“I am sure that there is not a man who can understand that,” she said.
And then she lay down on the floor, with her chin on the fender ... and her eyes shone:
“A woman is young for so short a time,” she said. “And she is always dreading that it will pass. Can’t you understand, when she suddenly suspects that there is something greater than the greatest ... and then, when she is sad and afraid ... that then it may suddenly dawn upon her that all is not over yet?”
Cordt laughed:
“It is a poor pleasure to be the greatest when there is something greater still,” he said.
But Fru Adelheid shook her head:
“It’s not like that, Cordt,” she said.
He pushed back his chair and walked up and down many times and it was silent in the room. Then he sat down again beside her and said:
“What you say is true. But it was in you and I am glad I showed it to you. I could not do differently, when I once saw it. I cannot go and wait until another man knocks at the secret door of your heart and offers you the greatest of all.”
She laid her cheek against the fender and looked at him: