l sound. It goes
to a woman's heart like a sword, and Thora rose and went to her lover
and drew him to the sofa and sat down at his side and, with promises
wet with tears, tried to comfort him. A strange silence that the
weeping did not disturb was in the house and room, and in the kitchen
the servants paused in their work and looked at each other with faces
full of pity.

"The Wise One has put trouble on their heads," said a woman who was
dressing a goose to roast for dinner and her helper answered, "And
there is no use striving against it. What must be, is sure to happen.
That is Right."

"All that we have done, is no good. Fate rules in this thing. I see
that."

"The trouble came on them unawares. And if Death is at the beginning,
no course that can be taken is any good."

"What is the Master's will? For in the end, that will orders all
things."

"The mistress said the marriage would be put off for a year. The young
man goes to the war."

"No wonder then he cries out. It is surely a great disappointment."

"Tom Snackoll had the same ill luck. He made no crying about it. He
hoisted sail at midnight and stole his wife Vestein out of her window,
and when her father caught them, they were man and wife. And Snackoll
went out to speak to his father-in-law and he said to him, 'My wife
can not see thee today, for she is weary and I think it best for her
to be still and quiet'; and home the father went and no good of his
journey. Snackoll got praise for his daring."

"Well then," said a young man who had just entered, "it is well known
that Vestein and her father and mother were all fully willing. The
girl could as easily have gone out of the door as the window. Snackoll
is a boaster. He is as great in his talk as a fox in his tail."

Thus the household of Ragnor talked in the kitchen, and in the parlour
Rahal comforted the lovers, and cheered and encouraged Ian so greatly
that she was finally able to say to them:

"The wedding day was not lucky. Let it pass. There is another, only a
year away, that will bring lasting joy. Now we have wept over our
mischance, we will bury it and look to the future. We will go and wash
away sorrow and put on fresh clothes, and look forward to the far
better marriage a year hence."

And her voice and manner were so persuasive, that they willingly
obeyed her advice and, as they passed her, she kissed them both and
told Ian to put his head in cold water and get rid of its aching
f