KNUT.
Good; then I have nothing more to do at Solhoug. But after
midnight--mark you this--the day is at an end; then you may chance
to see me again, and then Fortune must decide whether it be Gudmund
or I that shall bear Signe away from this house.
GUDMUND.
Aye, try if you dare; it shall cost you a bloody sconce.
SIGNE.
[In terror.] Gudmund! By all the saints--!
KNUT.
Gently, gently, Gudmund Alfson! Ere sunrise you shall be in my
power. And she--your lady-love-- [Goes up to the door, beckons
and calls in a low voice.] Erik! Erik! come hither! we must away
to our kinsfolk. [Threateningly, while ERIK shows himself in the
doorway.] Woe upon you all when I come again!
[He and ERIK go off to the left at the back.
SIGNE.
[Softly to GUDMUND.] Oh, tell me, what does all this mean?
GUDMUND.
[Whispering.] We must both leave Solhoug this very night.
SIGNE.
God shield me--you would--!
GUDMUND.
Say nought of it! No word to any one, not even to your sister.
MARGIT.
[To herself.] She--it is she! She of whom he had scarce thought
before to-night. Had I been free, I know well whom he had chosen.--
Aye, free!
[BENGT and GUESTS, both Men and Women enter from the house.
YOUNG MEN AND MAIDENS.
Out here, out here be the feast arrayed,
While the birds are asleep in the greenwood shade,
How sweet to sport in the flowery glade
'Neath the birches.
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