at sea wave, and how Olaf saved me. And
so we came to Penhurst in its valley among the trees, and the ride
was over.

Now there is no need to say what welcome was at that house, whether
for its lord, or for the warrior who had been nursed back to life
there, or for the new-come homeless maiden. Relf was not wrong when
he told her that she should be as a daughter in the house.

Some of the men had ridden on, so that the homecoming feast should
be spread for us, and there was the lady at the courtyard gates,
and with her Sexberga, and a tall, handsome young thane, whom I
knew for Eldred of Dallington; and there was Father Anselm, and
Spray the smith, and many more whose faces I was glad to see again.

And among all those faces were nought but welcoming looks--save
from one only. I did not note this, being taken up with watching
how they greeted Uldra, for that seemed to me to be the only thing
that I cared about. If I had any thought of Sexberga now, it was as
if she had been my sister, and I hoped that she would be pleased
with the maiden who was thus brought to her unlooked for. I need
have troubled nought about that, however, for she and her mother
were alike in many things, and if I was sure of the one, so might I
have been of the other in all that had to do with kindness.

But if I had looked beyond Sexberga to where her young thane stood
I should have met with a black scowl enough, though I could not
have told why this should be his greeting for me. I had but seen
him once before, and that was at Earl Wulfnoth's feast to Olaf when
we first came.

That was an evening to be remembered as most pleasant when, after
the feast, we sat and spoke of all that had happened since I left
Penhurst. I told them all the tale of warfare, and of Olaf's deeds,
and of the winning back of my sword, and how that helped our
meeting with Egil.

And when Spray the smith, who sat listening, with the other men in
the hall below the high place, heard of that escape from the Danes,
he said, without ceremony:

"Master, well I knew that you would never be cast into prison."

"That was a saying of yours, Spray," said I. "May the luck last."

Then Uldra would tell the story of our journey in her way, and my
name came pretty often into her tale. So, looking about the hall
while she spoke, my eyes lit on Eldred, and it seemed that he was
ill at ease, and displeased with somewhat. I thought that he would
rather be sitting nearer Sexberga,