Page:Karl Gjellerup - Minna, A novel - 1913.djvu/68

 leaden or reddish stone colour, high ones, standing out with glowing tops, could be seen. On the side of Lilienstein appeared a broad rainbow column which rapidly grew more vivid. At the very top of the longish plateau of this isolated mountain lay a small detached cloud which remained suspended in the fir wood, in the same way as tobacco smoke might remain when blown into a child's curly hair. Only a dull light from the sun lit up the hills over the long quarries; and all the steep crags around lay in a cool bluish haze. The river was still an opaque reddish brown in the curve, but farther on it again resumed its mirror-like appearance. Now and then faint flashes of lightning were to be seen over the open country, and long drawn-out rolls of thunder were heard echoing in the mountains.

"Look," Minna exclaimed, "what colouring! It is quite a Poussin!"

These words of hers stabbed me to the heart. My God! what young girl knows Poussin, and still more has him ready to hand to quote? All the same, the resemblance was quite striking. Now, if she had only said: "It looks like a picture of Poussin in the gallery." But this: "It is quite a Poussin," made me furious! I longed to seize her, as "Carl Moor" seizes "Roller," and cry out: "Who inspired thee with that word? That human soul of thine did not produce it, but that of a painter did."

But she had already run down the long row of shiny wet stones. Whether my face had betrayed my feelings, or whether she was ashamed of having borrowed another's phrase, I do not know, but evidently she had run away from her Poussin.

She did not at once start baling out the water, but placed the stone jar on the lower step near the spring, and turned to a pretty little twelve-year-old boy who sat close by.