The well was finished, the trench was dug, and the man had come to lay
the pipes. He chose Grindhusen to help him with the work, and I was set
to cutting a way for the pipes up from the cellar through the two floors
of the house.
Fruen came down one day when I was busy in the cellar. I called out to
her to mind the hole in the floor; but she took it very calmly.
“There's no hole there now, is there?” she asked, pointing one way. “Or
there?” But at last she missed her footing after all, and slipped down
into the hole where I was. And there we stood. It was not light there
anyway; and for her, coming straight in from the daylight outside, it
must have seemed quite dark. She felt about the edge, and said:
“Now, how am I to get up again?”
I lifted her up. It was no matter to speak of; she was slight of figure,
for all she had a big girl of her own.
“Well, I must say....” She stood shaking the earth from her dress. “One,
two, three, and up!--as neatly as could be.... Look here, I'd like you
to help me with something upstairs one day, will you? I want to move
some things. Only we must wait till a day when my husband's over at the
annexe; he doesn't like my changing things about. How long will it be
before you've finished all there is to do here?”