"What d'you think they'll say when they come down in the morning and find it all so clean?" cried he, hopping first [on] one foot and then the other. He would have liked to stay up all night to see their surprise.
Next time the children visited the old people, the old man told them a story about a little fairy who came every night to scour and scrub, to save his little mother. Then Kristian laughed—he knew better.
"It was Ditte!" he burst out. He put his hand to his mouth next moment, but it was too late.
"But Ditte isn't a fairy!" broke out sister Else, offended. They all three laughed at her until she began to cry, and had to be comforted with a cake.
On their way home, whom should they meet but Uncle Johannes, who was looking for their house. He was rigged out very smartly, and looked like a well-to-do tradesman. Lars Peter was pleased to see him. They had not met since their unfortunate parting in the Crow's Nest, and now all was forgotten. He had heard one or two things about him—Johannes kept the gossips busy. The two brothers shook hands as if no unpleasantness had come between them. "Sit down and have something to eat," said Lars Peter. "There's boiled cod today."
"Thanks, but I'm feeding up at the inn later on; we're a few tradesmen up there together."
"That'll be a grand dinner, I suppose?" Lars Peter's eyes shone; he had never been to a dinner party himself.
"Ay, that it will—they do things pretty well up there. He's a good sort, the inn-keeper."
"Some think so; others don't. It all depends how you look at him. You'd better not tell them you're my brother—it'll do you no good to have poor relations down here."
Johannes laughed: "I've told the inn-keeper—he spoke well of you. You were his best fisherman, he said."