Part 3 (1/2)

”Ay, Eric, I swear that and readily”

”And swear, come what may, that thou ed no man but me”

”I swear, if thou dost remain true to me, that I ed none but thee, Eric”

”Then I am sure of thee”

”Boast not overmuch, Eric: if thou dost live thy days are all before thee, and with times come trials”

Now the snohirled down faster and more thick, till these two, clasped heart to heart, were but a heap of white, and all white was the horse, and Swanhild was nearly buried

”Where go e die, Eric?” said Gudruda; ”in Odin's house there is no place for maids, and how shall my feet fare without thee?”

”Nay, sweet, ates to e I may not travel, for I do not die with byrnie on breast and sword aloft To Hela shall we go, and hand in hand”

”Art thou sure, Eric, that men find these abodes? To say sooth, at times I misob me of them”

”I am not so sure but that I also doubt Still, I know this: that where thou goest there I shall be, Gudruda”

”Then things are well, and ork the Norns[] Still, Eric, of a sudden I grow fey: for it coht, but that, nevertheless, I shall die with thy arms about me, and at thy side There, I see it on the snow! I lie by thee, sleeping, and one comes with hands outstretched and sleep falls from theone”

[] The Northern Fates

”It was nothing, Gudruda, but a vision of the snow--an untirow cold and ain”

”It was no dream, Eric, and ever I doubt me of Swanhild, for I think she loves thee also, and she is fair andher snow-cold lips on his lips ”Oh, Eric, awake! awake! See, the snow is done”

He stumbled to his feet and looked forth Lo! out across the sky flared the wild Northern fires, throwing light upon the darkness

”Now it seems that I know the land,” said Eric ”Look: yonder are Golden Falls, though we did not hear them because of the snow; and there, out at sea, loo is the Temple Hof, and behind it stands the stead We are saved, Gudruda, and thus far indeed thou wast fey Now rise, ere thy limbs stiffen, and I will set thee on the horse, if he still can run, and lead thee down to Middalhof before the witchlights fail us”

”So it shall be, Eric”

Now he led Gudruda to the horse--that, seeing its master, snorted and shook the snow from its coat, for it was not frozen--and set her on the saddle, and put his arh the deep snow And Swanhild, too, crept froe had kept the life in her, and followed after them Many times she fell, and once she was nearly sed in a drift of snow and cried out in her fear

”Who called aloud?” said Eric, turning; ”I thought I heard a voice”

”Nay,” answers Gudruda, ”it was but a night-hawk screa”

Noanhild lay quiet in the drift, but she said in her heart:

”Ay, a night-hawk that shall tear out those dark eyes of thine, th they come to the banked roadway that runs past the Temple to As over the turf-wall into the hos and so comes to the west end of the house, and enters by thea horse coathered in front of the hall But Swanhild ran to that shut bed where she slept, and, closing the curtain, threw off her garments, shook the snow from her hair, and put on a linen kirtle Then she rested a while, for she eary, and, going to the kitchen, warmed herself at the fire