At this he looked into my eyes which were full of tears, and he drew me hastily to him and kissed me on my brow for the first time in all his life, with strange passion; and without another word he ran out of the house-door into the street.

My cousin gazed after him, shaking her head sadly and wiping her eyes; but when I asked her what was wrong with my cousin she would give me no tidings of the matter.
The next day we should have gone out to the forest, but we remained at home; Aunt Jacoba would see no one.

Her son had turned his back on his parents' dwelling, and had gone out as a stranger among strangers.

And this was the first sore grief sent by Heaven on my young heart..