“Indeed?” The priest looked kindly at the old man in the bed.
The dying man suddenly surprised him by sending a squirt of tobacco-juice out of his mouth on to the floor. “It was about the inquiry,” he then said, looking anxiously at the priest.
“Oh! Between Wangen and Norby?”
“He wanted to go and give evidence,” said the wife; “but he hadn’t the courage to give evidence against Norby.”
The priest looked expectantly at Lars, who kept his eyes all the time anxiously on him, still chewing his quid.
“Do you think there’s pardon for me?” he asked at length.
“Yes. Why not?” The priest smiled.
“When I didn’t go and give evidence to the truth, even though God told me to?”
“Are you sure you knew the truth then, Lars?”