chapel, a tall, young shape against the gloom behind, I said in a steady
voice:

"I dare deny!"

A gasp of wonderment went up from all who heard, and Steinar, lifting
himself a little from the stone, stared at me, shook his head as if in
dissent, then let it fall again, and listened.

"Hearken, friends," I said. "This man, my foster-brother, has committed
a sin against me and my House. My House is dead--I alone remain; and on
behalf of the dead and of myself I forgive him his sin, which, indeed,
was less his than another's. Is there any man among you who at some time
has not been led aside by woman, or who has not again and again desired
to be so led aside? If such a one there be, let him say that he has no
forgiveness in his heart for Steinar, the son of Hakon. Let him come
forward and say it."

None stirred; even the women drooped their heads and were silent.

"Then, if this is so," I went on, "and you can forgive, as I do, how
much more should a god forgive? What is a god? Is he not one greater
than man, who must know all the weakness of man, which, for his own
ends, he has bred into the flesh of man? How, then, can he do otherwise
than be pitiful to what he has created? If this be so, how can the
god refuse that which men are willing to grant, and what sacrifice can
please him better than the foregoing of his own vengeance? Would a god
wish to be outdone by a man? If I, Olaf, the man can forgive, who have
been wronged, how much more can Odin the god forgive, who has suffered
no wrong save that of the breaking of those laws which will ever be