As for Alsi, he had on his finest gear, even as at the great feast of
the Witan--crimson cloak, fur-lined, and dark-green hose,
gold-gartered across, and white and gold tunic. He had a little crown on
also, and that was the only thing kingly about him, to my mind.
Now he cast one look at Goldberga, which made her shrink into herself,
as it were, and turned with a smile to us all.
"Friends," he said, "this is short notice for a wedding, but all men
know that 'Happy is the wooing that is not long a-doing,' so no more
need be said of that. All men know also that when good Ethelwald died he
made me swear to him that I would wed his daughter to the mightiest and
goodliest and fairest man that was in the land. I have ever been mindful
of that oath, and now it seems that the time for keeping it has come.
Whether the man whom my niece will wed is all that the oath requires,
you shall judge; and if he is such a one, I must not stand in the way. I
do not myself know that I have ever seen one who is so fully set forth
in words as is this bridegroom in those of the oath."
Now I heard one whisper near me, "Whom has Goldberga chosen?"
And that was what Alsi would have liked to hear, for his speech seemed
to say that thus it was, and maybe that he did not altogether like the
choice.
But now Alsi said to Berthun, "Bring in the bridegroom.
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