e should
ever be able to get down to the Borg pier before they were gone."

Glory Goldie stood stock still. "You let him ride with you, of
course?" she said.

"Oh, yes," replied Linn art. "Jan once did me a good turn and I
wanted to repay it. Perhaps I did wrong in giving him a lift?"

"No, indeed!" said Glory Goldie. "It was I who did wrong in
attempting to leave him."

"He wept like a child the whole time he sat in the wagon. I didn't
know what to do to comfort him, but at last I said, 'Don't cry like
that, Jan! We'll surely overtake her. Besides, these little freight
steamers that run in the autumn are never on time.' No sooner had I
said that than he laid his hand on my arm and asked me if I thought
they would be harsh and cruel toward the Empress--those who had
carried her off."

"Those who had carried me off!" repeated Glory Goldie in
astonishment.

"I was as much astonished at that as you are," Linnart declared,
"and I asked him what he meant. Well, he meant those who had lain
in wait for the Empress while she was at home--all the enemies of
whom Glory Goldie had been so afraid that she had not dared to put
on her gold crown or so much as mention Portugallia, and who had
finally overpowered her and carried her into captivity."

"So that was it!"

"Yes, just that. You understand of course that your father did not
weep because he had been deserted and left alone, but because he
thought you were in peril." It had been a little hard for Linnart
to come out with the last few words; they wanted to stick in his
throat. Perhaps he was thinking of old Bjoern Hindrickson and
himself, for there was that in his own life which had taught him
the true worth of a love that never fails you.

But Glory Goldie did not yet understand. She had thought of her
father only with aversion and dread since her return and muttered
something about his being a madman.

Linnart heard what she said, and it hurt him. "I'm not so sure that
Jan was mad!" he retorted. "I told him that I hadn't seen any
gaolers around Glory Goldie. 'My good Linnart,' he then said,
'didn't you notice how closely they guarded her when she drove by?
They were Pride and Hardness, Lust and Vice, all the enemies she
has to battle against back there in her Empire.'"

Glory Goldie stopped a moment and turned toward Linnart. "Well?"
was all she said.

"I replied that these enemies I, too, had seen," returned Linnart
Hindrickson curtly.

The girl gave a sh