Earl Skule
[Wringing his hands.] And is king-born!
Bishop Nicholas.
[Rising.] Earl—if he were not so?
Earl Skule.
Has he not proved it? The ordeal
Bishop Nicholas.
And if he were not—in spite of the ordeal?
Earl Skule.
Do you say that God lied in the issue of the ordeal?
Bishop Nicholas.
What was it Inga of Varteig called upon God to witness?
Earl Skule.
That the child she bore in the eastland, in Borgasyssel, was the son of Håkon Sverresson.
Bishop Nicholas.
[Nods, looks round, and says softly.] And if King Håkon were not that child?
Earl Skule.
[Starts a step backwards.] Great God! [Controls himself.] It is beyond belief.
Bishop Nicholas.
Hearken to me, Earl Skule. I have lived seventy years and six; it begins to go sharply downhill with me now, and I dare not take this secret with me over yonder
