Shallow Soil

are decorated with a number of sketches, painted fans, and palettes; several framed pictures lean against the wainscoting. Smell of paints and tobacco smoke; brushes, tu

Milde's

smoke did not make the room any lighter. This obscurity was evidently Mrs. Hanka's idea. A couple of very young gentlemen, beardless students with bachelor degrees, were of the party; they were poets who had put aside

r many an item concerning them. Paulsberg showed him the greatest deference, and conversed with him about his series, "New Literature," which he found admirable; and the Journalis

in reasonable limits," he says. "There are so many

r this "choas," and they tal

de and his wi

s. Hanka Tidemand, without referring to

th Norem, the Actor. "He did not wan

e plenty of noise. It was a splendid place, Milde's studio; as soon as one got

the other side of the table sits Irgens; the light falls

at their whiteness. The face is fresh and the complexion clear. Her beautiful forehead is not hidden beneath her hair; she carries i

it is her

ised in protest; it is Mrs. Paulsberg's. "For Heaven's sake, no

does not glance into the large, cracked mirror as she passes; she exhales no odours of perfumes; she takes, accidentally, he

a cargo of grain, a certain Fürst in Riga, a raise in cust

sted in these things-Did you see Ida before you left? Wasn't she sw

lready!" Mrs. Hanka herself is animated. "You must ge

in order, although it is not April yet, is delighted because of his w

Hanka, I am very happ

l be all right

ill be all righ

subject, looks down, and continues: "Business

is wife with his shop talk. But Mrs. Hanka was good enough to overlook

y glad to

ful and wants to show it as best he can; he

if you care-a sort of souvenir of this occ

ka glanc

nk, and she cries, full of curiosity: "Whatever is this?" She lets go her husband's arm and brings the rubber over to the table. "Whatever have you got here, Milde?" She rummages in

ws aside at once; then a lock of hair enclosed in pa

join

t of his mouth. "However did that get in there? D

make everybody laugh.

e's collection of corse

ld

ought forth his package. There were both white and brown ones; the

e they b

be their sentimental value otherwise?" And the Journalist laug

lde wrapped his cors

at? It is my own corsets; I have used them myself-don't you understand? I used them

k his head and

sense is this I hear, that Gr

y half drunk. "Can you imagine why?

ing to get a litt

houted

himself says that Grande

t and unfathomable, and listened without speaking; he was respected by all. O

s is something Paulsbe

Paulsberg could not decide that? He! he! so that

wered Paulsbe

ach other. Mrs. Hanka stepped between them, s

after a while. "Ojen wants to

ettled dow

ose poem from an inside p

your indulge

e-cropped poets, laughed loudly, and the one

ur indulgence? Wha

ui

'Sentenced to Death,'"

wondered: What if my se

..

, s

ould be sente

prison and know that

the supreme mom

s of the scaffold, I wo

on to sa

something good from my death. A speech from my inmost heart

cret guil

e

death. And I have lang

spirit i

he scaffold; but to-day

fill wit

en the sun is shining so-I haven't seen it for nine months, an

rs and I ask humbly if my guard

will not

heart so as not to die mutely-innocent words that will harm nobody, a couple of hurried sen

lips, but I

aid. But I am weak, that I am, and I cannot speak because

orseman with

eart, do no

a white veil, a hands

is bare l

cause I am weak and the white veil flutters beautifully against the green

my head has fallen I

ew moments with my eyes

widely when the axe fal

ast I

andage across my eyes?

and tearful? But then

, unable even to count

e my

ehold the blessed vault of heaven. They will turn me over, on my stomach, with m

below me; and I cannot even see the little

my fingers, even-I cling stubbornly to life. If they would only take off the bandage so I could see so

s. Mute exhalations

me one supplication-

m Thy creature-ta

sy with a spot on his vest, and did not understand a word of what

r he

smiled to Ojen and said, out

ms evanescent, ethereal! 'Mute exhalations from the c

Ojen was happy. Happiness was v

. He would have liked to hear Paulsberg's opinio

h things? These prose po

. In me everything turns to poetry, with or without rhymes; b

y affect you?" asked Mrs. Hanka in her gentle voice. "I

table and imagine I have made a bet with some one-a bet involving enormous amounts. Then I blow on the glass; if it falls I lose-lose an amount large enough to ruin me for life; if it remains I have won and can build myself a castle on the Mediterranean. It is the same whenever I go up a strange stairway: should there be sixteen steps I win, but if there are eighteen I lose. Into this, though, there enter other intricate possibilities: Suppose there should be twenty steps, have I lost or won? I do not yield; I insist on my rights in the matter; I go to law and lose my case-Well, you mustn't laugh; it is really annoying. Of course these are only minor matters. I can give other examples: Let somebody sit in a room next to yours and sing a single verse of a certain song, sing it endlessly, without ceasing, sing it

untry, to the pine woods now; you will get well

chim

nd think of us when yo

ve Ojen a hint about visiting the house of the county judge, which was a mile away. He had only to row acros

?" asked Irgens, quite su

, embarrassed. "We were a couple of boys from the coll

ege Man!" called the J

family is charming. There is even a young girl in the

Ojen of, the ladies he leaves severely a

College Man!" shou

ksen look

ean me?"

certainly I do! Haven'

you a colle

t, too, was a

siness college,"

you should be ashamed of that. Is there, Tidemand? I say there

he frowned and thought of nothing else, afraid to forget what he had ask

ka said

en is going to re

nothing; on the contrary, Paulsberg nodded encouragingly. When t

rt. It is called 'T

her. We were also strangers to each other; we had never met before. Why is she sit

dam? Have you left a friend where

wered, "a very

e unable to forget t

ed and shook h

can never

had not looked at

sked her. "What a lovely bra

d it," she said, and

y I not look at your ring-it shines so golden and is also so very

he also said

has given

still further

rgive me,"

cept listen to the rumbling of the wheels. An engine flares past, it sounds like iron striking iron, and I st

she glances at me, and h

darker?"

aching a tunn

e through

glances at me, a trifl

me it grows

e second tunnel, there

is a map-do yo

says and moves closer t

e smil

nnels? Is there one m

one m

lose to me, her hand touches mine. Then it gro

of an hour. She is now

warmth

ft my braid if you wis

k at my ring-wh

did not take her ring

smiled and did not

used. "I am afraid of that last tunnel-please hold my hand when we get to i

o do what sh

later she la

he other tunnels; only

ce to see how I migh

est, too; it is e

n was now at

el," she cried. "You are dece

is, the la

ap. But she would see

th

unnel, I tell you ther

e be one!"

t the cushions, and sm

i

opening. I remembered that I had promised to speak to her; I bent

do! I am so frightene

"Why don't yo

heart was beating, an

ars and

are forgettin

d me away with both hands, and threw herself down in the se

Power of Lov

attentively; Milde

me. "Is that all? But Heaven preserve us, man, what is it all about? No; the so

d; the poet with the compass in his fob arose,

tly lacks all understa

these filigree phrases and unintelligible fancies-The

pale an

said the poor fellow, trembling with excitement. "But, then, you are a

e how much he had offended; he had

you think I enjoyed the poem? I did, I tell you; enjoyed it immensely. I only thought it a little disembodied, so to speak, somewhat ethereal. Un

s of the moment had gone, they laughed and shouted more than ever, and cut lo

er hand on his shoulder and promised to come and see him off when he st

"You'll come, won't you, an

ould go with him all the way to Torahus. Yes, he had suddenly made up his mind, he would make this little trip; he had, in fact,

d over to the sofa on account of the draught, and told each other amusing anecdotes. Mrs. Paulsberg kne

he Journalist e

lsberg smilingly, "you must at lea

unted merril

d to a corner an

w the time?" aske

fumbled at his vest pocket. "It is

t that it wa

ee, and since then had not been seen. Nobody seemed to think it strange that the two had sneaked a

e to run off like

le. "By the way, I want to t

e the political situati

ned to banish himself t

s if Parliament would d

would refus

in every respect; we lack power, both in politics and in our civic life. How sad to contemplate the general decline! What miserable remnants are left of the intellectual life that once flamed up so b

ched the declaration that he could only thrive in a high spiritual altitude, then the guests broke into peals of merriment and understood that it was a capital hoax. The merry blade-hadn't he almost fooled them a

y believed that this fellow was possessed of a literary talent which had not entirely st

ls or to his work on the Atonement during the entire evening. When therefore the Journalist

occasion to express an opin

y certainly remembered it. It was true; a speech somewh

made up his mi

e easel. He got up, emptied his glass, and found his overcoat. His wife pres

demanded to know why Irgens had asked him for coffee. Why did he need coffee? He hoped he had not been making preparations to kiss Mrs. Hanka? Damn him, he would hate to trust hi

d to let their young girls go to the dogs in ignorance rather than enlighten them while there was time. Prudery was the nourishing vice of the moment. So help me, there ought to be public

Henriksen did not object. The idea wa

demand over

id, "I wonder if you hav

t entirely stripped.

"Very soon, now. You are a brick! It is not more than a couple of days since I said

e wanted to leave. It was beg

d kept clo

s be going," he said. He was on

I have an escort," she said

moment to re

a forced smile. "It is a

he window and remai

jen's hand in hers and asked him when he was going. Had he remembered to make reservations at Torahus? No; she might have known it; these poe

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