DAGNY. Many a time—and chiefly with AEthelstan of England.
HIORDIS. And everywhere thou hast been held in honour, and hast sat in the highest seats at the board?
DAGNY. Doubtless. As Sigurd's wife——
HIORDIS. Ay, ay—a famous man is Sigurd—though Gunnar stands above him.
DAGNY. Gunnar?
HIORDIS. One deed did Gunnar do that Sigurd shrank from. But let that be! Tell me, when thou didst go a-viking with Sigurd, when thou didst hear the sword-blades sing in the fierce war-game, when the blood streamed red on the deck—came there not over thee an untameable longing to plunge into the strife? Didst thou not don harness and take up arms?
DAGNY. Never! How canst thou think it? I, a woman!
HIORDIS. A woman, a woman,—who knows what a woman may do!—But one thing thou canst tell me, Dagny, for that thou surely knowest: when a man clasps to his breast the woman he loves—is it true that her blood burns, that her bosom throbs—that she swoons in a shuddering ecstasy?
DAGNY (blushing). Hiordis, how canst thou——!
HIORDIS. Come, tell me——!