"What did your mother mean about you coming home soon?" asked Sivert.
"What she meant?"
"Ay. You thinking of leaving us, then?"
"Why, they'll be wanting me home some time, I doubt," says she.
"Ptro!" says Sivert, stopping his horse. "Like me to drive back with you now, perhaps?"
Jensine looks at him; he is pale as death.
"No," says she. And a little after she begins to cry.
Rebecca looks in surprise from one to the other. Oh, but little Rebecca was a good one to have on a journey like that; she took Jensine's part and patted her and made her smile again. And when little Rebecca looked threateningly at her brother and said she was going to jump down and find a big stick to beat him, Sivert had to smile too.
"But what did you mean, now, I'd like to know?" says Jensine.
Sivert answered straight out at once: "I meant, if you don't care to stay with us, why, we must manage without."