"What is it that ails you?" they would say. "What makes your eyes burn so, and why are your cheeks so pale?"

Sir Archie would not tell them what it was that tormented him. He thought: "What would my comrades say of me if they knew I yielded to these unmanly thoughts? They would no longer obey me if they found out that I was racked with remorse for a deed there was no avoiding."

As they continued to press him, he said at last, to throw them off the scent: "Fortune is playing me strange tricks in these days.

There is a girl I have a mind to win, but I cannot come at her.

Something always stands in my way."

"Maybe the maiden does not love you?" said Sir Reginald.

"I surely think her heart is disposed toward me," said Sir Archie; "but there is something watching over her, so that I cannot win her."

Then Sir Reginald and Sir Philip began to laugh and said: "Never fear, we'll get you the girl."

That evening Elsalill was walking alone up the lane, coming from her work. She was tired and thought to herself: "This is a hard life and I find no joy in it. It sickens me to stand all day in the reek of fish. It sickens me to hear the other women laugh and jest in their rude voices. It sickens me to see the hungry gulls fly above the tables trying to s.n.a.t.c.h the fish out of my hands.

Oh, that someone would come and take me away from here! I would follow him to the world's end."

When Elsalill had reached the darkest part of the lane, Sir Reginald and Sir Philip came out of the shadow and greeted her.

"Mistress Elsalill," they said, "we have a message for you from Sir Archie. He is lying sick at the inn. He longs to speak with you and begs you to accompany us home."

Elsalill began to fear that Sir Archie might be grievously sick, and she turned at once and went with the two Scottish gallants who were to bring her to him.

Sir Philip and Sir Reginald walked one on each side of her. They smiled at one another and thought that nothing could be easier than to delude Elsalill.

Elsalill was in great haste; she almost ran down the lane. Sir Philip and Sir Reginald had to take long strides to keep up with her.

But as Elsalill was making such haste to reach the inn, something began to roll before her feet. It seemed to have been thrown down in front of her, and she nearly stumbled over it.

"What can it be that rolls on and on before my feet?" thought Elsalill. "It must be a stone that I have kicked from the ground and sent rolling down the hill."

She was in such a hurry to reach Sir Archie that she did not like being hindered by the thing that rolled close before her feet. She kicked it aside, but it came back at once and rolled before her down the lane.

Elsalill heard it ring like silver when she kicked it away, and she saw that it was bright and shining.

"It is no common stone," she thought. "I believe it is a coin of silver." But she was in such haste to reach Sir Archie that she thought she had no time to pick it up.

But again and again it rolled before her feet, and she thought: "You will go on the faster if you stoop down and pick it up. You can throw it far away if it is nothing."

She stooped down and picked it up. It was a big silver coin and it shone white in her hand.

"What is it that you have found in the street, mistress?" asked Sir Reginald. "It shines so white in the moonlight."

At that moment they were pa.s.sing one of the great storehouses, where foreign fisher-folk lodged while they lay at Marstrand.

Before the entrance hung a lantern, which threw a feeble light upon the street.

"Let us see what you have found, mistress," said Sir Philip, standing under the light.

Elsalill held up the coin to the lantern, and hardly had she cast eye upon it when she cried out: "This is Herr Arne's money! I know it well. This is Herr Arne's money!"

"What's that you say, mistress?" asked Sir Reginald. "What makes you say it is Herr Arne's money?"

"I know the coin," said Elsalill. "I have often seen it in Herr Arne's hand. Yes, it is surely Herr Arne's money."

"Shout not so loudly, mistress!" said Sir Philip. "People run here already to know the cause of this outcry."

But Elsalill paid no heed to Sir Philip. She saw that the door of the warehouse stood open. A fire blazed in the midst of the floor and round about it sat a number of men conversing quietly and at leisure.

Elsalill hastened in to them, holding the coin aloft. "Listen to me, every man!" she cried. "Now I know that Herr Arne's murderers are alive. Look here! I have found one of Herr Arne's coins."

All the men turned toward her. She saw that Torarin the fish hawker sat among them.

"What is that you tell us so noisily, my girl?" Torarin asked.

"How can you know Herr Arne's moneys from any other?"

"Well may I know this very piece of silver from any other," said Elsalill. "It is old and heavy, and it is chipped at the edge.

Herr Arne told us that it came from the time of the old kings of Norway, and never would he part with it when he counted out money to pay for his goods."

"Now you must tell us where you have found it, mistress," said another of the fishermen.

"I found it rolling before me in the street," said Elsalill. "One of the murderers has surely dropped it there."

"It may be as you say," said Torarin, "but what can we do in this matter? We cannot find the murderers by this alone, that you know they have walked in one of our streets."

The fishermen were agreed that Torarin had spoken wisely. They settled themselves again about the fire.

"Come home with me, Elsalill," said Torarin. "This is not an hour for a young maid to run about the streets of the town."

As Torarin said this, Elsalill looked about for her companions.

But Sir Reginald and Sir Philip had stolen away without her noticing their departure.

CHAPTER VI

IN THE TOWN CELLARS

One morning the hostess of the Town Cellars at Marstrand threw open her doors to sweep the steps and the lobby, and then she caught sight of a young maid sitting on one of the steps and waiting. She was dressed in a long gray garment which was fastened with a belt at the waist. Her hair was fair, and it was neither bound nor braided, but hung down on either side of her face.

As the door opened she went down the steps into the lobby, but it seemed to the hostess that she moved as though walking in her sleep. And all the time she kept her eyelids lowered and her arms pressed close to her side. The nearer she came, the more astonished was the hostess at the fragile slenderness of her form.

Her face was fair, but it was delicate and transparent, as though it had been made of brittle gla.s.s.

When she came down to the hostess she asked whether there was any work she could do, and offered her services.

Then the hostess thought of all the wild companions whose habit it was to sit drinking ale and wine in her tavern, and she could not help smiling. "No, there is no place here for a little maid like you," she said.