"Now--now--now--_now!_" said the old man slowly, with long pauses. "Has young Liuthari now for the first time seen the thing called woman, who, instead of a man's breastplate, carries a child at her breast? I truly feared that the Runic spell had quite bewitched thee; for in the wine there was no magic. _I_ feel nothing peculiar in _me_. The witchcraft began as soon as thou didst see that white face. What? thou wilt follow her? Halt there! How vexed I am that I have forgotten all the furious, loud-sounding, bad names with which Hadumar, my father, scolded me when he caught me as I was climbing into the neighbour's garden to steal the sweet pears that the Romans had grafted on to the wild pears of the Illara forest. He thrashed me soundly; but the caressing words have escaped me--it is so long ago. 'Thou pilferer! thou pear-stealer! thou sluggard! thou sneak!' These were some of the most tender. And now I could use them all admirably. Why starest thou thus speechless, senseless, after another man's wife? Is it such behaviour that the Lady Lindgardis, thy glorious mother, has taught thee? Dost thou not remember Adalagardis, thy bride?" "Old giant! blustering, growling bear! that is enough of thine abuse; I have had quite enough of it. Adalagardis my bride? She is but a name--a wish of my father. Can I embrace, and clasp, and kiss a name? But this woman is living flesh and blood. I felt the sweet warmth of her arm as I touched it. Heat flashed through me. She is so beautiful--so wonderfully, enchantingly beautiful! It is an elfin beauty. No, no; words cannot express it. The goddesses of Walhalla are not so beautiful as she. Where have I seen her equal?" continued he dreamily. "It was, I think, under a warmer, fairer sky! Ah, yes; now I see it clearly. In the service of the Emperor, I was sailing from Byzantium through the blue Grecian seas. There, on an island covered with myrtle and laurel, stood the white form of a Grecian goddess. I was affected then almost as much as now by this woman." He was silent and laid his hand on his beating heart. "I have nothing to say against it, Liuthari, if thou admirest her as thou wouldst a stone statue; even if thy taste does go so far astray. Mine seeks something different. Commend me to Adala--yes, I will be silent! But this small-waisted little one, straight as an arrow, and not much taller, with her thin child's arms, she looks so fragile that she would certainly be crushed the first time thou didst heartily touch her." "What can the bear know about touching the harp-strings?" said Liuthari roughly.