Excited, yet still weak, I felt someone kissing me, and the kiss lay on my lips. I looked round: there was nothing visible. “Iselin!” A sound in the grass--it might be a leaf falling to the ground, or it might be footsteps. A shiver through the woods--and I told myself it might be Iselin's breathing. Here in these woods she has moved, Iselin; here she has listened to the prayers of yellow-booted, green-cloaked huntsmen. She lived out on my farm, two miles away; four generations ago she sat at her window, and heard the echo of horns in the forest. There were reindeer and wolf and bear, and the hunters were many, and all of them had seen her grow up from a child, and each and all of them had waited for her. One had seen her eyes, another heard her voice. When she was twelve years old came Dundas. He was a Scotsman, and traded in fish, and had many ships. He had a son. When she was sixteen, she saw young Dundas for the first time. He was her first love... And such strange fancies flowed through me, and my head grew very heavy as I sat there; I closed my eyes and felt for Iselin's kiss. Iselin, are you here, lover of life? And have you Diderik there? ... But my head grew heavier still, and I floated off on the waves of sleep. _Lul! lul!_ A voice speaking, as if the Seven Stars themselves were singing through my blood; Iselin's voice: “Sleep, sleep! I will tell you of my love while you sleep. I was sixteen, and it was springtime, with warm winds; Dundas came. It was like the rushing of an eagle's flight. I met him one morning before the hunt set out; he was twenty-five, and came from far lands; he walked by my side in the garden, and when he touched me with his arm I began to love him. Two red spots showed in his forehead, and I could have kissed those two red spots. “In the evening after the hunt I went to seek him in the garden, and I was afraid lest I should find him. I spoke his name softly to myself, and feared lest he should hear. Then he came out from the bushes and whispered: 'An hour after midnight!' And then he was gone. “'An hour after midnight,' I said to myself--'what did he mean by that? I cannot understand. He must have meant he was going away to far lands again; an hour after midnight he was going away--but what was it to me?' “An hour after midnight he came back.” “'May I sit there by you?' he said. “'Yes,' I told him. 'Yes.' “We sat there on the sofa; I moved away. I looked down. “'You are cold,' he said, and took my hand. A little after he said: 'How cold you are!' and put his arm round me. “And I was warmed with his arm. So we sat a little while. Then a cock crew. “'Did you hear,' he said, 'a cock crow? It is nearly dawn.' “'Are you quite sure it was the cock crow?' I stammered. “Then the day came--already it was morning. Something was thrilling all through me. What hour was it that struck just now? “My maid came in. “'Your flowers have not been watered,' she said. “I had forgotten my flowers.