et me thank
you! Not one in ten thousand would have done what you did for me.

Johan: Rubbish! Weren't we, both of us, young and thoughtless? One of
us had to take the blame, you know.

Bernick: But surely the guilty one was the proper one to do that?

Johan: Stop! At the moment the innocent one happened to be the proper
one to do it. Remember, I had no ties--I was an orphan; it was a lucky
chance to get free from the drudgery of the office. You, on the other
hand, had your old mother still alive; and, besides that, you had just
become secretly engaged to Betty, who was devoted to you. What would
have happened between you and her if it had come to her ears?

Bernick: That is true enough, but still--

Johan: And wasn't it just for Betty's sake that you broke off your
acquaintance with Mrs. Dorf? Why, it was merely in order to put an end
to the whole thing that you were up there with her that evening.

Bernick: Yes, that unfortunate evening when that drunken creature came
home! Yes, Johan, it was for Betty's sake; but, all the same, it was
splendid of you to let all the appearances go against you, and to go
away.

Johan: Put your scruples to rest, my dear Karsten. We agreed that it
should be so; you had to be saved, and you were my friend. I can tell
you, I was uncommonly proud of that friendship. Here was I, drudging
away like a miserable stick-in-the-mud, when you came back from your
grand tour abroad, a great swell who had been to London and to Paris;
and you chose me for your chum, although I was four years younger than
you--it is true it was because you were courting Betty, I understand
that now--but I was proud of it! Who would not have been? Who would not
willingly have sacrificed himself for you?--especially as it only meant
a month's talk in the town, and enabled me to get away into the wide
world.

Bernick: Ah, my dear Johan, I must be candid and tell you that the
story is not so completely forgotten yet.

Johan: Isn't it? Well, what does that matter to me, once I am back over
there on my farm again?

Bernick: Then you mean to go back?

Johan: Of course.

Bernick: But not immediately, I hope?

Johan: As soon as possible. It was only to humour Lona that I came over
with her, you know.

Bernick: Really? How so?

Johan: Well, you see, Lona is no longer young, and lately she began to
be obsessed with home-sickness; but she never would admit it. (Smiles.)
How could she venture to risk leaving such