Elsalill stood many a time at the cottage door and followed with her eyes the men who mounted the ridge. She was sick at heart from the great sorrow that had befallen her, and she said to herself: "I think everyone is happy who has something to look for. But I have nothing in the wide world on which to fix my hopes."
One evening Elsalill saw a tall man, who wore a broad-brimmed hat with a great feather, standing upon the rocks and gazing westward over the sea like all the others.
And Elsalill knew at once that the man was Sir Archie, the leader of the Scots, who had talked with her on the quay.
As he pa.s.sed the cabin on his way home to the town, Elsalill was still standing in the doorway, and she was weeping.
"Why do you weep?" he asked, stopping before her.
"I weep because I have nothing to long for," said Elsalill. "When I saw you standing upon the rocks and looking out over the sea, I thought: "He has surely a home beyond the water, and there he is going.""
Then Sir Archie"s heart was softened, and it made him say: "It is many a year since any spoke to me of my home. G.o.d knows how it fares with my father"s house. I left it when I was seventeen to serve in the wars abroad."
On saying this Sir Archie entered the cottage with Elsalill and began to talk to her of his home.
And Elsalill sat and listened to Sir Archie, who spoke both long and well. Each word that came from his lips made her feel happy.
But when the time drew on for Sir Archie to go, he asked if he might kiss her.
Then Elsalill said No, and would have slipped out of the door, but Sir Archie stood in her way and would have made her kiss him.
At that moment the door of the cottage opened, and its mistress came in in great haste.
Then Sir Archie drew back from Elsalill. He simply gave her his hand in farewell and hurried away.
But Torarin"s mother said to Elsalill: "It was well that you sent for me, for it is not fitting for a maid to sit alone in the house with such a man as Sir Archie. You know full well that a soldier of fortune has neither honour nor conscience."
"Did I send for you?" asked Elsalill, astonished.
"Yes," answered the old woman. "As I stood at work on the quay there came a little maid I had never seen before, and brought me word that you begged me to go home."
"How did this maid look?" asked Elsalill.
"I heeded her not so closely that I can tell you how she looked,"
said the old woman. "But one thing I marked; she went so lightly upon the snow that not a sound was heard."
When Elsalill heard this she turned very pale and said: "Then it must have been an angel from heaven who brought you the message and led you home."
II
Another time Sir Archie sat in Torarin"s cabin and talked with Elsalill.
There was no one beside them; they talked gaily together and were very cheerful.
Sir Archie was telling Elsalill that she must go home with him to Scotland. There he would build her a castle and make her a fine lady. He told her she should have a hundred serving-maids to wait upon her, and she should dance at the court of the King.
Elsalill sat silently listening to every word Sir Archie said to her, and she believed them all. And Sir Archie thought that never had he met a damsel so easy to beguile as Elsalill.
Suddenly Sir Archie ceased speaking and looked down at his left hand.
"What is it, Sir Archie? Why do you say no more?" asked Elsalill.
Sir Archie opened and closed his hand convulsively. He turned it this way and that.
"What is it, Sir Archie?" asked Elsalill. "Does your hand pain you on a sudden?"
Then Sir Archie turned to Elsalill with a startled face and said: "Do you see this hair, Elsalill, that is wound about my hand? Do you see this lock of fair hair?"
When he began to speak the girl saw nothing, but ere he had finished she saw a coil of fine, fair hair wind itself twice about Sir Archie"s hand.
And Elsalill sprang up in terror and cried out: "Sir Archie, whose hair is it that is bound about your hand?"
Sir Archie looked at her in confusion, not knowing what to say.
"It is real hair, Elsalill, I can feel it. It lies soft and cool about my hand. But whence did it come?"
The maid sat staring at his hand, and it seemed that her eyes would fall out of her head.
"So was it that my foster sister"s hair was wound about the hand of him who murdered her," she said.
But now Sir Archie burst into a laugh. He quickly drew back his hand.
"Why," said he, "you and I, Elsalill, we are frightening ourselves like little children. It was nothing more than a bright sunbeam falling through the window."
But the girl fell to weeping and said: "Now methinks I am crouching again by the stove and I can see the murderers at their work. Ah, but I hoped to the last they would not find my dear foster sister, but then one of them came and plucked her from the wall, and when she sought to escape he twined her hair about his hand and held her fast. And she fell on her knees before him and said: "Have pity on my youth! Spare my life, let me live long enough to know why I have come into the world! I have done you no ill, why would you kill me? Why would you deny me my life?" But he paid no heed to her words and killed her."
While Elsalill said this Sir Archie stood with a frown on his brow and turned his eyes away.
"Ah, if I might one day meet that man!" said Elsalill. She stood before Sir Archie with clenched fists.
"You cannot meet the man," said Sir Archie. "He is dead."
But the maid threw herself upon the bench and sobbed. "Sir Archie, Sir Archie, why have you brought the dead into my thoughts? Now I must weep all evening and all night. Leave me, Sir Archie, for now I have no thought for any but the dead. Now I can only think upon my foster sister and how dear she was to me."
And Sir Archie had no power to console her, but was banished by her tears and wailing and went back to his companions.
III
Sir Archie could not understand why his mind was always so full of heavy thoughts. He could never escape them, whether he drank with his companions, or whether he sat in talk with Elsalill. If he danced all night at the wharves they were still with him, and if he walked far and wide over the frozen sea, they followed him there.
"Why am I ever forced to remember what I would fain forget?" Sir Archie asked himself. "It is as though someone were always stealing behind me and whispering in my ear.
"It is as though someone were weaving a net about me," said Sir Archie, "to catch all my own thoughts and leave me none but this.
I cannot see the pursuer who casts the net, but I can hear his step as he comes stealing after me."
"It is as though a painter went before me and painted the same picture wherever my eyes may rest," said Sir Archie. "Whether I look to heaven or to earth I see naught else but this one thing."
"It is as though a mason sat within my heart and chiselled out the same heavy care," said Sir Archie. "I cannot see this mason, but day and night I can hear the blows of his mallet as he hammers at my heart. "Heart of stone, heart of stone," he says, "now you shall yield. Now I shall hammer into you a lasting care.""
Sir Archie had two friends, Sir Philip and Sir Reginald, who followed him wherever he went. They were grieved that he was always cast down and that nothing could avail to cheer him.