"What then, Olvir? Your words fill me with dread; you cherish the thought of some wild deed."
"Should it fill you with dread, darling, that I would have you wed me?"
"No, dear one; my heart sings with gladness at the word. If only it might come true!"
"You have but to say it, king's daughter."
"Would you have me wed you without the banns, Olvir,--in secret? It could not be, dear hero! When the truth became known, the anger of my father would pass all measure. He would never forgive us."
"I look to your father for nothing. He has paid me ill for loyal service. I shall now break the bond which has held me to him. Beneath the priest-robe you feel the war-gear, king's daughter. Zora is saddled for the road. Come! the night is before us. Dawn will see us far on our way to the Rhine."
"O Christ! O Holy Mother, save me!" cried the girl; and she shrank away from her lover, wide-eyed and trembling.
"Listen, darling; listen to me!" he protested. "I would not force you. Only, I beseech you, by the love you bear me, come! At Cologne lie my longships,--my ocean-racers. Who may overtake us when we sail down Rhine Stream? Haoi! how the ships spring to the bowing of the long oars! Behind us lie the flat shores of Frisia; we ride the wild North Sea; before us tower the iron cliffs of old Norway; up Trondheim Fiord we glide, where the free men of Lade wait to welcome their earl and his bride!"
The Northman's black eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and he held out his arms. But still Rothada shrank away.
"It cannot be, dear hero!" she sighed. "It cannot be!"