372 'GOD'S PEACE'
me when, as a tired wanderer, I came to the loneliness of Rough-Hill.
30"" OF APRIL.
XLI T HAVE finished my book. I have finished X everything there is for me to do here.
Yesterday evening, when on the last page I had closed Greta's eyes with a farewell kiss and the empty white paper lay before me, then I under- stood that now indeed the lonely days on Rough- Hill had begun. Then I stood up, collected my things, packed my trunk, and told my landlord that I intended to leave by to-morrow's steamer.
What am I going to do ? First and foremost leave this place. Go thither where work awaits me. Tired, because I thought it led to nothing, I gave it up. Without too great expectations I take it up again, because I feel that at all events it has some value in itself. Peace is only for the happy people ; for the unhappy work is a solace.
Besides, let me admit it. When of late 1 have now and again for a little diversion entered one of the cafes in the town to look through a newspaper my fingers itched to once more take up my petij to defend or attack what I read. I understood that as far as my mill was concerned it only needed a very light wind to set it again in motion. It also seemed to me that I understood Greta's father better. It was he himself, and not the spirit of the mill, that needed to hear the noise of the wheels and the swish of the wings. It was in his own heart that
