"No, thanks—No-po, thanks-panks." And we all three rose to go. We curtsied and curtsied. Mr. Berg bowed and bowed. Mrs. Berg turned the key in the street door after us with a snap, and I heard her say something about "that long-legged young one of the judge's!"
Oh! how we laughed! "Now we will go to Mrs. Pirk's," said I.
"Inger Johanne! Are you crazy? She is worse than Mrs. Berg!"
"That makes it all the more wildly exciting! Come on!"
We crept stealthily into Mrs. Pirk's kitchen. It was pitch dark in there except for a little light through the keyhole of the sitting-room.
"Hush! Keep still!" Mrs. Pirk coughed suddenly and we all quaked.
"Now she will surely come!" Silence again. We were half-choked with laughter.
"I am going to clear my throat," said I. "Ahem!"
"Ahem!" I gave a very loud, strong one the second time.
A chair was hastily shoved aside in the sitting-room, the door opened, a sharp light fell on our three fantastic figures, and Mrs. Pirk stood in the doorway with her spectacles on her nose. I stepped forward.