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ended." Then pacing the floor and wringing her hands the while, she had moaned: "There's no help for it now."
"But, my dear Lovisa, it was only on account of his illness," Fru Lagerlöf had answered.
Mamselle Lovisa had continued to pace up and down, up and down, in anguish and despair.
"If only I hadn't put whortleberry in Kaisa Nilsdotter's bridal-crown!" she had wailed.
"Come, come, Lovisa, you mustn't think that." Just then Fru Lagerlöf had caught sight of the child standing there, wide-eyed.
"Go into the other room, Selma," she had said. "Aunt Lovisa has a sorrow, and you children must not come here and disturb her."
