times exiled for manslaughter which surprises me,--it is that he was not
exiled thirty times."

Alwin looked curiously at the plump matron, with the stately head-dress
of white linen and the bunch of jingling keys at her girdle, and had a
surprise of a different kind. Certainly there were no soft curves in her
resolute mouth, and her eyes were as keen as Leif's; yet it was neither
a cruel face nor a shrewish one. It was full of truth and strength, and
there was comeliness in her broad smooth brow and in the unfaded roses
of her cheeks. Ah, and now that the keen eyes had fallen upon Leif, they
were no longer sharp; they were soft and deep with mother-love, and
radiant with pride. Her hands stirred as though they could not wait to
touch him.

There was a pause of some decorum, while the chief embraced his parents;
then the tumult burst forth. No man could hear himself, much less his
neighbor.

Under cover of the confusion, Alwin approached Helga. Having no
greetings of his own to occupy him, he made over his interest to others.
The shield-maiden was standing on the very spot where Leif had left her,
Editha clinging to her side. She was gazing at Thorhild and nervously
clasping and unclasping her hands.

Alwin said in her ear: "She will make you a better mother than Bertha of
Trondhjem. It is my advice that you reconcile yourself to her at once."

"It was in my mind," Helga said slowly, "it was in my mind that I could
love her!"