and custom have so grievously
offended our true God that even in his compassion and mercy he shall
not find pardon for me. Therefore I would have thee fetch--since I
shall die this night and do require of thee this last act of
kindness--I would have thee fetch that same fair velvet skin from
yonder oak-tree, and wrap me therein, and bear me hence, and lay me
upon the green holm by the farther haven, for this is dancing night,
and the seal-folk shall come from the sea as is their wont. Thou shalt
lay me, so wrapped within that fair velvet skin, upon that holm, and
thou shalt go a space aside and watch throughout the night, coming not
anear me (as thou lovest me!) until the dawn breaks, nor shalt thou
make any outcry, but thou shalt wait until the night is sped. Then,
when thou comest at daybreak to the holm, if thou findest me in the
fair velvet skin thou shalt know that my sin hath been pardoned; but if
I be not there thou may'st know that, being a Pagan, the seal-folk have
borne me back into the sea unto my kind. Thus do I require of thee;
swear so to do, and let thy beloved bless thee."

So Harold swore to do, and so he did. Straightway he went to the
oak-tree and took from the hollow thereof the fair velvet skin; seeing
which deed, the raven flew away and was never thereafter seen in these
islands. And with a heavy heart, and with full many a caress and word
of love, did Harold bind his fair wife in that same velvet skin, and he
bore her to his boat, and they went together upon the waters; for he
had sworn so to do. His course unto the haven lay as before over the
waters that stole in between the two islands from the great troubled
sea beyond. Fair shone the moon, and the night was passing fair; the
shadows lay asleep, like little weary children, in the valleys, and the
waters moaned, and the winds rebuked the white fingers that stretched
up from the waves to clutch them. And when they were come to the inner
shore of the haven, Harold took his wife and bore her up the bank and
laid her where the light came down from the moon and slept full sweetly
upon the fragrant sward. Then, kissing her, he went his way and sat
behind the Stennis stones a goodly space beyond, and there he kept his
watch, as he had sworn to do.

Now wit ye well a grievous heavy watch it was that night, for his heart
yearned for that beloved wife that lay that while upon the fair green
holm,--ay, never before had night seemed so long to H