o proclaimed that never had they seen so
lordly a midsummer feast celebrated, neither at home, nor in the halls
of any other host.

Halfred sat with a joyful heart in the seat of honour. He signed to his
harp-bearer to bring him his silver harp, for he wished at the last, to
requite the laudations of the Skalds and the praises of the guests with
thanks and a song of welcome.... And then began that catastrophe which
was to overwhelm Halfred and his house, and the men of Tiunderland, and
all the guests, and many other men and women, altogether strange and
far away, who had never even seen or heard of Halfred and Harthild, in
blood and fire.

That is to say, the great door of the hall, exactly opposite to the
seat of honour opened, and Dame Harthild strode in.

Haughtily erect she walked, her head thrown back. A long black mantle
was wrapped around her head and neck and breast, and her whole body; it
floated trailing after her, like the curling wave behind a ship's
stern.

And Halfred said to one it seemed to him, then, as if the most fearful
of the Fates was striding through the hall.

Straight up the hall she passed, followed by Sudha and her women, her
glance fixed upon Halfred.

Slowly, silently, she ascended the six steps of the dais, and paused
straight before Halfred at the table. Only the heavy candelabrum stood
between the two.

But all the men in the hall sat speechless, and gazed up at the black
woman, who looked like a dark thunder cloud.

"Halfred Hamundson," she began--and her voice was loud, yet
toneless--"Answers I demand to two questions, before these ten hundred
hearers in thy hall. Lie not to me."

The blood rose to Halfred's brow, and he felt his temple veins throb
heavily. "If I speak or act," he said to himself, "I know neither what
I should say nor do. Therefore I will keep silence and do nothing."

But Harthild, with her left hand pressed upon her thigh,
continued--"Didst thou, in that first night, when I held thy hand firm
upon my girdle, and asked thee if thou lovedst me, say Yes or No?
Answer me Sigskald. I and the gods know about that."

"Yes," said Halfred, and knitted his brows.

"And is it true, as Vandrad the Skald has sworn, that here, in this
hall, at the Yule feast, after many horns of mead, thou didst vow, as a
wanton wager, that before the midsummer tide, thou would break in the
breaker of men's wits like a stubborn horse, and that to make good
these boasting words thou