If these ships should sail up to me this very night bearing the fulfillment of all my dreams!  Could any one of them be now in truth mine,—­or may a tree bear fruit twice in one year?

I give way to make room for some better man.  But be thou gracious to me, and let death be mine with these feelings in my heart, for strength to be faithful might not long be vouchsafed me.

“Thou shalt die to-morrow!” How sure a father-confessor is that word!  Now for the first time I speak truth to myself.

Ivar [climbing’ over a rock]—­Yes, here he is. [Gives his hand to the nun.]

The Nun [without seeing]—­Sigurd! [Mounts up.] Yes, there he is!

Sigurd—­Mother!

The Nun—­My child, found once more! [They remain long clasped in each other’s arms.] My son, my son, now shalt thou no more escape me!

Sigurd—­O my mother!

The Nun—­Thou wilt keep away from this battle, is it not so?  We two will win another kingdom,—­a much better one.

Sigurd—­I understand thee, mother. [Leads her to a seat, and falls upon his knee.]

The Nun—­Yes, dost thou not?  Thou art not so bad as all men would have it.  I knew that well, but wanted so much to speak with thee,—­and since thou art wearied and hast lost thy hopes for this world, thou hast come back to me, for even now there is time!  And of all thy realm they must leave thee some little plot, and there we will live by the church, so that when the bells ring for vespers we shall be near the blessed Olaf, and with him seek the presence of the Almighty.  And there we will heal thy wounds with holy water, and thoughts of love, more than thou canst remember ever to have had, shall come back to thee robed in white, and wondering recollection shall have no end.  For the great shall be made small and the small great, and there shall be questionings and revelations and eternal happiness.  Thou wilt come and thus live with me, my son, wilt thou not?  Thou wilt stay from this battle and come quickly?

Sigurd—­Mother, I have not wept till now since I lay upon the parched earth of the Holy Land.

The Nun—­Thou wilt follow me?

Sigurd—­To do thus were to escape the pledges I have made but by breaking them.

The Nun—­To what art thou now pledged?

Sigurd—­Pledged to the blind king I took from the cloister; pledged to the men I have led hither.

The Nun—­And these pledges thou shalt redeem—­how?

Sigurd—­By fighting and falling at their head.

The Nun [springs to her feet.  Sigurd also rises.]—­No!  No!  No!  Shall I now, after a lifetime of sorrow, behold thy death?

Sigurd—­Yes, mother.  The Lord of life and death will have it so.

The Nun—­Ah! what sufferings a moment’s sin may bring! [She falls upon his breast, then sinks, with outstretched arms.] O my son, spare me!