He came to my side, and asked only, "Already?"
"Already," I answered; "but it is well. Go to the widow's straightway,
and bring Havelok's arms to him at the hostelry at the end of the
marketplace, where we have to find more horses."
He went at once, and silently we came down the street and to the
courtyard of the inn. Some few folk stared at us; but the princess was
hardly known here, and she had cast her long, white mantle hoodwise over
her head and face, so that one could not tell who she was. So early in
the day there were few people in the marketplace either.
Berthun was in the courtyard of the inn, and I was glad to see him, for
I did not know what would happen to him. It was likely that Alsi would
seek for someone on whom to visit his anger at the way things had gone.
But the steward had been warned, and was not one to run any risk.
"I did but go back for a few things that I did not care to leave," he
said; and he showed me that he had brought his own horse from the
stables, and on it were large saddlebags. No poor man was Berthun after
years of service in the palace, where gifts from thane and lady are
always ready for the man who has had the care of them. Across the saddle
bow also were his mail shirt and arms, and his shield hung with his helm
from the peak.
"You see that I must needs cast in my lot with yours, or rather
Curan's," he said, laughing; "but it is in my mind that in the end I
shall not be sorry to have done so.
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