"Out?" says he. And indeed 'twas no weather to go out in. He stands there, seeing her more and more stripped; 'tis hard to keep his eyes away; and Barbro is so thoughtless, she might well have put on dry things bit by bit as she took oft the wet, but no. Her shift is thin and clings to her; she unfastens a button at one shoulder, and turns aside, 'tis nothing new for her. Axel dead silent then, and he sees how she makes but a touch or two with her hands and washes the last of her clothes from her. 'Twas splendidly done, to his mind. And there she stands, so utterly thoughtless of her….
A while after, they lay talking together. Ay, he had need of help for the summer, no doubt about that.
"They said something that way," says Barbro.
He had begun his mowing and haymaking all alone again; Barbro could judge for herself how awkward it was for him now.—Ay, Barbro understood.—On the other hand, it was Barbro herself that had run away and left him before, without a soul to help him, he can't forget that. And taken her rings with her into the bargain. And on top of all that, shameful as it was, the paper that kept on coming, that Bergen newspaper it seemed he would never get rid of; he had had to go on paying for it a whole year after.
"'Twas shameful mean of them," says Barbro, taking his part all the time.
But seeing her all submissive and gentle, Axel himself could not be altogether heartless towards her; he agreed that Barbro might have some reason to be angry with him in return for the way he had taken the telegraph business from her father. "But as for that," said he, "your father can have the telegraph business again for me; I'll have no more of it, 'tis but a waste of time."
"Ay," says Barbro.
Axel thought for a while, then asked straight out: "Well, what about it now, would you want to come for the summer and no more?"
"Nay," says Barbro, "let it be as you please."
"You mean that, and truly?"