Hide nothing! Confess; for verily I can see a great pain is gnawing you.
Earl Skule.
Now most of all, I say. This is the great curse that lies upon my whole life: to stand so near to the highest,—with an abyss between. One leap, and on the other side are the kingship, and the purple robe, the throne, the might, and all! I have it daily before my eyes—but can never reach it.
Bishop Nicholas.
True, Earl, true.
Earl Skule.
When they made Guthorm Sigurdsson king, I was in the full strength of my youth.[youth.] It was as though a voice cried aloud within me: Away with the child,—I am the man, the strong man!—But Guthorm was the king’s son; there yawned an abyss between me and the throne.
Bishop Nicholas.
And you dared not venture——
Earl Skule.