"It is good to hear the talk of priests and nobles alike; they know the worth of our young king." "Well, and what is the talk of the housecarls, Erling ?" I asked.
"Good also," he growled.

"But I would that I kenned the talk of her of whom I have seen overmuch in the days gone by." Then he remembered that of this matter Father Selred knew nothing, and he swore under his breath at his own foolishness; but the good father had not heard him, or his rough Danish prevented his understanding.
"What says he of the men ?" he asked.
And when I told him he was well content, saying that from high to low all had a warm welcome for our king.
But even now Offa rises from the table and leaves the hall, all men rising with him.

So he passes out of the door on the high place and seeks his own chamber, and there to him comes Quendritha.
"I have dreamed a dream, my king," she says, standing before him, for he has thrown himself into a great chair, wearily.

"I have dreamed that your realm stretched from here on the Wye and the mountains of the Welsh even to the sea that bounds the lands from the Wash to the Thames.

What shall that portend ?" "A wedding, and a son-in-law whom you may bend to your will," answers the king; but his eyes are bright, and there comes a flash into them.
That would be a mighty realm indeed, greater than any which had yet been in our land.