Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/159

 of prudence; but had my counsel been heard in this matter, it had not been with hot iron, but with cold steel that Håkon Håkonsson had called for judgment between himself and his foes.

Curb yourself, Dagfinn; think what beseems the man who is to be foremost in the State.

[With a slight smile.] 'Tis easy to call every one the King's foe who chimes not with the King's will. Methinks he is the King's worst foe who would counsel him against making good his right to the kingship.

Who knows? Were my right alone in question, mayhap I had not paid so dear to prove it; but higher things are here at stake: my calling and my duty. Deep and warm is the faith within me—and I blush not to own it—that I alone am he who in these times can sway the land to its weal. Kingly birth begets kingly duty

There are others here who bear themselves the like fair witness.

That do I, and with full as good ground. My grandfather was King Magnus Erlingsson

Ay, if your father, Erling Steinvæg, was indeed King Magnus's son; but most folk deny it, and in that matter none has yet faced the ordeal.