked us to wait till spring?"
Mary stood still. Such a line of action was not to her mind. But Jörgen continued:
"I know Uncle Klaus better than you do. He will repent soon. He will certainly not give in to us; but he will make a proposal of his own—probably what I am asking you to say—that we should wait till spring."
Mary had already discovered how well informed Jörgen was; so she could not but allow that he was probably better able to judge than she. But she was unaccustomed to roundabout methods.
"Let me manage it," Jörgen said. "I'll spare the old people a disappointment."
"But what am I to say, then?" asked Mary.
"What is perfectly true. That Uncle Klaus was delighted to hear of our engagement; but that as times are so bad just now, we shall be obliged to wait. And this is really the case."
Mary agreed, the more willingly because she thought it considerate of Jörgen to wish to spare the old people. For this he received her best thanks—and her hand again. He kept hold of it until they reached the house, and even whilst they mounted the steps. He thought to himself: "This is the pledge of a kiss in the hall. But I'll take ten!"
He opened the door and let Mary pass in first. Nodding brightly to him as she passed, she made quickly for the stairs and disappeared up them. He heard her go into her own room.