“Partly,” said Sigrid, looking down and speaking nervously. “You see it was in this way—I had a chance of becoming rich and well to do, of stepping into a position which would have made me able to help the others, and because it did not come up to my own notion of happiness I threw away the chance.”
And so little by little and mentioning no name, she put before the motherly old lady all the facts of the case.
“Child,” said Fru Askevold, “I have only one piece of advice to give you—be true to your own ideal.”
“But then one’s own ideal may be unattainable in this world.”
“Perhaps, and if so it can’t be helped. But if you mean your marriage to be a happy one, then be true. Half the unhappy marriages come from people stooping to take just what they can get. If you accepted this man’s offer you might be wronging some girl who is really capable of loving him properly.”
“Then you mean that some of us have higher ideals than others?”
“Why, yes, to be sure; it is the same in this as in every thing else, and what you have to do is just to shut your ears to all the well-meaning but false maxims of the world, and listen to the voice in your own heart. Depend upon it, you will be able to do far more for Frithiof and Swanhild if you are true to yourself than you would be able to do as a rich woman and an unhappy wife.”
Sigrid was silent for some moments.
“Thank you,” she said, at length. “I see things much more clearly now; last night I could only see things through Aunt Grönvold’s spectacles, and I think they must be very short-sighted ones.”
Fru Askevold laughed merrily.