" When we remember
that, in France alone, Augier and Dumas _fils_ and Hugo, Halevy and
Meilhac and Labiche, were all of them alive, the compliment, though a
sound, was a vivid one. Sooner or later, everything that was said about
Ibsen, though it were whispered in Choctaw behind the altar of a Burmese
temple, came round to Ibsen's ears, and this handsome tribute from the
rival produced its effect. And when, shortly afterwards, still in
America, Bjoernson was nearly killed in a railway accident, Ibsen broke
the long silence by writing to him a most cordial letter of
congratulation.
The next incident was the publication of _Ghosts_, when Bjoernson, now
thoroughly roused, stood out almost alone, throwing the vast prestige of
his judgment into the empty scale against the otherwise unanimous black-
balling. Then the reconcilement was full and fraternal, and Ibsen wrote
from Rome (January 24, 1882), with an emotion rare indeed for him: "The
only man in Norway who has frankly, boldly and generously taken my part
is Bjoernson. It is just like him; he has, in truth, a great, a kingly
soul; and I shall never forget what he has done now.
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