'"
"And what says to that, Torfrida, Hereward's queen?"
"You will not be angry if I answered the letter for you?"
"If you answered it one way,--no. If another,--yes."
Torfrida trembled. Then she looked Hereward full in the face with her keen
clear eyes.
"Now shall I see whether I have given myself to Hereward in vain, body and
soul, or whether I have trained him to be my true and perfect knight."
"You answered, then," said Hereward, "thus--"
"Say on," said she, turning her face away again.
"Hereward Leofricsson tells Harold Godwinsson that he is his equal, and
not his man; and that he will never put his hands between the hands of a
son of Godwin. An Etheling born, a king of the house of Cerdic, outlawed
him from his right, and none but an Etheling born shall give him his right
again."
"I said it, I said it. Those were my very words!" and Torfrida burst into
tears, while Hereward kissed her, almost fawned upon her, calling her his
queen, his saga-wife, his guardian angel.
"I was sorely tempted," sobbed she. "Sorely. To see you, rich and proud,
upon your own lands, an earl may be,--may be, I thought at whiles, a king.
But it could not be. It did not stand with honor, my hero,--not with
honor."
"Not with honor. Get me gay garments out of the chest, and let us go in
royally, and royally feast my jolly riders.
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