do otherwise now that by God's justice the wheel has come round at
last?" I added, pointing to the hollows beneath my brows where the eyes
once had been.

"Oh! Olaf," she said, "if I harmed you, you know well it was because I
loved you."

"Then God send that no woman ever loves me in such a fashion," broke in
Jodd.

"Olaf," she continued, taking no note of him, "once you went very near
to loving me also, on that night when you would have eaten the poisoned
figs to save my son, the Emperor. At least, you kissed me. If you
forget, I cannot. Olaf, can you blind a woman whom you have kissed?"

"Kissing takes two, and I know that you blinded him," muttered Jodd,
"for I crucified the brutes you commanded to do the deed to which they
confessed."

"Olaf, I admit that I treated you ill; I admit that I would have killed
you; but, believe me, it was jealousy and naught but jealousy which
drove me on. Almost as soon would I have killed myself; indeed, I
thought of it."

"And there the matter ended," said Jodd. "It was Olaf who walked the
Hall of the Pit, not you. We found him on the brink of the hole."

"Olaf, after I regained my power----"

"By blinding your own son," said Jodd, "for which you will have an
account to settle one day."

"----I dealt well with you. Knowing that you had married my rival, for
I kept myself informed of all you did, still I lifted no hand against
you----"

"What good was a maimed man to you when you were courting the Emperor
Charlemagne?" asked Jodd.

Now at last she turned on him, saying,

"Well is it for you, Barbarian, that if only for a while Fate has reft
power from my hands. Oh! this is the bitterest drop in all my cup,
that I who for a score of years ruled the world must live to suffer the
insults of such as you."

"Then why not die and have done?" asked the imperturbable Jodd. "Or, if
you lack the courage, why not submit to the decree of the Emperor, as
so many have submitted to your decree, instead of troubling the general
here with prayers for mercy? It would serve as well."

"Jodd," I said, "I command you to be silent. This lady is in trouble;
attack those in power, if you will, not those who have fallen."

"There speaks the man I loved," said Irene. "What perverse fate kept us
apart, Olaf? Had you taken what I offered, by now you and I would have
ruled the world."

"Perhaps, Madam; yet it is right I should say that I do not regret my
choice, although because of it I can