--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia Wilson"
<originalpatricia@...> wrote:

>
> > Hann mælti: "E.g. vil að hann segi mér hvar hann hefir hulið hræ Atla.
> Mér ER
> sagt að hann hafi illa um búið."
> > He replied "I want him to say to me where he has hidden Atli's body.
> It is said to me that he had done (this ) badly
>
> I see him as a "Man on a Mission" - (play "Godfather" theme here,) and I
> assumed that since Bergthora had given him a 'contract' on Brynjolf

then

> the question of the disposal of Atli's corpse was merely an excuse.

He had

> been given this job by the Godmother and it was an offer he could

not refuse

I think you're right--whether the excuse is Bergþóra's idea, or just
Þórðr trying to work himself up to do what he must. Or maybe a bit of
both.