the cup falls, and all is ended."

Alsi started at that, and I thought he was going to speak, but he held
his peace. Still as a rock was Havelok while he waited for the answer,
and the folk in the hall were as still as he. They began to see that all
was not right as the king would have it thought.

Once the princess looked at Alsi, and that with pride in her face, and
then she looked long and steadfastly at Havelok, and one by one his
fingers loosened themselves on the golden stem of the cup, that she
might know him ready for her word.

Then she put forth her hand and closed it round his strong fingers, that
he must hold it fast by her doing, and that was all that was needed. It
was more than words could have told. And she smiled as she did it.

And at that a light came on Havelok's face, and he smiled gravely back
at her, and he said in a low voice that shook a little, "May the gods so
treat me as I treat you, my princess. Can it be that you will trust me
thus?"

She answered in no words, but I saw her hand tighten over his, and her
eyes never left his face.

Then Havelok raised his other hand, and took that of Goldberga, which
was on the cup, and faced to the people.

"Thus do I pledge her who shall be henceforward my wife through good and
ill; and may Odin, Freya, and Niord be witnesses of my oath of faith to
her in all that the word may mean."

So he drank, and I stole a glance at the king. Never saw I a man so
amazed, for to him the Danish names of the Asir had come as some sort of
a shock, seeing that he had deemed this man, with the name of Curan, a
Briton. And he looked at Berthun with a look that seemed to say more
than was likely to be pleasant by-and-by. But the steward paid no heed
to him.

Now Havelok had made his vow, and he gave the cup to the princess; and
she, too, turned a little toward the people, but still she looked on
Havelok.

"Faith shall answer to faith," she said in a clear voice. "Here do I
take this man for my husband, in the sight of God, and with you all as
witnesses, and I pray that the blessing of Him may be on us both."

So she drank also, and Havelok stopped and raised the wondrous ring from
where it had been unheeded on the floor, and took the band of Goldberga,
and set it on her finger, and kissed the hand ere he let it go.

But Goldberga lifted her face toward him, and he bent and kissed her
forehead, and so they were wedded.

I have heard men scoff at the thought of