"What does she want?" asked Estein.
"I know not; she would not tell."
"Tell her to come in," said Earl Sigvald. "Do you think it is fitting that the king should go out at every woman's pleasure?"
"That is what I told her, but she said she would see the king outside or go away."
"Bid her come in or go away!" cried the earl.
"Nay, rather ask her what her errand is about," said Estein.
"And tell her," added Helgi as the bird-man turned away, "that here sits the king's foster-brother, a most proper person at all times to hear a maiden's tale, and now most persuasively charged with ale."
The man went down the hall again, and Earl Sigvald exclaimed testily,—
"Some thrall's sweetheart doubtless, come to babble her complaints."
"Or perhaps the bride come to claim King Estein's hand," suggested his son. In a minute Kari returned.