Rightly, too, should I have feared that, as will be seen.
Now while I looked about the hall for Cadwal, Mord the chamberlain saw
me, and made me sit down by him while I ate. Hungry enough was I by that
time, as may be supposed, for one cannot make a meal off the sight of a
feast; and as I ate, the noise of the hall grew apace as the cups went
round. Then some of the older thanes left, and soon Mord and I had that
table to ourselves. It was plain that he was full of something that he
would say to me, and when I was ready to listen he bent near me and
said, "So that was the boy who fled with us."
"Ay. He has grown since you saw him last."
"That is not all," answered Mord. "Well I knew Gunnar, our king, and
tonight I thought he had come back to us from Valhalla, goodlier yet and
mightier than ever, as one who has feasted with the Asir might well be.
For if this boy of ours is not Gunnar's son, then he is Gunnar himself."
Now that was no new thought to me, as I have shown, and I was ready for
it, seeing that even I had seen the likeness to the king as I remembered
him.
"Keep that thought to yourself for a while, Mord," I said. "It is in my
mind that you are right, but the time has not yet come for me to know."
"That is wisdom, too," he answered; "for if once he gathers a following,
there is a bad time in store for Hodulf.
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