There was one other thing, which was more pleasant, which we spoke
about at that time. And it was about the betrothal of my sister
Eadgyth. For it had come to pass that Egfrid, my friend, had sought
her hand, and the match pleased us all. So before the king and my
father went to Winchester there was high feasting, and those two
were pledged one to the other. Then was a new house to be built for
them at Hoxne, where the wedding itself should take place.

"Maybe Halfden will be here by that time," said Lodbrok to me. "I
wish, friend Wulfric, that honest Egfrid had not been so forward,
or that you had another fair sister."

Now though that saying pleased me, I could not wish for the wild
viking as husband to our gentle Eadgyth, though I loved him well as
my own friend. So I said that I thought Halfden's ship was his only
love.

"Maybe," answered the jarl; "but one may never know, and I think it
would be well for English folk and Danish to be knit together more
closely."

But when I asked him why this should be so, he only smiled, and
talked of friendliness between the two peoples, which seemed a
little matter to me at that time.

Now when the time came, my father having gone, we two, Lodbrok and
I, went back to Reedham, while my mother and Eadgyth stayed yet at
Thetford for the sake of Egfrid's new house building, for he would
have it built to suit her who should rule it.