I thought that I would motivate a question that has been on my mind for a while now (please enlighten me, because I can’t seem to find the answers): What significance does Alexandra’s recurring dream –– “an illusion of being lifted up bodily and carried lightly by some one very strong” (80), by a god-like figure of the pastures, who smells sweetly of ripe cornfields –– have? Is it possible that these fantasies are a manifestation of Alexandra’s inner desire to be mobile, to be light and detached enough to be taken away from the land which is she so rooted to? A few months after Emil’s death, she is carried, once again, in the arm of the “mightiest of all lovers,” (112), and even sees him upon returning to her room, a mysterious figure marked by a long, white cloak, shoulders “as strong as the foundations of the world,” and a dark and gleaming arm. This time, Alexandra seems surprisingly resolved –– she comes to know, at last, “from whom it was she had waited, and where he would carry her.” A few days later, she travels to Lincoln to see Frank, the murderer of her brother, with an unusual sense of purpose and clarity. Do you think there’s a connection there?