CHAPTER 3.

HAUGEN LAY HIGH up on the slope on the west side of the valley. On this moonlit night the whole world was white. Wave after wave of white mountains arched beneath the bluish, washed-out sky with few stars. Even the shadows cast across the snowy surfaces by rounded summits and crests seemed strangely light and airy, for the moon was sailing so high.

Down toward the valley the forest, laden white with snow and frost, stood enclosing the white slopes around the farms with intricate patterns of fences and buildings. But at the very bottom of the valley the shadows thickened into darkness.

Fru Aashild came out of the cowshed, pulled the door shut behind her, and paused for a moment in the snow. The whole world was white, and yet it was still more than three weeks until the beginning of Advent. The cold of Saint Clement's Day would herald the real arrival of winter. Well, it was all part of a bad harvest year.

The old woman sighed heavily, standing outdoors in the desolation. Winter again, and cold and loneliness. Then she picked up the milk pail and the lantern and walked toward the house, gazing around once more.

Four black spots emerged from the forest halfway down the slope. Four men on horseback. There was the flash of a spear point in the moonlight. They were making their way across with difficulty. No one had come here since the snowfall. Were they heading this way?

Four armed men. It was unlikely that anyone with a legitimate reason for visiting her would travel in such company. She thought about the chest containing Bjrn's and her valuables. Should she hide in the outbuilding?

She looked out across the wintry landscape and wilderness around her. Then she went into the house. The two old dogs that had been lying in front of the fireplace beat their tails against the floorboards. Bjrn had taken the younger dogs along with him to the mountains.

She blew at the coals in the hearth and laid on some wood. She filled the iron pot with snow and hung it over the fire. She strained some milk into a wooden cask and carried it to the storeroom near the entryway.

Aashild took off her filthy, undyed homespun dress that stank of sweat and the cowshed and put on a dark blue one. She exchanged the rough muslin kerchief for a white linen wimple which she draped around her head and throat. She took off her fleecy leather boots and put on silver-buckled shoes.

Then she set about putting the room in order. She smoothed out the pillows and furs on the bed where Bjrn had been sleeping during the day, wiped off the long table, and straightened the cushions on the benches.

Fru Aashild was standing in front of the fireplace, stirring the evening porridge, when the dogs gave warning. She heard the horses in the yard, the men coming into the gallery, and a spear striking the door. Aashild lifted the pot from the fire, straightened her dress, and, with the dogs at her side, stepped forward and opened the door.

Out in the moonlit courtyard three young men were holding four frost-covered horses. The man standing in the gallery shouted joyfully, "Aunt Aashild, is that you opening the door yourself? Then I must say 'Ben trouve!' 'Ben trouve!' " "

"Nephew-is that you? Then I must say the same! Come inside while I show your men to the stable."

"Are you alone on the farm?" asked Erlend. He followed along as she showed the men where to go.

"Yes, Herr Bjrn and his man went out with the sleigh. They were going to see about bringing back some supplies we have stored on the mountain," said Fru Aashild. "And I have no servant girl," she added, laughing.

Soon afterward the four young men were seated on the outer bench with their backs against the table, watching the old woman quietly bustling about and putting out food for them. She spread a cloth on the table and set down a single lighted candle; she brought b.u.t.ter, cheese, a bear thigh, and a tall stack of fine, thin pieces of flatbread. She brought ale and mead from the cellar beneath the room, and then she served up the porridge in a beautiful wooden trencher and invited them to sit down and begin.

"It's not much for you young fellows," she said with a laugh. "I'll have to cook another pot of porridge. Tomorrow you'll have better fare-but I close up the cookhouse in the winter except when I'm baking or brewing. There are only a few of us here on the farm, and I'm starting to get old, my kinsman."

Erlend laughed and shook his head. He noticed that his men showed the old woman more courtesy and respect than he had ever seen them show before.

"You're a strange woman, Aunt. Mother was ten years younger than you, but the last time we visited, she looked older than you do tonight."

"Yes, youth fled quickly enough from Magnhild," said Fru Aashild softly. "Where are you coming from now?" she asked after a while.

"I've been spending some time on a farm up north in Lesja," said Erlend. "I've rented lodgings there. I don't know whether you can guess why I've come here to these parts."

"You mean whether I know that you've asked for the hand of Lavrans Bjrgulfsn's daughter here in the south, at Jrundgaard?" asked Fru Aashild.

"Yes," said Erlend. "I asked for her in proper and honorable fashion, and Lavrans Bjrgulfsn stubbornly said no. Since Kristin and I refuse to let anything part us, I know of no other way than to take her away by force. I have . . . I've had a scout here in the village, and I know that her mother is supposed to be at Sundbu until some time after Saint Clement's Day and that Lavrans is out at the headland with the other men to bring in the winter provisions for Sil."

Fru Aashild sat in silence for a moment.

"You'd better give up that idea, Erlend," she said. "I don't think the maiden would follow you willingly, and you wouldn't use force, would you?"

"Oh yes she will. We've talked about this many times. She's begged me many times to carry her away."

"Did Kristin . . . !" said Fru Aashild. Then she laughed. "That's no reason for you to count on the maiden coming with you when you show up to take her at her word."

"Oh yes it is," said Erlend. "And now I was thinking, Aunt, that you should send an invitation to Jrundgaard for Kristin to come and visit you-for a week or so while her parents are away. Then we could reach Hamar before anyone notices that she's gone," he explained.

Fru Aashild replied, still laughing a little, "Did you also think about what we should say-Herr Bjrn and I-when Lavrans comes to call us to account for his daughter?"

"Yes," said Erlend. "We were four armed men, and the maiden was willing."

"I won't help you with this," said his aunt sternly. "Lavrans has been a faithful friend to us for many years. He and his wife are honorable people, and I won't partic.i.p.ate in betraying them or shaming her. Leave the maiden in peace, Erlend. It's also about time that your kinsmen heard of other exploits from you than that you were slipping in and out of the country with stolen women."

"We need to talk alone, Aunt," said Erlend abruptly.

Fru Aashild took a candle, went into the storeroom, and shut the door behind them. She sat down on a cask of flour; Erlend stood with his hands stuck in his belt looking down at her.

"You can also tell Lavrans Bjrgulfsn that Sira Jon in Gerdarud married us before we continued on to stay with d.u.c.h.ess Inge bjrg Haakonsdatter in Sweden."

"I see," said Fru Aashild. "Do you know whether the d.u.c.h.ess will receive you when you arrive there?"

"I spoke with her in Tunsberg," said Erlend. "She greeted me as her dear kinsman and thanked me for offering her my service, either here or in Sweden. And Munan has promised to give me letters to her."

"Then you know," said Fru Aashild, "that even if you can find a priest to marry you, Kristin will relinquish all right to property and inheritance from her father. And her children will not be legitimate heirs. It's uncertain whether she will be considered your wife."

"Maybe not here in this country. That's also why I want to head for Sweden. Her forefather, Laurentius Lagmand, was never married to the maiden Bengta in any other way; they never received her brother's blessing. And yet she was considered his wife."

"There were no children," said Fru Aashild. "Do you think my sons would keep their hands off their inheritance from you if Kristin were left a widow with children and there was any doubt that they were born legitimate?"

"You do Munan an injustice," replied Erlend. "I know little of your other children. You have no reason to be kind to them, that I know. But Munan has always been my loyal kinsman. He would like to see me married; he spoke with Lavrans on my behalf. Otherwise, by law, I can sue for the inheritance and the good name of whatever children we may have."

"With that you will brand their mother as your mistress," said Fru Aashild. "But I don't think that meek priest, Jon Helgesn, would dare risk trouble with his bishop in order to marry you against the law."

"I confessed to him this summer," said Erlend, his voice muted. "He promised then to marry us if all other means were exhausted."

"I see," replied Fru Aashild. "Then you have taken a grave sin upon yourself, Erlend. Kristin was happy at home with her father and mother. A good marriage with a handsome and honorable man of good family was arranged for her."

"Kristin told me herself," said Erlend, "that you said she and I might suit each other well. And that Simon Andressn was no fit husband for her."

"Oh, never mind what I said or didn't say," snapped his aunt. "I've said so much in my time. I don't think you could have had your way with Kristin so easily. You couldn't have met very often. And I wouldn't think she was easy to win over, that maiden."

"We met in Oslo," said Erlend. "Afterward she was staying with her uncle in Gerdarud. She came out to the woods to meet me." He looked down and said quite softly, "I had her alone to myself out there."

Fru Aashild sprang up. Erlend bowed his head even lower.

"And after that . . . was she friends with you?" asked his aunt in disbelief.

"Yes." Erlend's smile was wan and quivering. "We were friends after that. And she didn't resist very strongly; but she is without blame. That was when she wanted me to take her away; she didn't want to go back to her kinsmen."

"But you refused?"

"Yes, I wanted to attempt to win her as my wife with her father's consent."

"Was this long ago?" asked Fru Aashild.

"It was a year ago, on Saint Lavrans's Day," replied Erlend.

"You haven't made much haste to ask for her hand," said his aunt.

"She wasn't free of her previous betrothal," said Erlend.

"And since then you haven't come too close to her?" asked Aashild.

"We made arrangements so that we could meet several times." Once again that quavering smile flitted across his face. "At a place in town."

"In G.o.d's name," said Fru Aashild. "I'll help the two of you as much as I can. I see that it will be much too painful for Kristin to stay here with her parents with something like this on her conscience. There's nothing else, is there?" she asked.

"Not that I know of," said Erlend curtly.

After a pause, Fru Aashild asked, "Have you thought about the fact that Kristin has friends and kinsmen all along this valley?"

"We must travel in secrecy as best we can," said Erlend. "That's why it's important for us to get away quickly, so we can put some distance behind us before her father comes home. You have to lend us your sleigh, Aunt."

Aashild shrugged her shoulders. "Then there's her uncle at Skog. What if he hears you're celebrating a wedding with his brother's daughter in Gerdarud?"

"Aasmund has spoken with Lavrans on my behalf," said Erlend. "He can't be an accomplice, that's true, but he'll probably look the other way. We'll go to the priest at night and keep on traveling by night. I imagine that Aasmund will probably tell Lavrans afterward that it's improper for a G.o.d-fearing man like him to part us once we've been married by a priest. Rather, he ought to give us his blessing so that we will be legally married. You must tell Lavrans the same thing. He can state his own conditions for a reconciliation with us and demand whatever penalties he deems reasonable."

"I don't think Lavrans Bjrgulfsn will be easy to advise in this matter," said Fru Aashild. "G.o.d and Saint Olav know that I do not like this business, nephew. But I realize that this is your last recourse if you are to repair the harm you have done to Kristin. Tomorrow I will ride to Jrundgaard myself if you'll lend me one of your men, and I can get Ingrid to the north to look after my livestock."

Fru Aashild arrived at Jrundgaard the following evening just as the moonlight broke away from the last glow of the day. She saw how pale and hollow-cheeked Kristin had become when the girl came out to the courtyard to receive her guest.

Fru Aashild sat next to the hearth and played with the two younger sisters. Secretly she watched Kristin with searching eyes as the maiden set the table. She was thin and silent. She had always been quiet, but it was a different kind of silence that had come over her now. Fru Aashild could imagine all the tension and stubborn defiance that lay behind it.

"You've probably heard," said Kristin, coming over to her, "about what happened here this fall?"

"Yes, that my sister's son has asked for your hand?"

"Do you remember," said Kristin, "that you once said he and I might suit each other well? Except that he was much too rich and of too good a family for me?"

"I hear that Lavrans is of another mind," said Aashild dryly. There was a sparkle in Kristin's eye, and she smiled a little. She'll do, thought Fru Aashild. As little as she liked it, she would oblige Erlend and give him the help he had asked for.

Kristin made up her parents' bed for the guest, and Fru Aashild asked the young woman to sleep with her. After they lay down and the main room was quiet, Fru Aashild explained her errand.

Her heart grew strangely heavy when she saw that this child did not seem to give a thought to the sorrow she would cause her parents. Yet I lived in sorrow and torment with Baard for more than twenty years, thought Aashild. But that's probably the way it is for all of us. Kristin didn't even seem to have noticed how Ulvhild's health had declined that autumn. Aashild thought it unlikely that Kristin would see her little sister alive again. But she said nothing of this. The longer Kristin could hold on to this wild joy and keep up her courage, the better it would be for her.

Kristin got up, and in the darkness she collected her jewelry in a small box, which she brought over to the bed.

Then Fru Aashild said to her, "It still seems to me, Kristin, a better idea for Erlend to ride over here when your father comes home, admit openly that he has done you a great wrong, and place his case in Lavrans's hands."

"Then I think Father would kill Erlend," said Kristin.

"Lavrans wouldn't do that if Erlend refused to draw his sword against his father-in-law," replied Aashild.

"I don't want Erlend to be humiliated like that," said Kristin. "And I don't want Father to know that Erlend touched me before he asked for my hand with honor and respect."

"Do you think Lavrans will be less angry when he hears that you've fled the farm with him?" asked Aashild. "And do you think it will be any easier for him to bear? According to the law you'll be nothing more than Erlend's mistress as long as you live with him without your father's consent."

"This is a different matter," said Kristin, "since he tried to win me as his wife but could not. I will not be considered his mistress."

Fru Aashild was silent. She thought about having to meet Lavrans Bjrgulfsn when he returned home and found out that his daughter had stolen away.

Then Kristin said, "I see that you think me a bad daughter, Fru Aashild. But ever since Father came back from the ting, ting, every day here at home has been torture for him as well as for me. It's best for everyone if this matter is finally settled." every day here at home has been torture for him as well as for me. It's best for everyone if this matter is finally settled."

They set off from Jrundgaard early the next day and reached Haugen at a little past the hour of midafternoon prayers. Erlend met them in the courtyard, and Kristin threw herself into his arms without regard for Erlend's manservant, who had accompanied Fru Aashild and herself. Inside the house she greeted Bjrn Gunnarsn and then Erlend's two other men as if she knew them well. Fru Aashild could see no sign that she was either shy or afraid. And later, when they were sitting at the table and Erlend presented his plan, Kristin joined in and suggested what road they should take. She said they should ride from Haugen the following night so late that they would arrive at the gorge as the moon went down, then travel in darkness through Sil until they had pa.s.sed Loptsgaard. From there they should go along the Otta River to the bridge, and then on the west side of the Otta and Laag by back roads as far as the horses could carry them. They would rest during the day at one of the spring huts there on the slopes, she said, "for as far as the law of the Holledis ting ting reaches, we might run into people who know me." reaches, we might run into people who know me."

"Have you thought about fodder for the horses?" asked Fru Aashild. "You can't take feed from people's spring huts in a year like this-if there's any there at all-and you know no one has any to sell here in the valley this year."

"I've thought of that," said Kristin. "You must lend us fodder and provisions for three days. That's also the reason why we shouldn't travel in a large group. Erlend will have to send Jon back to Husaby. In Trndelag it's been a better year, and it should be possible to get some supplies over the mountain before Christmas. There are some poor people south of the village that I'd like you to give some alms to, from Erlend and me, Fru Aashild."

Bjrn uttered a strangely mirthless guffaw. Fru Aashild shook her head.

But the manservant Ulv lifted his sharp, swarthy face and looked at Kristin with a particularly sly smile. "There's never anything left over at Husaby, Kristin Lavransdatter, neither in a good year nor a bad one. But maybe things will be different when you manage the household. From your speech it sounds like you're the wife Erlend needs."

Kristin nodded calmly at the man and continued hastily. They would have to keep away from the main road as much as possible. And it didn't seem advisable for them to travel via Hamar. Erlend objected that that was where Munan was waiting-there was the matter of the letter for the d.u.c.h.ess.

"Ulv will have to leave us at f.a.gaberg and ride to Sir Munan while we head west toward Lake Mjsa and ride across country and by back roads via Hadeland down to Hakedal. From there a desolate road goes south to Margretadal; I've heard my uncle speak of it. It's not advisable for us to ride through Raumarike while the great wedding is taking place at Dyfrin," she said with a laugh.

Erlend came over and put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned back against him, not caring about all the people who were sitting there watching.

Fru Aashild said acidly, "Anyone might think you had eloped before."

And Herr Bjrn guffawed again.