“But I do love you! Can’t you see I must have a care, fer they’re all thinkin’ o’ nothin’ but how they can make trouble fer me an’ get me killed. Don’t speak to me, let me go, ef ye don’t want to see me dead!”
“Tell me no lies, Sören; I can see what is in your heart, and I wish you no evil, not for a single hour, for I am not your equal in youth, and you have always had a kindness for Anne, but it’s a sin to let me see it, Sören, you shouldn’t do that. Don’t think I am begging you to take me, for I know full well the danger ’twould put you in, and the labor and wear and tear that would be needed if we were to become a couple by ourselves, and ’tis a thing hardly to be wished either for you or me, though I can’t help it.”
“But I don’t want Anne now or ever, the country jade she is! I’m fond o’ you an’ no one else in the world, let ’em call you old and wicked an’ what the devil they please.”
“I can’t believe you, Sören, much as I wish to.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“No, Sören, no. My only wish is that this might be my grave, the spot where I stand. Would that I could close the door over me and sit down to sleep forever in the darkness.”
“I’ll make you believe me!”
“Never, never! there is nothing in all the world you can do to make me believe you, for there is no reason in it.”
“You make me daft wi’ your talk, and you’ll live to be sorry; for I’m goin’ to make you believe me, even ef they burn me alive or do me to death fer it.”
Marie shook her head and looked at him sadly.