She waited till he came and a little longer, as though she could not find the words she wanted, and did not look at him while she spoke:
“Finn” she said and put her hand on his shoulder and drew it away again immediately. “Finn ... once ... ever so many years ago, I was alone, one evening, in the old room. I had often been here before, you know ... with father. And I was under the power of the old room and never happy. I was young, Finn, and it went so terribly hard with my longing and my gladness. I could not understand that and could not mitigate it or get over it. For father belonged to the room and it was his and all the queer things in it and they were all against me. Every time I came to the door, my heart stopped beating.... And once I was inside ... it was ... it was as if my own words were taken from my tongue and others put in their place for me to speak ... beautiful words and good words, Finn, but not mine. But then, when I took courage and said what I wanted to say, it sounded as if I was defying the old room and father and God himself. And then....”
Fru Adelheid felt that she was on the point of betraying something great and fine that had been laid in her hands. She looked round as if she were afraid that there was some one in the room or that the room itself would rise up against her in its venerable might.
But there was no one and it was silent.
Then she turned her face to Finn and looked at him and said, gaily:
“But that evening, Finn, I broke the spell of the old room. I tore the veil from the Holy of Holies and saw that there was nothing behind it. For the first time, I breathed freely in my own home.”
Fru Adelheid did not tell how, at the same moment, she had been overcome by terror and fled from the room. But she did not gain what she thought by her lie. For Finn looked at her sorrowfully and said:
“How could you do that, mother? How could you find it in your heart?”
“Are you also under the spell?” she asked.
There was in her tone a scorn which was stronger than she intended and which frightened herself. But Finn simply paid no attention to it: