Oddny (is silent for a moment and looks at the door). If I were a widow and owned a farm, the men would be noticing me too, even if I had been nothing but a poor orphan servant girl before I married—like some others.
Gudfinna (rising, a pair of stockings in her hand). What are you talking about? (Pushes the box under the bed.)
Oddny. Do you know who was Halla's father?
Gudfinna. That is what no one seems to know. Some would have it that he was a parson. (She darns the stockings.)
Oddny. Yes, or a vagabond. There were also some ugly whispers about a stain on her birth.
Gudfinna. You'd better bridle your tongue!
Oddny. I am not so dull as you imagine. When Halla thinks no one is looking, she doesn't take her eyes from Kari. And she has made him overseer; that seems queer to others besides me. Last Sunday at church some one asked me if there was anything between the widow and the "overseer."
Gudfinna. And what did you say?
Oddny. I told them that it was quite possible Halla had her lines out for him, but that I did not think Kari would swallow the fly, even if it had gold on its wings.
Gudfinna. Much good it did you, the gospel you heard in church! I am sorry for you, poor girl! You are crazy about a man who has neither eye nor ear for you, but that is no reason why you should be running around spreading gossip. Halla is not the kind of woman that is fond of men. There was never a harsh word between her and her husband, God rest his soul, but there was not much love-making between them either. No, indeed!