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The Witan must know who your husband shall be. And that is reasonable, for he will have a share in ruling the kingdom." Then said Goldberga, "They need have no fear in that matter, for I will wed none but a king or the heir of a king." "Well," said Alsi, dryly enough, "they are not so plentiful as are blackberries, and there may be two words to that."
He spoke to the earl, and he too counted the odds before him, and he smiled a little to himself. He had not much to say to Alsi. Then broke out a thunderous cheer from all our men, for with Havelok and Sigurd at her horse's rein, and with Withelm's courtmen of her own guard behind her, came Goldberga the queen to speak with the man who had broken his trust.
Slowly he rose as the king held it out to him, and he took it from his hand and stood before Goldberga; and she, too, rose and faced him, and for a moment they stood thus, surely the most handsome couple that had ever been. Then Havelok said, looking in the clear eyes of the princess, "This have I sworn, that I will wed no unwilling bride.
"I am glad of it. But I will say that I am somewhat surprised." And that was true, for this message seemed to Alsi to be nothing more or less than that Goldberga would marry his man. When he thought for a moment, however, he saw that it could not be thus; and also, it was plain to him what the poor girl had in her mind. And now he chuckled to think what a weapon he had against her.
I tell you that every man in the land will follow him and Goldberga if they so much as lift their finger. Done are the days of your kingship, and that by your own deed." Alsi grows white at this and trembles, for he minds the wondrous ring and the names of the Asir, but he asks for more certainty.
Now there was feasting enough, and somewhere they found at a thane's house a great tent, and they set that up, so that Havelok and Goldberga might have their own court round them, as it were. Gladly did Berthun rid himself of war gear and take to his old trade again. I suppose that the little Tetford valley had never heard the like sounds of rejoicing before.
Alsi was going to his seat in the cross bench, where the parents of the couple are wont to sit at a wedding while the vows are made, but he seemed to bethink himself. It is my belief that he said what he did in order to shame both Havelok and Goldberga. "Why, it is not seemly that the bridegroom should sit alone without one to be by him. Where are your friends, Curan?"
What news from our good town of Norwich?" He held out his hand to Ragnar, who took it frankly, and his strong grip twisted the king's set smile into a grin of pain for a moment. "All was well there three weeks ago when I left there to go to London. Now, I have ridden on to say that the Lady Goldberga is not far hence, so that her coming may be prepared for."
Then Havelok called Goldberga from her cabin under the after deck, and the jarl greeted her in most courtly wise. "I will trust it with you, Jarl Sigurd," she said, when he asked her if he might keep the ring for a time. "Yet it is a great trust, as you know, and it will be well to show the ring to none but men who are true."
It was more, for he had seen her grow white and troubled as she looked on him, and he had seen her bear well whatever pain had caused that; and he had known that in the one sight he had of Goldberga somewhat had taught him what it was to have one face unforgotten in his mind.
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