Then Odda said:
"What wills he? we have no traffic with Danes."
"He would speak with King Ranald," the man said.
Then said I:
"If it is Osmund the jarl, I think I know why he comes.--Let him come in here and speak before you, ealdorman."
"Why, do you know him?"
"I cannot rightly say that I do, but I nearly came to do so."
Then Odda wondered, and answered:
"Forgive me; one grows suspicious about these Danes. I will go hence, and you shall speak with him alone. Maybe he wants your word with the king, because you know the ways of the viking hosts."
"No," said I; "stay here. Whatever it is he has to say cannot be private; nor would I hear anything from him that you might not."