"Well, we must part some time—you can cry if you like. Good-bye, good-bye."
And they shook hands all round.
Olof turned toward the girls, where they stood in a group, but was checked by a glance from two deep, honest blue eyes—the fairy of the forest! Her glance was clear and serene as before, but there was something in it that pierced him like a steel. He felt suddenly guilty, and turned pale. He could not move, but stood there fixed by the glance of those blue eyes.
He could not stand there like that. He raised his head to look at the fairy girl, but his glance turned aside, and met another's eyes. These two looked at him, questioning, wondering. And they sent forth such a stream of clear and sparkling light that all else seemed to vanish, and the blood rushed to his cheeks.
"Good-night." He raised his hat to the girls, and turned his back.
The party broke up, all going their several ways.
"Never shall I leave my love,
Never shall we part…."
Some of the young men had crossed the stream already, and were singing as they went. Olof walked up the hill towards his home.
"Never shall we part…."
—he took up the words half aloud, and his face was set in a strange expression of resolution and eager, almost fierce, delight.