Now Berthun went to the door on the high place, as he was wont when all was ready for the king’s presence, and the hush deepened, none knowing what they expected to see.

Forth came Berthun backward, as was the custom, and he turned aside to let the king pass him.  His face was red and angry, as I thought, but amazed also.  I was standing next to Eglaf, and he was at the foot of the dais, at the end of his line of men, so that I could see all plainly.

Then came Alsi, leading the princess, and after Goldberga came her nurse.  No other ladies were with her; and now I noticed that there was not one thane on the high place, which was strange, and the first time that such a thing had been since I came here.  I looked down the hall, and none were present.  Now I looked at Alsi; and on his pale face was a smile that might have been as of one who will be glad, though he does not feel so.  But the eyes of the princess were bright with tears, and hardly did she look from the floor.  Hers was a face to make one sad to see at that time, wondrously beautiful as it was.

Alsi led her by the hand, and set her on the bench that was to his left, and signed to the nurse to sit beside her, which the old lady did, bridling and looking with scorn at the king as she took her place.  There she sought the hand of the princess, and held it tightly, as in comforting wise.  Very rich garments had the nurse, but Goldberga was dressed in some plain robe of white that shone when the light caught it.  Mostly I do not see these things, but now I wished that she always wore that same.

As for Alsi, he had on his finest gear, even as at the great feast of the Witan—­crimson cloak, fur-lined, and dark-green hose, gold-gartered across, and white and gold tunic.  He had a little crown on also, and that was the only thing kingly about him, to my mind.

Now he cast one look at Goldberga, which made her shrink into herself, as it were, and turned with a smile to us all.

“Friends,” he said, “this is short notice for a wedding, but all men know that ‘Happy is the wooing that is not long a-doing,’ so no more need be said of that.  All men know also that when good Ethelwald died he made me swear to him that I would wed his daughter to the mightiest and goodliest and fairest man that was in the land.  I have ever been mindful of that oath, and now it seems that the time for keeping it has come.  Whether the man whom my niece will wed is all that the oath requires, you shall judge; and if he is such a one, I must not stand in the way.  I do not myself know that I have ever seen one who is so fully set forth in words as is this bridegroom in those of the oath.”

Now I heard one whisper near me, “Whom has Goldberga chosen?”

And that was what Alsi would have liked to hear, for his speech seemed to say that thus it was, and maybe that he did not altogether like the choice.

But now Alsi said to Berthun, “Bring in the bridegroom.”