Mack was silent a moment. "I'll set up a bakery here, then," he said. "Seeing there's a branch of the store already."
Mack was almighty; he could do whatever he willed. But a word from him, and lo, a bakery on the spot!
"Only think of it!" cried Fruen, and looked at him with wondering eyes.
"You shall have your bread all right, _Frue_. I'll telegraph at once for the men to come down. It'll take a little time, perhaps--a few weeks, no more."
But the priest said nothing. What if his housekeeper and all the maids baked the bread that was needed? Bread would be dearer now.
"I have to thank you for kindly allowing me credit at the store," said the priest.
"Yes," put in his wife, and was thoughtful once more.
"Not at all," said Mack. "Most natural thing in the world. Anything you want--it's at your service."
"It must be wonderful to have such power," says Fruen.
"I've not as much power as I could wish," says Mack. "There's that burglary, for instance. I can't find out who did it."
"It was really too bad, that business," broke in the priest. "I see you have offered a heavy reward, even to the thief himself, and still he won't confess."
"Oh, but it's the blackest ingratitude to steal from you," says Fruen.
Mack took up the cue. "Since you mention it, _Frue_, I will say I had not expected it. No, indeed, I had not. I have not treated my people so badly as to deserve it."
Here the priest put in, "A thief will steal where there is most to steal. And in this case he knew where to go."
The priest, in all innocence, had found the very word. Mack felt easier at once. Putting it like that made the whole thing less of a disgrace to himself.
"But people are talking," he said. "Saying all sorts of things. It hurts my feelings, and might even do serious harm. There are a number of strangers here just now, and they are none too careful of their words. And my daughter Elise feels it very deeply. Well," he said, rising to his feet, "it will pass off in time, no doubt. And, as I was saying, if you come across any deserving case in the village, remember I shall be most pleased to help."
Mack took his leave. He had formed an excellent impression of the priest and his wife, and would put in a good word for them wherever he could. It would do them no harm. Though perhaps.... Who could say to what lengths the gossip about himself had reached already? Only yesterday his son Frederik had come home and told how a drunken seaman had called to him from a boat, "Hey, when are you going to give yourself up and get the reward?"