Marie hammered at the door with all her might.
“Merciful God!” she cried. “Why don’t you come out! I love you as much as it’s possible for one human being to love another! I love you, love you, love you—oh, he doesn’t believe me! What shall I do—miserable wretch that I am!”
Sören did not hear her, for he had passed through the large common room into the little chamber in the rear, where he and the gamekeeper usually slept. This was where he meant to carry out his purpose, but then it occurred to him that it would be a pity for the gamekeeper; it would be better if he killed himself in the other room, where a number of them slept together. He went out into the large room again.
“Sören, Sören, let me in, let me in! Oh, please open the door! No, no, oh, he’s hanging himself, and here I stand. Oh, for God Almighty’s sake, Sören, open the door! I have loved you from the first moment I saw you! Can’t you hear me? There’s no one I’m so fond of as you, Sören, no one—no one in the world, Sören!”
“Is’t true?” asked Sören’s voice, hoarse and unrecognizable, close to the door.
“Oh, God be praised for evermore! Yes, yes, yes, it is true, it is true; I swear the strongest oath there is in the world that I love you with my whole soul. Oh, God be praised for evermore—”
Sören had untied the twine, and the door flew open. Marie rushed into the room and threw herself on his breast, sobbing and laughing. Sören looked embarrassed and hardly knew how to take it.
“Oh, Heaven be praised that I have you once more!” cried Marie. “But where were you going to do it? Tell me!” She looked curiously around the room at the unmade beds, where faded bolsters, matted straw, and dirty leather sheets lay in disorderly heaps.
But Sören did not answer, he gazed at Marie angrily. “Why didn’t you say so before?” he said and struck her arm.