o Mary, swept off his hat with his best smile, and thanked her for the
hospitality shown him.

For the sake of appearances she could not but remain on the pier until
the steamer went; she was even obliged to wave her parasol once or
twice. Smiling and triumphant, Joergen returned sweeping bows from the
steamer's deck.

How furious she was! But he was hardly less so.

* * * * *

"He, who should have thrown himself in the dust before me, and kissed
the hem of my dress!" This was Mary's feeling.

She had had a dawning suspicion last night of a want of delicacy in her
lover. He would not let her go. She had had to resort to artifice, and
had been obliged to lock her door. But she had explained his behaviour
to herself as an unfortunate result of those years of longing which had
turned his passion into a morbid possession.

Now uncertainty was no longer possible! Only an "experienced hand" could
behave like this. She had been deceived! The very best that was in her,
fostered and guarded by her noblest instincts, had been led loathsomely
astray.

With this thought she wrestled and strove all day long. She called
herself betrayed, dishonoured. At first she thrust the blame away from
herself. Then she took it all upon herself, and pronounced herself
unworthy to live. She did nothing but make mistakes; she was her own
betrayer! One hour she said to herself: "Violence was done me, although
I gave myself to him voluntarily!" The next she said: "All this has its
beginning farther back, and I cannot unravel it."

What a blessing that her own room remained undefiled! The one next it
she would never enter again.

With Joergen she would have nothing more to do! But would he in these
circumstances keep silence? She felt certain that he would. His faults
did not lie in this direction--otherwise she, too, must have heard
something. But that even one human being should exist who----! She wept
with anger and impotence. It would break her spirit. It would weigh on
her like an incubus--heaviest when she rose highest.

She would meet him! She would tell him what she had taken him for, and
what he was--to whom she thought she was going that night and whom she
found. He should not be able to boast! But to carry out this intention
she must know something about his life. Whom dared she ask? who knew?

When she awoke next morning, her mind was clearer--clearer in the first
place as to how she must proceed