Elizabeth went softly out and opened the door.
They stood face to face.

Elizabeth's eyes were full of tears, but Fru Beck's feelings were not at that moment so easily expressed.

She silently pressed Elizabeth's hand, and her manner, and the expression of her pale face, showed that she was not the less moved of the two at their meeting again.
Elizabeth showed her into Mother Kirstine's comfortable little kitchen, where a saucepan of broth for her sick aunt was simmering over the fire.
She invited her visitor to take a seat.

It was so quiet that they could hear the watch ticking in the next room where her aunt was sleeping.
Neither spoke for a moment or two.

Then Fru Beck asked in a low voice-- "How is your aunt, Elizabeth ?" It was a natural question to ask under the circumstances, but it was felt by both to be only a preliminary breaking of the ice; she had, besides, sent a messenger that morning already to make inquiries.
"Thank you, Fru Beck, she is improving," Elizabeth replied.