thin cheeks and the pain-lines around her mouth, and the full force of
his indignation rang out in his voice. "To us it meant life or death,
heaven or hell,--was it worthy of a man like you to find amusement in
our suffering?"

Though it was as faint as the rustling of leaves, unmistakable applause
swept around. Rolf dared to clap his hands softly.

The chief replied by a direct question, as he leaned back against the
maple and eyed his young rebel piercingly. "Befooling and bejuggling
were the drinks you prepared for me; was it not just that you should
learn from experience how sour a taste they leave in the mouth?"

Though moment after moment dragged by, Alwin did not answer that. His
eyes fell to the ground, and he stood with bent head and clenched hands.

The chief went on. "You who could so easily fathom the workings of my
mind, should have no need to ask my motives. It may be that I found
entertainment in playing you like a fish on a line. Or it may be that I
was not altogether sure of my ground, and waited to be certain before I
stepped. Or perhaps I was curious to see what you would do next, and
felt able to gratify my curiosity since I knew that, through all your
antics, I held you securely in the hollow of my hand. Or perhaps--" Leif
hesitated for an instant, and there crept into his voice a note so
unusual that all stared at him,--"or perhaps, in becoming sure of my
ground, I became uncertain of the honor of the man whom I wished to
place highest in my friendship, and so deemed it wisest to remain under
cover until he should reveal all the hidden parts of his nature. It may
have been for any or all of these reasons. You, who have come nearer to
me than any man alive, should have no difficulty in selecting the true
one."

Was it possible that reproach rang in those last words? It sounded so
strangely like it, that Tyrker involuntarily curved his hand around his
ear to amend some flaw in his hearing.

Alwin's face underwent a great change. Suddenly he flung his arms apart
in a gesture of utter surrender.

"I will strive against you no longer!" he cried, passionately. "You are
as much superior to me as the King to his link-boy. Do as you like with
me. I submit to you in everything." He fell upon his knee and hid his
face in his hands.

Then the tone of Leif's voice became so frankly friendly that Helga's
beautiful head was raised as a drooping flower's by the soft spring
rain.

"Already you have heard