Aagot and Coldevin walked together down the street. He said nothing about
his going away, and she didn't know of his intention. She was happy to be
with Coldevin, this phenomenon who irritated everybody with his impossible
harangues. She walked close beside him; her heart was fluttering.
"Forgive me!" she pleaded. "Yes, you must forgive me everything, both that
which has happened before and to-day. A while ago I should have been
afraid to ask you, but no sooner am I with you than I become bold again.
You never reprove me, never. But I haven't done anything wrong to-day--I
mean to-day when I was far up-town; you understand what I mean." And she
looked at him with an open, straightforward glance.
"Are you going back home soon, Miss Aagot?"
"Yes, I am going back at once--Forgive me, Coldevin, and believe me,
believe me--I have done nothing wrong to-day; but I am so sorry, I repent
everything--Blue, heatless flames, without much pride--I am not so stupid
that I do not know whom you had in mind when you said this."
"But, dearest Aagot," he exclaimed in his perplexity, "it was not meant
for you--I didn't mean it at all! And besides, I was mistaken, greatly
mistaken; thank God, _you_ are entirely different. But promise me one
thing, Aagot; promise that you will be a little careful, do! It is none of
my business, of course; but you have fallen in with a crowd--believe me,
they are not your kind of people. Mrs. Tidemand has gained bitter
experience through them."
She glanced at him inquiringly.
"I thought it best to tell you. Mrs. Tidemand, one of the few sterling
personalities in the clique, even she! One from that crowd has destroyed
her, too."
"Is that true?" said Aagot. "Well, I don't care in the least for them;
alas, no! I don't want to remember any of them." And she seized Coldevin's
arm and pressed close to him as if in fear.
This embarrassed him still more. He slowed up a little, and she said with
a smile as she let go his arm:
"I suppose I mustn't do that?"
"H'm. What are you going to do when you get back home? By the way, have
you heard from your fiancé?"
"No, not yet. But I suppose it is too early. Are you afraid of anything
happening to him? Dear me, tell me if you are!"
"No; don't worry! He will get back safe enough."
They stopped at her door and said good-bye. She ascended the few steps
hesitatingly, without even lifting her dress; suddenly she turned, ran
downstairs again, and seized Coldevin's hand.
Without another word she hurried up-stairs and through the door.
He stood still a moment. He heard her steps from inside, then they died
down. And he turned and drifted down the street. He saw and heard nothing
of what happened around him.
Instinctively he walked toward the basement restaurant where he usually
took his meals. He went down and ordered something. Hurriedly he ate
everything that was placed before him; apparently he had not eaten for a
long while. And when he was through he took out the ten-crown bill and
paid his check from that. At the same time he felt in his waistcoat pocket
for a little package, a few crowns in silver--the small amount he had put
aside for his railway ticket, and which he had not dared to touch.
* * * * *
The following day, around five, Aagot was walking down toward the docks,
toward the same place where she had walked the day before. Irgens was
already waiting for her.
She hurried toward him and said:
"I came after all, but only to tell you--I won't meet you any more. I
haven't time to talk to you now, but I did not want you to come here and
wait for me."
"Listen, Miss Aagot," he said boldly, "you can't back out now, you know."
"I am not going home with you any more, never. I have learned something.
Why don't you get Mrs. Tidemand to go with you? Why don't you?" Aagot was
pale and excited.
"Mrs. Tidemand?" he asked, startled.
"Yes, I know everything. I have asked questions--Yes, I have thought of it
all night long. Go to Mrs. Tidemand, why don't you?"
He stepped close to her.
"Mrs. Tidemand has not existed for me since I saw you. I haven't seen her
for weeks. I don't even know where she lives."
"Well, it doesn't matter," she said. "I suppose you can look her up. I
won't go home with you, but I can walk with you a few moments."
They walked on. Aagot was quiet now.
"I said I have thought of it all night," she continued. "Of course, not
all night. All day, I meant. Not all the time, I mean--You ought to be
ashamed of yourself! Married ladies! You don't defend yourself very
warmly, Irgens."
"What is the use?"
"No, I suppose you love her." And when he was silent she grew violently
jealous. "You might at least tell me if you love her!"
"I love you," he answered, "I do not lie; it is you and nobody else I
love, Aagot. You can do with me what you like, but it is you." He did not
look at her. He gazed down on the pavement and he wrung his hands
repeatedly.
She felt that his emotion was genuine and she said gently:
"All right, Irgens, I'll believe you. But I won't go home with you."
Pause.
"What has made you so hostile toward me all of a sudden?" he asked. "Is it
this--? He has been your tutor, but I must frankly say that he disgusts
me, dirty and unkempt as he is."
"You will be good enough to speak civilly of Coldevin," she said coldly.
"Well, he is going away to-night, so we shall be rid of him," he said.
She stopped.
"Is he going this evening?"
"So I heard. On the night train."
Was he going? He hadn't mentioned that to her. Irgens had to tell her how
he knew. She was so taken up with this news about Coldevin that she forgot
everything else; perhaps she even felt a sense of relief at the thought
that henceforth she would be free from his espionage. When Irgens touched
her arm lightly she walked mechanically ahead. They went straight to his
rooms. When they stood by the entrance she suddenly recoiled. She said
"No!" repeatedly while she looked at him with staring, bewildered eyes.
But he pleaded with her. Finally he took her arm and led her firmly
inside.
The door slammed behind them....
On the corner Coldevin stood and watched. When the couple disappeared he
stepped forward and walked over to the entrance. He stood there awhile. He
bent forward stiffly as if he were listening. He was much changed. His
face was fearfully drawn and his lips were frozen in a ghastly smile. Then
he sat down on the steps, close by the wall, waiting.
An hour passed by. A tower-clock boomed. His train was not due to leave
for another hour. Half an hour went by. He heard somebody on the stairs.
Irgens came first. Coldevin did not stir; he sat motionless with his back
to the door. Then Aagot appeared. Suddenly she cried out loudly. Coldevin
arose and walked away. He had not looked at her nor had he said a word; he
had simply shown himself--he had been on the spot. He swayed like a man in
a stupor. He turned the very first corner, the frozen smile still on his
lips.
Coldevin walked straight down to the railway station. He bought his ticket
and was ready. The doors were thrown open. He walked out to the
train-shed; a porter came after him with his trunk. His trunk? All right;
he had almost forgotten it. Put it in there, in this empty compartment! He
entered after it had been stowed away; then he collapsed utterly. He sat
in the corner; his gaunt, emaciated body shivered convulsively. In a few
moments he took from his pocketbook a tiny silken bow in the Norwegian
colours and began to tear it to pieces. He sat there quietly and plucked
the threads apart. When he had finished he stared at the shreds with a
fixed, vacant stare. The engine gave a hoarse blast; the train started.
Coldevin opened the window slowly and emptied his hand. And the tiny bits
of red and blue whirled away behind the train, fluttered and sank to the
gravel, to be ground in the dust beneath every man's foot.