The frosts and snows had brought many hardships; food was
scarce, and life in that rocky cave had few comforts. More than all,
Duncan Graham, whom she had hoped to wed, was dead -- slain in battle by
the sword of the outlaw Roderic. Aasta almost felt that she had rather
have been slain at her lover's side than live longer without him in a
world that offered her so little joy.
But in her despair for herself she yet was comforted by the knowledge
that the Earl Kenric had been spared to his people, and that the
Norsemen had finally left him in possession of his castle and lands. It
was of Kenric that she was now thinking as she sat before the fire. Ever
since that night in September, when she had journeyed with him to Gigha,
she had felt a strange, close sympathy with him, an affection for him
that was stronger than any other feeling she had ever known. Kenric's
peaceful happiness was the one thing that she yearned for.
But now, when she had thought such happiness was surely before him, an
unexpected danger had suddenly arisen. Roderic the Rover was still
alive. The battle which had brought about the death of so many of his
companions had spared him. The raging elements that had destroyed so
many of the ships had left Roderic's galley unharmed. He had voyaged
into the far north with the defeated King Hakon, and after Hakon's death
he had returned to Gigha.
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