Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun (summer books .txt) 📖

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 harelip.’ ‘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.’

“Well, then, I started on what I wanted to say all along. ‘There was a serious oversight made in bringing her here to begin with,’ said I. ‘An oversight?’ ‘Yes. In the first place, she ought never to have been sent across the country at all in the state she was in.’ He looks at me stiffly. ‘No, that’s perfectly true,’ says he. ‘But it’s nothing to do with us here, you know.’ ‘And in the second place,’ said I, ‘she ought certainly not to have been in the prison for full two months without any notice taken of her condition by the authorities here.’ That put him out, I could see; he said nothing for quite a while. ‘Are you instructed to act on her behalf?’ says he at last. ‘Yes, I am,’ said I. Well, then, he started on about how pleased they had been with her, and telling me over again all they’d taught her and done for her there⁠—taught her to write too, he said. And the little girl had been put out to nurse with decent people, and so on. Then I told him how things were at home, with Inger away. Two youngsters left behind, and only a hired woman to look after them, and all the rest. ‘I’ve a statement from her husband,’ said I, ‘that I can submit whether the case be taken up for thorough revision, or an application be made for a pardon.’ ‘I’d like to see that statement,’ says the Governor. ‘Right,’ said I. ‘I’ll bring it along tomorrow in visiting hours.’ ”

Isak sat listening⁠—it was thrilling to hear, a wonderful tale from foreign parts. He followed Geissler’s mouth with slavish eyes.

Geissler went on: “I went straight back to the hotel and wrote out a statement; did the whole thing myself, you understand, and signed it ‘Isak Sellanraa.’ Don’t imagine, though, I said a word against the way they’d managed things in the prison. Not a word. Next day I went along with the paper. ‘Won’t you sit down?’ says the Governor, the moment I got inside the door. He read through what I’d written, nodded here and there, and at last he says: ‘Very good, very good indeed. It’d hardly do, perhaps, to have the case brought up again for revision, but.⁠ ⁠…’ ‘Wait a bit,’ said I. ‘I’ve another document that I think will make it right.’ Had him there again, you see. ‘Well,’ he says, all of a hurry, ‘I’ve been thinking over the matter since yesterday, and I consider there’s good and sufficient grounds to apply for a pardon.’ ‘And the application would have the Governor’s support?’ I asked. ‘Certainly; yes, I’ll give it my best recommendation.’ Then I bowed and said: ‘In that case, there will be no difficulty about the pardon, of course. I thank you, sir, on behalf of a suffering woman and a stricken home.’ Then says he: ‘I don’t think there should be any need of further declarations⁠—from the district, I mean⁠—about her case. You know the woman yourself⁠—that should be quite enough.’ I knew well enough, of course, why he wanted the thing settled quietly as possible, so I just agreed: said it would only delay the proceedings to collect further material.⁠ ⁠…

“And there you are, Isak, that’s the whole story.” Geissler looked at his watch. “And now let’s get to business. Can you go with me up to the ground again?”

Isak was a stony creature, a stump of a man; he did not find it easy to change the subject all at once; he was all preoccupied with thoughts and wondering, and began asking questions of this and that. He learned that the application had been sent up to the King, and might be decided in one of the first State Councils. “ ’Tis all a miracle,” said he.

Then they went up into the hills; Geissler, his man, and Isak, and were out for some hours. In a very short time Geissler had followed the lie of the copper vein over a wide stretch of land and marked out the limits of the tract he wanted. Here, there, and everywhere he was. But no fool, for all his hasty movements; quick to judge, but sound enough for all that.

When they came back to the farm once more with a sack full of samples of ore⁠—he got out writing materials and sat down to write. He did not bury himself completely in his writing, though, but talked now and again. “Well, Isak, it won’t be such a big sum this time, for the land, but I can give you a couple of hundred Daler anyway, on the spot.” Then he wrote again. “Remind