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Rh Truly was Olaf of a most kingly bearing. Then her eyes rested on the ring—the base offering he had sent, and her heart grew hard again.

“It is well known, gracious lady,” continued the royal suitor, accepting her permission to speak, “what attraction has brought me to the very end of my own land and. to the very edge of Sweden. I would be thy lord if so thou wilt let me take thee for my queen.”

Sigrid stood looking at the king. Thorgills noted the fire in her eyes and liked not the meaning of her face.

Slowly she spoke: “Thou didst send me a ring, King Olaf, as a pledge of thy truth. Are thy promises as true as the metal of this ring, as thy own token?”

Olaf was plainly puzzled at the question. He had never examined the ring and believed it to be genuine gold.

“Queen Sigrid,” he said, with straightforward earnestness, “gold is esteemed the best and truest of all metals; and as true as the ring upon thy hand, so true will I be to thee. I am a Christian, and I would be thy faithful lord, as every true Christian man should be to his lady.”

Sigrid laughed aloud in scorn. “Ye are all true, ye Christians! Ye swear by the gold that is false and ye call yourselves true men.”

“And so we are!” Olaf’s brow was growing dark in anger.