But it was not like being in town!
"Nay, that's a true word," said Barbro, "Town's very different from
this."
Axel himself was altogether out of it with these two town-folk; he
found it dull with them, and preferred to go out and look over his
land. The pair of them were left to do as they liked, and Eleseus
managed things grandly. He told how he had been over to the
neighbouring village to bury his uncle, and did not forget to mention
the speech he had made over the coffin.
When he took his leave, he asked Barbro to go part of the way home
with him. But Barbro, thank you, was not inclined that way.
"Is that the way they do things where you've been," she asked--"for
the ladies to escort the gentlemen home?"
That was a nasty hit for Eleseus; he turned red, and understood he had
offended her.
Nevertheless, he went down to Maaneland again next Sunday, and this
time he took his stick. They talked as before, and Axel was out of it
altogether, as before. "'Tis a big place your father's got," said he.
"And building again, now, it seems.
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