I told him what I thought thereof; and Beorn, who must needs listen
to all this, ground his teeth and cursed under his breath, for
there seemed to have come some desperate fury on him in place of
his cold despair of an hour since.

And when Egfrid had heard all, he raised his hand and swore that
not one stone of Beorn's house should be unblackened by fire by
this time tomorrow night, and as he said it he turned to Beorn,
shaking and white with wrath.

"Let that be," I answered him quickly; "no good, but much harm may
come therefrom. Wait but six months, and then maybe I shall be
back."

Now while we had thus spoken together, Ulfkytel had dismounted and
was holding some converse with a man whose figure I could not well
make out, even had I cared to try, in the dark shadow of horses and
riders which stayed the moonlight from them. But at this time the
stranger came towards us, and I saw that it was the priest who
served the Church of St. Peter, hard by where we stood. He came to
Beorn first, and spoke to him in a low voice, earnestly; but Beorn
paid no sort of heed to him, but turned his head away, cursing yet.
So after a few more words, the priest came to me.

"Wulfric," he said, "sad am I to see you thus. But justice is
justice, and must be done."

"Aye, Father," I answered, "and right will prevail."

"Maybe we shall see it do so," he answered shortly, not seeming