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the coming-home 359
Could it be that the love he bore her was exactly
like the love she felt for him ? Was it connected
with all that was noblest within him ? Had it been
the elevating power in his life ? Had it given wings
to his artistic skill? Had it made him love the
poor and oppressed ? Does it now gain dominion
over him once more, let him feel that he is an
artist, an apostle, that nothing is too high for
him ?
But as he continues silent, she thinks that maybe
he does not wish to bind himself to her. He loves
her, but perhaps he wishes to remain a free man.
He sees, perhaps, that she would not make a suitable
wife for a socialist.
Her blood begins to seethe. She thinks that
perhaps he imagines that she sits there begging for his
love.
She has told him almost all that has happened
while he has been away. Now she suddenly breaks
short her narrative.
" I have loved you," she says, " I will always love
you, and I think I should like you to say to me
once again that you loved me. It would make the
parting easier to bear."
" Would it ? " he says.
"Can I be your wife?" she says, and her voice
trembles with indignation. "Your doctrines I no
longer stand in fear of. I am not afraid of your poor.
I would like to turn the world upside down like
you. But I am a believer. How can I live with
you if you will not follow me in that? Or perhaps
you would lure me into unbelief ? The world would
then be dead to me. Everything would lose mean-
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