Chapter 12

Every day, every day I met her. I will tell the truth: I was glad to meet her; aye, my heart flew. It is two years ago this year; now, I think of it only when I please, the whole story just amuses and distracts¹ me. And as for the two green feathers, I will tell about them in good time.

There were several places where we could meet — at the mill, on the road, even in my hut. She came wherever I would. “Goddag!” she cried, always first, and I answered “Goddag!”

“You are happy to-day,” she says, and her eyes sparkle².

“Yes, I am happy,” I answer. “There is a speck³ there on your shoulder; it is dust, perhaps, a speck of mud from the road; I must kiss that little spot. No — let me — I will. Everything about you stirs me so! I am half out of my senses. I did not sleep last night.”

And that was true. Many a night I lay and could not sleep.

We walk side by side along the road.

“What do you think — am I as you like me to be?” she asks. “Perhaps I talk too much. No? Oh, but you must say what you really think. Sometimes I think to myself this can never come to any good . . . ”

“What can never come to any good?” I ask.

“This between us. That it cannot come to any good. You may believe it or not, but I am shivering now with cold; I feel icy cold the moment I come to you. Just out of happiness.”

“It is the same with me,” I answer. “I feel a shiver, too, when I see you. But it will come to some good all the same. And, anyhow, let me pat you on the back, to warm you.”

And she lets me, half unwillingly⁴, and then I hit a little harder, for a jest, and laugh, and ask if that doesn’t make her feel better.

“Oh, please, don’t when I ask you; please,” says she.

Those few words! There was something so helpless about her saying it so, the wrong way round: “Please don’t when I ask you.” . . .

Then we went on along the road again. Was she displeased⁵ with me for my jest, I wondered? And thought to myself: Well, let us see. And I said:

“I just happened to think of something. Once when I was out on a sledge⁶ party, there was a young lady who took a silk kerchief from her neck and fastened it round mine. In the evening, I said to her: ‘You shall have your kerchief again to-morrow; I will have it washed.’ ‘No,’ she said, ‘give it to me now; I will keep it just as it is, after you have worn it.’ And I gave it to her. Three years after, I met the same young lady again. ‘The kerchief,’ I said. And she brought it out. It lay in a paper, just as before; I saw it myself.”

Edwarda glanced up at me.

“Yes? And what then?”

“That is all,” I said. “There was nothing more. But I thought it was nice of her.”

Pause.

“Where is that lady now?”

“Abroad.”

We spoke⁷ no more of that. But when it was time for her to go home, she said:

“Well, good-night. But you won’t go thinking of that lady any more, will you? I don’t think of anyone but you.”

I believed her. I saw that she meant what she said, and it was more than enough for me that she thought of no one else. I walked after her.

“Thank you, Edwarda,” I said. And then I added with all my heart: “You are all too good for me, but I am thankful that you will have me; God will reward you for that. I’m not so fine as many you could have, no doubt, but I am all yours — so endlessly yours, by my eternal⁸ soul. —- What are you thinking of now, to bring tears to your eyes?”

“It was nothing,” she answered. “It sounded so strange — that God would reward me for that. You say things that I . . . Oh, I love you so!”

And all at once she threw her arms round my neck, there in the middle of the road, and kissed me.

When she had gone, I stepped aside into the woods to hide, to be alone with my happiness. And then I hurried eagerly back to the road to see if anyone had noticed that I had gone in there. But I saw no one.

1 distracts   

v.使（人）分心，分散（注意力）( distract的第三人称单数 )；打扰

参考例句：

• I'm bored with bridge, but golf still distracts me. 我已经玩厌了桥牌，但是还喜欢玩高尔夫球。 来自辞典例句
• That kind of thing distracts us and keeps us from doing good. 这些事情使我们耽心，并且妨碍我们做正当的事情。 来自辞典例句

2 sparkle   

vi.闪，焕发；n.闪光，闪烁，活力

参考例句：

• Dewdrops sparkle in the morning sun.露珠在早晨的阳光下闪着光。
• There was a sudden sparkle as her diamond ring caught the light.当她的钻石戒指遇到光时，有阵突然的闪耀。

3 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

4 unwillingly   

adv.不情愿地

参考例句：

• He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
• Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访，他也是很不情愿地接待我。

5 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

6 sledge   

n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往

参考例句：

• The sledge gained momentum as it ran down the hill.雪橇从山上下冲时的动力越来越大。
• The sledge slid across the snow as lightly as a boat on the water.雪橇在雪原上轻巧地滑行，就象船在水上行驶一样。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 eternal   

adj.永久的，无休止的，永恒的，永不改变的

参考例句：

• Stop this eternal chatter!不要唠叨个不停！
• Rome has been called the Eternal City.罗马一向被称为不朽之城。