her chair, talked to her and comforted her until
he had matured in his own mind the sensible reply, that we ought to look
upon the coming two years of separation as trial years, and therefore,
during that time, we ought not to write to one another. Only, he had to
promise in return that we should meet the next morning at his house for
a few moments, for a last farewell, and that, during the time I was
away, he should tell her everything he heard about me.

When I came to him the next day, I found him sitting on a wooden chair,
very serious and thoughtful, with his arms supported on his knees, and
staring down at the floor, which was strewn with juniper, as if for a
grand occasion. My arrival did not seem to disturb his reflections,
although a little nod when I entered showed me that at any rate I was
noticed. He swung his violin slowly backwards and forwards before his
knees, with a gentle twang of the strings at each swing, so that it
sounded like a far-off church bell. His gentle grey eyes rested on me
with a pondering, critical gaze, as if he were really looking at me now
for the first time, and a faint smile showed that the examination had
not a bad result.

A little while after, a shadow crossed the doorway, and to my surprise
Susanna came in. She came quickly up to me, blushing, and took my hand,
saying:

"Dear David, the clerk knows everything; he has given us leave to say
good-bye here."

"Yes, children, I have," said the clerk, "but only for a few moments,
because Susanna begged so hard for it, and also that you may both hear
my opinion of the whole thing after thinking it over."

He now made a little speech, in which he said that he did not see
anything very wrong in our loving one another, although we were indeed
absurdly young. He hoped, too--and he had thought a great deal about
it--that our not revealing our engagement to our parents was excusable,
as they would scarcely even look at the matter as really serious, and we
might feel hurt. He did not intend to be a receiver of secret
love-letters, as Susanna had asked him, and that both for his own sake
and for ours, because we ought to use the approaching two years of trial
to see if there really were any truth in our love, or if it were only a
childish fancy of the kind that afterwards evaporates.

With these words the old clerk good-naturedly left the room.

When we were alone, Susanna told me in a whisper why she had ventured to
confide in the cl