are half forgotten to my heart, though their names are on my
tongue; and this house, doth it like thee, fair guest?"

"Yea, much," she said; "it seems joyous to me: and I shall
tell thee that I have mostly dwelt in unmerry houses, though
they were of greater cost than this."

Said Christopher: "To me it hath been merry and happy
enough; but now it seems to me as if it had all been made
for thee and this meeting."

"Is it therefore no longer merry to thee because of that?"
she said, smiling, yet flushing much red therewith. Now it
was his turn not to answer her, and she cast down her eyes
before him, and there was silence between them.

Then she looked at him steadily, and said: "It is indeed
grievous that thou shouldest forget thine old friends for
me, and that it should have come into thy mind that this
fair and merry house was not made for thy fair fellows and
thy delight with them, but for me, the chance-comer. For,
hearken, whereas thou saidst e'en now, that I was become a
part of thy life, how can that be? For if I become the poor
captive again, how canst thou get to me, thou who art
thyself a castaway, as thou hast told me? Yea, but even so,
I shall be too low for thee to come down to me. And if I
become what I should be, then I must tell thee that I shall
be too high for thee to climb up to me; so that in one way
or other we shall be sundered, who have but met for an hour
or two."