"How are things otherwise?" asked Ole.
"Well," Tidemand answered hurriedly, "it does not look so bad just now, not at all. Things are very much as usual at home."
"No change, then?"
"Well, no—I must get back now."
Tidemand got up. Ole followed him to the door and said:
"It wasn't you who didn't care how matters turn out, was it? Well, I am glad you came, anyway."
The awkward fellow! This was Ole Henriksen's way of stiffening a comrade's backbone.
But Tidemand did not go at once; he stood there with his hand on the door-knob and shifted his eyes nervously from place to place.
"It can hardly be thought strange if I get a little downhearted once in a while," he said. "Things do not look very bright for me; I do my best to fix everything up, but I do not make much headway, not very much, no. Well, we'll have to wait and see how matters shape themselves. I think it is getting a little better, thank God."
"Does your wife keep at home more now? It seems to me that—"