The woman said no word. She was too sick at heart to speak.
"This is going badly," said Joel to himself. "If she's in that humour, there's little hope anyway."
"The Pastor's had news from England," he said aloud. And now again he was touching on a matter he had thought to leave until his wife was more prepared, and in the mood to take it better. But there seemed no help for it now. "Pastor asked me to go along home with him. 'Twas he that gave me the newspaper here."
"The Pastor?"
"Yes. Wanted to talk to me about Sven."
"Huh! What do I care! 'Tis all the same now, the way he's turned out."
Joel made no reply to this, and they sat for a long time in silence. At last the woman burst out violently:
"I never knew the like of you for making a poor body curious. What was it Pastor's heard from England?"
"It was news of Sven. And Pastor's coming himself to tell you about it this evening."
The woman sprang to her feet. "Pastor himself—coming here! Well, of all the wonders.... And you sitting there and never said a word of it till now!"