“See, this is what I’m used to,” he seemed to be saying to his family. “This is how I have always lived ... No food worries, only to step up to a full trough.” Lisa Maja quietly slipped out, shutting the door after her, and hurried back to Fru Raklitz. “Mother dear, do come see!” she said. “The gander who flew away in the spring has come back with a wild goose and nine little goslings.” All her life she regretted having shut in the goosey-gander and told of his return. Fru Raklitz, without saying a word, hunted up the little knife which was used for killing geese, and before sundown the fine white goosey-gander, the nice gray mother goose, and all the pretty goslings were dead and plucked. “It was a poor reward you gave our goosey-gander, Mother, for coming back to us with so many nice geese,” was all she dared say. “’Twas enough at least to make all the geese on this place understand what happens to those who defy me and try to run away,” Fru Raklitz retorted, a malicious smile playing round her hard mouth. V THE LEMMINGS FRU RAKLITZ had been hard enough on Lisa Maja while the father was alive; but when he died, in the year 1801, and she was in full control, she became even more harsh and exacting. The stepdaughter was now wholly at her mercy, without support or protection from any quarter. The girl was but seventeen--too young and inexperienced to hold her own with a canny old woman. She had a brother, to be sure, but he was at Upsala University studying, so that she could not look to him for any help. The stepmother and she were soon at daggers’ points. Fru Raklitz wanted her to marry the clergyman who had succeeded her father, but Lisa Maja would not agree to that. She opposed all the arguments of the stepmother and the parish folk, who thought the old order such an excellent thing. The clergyman’s daughter had her own ideas about marriage. She would not marry a man merely because he happened to be the priest at Ämtervik; he must also be the sort she could love. The new pastor was anxious to put the matter through. He had got into the good graces of the stepmother, who tried to help him by any and every means. As the girl continued to say No, Fru Raklitz one day drove down to Öjervik to see Judge Sandelin, who was Lisa Maja’s guardian, and have a talk with him. It was clear that she would have the support of both the Judge and his wife. They knew Fru Raklitz well; she had been housekeeper at Öjervik for many years and they had always known her to be a wise and prudent woman. Without doubt she was right, they said; the Mårbacka clergyman’s daughter should marry the curate. Anything else was out of the question. Fru Raklitz was invited to stay for supper, and after the meal she and the Judge’s wife sat talking till late in the evening. It was eleven o’clock before she finally set off for home. But the sky was clear and there was a moon, so that it looked as if she would have no difficulty.