Quoted By:
Though it may be cruel, you promised Amelia to keep her secret and the reeve's fortunes are not destroyed enough to inspire your pity. He has his boats, his land (if no longer the house upon it), the debts owed to him by the many villagers who lended from him, and, of course, the half-finished granary and the portion of grain he has already bought from the harvest, not to mention whatever treasure Ragnvald left him. It is true that the cowardly abandonment of his father will lower his esteem in the village, perhaps enough for him to lose the position of reeve, and it is also true that he now has no one beside him and his grand ambitions of peerage are dashed, yet, even so, you tell him that you found neither his daughter nor your uncle. You do not know if they still live.
For a moment, it seems as if the weight of all these calamities would break him, he clutches his chest, falls to his knees, and his face briefly takes on an expression of such terrible anguish that you can hardly bear to look at it. But it passes as quickly as it comes. He takes your offered hand, clasps it firmly and rises, and thanks you. He even goes so far as to promise that the boats shall be transferred into your name. A guilty conscience compels you to protest his generosity, but he merely pats your shoulder and tells you, in a quiet voice, that "it's over now, at last".
You keep him for a moment longer, putting him to the task of talking to the lord about the ransom for Renault, fearing he may do something rash if left alone with his thoughts. He goes with Gordon to deliver Renault while you reunite with your Gran. But there is no such reunion for Mabel and her mother. She is among those who were taken captive. Mabel is inconsolable. The guards must throw her out of the main hall for the amount of noise she makes.
The reeve returns from an audience with the lord to inform you that Renault is indeed who he says he is and that a not insubstantial ransom will be paid for release. A portion of it will be given to the reeve, which he intends to pass on to you (indeed he seems to have a uncharacteristic disinterest in the money). Before you leave (for he will be staying in the castle a few days, having no where else to stay) you pass on the message from Ragnvald about the treasure and the life-debt. This seems to have a great effect on him. You leave him deep in thought, perhaps over the circumstances of that debt (about which he reveals nothing).
You return home, finally, with your Gran and Gordon and the Haroldson cousins amid the great throng of villagers. You spot Mabel walking among them, wiping her eyes occasionally with her arm, her chest still rocking with sobs.
You decide to:
>Let her be
>Try and comfort her
>Tease her
>Write-in
