“A wise question for a wise man to ask! How can I tell? So many come and go,” said Thorbiorn.
“But this was an old man, large of stature, lame in one knee; yet he looked a brave warrior, and he was so wrathful that he did not know where he went. He seemed a man likely to be lucky, too, and not one to be lightly wronged.”
“That must have been old Howard the Halt,” said Thorbiorn. “He is a man from my district, who has come after me to the Thing.”
“Ah! Was it his brave son Olaf whom thou didst slay guiltless?”
“Yes, certainly,” returned Thorbiorn.
“How hast thou kept the promise of better ways which thou didst make when thou didst marry my sister?” he asked; and Thorbiorn sat silent. “This wrong must be amended,” said Guest, and sent an honourable man to bring Howard to him. Howard at first refused to face Thorbiorn again, but at last reluctantly consented to meet Guest, and when the latter had greeted him in friendly and honourable fashion he told the whole story, from the time of Thorbiorn’s first jealousy of Olaf.
Guest was horrified. “Heard ever man such injustice!” he cried. “Now, Thorbiorn, choose one of two things: either my sister shall no longer be thy wife, or thou shalt allow me to give judgment between Howard and thee.”
Guest’s Judgment and the Payment of the Wergild
Thorbiorn agreed to leave the matter in Guest’s hands, and many men were called to make a ring as assessors, that all might be legally done, and Thorbiorn and Howard stood together in the ring. Then Guest gave judgment: “Thorbiorn, I cannot condemn thee to pay Howard all thou owest—with all thy wealth, thou hast not money enough for that; but for slaying Olaf thou shalt pay a threefold wergild. For the other wrongs thou hast done him, I, thy brother-in-law, will try to atone by gifts, and friendship, and all honour in my power, as long as we both live; and if he will come home to stay with me he shall be right welcome.”
Thorbiorn agreed to the award, saying carelessly: “I will pay him at home in my own country, if he will come to me when I have more leisure.”