Tomas had his old one, next to the bath-room, but it had all been done up for his home-coming. Karl had the one next it, the corner room; like all those in the house, it was so long that the curtains which divided the bed from the rest of the room were hardly noticeable. Their supper was set for them, but they were cast down to such a degree that they did not touch it. After Karl had gone to bed, Tomas sat beside him, nor was it only on this night that he did so.
Early the next morning--it was Sunday--Fru Rendalen was down at Nils Hansen's; she wished to act according to her usual ways. She came up again just at the time people were going to church. Karl saw her from his window, which faced the avenue, and told Tomas; he himself was going to church. Tomas went out with him to his mother; she looked worried.
"So not even Nils Hansen?"
"No, Nils Hansen himself had said he did not like to be called names in church."
"What had he meant by that?"
"That he went to a public lecture to learn something, or to hear something pleasant, not to be abused himself, or to hear others abused."
Fru Rendalen had answered that a lecture must point out people's faults.
"No, you must not invite people to hear about their faults."
"But Fru Hansen?"
Laura did not think his lecture wise. "Children must not know everything."