VALGERD. Warm your knees by the hearth. I shall go—and defy wind and storm.

ORM. [Taking her hounds]. Woman, woman—after all, you are a woman!

VALGERD [Angry]. Let go my hand.

ORM. Now the Erl is saved!

VALGERD. Saved?

ORM. Yes, you have been given back to him—and that is his voice now. [Goes.]

[Voices of Thorfinn and Orm are heard outside, Thorfinn laughing loudly.]

VALGERD. The Erl comes—he laughs—that I have never heard before—oh, there is something terrible approaching! [Wrings her hands.]

[Enter Thorfinn and Orm.]

THORFINN [Laughing]. That was a murderous sight—