"Three men were at his death," said the girl, gaining confidence a little. "Thord the Tall, Snaekol Gunnarson, and Thorfin of Skapstead. Snaekol and Thorfin are dead long since—may God forgive them! but Thord the Tall lived to repent of the burning."
"It was an ill deed," said Estein.
"He was a heathen man then, King Estein—but I forget, you know not of Christians."
"I have heard of them," said Estein, half to himself.
"As the years drew on he became a Christian, and followed another God and another creed, and left the world and Viking forays, and came to a little island of the Orkneys with me, his only child. For both my brothers fell in battle, King Estein, and now there are none others left in the feud."
"How do men call you?" said Estein, asking only that he might hear her name again.
"I am Osla, the daughter of Thord the Tall," she answered, drawing herself up with a touch of half defiant pride. "He was the enemy of your family, but a lender-man [Footnote: Nobleman.] of high birth, and a good and noble man."
"Ay?"
"He lived in the island," she went on, "for many years, all alone save for me."
Estein could not keep himself from asking,—