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I shook hands with him, and said: "Tell me, do you never play whist now at Sirilund?" "Yes, often," he answered. Pause. "I have not been there lately," I said. I rowed out to my fishing grounds. The weather was mild, but oppressive. The gnats gathered in swarms, and I had to smoke all the time to keep them off. The haddock were biting; I fished with two hooks and made a good haul.
A man with a white shirt front came out, looked round, pulled his hat down farther over his forehead, and took the road down to Sirilund. Edwarda's good-night was still in my ears. A man can be drunk with joy. I fire off my gun, and an unforgettable echo answers from hill to hill, floats out over the sea and rings in some sleepy helmsman's ears. And what have I to be joyful about?
He was a priest, and I loved him. I love all..." Through my helf-sleep I heard a cock crowing down at Sirilund. "Iselin, hear! A cock is crowing for us too!" I cried joyfully, and reached out my arms. I woke. Asop was already moving. "Gone!" I said in burning sorrow, and looked round. There was no one no one there. It was morning now; the cock was still crowing down at Sirilund.
I did not sleep all that night, and when morning came I went to the woods cold, sleepless, and feverish. Ho, having a party at Sirilund! What then? I would neither go nor send any excuse. Herr Mack was a very thoughtful man; he was giving this party for the Baron; but I was not going let them understand that! ...
It was all over with me; whichever way I turned, I met frightened and astonished looks. And I stole away from Sirilund, without a word of leave-taking or of thanks. The Baron is going away. Well and good: I will load my gun, go up into the hills, and fire a salvo in his honour and Edwarda's. I will bore a deep hole in a rock and blow up a mountain in his honour and Edwarda's.
But when we come to the edge of the wood there was no one there. No, all was quiet; there was no one there. "There is no one here," I said to myself. And yet it was no worse than I had expected. I did not stay long, but walked on, drawn by all my thoughts, passed by my hut, and went down to Sirilund with Asop and my bag and gun with all my belongings.
The autumn, the winter, had laid hold of her too; her senses drowsed. Already the sun had gone to sea. And I put on my uniform for the first time, and went down to Sirilund. My heart was beating. I remembered everything from the day when Edwarda had come hurrying to me and embraced me before them all. Now she had thrown me hither and thither for many months, and made my hair turn grey.
Once more my needs were filled. Edwarda sent me a message to say she had heard of my misfortune and that she offered me, on her father's behalf, a room at Sirilund. Edwarda touched! Edwarda generous! I sent no answer. Thank Heaven, I was no longer without shelter, and it gave me a proud joy to make no answer to Edwarda's offer. I met her on the road, with the Baron; they were walking arm in arm.
I saw through it from the first. I lost my skins and my birds' wings, I lost my stuffed eagle; everything was destroyed. What now? I lay out for two nights under the open sky, without going to Sirilund to ask for shelter. At last I rented a deserted fisher-hut by the quay. I stopped the cracks with dried moss, and slept on a load of red horseberry ling from the hills.
It was late when I got to Sirilund; I heard them dancing inside. Someone called out: "Here's the hunter, the Lieutenant." A few of the young people crowded round me and wanted to see my catch; I had shot a brace of seabirds and caught a few haddock. Edwarda bade me welcome with a smile; she had been dancing, and was flushed. "The first dance with me," she said. And we danced.
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