held before, vast
and dim by the silent bautastein, and I will stand by thy side. Fain
would I know if thou hast deceived me and thyself; or if, in truth, to
man's guidance Heaven doth vouchsafe saga and rede from those who have
passed into the secret shores of Eternity."

"The dead," answered Hilda, "will not reveal themselves to eyes
uninitiate save at their own will, uncompelled by charm and rune. To me
their forms can appear distinct through the airy flame; to me, duly
prepared by spells that purge the eye of the spirit, and loosen the walls
of the flesh. I cannot say that what I see in the trance and the travail
of my soul, thou also wilt behold; or even when the vision hath passed
from my sight, and the voice from my ear, only memories, confused and
dim, of what I saw and heard, remain to guide the waking and common life.
But thou shalt stand by my side while I invoke the phantom, and hear and
interpret the words which rush from my lips, and the runes that take
meaning from the sparks of the charmed fire. I knew ere thou camest, by
the darkness and trouble of Edith's soul, that some shade from the
Ash-tree of Life had fallen upon thine."

Then Harold related what had passed, and placed before Hilda the doubts
that beset him.

The Prophetess listened with earnest attention; but her mind, when not
under its more mystic influences, being strongly biassed by its natural
courage and ambition, she saw at a glance all the advantages towards
securing the throne predestined to Harold, which might be effected by his
visit to the Norman court, and she held in too great disdain both the
worldly sense and the mystic reveries of the monkish king (for the
believer in Odin was naturally incredulous of the visitation of the
Christian saints) to attach much weight to his dreary predictions.

The short reply she made was therefore not calculated to deter Harold
from the expedition in dispute. But she deferred till the following
night, and to wisdom more dread than her own, the counsels that should
sway his decision.

With a strange satisfaction at the thought that he should, at least, test
personally the reality of those assumptions of preternatural power which
had of late coloured his resolves and oppressed his heart, Harold then
took leave of the Vala, who returned mechanically to her employment; and,
leading his horse by the reins, lowly continued his musing way towards
the green knoll and its heathen ruins. But ere he