stition come for ever between us."

She held out her arms;--she could not rise, though she strove to do so.
Rolf sat beside her,--she felt his kisses on her forehead,--she felt his
heart beat,--she felt that not even a spirit could assume the very tones
of that voice.

"Do forgive me," she murmured; "but it is Midsummer Eve; and I felt so
sure--"

"As sure of my being the demon as I am sure there is no cruel spirit
here, though it is Midsummer Eve. Look, love! See how the day smiles
upon us!"

And he pointed to where a golden star seemed to kindle on the edge of
the sea. It was the sun again, rising after its few minutes of absence.

"I saw two just now," cried Erica,--"two suns. Where are we, really?
And how is all this? And where do you come from?"

And she gazed, still wistfully,--doubtfully in her lover's face.

"I will show you," said he, smiling. And while he still held her with
one arm, lest, in some sudden fancy, she should fly him as a ghost, he
used the other hand to empty his pockets of the beautiful shells he had
brought, tossing them into her lap.

"Did you ever see such, Erica? I have been where they lie in heaps.
Did you ever see such beauties?"

"I never did, Rolf; you have been at the bottom of the sea."

And once more she shrank from what she took for the grasp of a drowned
man.

"Not to the bottom, love," replied he, still clasping her hand. "Our
fiord is deep; perhaps as deep as they say. I dived as deep as a man
may, to come up with the breath in his body; but I could never find the
bottom. Did I not tell you that I should go down as far as Vogel
island; and that I should there be safe?"

"Yes! You did--you did!"

"Well! I went to Vogel island; and here I am safe!"

"It _is_ you! We are together again!" she exclaimed now in full belief.
"Thank God! Thank God!"

As she wept upon his shoulder, he told her where he had been, what
perils he had met, how he had been saved, and how he had arrived the
first moment he could; and then he went on to declare that their enemies
would soon be disposed of, that they would be married, that they would
take possession of Peder's house, and make him comfortable, and would
never be separated again as long as they lived.

They did not heed the time, as they talked and talked; and Rolf was just
telling how he had more than once seen a double sun, without finding any
remarkable consequences follow, when Stiorna came forth with her
milk-