interest in him which one feels in a thing of
one's own making; and now, when she saw that
he had risen quite above her; that he was free
and strong, and could have no more need of her,
she had, instead of generous pleasure at his
success, but a painful sense of emptiness, as if
something very dear had been taken from her.

Ralph, too, was loath to analyze the impression
his old love made upon him. His feelings
were of so complex a nature, he was anxious to
keep his more magnanimous impulses active, and
he strove hard to convince himself that she was
still the same to him as she had been before they
had ever parted. But, alas! though the heart
be warm and generous, the eye is a merciless
critic. And the man who had moved on the
wide arena of the world, whose mind had housed
the large thoughts of this century, and expanded
with its invigorating breath,--was he to blame
because he had unconsciously outgrown his old
provincial self, and could no more judge by its
standards?

Bertha's father was a peasant, but he had,
by his lumber trade, acquired what in Norway
was called a very handsome fortune. He received
his guest with dignified reserve, and
Ralph thought he detected in his eyes a lurking
look of distrust. "I know your errand," that