"He was then alive," she answered; "for the writing further told me what I knew not before, that I had an uncle still alive, or rather whom my father thought was still alive, and first of all I had to seek him. Else should I have come to Sogn in time to see King Hakon."
"What is this uncle's name?"
"He is called Atli, now," she replied, "but—"
"Atli, a brother of Thord the Tall!"
"Know you him?"
"I have seen him," he answered evasively. "Once he came here. But how did you find him? He dwells in distant parts, so men say."
"The writing gave me the direction of one who knew where he could be found, and so I travelled to a far country—Jemtland it is, many days from Sogn. Thus it was that when I came here King Hakon had died."
"And now you seek me?"
"You are his son, and my errand deals with you, for the feuds which were his are now yours," she answered.
For a moment she paused, and seemed to Estein to look doubtfully at him, as if half afraid to go on. Then she drew a bag from under her cloak, held it out to him, and said simply, but not as one who craved a boon or sought a favour,—