berry as big as a small cherry, and our heads collided; while I still laughed and rubbed mine, she snatched the berry, and, immediately afterwards, my lips pressed a long kiss on hers, and my glance pierced her eyes, which grew quite small and in their depths had a gleam of the last golden sunbeam. Only our lips met, our arms rested on the ground like fore-legs; and just as I wanted to make a more human use of them, and place them round her shoulders, half unconscious and intoxicated as I was by the heavenliness of the first kiss, she jumped to her feet and ran down the path. Before I could overtake her, she had already reached a spot where I could not walk by her side, as the path was only a foot in breadth, and the slope was steep. Aware of this, she walked quietly.
"Minna!" I called softly and diffidently.
She did not seem to hear me.
"Were you unable to find my shadow?" I asked, trying to make a joke of it, "since you so suddenly ran away from me. Just look behind, and you will see that I still have it, though it has turned much paler, but so has yours."
Still no answer.
"Are you angry with me?"
She shook her head, but neither stopped nor looked back. The manner of her answer had, however, calmed me; I did not know what to say, nor did I wish to bother her, though this silent march, one behind the other, was dreadfully painful to me. At last we came near the place where the tiny mountain-path, between the outer firs, sloped down to the meadow near the river, only a few minutes' walk from Rathen. There I should, at any rate, be able to see the expression on her face.
Like a deer which is brought to bay, she turned to face me.
