Geissler spoke to the advocate for the Crown, but it seemed there was little need of intervention there; he wanted to help Axel back to his farm and his land, but Axel was in no need of help, from the looks of things.  For the case was going well as far as Barbro herself was concerned, and if she were acquitted, then there could be no question of any complicity at all.  It would depend on the testimony of the witnesses.

When the few witnesses had been heard—­Oline had not been summoned, but only the Lensmand, Axel himself, the experts, a couple of girls from the village—­when they had been heard, it was time to adjourn for the midday break, and Geissler went up to the advocate for the Crown once more.  The advocate was of opinion that all was going well for the girl Barbro, and so much the better.  Fru Lensmand Heyerdahl’s words had carried great weight.  All depended now upon the finding of the court.

“Are you at all interested in the girl?” asked the advocate.

“Why, to a certain extent,” answered Geissler—­“or rather, perhaps, in the man.”

“Has she been in your service too?”

“No, he’s never been in my service.”

“I was speaking of the girl.  It’s she that has the sympathy of the court.”

“No, she’s never been in my service at all.”

“The man—­h’m, he doesn’t seem to come out of it so well,” said the advocate.  “Goes off and buries the body all by himself in the wood—­looks bad, very bad.”

“He wanted to have it buried properly, I suppose,” said Geissler.  “It hadn’t been really buried at all at first.”

“Well, of course a woman hadn’t the strength of a man to go digging.  And in her state—­she must have been done up already.  Altogether,” said the advocate, “I think we’ve come to take a more humane view of these infanticide cases generally, of late.  If I were to judge, I should never venture to condemn the girl at all; and from what has appeared in this case, I shall not venture to demand a conviction.”

“Very pleased to hear it,” said Geissler, with a bow.

The advocate went on:  “As a man, as a private person, I will even go further, and say:  I would never condemn a single unmarried mother for killing her child.”

“Most interesting,” said Geissler, “to find the advocate for the Crown so entirely in agreement with what Fru Heyerdahl said before the court.”

“Oh, Fru Heyerdahl!...  Still, to my mind, there was a great deal in what she said.  After all, what is the good of all these convictions?  Unmarried mothers have suffered enough beforehand, and been brought so low in every human regard by the brutal and callous attitude of the world—­the punishment ought to suffice.”

Geissler rose, and said at last:  “No doubt.  But what about the children?”

“True,” said the advocate, “it’s a sad business about the children.  Still, all things considered, perhaps it’s just as well.  Illegitimate children have a hard time, and turn out badly as often as not.”