“Let us go, Cordt. We may just as well wait there as here.”

Cordt sat down with his hat on his knee and looked at her. She stood with bent head and buttoned her gloves.

“Sit down for a moment,” he said and pushed a chair towards her.

“Do you want to talk to me?”

“Sit down, Adelheid,” he said, impatiently. “Sit down for a moment.”

Fru Adelheid leant against the chair and remained standing.

“It is long since we talked together, Adelheid ... many, many years. Do you know that?”

She shrugged her shoulders:

“Very likely,” she said and made her voice as firm as she could. “We have peace now, you see.”

Cordt nodded. He drummed with his fingers on his hat and looked out of the window: