He wondered if it were not better to
sacrifice one life in order that two might be spared--this flashed upon
him the minute he saw the old woman. He had also time to think how it
would be with him afterward--if perchance he might not regret that he
had not succoured her; or if people should some day learn of the meeting
and that he had not tried to help her. It was a terrible temptation.
"'I would rather not have seen her,' he said to himself.
"Just then the wolves howled savagely. The horse reared, plunged
forward, and dashed past the old beggar woman. She, too, had heard the
howling of the wolves, and, as the man from Hede drove by, he saw that
the old woman knew what awaited her. She stood motionless, her mouth
open for a cry, her arms stretched out for help. But she neither cried
nor tried to throw herself into the sledge. Something seemed to have
turned her to stone. 'It was I,' thought the man. 'I must have looked
like a demon as I passed.'
"He tried to feel satisfied, now that he was certain of escape; but at
that very moment his heart reproached him. Never before had he done a
dastardly thing, and he felt now that his whole life was blasted.
"'Let come what may,' he said, and reined in the horse, 'I cannot leave
her alone with the wolves!'
"It was with great difficulty that he got the horse to turn, but in the
end he managed it and promptly drove back to her.
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