Geissler sat down, slapped his knee with a powerful hand, and there he was—­master of Isak’s fate.

“You haven’t sold that copper tract yet?” he asked.

“No.”

“Good.  I’ll buy it myself.  Yes, I’ve seen Inger and some other people too.  She’ll be out before long, if I’m not greatly mistaken—­the case has been submitted to the King.”

“The King?”

“The King, yes.  I went in to have a talk with your wife—­they managed it for me, of course, no difficulty about that—­and we had a long talk.  ‘Well, Inger, how are you getting on?  Nicely, what?’ ’Why, I’ve no cause to complain.’’ Like to be home again?’ ‘Ay, I’ll not say no.’  ‘And so you shall before very long,’ said I. And I’ll tell you this much, Isak, she’s a good girl, is Inger.  No blubbering, not so much as a tear, but smiling and laughing ... they’ve fixed up that trouble with her mouth, by the way—­operation—­sewed it up again.  ’Good-bye, then,’ said I.  ‘You won’t be here very long, I’ll promise you that.’

“Then I went to the Governor—­he saw me, of course, no difficulty about that.  ‘You’ve a woman here,’ said I,’ that ought to be out of the place, and back in her home—­Inger Sellanraa.’  ‘Inger?’ said he; ’why, yes.  She’s a good sort—­I wish we could keep her for twenty years,’ said he.  ‘Well, you won’t,’ said I.  ’She’s been here too long already.’  ‘Too long?’ says he.  ‘Do you know what she’s in for?’ ’I know all about it,’ says I, ‘being Lensmand in the district.’  ‘Oh,’ says he, ‘won’t you sit down?’ Quite the proper thing to say, of course.  ‘Why,’ says the Governor then, ’we do what we can for her here, and her little girl too.  So she’s from your part of the country, is she?  We’ve helped her to get a sewing-machine of her own; she’s gone through the workshops right to the top, and we’ve taught her a deal—­weaving, household work, dyeing, cutting out.  Been here too long, you say?’ Well, I’d got my answer ready for that all right, but it could wait, so I only said her case had been badly muddled, and had to be taken up again; now, after the revision of the criminal code, she’d probably have been acquitted altogether.  And I told him about the hare.  ‘A hare?’ says the Governor.  ‘A hare,’ says I.  ’And the child was born with a hare-lip.’  ‘Oh,’ says he, smiling, ’I see.  And you think they ought to have made more allowance for that?’ ’They didn’t make any at all,’ said I, ‘for it wasn’t mentioned.’  ’Well, I dare say it’s not so bad, after all.’  ‘Bad enough for her, anyway.’  ‘Do you believe a hare can work miracles, then?’ says he.  ’As to that,’ said I, ’whether a hare can work miracles or not’s a matter I won’t discuss just now.  The question is, what effect the sight of a hare might have on a woman with her disfigurement, in her condition.’  Well, he thought over that for a bit.  ‘H’m,’ says he at last.  ’Maybe, maybe.  Anyhow, we’re not concerned with that here.  All we have to do is to take over the people they send us; not to revise their sentences.  And according to her sentence, Inger’s not yet finished her time.’