"A year!" muttered Olvir, as he drew Rothada's hand through his arm and led her from the bower, "a year! Doubtless, the queen's words are well meant, but already, dear heart, our betrothal year is far gone; and did I not love you all those long years before?"
Rothada made no reply until the curious maidens had hurried into the bower and she stood alone with her lover in the anteroom. Then she placed her arms on his shoulders, and gazed up, clear-eyed, into his troubled face.
"Dear hero," she said, "Fastrada has spoken wisely. We must have patience. In His own good time, God will grant us the fulness of joy."
"Ah, darling, you forget the longing--the hunger of love! How shall I sit at peace among the dreary fens, while my heart is with you in the Rhinegau? Day and night I shall hunger for the sight of your sweet face. By false Loki, would that our lord king might do me a wrong! I should seize you, though it were from the very cloister, and bear you away to Trondheim Fiord!"
"Olvir! It grieves me you should hold such thoughts!" cried Rothada, and she burst into tears. Olvir caught her to him in an agony of contrition.
"Would to Heaven I 'd never been a sea-king!" he muttered. "Dearest heart--little princess, forgive me--do not weep!"
"See, then; I have ceased already," whispered Rothada, and she looked up through her tears, with a brave smile. "Yet I am very sad, my hero. Oh, if only you could go to my father and tell him that your heart was free to fulfil those conditions! Then I would--I would myself beg of him that I might fare down Rhine Stream--with you."
"Little vala! How the longships would fly, winged by the bowing oars of your merry sea-wolves!"--and Olvir strained the girl to him. But then he freed her, and his face grew stern.
"Christ aid us!" he muttered. "My spirit is torn between love and truth. Odin bear witness how I love you, dear; yet even for your sake I cannot bend to the yoke of priestcraft. It would be a lie--a lie!"
"The more do I love you, my hero, for your true heart! If you are mistaken, our Lord Christ will give you light. Trust to His guidance, and however you may be led, I have faith that all will come well in the end."