ht together by fate,
once opened their hearts fully to each other, it is hard indeed for
either to break the tie--hardest of all for the woman. And _first_
love is so strong--because one has dreamed of it and waited for it
so long, till like a burning glass it draws together all the rays of
one's being, and burns its traces ineffaceably upon the soul....

But his tongue was tied, as if they had been altogether strangers
during those past years; as if they had nothing, after all, to say
to each other but this one thing. And it was of this he was thinking
now--with thoughts heavy as sighs.

"Life is so--and what is done cannot be undone--there is no
escape...."

Those were Olof's words--all that he found to say to her in return.

"Escape? No! All that has once happened sets its mark on us, and
follows us like a shadow; it will overtake us some day wherever we may
go--I have learned that at least, and learned it in a way that is not
easy to forget."

"You--have you too...?" Again she felt that inexpressible tenderness,
the impulse to draw nearer to him. How much they would have to say to
each other--the thoughts and lessons of all those years! She knew it
well enough for her own part, and from his voice, too, she knew it
was the same. And yet, it could not be. They seemed so very near each
other, but for all that wide apart; near in the things of the past,
but sundered inevitably in the present. Their hearts must be closed to
each other--it showed in their eyes, and nothing could alter that.

... What happened after she hardly knew. Had they talked, or only
thought together? She remembered only how he had risen at last and
grasped her hand.

"Forgive me," he said, with a strange tremor in his voice, as if the
word held infinitely much in itself.

And she could only stammer confusedly in return: "Forgive...!"

She hardly knew what it was they had asked each other to forgive, only
that it was something that had to come, and was good to say, ending
and healing something out of the past, freeing them at last each from
the other....

One thing she remembered, just as he was going. She had felt she must
say it then--a sincere and earnest thought that had often been in her
mind.

"Olof--I have heard about your wife. And I am so glad she is--as she
is. It was just such a wife you needed ... it was not everyone could
have filled her place...."

Had she said it aloud? She fancied so--or was it perhaps only her
eyes