took Edith's hand, that he all at once suffered with her suffering,--
that he had forgotten everything but grief, that she was going to
die. The sick girl felt the same pity for herself, and her eyes
filled with tears.

Oh, what sympathy he felt for her from the first moment. He
understood instantly that she would not wish to show her emotion.
Of course it was agitating for her to see him, whom she had longed
for so long, but it was her weakness that had made her betray
herself. She naturally would not like him to pay any attention to
it. And so he began on an innocent subject of conversation.

"Do you know what happened to my white mice?" he said.

She looked at him with admiration. He seemed to wish to make the
way easier for her. "I let them loose in the shop," she said. "They
have thriven well."

"No, really! Are there any of them left?"

"Halfvorson says that he will never be rid of Petter Nord's mice.
They have revenged you, you understand," she said with meaning.

"It was a very good race," answered Petter Nord, proudly.

The conversation lagged for a while. Edith closed her eyes, as if
to rest, and he kept a respectful silence. His last answer she had
not understood. He had not responded to what she had said about
revenge. When he began to talk of the mice, she believed that he
understood what she wished to say to him. She knew that he had come