“And after that—she still was friends with you?” she asked, unbelievingly.
“Aye,” Erlend smiled a weak, wavering smile. “We were friends still. And ’twas not so bitterly against her—but no blame lies on her. ’Twas then she would have had me take her away—she was loth to go back to her kin—”
“But you would not?”
“No. I was minded to try to win her for my wife with her father’s will.”
“Is it long since?” asked Lady Aashild.
“’Twas a year last Lawrencemass,” answered Erlend.
“You have not hasted overmuch with your wooing,” said the other.
“She was not free before from her first betrothal.”
“And since then you have not come nigh her?” asked Aashild.
“We managed so that we met once and again.” Once more the wavering smile flitted over the man’s face. “In a house in the town.”