But she felt young, she was so in many respects,
and yet all the while she was conscious of her years. She saw it very
clearly, in a thousand movements, in expressions and gestures, in the
way in which she would respond to a hint, in the fashion in which she
would smile at an answer. Ten times a day she would betray her age,
because she lacked the courage to be outwardly as young as she was
within.
And thoughts came and thoughts went, but through it all the same
question always rose, as to what her children would say.
On the forenoon of the following day she put the answer to the test.
They were in the sitting-room.
She said that she had something important to tell them, something that
would mean a great change in their lives, something that would be
unexpected news to them. She asked them to listen as calmly as they
could, and not to let themselves be carried away by the first
impression into thoughtlessness. They must know that what she was
about to tell them was definitely decided, and that nothing they might
say could make her alter her decision.
"I am going to marry again," she said, and told them of how she had
loved Thorbrogger, before she had known their father; how she had
become separated from him, and how they had now met again.
Elinor cried, but Tage had risen from his seat, utterly bewildered. He
then went close to her, kneeled down before her, and seized her hand.
Sobbing, half-stifled with emotion, he pressed it against his cheek
with infinite tenderness, with an expression of helplessness in every
line of his face.
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