Olaf, it is a bitter thing to have begotten a fool." "Then why do you not marry again and beget others, who might be no fools, Augusta ?" I asked bluntly.
"Ah! why ?" she answered, flashing a curious glance upon me.

"In truth, I do not quite know why; but from no lack of suitors, since, were she but a hideous hag, an empress would find these.

Olaf, you may have learned that I was not born in the purple.

I was but a Greek girl of good race, not even noble, to whom God gave a gift of beauty; and when I was young I saw a man who took my fancy, also of old race, yet but a merchant of fruits which they grow in Greece and sell here and at Rome.

I wished to marry him, but my mother, a far-seeing woman, said that such beauty as mine--though less than that of your Iduna the Fair, Olaf--was worth money or rank.