Geissler turned it off shortly. "I've done nothing at all. Didn't trouble to do, anything—'twasn't worth while." But for all that, Geissler was not displeased, maybe, at being thanked; it was as if he had been waiting for it, and now it had come. "I've no time to stand talking now," he said. "Going back tomorrow, are you? Good. Good-bye, then, and good luck to you." And Geissler strolled off across the street.
* * * * *
On the boat going home, Axel encountered the Lensmand and his wife,
Barbro and the two girls called as witnesses.
"Well," said Fru Heyerdahl, "aren't you glad it turned out so well?"
Axel said, "Yes"; he was glad it had come out all right in the end.
The Lensmand himself put in a word, and said: "This is the second of these cases I've had while I've been here—first with Inger from Sellanraa, and now this. No, it's no good trying to countenance that sort of thing—justice must take its course."
But Fru Heyerdahl guessed, no doubt, that Axel was not over pleased with her speech of the day before, and tried to smooth it over, to make up for it somehow now. "You understood, of course, why I had to say all that about you yesterday?"
"H'm—ye—es," said Axel.
"You understood, of course, I know. You didn't think I wanted to make things harder for you in any way. I've always thought well of you, and I don't mind saying so."
"Ay," said Axel, no more. But he was pleased and touched at her words.