Edla Willmansson

Edla, the ironmaster's daughter, is the story's true agent of redemption. Gentle, perceptive and mature beyond her years, she notices at once the stranger's fear and unhappiness, and she treats him with quiet, non-judgemental kindness. When her father wants to throw the man out, she insists that a guest invited for Christmas must be received warmly, whatever his real identity, and she offers him the dignity and welcome he has never known. It is precisely because she believes in his worth — treating him as an honourable man rather than a suspected thief — that his hidden goodness is awakened. Her compassion, expecting the best of him, calls forth the best in him, and it is to Edla that the reformed peddler leaves the returned money and his grateful note. She embodies the story's faith that gentle, generous understanding can transform a human soul. …