Clara drew herself up. “Oh, I never thought you'd come back. Not after I stopped writing to you, at least. That was all over, long before I married Olaf.”
“It never occurred to you, then, that the meanest thing you could do to me was to marry Olaf?”
Clara laughed. “No; I didn't know you were so fond of Olaf.”
Nils smoothed his horse's mane with his glove. “You know, Clara Vavrika, you are never going to stick it out. You'll cut away some day, and I've been thinking you might as well cut away with me.”
Clara threw up her chin. “Oh, you don't know me as well as you think. I won't cut away. Sometimes, when I'm with father, I feel like it. But I can hold out as long as the Ericsons can. They've never got the best of me yet, and one can live, so long as one isn't beaten. If I go back to father, it's all up with Olaf in politics. He knows that, and he never goes much beyond sulking. I've as much wit as the Ericsons. I'll never leave them unless I can show them a thing or two.”
“You mean unless you can come it over them?”
“Yes—unless I go away with a man who is cleverer than they are, and who has more money.”
Nils whistled. “Dear me, you are demanding a good deal. The Ericsons, take the lot of them, are a bunch to beat. But I should think the excitement of tormenting them would have worn off by this time.”
“It has, I'm afraid,” Clara admitted mournfully.
“Then why don't you cut away? There are more amusing games than this in the world. When I came home I thought it might amuse me to bully a few quarter sections out of the Ericsons; but I've almost decided I can get more fun for my money somewhere else.”