ith his silver-haired wife as when they were engaged. But he
can't help it, and that's just the reason, he still understands love
in young people. [_To Hadda._] Ask your mother once more to let you go.
Maybe she will when she knows you have my consent.

LADY ANNA. Well, I see what this is leading to. You know I don't usually
oppose you.

HADDA PADDA. Father, you're always so good to me. [_Kisses him._]

THE JUDGE [_in a whisper to Hadda_]. Now kiss your mother too!

HADDA PADDA. Nice mother! I will be twice as much pleasure to you when I
come back. [_Kisses her._]

LITTLE SKULI [_enters_]. Hadda Padda, do you want the ship to have two
or three masts?

HADDA PADDA. Now let me see, my boy. [_Goes out with him._]

THE JUDGE. To-morrow--that will be a happy day. At last I shall see my
fondest wish fulfilled, mine and my dear old friend's--that our children
should belong to each other. I never suspected this would happen when
Hrafnhild went abroad last year.

LADY ANNA. And now she is to go with him again. She has much to thank
her father for.

THE JUDGE. I think time has kept them apart long enough.--I had a long
talk with Helga the other day--they are very good friends, you know, and
she was in Copenhagen at the same time as Hadda last year. She told me
that Ingolf had quite given up his studies, and it was Hadda Padda who
made him take them up again.... From Christmas on, last year, he studied
from morning to night,--and now he will pass his examination, and begin
here as an attorney. Then they will probably marry next autumn.

LADY ANNA [_nods_]. He must be kind to Hrafnhild--she is more than just
fond of him. Have you noticed that she is beginning to resemble him?

THE JUDGE. Now, in spite of everything, I think we are beginning to grow
old; our sight is failing us.

LADY ANNA. Not my sight. Listen to me. You should have seen her with
the flowers this summer while she was home. When she watered them,
she talked with them as if they could understand her. It was as if she
returned every rise of fragrance with a smile. And the flowers thrived
and blossomed, as if they absorbed her tenderness.

THE JUDGE. I have noticed something else lately: that every time she
comes into a room it is as though the air were filled with the beauty
of peace. I could have myself blindfolded, and all Reykavik could walk
through the room on soles of velvet--when SHE entered I could recognize
her by the delightful calm that accomp