"Are you going to the country?"
"Yes. I am going with Mrs. Tidemand. I shall be with her until fall."
Irgens was silent and thoughtful a few moments.
"Has it been decided that Tidemands are going to the country, then?" he asked. "I understood it was not settled yet."
Aagot nodded and said that it had been decided.
"That pleasure has been denied me," he said with a wistful smile. "No country joys for me."
"Why not?"
She regretted her question immediately; of course, he could not afford it. She was always so indelicate and awkward! She added a few meaningless words to save him the humiliation of a reply.
"When I want to go to the country I hire a boat and row over to the island," he said with his sad smile. "Anyway, it is better than nothing."
The island? She grew 'attentive. "Of course, the island! I haven't been there yet. Is it pretty?"