"Are you--What will be all right, by the way?"

"Oh, nothing," he says quickly. He turns the subject, looks down, and
continues: "Business is booming; I have given Furst orders to buy!"

Fool that he was! There he had once more made a mistake and bothered his
wife with his shop talk. But Mrs. Hanka was good enough to overlook it;
nobody could have answered more patiently and sweetly than did she:

"I am very glad to hear it!"

These gentle words embolden him; he is grateful and wants to show it as
best he can; he smiles with dewy eyes and says in a low voice:

"I should like to give you a little present if you care--a sort of
souvenir of this occasion. If there is anything you would like--"

Mrs. Hanka glances at him.

"No, my dear. What are you thinking of? Though, perhaps--you might let me
have a couple of hundred crowns. Thanks, very much!" Suddenly she spies
the old rubber shoe with nails and junk, and she cries, full of curiosity:
"Whatever is this?" She lets go her husband's arm and brings the rubber
over to the table. "Whatever have you got here, Milde?" She rummages in
the rubbish with her white fingers, calls Irgens over, finds one strange
thing after another, and asks questions concerning them. "Will somebody
please tell me what this is good for?"

She has fished out an umbrella-handle which she throws aside at once; then