“Yes, that has given me some bad hours, too, and a great deal to think about; in fact, I came very near to leaving you alone and spoiling my own happiness and yours too.  But I came to my senses before it was too late.  Not on account of what Dame Joanna said the day before yesterday—­though what she says must be true, and she told me that all—­you know what—­was at an end.  No; my own sense told me this time; for I said to myself:  Such a motherless, helpless little thing, a slave, too, and as pretty as the angels, her master’s son took a fancy to her, how could she defend herself?  And how cruelly the poor little soul was punished!—­Yes, little one, you may well weep!  Why, my own eyes are full of tears.  Well, so it had to be and so it was.  You and I and the Lord Almighty and the Hosts of Heaven—­who can do anything against us?—­So you see that even a poor fool like me can understand how it all came about; and I do not accuse you, nor have I anything to forgive.  It was just a dreadful misfortune.  But it has come to a good end, thank God I and I can forget it entirely and for ever, if only you can say:  ’It is all over and done with and buried like the dead!’”

Before he could hinder her, she snatched his hand, to her lips with passionate affection and sobbed out: 

“You are so good!  Oh!  Rustem, there is not another man on earth so good as you are, and my mother will bless you for it.  Do what you will with me!  And I declare to you, once for all that all that is past and gone, and only to think of it gives me horror.  And it was exactly as you say:  my mother dead, no one to warn me or protect me,—­I was hardly sixteen, a simple, ignorant creature, and he called me, and it all came over me like a dream in my sleep; and when I awoke. . . .”

“There we are,” he interrupted and he tried to laugh as he wiped his eyes.  “Both laid up with holes in our heads.—­And when I am in my own country I always think the prettiest time is just when the hard winter-frost is over, and the snow melted, and all the flowers in the valleys rush into bloom—­and so I feel now, my little girl.  Everything will be well now, we shall be so wonderfully happy.  The day before yesterday, do you know, I still was not quite clear about it all.  Your trouble gave me no peace, and it went against the grain-well, you can understand.  But then, later, when I was lying in my room and the moon shone down on my bed. . .” and a rapt expression came into his face that strangely beautified his harsh features, “I could not help asking myself:  ’Although the moon went down into the sea this morning, does that prevent its shining as brightly as ever to-night, and bringing a cooler breeze?’ And if a human soul has gone under in the same way, may it not rise up again, bright and shining, when it has bathed and rested?  And such a heart—­of course every man would like to have its love all to himself, but it may have enough to give more than once.  For, as I remembered, my mother, though she loved me dearly, when another child came and yet another gave them the best she had to give; and I was none the worse when she had my youngest sister at the breast, nor was she when I was petted and kissed.  And it must be just the same with you.  Thought I to myself:  though she once loved another man, she may still have a good share left for me!”