"None at all," I answered. "Women are pleasant, but one may buy sweets too dear, and all that ever I saw put together were not worth my brother Steinar, who lost his life through one of them."
"Tell me, Captain Olaf, are you a secret member of this new society of hermits of which they talk so much, who, if they see a woman, must hold their faces in the sand for five minutes afterwards?"
"I never heard of them, Augusta."
"Are you a Christian?"
"No; I am considering that religion—or rather its followers."
"Are you a pagan, then?"
"No. I fought a duel with the god Odin, and cut his head off with this sword, and that is why I left the North, where they worship Odin."
"Then what are you?" she said, stamping her foot in exasperation.
"I am the captain of your Imperial Majesty's private guard, a little of a philosopher, and a fair poet in my own language, not in Greek. Also, I can play the harp."
"You say 'not in Greek,' for fear lest I should ask you to write verses to me, which, indeed, I shall never do, Olaf. A soldier, a poet, a philosopher, a harpist, one who has renounced women! Now, why have you renounced women, which is unnatural in a man who is not a monk? It must be because you still love this Iduna, and hope to get her some day."
I shook my head and answered,
"I might have done that long ago, Augusta."
"Then it must be because there is some other woman whom you wish to gain. Why do you always wear
