“I am so glad you are come,” she said. “I was thinking of sending my
father for you, but I had a presentiment that you would be here this evening.
The fact is, I wanted to tell you that I am going to France. I shall start on
Friday. It is necessary for me to go there, if I wish to become a first-rate
performer.”
Poor Knud! it seemed to him as if the whole room was whirling round
with him. His courage failed, and he felt as if his heart would burst. He kept
down the tears, but it was easy to see how sorrowful he was.
“You honest, faithful soul,” she exclaimed; and the words loosened
Knud’s tongue, and he told her how truly he had loved her, and that she
must be his wife; and as he said this, he saw Joanna change color, and turn
pale. She let his hand fall, and said, earnestly and mournfully, “Knud, do
not make yourself and me unhappy. I will always be a good sister to you,
one in whom you can trust; but I can never be anything more.” And she
drew her white hand over his burning forehead, and said, “God gives
strength to bear a great deal, if we only strive ourselves to endure.”
At this moment her stepmother came into the room, and Joanna said
quickly, “Knud is so unhappy, because I am going away;” and it appeared
as if they had only been talking of her journey. “Come, be a man” she
added, placing her hand on his shoulder; “you are still a child, and you must
be good and reasonable, as you were when we were both children, and
played together under the willow-tree.”
Knud listened, but he felt as if the world had slid out of its course. His
thoughts were like a loose thread fluttering to and fro in the wind. He
stayed, although he could not tell whether she had asked him to do so. But
she was kind and gentle to him; she poured out his tea, and sang to him; but
the song had not the old tone in it, although it was wonderfully beautiful,
and made his heart feel ready to burst. And then he rose to go. He did not
offer his hand, but she seized it, and said:
“Will you not shake hands with your sister at parting, my old
playfellow?” and she smiled through the tears that were rolling down her
