Mysteries - Knut Hamsun [53]
Finally Miss Andresen got up to leave, whereupon everybody else did the same. When Nagel said good night, he thanked his hosts so warmly, so sincerely, that the doctor, who had been slightly cross with him the last quarter of an hour, was quite disarmed. “Come back soon! Say, have you got a cigar? Do light a cigar, will you.” And the doctor forced him to come in for a fresh cigar.
Meanwhile Dagny had put on her wraps and was waiting on the steps.
VIII
White nights
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT.
The two or three people who were still to be seen in the streets looked radiantly happy; in the cemetery a man was still trundling a wheelbarrow, singing softly. Otherwise, everything was so quiet that nothing could be heard except this song. From the elevation by the doctor’s house, the town looked like a weird, splayed giant insect, a fabulous creature that had thrown itself flat on its belly, extending arms and horns and feelers in all directions; only here and there did it move a joint or withdraw a claw—such as down by the seaside, where a tiny steam yawl glided soundlessly along the bay, leaving a furrow in the black water.
The smoke from Nagel’s cigar rose in blue swirls. Already taking in the fragrance of the grass and the woods, he was seized with a keen sense of contentment, a special, intense joy that made his eyes water and nearly took his breath away. He was walking beside Dagny, who hadn’t yet spoken. After passing the cemetery, he had uttered a few words of praise for the Stenersens, but she hadn’t answered. By now the stillness and beauty of the night had intoxicated him so profoundly, imbued him with such ardor, that his breath quickened and his eyes grew dim. Oh, how lovely these white nights were! “Just look at those hills over there, how clear they are!” he said in a loud voice. “I’m so happy, Miss Kielland, I must ask you kindly to bear with me; tonight, you know, I could do something foolish from sheer happiness.1 Do you see these pine trees, and the stones and tussocks and clusters of juniper? In this nocturnal light, they look like people sitting there. And the night is clear and cool; it doesn’t oppress us with mysterious forebodings, and no secret dangers are brewing anywhere. Or are they? Now, don’t be annoyed with me, you mustn’t! I feel as though angels were passing through my soul, singing a song. Do I frighten you?”
She had stopped, that’s why he asked whether he frightened her. She looked at him with her blue eyes and smiled, then became serious again and said, “I’ve been wondering what sort of person you are.”
She said this while continuing to stand still and looking at him. During the entire walk she spoke in a clear, tremulous voice, as if she were scared and glad at the same time.
Then the following conversation started up between them, a conversation that, no matter how slowly they walked, went on until they were at the other end of the forest, jumping from one thing to another, from mood to mood, with all the emotional restlessness they were both feeling.
“You’ve been thinking about me? Really? But I’ve probably thought much, much more about you. I already knew about you when I arrived, I overheard your name aboard the steamer; I happened to hear it by chance as I was listening to a conversation. And I went ashore here on June 12. June 12—”
“On June 12 of all days, you don’t say!”
“Yes. Flags were flying all over town, and I thought it was such a delightful little town, that’s why I stepped ashore here. And soon I heard more about you.”
She smiled and asked, “Well, I suppose you heard it from Miniman?”
“No. I heard that you were loved by everybody, by the whole town, and that you were admired by all.” ... Suddenly Nagel came to think of Karlsen, the theologian, who had taken his own life for her sake.2
“Tell me,” she said, “did you mean what you said about the naval officers?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, then we agree.”
“Why shouldn’t I mean