he steps of the master's lofty seat, his
feet toward the entrance. His head rested in the lap of gray-haired
Waldrun; his eyes were closed. At his left lay Zercho, but placed in
the opposite direction, with his head toward the door and a huge goblet
of mead beside him. At his right stood Sippilo, gazing down anxiously
at his brother's face. Beside the wounded man was Bruna, the she-bear,
growling softly as she licked his hand. She was the first to move,
raising her head as light footsteps were heard on the sand outside the
door.

The blind woman said, in a low tone that the wounded man might not
hear: "That is Bissula's tread."

The girl appeared in the doorway. Sippilo started, Zercho raised his
head, but she motioned to them all to keep silence, and noiselessly
advancing with bare feet to Adalo's couch, she laid her little hand on
his head.

"Bissula?" asked the Adeling.

She bent over him, her red locks falling on his pale face.

"Is it you, little one? No, no! The fairest of the Valkyrias has come
to bear me upward--do you see her swan wings?--up to Valhalla's shining
heights." Bissula's white robe was floating around her shoulders.

The girl cast a glance of agonized terror at Waldrun.

"Be comforted," said the old dame firmly, "he will live. And everything
will be as I have said."

"You must stay with us always now," cried Sippilo, seizing her garments
as if to hold her by force.

Bruna, growling joyfully, had risen and put one paw on her knee,
looking up at her with intelligent eyes. Bissula gratefully patted the
animal's head and held out her hand to Zercho, who kissed it humbly.
Laughing, yet with tears in his eyes, he cried: "O little sprite,
little red sprite!"

But now the girl bent down again, exclaiming:

"No, Adalo, it is no Valkyria, it is Bissula, little red Bissula, who
is so wicked, so wicked! Adalo,--hush, don't speak,--I know all. I
know, too, what you wanted to do for me, what you offered. That was
wrong in you. Hush, hush! It was certainly what you--you only are of
all the people in the world. Hush, dearest--don't move. Yes, yes, I
will stay here, your nurse, your maid-servant, as long as you need me.
Ah! I beg you so earnestly--I entreat you--take me! No, no! Do not move
your arm! Not yet to your breast! But I will do everything all my
life--will be as blindly obedient as you desire: only let me stay with
you--your own!"

Her little head sank on his breast. The wounded man raised