He drank his coffee on the verandah, and began to look out for the
steamer which was due at six o'clock.
Restlessly, apprehensively, he paced the verandah, anxiously watching
fiord and Sound on the side where Stockholm lay, so as to sight the
steamer as soon as she came into view.
At last a little cloud of smoke showed like a dark patch on the horizon.
His heart thumped against his ribs and he drank a liqueur. Then he went
down to the shore.
Now he could see the funnel right in the centre of the Sound, and soon
after he noticed the flag on the fore-topmast.... Was she really on the
steamer, or had she been prevented from keeping the tryst? It was
only necessary for one of the children to be ill, and she wouldn't be
there, and he would have to spend a solitary night at the hotel. The
children, who during the last few weeks had receded into the background,
now stepped between her and him. They had hardly mentioned them in their
last letters, just as if they had been anxious to be rid of all
eyewitnesses and spoil-sports.
He stamped on the creaking landing-stage and then remained standing
motionless near a bollard staring straight at the steamer which
increased in size as she approached, followed in her wake by a river
of molten gold that spread over the blue, faintly rippled expanse.
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