The Girl from the Marsh Croft

'The Girl from the Marsh Croft' is a 1908 novella by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf. Helga, the girl from the Marsh Croft, appears in court against Peter Martenson, the father of her child, but withdraws her charge when he is about to perjure himself. This wins the admiration of Gudmund Erlandson, who persuades his parents to take the disgraced young woman into their home as a servant. Gudmund becomes engaged to Hildur, the daughter of a wealthy neighbor, but then is involved in a drunken orgy where a man is murdered.