“Go fetch the priest’s daughter,” said Fru Raklitz—“go fetch Lisa Maja! She is the only one here who has power over the evil ones.”
“Mamselle Lisa Maja has gone to bed,” said the girl.
“Go ask her to come down as quick as she can,” Long-Bengt put in. “Tell her Frua got a fright on the way.”
Fru Raklitz sat shaking and gibbering until her stepdaughter appeared.
“Ah, God bless you!” cried the woman, holding out her arms to the girl. “Come help me! Don’t be angry with me! I’ll never be mean to you again.”
“What’s the matter, Mother dear?” said the girl as she stood by the carriage.
“Come, give me your hand,” begged the stepmother. “Dear heart, hold them back while I get down. Don’t let them take me! They can’t harm you who have power over them.”
When she was out of the chaise she fell on the stepdaughter’s neck, and sobbed: “Don’t ever leave me! Don’t be angry with me! You shall marry whomever you will, and I’ll not say a word.”
“She saw something coming home,” Long-Bengt explained. “She saw all the little imps of hell let loose, and she thinks they’re after her and will drag her into the Fryken.”
The priest’s daughter put her arm round the stepmother, and said: “Come in, Mother dear! You are at Mårbacka now. Here none of the evil ones can touch you, darling Mother.”