Suddenly it came over her, in a burst of heavenly relief,
that this hand had lifted the burden of vengeance forever. Even Fridtjof could
not be so unreasonable as to ask more of her, so plainly was it Odin's will
that justice should be left for Canute. She had done her duty, and yet she was
free of it free of it! Her heart burst out singing within her, and the eyes
she raised toward her captor were adoring in their gratitude.
The look she met in return was the same look of mingled strength and
gentleness which had come through the starlight to answer her question. Once
again that calm of weary trustfulness settled over her. Since he had saved her
from the dead, she had no doubt whatever of his ability to save her from the
living. Her head drooped against his arm, and her hands, ceasing their
struggles, rested in his grasp like folded wings.
It had not taken a moment; the instant Norman finished his explanation, the
Etheling was speaking quietly: "As the Lord of Baddeby says, King Edmund, it
was I who stayed the boy's hand, and it was I also who fetched him into camp.
I found him after the battle, bleeding his life out in the bushes, and I
brought him in my arms, like a kitten, and dropped him down by my fire. Waking
in the night and missing him, I traced him hither. As I have had all to do
with him in the past, so, if you will grant that I may keep him, will I take
his future upon me.
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