"Yes, yes, I understand."

"Good. Well, then sometimes I look at the grass, and perhaps the grass
is looking at me again--who can say? I look at a single blade of grass;
it quivers a little, maybe, and thinks me something. And I think to
myself: Here is a little blade of grass all a-quivering. Or if it
happens to be a fir tree I look at, then maybe the tree has one branch
that makes me think of it a little, too. And sometimes I meet people up
on the moors; it happens at times."

I looked at her; she stood bending forward, listening. I hardly knew
her. So lost in attention she was that she took no heed of herself, but
was ugly, foolish looking; her underlip hung far down.

"Yes, yes," she said, and drew herself up.

The first drops of rain began to fall.

"It is raining," said I.

"Oh! Yes, it is raining," she said, and went away on the instant.

I did not see her home; she went on her way alone; I hurried up to the
hut. A few minutes passed. It began to rain heavily. Suddenly I heard
someone running after me. I stopped short, and there was Edwarda.

"I forgot," she said breathlessly. "We were going over to the
islands--the drying grounds, you know. The Doctor is coming to-morrow;
will you have time then?"