It was my belief that you were entertaining yourself with getting
property in Mercia, else would I have left all to come to you."
Canute half pressed the huge paw and then half spurned it. "It was in my mind
to give you a great scolding when I got you again. I thought you had drunk
sea-water and blood out of a magic horn and forgotten me utterly. You must
have gotten yourself fitted out for the rest of your life since at last you
were willing to leave."
"Lord," Rothgar began, "I have come back to you as poor as I went--"
But the King interrupted him, as at that moment, in the figure hesitating at
the door, he recognized his missing ward. "Say not so, when you have brought
back the bright blade we mourned as lost!" He put out his other hand with a
gleam of pleasure in his changeful eyes. "Welcome to you, Fridtjof the Bold! I
should like to believe that you are as glad to return to me as I am glad to
receive you."
As she stood there watching him, Randalin had been undergoing a strange
transformation. For four months she had almost forgotten his existence, he had
been little more than an empty name, while she gave every energy of mind and
heart to the things about her. But now, behold! One sight of his life-full
face, one moment in his dominating presence, and those months were swept into
the land of dreams. His deeds alone appeared vital; he alone seemed real.
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