"'Do you really think so?'
"'Think? I know! And there's any amount of work all waiting for you. New ground to be sown, and a new barn to build, and we ought to have three times the stock we have now. And there's all Isosuo marsh—you've that to drain and cultivate. When are you going to begin?'
"'Drain the marsh? How could you think of that?'
"'Why shouldn't I? I'm your sister. It will be a big piece of work—father himself never ventured to try it—but you're a bigger man than your father—a big, strong man….'
"'Sister! Now I simply must give you a kiss. There's no one like you in all the world.
"And we go home the very next week. And all turns out just as you said—more live stock, new ground sown, clover where there was but marsh before, and Koskela is grown to a splendid place, known far and wide. And we are so happy—with you to keep house and me to work the land. And the years go by and we grow old, but our children….
"… Oh, misery! What am I dreaming of…?" "That was the best of your dreams so far," said the gloom, with a full glance of its coal-black eyes. "May it soon come true! But light your lamp now—it is dark as night in here now."
CLEMATIS
"If I were a poet, I would sing—a strange, wild song.
"And if I could string the quivering kantele, I would play on it a melody to my song.