mother!" The daughter covered her face and turned away.

"I will tell you this, my child, that without these work-hardened hands
you would not be what you are now; if you have lived in a society where
it is considered shameful for a woman to have such hands, you have
lived in an evil society. And to-day you enjoyed that society, enjoyed
it as though you believed you yourself had attained a certain greatness
in it."

"No, mother; no, no!"

"Yes, you did! You may perhaps have felt a pang of conscience or of
fear; that may be, for I was there. But now the moment has come for you
to choose; I wanted your choice to be made before you should cross the
threshold of your father's house, my child. Work--or else the other
thing."

"Oh, mother, you wrong me! If only you knew!"

"If I can make you love your father--and I shall do all I can, and you
have capacity--if I can make you really, rightly love him, then I know
all that you will be able to do. We women must love in order to have
faith."

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
London & Edinburgh

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Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson

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