Slowly he rose as the king held it out to him, and he took it from his hand and stood before Goldberga; and she, too, rose and faced him, and for a moment they stood thus, surely the most handsome couple that had ever been.

Then Havelok said, looking in the clear eyes of the princess, “This have I sworn, that I will wed no unwilling bride.  It is but for you to say one word, and the cup falls, and all is ended.”

Alsi started at that, and I thought he was going to speak, but he held his peace.  Still as a rock was Havelok while he waited for the answer, and the folk in the hall were as still as he.  They began to see that all was not right as the king would have it thought.

Once the princess looked at Alsi, and that with pride in her face, and then she looked long and steadfastly at Havelok, and one by one his fingers loosened themselves on the golden stem of the cup, that she might know him ready for her word.

Then she put forth her hand and closed it round his strong fingers, that he must hold it fast by her doing, and that was all that was needed.  It was more than words could have told.  And she smiled as she did it.

And at that a light came on Havelok’s face, and he smiled gravely back at her, and he said in a low voice that shook a little, “May the gods so treat me as I treat you, my princess.  Can it be that you will trust me thus?”

She answered in no words, but I saw her hand tighten over his, and her eyes never left his face.

Then Havelok raised his other hand, and took that of Goldberga, which was on the cup, and faced to the people.

“Thus do I pledge her who shall be henceforward my wife through good and ill; and may Odin, Freya, and Niord be witnesses of my oath of faith to her in all that the word may mean.”

So he drank, and I stole a glance at the king.  Never saw I a man so amazed, for to him the Danish names of the Asir had come as some sort of a shock, seeing that he had deemed this man, with the name of Curan, a Briton.  And he looked at Berthun with a look that seemed to say more than was likely to be pleasant by-and-by.  But the steward paid no heed to him.

Now Havelok had made his vow, and he gave the cup to the princess; and she, too, turned a little toward the people, but still she looked on Havelok.

“Faith shall answer to faith,” she said in a clear voice.  “Here do I take this man for my husband, in the sight of God, and with you all as witnesses, and I pray that the blessing of Him may be on us both.”

So she drank also, and Havelok stopped and raised the wondrous ring from where it had been unheeded on the floor, and took the band of Goldberga, and set it on her finger, and kissed the hand ere he let it go.

But Goldberga lifted her face toward him, and he bent and kissed her forehead, and so they were wedded.

I have heard men scoff at the thought of love at first sight, but never can any one of us do so who saw this wedding.