"Listen to me, Evila. I have something to say to you."
Evila looked uneasy; she ceased to laugh.
"Will you have me for your lover? Nay, my child, I mean you no harm; only one must play the lover before one talks of marriage."
The girl nodded, and then shook her head. "It is not possible," she said.
"Not possible! Why not?"
"Because I am already engaged."
Ivan let go his clasp of her hand. "To whom?"
"That I am not going to tell you," said Evila, "for if I did, I know very well what you would do. You would discharge him, or you would keep him back, and we cannot be married until he is taken on as a regular pitman."
"You mean as a day laborer?"