Wearily, Fru Adelheid leant her head upon her hand and let her hand fall again. She half rose in her chair and hid her face in the roses that stood on the table before her. She took up the book and put it down at once.
Then Cordt came.
He nodded to her, went to the farther side of the room and sat down with a book.
She looked at him timidly. She heard him turn the pages and wondered what book it was. She asked him. He answered, without looking up, and the silence increased twofold.
Fru Adelheid sighed and rose to go to bed:
“Good-night, Cordt.”
He closed the book and tossed it on the table. She stopped and looked at him. Then he asked:
“Has Hans been here to-day?”
She sat down in her chair again. He had got up and was pacing the room. She waited and listened to his footsteps.
Then she could bear it no longer: