"Then I must go," he said after a moment's reflection, and went to change his clothes at once.
When he came back, Else was in the yard, too, with Hansine, listening to Ole.
"Whatever can the bishop want!" she asked, turning an anxious face towards Emanuel.
"I don't know … we shall see," he answered, hastily taking his leave.
Hansine went with him, but neither of them spoke. She was white round her mouth and much upset. Altogether a strange sort of timidity had come over her since her engagement. It was just as though this event had disturbed something at the very foundations of her being; as if she no longer felt the earth steady beneath her. When they reached the hills she took leave of him saying:
"Then you'll come down this evening and tell us what has happened."
He smiled, full of emotion, when he saw how she struggled to hide her anxiety, kissed her on the brow, and said to soothe her:
"Don't be afraid, dear! why should any one wish to harm us?"
The bishop's vehicle stood inside the Parsonage gate, it was a humble little gig, as like the veterinary's as one twin is like another.
