“Oh, only so-so,” said the man. “I can’t boast of my luck, nor can I grumble at it either.” And then he told them how it had gone with him from first to last.
“Well, you’ll have a fine reception when you get home to your wife,” said the man. “Heaven help you! I should not like to be in your place.”
“I think I might have fared much worse,” said Gudbrand; “but whether I have fared well or ill, I have such a kind wife that she never says anything, no matter what I do.”
“Aye, so you say; but you won’t get me to believe it,” said the neighbor.
“Shall we have a wager on it?” said Gudbrand. “I have a hundred dollars in my chest at home. Will you lay the same?”
So they made the wager and Gudbrand remained there till the evening, when it began to get dark, and then they went together to the farm.
The neighbor was to remain outside the door and listen while Gudbrand went in to his wife.
“Good evening!” said Gudbrand when he came in.
“Good evening!” said the wife. “Heaven be praised you are back again.”
“Yes, here I am!” said the man. And then the wife asked him how he had got on in town.