You mean—? GUDMUND. I? Nay, I meant naught. My brain Is wildered; but ah, I am blithe and fain To be, as of old, with you sisters twain. But tell me,—Signë—? MARGIT. [_Points smiling towards the door on the left._] She comes anon. To greet her kinsman she needs must don Her trinkets—a task that takes time, ’tis plain. GUDMUND. I must see—I must see if she knows me again. [_He goes out to the left._ MARGIT. [_Following him-with her eyes._] How fair and manlike he is! [_With a sigh._] There is little likeness ’twixt him and—[_Begins putting things in order on the table, but presently stops._] “You then were free,” he said. Yes, then! [_A short pause._] ’Twas a strange tale, that of the Princess who—She held another dear, and then—Aye, those women of far-off lands—I have heard it before—they are not weak as we are; they do not fear to pass from thought to deed. [_Takes up a goblet which stands on the table._] ’Twas in this beaker that Gudman and I, when he went away, drank to his happy return. ’Tis well-nigh the only heirloom I brought with me to Solhoug. [_Putting the goblet away in a cupboard._] How soft is this summer day; and how light it is in here! So sweetly has the sun not shone for three long years. [SIGNË, _and after her_ GUDMUND, _enters from the left._ SIGNË. [_Runs laughing up to_ MARGIT.] Ha, ha, ha! He will not believe that ’tis I! MARGIT. [_Smiling, to_ GUDMUND.] You see: while in far-off lands you strayed, She, too, has altered, the little maid. GUDMUND. Aye truly! But that she should be—Why, ’Tis a marvel in very deed. [_Takes both_ SIGNË’S _hands and looks at her._ Yet, when I look in these eyes so blue, The innocent child-mind I still can read— Yes, Signë, I know that ’tis you! I needs must laugh when I think how oft I have thought of you perched on my shoulder aloft As you used to ride. You were then a child; Now you are a nixie, spell-weaving, wild. SIGNË. [_Threatening with her finger._] Beware! If the nixie’s ire you awaken, Soon in her nets you will find yourself taken. GUDMUND. [_To himself._] I am snared already, it seems to me.