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STRINDBERG THE MAN

as a sort of literary-aesthetic critic or counsellor, translator and dramatist. Strindberg and Geijerstam were still the best of friends and Geijerstam did everything in his power during Strindberg's stay in Gothenburg to make the latter enjoy all possible privileges during his Bohuslän journey. He provided a large suitable sailing-yacht for Strindberg's use. The intellectual element of the city of Gothenburg gave a reception in his honor.

And one day Geijerstam made arrangements for me to meet Strindberg. My card of introduction was that I was an enthusiastic disciple of his and that I had been all over the coast which he now proposed to explore, so that I might perhaps be permitted to put my services at his disposal.

About seven o'clock I called at the hotel. The hours between seven and ten in the evening, eleven at the latest, were always Strindberg's conversation hours. Then he enjoyed sitting down to a cup with some good friend or casual acquaintance.

When Strindberg came down stairs to meet me that evening, I saw him personally for the first time. I saw his mighty head with the disarranged gigantic mane illumined by the gas-light just behind him in the stairs. But within this halo of a saint, I saw a face the traits of which were harder and colder than those of the youthful poet with the thorn pressed against the forehead. He had endured many sufferings since that time and they had left an intensified paleness on his face. They had