eby. For he saw himself as before, on
the winter evenings with Susanna; but yet not as before, for he now sate
nearer to her and she was his wife, and he read aloud to her, and
enjoyed her lively, warm sympathy; but he rested at intervals his eyes
upon her and upon the child, which lay in the cradle at her feet, and
Susanna glanced at him as she had just now done upon the rock in the
evening sun. The flames which now danced over the snow were the flames
of his own hearth, and it was his wife who, happy and hospitable, was
busied about them, diffusing comfort and joy around her.

"What is the use of a finer education?" thought he, "it cannot create a
heart, a soul, and qualities like this girl's!" He could not turn his
eyes from Susanna; every moment she seemed more beautiful to him.--The
sweet enchantment of love had come over him.

In the mean time the evening meal was ready, and Harald was called to
it. What wonder if he, after a fatiguing day's journey, and after the
observations which he had just been making, found Susanna's meal beyond
all description excellent and savoury?! He missed only Susanna's
presence during it, for Susanna was within the cave, and upon her knees
before Mrs. Astrid, holding in her hand a bowl of soup, and counting
with quiet delight every spoonful which her lady with evident
satisfaction conveyed to her lips. "That was the best soup that I ever
tasted!" said she, when the bowl was emptied; "it is true, Susanna, that
you are very clever!" It was the first time that Mrs. Astrid had paid
attention to her eating, and the first praise which Susanna had received
from her mouth,--and no soup, not even nectar, can taste so charming, so
animating, as the first word of praise from beloved lips!

When Susanna went out of the cave, she was welcomed by Harald's looks;
and they spoke a language almost irresistibly enchanting for a heart to
which affection was so needful as was Susanna's: and in her excited and
grateful spirit she thought that she could be content for all eternity
to be up in these mountains, and wait upon and prepare soup for those
beloved beings who here seemed first to have opened their hearts to her.

They now made preparations for the night, which promised to be clear,
but cold. The peasants laid themselves around the fire. Mrs. Astrid,
anxious on account of Harald's shoulder, prayed him to come into the
cave, where it was sheltered from the keen air; but Harald preferred to
keep w