“Oh yes, you can be sure that I knew all about it,” said Kristin, her face rigid. “But that’s all over now.”
“Yes, that’s what Sir Munan said, that it’s been over between them so many times before,” replied Ingebj?rg thoughtfully. “It won’t affect you—you’re going to marry Simon Darre, after all. But that Erlend Nikulauss?n is certainly a handsome man.”
The company from Nonneseter was going to leave that same day, after the midafternoon prayers. Kristin had promised Erlend to meet him at the stone fence where they had sat during the night, if she could find a way to come.
He was lying on his stomach in the grass, with his head on his arms. As soon as he saw her, he leaped up and offered her both of his hands as she was about to jump down.
She took them, and they stood for a moment, hand in hand.
Then Kristin said, “Why did you tell me that story about Herr Bj?rn and Fru Aashild yesterday?”
“I can see that you know,” replied Erlend, abruptly letting go of her hands. “What do you think of me now, Kristin?
“I was eighteen years old back then,” he continued vehemently. “It was ten years ago that the king, my kinsman, sent me on the journey to Varg?y House, and then we spent the winter at Steigen. She was married to the judge Sigurd Saksulvs?n. I felt sorry for her because he was old and unbelievably ugly. I don’t know how it happened; yes, I was fond of her too. I told Sigurd to demand what he wanted in fines; I wanted to do right by him—he’s a decent man in many ways—but he wanted things to proceed according to the law, and he took the case to the ting. I was to be branded for adultery with the woman in whose house I had been a guest, you see.
“My father got wind of it, and then King Haakon found out too. And he . . . he banished me from his court. And if you need to know the whole story: there’s nothing left between Eline and me except the children, and she cares very little for them. They’re at ?sterdal, on a farm that I own there. I’ve given the farm to Orm, the boy. But she doesn’t want to be with them. I suppose she expects that Sigurd can’t live forever, but I don’t know what she wants.
“Sigurd took her back, but she says she was treated like a dog and a slave on his farm. So she asked me to meet her in Nidaros. I was not faring much better at Husaby with my father. I sold everything I could get my hands on and fled with her to Halland; Count Jacob has been a kind friend to me. What else could I do? She was carrying my child. I knew that so many men had managed to escape unscathed from such a relationship with another man’s wife—if they were rich, that is. But King Haakon is the sort of man who treats his own most sternly. We were separated from each other for a year, but then my father died, so she came back. And then other things happened. My tenants refused to pay their land rent or to speak to my envoys because I had been excommunicated. I retaliated harshly, and then a case was brought against me for robbery, but I had no money to pay my house servants. You can see that I was too young to deal sensibly with these difficulties, and my kinsmen refused to help me—except for Munan, who did as much as he dared without angering his wife.
“So now you know, Kristin, that I have compromised much, both my land and my honor. You would certainly be much better served if you stayed with Simon Andress?n.”
Kristin put her arms around his neck.
“We will stand by what we swore to each other last night, Erlend—if you feel as I do.”
Erlend pulled her close, kissed her, and then said, “You must also have faith that my circumstances are bound to change. Now no one in the world has power over me except you. Oh, I thought about so many things last night as you lay asleep in my lap, my fair one. The Devil cannot have so much power over a man that I would ever cause you sorrow or harm, you who are the most precious thing in my life.”
CHAPTER 4
DURING THE TIME he lived at Skog, Lavrans Bj?rgulfs?n had given property to Gerdarud Church for requiems to be held for the souls of his parents on the anniversaries of their deaths. His father Bj?rg ulf Ketils?n’s death date was the thirteenth of August, and this year Lavrans had made arrangements for his brother to bring Kristin out to his estate so that she could attend the mass.
She was afraid that something might happen to prevent her uncle from keeping his promise. She thought she had noticed that Aasmund was not particularly fond of her. But on the day before the mass was to be held, Aasmund Bj?rgulfs?n arrived at the convent to get his niece. Kristin was told to dress in secular attire, but dark and simple in appearance. People had begun to remark that the sisters of Nonneseter spent a great deal of time outside the convent, and the bishop had therefore decreed that the young daughters who were not to become nuns should not wear anything resembling convent garb when they went to visit their kinsmen—then the populace would not mistake them for novices or nuns of the order.