Page:Karl Gjellerup - Minna, A novel - 1913.djvu/161

 a top. She was visiting a friend of hers, for here, on account of her father, she did not dare to play with the other children. But once he nearly caught her in this crime, and I began to wonder into which of the two adjoining gardens she might have escaped. Behind me was some wooden boarding—that way was fairly barred; to the left was a hedge of hawthorn behind a paling, but it didn't look sufficiently old; opposite me the paling was a little higher, but in the corner the ground sloped upwards, so that it was easier to climb over; and also this was the place most hidden from any one who came through the entrance door. All this I examined just as carefully as an historian would inspect the localities at Pharsalia in order to get a clear idea of the plan of Cæsar's battle; and it cost me just as much head-work to decide upon the neighbouring house and the window from which her friend's beloved and his friend, her first adorer, had made their salutations.

In the end the elder tree occupied all my attention. It stood in a corner against the neighbouring garden, and overshadowed a little bench which was made of two or three boards and looked extremely old. I moved from my seat in the summer-house to this one. It was not exactly a comfortable seat for an old man who wished to take a nap in the mid-day heat, but it was very suitable for a young couple who didn't demand much comfort. And then this romantic "Hollunder"! It was not in flower now, but it had flowered for him! Like the shadow from this bush jealousy filled my soul, the jealousy which my feeling of happiness and Minna's presence had so far kept away. I wanted to own her altogether, would like to have seen her as a child; in imagination I could picture her leaving her play-fellows in order to put her little plump arms round my neck. If there were a pre-existence, it seemed to me that