she becomes the boy's governess and goes to barring hall as ingrid paulson. the house is in the mountains, across the river from the metal works that produces the barring fortune. anna becomes fond of the kindly consul and the sweet-natured little lars-erik. torsten arrives on the eve of the consul's birthday. he dances with anna; she is mesmerized. the house guests include gustaf, who tells anna that he believes in her reform and will keep her secret. the next day, anna accidentally leaves lars-erik under a sun lamp too long, her genuine distress makes torsten doubt her, and he gives her an ultimatum: lars-erik must die before the next night, because... in the courtroom she says, “because...it was what he wanted.”