"O my Princess! my Princess! I have wandered far to see you, and my heart has grown weary with longing. Why have you hidden yourself from me all this time, and I was your watcher who guarded you? Oh! why have you done this thing, my Princess?"
And Edgiva bent over him, and in her beautiful eyes there were tears also as she bade him rise and come and sit beside her.
But Wulnoth shook his head and answered that might not be, for she was the King's daughter and he but a thrall.
"Now nay, Wulnoth," answered Edgiva. "Even if what thou sayest is true, then it would be mine to command and thine to obey. But this is not so. Thou and I are friends as we were in the dear old days when we were in Lethra—"
"But I angered you, my Princess," he said. "I angered you in the woods when I spoke of Thor." And Edgiva looked grave.
"Nay, not angered, Wulnoth," she said gently. "I was grieved, but I knew it would all come right in the end. Now, Wulnoth, tell me, for we have but little time, and perchance we may not meet again yet—"
"Not meet!" he cried. "Oh, my Princess, thou wilt not send me away again!"
"Wulnoth, thou hast thy work, and I have mine," she answered, "and we must fulfil our tasks. Now listen then to my words. Thou hast longed to find me again?"
"I have longed to find you, O Princess," he answered. "For I am thy watcher."
"And only because thou art my watcher?" she answered softly, and he made no reply.