war would come of
it that might mean all our deaths. But these things moved him nothing.
Then I told him that such a deed of shame would mean the loss of
Steinar's lordship, so that by it he would gain no profit. At last he
listened, for this touched him near. You know the rest. Thorvald, your
father, and Ragnar, who ever hated me, pressed on the war despite all
our offerings of peace. So the ships met, and Hela had her fill."

"Aye, Iduna, whatever else is false, this is true, that Hela had her
fill."

"Olaf, I have but one thing more to say. It is this: Only once did those
dead lips touch mine, and then it was against my will. Aye, although it
is shameful, you must learn the truth. My father held me, Olaf, while I
took the betrothal kiss, because I must. But, as you know, there was no
marriage."

"Aye, I know that," I said, "because Steinar told me so."

"And, save for that one kiss, Olaf, I am still the maid whom once you
loved so well."

Now I stared at her. Could this woman lie so blackly over dead Steinar's
corpse? When all was said and done, was it not possible that she spoke
the truth, and that we had been but playthings in the hands of an evil
Fate? Save for some trifling error, which might be forgiven to one who,
as she said, loved the worship that was her beauty's due, what if she
were innocent, after all?

Perhaps my face showed the thoughts that were passing through my mind.
At the least, she who knew me well found skill to read them. She crept
towards me, still on her knees; she cast her arms about me, and, resting
her weight upon me, drew herself to her feet.

"Olaf," she whispered, "I love you, I love you well, as I have always
done, though I may have erred a little, as women wayward and still unwed
are apt to do. Olaf, they told me yonder how you had matched yourself
against the god, with his priests for judges, and smitten him, and I
thought this the greatest deed that ever I have known. I used to think
you something of a weakling, Olaf, not in your body but in your mind,
one lost in music and in runes, who feared to put things to the touch
of war; but you have shown me otherwise. You slew the bear; you overcame
Steinar, who was so much stronger than you are, in the battle of the
ships; and now you have bearded Odin, the All-father. Look, his head
lies there, hewn off by you for the sake of one who, after all, had done
you wrong. Olaf, such a deed as that touches a woman's heart, and he
who d