"
"No, that's so," said Oline. "But I know what I know, and if you like,
I'll lay a charge against him."
"Ho!" said Inger. "No, you've no call to do that. Tis not worth it."
But she was not ill pleased to have Oline on her side; it cost her a
cheese, to be sure, but Oline thanked her so fulsomely: "'Tis as I
say, 'tis as I've always said: Inger, she gives with both hands;
nothing grudging, nothing sparing about her! No, maybe you're not
afraid of Os-Anders, but I've forbid him to come here all the same.
'Twas the least I could do for you."
Said Inger then: "What harm could it do if he did come, anyway? He
can't hurt me any more."
Oline pricked up her ears: "Ho, you've learned a way yourself, maybe?"
"I shan't have any more children," said Inger.
And now they were quits, each holding as good a trump as the other:
for Oline stood there knowing all the time that Os-Anders the Lapp had
died the day before....
* * * * *
Why should Inger say that about having no more children? She was not
on bad terms with her husband, 'twas no cat-and-dog life between
them--far from it.
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