Svanhild, will you get
My woollen shawl?--Come ladies, pray!

LIND [to ANNA, unobserved by the others].
Go on!

[SVANHILD goes into the house; the others, except
FALK, go towards the back and out to the left.
LIND, who has followed, stops and returns.

LIND.
My friend!

FALK.
Ah, ditto.

LIND.
Falk, your hand! The tide
Of joy's so vehement, it will perforce
Break out--

FALK.
Hullo there; you must first be tried;
Sentence and hanging follow in due course.
Now, what on earth's the matter? To conceal
From me, your friend, this treasure of your finding;
For you'll confess the inference is binding:
You've come into a prize off Fortune's wheel!

LIND.
I've snared and taken Fortune's blessed bird!

FALK.
How? Living,--and undamaged by the steel?

LIND.
Patience; I'll tell the matter in one word.
I am engaged! Conceive--!

FALK [quickly].
Engaged!

LIND.
It's true!
To-day,--with unimagined courage swelling,
I said,--ahem, it will not bear re-telling;--
But only think,--the sweet young maiden grew
Quite rosy-red,--but not at all enraged!
You see, Falk, what I ventured for a bride!
She listened,--and I rather think she cried;
That, sure, means "Yes"?

FALK.
If precedents decide;
Go on.

LIND.
And so we really are--engaged?

FALK.
I should conclude so; but the only way
To be quite certain, is to ask Miss Jay.

LIND.
O no, I feel so confident, so clear!
So perfectly assured, and void of fear.
[Radiantly, in a mysterious tone.
Hark! I had leave her fingers to caress
When from the coffee-board she drew the cover.

FALK [lifting and emptying his glass].
Well, flowers of spring your wedding garland dress!

LIND [doing the same].
And here I swear by heaven that I will love her
Until I die, with love as infinite
As now glows in me,--for she is so sweet!

FALK.
Engaged! Aha, so that was why you flung
The Holy Law and Prophets on the shelf!

LIND [laughing].
And you believed it was the song you sung--!

FALK.
A poet believes all things of himself.

LIND [seriously].
Don't think, however, Falk, that I dismiss
The theologian from my hour of bliss.
Only, I find the Book will not suffice
As Jacob's ladder unto Paradise.
I must into God's world, and seek Him t