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"I suppose she doesn't understand English," he thought, "and I can't
speak a word of Norwegian. I must talk by signs."
And forthwith he went through a labored pantomime of gesture,
sufficiently ludicrous in itself, yet at the same time expressive of his
meaning. The girl broke into a laugh--a laugh of sweet amusement which
brought a thousand new sparkles of light into her lovely eyes.
"That is very well done," she observed graciously, speaking English with
something of a foreign accent. "Even the Lapps would understand you, and
they are very stupid, poor things!"
Half vexed by her laughter, and feeling that he was somehow an object of
ridicule to this tall, bright-haired maiden, he ceased his pantomimic
gestures abruptly and stood looking at her with a slight flush of
embarrassment on his features.
"I know your language," she resumed quietly, after a brief pause, in
which she had apparently considered the stranger's appearance and
general bearing. "It was rude of me not to have answered you at once.


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