--nay, I have cut deeper now! Hm;
it is hard to die, but sometimes it is harder still to live!

(SIGURD enters from the back.)

HIORDIS. Doubtless thou seekest Gunnar; be seated, he will be here
even now.

(Is going.)

SIGURD. Nay, stay; it is thee I seek, rather than him.

HIORDIS. Me?

SIGURD. And 'tis well I find thee alone.

HIORDIS. If thou comest to mock me, it would sure be no hindrance
to thee though the hall were full of men and women.

SIGURD. Ay, ay, well I know what thoughts thou hast of me.

HIORDIS (bitterly). I do thee wrong mayhap! Nay, nay, Sigurd, thou
hast been as a poison to all my days. Bethink thee who it was that
wrought that shameful guile; who it was that lay by my side in the
bower, feigning love with the laugh of cunning in his heart; who it
was that flung me forth to Gunnar, since for him I was good enough,
forsooth--and then sailed away with the woman he held dear!

SIGURD. Man's will can do this and that; but fate rules in the deeds
that shape our lives--so has it gone with us twain.

HIORDIS. True enough; evil Norns hold sway over the world; but their
might is little if they find not helpers in our own heart. Happy is
he who has strength to battle with the Norn--and it is that I have
now in hand.

SIGURD. What mean'st thou?

HIORDIS. I will essay a trial of strength against those--those who
are over me. But let us not talk more of this; I have much to do to-
day. (She seats herself at the table.)

SIGURD (after a pause). Thou makest good weapons for Gunnar.

HIORDIS (with a quiet smile). Not for Gunnar, but against thee.

SIGURD. Most like it is the same thing.

HIORDIS. Ay, most like it is; for if I be a match for the Norn,
then sooner or later shalt thou and Gunnar---- (breaks off, leans
backwards against the table, and says with an altered ring in her
voice:) Hm; knowest thou what I sometimes dream? I have often made
it my pastime to limn pleasant pictures in my mind; I sit and close
my eyes and think: Now comes Sigurd the Strong to the isle;--he will
burn us in our house, me and my husband. All Gunnar's men have
fallen; only he and I are left; they set light to the roof from
without:--"A bow-shot," cries Gunnar, "one bow-shot may save us;"--
then the bow-string breaks--"Hiordis, cut a tress of thy hair and
make a bow-string of it,--our life is at stake." But then I laugh--
"Let it burn, let it burn--to me, life is not worth a