Once more my
needs were filled.
Edwarda sent me a message to say she had heard of my misfortune and that
she offered me, on her father's behalf, a room at Sirilund. Edwarda
touched! Edwarda generous! I sent no answer. Thank Heaven, I was no
longer without shelter, and it gave me a proud joy to make no answer to
Edwarda's offer. I met her on the road, with the Baron; they were
walking arm in arm. I looked them both in the face and bowed as I
passed. She stopped, and asked:
"So you will not come and stay with us, Lieutenant?"
"I am already settled in my new place," I said, and stopped also.
She looked at me; her bosom was heaving. "You would have lost nothing
by coming to us," she said.
Thankfulness moved in my heart, but I could not speak.
The Baron walked on slowly.
"Perhaps you do not want to see me any more," she said.
"I thank you, Edwarda, for offering me shelter when my house was
burned," I said. "It was the kinder of you, since your father was hardly
willing." And with bared head I thanked her for her offer.
"In God's name, will you not see me again, Glahn?" she said suddenly.
The Baron was calling.
"The Baron is calling," I said, and took off my hat again respectfully.
And I went up into the hills, to my mining. Nothing, nothing should
make me lose my self-possession any more.
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