CHAPTER III 



THE START 



" So trav^el I north to the gloomy abode 

 That the sun never shines on — 

 There is no day." 



It was midsummer day. A dull, gloomy day ; and 

 with it came the inevitable leave-taking. The door closed 

 behind me. For the last time I left my home and went 

 alone down the garden to the beach, where the Franis 

 little petroleum launch pitilessly awaited me. Behind 

 me lay all I held dear in life. And what before me .f* 

 How many years would pass ere I should see it all again } 

 What would I not have given at that moment to be able 

 to turn back ; but up at the window little Liv was sitting 

 clapping her hands. Happy child, little do you know 

 what life is — how strangely mingled and how full of 

 change. Like an arrow the little boat sped over Lysaker 

 Bay, bearing me on the first stage of a journey on which 

 life itself, if not more, was staked. 



At last everything was in readiness. The hour had 

 arrived towards which the persevering labor of years 

 had been incessantly bent, and with it the feeling that, 

 everything being provided and completed, responsibility 



