path through the woods she wanted me to show her, she said."

Miss Torsen was filled with madness now; handsome and desperate, she paced
back and forth; you could almost see the sparks flying. Her red felt hat
was held on the back of her head by a pin, the brim turned up high in
front. Her throat was bare, her frock thin, her shoes light.

It was extraordinary to watch her behavior; she had opened a window onto
her secret desires. What cared she for Tradesman Batt! Had she not toiled
through her youth and gained school knowledge? But no reality! Poor Miss
Torsen. Solem must not show a path to any other lady tonight.

As nothing more was said, and Solem was preparing to depart, Miss Torsen
cleared her throat.

"Come with me instead!" she said.

Solem looked round quickly and said, "All right."

So I left them; I whistled as I walked away with exaggerated indifference,
as though nothing on earth were any concern of mine.

"Come with me instead," she said. And he went. They were already behind
the outhouses, then behind the two great rowan trees; they hurried lest
Mrs. Brede should see them. Then they were gone.

A door wide open, but where did it lead? I saw no sweetness in her,
nothing but excitement. She had learned grammar, but no language; her soul
was undernourished. A true woman would have married; she would have been a
man's wife, she would have been a mother, she would have been a