Fru Adelheid smiled sadly.
She thought she was like the man who had put the celestial globe up there in the old room ... the man whose intellect was obscured and who sat and played with the stars until he died.
But her thoughts always went the same way, while the darkness fell ever closer about Cordt’s house.
She wondered, would it be any use now, if the house were filled with lights and gayety? Or would the darkness lurk in every gloomy corner and spring forth when the feast was over and for ever hide the three who moved about the house, each his own way, anxiously and alone?
She did not know. But she always thought of it. And there was nothing tempestuous in her hope and in her fear and in her regret.
Fru Adelheid was calm now, always.
CHAPTER XXIII
Then the stately house on the square was lit up with gayety.