rd far in the hush of the last hour of the night:

"Dear now are this dawn-dusk's moments as is the last of the light
When the foemen's ranks are wavering, and the victory feareth night;
And of all the time I have loved thee of these am I most fain,
When I know not what shall betide me, nor what shall be my gain.
But dear as they are, they are waning, and at last the time is come
When no more shall I behold thee till I wend to Odin's Home.
Now is the time so little that once hath been so long
That I fain would ask thee pardon wherein I have done thee wrong,
That thy longing might be softer, and thy love more sweet to have.
But in nothing have I wronged thee, there is nought that I may crave.
Strange too! as the minutes fail me, so do my speech-words fail,
Yet strong is the joy within me for this hour that crowns the tale."

Therewith he clipped her and caressed her, and she spake nothing for a
while; and he said; "Thy face is fair and bright; art thou not joyous of
these minutes?"

She said: "Thy words are sweet; but they pierce my heart like a sharp
knife; for they tell me of thy death and the ending of our love."

Said he; "I tell thee nothing, beloved, that thou hast not known: is it
not for this that we have met here once more?"

She answered after a while; "Yea, yea; yet mightest thou have lived."

He laughed, but not scornfully or bitterly and said:

"So thought I in time past: but hearken, beloved; If I fall to-day, shall
there not yet be a minute after the stroke hath fallen on me, wherein I
shall know that the day is won and see the foemen fleeing, and wherein I
shall once again deem I shall never die, whatever may betide afterwards,
and though the sword lieth deep in my breast? And shall I not see then
and know that our love hath no end?"

Bitter grief was in her face as she heard him. But she spake and said:
"Lo here the Hauberk which thou hast done off thee, that thy breast might
be the nearer to mine! Wilt thou not wear it in the fight for my sake?"

He knit his brows somewhat, and said:

"Nay, it may not be: true it is that thou saidest that no evil weird went
with it, but hearken! Yesterday I bore it in the fight, and ere I
mingled with the foe, before I might give the token of onset, a cloud
came before my eyes and thick darkness wrapped me around, and I fell to
the earth unsmitten; and so was I borne out of the fight, and evil dreams
beset me of evil thi