When I
looked, her face was white and troubled, and she half rose from her seat
and then sank back in it gently, and the thane who sat next her spoke
anxiously to her in a low voice, and the lady by his side rose up and
came to her.
Then Alsi turned, and he too spoke, asking if aught was amiss.
"The princess faints with the heat of the hall," said the thane's wife.
"She yet feels the long journey. May she not go hence?"
Then Goldberga said bravely, "It is naught, and it will pass."
But they made her rise and leave the hall; and the guests stood up as
she went with her ladies round her, and many were the murmurs of pity
that I heard.
"As though she had seen a ghost, so white is she," one whispered.
But none knew how much the lady was to be pitied. She had seen the man
of her vision; and, lo! for all that she knew, he was a thrall who
toiled in the palace kitchens.
And after her, as she withdrew, looked Havelok with eyes in which there
was more than pity. I could see him well, but I did not know how he had
seen the fair princess tremble and grow white as she gazed on him. I
know that, as he saw her for this first time, it was with the wish that
he were in Ragnar's place. But I thought that if Havelok were king, here
was the queen for him.
Now Alsi bade the feast go on, and be spoke a few words only to Havelok,
letting him go at once, and I was glad.
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