Men would miss Owen sorely here, but, save for that, I had so often acted for him in these last two years that my being altogether in his place made little difference to any one, or even to myself in a few days.  That last was as well for myself, as it seems to me, for I was not over proud, as I might have been had the post been new to me.  As it was, I do not think that there was any jealousy over it, or at least I never found it out.  My friends rejoiced openly, and if any one wondered that the king should so trust a man of my age, the answer that I had saved Ina’s life was enough to satisfy all.

My men drank my health in their quarters that night, and after I got over the little strangeness of sitting on the high place next to Nunna, things went on, save for the want of Owen about the court, even as when he was the marshal and I but his squire, as it were.

I saw young Erpwald for the first time soon after the king had spoken of him to me, and I liked the look of him well enough.  He was some few years older than I, square and strong, with a round red face and light hair, pleasant in smile, if not over wise looking.  One would say that he might be a good friend, but one could hardly think of him as willingly the enemy of any man.  Some one made me known to him as the son of Owen, as was usual, and as such would I be known to him for a while; but for some time I saw little of him, not caring to seek his company, as indeed there was no reason for me to do so.

The next thing that I heard of him was that he had made a great friend of the ealdorman since he came here, being often at his house.  It was not so long before I met him there, though my pride, which would not let me risk another rebuff, kept me away for some days.  I had an uneasy feeling that I should fare no better, and I could find good reason enough to justify the thought in some ways, as any one may see from what had happened before.

Maybe that was a token that my first feelings were cooling off, and I do not think that there is much wonder if they were.  It would have been strange, and not altogether complimentary to the fair damsel if, after the deed at the feast and the vow that I had to make, I had not thought myself desperately in love with her at last, after a good many years of friendship.  But now there had befallen the long days of peril and anxiety which had set her in the background altogether, and I had had time to come to more sober thoughts, as it were.  Men have said that I aged more in that short time than in the next ten years of my life, and it is likely.  Nevertheless, it needed but a word or two of kindness to bring me to Elfrida’s feet once for all, and but a little more coldness to send me from her altogether.