I cannot tell; but men say that it was with the wild north winds that I
was brought to Bute, from the regions of frost and snow. Of my parentage
I know naught, saving only that Elspeth Blackfell has oft declared that
my parents were of noble station, and that they dwelt in the land of the
Norsemen."

"That you are of gentle blood I can well believe," said Kenric softly,
as he regarded her surpassing beauty. "But do you then remember nothing
of your earliest life?"

"All that yet lingers in my mind, my lord, is the memory of my mother,"
said Aasta. "She was wild and unruly as the winter storm, and cruel as
an angry wolf."

"And your father?"

"He was a viking, who, though he loved me passing well, was ever on the
sea, roving and fighting in his great ship."

"Whosoever you be, Aasta, and whencesoever you came," said Kenric, "I
now declare you to be free of your bondage. For the space of a year and
a day you shall remain upon Sir Oscar Redmain's lands as his paid
servant, but not as his thrall, and at the end of that time the Abbot of
St. Blane's shall give you in marriage to the brave man who will then
claim you, and you shall be that man's lawful wedded wife."

Then, when Duncan Graham led the maid away, Kenric asked if there yet
remained any man there present who had any claim to make, or grievance
to be redressed; at which David Blair, a rich farmer of Scalpsie, called
for judgment upon one who had done him a wrong.