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Ljot. I knew you would come.

Sølvi. You knew it! Won't you sit down? I have something to show you. (Ljot sits down. Sølvi opens the game-bag; takes from it a large fern.) I found this out on the hraun. Is it not beautiful? (Sits down.) Look, the stem is no thicker than a hair, while the leaf can easily hide your whole face. (Holds it up before her face.) It trembles when your breath

touches it.

Ljot. You have pulled it up by the roots. May I have the moss that came with it? (Sølvi loosens the moss from the roots. Ljot lays it in her hand; smiles.) When it withers, I ’ll keep it in my shoes.

Sølvi. Will you keep it in your shoes? See these two small ferns on one root. They look like two slim hands. (Looks at Ljot.)

Einar (puts the gun aside). It's a fine one. It must have cost a good deal. Perhaps you bought it yourself abroad? Sølvi. I did. (Lays down the fern. To Ljot.) If you have time, you can plant it to-morrow. It won't hurt it to lie overnight in the wet grass.

Einar (goes to Sølvi). How long were you abroad?
Sølvi. Seven years.

Einar. That's a long time. (Sits down.)

Ljot. My father was angry with me for keeping your

bird's skin.

Sølvi. Was he? And I was thinking of asking you to visit me at Hol some time before I leave.

Ljot. I hardly think I dare to.

Sølvi. You could take Einar with you. It is not much more than an hour's ride, and I have a number of things I should like to show you,—petrified tree-trunks that I have dug out of the earth, in which you can see plainly every bud

and shoot, and stone slabs with impressions of flowers and leaves that lived thousands of years ago. Should you like to see them?

Ljot. I should like it ever so much.

Sølvi. I have some rocks, too, baked by fire and furrowed by ice. If you knew all the tales they tell me! They lay bare to me things that are hidden from every one else. (A whirring of wings is heard far away.)

Einar (stands up, pointing with his finger). Look, there is a flock of ducks flying over the hraun. (Stands gazing.)

Sølvi (in a low voice). It made me so happy to see you. This evening, when the sun was setting, I reached out toward it. I did the same when I saw you.

Einar. They're flying unusually low. There they alight -I'll get my gun.

Sølvi (rising). I'll lend you mine. (Hands him the gun.) It will carry a distance of a hundred and thirty feet. Einar. What size shot have you?

Sølvi. Duck-shot.

Einar. Ljot, you don't mind, do you? I shall not be gone long. If they rise, I'm not going after them. (Ljot rises.)

[Exit.

Sølvi (goes to her). My star must be in the heavens tonight.

Ljot. You must not think that I was sitting up so late because I was waiting for you -I saw you walking over the hraun-but we shan't talk about that.

Sølvi. Shall I tell you why I came home from abroad? It was for your sake.

Ljot (sits down). That is not true.

Sølvi (sits down). One night, the last winter I was away, I must have been dreaming, but it seemed to me that I was

awake. I had come back home and was walking on the hraun. The hraun was covered with ashes. As I walked, I suddenly fell into a deep cleft and kept on falling and falling. At last I found myself lying on the bottom, unable to stir. Death came and sucked the life out of my eyes and held it in her hand like a tiny flame. Suddenly a woman stood beside me dressed in moss. She pleaded for me so long that death gave her my life. She looked like you. It was you. Don't you know that you hold my life in your hands? (They rise.)

Ljot. I think I shall go in. It is hard to tell when Einar will be back. When he is out hunting he forgets everything.

Sølvi. I love you, Ljot! You have not been out of my thoughts since the first time I saw you. Everything reminds me of you—the sun, the sky—

Ljot. I too have been happy in seeing you and talking with you. (Stands still as death.) This morning, right after you had gone, my father told me that on his way home from town he had seen his old friend,—and my father wanted me to promise myself to the son of his old friend, but I would not, because I was thinking of you. Then my mother came and talked to me—and I gave in. I could not do anything else.

Sølvi. Why did I not speak before! You won't feel hurt at what I say, Ljot? You must not let your parents decide your life. That is for you to do.

Ljot. You don't know my father. If he thought I was standing here talking to you, I can't tell what he would do.

Sølvi. I am convinced your parents have but one wish, and that is for your happiness.

Ljot. I don't know. My mother does not say much about

happiness; she does her duty—and I know mine. (Turns toward the tent.)

Sølvi. Are you going?

Ljot. It is better that we two should not meet again—it would only cause us suffering. (Moves away.)

Sølvi (following her). You don't realize what you are about to do! You will be committing a terrible crime— against all the wonderful days that life meant us two to have together. For you do care for me, Ljot, don't you? (Ljot is silent.) I thought you cared for me. When you spoke to me this morning you blushed, and I thought it was your heart that gave me its promise. The joy of it overwhelmed

me.

Ljot. It matters little whom I care for. I have given my word.

Sølvi. You think it is your duty to keep your word, but there is another duty that is far greater, and that is to open your arms to happiness when it comes. There is no greater duty. It is the meaning of our existence. You must feel that, you who have grown like a flower out of the earth!

Ljot. It is not only that I have given my word. If I had neither father nor mother, I should break my promise, but I know that it would grieve my parents. This morning father said to me that it was the happiest day of his life since he got my mother, and I know it was true.

Sølvi. You must tell your parents that you cannot keep your word. You must do it for my sake. (Kneeling.) You are the only one I care for in all the world.

Ljot. I can't deal such a blow to my father. No other living being has been so good to me as my father. Sølvi (rising). You do not care for me at all. Ljot. You think it is easy for me! (With tears in her eyes.)

I own a spring—I cleanse it every Saturday. I have told it your name. (Goes to the tent.)

Sølvi. You are going! (Turns away from Ljot, sits down on one of the rocks, covers his face.)

Ljot (stands silent for a long time, then goes over to him and takes his hands from his face). I love you.

(Sølvi takes her face between his hands and kisses her.) Enter Jakobina.

Jakobina (coming slowly from the tent). We are not all asleep in there.

(Sølvi and Ljot rise.)

Sølvi (holding Ljot by the hand). Let us go out on the hraun and look for Einar.

Ljot (runs to Jakobina, puts her arms around Jakobina's neck and holds her close). I know that you care for me. (Gues to Sølvi and takes his hand.) Come!

[They go toward the “hraun.” (Jakobina stands still, following them with her eyes, then shakes her head and turns toward the tent.)

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