"Water laid on? Well, yes, I did think of it at one time, but.... Yes, I was going to have it done some years back; but I couldn't get everything done at once, and then it was held up. And just now I shall want the money for other things."

A wrinkle showed between his eyes for a moment; he stood looking down--in thought.

"Well, well, that thousand dozen battens ought to do it, and leave something over," he said suddenly. "Water? It would have to be laid on to the outbuildings as well. A whole system of pipes."

"There'd be no rock-work though, no blasting."

"Eh? Oh, well, we'll see. What was I going to say? Did you have a good time down there in the town? Not a big place, but you do see more people there. And the railway brings visitors now and again, no doubt."

"Aha," I thought to myself, "he knows well enough what visitor came to stay with Engineer La.s.sen this summer!" I answered that I did not care much for the place--which was perfectly true.

"No, really?"

He seemed to find something to ponder over in that; he stared straight in front of him, whistling softly to himself. Then he walked away.

The Captain was in good spirits; he had been more communicative than ever before; he nodded to me as he went off. Just as of old he was now--quick and determined, taking an interest in his affairs once more, and sober as water. I felt cheered myself to see him so. He was no wastrel; he had had a spell of foolishness and dissipation, but it needed only his own resolution to put an end to that. An oar in the water looks broken to the eye, but it is whole.

It set in to rain, and I had to stop work on the painting. Nils had been lucky enough to get in all the hay that was cut; we got to work now on the potatoes, all hands out in the fields at once, with the women folk from the house as well.

Meanwhile the Captain stayed indoors all alone; it was dull enough; now and again he would touch the keys of Fruen's piano. He came out once or twice to where we were at work, and he carried no umbrella, but let himself get drenched to the skin.

"Grand weather for the crops!" he would say; or again, "Looks like being an extra special harvest this year!" But when he went back to the house there was only himself and loneliness to meet him. "We're better off ourselves than he is now," said Nils.

So we worked away at the potatoes, and when they were done there were the turnips. And by the time we were through with them the weather began to clear. Ideal weather, all that one could wish for. Nils and I were as proud of it all as if we owned the place.

And now the haymaking began in earnest: the maids were out, spreading in the wake of the machine, and Grindhusen was set to work with a scythe in the corners and awkward parts where the machine could not go. And I got out my stone-grey paint and set about the house.

The Captain came up. "What colour's that you've got here?" he asked.

What could I say to that? I was nervous, I know, but my greatest fear was lest I should not be allowed to paint it grey after all. As it was, I said:

"Oh, it's only some ... I don't know ... it doesn't matter what we put on for the first coat...."

That saved me for the time being, at any rate. The Captain said no more about it then.

When I had done the house all grey, and doors and windows white, I went down to the summer-house and did that the same. But it turned out horrible to look at; the yellow underneath showed through and made it a ghastly colour. The flagstaff I took down and painted a clean white.

Then I put in a spell of field-work with Nils and was haymaking for some days. Early in August it was.

Now, when I went back to my painting again I had settled in my mind to start on the house as early as possible, so as to be well on the way with it before the Captain was up--too far, if I could manage it, to go back! I started at three in the morning; there was a heavy dew, and I had to rub the woodwork over with a bit of sack. I worked away for an hour, and then had coffee, then on again till eight. I knew the Captain would be getting up then, so I went off to help Nils for an hour and be out of the way. I had done as much as I wanted, and my idea now was to give the Captain time to get over the shock of my grey, in case he should have got up in an irritable mood.

After breakfast I went back to work, and stood there on my ladder painting away, as innocently as could be, when the Captain came up.

"Are you doing it over with grey again?" he called up.

"_G.o.dmorgen_! Yes. I don't know if...."

"Now what's the meaning of all this? Come down off that ladder at once!"

I clambered down. But I was not anxious now. I had thought out something to say that I fancied would prove effective at the right moment--unless my judgment was altogether at fault.

I tried first of all to make out it didn't matter really what colour we used for the second time either, but the Captain cut me short here and said:

"Nonsense! Yellow on top of that grey will look like mud; you can see that for yourself, surely."

"Well, then, we might give it two coats of yellow," I suggested.

"Four coats of paint? No, thank you! And all that white you've been wasting! It's ever so much dearer than the yellow."

This was perfectly true, and the very argument I had been fearing all along. I answered now straight-forwardly:

"Let me paint it grey."

"What?"

"It would look better. There's something about the house ... and with the green of the woods behind ... the style of the place is...."

"Is grey, you mean?" He swung off impatiently a few steps and came back again.

And then I faced him, more innocently than ever, with an inspiration surely sent from above:

"Now I remember! Yes.... I've always seen it grey in my mind, ever since one day--it was Fruen that said so...."

I was watching him closely; he gave a great start and stared at me wide-eyed for a moment; then he took out his handkerchief and began fidgeting with it at one eye as if to get out a speck or something.

"Indeed!" he said. "Did she say so?"

"Yes, I'm almost sure it was that. It's a long time back now, but...."

"Oh, nonsense!" he broke out abruptly, and strode away. I heard him clearing his throat--hard--as he crossed the courtyard behind.

I stood there limply for a while, feeling anything but comfortable myself. I dared not go on with the painting now, and risk making him angry again. I went round to the back and put in an hour cutting firewood. When I came round again, the Captain looked out from an open window upstairs and called down:

"You may as well go on with it now you've got so far. I don't know what possessed you, I'm sure. But get on with it now."

The window had been open before, but he slammed it to and I went on with the work.

A week pa.s.sed. I spent my time between painting and haymaking.

Grindhusen was good enough at hoeing potatoes and using a rake here and there, but not of much account when it came to loading hay. Nils himself was a first-rate hand, and a glutton for work.

I gave the house a third coat, and the delicate grey, picked out with white, made the place look n.o.bler altogether. One afternoon I was at work, the Captain came walking up from the road. He watched me for a bit, then took out his handkerchief as if the heat troubled him, and said:

"Yes, better go on with it now you've got so far. I must say she wasn't far wrong about the colour. All nonsense though, really! H'm!"

I made no answer. The Captain used his handkerchief again and said:

"Hot again today--puh! What was I going to say? ... yes, it doesn't look so bad after all. No, she was right--that is, I mean, you were right about the colour. I was looking at it from down there just now, and it makes quite a handsome place. And anyhow, it's too late to alter it now."