deal more beautiful. In all Kjøge there was not a girl like her; and how
graceful she looked, although her glance at first was odd, and not familiar;
but for a moment only, then she rushed towards him as if she would have
kissed him; she did not, however, although she was very near it. Yes, she
really was joyful at seeing the friend of her childhood once more, and the
tears even stood in her eyes. Then she asked so many questions about
Knud’s parents, and everything, even to the elder-tree and the willow, which
she called “elder-mother and willow-father,” as if they had been human
beings; and so, indeed, they might be, quite as much as the gingerbread
cakes. Then she talked about them, and the story of their silent love, and
how they lay on the counter together and split in two; and then she laughed
heartily; but the blood rushed into Knud’s cheeks, and his heart beat
quickly. Joanna was not proud at all; he noticed that through her he was
invited by her parents to remain the whole evening with them, and she
poured out the tea and gave him a cup herself; and afterwards she took a
book and read aloud to them, and it seemed to Knud as if the story was all
about himself and his love, for it agreed so well with his own thoughts. And
then she sang a simple song, which, through her singing, became a true
story, and as if she poured forth the feelings of her own heart.
“Oh,” he thought, “she knows I am fond of her.” The tears he could not
restrain rolled down his cheeks, and he was unable to utter a single word; it
seemed as if he had been struck dumb.
When he left, she pressed his hand, and said, “You have a kind heart,
Knud: remain always as you are now.” What an evening of happiness this
had been; to sleep after it was impossible, and Knud did not sleep.
At parting, Joanna’s father had said, “Now, you won’t quite forget us; you
must not let the whole winter go by without paying us another visit;” so that
Knud felt himself free to go again the following Sunday evening, and so he
did. But every evening after working hours-and they worked by candle-light
then-he walked out into the town, and through the street in which Joanna
lived, to look up at her window. It was almost always lighted up; and one
evening he saw the shadow of her face quite plainly on the window blind;
