Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/487

 [slowly and emphatically].

Yes, say She ventured in one bottom to embark Her all, her all upon one card to play,— And then life's tempest swept the ship away, And the flower faded as the day grew dark?

[involuntarily].

She must not!

[looking at him with meaning].

Hm. So I myself decided When I was young, like you. In days of old I was afire for one. Our paths divided. Last night we met again;—the fire was cold.

Last night?

Last night. You know the parson's dame—

What? It was she, then, who—

Who lit the flame. Long I remembered her with keen regret, And still in my remembrance she arose As the young lovely woman that she was When in life's buoyant spring-time first we met.