o
could have been with her in any case? The place is far away in the
wilds, the only living soul within reach is a man--how could she
send for a man at such a moment? Any woman will tell you it is
impossible--not to be thought of. And then--it is alleged that she
must have killed the child after. But the child was born in the
water--the mother falls down in an icy stream, and the child is born.
What was she doing by the water? She is a servant-girl, a slave, that
is to say, and has her daily work to do; she is going to fetch juniper
twigs for cleaning. And crossing the stream, she slips and falls in.
And there she lies; the child is born, and is drowned in the water."

Fru Heyerdahl stopped. She could see from the look of the court and
the spectators that she had spoken wonderfully well; there was a great
silence in the place, only Barbro sat dabbing her eyes now and again
for sheer emotion. And Fru Heyerdahl closed with these words: "We
women have some heart, some feeling. I have left my own children in
the care of strangers to travel all this way and appear as a witness
on behalf of the unfortunate girl sitting there. Men's laws cannot
prevent women from thinking; and I think this, that the girl there has
been punished sufficiently for no crime. Acquit her, let her go free,
and I will take charge of her myself. She will make the best nurse I
have ever had."

And Fru Heyerdahl stepped down.

Says the justice then: "But I think you said a moment ago that the
best nurses were those who _had_ killed their children?"

Oh, but the justice was not of a mind to go against Fru Heyerdahl, not
in the least--he was as humane as could be himself, a man as gentle as
a priest. When the advocate for the Crown put a few questions to the
witness afterwards, the justice sat for the most part making notes on
some papers.

The proceedings lasted only till a little over noon; there were few
witnesses, and the case was clear enough. Axel Stroem sat hoping for
the best, then suddenly it seemed as if the advocate for the Crown
and Fru Heyerdahl were joining forces to make things awkward for him,
because he had buried the body instead of notifying the death. He was
cross-examined somewhat sharply on this point, and would likely enough
have come out badly if he had not all at once caught sight of Geissler
sitting in the court. Ay, 'twas right enough, Geissler was there. This
gave Axel courage, he no longer felt himself alone against the L