Here the two lovers
had proceeded that they might confer with each other uninterrupted.
"You see, my little nymph, I have come back. Do you think that I have an
honorable spirit and a true heart? Now tell me, have you grown so
beautiful, for me; yes so beautiful that I can well be proud of you as
my own little wife?"
"Wife! are you then serious?"
"Serious we shall never be, we will make a third agreement, which is
that we shall live henceforth without a gloomy thought or serious
foreboding. Although we shall marry, as it is said, for 'love in a
cottage,' yet we are both so familiar with the reality of the cottage,
that our romantic dreams, if we have any, will be fully realized."
"True, very true," said Nanna smiling, and her countenance radiant with
joy, appeared still more beautiful, "and now I am--"
"--Betrothed," said Gottlieb joyfully embracing her.
How happy were the inmates of the little cottage that evening!
* * * * *
When the news of Gottlieb's betrothal reached Almvik, Mrs.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216