e young man quietly, as if
ashamed.

"Dost thou think that I did not see, in the conquered Juvavum, with
what eyes thou didst gaze at every Roman maiden who looked at thee?
Many of them, I think, would not have struggled much in thy arms."

"What, Haduwalt! Force! Force towards a woman!"

"Eh! by Berahta and Holda! it would not need _much_ force. But these
black-haired, yellow-skinned, lean cats are nothing to my king's son;
they would ruin the whole race. But, Adalagardis! prosperity to thee
and to us if she becomes thy wife. I should imagine the shield-maidens
of Wotan to be like her! Hardly a finger's breadth shorter than thou,
fair hair floating around her to the ankles, like a king's golden
mantle, arms round, full and white as Alpine snow, joyful, sparkling
eyes, clear as the sky in spring, and a proudly-arched, heaving bosom.
By Fulla, the exuberantly strong and beautiful! that is the right
king's wife for the Alemanni! Why didst thou not go long ere this and
woo her?"

"Thou forgettest; I have never seen her. Her father said: 'I will
invite thee when I hold my court at Regina Castra.' Yet she may be the
happiness, uncertain and yet ardently longed for, the Saelde that I
seek. Stop! Here we are at our goal. This is the entrance.--But what is
this? This house seems inhospitable. The entrance is barricaded with
slabs of stone."

"Ha, now," laughed the old man. "I cannot blame them, the house-folk,
for shutting out such guests as Haduwalt and his thirst. But they are
not to be kept back so easily. Not Haduwalt, Hadumar's son--and still
less his thirst. Down with the stones!"

And he had already seized with a strong hand one of the piled-up marble
slabs, to throw them inwards.

"Stay!" cried Liuthari, "look!--on the topmost slab of the barricade
there is something written; perhaps the name of the house. I think I
can yet see to read it."

"I could not read it," laughed the other, "even if the sun stood high
at noon. What do the Runes say?"

And Liuthari read--slowly, laboriously, deciphering letter by letter:

"Hic--habitat--felicitas--nihil--mali intret."

Struck with surprise, motionless, the young man was silent for a while.
His heart beat--the blood rose throbbing in his temples.

"How strange!" said he then to himself. "Here dwells happiness--the
happiness that I am seeking? And the shooting star--did it on that
account guide here my steps?"

"Now, by the wondering Wotan," said Haduwalt, "have t