In their usual manner they had withdrawn to a corner where they stood, holding each other’s hand, their eyes meeting every time the door to the professor’s room opened and a hollow, pale figure slipped in or out. But as the assistant finally called out their number and they them-selves were about to enter, Ane, fearful, suddenly grabbed Simon’s arm, as though wanting to hold him back.

After several years of hard labour, Simon and Ane are finally able to pay the last in-stallment on their bank loan. It is supposed to be the time for the couple to relax a little more and perhaps have children. But Ane has a strange feeling: an illness is growing inside of her.