greetings for me, from Owen first, and
afterward from Howel and from Nona, and I will not say much of
them. If one knows what it is to see a father whom one had left
weak and ill, strong and well and fully himself again; if one has
met a good friend after absence; if one knows what it may be to see
again the one who is dearest in thought, there is no need for me to
try and tell the greeting, and if not, I could not make it
understood. Let it be therefore. It was all that I looked for, and
I was more than content.

And yet, for all that, it was a long week before I dared to tell
Nona that which I would, and how I did so is another thing that I
cannot set down. Maybe all that I need say is that I need not have
feared, and that the new hall at Taunton waited for its mistress
from that hour forward.

And so at length I knew that I must be away, and I rode to Tenby to
see Thorgils, and found him in the haven, begrimed and happy, with
men and boys round him at work on the ship everywhere, painting and
scraping in such wise that I hardly knew her. From stem to stern
she was bright green instead of her sea-stained rusty black, and a
broad gilt band ran along her side below the oar ports. A great red
and gold dragon from one of the warships of the Danes reared its
crest on the stem head, while its tail curved in red and gold over
the stern post, and even the mast was painted in red and white
bands, and had a new gilt dog vane at its head.

"Here is finery, comrade," I said. "What is the meaning thereof?"

"Well, if you know not, no man knows. I have a new coat for
tomorrow's wedding, and it is only fit that the ship that takes
home the bride should have one also. Wherefore the old craft will
be somewhat to sing about by the time I have done with her."

Then he showed me a new red-striped sail that Eric had given him,
and an awning for the after deck which the women of the town had
wrought for the shelter of the princess whom they loved. It seemed
like a good speeding to Nona and to me.

And so it was at the end of a fortnight thereafter. It would be
long to tell of the morrow's wedding, and then of days at Pembroke
before we sailed, passed all too quickly for me. But at last we
stood with Owen on the deck of the good ship while all the shore
buzzed with folk, Welsh and Danish alike, who watched us pass from
Dyfed to the Devon coast, cheering and waving with mighty goodwill,
and only Howel seemed lonely as he sat on his