The child’s mother had the farmer and his wife called and told them everything. The husband journeyed to Borg to tell Count Dohna that his countess was alive, and that there was a child.
The peasant came home late in the evening; he had not met the count, for he had gone away, but he had been to the minister at Svartsjö, and talked with him of the matter.
Then the countess heard that her marriage had been declared invalid, and that she no longer had a husband.
The minister wrote a friendly letter to her, and offered her a home in his house.
A letter from her own father to Count Henrik, which must have reached Borg a few days after her flight, was also sent to her. It was just that letter in which the old man had begged the count to hasten to make his marriage legal, which had indicated to the count the easiest way to be rid of his wife.
It is easy to imagine that the child’s mother was seized with anger more than sorrow, when she heard the peasant’s story.
She lay awake the whole night. The child must have a father, she thought over and over again.
The next morning the peasant had to drive to Ekeby for her, and go for Gösta Berling.
Gösta asked the silent man many questions, but could find out nothing. Yes, the countess had been in his house the whole summer. She had been well and had worked. Now a child was born. The child was weak; but the mother would soon be strong again.
Gösta asked if the countess knew that the marriage had been annulled.