It was said that these two would make a match when he had been on two or three more fishing expeditions, but the matter was not officially announced at any rate, I think because Jens made a passive resistance as long as he could, and never actually proposed to her.

French Martina was, by birth, one of the illegitimate children of those fishing districts, whose fathers are foreign skippers or sailors.

Her father was said to have been a French sailor.
I was strictly forbidden by my father to go into the servants' hall in the evening; he knew very well that a good many things were said there that were not fit for children's ears.

But then, on the other hand, it was just down there that the most interesting things in the world were talked about.

The consequence was that I used to steal down secretly.