She broke off and glanced at the door. It was thrust open a little, and a child's head looked in.
She stepped hastily across the room. "What do you want in here? Can't you see here are visitors—and you with your dirty overall on?"
"I wanted to see," said the little man stubbornly, with childish insistence, and clung to his mother.
Olof looked at the child as at a vision.
The woman stood, pale and confused, holding the boy by the hand.
"Come along, then, and say good-day," she stammered at last, hardly knowing what she did.
The boy came forward, and stood holding Olof's knees, looking up into his face.
Child and man gazed at each other without a word or movement, as if each were seeking for some explanation.
"I haven't seen you before," said the child at last. "Do you live a long way away?"
Olof felt himself trembling. The child's first words had set his heart beating wildly.