on the stone steps under the porch, she could see
down into the little harbour, and her eye could follow the path which
led across the flat meadow, and up across the steep slope as far as the
lighthouse. There lay her old home, with its solid stone walls, and the
lantern with its red-painted cover. She turned away: the sight was more
than she could bear. Her ear now caught the sound of Per chopping the
wood in the peat-shed, and almost without knowing what she did, she
found herself in the shed, standing by his side. He ceased for a moment
from his work, raised himself up, and looked beyond her over the sea.
Per wore a stiff sailor's beard, and his face had grown older and
coarser with the lapse of time, but still every feature was familiar to
her. Madeleine made a step towards him and endeavoured to take his hand.
In this she was unsuccessful, for he drew it away from her. She could no
longer command her feelings, and, throwing her arms round his neck, she
laid her head on his breast.

Delphin's remark was perfectly true about the mixture of fish, tobacco,
and damp woollen clothing; but she felt that this was her place, and
here she ought to rest. At that moment, too, she perceived why the pang
had passed through her heart when she met Per's wife. She envied her
everything. Husband, home, even her very existence,--all belonged to
her. Here was her place, and here the man she loved and understood. Oh,
how all her so-called friends had mocked and deceived her! What a life
was hers!--a life which consisted only in being the wife of a man she
did not love, in keeping his house, and bearing his children, surrounded
on every side by an unwholesome atmosphere of form, ceremony, and
selfishness.

Closer and closer she clung to the broad breast whereon she lay, and
that heart, so well drilled and confined, ran over in one supreme moment
of mingled happiness and anguish, while the recollections of her
youthful love passed through her sobbing heart.

"It was not my fault--it was not my fault!" she repeated plaintively,
like a child who has had the misfortune to break something.

He lifted his hard heavy hand, and laying it on her head, passed it
gently over her hair. Now he understood it all, but not a word passed
his lips.

"Lena, Lena!" cried the pastor from the door, "you must come and see
what I have found. Here are twins. Lena, Lena! where are you? Make
haste! What a good wife! Just think, twins the first time!"

It