"Ay, just as you please, and I'll be pleased with the same. You've no call to doubt about me any more."
"H'm."
"No, 'tis true. And I've ordered about the banns."
H'm. This was not so bad. Axel lay thinking it over a long time. If she meant it in earnest this time, and not shameful deceit again, then he'd a woman of his own and help for as long as might be.
"I could get a woman to come from our parts," said he, "and she's written saying she'd come. But then I'd have to pay her fare from America."
Says Barbro: "Ho, she's in America, then?"
"Ay. Went over last year she did, but doesn't care to stay."
"Never mind about her," says Barbro. "And what'd become of me then?" says she, and begins to be soft and mournful.
"No. That's why I've not fixed up all certain with her."
And after that, Barbro must have something to show in return; she confessed about how she could have taken a lad in Bergen, and he was a carter in a big brewery, a mighty big concern, and a good position. "And he'll be sorrowing for me now, I doubt," says Barbro, and makes a little sob. "But you know how 'tis, Axel; when there's two been so much together as you and I, 'tis more than I could ever forget. And you can forget me as much as you please."