Poor Alfgar came to me in great trouble. He and Ethelgiva have been accepted suitors so long that he thought it time to propose marriage. She referred him, with her own full consent, to her father; and Elfwyn says, not unwisely, that he cannot consent until the land is at peace; that it is currently reported that Thurkill, a Danish earl, is at hand with an immense fleet, and that to marry might both hamper a warrior's hands and be the means of bringing up children for the sword. He fully accepts Alfgar's suit, but postpones the day till peace seems established, that is "sine die." It is very hard to make Alfgar reconciled to this. I try to do so.