..
The vessel began to move; I could still see Herr Mack's sign: "Salt and
Barrels." But soon it disappeared. The moon and the stars came out; the
hills towered round about, and I saw the endless woods. There is the
mill; there, there stood my hut, that was burned; the big grey stone
stands there all alone on the site of the fire. Iselin, Eva...
The night of the northern lights spreads over valley and hill.
XXXVI
I have written this to pass the time. It has amused me to look back to
that summer in Nordland, when I often counted the hours, but when time
flew nevertheless. All is changed. The days will no longer pass.
I have many a merry hour even yet. But time--it stands still, and I
cannot understand how it can stand so still. I am out of the service,
and free as a prince; all is well; I meet people, drive in carriages;
now and again I shut one eye and write with one finger up in the sky; I
tickle the moon under the chin, and fancy that it laughs--laughs broadly
at being tickled under the chin. All things smile. I pop a cork and
call gay people to me.
As for Edwarda, I do not think of her. Why should I not have forgotten
her altogether, after all this time? I have some pride. And if anyone
asks whether I have any sorrows, then I answer straight out, "No--none.
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