f the dream and of him whom she saw in it bided with
her, until it was time for her to go to the great hall for the feast of
the Witan.

Now it happened that on this night I must be one of the two housecarls
who should stand, torch in hand, behind the king. It was a place that
none of the men cared for much, since they saw their comrades feasting
at the end of the room, while they must bide hungry till the end, and
mind that no sparks from the flaring pine fell on the guests, moreover.
Eglaf would have excused me this had I wished; but I would take my turn
with the rest, and maybe did not mind losing the best of the feast so
much as the others. There were some three hundred guests at that feast,
and it was a wondrous fair sight to me as I stood on the high place and
saw them gather. The long table behind which I was ran right across the
dais, rich with gold and silver and glass work: and below this, all down
the hall, ran long tables again, set lengthwise, that none might have
their backs to the king. And at the end of the hall, crosswise, were the
tables for the housecarls, and the men of the house, and of the thanes
who were guests. And as the housecarls came in they hung their shields
and weapons on the walls in order, so that they flashed bright from
above the hangings that Berthun and his men had set up afresh and more
gaily than I had seen yet in this place.

There was a fire on the great hearth in the midst of the hall; but as it
was high summer, only a little one, and over it were no cauldrons, as
there would have been in the winter. Berthun was doing his cookery
elsewhere. But between the tables were spaces where his thralls and the
women could pass as they bore round the food and drink. And backwards
and forwards among them went Berthun until the very last, anxious and
important, seeing that all was right, and showing one guest after
another to their places. No light matter was that either, for to set a
thane in too low a place for his rank was likely to be a cause of strife
and complaint. Also he must know if there were old feuds still
remembered, lest he should set deadly enemies side by side. I did not
envy him, by any means.

When it seemed that there were few more guests to come, and only half a
dozen seats were vacant on the high place, Berthun passed into the room
beyond the hall, and at once a hush fell on the noisy folk, who had been
talking to one another as though they had never met before. The gl