k of! It had almost robbed him of his courage. She had had
to say good-by to all her relatives and friends and to an infinity of
places, where memories lay ranged in strata, one above the other, right
up to the sky, and all this so that she might go away with him. And was
he the right sort of a man to place all one's trust in, he with his past
of brutalities and debaucheries! It was not even certain that all
this was merely his past. He had changed, it is true, and he found it
difficult to understand what he himself had been. But one never can
wholly escape from one's self, and what had been surely still was there.
And now this innocent child had been given him to guard and protect.
He had managed to get himself into the mire till over his head, and
doubtless he would easily succeed in drawing her down into it too. No,
no, it shall not be thus--no, she is to go on living her clear, bright
girl's life in spite of him. And the carriage rattled and rattled.
Darkness had set in, and here and there he saw through the thickly
covered panes, lights in the houses and yards past which they drove.
Thora slumbered. Toward morning they came to their new home, an estate
that Mogens had bought. The horses steamed in the chill morning air; the
sparrows twittered on the huge linden in the court, and the smoke rose
slowly from the chimneys. Thora looked smiling and contented at all this
after Mogens had helped her out of the carriage; but there was no other
way about, she was sleepy and too tired to conceal it. Mogens took her
to her room and then went into the garden, sat down on a bench, and
imagined that he was watching the sunrise, but he nodded too violently
to keep up the deception. About noon he and Thora met again, happy and
refreshed. They had to look at things and express their surprise; they
consulted and made decisions; they made the absurdest suggestions;
and how Thora struggled to look wise and interested when the cows
were introduced to her; and how difficult it was not to be all too
unpractically enthusiastic over a small shaggy young dog; and how Mogens
talked of drainage and the price of grain, while he stood there and in
his heart wondered how Thora would look with red poppies in her hair!
And in the evening, when they sat in their conservatory and the moon so
clearly drew the outline of the windows on the floor, what a comedy they
played, he on his part seriously representing to her that she should
go to sleep, really