Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/93

 it written in the counsels of the Lord on high that you were she who should break our thraldom and win us all our rights again. And more: you yourself then thought as we did.

'Twas a sinful thought, Olaf Skaktavl. 'Twas my proud heart, and not the Lord's call, that spoke in me.

You  have been the chosen one had you but willed it. You came of the noblest blood in Norway; power and riches were soon to be yours; and you had an ear for the cries of anguish—then!

Do you remember that afternoon when Henrik Krummedike and the Danish fleet anchored off Akershus? The captains of the fleet offered terms of peace, and, trusting to the safe-conduct, Knut Alfson rowed on board. Three hours later, we bore him through the castle gate

A corpse; a corpse!

The best heart in Norway burst, when Krummedike's hirelings struck him down. Me-thinks I still can see the long procession that passed into the banquet-hall, heavily, two by two. There he lay on his bier, white as a spring cloud, with the axe-cleft in his brow. I may safely say that the boldest men in Norway