Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/125

 shoulders in points; she had smoothed her hair with water, and fastened it up in coils. She made her entrance with a somewhat stiff upright bearing, and a rather defiant expression, as if trying to indemnify herself for the state of confusion in which the curate had found her. But from the moment that she seated herself on the bench at the furthest end of the room from Emanuel, she remained immovably bent over her work, half turned away, as if she was trying as much as possible to efface herself; while, in reality, her position and the colour of her cheeks plainly betrayed that she was all ears in her distant corner, and was eagerly drinking in every word of the curate's.

It did not occur to Emanuel that his glance sometimes rested in a rather free and direct way upon her. He was so delighted at having at last found a small circle of listeners, that by degrees he forgot all his shyness. All at once, steps were heard on the flags in the yard. Anders Jörgen moved in his chair with a sigh of relief, and the young girl along by the window threw a hasty glance through the panes to prepare the newcomer. But she suddenly changed colour, and with a startled, almost frightened glance, her eyes sought her father's.

A moment later three discreet raps sounded on the door.