"Very well, then."

And then we spoke of other things.

"My father is going to Russia in a few days," she said. "And I am going to have a party. Have you been out to Korholmerne? We must have two hampers of wine; the ladies from the vicarage are coming again, and father has already given me the wine. And you won't look at her again, will you? My friend, I mean. Please, you won't, _will_ you? Or I shall not ask her at all."

And with no more words she threw herself pa.s.sionately about my neck, and looked at me, gazing into my face and breathing heavily. Her glance was sheer blackness.

I got up abruptly, and, in my confusion, could only say:

"So your father is going to Russia?"

"What did you get up like that for, so quickly?" she asked.

"Because it is late, Edwarda," I said. "Now the white flowers are closing again. The sun is getting up; it will soon be day."

I went with her through the woodland and stood watching her as long as I could; far down, she turned round and softly called good-night. Then she disappeared.

At the same moment the door of the blacksmith's house opened. A man with a white shirt front came out, looked round, pulled his hat down farther over his forehead, and took the road down to Sirilund.

Edwarda's good-night was still in my ears.

XIV

A man can be drunk with joy. I fire off my gun, and an unforgettable echo answers from hill to hill, floats out over the sea and rings in some sleepy helmsman's ears. And what have I to be joyful about? A thought that came to me, a memory; a sound in the woods, a human being.

I think of her, I close my eyes and stand still there on the road, and think of her; I count the minutes.

Now I am thirsty, and drink from the stream; now I walk a hundred paces forward and a hundred paces back; it must be late by now, I say to myself.

Can there be anything wrong? A month has pa.s.sed, and a month is no long time; there is nothing wrong. Heaven knows this month has been short.

But the nights are often long, and I am driven to wet my cap in the stream and let it dry, only to pa.s.s the time, while I am waiting.

I reckoned my time by nights. Sometimes there would be an evening when Edwarda did not come--once she stayed away two evenings. Nothing wrong, no. But I felt then that perhaps my happiness had reached and pa.s.sed its height.

And had it not?

"Can you hear, Edwarda, how restless it is in the woods to-night?

Rustling incessantly in the undergrowth, and the big leaves trembling.

Something brewing, maybe--but it was not that I had in mind to say. I hear a bird away up on the hill--only a tomt.i.t, but it has sat there calling in the same place two nights now. Can you hear--the same, same note again?"

"Yes, I hear it. Why do you ask me that?"

"Oh, for no reason at all. It has been there two nights now. That was all... Thanks, thanks for coming this evening, love. I sat here, expecting you this evening, or the next, looking forward to it, when you came."

"And I have been waiting too. I think of you, and I have picked up the pieces of the gla.s.s you upset once, and kept them--do you remember?

Father went away last night. I could not come, there was so much to do with the packing, and reminding him of things. I knew you were waiting here in the woods, and I cried, and went on packing."

But it is two evenings, I thought to myself. What was she doing the first evening? And why is there less joy in her eyes now than before?

An hour pa.s.sed. The bird up in the hills was silent, the woods lay dead.

No, no, nothing wrong; all as before; she gave me her hand to say good-night, and looked at me with love in her eyes.

"To-morrow?" I said.

"No, not to-morrow," she answered.

I did not ask her why.

"To-morrow is our party," she said with a laugh. "I was only going to surprise you, but you looked so miserable, I had to tell you at once. I was going to send you an invitation all on paper."

And my heart was lightened unspeakably.

She went off, nodding farewell.

"One thing more," said I, standing where I was. "How long is it since you gathered up the pieces of that gla.s.s and put them away?"

"Why--a week ago, perhaps, or a fortnight. Yes, perhaps a fortnight.

But why do you ask? Well, I will tell you the truth--it was yesterday."

Yesterday! No longer ago than yesterday she had thought of me. All was well again now.

XV

The two boats lay ready, and we stepped on board. Talking and singing.

The place, Korholmerne, lay out beyond the islands; it took a good while to row across, and on the way we talked, one party with another, from boat to boat. The Doctor wore light things, as the ladies did; I had never seen him so pleased before; he talked with the rest, instead of listening in silence. I had an idea he had been drinking a little, and so was in good humor to-day. When we landed, he craved the attention of the party for a moment, and bade us welcome. I thought to myself: This means that Edwarda has asked him to act as host.

He fell to entertaining the ladies in the most amiable manner. To Edwarda he was polite and kind, often fatherly, and pedantically instructive, as he had been so many times before. She spoke of some date or other, saying: "I was born in '38," and he asked, "Eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, I suppose you mean?" And if she had answered, "No, in nineteen hundred and thirty-eight," he would have shown no embarra.s.sment, but only corrected her again, and said, "I think you must be mistaken." When I said anything myself, he listened politely and attentively, and did not ignore me.

A young girl came up to me with a greeting. I did not recognize her; I could not remember her at all, and I said a few words in surprise, and she laughed. It was one of the Dean's daughters. I had met her the day we went to the island before, and had invited her to my hut. We talked together a little.

An hour or so pa.s.sed by. I was feeling dull, and drank from the wine poured out for me, and mixed with the others, chatting with them all.

Again I made a mistake here and there: I was on doubtful ground, and could not tell at the moment how to answer any little civility; now and then I talked incoherently, or even found nothing at all to say, and this troubled me. Over by the big rock which we were using as a table sat the Doctor, gesticulating.

"Soul--what is the soul?" he was saying. The Dean's daughter had accused him of being a free-thinker--well, and should not a man think freely?

People imagined h.e.l.l as a sort of house down under the ground, with the devil as host--or rather as sovereign lord. Then he spoke of the altar picture in the chapel, a figure of the Christ, with a few Jews and Jewesses; water into wine--well and good. But Christ had a halo round His head. And what was a halo? Simply a yellow hoop fixed on three hairs.

Two of the ladies clasped their hands aghast, but the Doctor extricated himself, and said jestingly:

"Sounds horrible, doesn't it? I admit it. But if you repeat it and repeat it again to yourself seven or eight times, and then think it over a little, it soon sounds easier... Ladies, your very good health!"

And he knelt on the gra.s.s before the two ladies, and instead of taking his hat off and laying it before him he held it straight up in the air with one hand, and emptied his gla.s.s with his head bent back. I was altogether carried away by his wonderful ease of manner, and would have drunk with him myself but that his gla.s.s was empty.