Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/201

 "And you are quite sure you have not made a mistake in the slightest particular?"

Mr Johansen bowed his head and looked away in embarrassment.

"It was really not possible to make a mistake, your reverence!"

There was a moment's silence, then the Provst said:

"Can you tell me about what time—I mean what evening it was when you saw Mr Hansted in the said situation?"

"I can easily do that, as it was only last night."

"Yesterday! After the meeting! So then we have the explanation!" he exclaimed, not knowing that he was thinking aloud. Then he looked severely at the assistant teacher, and said:

"What you have told me, Mr Johansen, remains, for the present, between ourselves. Do you understand?"

Mr Johansen bowed.

"I shall look into the matter, and I tell you it will go hard with you if I find the slightest inaccuracy in what you have told me!… The birth you spoke of shall be entered. Have you the papers with you? Very well! That is all for to-day."

When, shortly after, he entered the house from the verandah, he walked through the empty dining-room, threw open the kitchen door, and called out, in a voice which rang through the house:

"Are you there, Loné?"