When the Bishop of Zealand, one of the actress's
most faithful adherents, had publicly spoken thus mildly of the youthful
heretic, there was some hope that the lady herself would be free from
prejudice. My friends also eagerly encouraged me to venture upon a visit
to her home.
I was admitted and asked to wait in a room through the glass doors of
which I was attentively observed for some time by the lady's adopted
children. Then she came in, in indoor dress, with a stocking in her
hand, at which she uninterruptedly continued to knit during the
following conversation: She said: "Well! So you have collected your
articles." I was simple enough to reply--as if that made any difference
to the lady--that the greater part of the book had not been printed
before. She turned the conversation upon Bjoernson's _Fisher Girl_,
which had just been published, and which had been reviewed by _The
Fatherland_ the evening before, declaring that she disagreed
altogether with the reviewer, who had admired in the _Fisher Girl_
a psychological study of a scenic genius. "It is altogether a mistake,"
said Mrs. Heiberg, absorbed in counting her stitches, "altogether a
mistake that genius is marked by restlessness, refractoriness, an
irregular life, or the like. That is all antiquated superstition.
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