“I can only recall that he has mentioned her two or three times,” said Kristin. “But I understood that he did love her. . . .”
Gunnulf said softly, “I doubt there has ever been such a love between a mother and her son. Mother was much younger than my father. But then that whole trouble with Aunt Aashild happened. Our uncle Baard died, and it was said . . . well, you know about this, don’t you? Father thought the worst and said to Mother . . . Erlend once flung his knife at Father; he was only a young boy. He rushed at Father more than once in Mother’s defense when he was growing up.
“When Mother fell ill, he parted with Eline Ormsdatter. Mother grew sick with sores and scabs on her skin, and Father said it was leprosy.4 He sent her away—tried to threaten her into taking a corrody 5 with the sisters at the hospice. Then Erlend went to get Mother and took her to Oslo—they stayed with Aashild too; she’s a good healer. And the king’s French doctor also said that she was not leprous. King Haakon received Erlend kindly then, and bade him seek out the grave of the holy King Erik Valdemarss?n—the king’s grandfather. Many people found cures for their skin afflictions there.
“Erlend journeyed to Denmark with Mother, but she died on board his ship, south of Stad. When Erlend brought her home—well, you must remember that Father was very old, and Erlend had been a disobedient son all his days. When Erlend came to Nidaros with Mother’s body, Father was staying at our town estate, and he refused to allow Erlend inside until he determined whether the boy had been infected, as he said. Erlend got on his horse and rode off, not resting until he arrived at the manor where Eline was staying with his son. After that he stood by her, in spite of everything, in spite of the fact that he had grown weary of her; and that’s how he happened to bring her here to Husaby and put her in charge when he became owner of the estate. She had such a hold on him, and she said that if he deserted her after this, then he deserved to be struck by leprosy himself.
“But it must be time for your women to tend to you, Kristin.” He looked down into the young, gray face that was rigid with fear and anguish.
But when he stood up to move toward the door, she cried loudly after him, “No, no, don’t leave me!”
“It will soon be over,” the priest consoled her, “since you are already so ill.”
“That’s not it!” She gripped his arm hard. “Gunnulf!”
He thought he had never seen such terror in anyone’s face.
“Kristin—you should remember that this is no worse for you than for other women.”
“But it is, it is.” She pressed her face against the priest’s arm. “For now I know that Eline and her children should be sitting here. He had promised her fidelity and marriage before I became his paramour.”
“You know about that?” said Gunnulf calmly. “Erlend himself didn’t know any better back then. But you must understand that he could not keep that promise; the archbishop would never have given his consent for those two to marry. You mustn’t think that your marriage isn’t valid. You are Erlend’s rightful wife.”
“Oh, I gave up all right to walk this earth long before then. And yet it’s worse than I imagined. Oh, if only I might die and this child would never be born. I don’t think I dare look at what I’ve been carrying.”
“May God forgive you, Kristin—you don’t know what you’re saying! Would you wish for your child to die stillborn and unbaptized?”
“Yes, for that which I’ve carried under my heart may already belong to the Devil! It cannot be saved. Oh, if only I had drunk the potion that Eline offered me—that might have been atonement for all the sins we’ve committed, Erlend and I. Then this child would never have been conceived. Oh, I’ve thought this whole time, Gunnulf, that when I saw what I had fostered inside me, then I would come to realize that it would have been better for me to drink the leprosy potion that she offered me—rather than drive to her death the woman to whom Erlend had first bound himself.”
“Kristin,” said the priest, “you’ve lost your senses. You weren’t the one who drove that poor woman to her death. Erlend couldn’t keep the promise that he’d given her when he was young and knew little of law and justice. He could never have lived with her without sin. And she herself allowed another man to seduce her, and Erlend wanted to marry her to him when he heard of it. The two of you were not to blame for her taking her own life.”