Sir Archie had two friends, Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who followed him wherever he went. They were grieved that he was always cast down and that nothing could avail to cheer him.
"What is it that ails you?" they would say. "What makes your eyes burn so, and why are your cheeks so pale?"
Sir Archie would not tell them what it was that tormented him. He thought: "What would my comrades say of me if they knew I yielded to these unmanly thoughts? They would no longer obey me if they found out that I was racked with remorse for a deed there was no avoiding."
As they continued to press him, he said at last, to throw them off
the scent: "Fortune is playing me strange tricks in these days.
There is a girl I have a mind to win, but I cannot come at her.
Something always stands in my way."
"Maybe the maiden does not love you?" said Sir Reginald.
"I surely think her heart is disposed toward me," said Sir Archie; "but there is something watching over her, so that I cannot win her."
Then Sir Reginald and Sir Philip began to laugh and said: "Never fear, we'll get you the girl."
That evening Elsalill was walking alone up the lane, coming from her work. She was tired and thought to herself: "This is a hard life and I find no joy in it. It sickens me to stand all day in the reek of fish. It sickens me to hear the other women laugh and jest in their rude voices. It sickens me to see the hungry gulls fly above the tables trying to snatch the fish out of my hands. Oh, that someone would come and take me away from here! I would follow him to the world's end."
When Elsalill had reached the darkest part of the lane, Sir
Reginald and Sir Philip came out of the shadow and greeted her.
"Mistress Elsalill," they said, "we have a message for you from Sir Archie. He is lying sick at the inn. He longs to speak with you and begs you to accompany us home."