Thus she stood for a few minutes; then, slowly turning at right angles
to her former position, she faced another of the four sides of the
cottage. I now observed, for the first time, that here was a door
likewise; and that, indeed, there was one in the centre of every side
of the cottage.
...
I felt wonderfully refreshed; and a great desire to see more of the
island awoke within me. I rose, and saying that I wished to look about
me, went towards the door by which I had entered.
"Stay a moment," said my hostess, with some trepidation in her voice.
"Listen to me. You will not see what you expect when you go out of
[237] that door. Only remember this: whenever you wish to come back to
me, enter wherever you see this mark."
She held up her left hand between me and the fire. Upon the palm,
which appeared almost transparent, I saw, in dark red, a mark like
this
...
I opened the door, and stepped out. The moment my foot touched the
smooth sward, I seemed to issue from the door of an old barn on my
father's estate, where, in the hot afternoons, I used to go and lie
amongst the straw, and read. It seemed to me now that I had been
asleep there. At a little distance in the field, I saw two of my
brothers at play.
...
My favourite brother and I shared the same bed. Some childish dispute
arose between us; and our last words, ere we fell asleep, were not of
kindness, notwithstanding the pleasures of the day. When I woke in the
morning, I missed him. He had risen early, and had gone to bathe in
the river. In another hour, he was brought home drowned. Alas! alas!
if we had only gone to sleep as usual, the one with his arm about the
other! Amidst the horror of the moment, a strange conviction flashed
across my mind, that I had gone through the very same once before.
I rushed out of the house, I knew not why, sobbing and crying
bitterly. I ran through the fields in aimless distress, till, passing
the old barn, I caught sight of a red mark on the door. The merest
trifles sometimes rivet the attention in the deepest misery; the
intellect has so little to do with grief. I went up to look at this
mark, [238/239] which I did not remember ever to have seen before. As
I looked at it, I thought I would go in and lie down amongst the
straw, for I was very weary with running about and weeping. I opened
the door; and there in the cottage sat the old woman as I had left
her, at her spinning-wheel.
