The housewife, thinking he had done as she told him, packed his clothes into a bundle and then joined her husband in the sitting room, where they always sat together on Sunday afternoons. Here she waited for Renti to return.
When the clock struck half-past three and he had not yet appeared, she said: "He is late. He ought to be here by this time."
"He knows that it is Sunday, and that coffee will be on the table at four o'clock. He will be here," said her husband.
The wife went out to prepare the coffee. When she returned with the tray Renti had not come. She went to the door to look for him and called his name. He answered from the barn.
"If you were back, why didn't you come in?" she said. "Come and drink your coffee. It is high time that you were started."
Renti came in and gulped down his coffee, but he could not eat anything. The woman laid a piece of the fresh Sunday Kuchen into his bundle and held it out toward him.
"There, Renti; God keep you! Be a good boy and do what is right. Come to see us some Sunday and tell us how you are getting on," she said, as she laid the bundle on his arm. He extended his hand to the woman, then to the man, without saying a word; then he turned and went out.
The wife went as far as the outer door with him.
Renti left the house without looking back. Once outside, he ran as fast as he could.