e
parapet staring at the sea and wondering how the plains of Aar looked
that night beneath this selfsame moon, and whether Freydisa were dead
by now, and whom Iduna had married, and if she ever thought of me, or if
Steinar came to haunt her sleep.

So I mused, till presently I felt a light touch upon my shoulder, and
swung round to find myself face to face with the Empress Irene herself.

"Augusta!" I said, saluting, for, as Empress, that was her Roman title,
even though she was a Greek.

"You guard me well, friend Olaf," she said, with a little laugh. "Why,
any enemy, and Christ knows I have plenty, could have cut you down
before ever you knew that he was there."

"Not so, Augusta," I answered, for I could speak their Greek tongue
well; "since at the end of the terrace the guards stand night and day,
men of my own blood who can be trusted. Nothing which does not fly could
gain this place save through your own chambers, that are also guarded.
It is not usual for any watch to be set here, still I came myself in
case the Empress might need me."

"That is kind of you, my Captain Olaf, and I think I do need you. At
least, I cannot sleep in this heat, and I am weary of the thoughts of
State, for many matters trouble me just now. Come, change my mind, if
you can, for if so I'll thank you. Tell me of yourself when you were
young. Why did you leave your northern home, where I've heard you were a
barbarian chief, and wander hither to Byzantium?"

"Because of a woman," I answered.

"Ah!" she said, clapping her hands; "I knew it. Tell me of this woman
whom you love."

"The story is short, Augusta. She bewitched my foster-brother, and
caused him to be sacrificed to the northern gods as a troth-breaker, and
I do not love her."

"You'd not admit it if you did, Olaf. Was she beautiful, well, say as I
am?"

I turned and looked at the Empress, studying her from head to foot. She
was shorter than Iduna by some inches, also older, and therefore of a
thicker build; but, being a fair Greek, her colour was much the same,
save that the eyes were darker. The mouth, too, was more hard. For the
rest, she was a royal-looking and lovely woman in the flower of her age,
and splendidly attired in robes broidered with gold, over which she wore
long strings of rounded pearls. Her rippling golden hair was dressed in
the old Greek fashion, tied in a simple knot behind her head, and over
it was thrown a light veil worked with golden stars.