XXXII
GUDRUN’S OATH
In a stone dwelling not far from Olaf’s palace, two people sat, in the lower guest-chamber. It was not long after King Olaf’s visit to the Lady Aastrid. One of the occupants of the room was Gudrun, and the other was a dark, stern old woman, the girl’s mother, Ingrid, reputed to be a witch. Ingrid shared in full her husband’s hatred of Olaf, and her desire of revenge was even greater, for she felt keenly the fact that she should have been the wife of an overlord, and that her only child, Gudrun, whom she believed to be the most beautiful of all Norse maidens, should have been a princess.
Ingrid had heard some rumors of the king’s notice of Gudrun, and she was filled with a desire to profit by Olaf’s preference for the girl. Ironbeard was absent, as his place as head of the discontented earls kept him very much occupied. Ingrid turned to the girl: “Thou sayest that King Olaf hath sought thee often of late and spoken with thee?”
“Even so, my mother.”
“What seemed to be the purpose of his speech?”
“He did speak of my beauty and said he would we were better friends. The Lady Aastrid would have
