lone to tell the story," he said. "For all that you
will have to clear yourself, for on no terms will I allow your shameful
deeds to go unpunished."

"It seems," she said, "that you require the very thing which I would
myself propose. It will please me well to show the falsehood of this
accusation, which has been so thoroughly aired that I shall be disgraced
if I cannot refute it."

"At the same time," he said, "you will have to deny that you have
expended my money and my property."

She replied: "At the time when I clear myself I will refute all the
matters which you brought against me, and you may consider how it will
all end. I mean to go at once, to-morrow morning, before the bishop that
he may grant me full compurgation from this charge."

Her husband was satisfied with this and went away with his men.

In the meantime Thorsteinn had swum away from the house and landed at a
convenient place, where he got a firebrand and held it aloft so that
it could be seen from the lady's house. She stayed long outside in the
evening and the night, for she was anxious to know whether Thorsteinn
had reached the land. When she saw the light she knew that he had
landed, for that was the signal which they had agreed upon.

The next morning Spes proposed to her husband that they should speak
with the bishop on their matter. This he was quite ready to do, so they
went before the bishop and Sigurd repeated his accusation. The bishop
asked whether she had ever been accused of misbehaviour before, but
nobody had heard of such a thing. Then he asked upon what evidence this
charge was brought against her, and Sigurd produced the men who had
seen her sitting in a room with the door locked and a man with her.
Her husband said that this was ground enough for supposing that the man
meant to seduce her.

The bishop said that she might very well purge herself from this
accusation if she so desired. She replied that she desired it very much.
"I hope," she said, "that I shall have many women to swear for me on
this charge."

The form of the oath which she was to swear was then communicated to her
and the day for the compurgation fixed. She returned home and was quite
happy. She and Thorsteinn met and laid their plans.

ENDNOTES:

[Footnote 3: The same Harald who, as King of Norway, would later
challenge King Harald I for the throne of England. He lost at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge--three weeks before Hastings (A.D. 1066).]