“I should like to know thee better, kinsman,” said Erling.
Rolf Ganger did not respond so heartily to this as Erling wished, and he felt much disappointed; for, being a man who did not often express his feelings, he felt all the more keenly anything like a rebuff.
“What is your business with the King?” asked Rolf, after a short pause.
“To defy him,” said our hero, under the influence of a burst of mingled feelings.
Rolf Ganger looked at Erling in surprise.
“Thou dost not like the King, then?”
“I hate him!”
“So do I,” said Rolf.
This interchange of sentiment seemed to break down the barriers of diffidence which had hitherto existed between the two, for from that moment their talk was earnest and confidential. Erling tried to get Rolf to desert the King’s cause and join his opponents, but the latter shook his head, and said that they had no chance of success; and that it was of no use joining a hopeless cause, even although he had strong sympathy with it. While they were conversing, Jarl Rongvold came out and summoned Erling to the presence of the King.
This was the first and last interview that our hero had with that Rolf Ganger, whose name—although not much celebrated at that time—was destined to appear in the pages of history as that of the conqueror of Normandy, and the progenitor of line of English kings.