at, I shall bring another with me.

(Goes out by the furthest door on the right.)

LADY INGER. Blood on my hands. Then it was to come to that!--
He begins to be dear-bought now.

(BIORN comes in, with a number of Swedish men-at-arms, by the
first door on the right.)

ONE OF THE MEN-AT-ARMS. Pardon me, if you are the lady of the
house----

LADY INGER. Is it Count Sture you seek?

THE MAN-AT-ARMS. The same.

LADY INGER. Then you are on the right scent. The Count has
sought refuge with me.

THE MAN-AT-ARMS. Refuge? Pardon, my noble lady,--you have no
power to harbour him; for----

LADY INGER. That the Count himself has doubtless understood;
and therefore he has--ay, look for yourselves--therefore he has
taken his own life.

THE MAN-AT-ARMS. His own life!

LADY INGER. Look for yourselves. You will find the corpse
within there. And since he already stands before another judge,
it is my prayer that he may be borne hence with all the honour
that beseems his noble birth.--Biorn, you know my own coffin has
stood ready this many a year in the secret chamber. (To the Men-
at-Arms.) I pray that in it you will bear Count Sture's body
to Sweden.

THE MAN-AT-ARMS. It shall be as you command. (To one of the
others.) Haste with these tidings to Jens Bielke. He holds the
road with the rest of the troop. We others must in and----

(One of the Men-at-Arms goes out to the right; the others
go with BIORN into the room on the left.)

LADY INGER (moves about for a time in uneasy silence). If Count
Sture had not said farewell to the world so hurriedly, within a
month he had hung on a gallows, or had sat for all his days in a
dungeon. Had he been better served with such a lot?
Or else he had bought his life by betraying my child into the
hands of my foes. Is it _I_, then, that have slain him? Does
not even the wolf defend her cubs? Who dare condemn me for
striking my claws into him that would have reft me of my flesh
and blood?--It had to be. No mother but would have done even
as I.
But 'tis no time for idle musings now. I must to work.
(Sits down by the table on the left.)
I will write to all my friends throughout the land. They rise
as one man to support the great cause. A new king,--regent first,
and then king----
(Begins to write, but falls into thought, and says softly:)
Whom will they choose in the dead man's place?--A king's