"Harder yet would it be if the jarl were in the battle against our friends. Then would the fear of his loss be a terror to you also."
Now came in Osmund, and straightway Thora rose up, turning away from us both, and went from the hall. The jarl looked after her curiously and sadly.
"This is a strange business for the girl," he said.
"She seems almost as troubled because you are not fighting as if you were in danger by doing so," I answered, with that thought still in my mind.
Thereat the jarl stared at me.
"What has put that into your head?" he asked.
I told him what she and I had said, adding that I feared I had seemed to hint somewhat discomforting.
Then said Osmund, looking in my face with a half smile:
"She is glad I am honourably out of this business, and the trouble is not that. There are one or two, maybe, whom she would like to see as safe in the same way."
Then it flashed through my dull mind that perhaps I was one of these, and the thought was pleasant to me.