Part 41 (1/2)
”I charged Hall with no e, and I sent no lock of hair,” Swanhild answered
”Stand thou forward, Hall!” said Eric, ”and liar and coward though thou art, dare not to speak other than the truth! Nay, look not at the door: for, if thou stirrest, this spear shall find thee before thou hast gone a pace!”
Now Hall stood forward, tre hiers toyed with the handle of his axe
”It is true, lord, that Swanhild charged ave to the Lady Gudruda Also she bade ive the lock of hair”
”And for this service thou didst take ”
”And all the while thou knewest the tidings false?”
Hall made no reply
”Answer!” thundered Eric--”answer the truth, knave, or by every God that passes the hundred gates I will not spare thee twice!”
”It is so, lord,” said Hall
”Thou liest, fox!” cried Swanhild, white rath and casting a fierce look upon Hall But men took no heed of Swanhild's words, for all eyes were bent on Eric
”Is it now your pleasure, cohteyes
The most part of the company shouted ”Yea!” but the men of Ospakar stood silent
”Speak on, Eric,” quoth Gudruda
”This is the truth, then: Swanhild the Fatherless, Atli's wife, has always sought my love, and she has ever hated Gudruda whom I loved From a child she has striven to work h till now it has been hidden: she strove to rihts She thrust Gudruda fro on the waters, and as she hung there I dragged her back Is it not so, Gudruda?”
”It is so,” said Gudruda
Now menat her purple cloak
”It was for this cause,” said Eric, ”that Asave her choice to wed Atli the Earl and pass over sea or to take her trial in the Doo She wedded Atli and went away Afterwards, by witchcraft, she brought my shi+p to wreck on Strauht and lured us on to ruin, so that all were drowned except Skallagririain folk murmured
”Then we must sit in Atli's hall,” said Eric, ”and there elt last winter For a while Swanhild did no haro, I was left with her: and a man called Koll, Groa's thrall, of who news of the death of Asmund the priest, of Unna s Swanhild bribed hi She bribed him to add this: that thou, Gudruda, wast betrothed to Ospakar, and wouldst wed hie from thee, Gudruda, and, in token of its truth, the half of that coin which I broke with thee long years ago Say now, lady, didst thou send the coin?”
”Nay, never!” cried Gudruda; ”h I feared to tell thee”
”Perchance one stands there who found it,” said Eric, pointing with his spear at Swanhild ”At the least I was deceived by it Now the tale is short Swanhild mourned with me, and in my sorrow I mourned bitterly
Then it was she asked a boon, that lock of ave it, holding all oaths broken Then too, when I would have left her, she drugged ed me, and I woke to find myself false to my oath, false to Atli, and false to thee, Gudruda I cursed her and I left her, waiting for the Earl, to tell him all But Swanhild outwitted me She told hiht Koll to him as witness of the tale Atli was deceived by her, and not until I had cut hi , did he know the truth But before he died he knew it; and he died, holdingthose about him find Koll and slay him Is it not so, ye ere Atli's men?”
”It is so, Eric!” they cried; ”we heard it with our own ears, and we slew Koll But afterwards Swanhild brought is to believe that Earl Atli was distraught when he spoke thus, and that things were indeed as she had said”