composure.

"If you wish to give a friend a present, King, you should not throw it at him
so angrily," he suggested. "Had you given me the sheath too, your gift would
have been doubly dear."


The fiery spots in Canute's cheeks deepened and spread. He turned away without
answering, and stood a long time beating his fingers on the table in a sharp
tattoo.

What does it mean, the pause that follows the storm, when Nature's accumulated
discontent has vented itself in a passionate outbreak? The trees stand
motionless, with hanging heads; the blue of the clearing sky is divinely
tender; under the spangling drops, the flowers look up like tear-filled eyes.
Does it mean repentance, or only exhaustion?

Gradually the color flowed back to the young King's eyes and softened them;
gradually his mouth relaxed from its fierce lines and drooped in bitter
curves. When at last his fingers stopped their nervous beat, it was to
unfasten the sheath of chased gold which was attached to his waist, and
stretch it out to Rothgar.

"Have it your own way," he said gravely. "It is right that I pay some fine; I
have a troll's temper. Take the sheath. But do not make the mistake again of
laughing at me because you cannot understand me. But one person may do that
and live; and that person is a woman, and my wife... There is a strange
feeling in my heart that we have begun to travel different paths, you and I,--
and that it is because we no longer walk on the same level of ground, that we
no longer see any object in the same light... And my mind tells me that in