Part 18 (1/2)
Now all this while Asth, men were sunk in sleep, he took a candle of fat and passed to the shut bed where Swanhild slept alone She lay on her bed, and her curling hair was all about her She ake, for the light gleamed in her blue eyes, and on a naked knife that was on the bed beside her, half hidden by her hair
”What wouldst thou, foster-father?” she asked, rising in the couch
Asmund closed the curtains, then looked at her sternly and spoke in a low voice:
”Thou art fair to be so vile a thing, Swanhild,” he said ”Who noould have dreaoblins and olves--that those eyes of thine could bear to look on th to do the sin?”
She held up her shapely arhed ”Would that they had been fashi+oned in a stronger mould,” she said ”May they wither in their woht Now ained by it Say what fate for me, foster-father--the Stone of Dooht Gudruda laugh indeed, and I will not live to hear that laugh See,” and she gripped the dagger at her side: ”along this bright edge runs the path to peace and freedom, and, if need be, I will tread it”
”Be silent,” said Ashter, whom thou wouldst have foully done to death, is thine own sister, and it is she who, pitying thee, hath pleaded for thy life”
”I will naught of her pity who have no pity,” she answered; ”and this I say to thee who art my father: shame be on thee who hast not dared to own thy child!”
”Hadst thou not been my child, Swanhild, and had I not loved thee secretly assince driven thee hence; for my eyes have been open to th thy wickedness has overcome my love, and I will see thy face no more Listen: none have heard of this shaues are sealed Now I give thee choice: wed Atli and go, or stand in the Doo and take thy fate”
”Have I not said, father, while death ht otherwise, that I will never do this last? Nor will I do the first I am not all of the tame breed of you Iceland folk--other and quicker blood runs in e to a dotard as a mare is sold at a o not back upon my word Wed Atli or die--by thy own hand, if thou wilt--there I will not gainsay thee; or, if thou fearest this, then anon in the Doo”
Noanhild covered her eyes with her hands and shook the long hair about her face, and she seemed wondrous fair to Asmund the Priest atched And as she sat thus, it ca maid's life--that old husbands have been known to die, and that she ht rule this Atli and his earldo her sails in such fashi+on that when the wind turned it would fill them Otherwise she must die--ay, die shamed and leave Gudruda with her love
Suddenly she slipped fro the knees of Ash the meshes of her hair, while tears streamed from her beautiful eyes:
”I have sinned,” she sobbed--”I have sinned greatly against thee and my sister Hearken: I was mad with love of Eric, whom from a child I have turned to, and Gudruda is fairer than I and she took hiht the deed of shas that I did not call; and oh, I thank the Gods--if there are Gods--that Gudruda died not at my hand See now, father, I put this evil froh she rent her bosoood housewife to hiive ; for it was not done ofof those whoht s of his love thaithin hiood counsel,” he said, ”and of this be sure, that so long as thou art in that entle of women, and it may well be that she will put away thy sin
So weep no s with thy Finnish witchcraft, but sleep; and to-morroill bear thy word to Atli, for his shi+p is bound and thouthe light with hie of the bed, staring into the darkness and shuddering from time to time
”I shall soon be made his wife,” she murmured, ”ould be but one man's wife--and methinks I shall soon be made aalso Thou wilt have me, dotard--take me and thy fate! Well, well; better to wed an Earl than to be shamed and stretched across the Doom-stone Oh, weak arms that failed me at my need, no more will I put trust in you! When next I wound, it shall be with the tongue; when next I strive to slay, it shall be by another's hand Curses on thee, thou ill counseller of darkness, who didst betray me at the last! Is it for this that I worshi+pped thee and swore the oath?”
The ht the Earl His heart was heavy because of the guile that his tongue must practise, and his face was dark as a winter dawn
”What news, Ass_, so runs the saw, and thy looks give weight to it”
”Not altogether bad, Earl Swanhild gives herself to thee”
”Of her oill, Asmund?”
”Ay, of her oill But I have warned thee of her tes to a maid's temper Once a wife and it will lad tidings, coain beneath the breath of the that must yet be told of Swanhild,” said Asmund
”She is called the Fatherless, but, if thou wilt have the truth, why here it is for thee--she is hter, born out of wedlock, and I know not how that will please thee”