And on they danced with ever-increasing
joy. Finally Amrei said:
"Tell me--is the music going on? Are the musicians still playing? I
don't hear them any more."
"Of course they are still playing. Don't you hear them?"
"Yes, now I do," said Amrei. And now they stopped, for her partner
probably felt that she was becoming giddy with happiness.
The stranger led Amrei to the table, and gave her wine to drink, and did
not let go her hand. He lifted the Swedish ducat that hung from her
necklace, and said:
"This ducat is in a good place."
"And it came from a good hand," answered Amrei. "That necklace was given
to me when I was a little child."
"By a relative?"
"No, the lady was no relative."
"Dancing agrees with you apparently."
"Oh, indeed it does! You see, I'm obliged to jump around so much all the
year around when nobody is playing for me--and therefore I enjoy it
doubly now."
"You look as round as a ball," said the stranger in jest. "You must live
where the food is good."
Amrei replied quickly:
"It's not the food itself that does it, but the way one enjoys it."
The stranger nodded; and after a pause, he spoke again, half
questioningly:
"You are the daughter of Farmer--"
"No, I am a maid," replied Amrei, looking him full in the face. The
stranger's eyes almost fell; the lids quivered, but he held them open by
force. And this struggle and victory of the bodily eye seemed to be a
symbol of what was going on within him.
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