"Can that be Solem down there dominating the crowd?" I thought.
"Wouldn't you like to dance?" I asked Carpenter Nikolai.
"Oh, no," he replied with a smile.
"Then we can leave any time you like."
"All right," he said and remained seated.
"Your thoughts seem to be far away."
A long pause.
"I was thinking that I haven't a horse on my farm. I have to carry all the manure and the wood myself."
"So that's why you're so strong."
"I'll have to go home in a few days and chop wood for the winter."