power came by love, and that of the earl by the strong hand. But
the earl was most loyal.

"What!" he said in a great voice, "am I not earl? And shall the
king be troubled with common manslayers while I sit in his seat of
justice? Go to! I am judge, and will answer to the king for what I
do."

So I was silent, waiting for what should come next.

But he forgot me in a minute, and seemed to be thinking.

At last he said:

"One of these men is guilty, but I know not which."

And so he summed up all that he had heard, and as he did so it
seemed, even to me, that proofs of guilt were evenly balanced, so
that once again I half thought that Beorn might be wronged in the
accusation, as I was.

"So," he ended, "friend has slain friend, and friends have fought,
and there is no question of a third man in the matter."

He looked round on the honest faces with him, and saw that they
were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on:

"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle already,
which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner from over
seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a mind to