XXIX
“YOU ARE ABLE TO STRANGLE MY SOUL IN THE MESH OF YOUR GOLD-COLORED HAIR”
The lesson of patience that the Lady Aastrid had counselled was a very difficult one to Thorgills. Maidoch’s terror and hasty flight from his impetuous sympathy and hasty wooing greatly discouraged him. He could not understand the fear and heart-sickness that possessed the gently reared and accomplished maiden, fresh from her quiet convent and home, in that land of warring, boisterous, half-savage men. In spite of her resolve, she would turn desperately to the hope of returning to Ireland. Maidoch was not blind to the feeble condition of her father, and very pathetic was her distress at the prospect of a future in Norway, unrelieved by his protecting care and love. Then Thorgills’ wish to marry her, and his persistent wooing, added a deeper note to the terror that surrounded her. To live always in that wild land by the side of a Northern lord! At this thought Maidoch would cover her face with her hands, and ask some heavenly deliverance from such a fate. She was deeply grateful to Thorgills for his kindness, and she was dutiful to the Lady Aastrid, who showed very plainly her own desire that Maidoch should wed
