"But do you mean it was
for his sake you stopped chewing things?"
She didn't answer. What, wouldn't she answer?
"Do you hear? Tell me, was it for his sake?"
And I could not think otherwise. Why should she do anything for Glahn's
sake?
That evening Maggie promised to come to me, and she did.
V
She came at ten o'clock. I heard her voice outside; she was talking
loud to a child whom she led by the hand. Why did she not come in, and
what had she brought the child for? I watched her, and it struck me that
she was giving a signal by talking out loud to the child; I noticed,
too, that she kept her eyes fixed on the attic--on Glahn's window up
there. Had he nodded to her, I wondered, or beckoned to her from inside
when he heard her talking outside? Anyhow, I had sense enough myself to
know there was no need to look up aloft when talking to a child on the
ground.
I was going out to take her by the arm. But just then she let go the
child's hand, left the child standing there, and came in herself,
through the door to the hut. She stepped into the passage. Well, there
she was at last; I would take care to give her a good talking to when
she came!
Well, I stood there and heard Maggie step into the passage. There was no
mistake: she was close outside my door.
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