Robert Louis Stevenson

“ She saw the eyes of Asdis rest on her strangely, and at that she beat the maid. She scolded the house folk, and, by her way of it, nothing was done aright. First she was loving to her husband and made much of him, thinking to be on his good side when trouble came. Then she took a better way, picked a feud with him, and railed on the poor man till his ears rang, so that he might be in the wrong beforehand. The brooch she hid without, in the side of a hayrick. All this while Thorgunna lay in the bed-place, which was not her way, for by custom she was early astir. ”

“ The sun was half-way down, when a shepherd went by on the cliffs about his business, and spied a man in the midst of the breach of the loud seas, upon a pinnacle of reef. He hailed him, and the man turned and hailed again. ”

“ Now she began to hate Thorgunna, and the glittering of the great brooch stood before her in the dark. “Sure,” she thought, “it must be the glamour of that brooch! She is not so fair as I; p. 17she is as old as the dead in the hillside; and as for her wit and her songs, it is little I think of them!” Up she got at that, took a light from the embers, and came to her guest’s bed-place. The door was locked, but Aud had a master-key and could go in. Inside, the chests were open, and in the top of one the light of her taper shone upon the glittering of the brooch. ”

“ There she broke p. 21off. “The rest of my goods I leave to your black-eyed maid, young Asdis, for her slim body and clean mind. Only the things of my bed, you shall see burned.”
“It is well,” said Finnward.
“It may be well,” quoth she, “if you obey. My life has been a wonder to all and a fear to many. While I lived none thwarted me and prospered. See to it that none thwart me after I am dead. It stands upon your safety.”
“It stands upon my honour,” quoth Finnward, “and I have the name of an honourable man.”
“You have the name of a weak one,” says Thorgunna. “Look to it, look to it, Finnward. ”

“ When they came to the house, Aud had the two chests to her own bed-place, and gloated all night on what p. 32she found. Finnward looked on, and trouble darkened his mind.
“Wife,” says he at last, “you will not forget these things belong to Asdis?”
At that she barked upon him like a dog.
“Am I a thief?” she cried. “The brat shall have them in her turn when she grows up. Would you have me give her them now to turn her minx’s head with?”
So the weak man went his way out of the house in sorrow and fell to his affairs. ”

“ Finnward lay down again in the bed between Thorgunna’s sheets, and groaned; never a word more he said, for now he knew he was a coward and a man dishonoured. Presently his wife came beside him, and they lay still, but neither slept.
p. 34It might be twelve in the night when Aud felt Finnward shudder so strong that the bed shook.
“What ails you?” said she.
“I know not,” he said. “It is a chill like the chill of death. My soul is sick with it.” His voice fell low. “It was so Thorgunna sickened,” said he. And he arose and walked in the hall in the dark till it came morning. ”

“ But in the fore part of the ship, the woman sat alone, and looked before her sourly at the sea. They called her Thorgunna. She was as tall as a man and high in flesh, a buxom wife to look at. Her hair was of the dark red, time had not changed it. Her face was dark, the cheeks full, and the brow smooth. Some of the merchants told that she was sixty years of age and others laughed and p. 8said she was but forty; but they spoke of her in whispers, for they seemed to think that she was ill to deal with and not more than ordinary canny.
Aud went to where she sat and made her welcome to Iceland. ”

“ So the maid came so much nearer, “Mother,” says she, “I wish you would not wear these things that were Thorgunna’s.”
“Aha,” cries Aud. “This is what it is? You begin early, brat! And p. 37who has been poisoning your mind? Your fool of a father, I suppose.” And then she stopped and went all scarlet. “Who told you they were yours?” she asked again, taking it all the higher for her stumble. “When you are grown, then you shall have your share and not a day before. These things are not for babies.” ”

“ On the evening of the second day men came to the house from sea. They told of the merchandise in the ship, which was well enough and to be had at easy rates, and of a waif woman that sailed in her, no one could tell why, and had chests of clothes beyond comparison, fine p. 7coloured stuffs, finely woven, the best that ever came into that island, and gewgaws for a queen. At the hearing of that Aud’s eyes began to glisten. She went early to bed; and the day was not yet red before she was on the beach, had a boat launched, and was pulling to the ship. ”

“ Thorgunna did the honours of the ship. So for a while they carried it on, praising and watching each other, in the way of women. But Aud was a little vessel to contain a great longing, and presently the cry of her heart came out of her.
“The folk say,” says she, “you have the finest women’s things that ever came to Iceland?” ”