She sat upright when Erlend lifted his head from her arms. He raised himself suddenly upon his elbow:
“Look not so—Kristin!”
His voice sent a new, wild pang into Kristin’s soul—he was not glad—he was unhappy too—!
“Kristin, Kristin—
“—Think you I lured you out here to me in the woods meaning this—to make you mine by force—” he asked in a little.
She stroked his hair and did not look at him:
“’Twas not force, I trow—you had let me go as I came, had I begged you—” said she in a low voice.
“I know not,” he answered and hid his face in her lap—
“Think you that I would betray you?” asked he, vehemently. “Kristin—I swear to you by my Christian faith—may God forsake me in my last hour, if I keep not faith with you till the day of my death—”
She could say naught, she only stroked his hair again and again.