Then came Aslauga in a dream to me, more royally adorned than ever; she placed herself at the head of my couch, and said, 'Haste to array thyself in all the splendour of thy silver armour, for thou art not the wedding-guest alone, thou art also the--' "And before she could speak the word my dream had melted away, and I felt a longing desire to fulfil her gracious command, and rejoiced in my heart.

But in the midst of the festival I seemed to myself more lonely than in all my life before, and I cannot cease to ponder what that unspoken word of my lady could be intended to announce." "You are of a far loftier spirit than I am, Froda," said Edwald, after a silence, "and I cannot soar with you into the sphere of your joys.

But tell me, has it never awakened a deep pang within you that you serve a lady so withdrawn from you--alas! a lady who is almost ever invisible ?" "No, Edwald, not so," answered Froda, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
"For well I know that she scorns not my service; she has even deigned sometimes to appear to me.

Oh, I am in truth a happy knight and minstrel!" "And yet your silence to-day--your troubled yearnings ?" "Not troubled, dear Edchen; only so heartfelt, so fervent in the depth of my heart--and so strangely mysterious to myself withal.

But this, with all belonging to me, springs alike from the words and commands of Aslauga.