"The Norse jomfru!" interrupted Drost Peter, hastily. "She and Sir Rané have not accompanied her?"
"Nay, the saints forbid, sir! Had I thought so, I should never have allowed her to go, had I been compelled to keep her back by main force. But I thought you knew all, and--"
"But Rané, Rané--where sawest thou him?"
"On the way to the town-governor we encountered the snake. He was leaving the Grayfriars' Chapel with the Norse jomfru, where, it is said, they have already been made man and wife. Jomfru Ingé cried bitterly, and embraced the Norse lady with great emotion; but Rané--the fiend take him!--would not delay. Within half an hour, he said, they must be on the open sea; and he talked of his sea-dogs, and looked about as if they were not far distant. He offered one arm to Jomfru Ingé, while he held fast his young fru with the other. But Jomfru Ingé withstood the indignity. She bade him a cold and formal farewell, and turned hastily away. I was much tempted to measure my squire's sword with the glaive of the newly-coined knight. My sword, I believe, indeed, accidentally left the sheath, and certainly I did not look very mildly at the crafty sir fox. I saw that he perfectly remembered how last I waited for him outside the duke's door at Nyborg Castle; for he suddenly became pale-nosed when he saw me about to spring at him. Jomfru Ingé seized me by the arm; and, before I had time to call him a traitorous nidding, he had disappeared with the pretty fru, whom he has cajoled and stolen."
Drost Peter again breathed easily. "Now, God be praised!" he exclaimed. "the wretch has no longer any power over her!"
"I trow he has, though!" cried Skirmen: "he took her with him."
"What! art thou mad?--Ingé?"
"Nay, Heaven forfend, sir!--Her I held fast by--but the pretty Norse jomfru--"
"In God's name, so be it! She was his wife, Skirmen; and thou hast conducted thyself like a brave fellow. She has set out alone, then, for Kolding--Ingé, I mean?"
"Nay, with twelve horsemen, besides car-swains."