Ma's searching look had in the mean time broken through the shell. The white streak on the upper part of the forehead, under the shade where the skin had not been reddened by the sunburn, and his whole manner determined her to scrutinize him prudently. "Please sit down, Jäger is coming soon." She incidentally passed by the sewing-table and shut it. "Won't you let me send you a glass of milk in the mean time?"
A girl came in with a great basin, shaped like a bowl, and vanished again.
He put it to his mouth, noted with his eye how much he had drunk, drank again, and took another view.
"It is delightful—is not at all like the mistress of the house, for she seemed like sour milk, and"—he suppressed a sigh—"dangerously dignified."
He drank again.
"Yes, now one really must stop; but since and whereas—"
He placed the basin quite empty on the plate.
"Best to attack him at once. Dead broke, will you on my honest face lend me four—no, that does not sound well, better out with it at once—five dollars, so that I can get to Christiania?"
The small eyes twinkled quickly. If only the captain had come then! Some one was walking about out there.