epositions in the
present case without feeling the deepest sympathy for this young girl
in her forsaken situation. And yet there was no need to appeal to
mercy on her behalf, only to justice and human understanding. She and
her master were in a way betrothed, but a certain dissimilarity of
temperament and interests prevented them from marrying. The girl could
not entrust her future to such a man. It was not a pleasant subject,
but it might be well to return for a moment to the question of the
wrapping that had been spoken of before; it should here be noted that
the girl had taken, not one of her own undergarments, but one of her
master's shirts. The question at once arose: had the man himself
offered the material for the purpose? Here, one was at first inclined
to see a possibility, at any rate, that the man, Axel, had had some
part in the affair.

"H'm," from some one in court. Loud and hard--so much so, indeed,
that the speaker paused, and all looked round to see who might be
responsible for the interruption. The presiding justice frowned.

But, went on the advocate for the defence, collecting himself again,
in this respect, also, we can set our minds at rest, thanks to the
accused herself. It might seem well to her advantage to divide the
blame here, but she had not attempted to do so. She had entirely and
without reserve absolved Axel Stroem from any complicity whatever in
the fact of her having taken his shirt instead of something of her own
on her way to the water--that is, on her way to the woods to gather
juniper. There was not the slightest reason for doubting the
asseveration of the accused on this point; her depositions had
throughout been found in accordance with the facts, and the same was
evidently the case in this. Had the shirt been given her by the man,
this would have been to presuppose a killing of the child already
planned--the accused, truthful as she was, had not attempted to
charge even this man with a crime that had never been committed. Her
demeanour throughout had been commendably frank and open; she had
made no endeavour to throw the blame on others. There were frequent
instances before the court of this delicacy of feeling on the part of
the accused, as, for instance, the fact that she had wrapped up the
body of the child as well as she could, and put it away decently, as
the Lensmand had found it.

Here the presiding justice interposed, merely as a matter of form,
observing that it was g