on the Irish coast was visited by the captain of the “Alruna.” Danes, nor Swedes, not even Norwegians, at first could guess who he was, until at last it began to be rumored about. Then Olaf would go disguised, or send Thorgills to gather any tidings he could from his own land. After these visits Olaf would grow restless, and Gyda’s bright face would be paled at the thought that the separation from her own Island was at hand.
The years of her marriage had been happy ones for the beautiful princess, yet day by day, she grew paler, and an unearthly whiteness drifted over the once blooming face. Hogan O’Niall’s figure of the robin red-breast on the snow was no longer appropriate, for the color of the bright bird had flown, leaving only the pallor of the snow.
Not long after his disappointment, Eogan had, according to his father’s wishes, married a noble lady of his own province, and had found full solace in the gentle ministrations of his beautiful wife, and the promise of his two sturdy sons. The old vehement sentiment for the princess was dead; but she ever remained an ideal for his chivalrous fancy. All sting of disappointment had been removed by the happiness that pervaded Hogan’s home; and by his father’s pride and pleasure in the two young heirs who had gladdened the old chief’s heart with the prospect of sending down his honored name, long after he slept in Cormac’s Chapel, in his beloved Cashel.
