Fru Egholm’s straw mattress creaked as she rose quietly, and with a gentle touch here and there tucked his bedclothes close about him.
In the next room Hedvig was talking in her sleep—something about cakes....
“Herregud!” murmured her mother—“dreaming of cakes means illness. I hope it doesn’t mean Emanuel’s going to get the chickenpox.”
With a sigh she fell off to sleep.
The clock struck two.
XIII
Madam Hermansen came into every house in Knarreby, without exception—whence follows, that she came to Egholm’s.
How she managed to effect an entry there, where shutters and bolts were carefully set to hide the shame of poverty, is not stated.