FALK [firing up].
You have the face to say so?
GULDSTAD [quietly].
Years give right.
Say now you won her—
FALK [defiantly].
And what then?
GULDSTAD [slowly and emphatically].
Yes, say
She ventured in one bottom to embark
Her all, her all upon one card to play,—
And then life's tempest swept the ship away,
And the flower faded as the day grew dark?
FALK [involuntarily].
She must not!
GULDSTAD [looking at him with meaning].
Hm. So I myself decided
When I was young, like you. In days of old
I was afire for one. Our paths divided.
Last night we met again;—the fire was cold.
FALK.
Last night?
GULDSTAD.
Last night. You know the parson's dame—
FALK.
What? It was she, then, who—
GULDSTAD.
Who lit the flame.
Long I remembered her with keen regret,
And still in my remembrance she arose
As the young lovely woman that she was
When in life's buoyant spring-time first we met.
And that same foolish fire you now are fain
To light, that game of hazard you would dare.
See, that is why I call to you—beware!
The game is perilous! Pause, and think again!