That puzzled me mightily at the time, as it did many at
the feast, but I see no reason why it should not be told at once.
Now I have said that Goldberga left the hall early overnight, being
wearied with the journey, and having the remembrance of the attack on
her party so near to Lincoln to trouble her also. Not much cause to love
her uncle Alsi had she; though perhaps, also, not much to make her hate
him, except that he had kept her so far away from her own people of
late, in a sort of honourable captivity. Now it was plain to her that
had it not been for the presence of Ragnar and his men, her guard would
not have been able to drive off the attackers; and the strange way in
which Griffin had held back had been too plain for her not to notice.
Already she feared him, and it seemed that he might have plotted her
carrying off thus. That Alsi might have had a hand in the matter did not
come into her mind, as it did into the minds of others, for she knew
little of him, thinking him honest if not very pleasant in his ways,
else had not her father made him her guardian.
I will say now that in the attack he did have a hand. Many a long year
afterward it all came out in some way. He dared not give his niece to
Griffin openly, but he wished to do so, as then he would have an
under-king in East Anglia of his own choosing.
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