I find any woman who wishes to marry me and whom I wish to marry,
I will obey the Augusta's commands."

"So be it, General, only remember that first we must approve the lady.
Venture not, General, to share those new quarters of yours with any lady
whom we do not approve."

Then, followed by the Court, she turned and walked away, and I went
about my business, wondering what was the meaning of all this guarded
and half-bitter talk.

The next event that returns to me clearly is that of my public
acceptance as a Christian in the great Cathedral of St. Sophia, which
must have taken place not very long after this meeting upon the terrace.
I know that by every means in my power I had striven, though without
avail, to escape this ceremony, pointing out that I could be publicly
received into the body of the Church at any chapel where there was a
priest and a congregation of a dozen humble folk. But this the Empress
would not allow. The reason she gave was her desire that my conversion
should be proclaimed throughout the city, that other Pagans, of whom
there were thousands, might follow my example. Yet I think she had
another which she did not avow. It was that I might be made known in
public as a man of importance whom it pleased her to honour.

On the morning of this rite, Martina came to acquaint me with its
details, and told me that the Empress would be present at the cathedral
in state, making her progress thither in her golden chariot, drawn by
the famed milk-white steeds. I, it seemed, was to ride after the chariot
in my general's uniform, which was splendid enough, followed by a
company of guards, and surrounded by chanting priests. The Patriarch
himself, no less a person, was to receive me and some other converts,
and the cathedral would be filled with all the great ones of
Constantinople.

I asked whether Irene intended to be my god-mother, as she had
threatened.

"Not so," replied Martina. "On that point she has changed her mind."

"So much the better," I said. "But why?"

"There is a canon of the Church, Olaf, which forbids intermarriage
between a god-parent and his or her god-child," she replied dryly.
"Whether this canon has come to the Augusta's memory or not, I cannot
say. It may be so."

"Who, then, is to be my god-mother?" I asked hurriedly, leaving the
problem of Irene's motives undiscussed.

"I am, by the written Imperial decree delivered to me not an hour ago."

"You, Martina, you who are young