er
tears were still streaming, to sing, at first very gently, but then
louder and louder:

"In longing
In longing! live!"

"My own little wife!" and he lifted her up in his arms and carried her
in.

In the morning he stood beside her bed. The light came faintly and
subdued through the drawn blinds. It softened all the lines in the room
and made all the colors seem sated and peaceful. It seemed to Mogens
as if the air rose and fell with her bosom in gentle rarifications.
Her head rested a little sidewise on the pillow, her hair fell over her
white brow, one of her cheeks was a brighter red than the other, now and
then there was a faint quivering in the calmly-arched eyelids, and
the lines of her mouth undulated imperceptibly between unconscious
seriousness and slumbering smiles. Mogens stood for a long time
and looked at her, happy and quiet. The last shadow of his past had
disappeared. Then he stole away softly and sat down in the living-room
and waited for her in silence. He had sat there for a while, when he
felt her head on his shoulder and her cheek against his.

*****

They went out together into the freshness of the morning. The sunlight
was jubilant above the earth, the dew sparkled, flowers that had
awakened early gleamed, a lark sang high up beneath the sky, swallows
flew swiftly through the air. He and she walked across the green field
toward the hill with the ripening rye; they followed the footpath which
led over there. She went ahead, very slowly and looked back over her
shoulder toward him, and they talked and laughed. The further they
descended the hill, the more the grain intervened, soon they could no
longer be seen.

THE PLAGUE IN BERGAMO

Old Bergamo lay on the summit of a low mountain, hedged in by walls and
gates, and New Bergamo lay at the foot of the mountain, exposed to all
winds.

One day the plague broke out in the new town and spread at a terrific
speed; a multitude of people died and the others fled across the plains
to all four corners of the world. And the citizens in Old Bergamo set
fire to the deserted town in order to purify the air, but it did no
good. People began dying up there too, at first one a day, then five,
then ten, then twenty, and when the plague had reached its height, a
great many more.

And they could not flee as those had done, who lived in the new town.

There were some, who tried it, but they led the life of a hunted animal,
hid in ditches and