bed of rushes, while on a stool
beside him stood food and water. When I entered, bearing a lamp, Steinar
sat up blinking his eyes, for the light, feeble as it was, hurt them,
and I saw that his face was white and drawn, and the hand he held to
shade his eyes was wasted. I looked at him and my heart swelled with
pity, so that I could not speak.

"Why have you come here, Olaf?" asked Steinar when he knew me. "Is it to
take my life? If so, never were you more welcome."

"No, Steinar, it is to bid you farewell, since to-morrow at the feast
you die, and I am helpless to save you. In all things else men will obey
me, but not in this."

"And would you save me if you could?"

"Aye, Steinar. Why not? Surely you must suffer enough with so much blood
and evil on your hands."

"Yes, I suffer enough, Olaf. So much that I shall be glad to die. But
if you are not come to kill me, then it is that you may scourge me with
your tongue."

"Not so, Steinar. It is as I have said, only to bid you farewell and to
ask you a question, if it pleases you to answer me. Why did you do this
thing which has brought about such misery and loss, which has sent my
father, my brother, and a host of brave men to the grave, and with them
my mother, whose breasts nursed you?"

"Is she dead also, Olaf? Oh! my cup is full." He hid his eyes in his
thin hands and sobbed, then went on: "Why did I do it? Olaf, I did not
do it, but some spirit that entered into me and made me mad--mad for the
lips of Iduna the Fair. Olaf, I would speak no ill of her, since her sin
is mine, but yet it is true that when I hung back she drew me on, nor
could I find the strength to say her nay. Do you pray the gods, Olaf,
that no woman may ever draw you on to such shame as mine. Hearken now
to the great reward that I have won. I was never wed to Iduna, Olaf.
Athalbrand would not suffer it till he was sure of the matter of the
lordship of Agger. Then, when he knew that this was gone from me, he
would suffer it still less, and Iduna herself seemed to grow cold.
In truth, I believe he thought of killing me and sending my head as a
present to your father Thorvald. But this Iduna forbade, whether because
she loved me or for other reasons, I cannot say. Olaf, you know the
rest."

"Aye, Steinar, I know the rest. Iduna is lost to me, and for that
perhaps I should thank you, although such a thrust as this leaves the
heart sore for life. My father, my mother, my brother--all are lost t