But that evening the Captain had demanded to speak with her in her room
before she went to bed. Fruen agreed, and there was a further scene. Each
was willing and anxious, no doubt, to set matters right, but it was
hopeless now; it was too late. We sat in the kitchen, Nils and I,
listening to Ragnhild's story. I had never seen Nils look so miserable
before.
"If things go wrong again now, it's all over," he said. "I thought to
myself last summer that perhaps a good, sound thrashing would do her good.
But that was just foolishness, I can see now. Did she talk about running
away again?"
"She said something about it," answered Ragnhild. And then she went on
something like this: "It began with the Captain asking if she didn't think
it was this local sickness she had got. Fruen answered it could hardly be
any local sickness that had turned her against him so. 'Turned you against
me?' 'Yes. Oh, I could scream sometimes. At table, for instance, the way
you eat and eat....' 'Do I?' says the Captain.
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