e found in his farms or at his office, that was always where he
was. It was his strongest natural craving; he loved the cold embrace of
the elements, he said.

"And how he laughed to himself when he saw how I was laughing! We
laughed in unison."

"Then, mother, what happened? I can really wait no longer."

"I came home just as other people were getting up. And the next night
was like that one, and the next after that, and the next after that
again. One night it rained, and we both walked along under the same
umbrella, and that was what brought things to a climax."

"To a climax?--how?"

"After once being obliged to walk arm-in-arm, we always went arm-in-arm
afterwards."

"But other people, mother? Weren't you afraid of what they would say?"

"No; other people didn't exist for me. I can't remember how it all went
on--it happened that one night we had sat down."

"Ah! now we are coming to it!"

"I asked to be allowed to sit down; I felt I could walk no longer. The
night was glorious--silence and we two! He went on talking with his
eyes looking into mine; he didn't know himself how they shone with
happiness. I couldn't speak--I could hardly breathe--I was obliged to
rest. And a few minutes after I sat on his knee."

"Was it he who----"

"I cannot quite remember. I only remember the first time my arms were
about his neck and my face against his hair and beard. It was rapture,
something absolutely new--it was bliss. The feeling of those giant arms
round me transported me far, far away. But we were there on the boulder
all the same."

"Were you as though beside yourself----?"

"Yes, that is just it! that is what it is called--but it really means
being in possession of oneself, raised up to higher things. By his side
I was myself twice over. That is love; nothing else deserves the name."

"Mother, mother! it was you, then, who sprang into his arms! It was
you!"

"Yes, I am afraid it was I. I suppose he was too modest, too shy to
begin that sort of thing. Yes, I know in my heart it was I. For life
must be preserved. It was a question of nothing less. To be able to
help him, to follow him, and worship him, and give myself up to him,
that or nothing. I believe, too, that that was what I said to him, if I
did say a single word."

"Oh, you know that you said it!"

"I believe I did; but in looking back upon such moments as those one
does not know whether one was feeling or speaking." She looked out into
the lo