listened; I went to the point
whence I could see farthest; I said to myself, 'A watched pot never
boils; if I don't look for her she will come.' I walked up and down with
my eyes on the ground. The sickness of it! A hundred times I took out my
watch.... Perhaps it was fast, perhaps hers was slow--I can't tell you
a thousandth part of my hopes and fears. There was a spring of water,
in one corner. I sat beside it, and thought of the last time I had been
there--and something seemed to burst in me. It was five o'clock before I
lost all hope; there comes a time when you're glad that hope is dead, it
means rest. 'That's over,' you say, 'now I can act.' But what was I to
do? I lay down with my face to the ground; when one's in trouble, it's
the only thing that helps--something to press against and cling to that
can't give way. I lay there for two hours, knowing all the time that
I should play the coward. At seven o'clock I left the orchard and went
towards the inn; I had broken my word, but I felt happy.... I should see
her--and, sir, nothing--nothing seemed to matter beside that. Tor was
in the garden snipping at his roses. He came up, and I could see that
he couldn't look me in the face. 'Where's my wife?' I said. He answered,
'Let's get Lucy.' I ran indoors. Lucy met me with two letters; the
first--my own--unopened; and the second, this:

"'I have left you. You were good to me, but now--it is no use.

"EILIE.'"

"She told me that a boy had brought a letter for my wife the day before,
from a young gentleman in a boat. When Lucy delivered it she asked,
'Who is he, Miss Eilie? What will Mr. Brune say?' My wife looked at her
angrily, but gave her no answer--and all that day she never spoke. In
the evening she was gone, leaving this note on the bed.... Lucy cried as
if her heart would break. I took her by the shoulders and put her from
the room; I couldn't bear the noise. I sat down and tried to think.
While I was sitting there Tor came in with a letter. It was written on
the notepaper of an inn twelve miles up the river: these were the words.

"'Eilie is mine. I am ready to meet you where you like.'"

He went on with a painful evenness of speech. "When I read those words,
I had only one thought--to reach them; I ran down to the river, and
chose out the lightest boat. Just as I was starting, Tor came running.
'You dropped this letter, sir,' he said. 'Two pair of arms are better
than one.' He came into the boat. I took t