it to you!--I was enwrapped, encircled, dazzled, by Aslauga's
golden tresses, which were waving all around me. Even my noble steed
must have beheld the apparition, for I felt him start and rear under
me. I saw you no more--the world no more--I saw only the angel-face of
Aslauga close before me, smiling, blooming like a flower in a sea of
sunshine which floated round her. My senses failed me. Not till you
raised me from beneath my horse did my consciousness return, and then I
knew, with exceeding joy, that her own gracious pleasure had struck me
down. But I felt a strange weariness, far greater than my fall alone
could have caused, and I felt assured at the same time that my lady was
about to send me on a far-distant mission. I hastened to repose myself
in my chamber, and a deep sleep immediately fell upon me. Then came
Aslauga in a dream to me, more royally adorned than ever; she placed
herself at the head of my couch, and said, 'Haste to array thyself
in all the splendour of thy silver armour, for thou art not the
wedding-guest alone, thou art also the--'

"And before she could speak the word my dream had melted away, and I
felt a longing desire to fulfil her gracious command, and rejoiced in my
heart. But in the midst of the festival I seemed to myself more lonely
than in all my life before, and I cannot cease to ponder what that
unspoken word of my lady could be intended to announce."

"You are of a far loftier spirit than I am, Froda," said Edwald, after
a silence, "and I cannot soar with you into the sphere of your joys. But
tell me, has it never awakened a deep pang within you that you serve a
lady so withdrawn from you--alas! a lady who is almost ever invisible?"

"No, Edwald, not so," answered Froda, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
"For well I know that she scorns not my service; she has even deigned
sometimes to appear to me. Oh, I am in truth a happy knight and
minstrel!"

"And yet your silence to-day--your troubled yearnings?"

"Not troubled, dear Edchen; only so heartfelt, so fervent in the depth
of my heart--and so strangely mysterious to myself withal. But this,
with all belonging to me, springs alike from the words and commands of
Aslauga. How, then, can it be otherwise than something good and fair,
and tending to a high and noble aim?"

A squire, who had hastened after them, announced that the knightly
bridegroom was expected for the torch-dance, and as they returned,
Edwald entreated his friend