"
There was more laughter at this, and some one else asked:
"No, really? Which one was it? Did he knock off the first two-Kroner or
the second? Ha, ha, ha! That's the best I've heard for a long time."
But Grindhusen did not laugh; he grew more and more sullen and despairing.
What was he to do now? Farm labourers for the season's work would have
been taken on everywhere by now, and here he was. He asked me where I was
going, and when I told him, he begged me to put in a word for him with the
Captain, and see if I couldn't get him taken on there for the summer.
Meantime, he would stay on in the town, and wait till he heard from me.
But I knew there would soon be an end of Grindhusen's money if he stayed
on in the town. The end of it was, I took him along with me, as the best
thing to be done. He had been a smart hand at paint-work once, had
Grindhusen; I remembered how he had done up old Gunhild's cottage on the
island. He could come and help me now, for the time being; later on, we
would surely find something else for him to do; there would be plenty of
field-work in the course of the summer where he might be useful.
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