He walked back home--no walking-stick, no whistling. He did not care
about playing the man any longer. A stab at the heart is no light
matter.
And was that the last of it?
One Sunday he went down just to look; to peep and spy. With a sickly
and unnatural patience he lay in hiding among the bushes, staring over
at the hut. And when at last there came a sign of life and movement it
was enough to make an end of him altogether: Axel and Barbro came
out together and went across to the cowshed. They were loving and
affectionate now, ay, they had a blessed hour; they walked with their
arms round each other, and he was going to help her with the animals.
Ho, yes!
Eleseus watched the pair with a look as if he had lost all; as a
ruined man. And his thought, maybe, was like this: There she goes arm
in arm with Axel Stroem. How she could ever do it I can't think; there
was a time when she put her arms round me! And there they disappeared
into the shed.
Well, let them! Huh! Was he to lie here in the bushes and forget
himself? A nice thing for him--to lie there flat on his belly and
forget himself.
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