The Girl From the Marsh Croft By Selma Lagerlöf Author of "The Story of Gösta Berling," "The Miracles of Antichrist," "Invisible Links," etc. _Translated from the Swedish_ By Velma Swanston Howard GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1916 _Copyright, 1910, by_ DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages._ PREFATORY NOTE Readers of Miss Lagerlöf will observe that in this, her latest book, "The Girl from the Marsh Croft," the Swedish author has abandoned her former world of Romanticism and has entered the field of Naturalism and Realism. This writer's romantic style is most marked, perhaps, in her first successful work, "Gösta Berling." How "The Story of Gösta Berling" grew, and the years required to perfect it, is told in the author's unique literary autobiography, "The Story of a Story," which is embodied in the present volume. In "The Girl from the Marsh Croft" Miss Lagerlöf has courageously chosen a girl who had gone astray as the heroine of her love story, making her innate honesty and goodness the redemptive qualities which win for her the love of an honest man and the respect and esteem of all. To the kindness of the publishers of _Good Housekeeping_, I am indebted for permission to include "The Legend of the Christmas Rose" in this volume. This book is translated and published with the sanction of the author, Selma Lagerlöf. CONTENTS I. THE GIRL FROM THE MARSH CROFT 3 II. THE SILVER MINE 99 III. THE AIRSHIP 125 IV. THE WEDDING MARCH 163 V. THE MUSICIAN 173 VI. THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS ROSE 189 VII. A STORY FROM JERUSALEM 219 VIII. WHY THE POPE LIVED TO BE SO OLD 235 IX. THE STORY OF A STORY 257 The Girl from the Marsh Croft I It took place in the court room of a rural district. At the head of the Judges' table sits an old Judge--a tall and massively built man, with a broad, rough-hewn visage. For several hours he has been engaged in deciding one case after another, and finally something like disgust and melancholy has taken hold of him. It is difficult to know if it is the heat and closeness of the court room that are torturing him or if he has become low-spirited from handling all these petty wrangles, which seem to spring from no other cause than to bear witness to people's quarrel-mania, uncharitableness, and greed. He has just begun on one of the last cases to be tried during the day. It concerns a plea for help in the rearing of a child. This case had already been tried at the last Court Session, and the protocols of the former suit are being read; therefore one learns that the plaintiff is a poor farmer's daughter and the defendant is a married man.