A sudden warmth filled him, and he threw his arms round her gratefully, as a child might do.
"Crush me, then, crush me to death, and I have all I asked for!"
But she did not speak, only held him closer. And so they lay in each other's arms, like children, worn out with weeping.
"Olof," said Kyllikki at last, freeing herself, "when you wrote, you said you did not ask me to share joy and happiness, but to work and suffer with you."
"Ay, then," said Olof bitterly. "And even then I still hoped for happiness."
"But, don't you see…. To-night, it is just that. Our first suffering together."
"It has ruined all!"
"Not all—only what we had hoped for to-night. All the rest is as it was."
"No, no, do not try to deceive yourself and me. And for myself—what do I care now? I have deserved it all—but you, you…."
"Say no more, Olof. Let this be ended now and never speak of it again.
See, I have forgotten it already."