"Yes, it is true. Only while we are young, only while the flood of youth runs free and bright in our veins can we be happy. And they are the greatest who dare to demand their share of life in full, to plunge unafraid into the waters, letting the waves break on their temples and life's salt flood wash their cheeks."
"And have I dared all this, Olof? Tell me, have I not?"
"Yes, you have. And it is just that which makes you lovely and bewitching as you are. It is a glorious thing to give oneself lip entirely to another, without question, without thought of return or reckoning—only to bathe body and soul in the deep wells of life!"
"Yes, yes…. And, do you know, Olof…?" The girl spoke earnestly, with a quiver in her voice.
"What? Tell me?"
But she could say no more, and, bursting into tears, hid her burning cheek against his breast, her body shaking with sobs.
"What—child, you are crying? What is it?"
"I don't know…." The girl was sobbing still. "Only that I can't—can't give you all I would."
"But you have given me more than I ever dared to hope for!"
"Not so much as I gladly would! Why do you not ask more of me? Tell me to die with you, and I am ready—I could die by fire with you. Or take my life now, here, this moment…."