ELIZABETH CARMICHAEL

LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1890

[All rights reserved]

TO MY BEST FRIEND
ETATSRÅD FREDERIK HEGEL
IN REMEMBRANCE

Thou never hast been here; yet I roam
Often up and down and meet thee everywhere.
Here is no room, nor road
But thoughts of thee stand forth
Awaiting me from by-gone days,
When thou by deeds of faithful friendship
Brought comfort to my home in all its troubles.

And ofttimes as I wrote this book,
Thy kindly eye would beam on me;
We were alone then, thou and I, and
All that silently grew into words--
Here and there the book must needs
Be like thy heart, thy simple faith,
And therefore may thy name impart a blessing unto it.

Aulestad, September 11, 1889.