"Have you been here long, Miss Jäger?"
"Three weeks."
"How lo-ong do you intend to stay here?"
"Till the end of August."
"Don't you miss the city u-p here?"
"No, not at all."
She turned from him, and began to talk with her mother. The same questions had now been asked her by all the gentlemen.
The irreproachable Candidate Horn stood by the door enjoying his coffee and the defeat of the chief clerk. He was lying in wait for an opportunity to have a chat with Inger-Johanna, but found an insurmountable obstacle in the judge's well-read wife, who began to talk with her about French literature, a region in which he felt he could not assert himself.
At the request of the sheriff, a general exit took place later. The ladies must go out on the porch and see the young people playing "the widower seeking a mate."
Mrs. Silje sat there, broad and good-natured after all the good eating, and enjoyed it.